chapter 2

About half way through month number four of the Hilly/Brad Connection, some of the magic began to wear off. Oh the passion was there all right, Hilly had never experience both sexual desire and carnal satisfaction in her entire life and she wasn't about to give THAT up. And the love for Brad continued, perhaps not as uncritical as it had been before, but how could anyone NOT love someone as kind and considerate as Brad. He was at her apartment nearly every day, cooking her dinner, rubbing her tired feet, massaging her slightly softer belly. Clearly Brad was in love with her, or so Hilly thought and she would be ungrateful not to return his great affection. But some of the intensity of the early days was clearly missing, and there was something else too. Hilly couldn't quite put her finger on it.

To a certain extent it might have been guilt. Hilly had gained nearly twenty pounds since she started going out with Brad and had outgrown nearly her entire wardrobe, a wardrobe Brad was only too happy to replace. Had she been just a bit more clear-headed Hilly might have seen some of the darker shadings of Brad's feelings for her. But she was still in love and even more in lust and as a result she couldn't quite put some of Brad's "quirks" into perspective.

Fortunately for Brad, Hilly had been raised in a strict family environment. Her parents drummed the whole idea of personal accountability into Hilly's head ever since she was a little girl. If she didn't get all A's in school, it was because she didn't study hard enough. If her room didn't meet her mother's perfectionist expectations, it was because she was a lazy slob. And if she was the least little overweight, it was because she was a fat pig with no sense of self-control.

As a result, Hilly wasn't able to notice how Brad had very subtly put her into a position where she would start to gain weight. Instead, Hilly just blamed herself. She took on too much at work, robbing her of precious gym time to work off some of the excess calories Brad had plied her with. She stopped climbing the stairs or walking to the store. Her excuse? She was just too busy to be that active. Of course, her heightened sense of accountability just made her blame herself for the added twenty pounds she was carrying around.

Perhaps Hilly had been oblivious to Brad's ulterior motives, but Brad didn't miss a thing. He could see that guilt played a huge part in Hilly's life and he played that card to the hilt. He knew just how to look terribly disappointed whenever Hilly said she had eaten enough at one of the sumptuous dinners Brad always ordered for her. He knew just how to make her feel ungrateful for all the great meals he was preparing for her and all the nice little snacks he was constantly bringing to her office.

Therefore it wasn't surprising that month four of the Hilly/Brand Connection added another eight pounds to her slightly padded physique. By this time Hilly was afraid she was getting fat. Brad, of course, knew just how to handle it. First, he used logic. The fact is, when she weighed just barely over a hundred pounds, Hilly was definitely underweight. So when Hilly asked Brad if she was getting fat, he didn't fall into the trap of using all kinds of insincere compliments about how GREAT she looked. He appealed to Hilly, the scientist. He'd ask her how tall she was. She'd say five feet six. He asked her how much she weighed. By this time she was up to one hundred and thirty-four pounds, over twenty-five pounds heavier than she had been before. But then he'd ask her when her BMI was and she had to admit it was only 21.6 which was clearly a normal weight.

Somewhere about the middle of month five, Brad suggested that Hilly move into his luxurious condo on Chicago's Gold Coast. It was very close to the hospital, walking distance in fact. And the reduced commuting time would give her more time at the gym, if she was THAT concerned about getting fat.

And so it was that Hilly moved in with Brad. She was happy. She was in love. And she would be with Brad ALL the time. It was a fateful decision to say the least!