Christmas At Leo's - Memoirs Of A Houseboy by Gillibran Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

faster than she felt ready for.
    “I’ve invited him for supper this evening, so we can exchange gifts before I go to Steve and Thelma’s for Christmas.”
    I gave a grin, teasing. “What will you do if he brings a huge bunch of mistletoe with him and tries to snog you under it?”
    She laughed. “Hit him with it.”
    “You do like him though, don’t you?”
    “Yes, he’s sweet in his way, and good company.”
    I asked a question Shane would have walloped me for if he’d heard it. He’s warned me about asking Eileen for personal details. “But you don’t fancy him enough to want to sleep with him?”
    She smiled, unfazed by my curiosity. “I’m too old for such nonsense.”
    “Don’t say that, Eileen. You’re never too old for sex, at least I hope not.”
    “Don’t worry.” She gave a small smile. “You’ve got some mileage in you yet, Gilli.”
    “I hope so.”
    She offered a candid opinion. “I think the male sex drive is more potent and of longer duration than the female one. Our energies get spent in just being female with all it entails. I honestly believe men get more pleasure from sex than women because actual sex, the act, is all you’re concerned with. You lucky creatures don’t have menstruation, childbirth or menopause to contend with alongside your natural urges.”
    “Thank God for huge mercies,” I gave her a cheeky wink. “So don’t you miss it at all, sex I mean?”
    She looked thoughtful. “I suppose, once upon a time, after my husband died, but not now. I think the more sex you have, the more you want it. It creates its own momentum, but once the momentum is broken, the need and the desire diminish. I miss the emotional intimacy more than the physical.”
    “Maybe you’ll find that again with Reg.”
    She shook her head. “I enjoy his company, his friendship, but it isn’t the same thing I had with my husband. He was the love of my life.”
    “Look at me. I’m a living testimony to there being more than one love for each of us.”
    “You’re a fortunate young man.” Picking up the tin lid, she tapped me gently on the head with it. “Do you want another coffee?”
    Being a gentleman I took the hint and let the subject of sex drop. She made more coffee and we moved on to more general chat. She said she was looking forward to spending Christmas with her nephew and his wife and their young family, to which a new addition was coming soon. She was setting off early on Christmas Eve after visiting the cemetery to lay wreaths for her husband, baby son and her parents.
    I asked another question. “Do you miss your family more at this time of year?”
    “Yes. I suppose I do. It would have been nice to grow old with my husband instead of on my own. I miss what might have been for Tom, my son. I often wonder how he would have turned out. I’d have loved to have grandchildren.”
    “What about your mother? You must miss her being around?”
    “I thought I’d miss her more than I do. She’d had a long life, Gilli, and she was ready to let go of it. She was frail and confused in the last few years. It was hard to see her afraid and in pain. I was glad for her to find rest. I miss her most as she used to be, when I was young with my brother. She always made Christmas special. I think our best memories are of family times.”
    I swallowed down a sudden lump in my throat. I hadn’t spent a ‘family’ Christmas with my mother since I was fourteen years old, and it hadn’t been a happy one. My face must have clouded, because Eileen stretched a hand across the table.
    “What’s the matter, Gilli? Are you fretting about your mother? How is she doing?”
    “She’s good. I’m going to see her today.”
    “Give her my best. Tell her she has a beautiful son.”
    “Who’s that then, have I met him?”
    “Behave.”
    I laughed as she tapped a playful admonishment onto the back of my hand.
    We finished our coffee. I handed over the gift I’d bought her. She gave one to me. I