Oscar Night by Jennifer Brock In this installment, we see how novelist/screenwriter David Fine spends his Christmas alone as his girlfriend, fashion model Maritza Delgado has gone home to Venezuela for the holiday. David explores his feminine side a little more, helped in part by the fact that Maritza took all his underpants with her, forcing him to spend two weeks in her panties.

Part 7

The day after Maritza left, the major undertaking that would be her Christmas present began: he was going to get her closet redesigned. David rummaged through her drawers to try to find the pair of panties that offered the most coverage, but all of them seemed much too small. He wondered why he’d never noticed her affinity for tiny panties before. The pair he settled for on the first day were canary yellow, in some kind of cotton/spandex blend. They covered about half of his rear end, and had a nearly decent-sized triangle of fabric in front, but there was nothing to the sides but a double row of thin elastic string. He didn’t think the yellow would show through his linen pants. He completed his outfit with a powder blue silk blend polo shirt and sandals, since he’d be home all day.

It was still morning when Terrence came over. He was a contractor that Claude had recommended, who’d done amazing work for some of his friends. David had seen pictures of the closet systems Terrence had installed, and they looked like the sort of thing he was interested in, so he made an appointment. Terrence looked like the right kind of guy. He was a tall man, with broad, muscular shoulders and a strong jaw. His skin was a shade of tan that might have been from sun, or might have been from some mixing in his ancestry. His wavy black hair was kept in place by a fair amount of product. He wore a tight green T-shirt, faded jeans, and a well-worn pair of workboots. He carried a beaten leather messenger bag.

He shook David’s hand and introduced himself. David took him upstairs to the bedroom, and showed him Maritza’s closet. Terrence took out a clipboard and a measuring tape and began making notes and measurements, seeing how much space she currently was using. David showed him around to his office to see the rest of her wardrobe, and he made some more notes. Then he took some more measurements in the room, and in the office. He also opened David’s closet and made some notes. Then he looked around the bedroom, asking which drawers were whose, and making some more measurements.

He asked David whether any his bedroom set was a family heirloom, or if he had some kind of special attachment to it. David wasn’t really in love with his furniture, but he didn’t know why it mattered. Terrence said that he’d show David some ideas for replacing some of the pieces with new units that would coordinate with what he’d do in the closet. He pulled out a laptop computer and David left him alone for a while. He went down into the kitchen, made a pot of coffee and watched the news.

Terrence came down with a couple of ideas to show David. He had a 3D model of the bedroom on his computer. He started with a simple option, where all he did was rip out all the white wire shelving and hanging rods from the closet and replace it with his modular closet system components. He’d chosen a nice stained cherry that coordinated well with David’s bed. It did look nicer, and he told David she could probably get about 40% more of her things into the closet. He then punched up a revision of David’s closet that looked fairly decent. He explained that it would be weird when he went to resell the townhouse if the two bedroom closets were completely different, so he really ought to get them both done at the same time.

Finally, he showed how his system could work in the office closet. He had two thirds of it filled with a double row of hanging bars for Maritza’s surplus, and the other third had bookshelves at the top and file drawers on the bottom, so he could actually use his office for office stuff. He kind of liked that idea, but he wasn’t really sure how he managed to get talked into paying for three closet makeovers when he only wanted one originally.

Terrence had even more tricks up his sleeves. He said that just changing out the closet interior and installing his system would probably be enough of an improvement for some people, but what every woman really wants in a closet is one she can walk into. He opened up a new model of David’s second floor, where he’d made some serious revisions.

David’s closet was pretty much the same as in the first version, but Terrence had punched out the wall in the back of Maritza’s closet, and gone about three feet into the office. He showed what her new closet would look like, and it had two tiers of hanging bars across part of it for blouses and skirts and pants, and another part with taller bars for dresses and coats, and a double of row of special shoe drawers all along the bottom, and some pull-out baskets for flat storage of sweaters and things that don’t get hung up, and an integrated lingerie cabinet with drawers for all her delicates. The capper was that he’d added a full-length mirror to the back of the closet door, with full-spectrum lighting. David had to agree that it did look like the dream closet every woman had ever told him about.

But Terrence was just starting to show David his plan. Over in the office, he’d made a new closet in the space next to where Maritza’s closet jutted into the room, and it was all bookshelves and file drawers. Unlike the cherry in the bedroom, he’d used pieces with a more masculine oak finish. He showed how his modular units could be easily swapped out, so that if they needed to turn it back into a bedroom when the time came to sell, it would be easy to do. He recommended leaving the doors off until then.

