Chapter 10: A Trip to Milford, Part II

September 1981, Milford, Ohio

Kara came into the living room when the dishes were done and took my hand and led me to the den. We sat in our chairs, as her father insisted.

“Did you put your mom up to that ice cream date?” I asked.

“No! I was just as surprised as you were. I could tell that dad was really upset at her. And when you stepped in, I thought he was going to blow a gasket. You agreed with him and made him look bad at the same time. And then, when mom did that thing with the dishes, you really twisted the knife.”

“Your mom did that one on purpose,” I grinned. “I’m glad I caught it. She’s taking a real chance, and I’m not sure she should have said those things in front of us.”

“I think she’s frustrated, Snuggle Bear. She’s afraid I’ll leave home and never come back because of him. I think he just doesn’t see it and thinks if he puts enough pressure on me, I’ll give up on you. That is NOT going to happen. Well, unless you give up on me!”

“That’s not going to happen, either! You can thank your mom for me, but I don’t think she’s helping right now.”

“When do you think you can come home again?” Kara asked.

“I don’t know yet. Classes haven’t become tough yet, but I’m already having to budget my time. There is way more homework than in High School. I’ll let you know in the next few weeks. But I can come for lunch on Monday if you want.”

“Of course I want. Let me go ask mom!”

She bounced out of the den and was back within a minute.

“She said yes! Too bad dad will be here, otherwise I might be able to get her to go shopping!” she giggled.

“I’d like that, but we have to be very careful with your dad.”

“I know,” she sighed. “Will you be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what days I’ll be here during Christmas break, but I’ll let you know.”

“Do you want to join us for Thanksgiving dinner?” she asked.

“I will if you want me to, but that would be about the least thankful day your dad could imagine.”

“True. I’ll discuss it with mom and we’ll see.”

We chatted for another hour or so about school, friends, and other mundane subjects. Right on schedule, her dad announced it was time for me to leave. Kara, foolishly in my opinion, made a point of grabbing me and kissing me hard and hugging me tightly in his sight. I felt all that would do was antagonize him, but I hugged her and kissed her back.

“I love you, Steve!” she said firmly.

“I love you too, Kara!”

“See you Monday!” she said sweetly as I walked out the door.

I was half-tempted to find out where Sandy and her family lived and give them a piece of my mind, but I figured that would only be throwing gasoline on the fire. Given the circumstances, the best thing to do was simply ignore it. Kara wasn’t going to go on a date with the preacher’s kid come hell or high water, and as such, I was happy to just let things be. It was still early, so I decided to drop by Larry’s house and see if he was home.

Larry was home and invited me in. We spent a couple of hours hanging out, and then I headed back to Don Joseph’s house. I stopped in the main house to say ‘hello’ and then went out to the guest house. I grabbed my book on the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and started reading. I was only on the second chapter when I found the first reference to Mikael Suslov. It was only a reference to his birth and a notation that he would rise to importance. I continued reading until after 11:00pm and then turned in. I half wondered if Joyce would show up, but when I woke on Sunday morning, I was alone.

I quickly showered and headed to our usual breakfast place, Bill Knapp’s. I would have liked to have gone to the house to swim, but given the distance and the time I had woken up, I simply headed straight for the restaurant. I was happy to see a large table had been reserved for us. Pete, Melanie, Tracey, and Marty were already there. Beth Pater had stayed in Champaign, but the gang told me that they were expecting Bethany, Ed, Joyce, Larry, Susie, Krista, and Jessica, who was a friend of Tracey and Marty’s that I didn’t know. Everyone trickled in over the next ten minutes.

Tracey introduced Jessica Simons, who was a Sophomore at Milford. She was a cute, tiny girl with a bubbly personality. It was almost as if they took the energy of a 6’2” athlete and stuffed it into a 5’1” girl. She said ‘Hi!’ and then a river of chatter just seemed to pour out of her mouth. I felt I’d heard her entire life story in about 30 seconds, but she kept going and I wondered if she was even going to take a breath. Tracey smiled and just rolled her eyes. There was a story there, but it wasn’t the time to find out what it was.

The waitress came to take our orders and Jessica changed her mind at least four times. The word ‘scatterbrained’ popped into my head. She finally got her order right and started chattering again. I just smiled and let her go on. By the time the food came, I knew everything, including the name of her dog and parakeet. She finally stopped talking when she had to eat. I realized that I might have said only five words to her after I had said ‘hello’. I looked at Melanie, who just smirked.

We finished eating, and I managed to chat with Marty for a bit. He and Tracey were doing well in school and they were having a great time with each other and were very happy. He asked how things were going for me and I told him about the first few weeks of school and about my apartment.

Tracey, who had been sitting on the other side of Marty, got up and came next to me and plopped into my lap. She put her arms loosely on my shoulders and I wrapped my arms loosely around her waist.

