Chapter 79

4:30 p.m. Wednesday

Andy punched in the code to the Rileys' security gate and drove Robert's Lexus up the drive. Regan had called him to let him know that it would be later in the evening before they got home - because she had a lot of stuff in her dorm to pack.

Andy knew he would never be permitted up to Regan's room at school so he had headed home - only to find all the occupants of the suite gone, too. He considered (briefly) sitting down to study for the finals that were coming the following week but soon changed his mind.

He decided he would go to the Riley household to wait - because at least there were dozens of things to keep him occupied out there while he waited.

Esperanza opened the door before he could even ring the buzzer.

"Senor Andy!" she said brightly. "I did not know you had Mr. Riley's car until I saw you get out."

"Uh, yeah," Andy said sheepishly. "There was an ... incident ... on the highway yesterday. I'm afraid Regan's car got ... impounded."

"It was returned this afternoon," the housekeeper said. "The driver the Rileys employ has already been over it to ensure no damage was done. I think it is terrible that you were put in that situation. Sadly, for my people, it is something that happens all the time."

"I know," Andy agreed as he entered the house. Esperanza led him to the family's sitting room and sat down opposite him. "I lived in an apartment building with mostly Hispanics. Yeah, some were into some nasty stuff but some of them weren't. The cops would see some kid walking down the street, minding his own business, and they would be all over him just because his skin is darker than mine."

"It has been that way my entire life," Esperanza continued. "I am an American by birth. My family came here from Ecuador in the 1950s. I was born in the early 1970s. There are still people who look at me as though I am here illegally."

Andy nodded. He had no answers for the problem; he only knew it wasn't a problem that was going away anytime soon. He was saved from continuing to discuss society's ill by his buzzing cell phone. He looked down at it.

"It's my mom," he said. "I hate to be rude but I have to answer her calls."

Esperanza smiled.

"Please, I am not offended," she told him. "My son had best accept my calls, too!"

Andy was still laughing lightly when he answered.

"You have to be the least attentive driver in America," Camille said.

"What?" Andy asked, wondering if she was speaking to him or having a conversation with someone else.

"We were right behind you coming off the highway," Camille continued. "Evan blew the horn to get your attention but you just kept right on going."

"I heard the horn but... ," Andy began, sneaking a glance at Esperanza for a moment. "Look, in our neighborhood, you don't stop just because someone blows a horn at you. The next thing coming at you might be a bullet or something. I looked back, didn't recognize the car so I kept going. Are you at the gate?"

"Gate?" Camille asked.

"Uh, the Rileys' gate," Andy clarified. He got up and looked outside but saw no car at the entrance.

"No," Camille confirmed. "But we wondered if you want to come down and look at the house with us. The Realtor is going to be here in a few minutes. I didn't want to bother you if you were studying but since you're just visiting with Regan's family, you might as well visit with yours."

"I stopped at the hotel first!" Andy cut in. Camille only laughed.

"It's fine," Camille replied. "We were heading out for a few things. Evan decided on a car today so we were already nearby when the Realtor called us. Do you want to come down?"

Andy didn't really want to even think about moving into a house but he knew that answer probably wouldn't fly.

"Yeah," Andy said. "Regan said the back yards are joined so I might just walk over the hill. I'll see you in a little while."

He closed the phone and saw Esperanza shaking her head.

"The property is fenced," she said. "You cannot get off it without going through the gate. Is your family looking at the house down below again? Mrs. Riley said they were going to see it yesterday. I have admired the outside since I started to work here."

"Yeah," Andy said, frowning. It would take him perhaps 20 minutes to go out of the Rileys' front gate, down the hill and around to the other house.

"I will drive you down," Esperanza offered. The driver had taken Robert's car into the garage the moment Andy had exited it. The housekeeper didn't understand why the man was proprietary about vehicles he didn't even own. "I am waiting for the Rileys to return to see if they require anything else this evening. I am happy that Miss Regan is returning. I understand that we will have three girls living here for a few weeks."

"I feel sorry for you," Andy told her.

"It will be nice," Esperanza countered. She had only two sons and had liked Regan even before Andy had started to come around. "She speaks Spanish almost as well as you do."

"She said she was taking German this semester," Andy noted.

"She learned it from her previous caregivers," Esperanza pointed out. "She has the cutest Dominican accent. It is like talking to an Irish Islander."

"Mom worked with a Samoan," Andy told her. "I always thought he had a cool accent."

"Would you like for me to drive you to the house?" Esperanza asked again.

"I can walk," Andy told her.

"Yes, I see you have two functioning legs," the housekeeper joked. "But it is no trouble for me to take you."

Andy considered for a moment.

"That would be appreciated," he admitted. "Do you want to come in with me? You can see if the inside is as nice as the outside."

"I would not want to intrude on a family decision," Esperanza said.

"They're letting me intrude on it," Andy said with a laugh. "I'm off to college in a couple of months. It will never be my home. I might stay there for a week or two at a time but it's not like I'm going to live there. Yet they seem to want my opinion. I'd like for you to take a look at it, too. I figure you're much more likely to spot something wrong than we are. Mom and I lived in roach traps most of our lives. My father and grandmother live in an English manor house and it sounds as though it has more flaws than benefits. Do you mind?"

"No, I don't mind if you wish it and your parents are agreeable," Esperanza said.

"Well, I wish it," Andy said with a wink. "And I'll convince the others it's a good idea."

Regan closed her closet and sat down heavily on her bed.

"Do you have everything?" Ruth asked.

"I think so," Regan replied. "I mean, even if I don't, it's not like I won't be back here tomorrow."