On the other side of the room, he’d taken the frame off of the existing closet, making an alcove about two feet by six feet. When the room needed to be a bedroom, it might be a good spot for a twin bed, but for now it was a good location for David’s desk. And Terrence went one further. He showed how he could do a nice built-in desk that would match the closet elements. He pointed out the different features, about how it would have special compartments for his printer and his computer, and a wall mounted shelving unit with indirect lights underneath.

David was nodding at the idea of the built-in, so Terrence flipped back to the bedroom and showed a new layout of the room itself. Since there were now drawer elements in the closet, the bedroom didn’t need two large chests of drawers and a dresser as well. Since one chest had been doing double duty as a TV stand, Terrence’s new vision for the room had a large built-in multimedia cabinet opposite the bed. It matched perfectly the units in the closets, and had extra storage space as well as room for all his audio/video equipment and an assortment of CDs and DVDs.

The only old piece of furniture he’d kept in the room was the bed. On each side he’d added a freestanding nightstand from his collection that coordinated perfectly with the built-ins. Opposite the closets, he’d made another built-in, only this had drawers and cabinets on the sides and a place for Maritza to sit and do her makeup in the middle. And it had a mirror mounted on the wall above it with more concealed full-spectrum lighting.

It looked kind of weird to David, almost like a piece that belonged in a kitchen. But Terrence explained that built-in bedroom cabinetry was not something new. It was all over the place in Europe and some more modern parts of China and Japan. People used to have freestanding closets in their bedrooms until they met the convenience of building it in; it was only a matter of time before everyone did the same with their chests. He showed David some photographs of other rooms he’d done, and he had to admit they looked nice.

He asked if it would feel too much like a hotel, all cold and impersonal. Terrence popped open a video of a woman showing off her new bedroom and bragging about how much she loved it. She described how luxurious it felt, knowing that her pieces were made especially for her room. She also talked about how much easier it is to clean when you don’t have to go under the furniture, and nothing dropped on the floor ever gets lost.

David wasn’t sure. He said he had to think about it. Terrence printed out pictures of both the simple closet installation and the extensive remodeling, with a price quote on each one. The fancier version was thousands more than David had been expecting to pay, so he said he’d have to get back to Terrence later that day. The shook hands and he left.

David wasn’t sure if he was feeling pressure to do the big change because Terrence was such a good salesman, or because he just really liked the prettier rooms. He took his paperwork and went to see Claude for advice. Over a couple of light beers, Claude helped him get at what was really bugging him about the project. He was still afraid that Maritza was going to find someone else and leave him, and he’d be stuck living in the space he’d spent a small fortune to fix up for her.

Claude put his hand on David’s shoulder. “Wow. You’ve really got a lot on your mind. It sounds like you’re worrying about two different things at once.”

“What do you mean?”

“First, you’re feeling insecure about your relationship. And second, you think this is a lot of money to spend on fixing up a closet. Let’s look at that second part first, because it’s easier. You’re a famous author with two bestsellers to your name, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. You’re not living the life of luxury like most people in your shoes would. You can afford a few thousand for some home improvements. And it’s not like you’d be throwing your money away; it’s an investment. I’m sure you’ll make your money back when the time comes to sell your place.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“And I’m not hearing you say that you don’t like these designs. So I think you should go for it.”

“But what about the other thing?”

“Okay, you’re worried that your girlfriend is going to leave you and you’ll be stuck living with a bedroom you had built for her. If that happens and the place reminds you so much of her that you’re moody and depressed all the time, you can just move.”

“You’re not going to tell me that I’m worrying pointlessly? Do you know something? Is she secretly seeing someone else?” David’s voice showed that he was close to panicking.

“Hey! Back up a couple steps and take a breath. I’m a firm believer in the philosophy that all things are temporary. You should know me better than to think I’d back you up on your dream of finding happily ever after — I’m more the “find a happy now and let ever after take care of itself” kind of guy. I don’t know anything specifically about your girl losing interest in you. And from what I do know about her personality type from having worked with her, she’s very straightforward; if something wasn’t working for her, she’d tell you. If I’m remembering correctly what you told me, she was the first one to bring up the idea of a monogamous relationship with you. So I’d guess you’re pretty safe with her for now.”

“She’s only been gone a day, and I miss her already.”

“Aww, that’s sweet. You’re just lucky I’m in love myself or I’d vomit. But she’s gone on trips for business before, so what makes this one harder to take?”