“How are things?” she asked.

“Good! What’s up?”

“Marty and I were wondering if you were doing anything after breakfast?” she asked, the corners of her lips upturned and an eyebrow raised.

“As much as I’d like that, Tracey, I have to say no.”

She broke up laughing, “Sorry, I should have known you would take it that way! We just wanted to have coffee with you. But,” she wiggled her butt, “if you DO want that, I know a place we can go!”

I chuckled, “Coffee would be great! Where did you want to go?”

“There’s a coffee shop in downtown Milford that just opened. Meet us there at 10:00am?”

“Sure. I have to leave by 11:30am.”

“That’s fine.”

She got up, and I moved so that I could talk with Krista for a bit. She’d been communicating regularly to Beth and said everything was going well. She had the first dating program running at her house while we were at breakfast and had several more scheduled. I was pleased with her report. She also let me know that she’d started dating a Junior, and I told her I was happy to hear that. She promised to call me with updates every few weeks and we both headed out.

I drove back to Milford and parked near the library, and walked to the coffee shop. I saw Tracey and Marty sitting in a booth and walked over to them and sat down. I ordered coffee and asked them what was up.

“Not much, we just wanted to hang out with you.”

“Cool. What’s up with your friend Jessica? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone that excited. She was talking a mile-a-minute!”

“She’s like that all the time,” Tracey said. “Don’t mind her. I could tell she liked you.”

“Liked me? She just met me and I barely said a word to her!”

She could use a ‘Steve Adams’ experience! I suspect you probably aren’t interested, but if you are, or things change, just let me know.

“With her personality? She’s not like you used to be.”

“Sure she is. Think about how she was acting today. What guy is going to put up with that?”

I nodded, and a thought came to me.

“I have an idea for you, Tracey. Will you consider it?”

“Sure.”

“Let her have the ‘Marty Heller’ experience. From what you’ve said, I think that’ll be a pretty good alternative!”

“Hmm. You know, you might just be right! Let me think about that,” She said slowly, looking at Marty as if appraising him for the task.

Marty was just sitting there, smiling. And why not? I’d just told his girlfriend to let him have sex with a cute, bubbly girl who would probably be a wildcat in bed.

We chatted for another twenty minutes and then I shook hands with Marty, who had a huge grin on his face. I nodded in acknowledgment.

“Thanks!” he said. “Does this make me your protégé?”

“I don’t know if I’d go quite that far, and your girlfriend hasn’t told you that it’s OK just yet!”

Tracey smirked, then gave me a quick, soft kiss on the lips and winked at me. I said goodbye and walked back to my car to head to Don Joseph’s for the rest of the day. Joyce was waiting for me when I arrived.

“I have your wine and liquor. Do you want to put it in your car?”

“Thanks. And yes, let’s do that now.”

We moved two cases of red wine and the bottles of vodka and bourbon into the Trans Am. I closed the trunk lid and Joyce followed me back to the guest house. I had planned to relax for a bit because people usually didn’t arrive until after 1:00pm. I kicked off my shoes and plopped down on the couch. Joyce went to the small kitchen and started the Mr. Coffee that was on the counter. Five minutes later, she brought me a cup and sat down beside me.

“How are things going?” she asked.

“So far, so good, I guess is the best way to put it. I did do some work for your grandfather’s friends.”

“Computers?”

“Yep. And otherwise, school is OK so far, I started taking martial arts classes and everything is great with Elyse and Kathy.”

“Any other girls?” she smirked.

“None that I’m doing anything with. My chemistry lab partner is a girl from Georgia and my partners for my Computer Science project are a couple of Sophomore girls.”

She laughed, “That figures. Of course, you end up with female partners! You met Kara in chemistry class, right?”

“Yes, yes. But nothing’s going on with Stephie. We’re lab partners and I’m helping her with her computer science homework. In the computer lab, before you get any Smart Aleck ideas!”

“Me?” Joyce smirked. “So I guess you’re behaving so far.”

“Yes. I think Kathy may start dating, though, and that would kind of put the kibosh on things with her at some point. She hinted that she’s going to do that. I don’t have a problem with it. In fact, I think it’s good. Now that she’s away from that stupid High School cheerleader/football player clique, maybe she’ll find a nice guy who can curl her toes for her.”

“What will you do? Visit Bethany more often?”

“That’s a good question, actually. She wants to talk to me on the ride back. I have a sneaking suspicion that she’s met a guy already. I’ve encouraged her to date, but she still has some qualms about being with anyone but me. Part of it is that same silly idea that Jennifer has that if she has sex with someone else, then she’s taking herself out of the running, so to speak. But another part of it is that I think she’s just not comfortable because of the rape.”

