CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

COFFEE WAREHOUSE:

Sonny(as Carly enters carrying an armload of dresses)What’s all that?

Carly: My dresses for the Nurses Ball. I thought I’d let you see what your money is paying for.

Sonny: Why do you need so many.

Carly: It always annoys me the way Lucy is always changing into so many different dresses throughout the night. So this year, I thought I’d give her a little run for her money.

Sonny: What are you going to do. Go to the john between acts and come out wearing a different dress.

Carly: I might. Lucy loves to parade around on stage saying look at me. Can you imagine her reaction if everyone was looking at me, instead, wondering what dress I’d come out of the bathroom wearing next.

Sonny: You are so lying.

Carly: You’re right, I am. I just couldn’t decide which one I wanted, so I bought them all. But I’m going to let you decide which one you’d most enjoy seeing me in since you’re paying for them. All of them have something that would appeal to a sex fiend like you. Take this one for instance. (she holds a black dress up to her)There’s nothing more seductive than a blonde in a black dress. Especially this one since it’s cut almost as low in the back as it is in the front, not to mention it has a side slit almost up to my hip.

Sonny: Forget it.

Carly: Don’t want me on display for other men to see and ogle.

Sonny: I like knowing there are some things that are for my eyes only. It makes it more of a treat when I get to uncover those parts that are only for my eyes.

Carly: Okay, I’ll stick to wearing this in the privacy of the penthouse on a night when you make me a romantic candlelight dinner. You know for being such a pain in the butt, you do have one very redeeming quality. You like to cook. Most men want dinner waiting for them on the table when they get home, while you come home, head straight for the kitchen and you make me dinner. Can’t get better than that.

Sonny: Let’s see the next dress.

Carly(holds up a red dress to her)I also look good in red. I might add it has an indecently low back, but it does have a very high front.

Sonny: Your lower back is one of those things I’d prefer you kept for my eyes only.

Carly: But think of the benefits. All you’d have to do was slide it off my shoulders and you could have your way with me.

Sonny: I can’t do that for a few weeks yet, so that would just be a waste of a good dress.

Carly: Why don’t you make this easier for me. What are the areas of my body you’d prefer were for your eyes only.

Sonny: Okay, that’s fair.(he examines her body)A little cleavage would be fine, but nothing like Jennifer Lopez. Her gowns are cut so low she must use Crazy Glue to keep herself from falling completely out of them.

Carly: That’s doable. When I see her in those outfits she doesn’t even look comfortable. What else.

Sonny: Well, I already mentioned the back thing. A side slit would be fine, if it wasn’t too high. You’re always wearing long dresses or slacks around me, so I don’t get to see your legs that often and when I do, I kind of thing of that as a treat.

Carly: You do? How about the color? And particular color you’d like to see me in?

Sonny: Well, I suppose black would be...What do I look like? Chloe Morgan. Pick whatever color you like. You could wear a potato sack and you’d be sexy, so you don’t need to flaunt it.

Carly: So you think I’m sexy, do you?

Sonny: Are we finished with Fashion Corner?

Carly: Well, I think you’re sexy, too. And I like that you don’t dress sexy. That you don’t flaunt that sexy body of yours with skin-tight jeans or body-molding leather pants and you don’t run around like one of those shirtless hunks. That way when I strip off your clothes I know what I’m seeing is for my eyes only. So when I choose my dress for the Nurses Ball, I’ll choose it with care because it does kind of add an extra edge to it knowing that when we take our clothes off what we’re seeing is something no one else but us sees.

Sonny: (shifts restlessly in his chair)You did that on purpose.

Carly: I do love it when those dark eyes of yours smolder with passion.(she picks up the dresses)I’ll be going now. By the way, I told Lucy Coe you’d be glad to perform in this year’s Nurses Ball.

Sonny: You did what!

Carly: It’s for a good cause.

Sonny: Which is why I write a fat check out to it every year. Just like every year I have a t-shirt made up for myself that says I survived the Nurses Ball. I’m not going to get up on stage and make a fool out of myself.

Carly: You couldn’t if you tried.

Sonny: Just tell Lucy you made a mistake.

Carly: It’s too late. I already told her you would. I’ll see you at home.(she heads out of the warehouse, but once outside she runs right into Larkin)

Larkin(smiled)Hello, Ms. Benson. It’s time you and I had ourselves a little talk.