“A couple things. I think mostly it’s the season. Christmas was always a big deal back home, and it’s bad enough that the weather around here doesn’t feel the slightest bit wintry, but it just wasn’t the same without anyone to share it with. Um, present company excepted, of course. It’s feeling kind of like that first lonely Christmas after Nana passed.”

“Well, it’s totally not the same. Maritza isn’t gone forever. You know she’ll be coming back. When’s she scheduled to return?”

“The twenty-eighth.”

“Good. Then I expect to see you both at my New Year’s Eve party.”

“I think we can do that. Thanks. I think it helps having something to look forward to. You’ve convinced me that I should call Terrence and go ahead with the project. It will give me something to take my mind off missing her.” He leaned in and continued in a conspiratorial whisper, “You know, she did something to make sure I’d be constantly reminded of her.”

Claude played along and whispered back, “Oh? What was that?”

“She took all my underwear with her. I’m stuck wearing her panties for the week.”

Claude’s eyes widened. This was working better than if he had planned it. “How’s that working out for you?”

“They’re not very comfortable. I couldn’t find a pair with enough room in the front.”

“There’s an easy solution to that. Push your genitals back between your legs and your panties will fit better. Just make sure you’ve got a pair with decent width in the crotch.”

“That sounds like the voice of experience.”

“I was young and trying to discover what it meant for me to be gay and into fashion. I tried that scene for a while, and it really wasn’t my cup of tea.” Claude was afraid this topic of conversation might scare David off, so he changed the subject. “Anyway, I think you should call Terrence back right away, to make sure he can schedule the job to have it all done before she gets back. If you left him with the impression you’d be turning him down, he might be out trying to drum up a new project.”

David pulled out his cell and called Terrence, telling him he wanted to go ahead with the big remodel. He said that ideally he’d like it finished before the twenty-eighth, and Terrence took a moment to check his inventory and then said that it shouldn’t be a problem getting the materials in that time frame. The tricky part would be trying to get permits and schedule building inspections on short notice on a holiday week, but he thought he could call in a few favors to get it done.

David said he could pay extra to have it done quickly, but Terrence insisted that he would only do work if it was done with all the right codes and permits. And particularly because there would be some electrical work involved, it would mess with David’s insurance if they tried to cut corners. Claude had an idea and took the phone to suggest that Terrence could try looking for an inspector who liked to read, and maybe David could sign a first edition for them or something. He said he’d see what he could do.

***

Tucking things back did make his panties fit better, although he wouldn’t exactly call it “comfortable.” He caught his reflection in the mirror as he was dressing and it was weird. With smooth legs coming out of lacy panties with no unsightly bulges, and long hair and shiny nails and little gold earrings, he almost looked like an ugly woman with no figure. He hadn’t realized until that moment how all the little things he’d done to change his style weren’t just things that gay men and “metrosexuals” did; they were things that women did.

He wasn’t exactly sure if he wanted to be that feminine, and his dilemma was made worse when Maritza called him the day after she arrived. She was laughing, and told a story about how she’d shown her mother a picture of him on her phone, and she’d yelled at her. Her mother thought Maritza was showing her a woman, and didn’t want her daughter having a girlfriend that wouldn’t be able to give her grandchildren. Maritza had to show her a copy of one of his books with his picture on the back cover to prove that he was a man. She thought that was hilarious, but it made him feel a little uneasy.

Then it just got strange when Maritza started talking all sexily about putting her hand down into his boxers, describing in detail his pair with the red and gray stripes, and he finally understood that she was talking about the ones she was actually wearing. She’d been describing how she was touching herself. She then wanted him to tell her which of her panties he was wearing, and it got very awkward. Part of it was that he didn’t really have the right vocabulary to describe them.

He said that he’d picked them because they were blue, but after he put them on he found out that they were like lace everywhere except the cotton crotch panel, and they were very clingy. The waist was very low, and didn’t quite come all the way up to the top of his rear. She told him that he must be wearing her sexy stretch lace boyleg panties, and pointed out that she had a stretch lace camisole top that matched them. She thought it would probably fit him, since their chest measurements were around the same size. She teased him that it would be so sexy if he got it out and put it on.

He tried to humor her and just pretend to put it on, so he let her talk him through finding it in her lingerie drawer. It was really not much more than a tank top made of the same stretchy lace material as the panties. At that point it seemed easier to just put it on than to try to lie to her. Her guess was right — it did fit. But then she wanted him to do things to himself that took him even further from his comfort zone.

