“Are you ashamed to be dating me?”
“What? No. Why would you ask that?” Anthony asked.
“I’m your secretary. I just… I noticed we only go out during lunch when it would be normal for us to go out. And you’ve never introduced me to any of your friends.”
“You haven’t introduced me to any of yours.”
Aisha laughed. “I don’t have any here. If you want to fly to Michigan, I will.”
“I introduced you to Mary tonight,” Anthony argued.
“She’s your cook.”
“Well look, I was going to ask you… I always take some time off around now, and I spend a week at this cabin in Colorado. Great place. I like to ski. Do you ski?”
“I’ve never tried,” Aisha said truthfully.
“Well, I can teach you. Will you come with me?”
Aisha grinned and reached over, using one finger to pull the blindfold down. “Okay,” she said when he looked to her.
4
Three weeks after he asked her to go, Aisha was boarding a private plane, on her way to Colorado. After landing at the Denver airport, they were driven three hours away to a remote and snow-covered mountain. There was a small town at the foot of the small jagged peak, and up the side, a bit was Anthony’s private cabin. It wasn’t a cabin like Aisha had ever seen. It was huge, with two stories and a wrap around porch, all made of logs. The inside was furnished as extravagantly as the outside would make it seem. They spent days on the mountain, skiing, and when Aisha didn’t take to that, sledding. Their meals were prepared by Mary, who was staying down in the nearby town, but came up every morning and cooked a quick lunch and a more substantial dinner.
On their fourth night, after steamy sex, when they both lay panting and shining in the soft moonlight, Anthony looked over to her. “You’re still mad at me.”
“I’m not mad at you.”
“You think I’m hiding you.”
“I don’t,” Aisha said, but that was a lie.
“I just… I didn’t want people to know… I thought that’s what you wanted. You’re good at your job, and you can make it on your own merits. That’s what I thought you wanted.”
“I do,” Aisha said, and then she sighed. “But I really like you. I don’t want to be your secret.”
Anthony smiled. “Then you won’t be.”
Aisha had something else weighing on her mind, and she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. “I’m pregnant,” she said.
Anthony looked at her for a long while, without speaking. When he did his voice was tight, and didn’t betray a single thought. “It’s mine?”
A fury rose up in Aisha. “Of course it is!” she snapped, and then she rose from the bed, still nude and sweaty.
“I’m sorry, I was just making sure!”
“How many women are you fucking besides me?”
“No one!” Anthony claimed, holding his hands up. “It came out wrong.”
“I’m going to go take a shower,” Aisha said, and she left the bedroom. That night it was awkward and tense, and neither she nor Anthony seemed keen on arguing further, so they stayed quiet. In the morning Aisha rose first, going downstairs and making coffee. She had just poured herself a big mug when there was a pounding on the cabin's door.
When she went to the door, she could see a woman standing there in a heavy coat and a fur hat. She looked familiar, and as Aisha pulled the door open, she realized it was the tall white woman who had stormed into Anthony’s office that first week.
“You slut!” the woman said as she came in, and her hand went across Aisha’s face in a stunning slap.
“Stop it, Kathleen,” a voice called, and both women turned to see Anthony coming down the stairs.
“Who is this bitch?” Aisha asked him, ready to fight.
“Bitch?” the white woman asked. “I’m his wife!”
“Hey now!” Anthony said, but Aisha had heard enough. It all made sense now, why he seemed as though he wanted to keep her his little secret. She made the two steps over to where Anthony stood, and the foot of the staircase, and splashed the hot coffee in his face. It wasn’t scalding, but she hoped it at least hurt. Without a word she turned and stormed outside.
There wasn’t anywhere to go but into town, and Aisha was lucky enough to have thought to grab her coat from the hook just inside the door. Her snowboots were on the porch, and she pulled them on, and she was down into the snow as the door opened behind her.
“We’re separated!” Anthony called after her, but Aisha raised a middle finger to him without looking back. She walked down into town, taking half an hour in the snow, tears sliding from her eyes and freezing on her cheeks the whole way. She didn’t know where to go, so she found Mary at the hotel and told the old woman what had happened.