At 3rd floor, Fifty-third and Elm
At 19.04 Arons finger pressed the doorbell at Meegans door. His jaguar was parked outside the building, he fully trusted the rather sophisticated security system to make sure people didn't run away with it. He had thought about wearing a tuxedo, after all it was a dinner date, but he had thought the better of it. Americans were less formal and he sometimes got the feeling that tuxedos intimidated them. Instead he was wearing a black, casual blazer. Tailor made ofcourse, Aron wouldn't have dreamt of buying one in a regular store, but fairly casual non the less. The black walking stick was at his side as always, polished and fitted with a head of brushed steal instead of the regular silver one. He was curious about this evening though, he was usually the one inviting ladies to his house and yet he had received two invitations this week. Womens liberation was something Aron was whole-heartetly for, after all it usually proved to his own benefit.
"Hello Mr. Swiftwood, welcome to my home." She depressed the entry button and crossed back to the stove to check her Coq au Vin one more time. It and the vegetables would be done in about fifteen minutes. She had a bottle of Astrailian white breathing on the island with two glasses and her table set with candles. She slipped off her apron and made her way to the door as the bell rang.
"A pleasure to meet you Miss Megan"
From an inner pocket, he got a package wrapped in white glittering paper.
"I'm sorry, but my butler flatly refused to let me take any of the roses in the garden, so this will hopefully do instead"
Aron had taken a bit of a chance with the package and he knew it. Skincare products from a company called Jaqua might be a great idea...or a horrible one. Either way it was more original than the standard flowers and wine.
"Why thank you, Mr. Swiftwood. Please call me Meegan, we are far enough above the Mason-Dixon Line to leave titles off of first names." She grinned slyly at the man in her door way, and moved aside. "Please, do come in."
"Can I take your..ah walking stick?" It occured to her over active imagination that it may very well contain a weapon of some kind. One never knew in this city.
"Ohh yes, ofcourse. Very interresting outfit by the way. I presume you've designed it yourself?"
"I did. I see you know who I am." Her eyes and voice were please with that information, since it made things easier than when her identiy was reveal later in the evening. "You look rather dashing yourself, Aron. "
Meegan moved deeper into her home expecting her guest to follow.
"Can I interest you in a glass of wine?"
He follwed Meegan, enjoying the rather fine view of her curves the skirt allowed him to get.
"You could interrest me in quite a few things I am sure....a glass of wine would be among those"
"I would be delighted to know what those things are, but I think perhaps it should wait until dinner is out of the oven. Do you like coq au vin, Aron?"
He recognized the bottle of vine on the isle, australian, white and on those terms not too bad. He wondered if she had used it for the coq au vin instead of the traditional bordeaux, and if not then if she was really going to serve another wine than the one used in the food. He decided not to mention it, it would be rather unpolite after all. And it would be interresting to taste this dish, he had never heard of a coq au vin cooked in an oven before.
"This one smells rather good I must admit"
It did infact, which slightly surprised him.
"Ofcourse I doubt I am a very impartial judge, given the circumstances"
"Just about finished, the sauce isn't quite thinkened yet, and the leeks still have a few minutes."
She took a sip of her wine. 'No sense in not getting straight to the point.' Meegan crossed the kitchen to stand nearer her guest.
"So tell me, Aron, what made you pay for the drinks? I must admit you have my curiosity peaked."
"You really wish to know? The three of you seemed so filled with the need for each other. It's rare these days to see something that isn't taken straight from the nearest Hollywood movie. It was honest somehow, freeing. There's too little pleasure and love in the world as it is, and yours seemed like an oasis in the desert. So I decided that the least I could do was to pay the drinks. Turned out to be money well spent. After all I'm getting a free dinner" he said with a grin.
"It was our pleasure to accept them, Aron. I must say they did add some spice to our evening. "
Behind her a timer dinged and she returned to the stove. Opening the oven she pulled out the clay rosting pot, its lid covered in an inticate geometric pattern, and set it on the stove. With a little flourish she pulled off the lid and let the steam fill the air around her, curling the ends of her long, loose hair. She inhaled deeply of the aromatic steam and set the lid aside. Deft hands placed the chicken into the finished sauce.
As Meegan turned to the stove, he looked at her slender neck. He could almost hear the blood pumping in her veins, and for a moment he toeyd with the thought of piercing it then and there. He decided not to. It was better to work up an apitite during dinner. He couldn't help notice the irony in that sentence. Besides, it was too early for that sort of thing and he much prefered it if the evening sort of led to that point on its own.
"Looks delicious" he said, and looked at Meegan.
"Thank you."
She quickly put the chicken into the larger dish and the leeks into the other. When she turned with them in hand, the grin was still on her face.
"I hope you came with an appitite. I seem to have cooked for six instead of two."
She crossed the room to place the dishes on the pale gold table cloth, that matched the accent paint perfectly, next to a decanted bottle of dark red wine.
"Well...I should think I have quite an appitite. I'm guess you could say I'm ready to dive in"
"A bit of self control might be a good idea, dear. At least make it through the dinner"
He let out a light chuckle, finished the white wine in his glass and placed it on the island.
"I take it dinner is ready?"
She took up the decanter and poured the almost black wine into two cut crystal glasses at each place. She wondered if that chuckle was meant for her or was in response to his own thoughts. Which didn't bother her in the slightest, as she tended to laugh at herself often.
He could smell the dark wine as she poured it intot he glasses. He was almost sure it was excellent, probably french if his nostrils were right.
"Interresting wine.....It would seem this is an evening for seeing interresting things"
Aron found the gothic fashion that had been growing for the last couple of decades very interresting indeed. The cloth was elegant and beautiful, enhancing what nature had already made.
"I would say it's what's under the cloth that holds your current interrest dear"
"It is a ninteen nighty-eight Domaine Robert Arnoux, Clos de vougeot. I find the true Burgandy wines are the best."
The french names rolled off her tongue as though she was used to using the language. She set the decanter down and gestured to one of the chairs.
"Please join me, Aron. I wouldn't want our dinner to get cold."
Aron sat, took the vine glass and let the aromas fill his nose.
"Not a bad year, not a bad year at all"