I become a sub-tenant

I’m about to graduate from massage school, and I’ve leased office space to set up a private practice. Sub-leased, actually. From a confident, assertive, sexy woman. D works in a related field. But her line of work carries more responsibility, authority, and status than mine, and I’m sure she makes a good deal more money than I will. She has a successful private practice that she recently moved to an office building near where I live. She leased more space than she needed, and had two spare rooms available. I’m sub-leasing one of the rooms, and will share it with another graduating student, who is also a woman. D tells me the other room is going to another woman practitioner in a related field, so I’ll be the only man in the office. Maybe I’ll find some menial work to do around the office, to support the women in their professional work.

D is about 40, trim and energetic. She’s not conventionally pretty, but she does have a very nice, shapely body, and she dresses somewhat provocatively. Her nipples push visibly against her sweater, and several times I’ve caught a glimpse of her tiny panties peeking out at the back of her low-rise slacks. Ooh, I can’t think of her only as a professional.

D has a boyfriend who seems eager to serve her. One day when I was over at her office she was having trouble with her computer. She called up her bf and described the problem. When he didn’t have an instant fix she got impatient and ended the call, saying don’t worry about it. But ten minutes later he showed up, to see what he could do in person. Was that sweet submission, or what?

It took about four in-person meetings to negotiate the sub-lease. Mid-process, I had a shift in attitude. I started out focusing on protecting my interests. I thought of particular clauses I wanted inserted into the sub-lease, and how to word them. This was slowing things down, and I could tell it was causing D some frustration. Then I realized that I really did want the space, even if everything wasn’t air-tight legally. And I was concerned if I insisted too much, D might find someone else to rent to. So I shifted my focus to getting the deal done. I went out of my way to make it easier for D—literally. Early on I’d asked her to mail me the next draft. She didn’t, and I ended up going to her office every time. Once she called 30 minutes before our appointment and said she was delayed, and she would call me when she was available. She called four hours later, and I left work right away to meet her. I agreed to language she preferred. I accepted her verbal assurances on some points, then signed the document acknowledging that I was not relying on any verbal assurances. I decided to trust that things were going to be all right. And I felt good about it.

There is a lot of asymmetry in being a sub-tenant:

I am bound (oh, delicious phrase!) by the terms of D’s lease with the building owner, even though I wasn’t able to negotiate any of it. It was a take-it-or-leave it deal. I took it, smiling and saying “thank you.” D gave me a copy of the lease. There were heavy black lines obscuring the parts that specified her rent. This is fair. I don’t need to know that detail of her arrangement. I am sure she is marking up the space I’m sub-leasing, on a per-square-foot basis. She knows how much, and I don’t, and that’s just the way it is. She had the initiative, the capital, and the successful practice to support this move, and I am dependent on her. And I appreciate her leadership, real-estate-wise.

I’m not allowed to talk to the building management. If I have any concerns about the space, I have to talk to D, who will talk to them.

As tenant, D gets a sign on the door, gratis. I can get a sign, but I have to pay for it. So I asked D to order a sign for me, promising to repay her. She graciously agreed. I don’t even know what it’s going to cost me. But I didn’t want to trouble D to have to ask the cost, report back to me, and then order the sign. She is a busy woman, with many clients. This sub-male sub-tenant would rather conduct business in the dark than ask D to do something extra.

While negotiating, D asked if I was OK with staying out of her treatment room, describing it as “sacred space”. I agreed. Then she asked if it would to be OK for her to come into my room. It has the only sink in the suite, and she might need to use it. Not while I have a client, certainly, but perhaps at other times. I agreed. No matter how infrequently she uses that sink, the distinction has been drawn. She has sacred space, not to be defiled by me. I have the plumbing, and no privacy.

As we were wrapping up negotiations, D remarked, “You’re going to be my sub-tenant. That sounds so…” Her voice trailed off.

“Feudal?”, I suggested.

D smiled, and so did I.