She had him describe how his nipples looked through the lace, and then pinch them until they stiffened. Then she wanted him to slip one hand inside his top and stroke his “breast,” while his other hand reached back to tease his “booty cleavage.” He had to admit that it was turning him on a little, but when she talked about slipping a finger inside herself and wanted him to do the same, he drew the line. He brought his hand around to the front of his panties instead and stroked himself until she got herself off and ended the call.

It was a strange experience, but he went to sleep still wearing her lingerie anyway. He breathed in the perfume still in her pillow, and slept on her side of the bed. He imagined that it was her silky leg he was touching, and her smooth arms that were holding him, and he drifted off into a dreamland of fantasy.

***

A couple days later, a large van showed up at David’s townhouse, and four people got out and started unloading equipment. Terrence introduced the rest of his crew. Jorge and Rafael were both well-muscled Latino men in sleeveless t-shirts. They looked similar enough that they were probably brothers, but David didn’t want to say anything in case they weren’t related and he was just having a “they all look alike” moment. Karen was a tall black woman who radiated glamour even in her work clothes. Terrence had them carry in three large rolling garment racks like you’d see in the costume department of a film studio.

He asked David if he had any objection to other people touching his clothes; sometimes his clients didn’t realize that having people working in your closet meant having people handling your things. David chuckled and said he didn’t mind. The first step in the process was clearing everything out of the old closets. Jorge dropped off a stack of collapsible plastic crates in the office, and Terrence asked David to break down his computer, and to pack up anything confidential from his desk area; his crew could handle the rest.

It was amazing. In the space of a few hours, they’d cleaned out two rooms. His living room was now filled with racks of hanging clothes and a couple neat stacks of crates, all labeled with Post-Its. His bedroom now contained only a bed, which was shoved over against the wall. The only thing he was keeping from his writing room was the chair, and it had been carried down to the dining room. His old desk, file cabinet, and chests of drawers were loaded into a truck and hauled off to be donated to the needy.

The next day, David had to go down to the living room in his bathrobe to look for something to wear. He felt very subconscious about needing to find the box in the stack labeled “Lingerie: bras and panties” before he could get dressed. He had to move three boxes to get into it, so he was in quite a hurry and just went with the first pair of panties he could find. They were satiny with a leopard print and almost a thong in the back. He put the boxes back and pulled a shirt and a pair of pants off the rack of things from his closet.

Once the workers arrived, the morning was dedicated to demolition. David had to move his car so that a temporary dumpster could be parked in his space. The first things that went were the doors from all three closets, and then they ripped out all the interior wire shelving. They’d gutted his closets completely in the time it took him to make a pot of coffee and then bring a tray of cups up to them. It was kind of cool seeing how big the space in the closets looked with nothing in them.

After their coffee break, the demolition got more serious. They covered his bed with a drop cloth, and then started ripping out the drywall inside the closets. It was dusty work and he wasn’t wearing a breathing mask so they shooed him out. They threw most of the pieces into the dumpster from the bedroom window, which kept the mess from spreading through the house.

After tearing out the drywall, they used a cool little cordless power saw and cut out the studs from the back of Maritza’s closet, and from where the front of the closet had been in the office. It was really pretty cool. When they were all done smashing stuff, they used a heavy-duty vacuum and cleaned up after themselves.

Karen found David and talked to him about some details he hadn’t even thought about. She needed to order the materials they’d be needing after the new walls were done. She had a few paint chips to show him, to pick the color of the walls in his office, and to pick the interior color for Maritza’s closet. She had little samples of the wood finishes that would be used in each room. She suggested a white for the closet that she said had a bit of pink in it, although he couldn’t see it. It just looked white next to the cherry. I seemed to work okay, so he agreed to it.

For the office, she had a couple of color options. One was a pale celery green that seemed to work well with the golden tones of the oak, but seemed a little too cool to him. The other was a parchment yellow that he felt would be a better environment to work in, so he picked that one.

Next she had carpet samples to show him. First, since he’d gone for the yellow walls, she had a tan sample that she wanted to use in the office. It had a low, tight pile that would make it easier for his desk chair to roll around. He thought that was a good decision. And remarked that he was impressed with how thorough they were

She then showed him a piece that had been cut from the existing carpet from Maritza’s closet, and the closest she could come to it with a similar Berber. She said they could use that in the floor of the new closet, or they could just cut a piece from the old carpet from the office and use that, which would be a perfect match to the rug in the bedroom but it wouldn’t look as new.

He thought about it and decided that it was more important for the closet to seem continuous with the room, so he voted for cutting it from the old one. Karen went up to tell the team to save a chunk before they threw the old carpet out the window, and she was just in time.

