Chapter 6: The Don and His Granddaughter

July 1980, Colerain Township, Ohio

“What’s going on with you and Jennifer?” Larry asked. “She’s upset, but she won’t tell me what happened.”

“We’re in a pretty bad place,” I said. “I’m not sure there’s really any future between us at this point.”

“Why? You guys managed for a year while you were in Sweden. You can manage another year before college.”

“Maybe if she had told me about it right away. Maybe if we had talked about it. But she knew in March and I only found out when her mom accidentally let it slip out. A few days later, I felt that the spark had gone out of our relationship. We made love, but it just didn’t feel the same. When we finished, she had her mom drive me home rather than do it herself. I haven’t spoken with her since.”

“Call her. She’s really upset and doesn’t know what to do.”

“Neither do I. Every time I get close to someone, something happens to tear us apart. It started with Birgit, then I had to leave my friends in Sweden, and now Jennifer is leaving. It sucks, and I just don’t want to deal with it.”

“You need to talk to her.”

“Forget it. Besides, right now I have other things to worry about. I tried to call Joyce a couple times, and she never returned my call. I have no idea what’s going to happen when we see each other and what she plans to tell your grandfather.”

“I don’t either. I know she didn’t tell him you guys broke up because she didn’t have to due to the fact that you were leaving. She hasn’t told me how she planned to handle it when you returned,” he said. Then his brow furrowed as he thought of something, “You said she didn’t call you back?”

“I called twice and left messages with Connie. I suspect Connie she never told Joyce, now that I think about it, because Connie tried to get me to ask her out.”

“You might be right. Even after you told Connie to stop last year, she still has this major crush on you, according to Joyce.”

“What is it with that girl?”

“The same thing with all the other girls you have chasing you, Steve. She’s just more aggressive about it.”

“You know what? Fuck it. Maybe I should just give her what she wants and be done with it.”

“You don’t want to do that,” Larry said firmly, clearly warning me against that course of action.

“She’s hot for me, has a sexy body, and promised to do anything I wanted.”

“And then she’ll think she owns you. And she’ll tell anyone and everyone what happened. It’ll get back to grandfather,” he said calmly.

“And that would be bad, wouldn’t it?”

“You don’t even want to think about it. I’m pretty sure he’s suspicious that you and Joyce have been intimate, but he won’t say anything if you respect him as you have up to now. He wouldn’t like it, but he also understands teenagers better than most adults. Now, if you were to have sex with Connie and he found out, then, well, yes, it would be bad.”

“I guess I have enough trouble without bringing that on me.”

Larry nodded without saying anything. We rode the rest of the way in silence.

When we arrived, we parked and walked around the side of the house to the back yard. I walked over to the chairs where Don Joseph and his friends were sitting. I didn’t see the Abbadellis, nor had I seen Joyce’s car in the driveway.

“Steve! Welcome back!” Don Joseph said, standing to greet me.

“Good afternoon, Don Joseph. It’s good to see you!”

“Come, come, let us play bocce and speak.”

We went to the bocce pitch and began playing. It had been over a year since I played, so I was a little rusty, but it came back and I was quickly in control of the game. Don Joseph asked about my trip and I told him about all the things I had done. He and his friends seemed truly interested, and they all listened and asked questions.

About twenty minutes after we started playing, I heard a familiar voice begin cheering when I bowled a particularly good ball, knocking another ball away from the jack with my ball ending up touching the jack.

“Steve, stop for a minute and greet my granddaughter. You do not disrespect me by doing so!” Don Joseph said with a grin.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do, given that Joyce and I hadn’t talked. I figured a hug was safe, so I walked over to her.

“Hi, Joyce,” I said softly as I approached.

“Hi, Steve,” she said equally softly.

I took her in my arms and we hugged gently, out of deference to Don Joseph.

“Kiss the poor girl, Steve!” Don Carlo teased, causing both Don Antonio and Don Joseph to laugh.

Joyce and I exchanged a brief look. Her eyes told me to go ahead, so I gave her a soft kiss, then stepped back and took her hands.

“I missed you,” I said quietly.

“I missed you too. Why didn’t you call?”

“I did. I left two messages with Connie.”

“She never gave them to me!” Joyce answered in a low voice, tinged with anger. “God, she’s at it again.”

“I’ll take care of it,” I said. “Let me finish my games with your grandfather and his friends, and then we’ll talk.”

She smiled as I went back to the game.

“Steve, you can go with my granddaughter if you want, I know it’s the first time you’ve seen her since you’ve been back.”

“We can finish the games. She’s going to cheer for me the way she always did.”

“Ah yes, disrespecting her poor old grandfather in favor of a young man. These teenagers, Steve! They could learn respect from you!”

