Wednesday came and went with not much interaction between Brenda and Tiffany.

It was Thanksgiving Day and each girl went their own separate ways. Brenda went to Mario’s mother’s home and Tiffany joined Paul for a celebration.

Paul was a very different kind of person than Tiffany thought he would be.

He arrived in the limo and knocked on her door.

“Paul?” she shouted.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“I’ll be right there.” she answered.

Tiffany opened the door and Paul walked inside.

“I didn’t know what to wear, so this is it,” she said.

Tiffany was wearing a long white crepe dress with a peasant blouse. She had chosen to wear her flat sandals, as she wanted to be comfortable this day.

“You’re a dream, I never knew a woman could be so beautiful without having someone make her up,” Paul said.

Paul had made Tiffany blush with that statement. “Thank you,” she said.

“Tiffany, I haven’t been totally honest with you about today and after I tell you about our plans you might not want to spend the day with me,” Paul said.

Tiffany wondered what Paul was going to say to her that could be so bad. If this is one of those I’m going to bed you things, life would get ugly for Paul. Tiffany could feel her anger beginning to grow before Paul said another word.

“I’ve spent every Thanksgiving for the last eight years as a volunteer at a homeless shelter serving Thanksgiving dinners to the homeless and needy. It started when I was arrested for drunk driving and had to spend two hundred hours doing community service. I would sweep the streets or paint, you know what ever had to be done. My hours ran through Thanksgiving and I had to spend time at the shelter. Serving dinners to those people made me realize how lucky I had been with my life, and as strange as it may seem, helping them was one of the nicest feelings I’ve ever had. I make a lot of money doing what I do and also contribute much of what I make to charities, but giving money and actually doing the work are two different things, it’s a great reality check for me. The reason I’m telling you this is that none of the girls I’ve dated would go with me to spend the day serving food and if you don’t want to I’ll understand and we can celebrate tomorrow if you would like,” Paul said.

Tiffany felt embarrassed that she had jumped to the conclusion she had, and as her anger disappeared she saw a whole new side to Paul Bennington, she could really like this man.

“Paul, I’d love to go with you, should I change my clothes or is this okay?” Tiffany asked.

“Now I know why I like you so much, there aren’t many super models that would do this, I hope you don’t mind getting dirty,” Paul said.

“I don’t mind, let’s go,” Tiffany said as she took Paul’s arm with her hand.

The chauffer deposited them at the shelter and Tiffany noticed a short line had formed even though dinner wouldn’t be served for another three hours. How sad she thought.

When they entered the building, Paul introduced Tiffany to the people in charge.

“Father Mike, this is Tiffany Rollins, my girlfriend, she’s here to help,” Paul said.

Tiffany couldn’t help but notice that Paul had introduced her as his girlfriend. She also found that she liked being thought of this way, as Paul’s girlfriend.

“Well, you finally found a girl that’s not afraid to get her hands dirty. It’s nice to meet you Tiffany,” Father Mike said.

“What would you like me to do?” she asked.

“Come with me, Paul you can start setting up the tables and Tiffany, we need help in the kitchen.”

Tiffany followed Father Mike and soon found herself pealing potatoes and cutting vegetables. The time moved quickly and it was time to serve the meals.

Tiffany was the mashed potato server and looked smashing in her white apron and hair net, quite the fashion statement for a model

The line came through and none of the people knew who Tiffany was. How would they? The nearest they came to one of her fashion shows was the sidewalk outside the store begging for money. She was just a pretty girl serving food as far as they were concerned. The line lasted for two hours and over a thousand meals were served. After the last of the people were served, Tiffany and Paul joined the crowd at the tables and ate their meals with the homeless and people down on their luck. The day had made quite an impression on Tiffany, she felt so helpless yet satisfied for doing what she had done this day.

Tiffany and Paul finished helping to clean the shelter and returned to Paul’s city home at the Dakotas. The apartment was huge and Tiffany was very impressed.

“Would you like something to drink?” Paul asked?”

“Just a cup of tea would be fine,” Tiffany answered. “May I use your bathroom?”

“It’s down the hall on the right,” Paul said.