The last step they did that day was the framing for the new walls. They took measurements down to their truck where they had a miter saw and a stack of two-by-fours. Since the new closet walls weren’t very big they had them framed out in no time.

Terrence came back alone the next day, to run the wires for the new electrical connections. But then they had to wait a couple days to get inspectors to come in and check things before the new drywall could go up.

***

While he had a couple days to kill, David took a huge step. He took both his mother’s and his grandmother’s diamond rings to a jeweler to get them cleaned. He wasn’t definitely going to give on to Maritza, but he wanted to have them ready, just in case. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to ask her. She might not be ready to answer.

The jeweler wanted to know if he wanted to get either of the rings sized, to make sure they’d fit his intended. He wasn’t sure, so he called Claude and dragged him down there for an opinion.

David felt that his grandmother’s ring had a stronger sentimental connection for him, but Claude thought its marquise cut diamond wouldn’t fit Maritza’s hand as well as the more classic round cut on his mother’s.

But he also thought that it would be a mistake. “This isn’t the right time for you to ask her. Hang onto these rings a little longer.”

“But I know she’s the one now. I don’t need any more time to decide.”

“You need to be asking for the right reason. I think you’re still insecure. You wouldn’t be asking because you’re ready to build a future with her together; you’d be asking because you’re afraid of being alone. I think you just need to give it a little more time, so that by the time you’re ready to ask you’d be sure what her answer will be.”

“I know you don’t believe in marriage. Are you just trying to work on convincing me to share your opinion?”

“I am a strong believer in romance, and I know what you dream of having the wife and kids thing, and I want you to be happy. I just don’t think you’re ready. She could very well be the one, and if she is she’ll still be there in a couple months. You’re already doing the big closet thing for Christmas; maybe you can save the diamond for Valentine’s Day.”

“Okay. Maybe that’s a better plan. So which one should I get sized, and should I do it now or wait?”

“I’ll tell you what. Let me hang onto them for you. I’ll get some similar pieces the next time I use her in a show, and I’ll try to see which style she likes better. And then I’ll take that one to get sized for you, and when you’re ready to ask her I can give them back to you and let you know which one to use.”

“Wow. You’d use your show to do something like that for me?”

“That’s what friends are for, David. I’m sure if I ever needed a big favor you’d be there for me, but this time it’s my turn to be there for you.” Claude expected that he would be asking David for something huge in the not too distant future, but he really did believe that he was acting in his friend’s best interests.

***

The building inspector signed off on the framing, and then a day later the electrical inspector also approved the work that had been done. As soon as he left, Terrence’s boys were back to work, putting up the new drywall. It wasn’t a very big wall, so it didn’t take long at all. They taped up and spackled the seams and left it to dry overnight.

The next day, they came to paint. First, the bare walls got a coat of primer, and then the colors went up. David felt like he should be trying to help, but the team worked together so efficiently, it seemed like it would be like trying to cut in at a ballet performance. While the paint was drying, Terrence double-checked the measurements.

The next day was a Sunday, but they came back anyway to install the carpeting. They must have taken the old piece from the office to be steam-cleaned or something, because it looked new when they put it down in Maritza’s new closet. And it blended perfectly with the bedroom carpet.

The new carpet in the office looked great. Even though this project started out as doing something for his sweetie, David was getting a pretty cool writing room out of the deal. The office side of the new wall then got new baseboards, in a finish that would match the new woodwork. David hadn’t noticed when they’d ripped the rest of the baseboards out in there, but the whole room had new ones by the end of the day.

The day after that was Christmas Eve, and David felt bad that they were still working for him on a holiday. He went to Terrence and told him that he’d rather the project not get done on time than to have to make people work through the holiday. Terrence compromised by only working half a day on Christmas Eve, and taking Christmas off completely, but only if David would let them work an extra-long day on the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh. David still thought they were working too hard, but agreed.

Their projects for the day were installing the built-ins in the bedroom and the desk in the office. They’d partially pre-assembled everything at their shop, so they were able to get it all installed in a few hours. David shook Terrence’s hand and thanked everyone for doing a good job so far. He gave each of them a Christmas card with a hundred dollar bill inside on their way out. He’d thought about trying to get them gifts but had no idea what to get.

He brought his chair back up to the office and set his computer on his new desk, and he really liked it. He tried to call Maritza but her phone went to voice mail; they must have already gone to mass. He wasn’t sure what time it was for them, or what time they’d be in church. So he slipped one of her nightgowns over her pillow and cuddled with it for a while. He really missed her, but it was still too early to go to sleep.