“That could very well be it. I can see how she might be a bit uncomfortable. And you’re really OK with that?”

“If I’m going to be with Kara, I think it makes sense for Bethany to find someone else. She’s mentioned it, and I encouraged her to not put her life on hold for something that probably won’t happen. It’s like you. You’re dating, right?”

“Yes, I do go on dates. And the fact that I slept with guys after you and I first did it doesn’t seem to have taken me out of the running.”

“Why would it? That would be a pretty horrible double standard on my part. I think Jennifer thinks that because of some personal issues that she has.”

“Oh?”

“Sorry, it really wouldn’t be right to discuss the details with you.” I said.

“I understand,” she answered with a nod, and continued. “It doesn’t surprise me that the girls who are not at the top of the list are falling away, especially someone like Kathy, who is just a friend and won’t ever be your long-term partner. At this point, those girls will start to look for someone they can be with long-term. You’re not a good option for anyone except Kara or Karin, really. And even Karin’s in a precarious position. But she’s still young. She’s still in whatever they call High School in Sweden, after all.”

“«Gymnasiet». But what about you?”

She smiled, “I’m playing all sixty minutes; and into overtime, if necessary. But I’m hedging my bets, as you’ve noticed. Last girl standing. But, if that doesn’t happen, there are other guys out there. I’m not worried because I don’t plan to marry until a couple of years after college; which would be about the time you’ll be ready. If things work out with Kara, I’ll be the first to congratulate you. If they don’t, well, then I’ll be there for you.”

“You do have it all mapped out.”

“I can plot with the best of them. If I was a guy, I’d be running grandfather’s businesses as soon as I graduated from college. But the old Dons could never deal with a woman in charge!”

“They certainly won’t take a non-Italian like me. But they need my skills and I’ll take their money, so it works out.”

“You’ll never be fully trusted, but they reward loyalty. And you’ve shown that to grandfather, obviously. But that’s enough talk, let’s go have some lunch.”

We went back to the main house and grabbed some sandwiches and chips from plates in the kitchen. We sat down at the small dinette table and ate. When we finished eating, we went back to the guest house because nobody else had arrived.

“Would it be OK to come visit you in Chicago?” Joyce asked.

“Absolutely. I told you that’s fine. Just let me know when. If it’s on a weekend, we’ll just make sure that Kathy doesn’t come to visit, so there isn’t a conflict. As I said, she and I already talked about that with regards to her dating. Well, unless you’d WANT Kathy to be there!” I added with a smirk.

“You wish!” she said with a soft laugh. “Maybe I’d ask Kara, but unfortunately, she’s under house arrest so she wouldn’t be able to come along for the ride,” she added with a smirk of her own, drawing out the last word for emphasis.

Fortunately, I didn’t have coffee in my mouth, but I did clear my throat nervously as THAT image flashed vividly! Joyce just giggled softly, something which was a rarity for her.

“How about the weekend of Columbus Day? My last class on Friday ends at noon, and I don’t have school on Monday.”

“That’s fine with me. I’ll let Kathy know,” I grinned.

“You never did really answer the question about what you’ll do if Kathy and Bethany both find steady boyfriends.”

“I don’t know, really. It’s a kind of tricky situation, as I’m sure you know.”

“I do. The whole thing with Kara is really a mess because of her dad. She told me what he’s trying to do. You know you could solve the whole problem with an engagement ring.”

“Kara and I talked about that. We don’t want to do it under duress or for the wrong reasons. And I don’t think it would help, actually. At this point, I think that would just make her dad redouble his efforts to split us up. Kara and I agreed that the best thing to do is wait until she can move in with me. She did say she wanted to get married right now, but she’s underage and her dad would never, ever sign the papers. Not to mention that she needs to finish High School.”

Joyce thought for a moment, then said, “And all of that creates your problem. You can’t just find a girl in Chicago that Kara doesn’t already know and sort of casually date for the next ten months or so. Kara wouldn’t like that at all. Unless, of course, you didn’t tell her.”

“That’s an even riskier game to play,” I said. “If she found out about it, she’d have a fit, and rightly so. She asked me to behave, and that doesn’t seem like behaving to me. Does it to you?”

“I guess it would depend. Remember what I told you to do in the past? Find one girl to date and stick to her. If you did that, AND you made it clear to the girl who you weren’t looking for a long-term relationship at this point, then I think that would qualify as behaving. Now, doing what you used to do? No chance. That absolutely is not behaving.”

“But wouldn’t that be unfair to a girl? Implying that in the future there might be something long term?”

“Just tell her that you’re not thinking in those terms at this point and won’t until you graduate. You can even say that there’s a special girl back home, but you two aren’t steady. I suspect you’ll find a girl who likes how you treat her and how much attention you pay to her and the girl at home won’t matter.”