“She’s your granddaughter, Don Joseph. You spoil her!”

“I do. It’s a weakness, of course. But she is so pretty, how do you avoid it?”

“By doing what she says, when she says, Don Joseph!” I answered with a smile.

All three of the men laughed hard for several minutes.

“That is the best way with beautiful women,” Don Antonio said to me. “You have learned the lesson early in your life!”

We finished that game and played one more before Don Joseph insisted that I spend time with Joyce. He said that he would talk to me after dinner in his study. I thanked him and went to find Joyce, who was sitting with her family.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Abbadelli. How are you?”

They both answered they were fine.

“Hello, Connie. I wonder why Joyce didn’t get the two messages I left with you last week. What happened?”

Her eyes went wide and then she looked down at the ground.

“Constance Abbadelli!” her mother said. “Did you take messages for Joyce from Steve?”

“Yes,” she said in a barely audible voice.

“Come with me, young lady. We’re going to have a talk!”

Connie reluctantly followed her mother into the house. Joyce had a smug look on her face.

“I wouldn’t want to be her right now!” Sarah, Doctor Grossi’s youngest daughter, said.

Joyce took my hand, and we walked to a more private spot in the back yard and sat down together.

“You handled that perfectly,” she grinned, “I could tell Mom was angry. I’d say Connie will be very unhappy for the next few weeks.”

“She’s still at it. When I called, she was flirting and wanted me to ask her out. Larry says she still has a crush on me.”

“It would appear so. She has a boyfriend and they seem to get along OK. I had hoped that meant she was finally over it. I guess not. But after this, well, Mom is going to put a stop to it, I’m sure.”

“Good. I had hoped to talk to you before today so we could work out what we were going to do. I hadn’t planned on the kiss, but I didn’t see any way around it.”

“It’s OK. I didn’t object. My grandfather and his friends think we’re still together because I never said anything about us breaking up.”

“And why was that?”

“Because we left it up in the air. I knew you would change and I would change. I didn’t want to count on anything, but I didn’t want to rule it out, either. We were pretty good together. Wipe that smirk off your face, Mr. Adams, I meant overall, not just sex!”

I had, indeed, smirked when she said we were good together, but relaxed my face into a more neutral expression.

“That’s better!” she said. “So, what do you want? I mean, besides what you always want!” she smirked.

I took a deep breath, now we were getting into serious matters.

“I don’t know. A lot has happened in the past year and a lot has happened since I arrived home. I’ve changed and my life has changed.”

“How have you changed?”

“I figured out that what I’m looking for right now is not a life partner, but who I really am. Only when I figure that out can I worry about a life partner. I figured out that I like stable relationships, but that they are really hard to maintain and that you have to work at it. But I also found out you can’t count on anything or anyone.”

“Wait a minute! That’s not true and you know it. You have Jennifer, and except for when you were stupid about Becky, she was always there for you. Even when you were stupid, Jennifer was still there, just not talking to you.”

“I guess Larry didn’t tell you. Jennifer and I are done.”

“What?!” Joyce gasped. “How did that happen? When?”

“After I arrived home. She’s moving to Seattle with her family. That’s the thing I thought Larry might have told you.”

“So you’ll be apart for another year. Is that really a big deal?”

“She knew in March and didn’t tell me. She didn’t even tell me when I saw her the first time after I came back, nor even the second. In fact, I found out because her mom slipped-up in saying something to me.”

“Oh!” she said, pausing a moment. “I can see how that would bother you, especially given that you’re so direct and honest about stuff, sometimes too direct and honest.”

“Too direct and honest?”

“Later. Now tell me more about Jennifer.”

“Well, we had an argument about it, we both became upset, and the last time I saw her we basically parted without even saying goodbye. I haven’t spoken with her since. Of course, that caused a blow-up with my little sister, too.”

“You and Stephanie had a fight? This MUST be serious. But I bet I know why.”

“Jennifer,” I said flatly.

“Of course. They’ve always been conspiring to get you together with Jennifer permanently. And it seems they’re also really good friends. I bet your sister is just as upset as you are that Jennifer is leaving, and if she thinks you broke up with Jennifer, I can really see why you fought.”

“It’s water under the bridge now,” I said, shrugging. “I’m not seeing Jennifer and as of right now, we aren’t speaking and I don’t plan to call her.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

I leaned back, “I’m going to take things one day at a time. I’ll start dating again, but I’m not even thinking about a life partner at this point. Every time I do, they get ripped away somehow. Birgit died, Becky ended in a fiasco, I had to leave you here, I had to leave Pia in Sweden, and Jennifer is moving. Jennifer once told me I got dumber every time I tried to figure out who my life partner was, and she was right. I’ve stopped trying to figure it out, partly because of that, but partly because somehow I ended up getting hurt every single time!”