He went down to the kitchen and tried to have some dinner. But it was Christmas Eve, and he had a big pile of leftover cookies that the renovators hadn’t eaten. So after his cheese sandwich dinner, he sat eating cookies and drinking eggnog, because you had to have eggnog with Christmas cookies, and you had to have rum in your eggnog; it just wouldn’t be proper otherwise.

So he sat there at his dining room table, sipping well-fortified eggnog and eating cookies, while staring into the living room at the racks on which all Maritza’s clothes were hanging. He was drunk enough to have gotten a little silly, and a little sappy, and thought about how easy it had been to imagine that Maritza was still around when she had made him wear her lacy lingerie top. He looked over again at the garment racks, and wondered if she had anything else made of that material.

He brought his cup with him and walked over to browse the racks, just out of curiosity. He wasn’t going to do anything with her clothes; he just wanted to look. But then he saw this thing that was probably a nightgown. The top part of it was that stretchy lace stuff like the camisole he’d worn before, but below the waist it billowed out into a satiny skirt. It was a bright Christmas red, which made it even more perfect. If he were to put it on, it would be like Maritza was there with him to celebrate the holiday. She also had a nice bright red robe that might have been supposed to go with it, so he took that too. Then he went to the box and picked out a pair of red bikini panties to complete his ensemble.

He was giggling and a little too giddy when he tiptoed up the stairs. He took off his clothes and then realized that if he was going to do this, he needed to do it right. It wouldn’t be fair to those pretty things to go onto the body he’d been sweating in all day. He took a shower, making sure to use the flowery-smelling soaps that Maritza liked him to use, and ran the conditioner through his hair twice.

She’d taken some of her grooming tools with her, but not all of them. David tried to copy her routine for drying her hair, using the thing with the little fingers that snapped onto the end of the hairdryer, and one of her special brushes with the vent holes in them. He thought he got it right, because his hair came out fuller than he’d ever seen it before.

He sniffed all of the perfume bottles she’d left behind until he found the scent that he enjoyed the most when she wore it. He sprayed some all over, and then closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. It was easy to imagine that it was her hair he was touching. He shivered, and realized that he wasn’t wearing anything.

He went to the bedroom and sat on the bed to get dressed, but decided that it would be really wrong and hard to explain if he made a mess in her panties. He got a towel and a bottle of her lotion and took care of things. When he’d finished he shoved his softened parts back and pulled up his panties. Then he took a deep breath and crossed his fingers, and tried the gown on. It fit! It was kind of tight around the waist, but it was elastic and he got it around himself okay.

He looked in the mirror, and he saw a homely woman in a pretty Christmas gown. If he squinted his eyes, he could fuzz the image enough make her more attractive. He ran his hands along her lacy breasts and over her silky rear. He parted his lips and imagined a kiss. He got into bed and the skirt rode way up, so he had to get out and try it again, trying to remember how Maritza would do it. He smoothed down the silky skirt then sat on the edge of the bed, and held the gown onto his legs as he swung them around. He felt like a girl in her bed on Christmas, but around then all that rum caught up to him and he became very sleepy. He drifted off before he got a chance to fantasize.

A huge headache pounding in his skull woke David up the next morning. He felt a little disoriented, and only remembered what he was wearing when he got out of bed. He stumbled to the bathroom and took a couple aspirin, then took a moment trying to figure out how to maneuver all his clothing to use the toilet. It seemed like it would be easier to just hold his skirt up with one hand and sit like a woman. He wiped when he finished, since it seemed appropriate, and he didn’t want to drip on Maritza’s nice things.

He stood up, tucked himself back into his panties, and let the gown drop. There was that woman again in the mirror. Her hair wasn’t as fluffed up, but it had that gorgeous, messy, “just had sex” look to it. He still could smell her perfume, so he wasn’t ready to shower and change yet. He slipped into the coordinating robe and went downstairs.

He put on a pot of coffee and poured himself a glass of cranberry juice while he waited. Sitting in a chair in a nightgown felt strange. He tried crossing his legs like a woman, and there was an odd sensation when his silky smooth legs rubbed against each other. He looked down at his bare toes and wished his feet were just a little smaller so he could fit into Maritza’s shoes.

He remembered that she did have a pair of slippers that were pretty much socks with special soles on the bottom, and those might actually fit him. He dashed into the living room to figure out which crate they’d be in. It took him a few tries before he found them in with some other slippers. They had pink and white stripes, which didn’t quite go with his red nightgown, but they fit.

