Chapter 7: Having the talk

The next day I got up early and sent a fax. "Miss Spencer, I hope you enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving, Ben."

The words we overheard when Jen was talking to her sister, "I can't. I just can't sit at that table and pretend... ," haunted me. Was she saying she couldn't sit at her parents' Thanksgiving table and pretend that the man she had given her virginity wasn't there? Was she saying she couldn't pretend that she didn't love me? Millie, I decided, was the only person who could tell me what her sister was saying.

It was the day before Thanksgiving, not a good day to start a new job. We inventoried the left over building supplies stored in the garage and organized the tools we carried in the van. At mid-morning we took a coffee break in the kitchen and I made excuses to go upstairs. A fax, not thirty minutes old, had arrived from Miss. Spencer.

Dear Ben,

This is so naughty as it is contrary to company policy. My hands are trembling because I've never done anything like this before. I know you are twenty-five and I've seen your picture. To be fair, I'm including a picture of me at the bottom of this page. Can you guess how old I am?

Please... call me, Nadine

The picture was nothing like I had imagined from hearing her voice. Instead of a petite blond with a timid smile, Miss Spencer was a knock-out. Was this really her? Wanting to hear her voice again, I dialed her office number.

"Mr. Crumbly, this is highly irregular," she said in a hushed voice.

"Is that really you or did you send me a picture of a model?"

"That's really me. Some people think I'm big boned," she ended the sentence with a girlish giggle.

"You're beautiful. I can tell that the facsimile doesn't do you justice."

"Mr. Crumbly, please look at the bottom of the page. Is my cell phone number showing?"

It was, along with a note that her lunch hour was from twelve-thirty until one-thirty.

"Yes it is, but I couldn't wait to talk to you."

Another giggle, "You don't want me to be fired, do you?"

"I'll call at five past one," I said, knowing that she was in the Eastern Time zone, one hour ahead of us in the central.

Now, what to do with the fax and Nadine's picture? Should I show it to Ed? Should I hide it? I decided to leave it, face up, on the desk in my room. I made my own bed and kept the floor clean. There was no reason for Jen to go in there. She could only discover the fax my snooping. Secretly, I hoped she would.

At five past one, her time, we began our telephone romance. We were on a first name basis from the beginning. I told her I couldn't guess her age; she said she was thirty-one. She wanted me to guess her measurements; I said I couldn't. "I'm five-nine, thirty-six, twenty-six, thirty-five and my weight is one hundred and forty-four pounds."

"Send me another picture, in color. I want to see you in a swimsuit."

"I can't do that," she said, giggling.

"I love hearing you giggle," I said and heard her sigh.

We talked for ten minutes, careful to avoid any mention of the money I owed her company. I gave her my cell phone number and my email address. She said she rode the subway to work and lived with her mother. She agreed to send me another picture, in color, but said she didn't have pictures of her in a swim suit. Although it wasn't mentioned, I hung up thinking that I had an alley in my quest to lower the amount the credit card companies would accept in settlement.

We, just the three of us, were having a quiet Thanksgiving dinner when we heard a car door slam closed on the drive. Jen jumped up from the table to welcome her brother and his family. They removed their coats on the porch and entered the kitchen. Millie was with them.

Ed and I stood to shake hands with Tony. Millie made the introductions, reminding the two children that Ed was their uncle and Hannah, Tony's wife, that he was her brother-in-law. "And this is Ben," she said to Hannah and the two towheads.

"Do we have to call him uncle, too?" asked the little girl, making everyone laugh and breaking the tension in the room at the same time. I could tell by Tony's stoical expression that he still felt animosity toward me for the atrocity I had committed years ago, taking his little sister's virginity.

Jen was busy clearing the table, making coffee and offering everyone dessert when I had the idea to have some fun. "Millie, let's get out of here so they can talk about me. Are you driving or do I need to borrow Jen's car?"

My offer shocked everyone, except Millie. "I'm not driving. May we have your keys, sis?"

Jen glared at me and declared they weren't going to talk about me. Ed, seeing the distress on his wife's face, told me to sit down. "Sit down, you're not going anywhere," he said in the same demanding tone I remembered from when we were kids.

For one of the rare moments in my life, I stared my brother down. Ed, reading my mind, 'You may have stolen my girl, but you can't tell me what to do anymore, ' nodded to Jen, who reluctantly gave me the keys to the Mustang.

"Where are you going, Uncle Ben?" the little girl asked.

"I'm taking your aunt for a ride," I said, smiling at Hannah.

"That was so cool! Did you see my brother's face?" Millie asked when we got outside the house. I know exactly what he was thinking, 'The bastard fucked one of my sisters. Now he's going to fuck the other one.'"

I laughed, already enjoying her company. The streets were deserted. I looked over at her and asked, "Is that what you think?"

She squirmed in her seat, like she was giving it thought. "I don't know, but it was fun watching Tony think so, wasn't it?"

"You have a devious way of looking at things."

"So do you."

"You'll never know how devious until it's too late," I said, thinking of the information I planned to glean from her.