"Hey, once you're gone, I'm claiming anything left behind as my own!" Ruth said with a laugh. "Besides, if you have forgotten something, it isn't like I won't be bringing most of my crap to your house on Friday afternoon. I can't believe my parents are actually coming out to help me. That ... that really surprised me. I mean, it surprised me that they're OK with me leaving here. It shocked the shit out of me when Dad offered to come out to help me get everything moved."

"I sort of liked your parents," Regan admitted.

"They're just so ... stuffy," Ruth lamented.

"They're older than what I expected," Regan pointed out. Ruth's parents were in their middle to late 50s - seemingly too old to have a child of 18.

"Mom was 40 when I was born and Dad was 41," Ruth admitted. "I have a sister who's 34 and a brother who is 31. I was an accident."

Regan nodded. She had suspected that she was an accident from the other end of the parental age spectrum until her parents explained the trust situation a week earlier.

"Are you going home with them for the long weekend?" Regan asked.

"We were thinking about coming back to your house early Monday so we can study," Ruth said. "My Tuesday finals aren't hard but I have one on Wednesday that might be rough."

Regan nodded glumly. As much as she wished the entire weekend could be about spending time with Andy, she knew they both had final exams the following week. She planned to take her textbooks with her - and she hoped Andy would convince her to open them while they were away together.

"I need to do some work for my computer science exam," Regan agreed. "That's the only one I'm really worried about. German will be pretty easy, I think. I'm not sure what to expect in chemistry. I'm going to have Andy help me out there. The others should be OK."

"Yeah," Ruth admitted. "My biggest worry is physics. I have the formulas down but some of the applications give me trouble. Joy said she might be able to help me out. I'm going to work with her on English Literature. She didn't actually read some of the assignments from early in the semester. I guess that's one of the benefits of being a social recluse for most of the year."

"But not anymore!" Regan said with a laugh. "I think half of campus has stopped by to see the pictures of us at Andy's dance. Elizabeth said Andy emailed a couple of the pictures to Paul's brother. The poor boy is probably selling pictures of your boobs to half the middle school this week."

"Are you sure it's cool for me to stay at your house?" Ruth asked again. "I mean, you know, you and Andy could spend almost every evening alone if we're not there."

Regan shook her head.

"We both have finals next week," she said. "We're going to spend Friday night and Saturday night together. Well, we are if he isn't in a lot of trouble over yesterday. We might try to spend Sunday night on the boat or we might come back out here. We're not sure. He might be sick to death of me after spending that much time alone with me."

"Nah," Ruth replied with conviction. "Are you going to do stuff outside of the bedroom?"

"I'm going to see if he wants to go to a baseball game on Saturday or Sunday," Regan said. "He told me that outside of getting pictures of me, the favorite thing about his phone is that he can listen to the games when the teams are out of town. Do you know he has never lived in a house with cable television?"

"Even when he lived with his grandparents?" Ruth asked incredulously. She didn't think she had ever lived in a house without cable television.

"He said they had a satellite dish but his grandmother kept it tuned to some religious channel or another," Regan confided. "He's never had the Internet. He's never owned a computer. Sometimes it just amazes me when I consider all the things I take for granted that he's never had before."

Ruth shook her head as she thought about the things she considered "vital" to her existence.

"He doesn't seem to be any worse for not having those things," she said.

"No," Regan agreed. "I just wonder how smart he'd be if he had constant access to information like we have. Think about it. If we want to know something, we look it up online. If he had a question, he had to wait until he got to school or wait until he got to a library."

Ruth shook her head again.

"Have you picked out anything special to wear Friday night?" she asked mostly to change the subject. Regan's mother would return any minute and she didn't think Rita wanted to hear about her daughter's choice of underwear for losing her virginity.

"I'm not sure," Regan admitted. "I mean, I've thought about it. I have a really sexy nightgown. The top is really lacy and sort of see-though. But ... I've sort of been thinking about just wearing something normal. Andy seems to like me in just about anything."

"And out of just about anything," Ruth added with a laugh. "I've seen the way his eyes follow you around the room. But it's OK because you do the same thing to him."

"I know!" Regan said, blushing. "If he's not right beside me, I find myself looking for him. It isn't because I think he's off trying to pick up another girl or something. I think it's just because I like looking at him."

"So you haven't picked out an outfit yet?" Ruth reaffirmed. Regan shook her head. "I have an idea if you want."

"Sure," Regan said.

"You have that cute denim skirt," Ruth told her. "I saw you in last fall but I'm not sure it's here."

"It's not," Regan said. "I didn't bring it back because I worried it was a little short. One of the Lake Howard guys was totally perving on me when I wore it last time."

"Exactly what you want Andy doing Friday," Ruth pointed out.

"True," Regan agreed.

"You wear that with a white blouse - only you wear your dark green bra beneath the blouse, It'll be cool enough for a jacket so you can leave a few buttons undone. That will let you give Andy a little show. If you have matching panties, wear them. If not, I think you can probably find a pair that matches pretty close."

Regan closed her eyes and pictured the outfit in her head. She had a faux leather jacket that would go well with a denim skirt. She imagined the look on Andy's face when she stripped down to her lacy emerald bra and panties - both of which were sexy. She wondered if she would have time to run out to look for something from one of the risqué lingerie shops across the bay. She giggled when she realized that she didn't need anything like that. Andy liked her as well in cotton briefs as he did in a lacy thong.

"Yeah, you could probably wear your Minnie Mouse Under-roos and get the job done," Ruth said, correctly interpreting her friend's look.