The coffee maker beeped, and a large cup with plenty of cream later, David was in better spirits. He had a sudden realization that it was Christmas morning, and he turned on the stereo for some holiday cheer. His favorite radio station had changed to an all-carols format for the week. As the throbbing in his head settled down, he started singing along with the songs. When “Deck the Halls” came on, and he got to “don we now our gay apparel,” he danced a little twirl to show off his gown, and started giggling uncontrollably.

As he was dancing around the room, he also realized that his halls had not been decked as yet. They were supposed to celebrating a late Christmas when Maritza got home, but his townhouse was still undecorated. He’d been focusing so much on getting her present ready (and a little time playing around in her underwear) that he hadn’t gotten out his boxes of decorations yet. He didn’t even have his tree up.

If he were to go get out his Christmas stuff, he’d then need to get dressed, and he was still having fun in his sleepwear, so he put it off and got something to eat. The little curious voice in the back of his head said that if he did have to take off the nightgown to work on Christmassing up the place, maybe he could try on some more of her clothes and wear what she would have worn to if she were doing the decorating. But his sensible nature prevailed, and after breakfast he put on jeans and a t-shirt and a pair of his own moccasins and lugged his holiday stuff out of the garage.

He needed space to put up his Christmas tree, so he pushed his dining table over and rolled the garment racks into his dining area. His tree was a seven-foot tall pre-lighted artificial spruce that he’d picked up not long after coming to California. Getting real trees always used to depress him, as they’d stand in a saucer of water and slowly die, shedding needles all over the carpet.

He had about half the ornaments on the tree when his phone rang. He got his hopes up that it was his Sweetheart, but it was just Claude checking in to make sure he was okay all by himself. He and Antoine had gone skiing in Utah for the holiday. It amused Claude to flaunt his boyfriend in front of a state full of Mormons who wanted his tourist dollars. David told him he’d been decorating, but skipped the part about twirling around in a lacy nightgown.

He got the rest of the ornaments on the tree and then took a break to eat lunch, even though it was already nearly suppertime. He wasn’t too hungry so he just pulled some leftovers together into a sandwich. He wondered what time it was in Venezuela, and if it would be a good time to call. There was only one way to find out. He opened his phone and pushed the button.

She answered on the second ring. “Oh, hey Baby! Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you, too. Is it okay to call now?”

“Sure. We weren’t doing much. Yesterday was when we do the big celebration. Today is for peaceful reflection.”

“I was doing some reflecting, but mostly just about how I missed you. I’m glad you’ll be back here in three days.”

“I miss you too, Baby. It’s nice to see my family, but I’m just about ready to go back home to you.”

“I’ll have a big surprise present to show you, that I hope you like.” David hoped the construction would all be finished before she got back.

“I’ve been working on a surprise for you, too. And I’ve made arrangements for something extra special to be delivered the week after I come home.”

“You’re definitely piquing my interest. Will I get my surprise right away? I don’t think I’ll be able to keep from giving you your surprise as soon as you’re here again.”

“I’m not sure. It might have to wait until Sunday.”

“That reminds me, we’ve been invited to a New Year’s Eve party at Claude’s. Can I accept for us?”

“He’s your best friend, and sometimes my boss, so I think I’d have to say yes.”

“Thanks. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Maritza sort of whispered her response, and David could overhear some loud female voices in the background talking rapid Spanish. “My mother is overreacting right now, and I have to go calm her down. I’ll talk to you later, Baby!” She hung up to quickly for him to say goodbye.

He finished with his decorations and then debated with himself over what to wear to bed. Part of him wanted to see how much fun he could have in her nightgown if he didn’t fall asleep right away, but another part of him was terrified that he might like that too much. He ended up choosing to slip between the sheets completely naked. It turned out there was still a lingering aroma of perfume on the pillow, so that curious part of himself had an easy time running his hands over soft, smooth skin and imagining a nude woman in the bed.

***

The next morning, he picked a particularly feminine pair of panties, just to be fun. They were pale purple satin with pretty ivory-colored lace all around the leg openings. They only covered about a third of each cheek in back, letting the rest peek out sexily. He could really feel his jeans against his bare skin when he sat down.

The crew arrived and went straight to work. The first step in installing the closet system involved attaching some bracket-type hardware to the closet walls. They had to be measured precisely, and David could tell that his watching them work wasn’t helping any. He left to make sure there would be coffee when they were ready to take a break.