“Just let things happen naturally. Quit trying to force things. Just relax and be yourself. Everything will unfold as it should in due time.”

“I guess. How are you and Roy?”

“Do you see him here?”

“No, of course not.”

“That should tell you that even though we’re going steady, it’s not serious enough to bring him here and tell grandfather about it.”

“Which means what?”

“I still love you. If you want to ask me out, I’ll say ‘yes’. We were pretty good together. But things have to be different. I’m not asking for a commitment because I know you can’t do that now, but you can’t just go around screwing every girl you come in contact with.”

“You want me exclusively. With a commitment.”

She sighed, “Yes, it’s what I always wanted. I don’t know that you can do it, though. That’s what worried me before and it still worries me.”

“I’d love to go out with you and see where things lead.”

“With you, Steve Adams, they always lead to screaming orgasms!” she giggled.

I chuckled, “You keep talking about sex. I’ve only smirked once.”

“I know. You were the only one with whom I could ever explore my wild side.”

I chuckled again, “There’s another change. You won’t have to beg if you want to do that! I’ll even lead and take you places you might not otherwise go!”

“Now that is a change! I absolutely have to hear the story on that one!”

“Later. Here comes Connie with your mom.”

Connie stopped in front of us, glancing quickly at each of us, then said slowly, avoiding looking directly at us, “Steve, I’m sorry I didn’t give your messages to Joyce.”

“I forgive you, Connie, but I’m not happy with you.”

“I know. Joyce, I’m sorry I didn’t give you the messages.”

I saw a stern look pass between Joyce and her mom.

“Fine Connie,”Joyce said evenly. “Just don’t do it again.”

I could tell she really wanted to say something else, but her mom had warned her off.

Connie and Mrs. Abbadelli walked away.

“She doesn’t seem sorry,” Joyce said.

“No, I don’t think she is,” I agreed. “Well, that’s not quite true. I think she’s sorry I tattled on her and she got in trouble.”

Joyce laughed, “Yeah, I’m sure that’s the case. But back to the story.”

I told her about Katt and how she had more or less unlocked a new facet of my personality, one that I was very comfortable with. I did tell her I was going to see Katt in a few weeks.

“I need to be clear on one thing,” Joyce said. “I’m not getting into a competition over you.”

“Katt’s no competition for anyone. She’s a needy young girl and I can’t really meet her needs. I know for sure that she’ll find someone else before too long. She has to.”

“But you’ll sleep with her when you’re there.”

“Yes, I will. I’m certainly not going to start lying to you now.”

“Good. So, where do we go from here?”

“That’s up to you. I’ll ask you out and we can take it one step at a time. No promises and no commitments.”

“And no sex until you figure it out,” she said, raising a warning finger.

I chuckled, “That could be a long time. But it’s up to you. What about Roy?”

“If I start dating you, I guess I have to break it off with him or you’ll invoke your rule if I even want to kiss you.”

“There is no rule. I broke it willingly and knowingly in Sweden with Sofia. And I broke it again when I came home.”

“Now that’s a bad sign,” Joyce said warily. “You made two mistakes. You need that rule in place. Without it, I’m convinced you’ll never, ever be able to keep any vows you ever make. That was something you could build on and now you’ve thrown it away.”

“Once an inviolable rule is broken, how can it be inviolable anymore?”

“With no rules, you’ll destroy every relationship you get into, and you could lose every friend you make!”

“My current attitude towards all of that is ‘fuck it’. I’m just going to have a good time. Whatever each day brings, it brings.”

“Then I can’t see you. I can’t accept what you are saying. I had hoped you had changed for the better. It seems to me that you’ve changed for the worse.”

“I’m frustrated and upset and I’m tired of the bullshit,” I sighed. “I didn’t have these issues when I was living in Sweden.”

“So you had a year with absolutely no problems? I don’t believe it.”

“There were a couple of minor things and one major thing, but overall, I didn’t have to deal with my mom and I had a stable relationship for the entire year and I had a solid friend for the entire year. I was allowed to manage my own life and things were damn good. I come back to hell at home and to find Jennifer lied to me!”

“It’s not like Jennifer went out and screwed the football team or something! She didn’t tell you something important when she should have, true, but she didn’t lie to you or betray you.”

“She lied to me by NOT telling me she was leaving! You know I’m open, direct, and honest. I expect my friends to be the same way.”

“I said before, sometimes you are too direct and too honest. You need to learn when to keep things to yourself. Not everything has to be shared.”