Tiffany found the bathroom and looked in the mirror at her reflection. She started giggling at the sight. Her makeup was a mess, as was her hair. Her nails were chipped and her clothing was wrinkled, she would need a very large makeover to look good again.

Tiffany returned to the living room and sat on the sofa. She curled her legs under her skirt. Paul brought her a cup of tea, which she took with both hands and let it rest on her knees. Paul had lit the gas fireplace and the warmth was filling the room. Tiffany was staring at the flames in the fireplace as Paul watched her.

Paul had dated many pretty women during his rise to financial security, but none had radiated the inner beauty that Tiffany did. She is an amazing woman Paul thought.

Tiffany looked serene and at peace as she watched the flickering flames and felt her body relax. She sipped the warm liquid in the mug and noticed that she didn’t leave a smudge of lipstick. She had forgotten to reapply her makeup while she was in the bathroom.

Paul was looking at this beauty and found she was pretty even without makeup and so unpretentious. He was falling in love with the girl. Paul walked to Tiffany and took the cup from her hand.

“May I kiss you?” he asked.

Tiffany looked into his eyes and saw a caring look, one of love and understanding. Much to her surprise Tiffany wanted Paul to kiss her. Tiffany was finally behaving like a girl.

“Yes,” she said. “I’d like that.”

Paul took her in his arms and touched his lips to hers in a loving way. There was no hint of wanting to bed the girl, just a show of love and respect for the beauty. Tiffany wrapped her arms around Paul’s neck and held him tight as the kiss continued. Tiffany felt wonderful being held by this man, she felt protected and she felt feminine. Gone was the up tight conservative Dirk. She liked the new feelings she was getting from the kiss, she liked it a lot.

Paul and Tiffany parted lips and she cuddled against him and would remain this way for the rest of the evening. They would kiss and talk and kiss some more, but always in a loving way. Paul didn’t want to push Tiffany any further; he respected her too much for that.

Tiffany fell asleep in Paul’s arms, so he laid her gently on the couch and cover her with a soft angora blanket. Paul could see the innocence radiate from her face as she slept. You’re a lucky man Paul Bennington, he thought, as he gazed at the beauty. Paul was feeling differently about Tiffany than he had about the other women he had dated. This is the kind of woman a man married, he thought as he walked to his bedroom for a nights sleep.

Tiffany woke the next morning and wondered where she was. She felt the soft warmth from the blanket Paul had placed on her. She looked around and remembered where she was, in Paul’s apartment. She stretched her arms under the blanket and felt at peace with herself. She had spent the night in a man’s apartment and nothing bad had happened, in fact everything wonderful had. She was becoming excited about being Tiffany Rollins and having found a special man like Paul Bennington.

She sat up when she smelled the coffee brewing.

“Paul?” she called.

“I’m in the kitchen,” he responded.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“It’s almost nine,” he responded.

“Oh God, I should be on my way to work by now,” Tiffany said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll drive you to work, have a cup of coffee first. I made it with my very own hands,” he laughed.

Tiffany walked to the kitchen, her bare feet making a soft sound on the hardwood floor. Paul turned and gave her his best smile when he saw her. When Tiffany saw his smile she wanted to give him the biggest kiss she could, so she did.

“Wow, what was that for?” he asked.

“For being so special, thank you Paul,” she said.

“All I did was make some coffee,” he said.

“It’s more than that. You were a perfect gentleman last night. You treated me like a queen and I’ll never forget you Paul,” she said.

“You make it sound as though you’ll never see me again,” he said.

“Good heavens, did I make it sound like that? If you don’t ask me out again, I’ll never forgive you, but now I really have to go to work. It’s very rare when a model has any free time,” she said.

“Let me get my keys and we’ll be off,” he said.

“I have to go home first and bathe. I also have to change my clothes,” she said.

“I’ll wait, that way I can spend more time with you,” he said.

“You don’t have to,” she said.

“I insist. I’m not going to let the woman in my life ever have to be alone again,” he said.

Tiffany felt warm when he said that. God he was special and she could feel herself falling into a whole new world of feelings for someone. Tiffany was falling in love with a man and she didn’t mind at all, she was embracing it. She couldn’t help herself and kissed Paul again.

“We should go,” she said as the couple walked to the door.