Karen was down in the living room double-checking her inventory lists, and sorting Maritza’s hanging things by length to make sure that their plan allowed for enough space for everything. She noticed David coming into the room and pulled him aside. “Can I speak frankly with you?”

“Sure. Is there a problem? Will everything not fit or something?”

“No, nothing like that — I was going over my count of drawers and noticed something.”

David wasn’t sure he liked the expression on her face. She looked devious. “What’s the matter?”

“Well, drawers. You don’t have any.” His confused face made her explain further. “You know how we’re putting in ‘His’ and ‘Hers’ closets? I realized that we don’t have any underpants for the ‘His’ closet here, even though our plan was going to give you a drawer for them. And when I checked your laundry hamper, (I wasn’t snooping; we’re putting new ones in the closets, so I had to make sure all your laundry would fit) I saw that all you’ve got in there is ladies’ panties. I don’t know why you thought you had to tell us some elaborate story about your imaginary girlfriend. Terrence has done closets for transvestites before. If you’d just been straight with us — oh wait, wrong turn of phrase — if you’d just been honest and told us both closets were for you, we might have been able to fit your needs better.” She folded her arms and glared at him.

David was close to losing his composure. He’d been so stupid! He should have expected the people working on his closet to have noticed that! He told Karen his whole embarrassing story about how his girlfriend had taken all his underwear on vacation with her, and he had to show her several pictures of Maritza on his phone before she’d believe him, but by the end they were both laughing. She agreed not to tell the boys his little secret, and would be going ahead with giving him an empty underwear drawer in his new closet.

Once all the brackets were in place, Rafael and Jorge starting bringing the modular pieces that would attach to them in from off the truck. They were very nice looking pieces of cabinetry, all cherry and brushed nickel. They brought David up to see how Maritza’s closet looked empty, and it was very impressive. It looked exactly like it had on the computer.

While Karen and Terrence worked on loading Maritza’s wardrobe into all the assigned spaces, the boys started putting the brackets in the other closets. They were a very well organized team, and David still just felt in the way. They were going so smoothly, it looked like they’d be finished that day without having to stay too late. He asked if they’d let him cook a nice dinner for them in appreciation for their outstanding work, and they took him up on the offer.

He kept busy in the kitchen and stayed out of their hair. He made his chicken and dumplings, because that recipe was easy to extend to a larger group. He didn’t have enough of any one fresh vegetable, so he steamed a combination of broccoli, carrots, and snow peas, and served them in a light butter sauce. It was a simple meal, but they all ate heartily and complimented him. He humbly said it was the least he could do after they gave him such beautiful new rooms.

He gave Terrence his final check, and thanked him again. They packed up their equipment, and all David had to do was load his confidential files into his new filing cabinet. He loved his new writing room, and was sure it would be an excellent space to work in. He started working on notes for a new novel just to be sure. The new indirect lighting was perfect for word processing.

***

Claude came over to see the new closets the next day and simply gushed over them. He absolutely loved the woodwork, but the best thing in his opinion was the full-length, natural light mirror. He was so jealous of Maritza, and warned David that he should rest up before getting her at the airport, because she would be screwing his brains out in gratitude for hours over getting such a spectacular space!

Of course, he was so anxious he barely got any sleep the night before she was to return. He thought about taking her car, so she could drive it home. But he’d hate to have something happen to her Baby while he was behind the wheel; she’d never forgive him.

When she saw him waiting when she got through customs, she wanted to drop her suitcases and run into his arms, but there was a security guy standing by a sign telling people to stay with their bags. So she had to work her way through to him and hand him her luggage before she could through her arms around him and kiss him forever.

When they came up for air, they exchanged “I love you”s and had a little debate about who missed whom more, that nauseated the old married couples around them, but they didn’t care. She was home. A few more kisses accompanied their walk through the parking lot. Her flight had worn her out; David was glad he hadn’t made her drive.

She was so tired when they got to the townhouse that she just wanted to collapse. She asked if her surprise could wait until the next day, and pouted at him when he said he didn’t think it could. But then he led her upstairs into the bedroom, and she saw the new furniture, and the new closet doors, and she smiled when she realized what her surprise was.

He opened the door and showed her her new closet, and she got a kind of second wind cooing over all the wonderful little spaces. It took a moment for her to notice that she had much more closet than before, and he took her around to see the changes to his office. She approved. He brought her back to the bedroom, and made sure she saw all the features of her new dresser with integrated vanity table and lighted mirror, and then she started fading again.

He helped her undress down to his green striped boxers, and then stripped himself down to her sheer yellow boyleg panties, and then spooned her as she drifted off to sleep.