Chapter 28: Summer Vacation, Part I

May, 1983, Chicago, Illinois

The party had finally ended about 10:00pm, though a few people had left earlier, including Jeremiah. Kurt, Kathy, Dave, and Julia all stayed to help clean up, as did the girls who were staying with us — Katy, Cindi, and Jackie. Elyse and I made several passes through the house to make sure that nothing was left, and Stephie, Julia, and Dave swept the floors and wiped up a few spills. Overall, it wasn't a lot of work.

We folded up the tables and Dave and I carried them out to the pickup and the girls carried the chairs. Once the pickup was loaded, we said 'goodbye' to Dave and Julia for the Summer. He'd be driving to Cincinnati in the morning after dropping Julia at the airport for her flight back to Idaho. The rest of us headed to the apartment, where sleeping arrangements were a bit tricky. In the end, Bethany slept on the floor of my room with me and Stephie, Kathy and Kurt shared the sofa bed, Cindi and Jackie slept on air mattresses in the living room, while Katy slept on the floor in Elyse's room with Elyse and Eduardo.

On Tuesday morning after breakfast, everyone but Eduardo headed home for the Summer. Jackie dropped Katy at the airport for her flight to Boston, and Kathy took Kurt for his flight to Colorado. The rest got in their cars to drive to Ohio or Wisconsin, leaving Elyse, Eduardo, Stephie, and me in the apartment.

"Flying home tomorrow, Eduardo?" I asked.

"Yes. Once the party was planned, I changed my ticket so I could be with my preciosa one last night!"

"What will you do over the Summer?"

"Go to the beach, drink wine, and enjoy the Sun. Sevilla is a beautiful city, as is Cádiz, where we have a villa. You have to come visit me sometime!"

"I'd love to," I said. "The problem is that I'm planning trips to Sweden the next few Summers."

"Then Christmas break. Winter is quite nice on the Mediterranean coast!"

"We'll talk about it in the Fall," I promised.

Stephie and I decided to go to the Brookfield Zoo so that Elyse and Eduardo could have some time together alone. We let them know our plans and Elyse smiled, and told us to have a good time. Stephie and I drove out to Brookfield and spent the day walking around the zoo, checking out all the animals. We spent most of the day either holding hands or with our arms around each other and talked quite a bit.

"Yankee, don't take this the wrong way, but what will it take to get you to commit?" she asked.

"Time, Peaches. Are you saying you want to change things?" I asked.

"Well, you know I do, but no, I'm not asking for anything like that right this minute. I'm just curious if you have some kind of criteria or timeline, or if it's just random."

"Hell if I know. I guess the answer is sometime after graduation."

"You certainly have everything you need — house, savings, income, and a job."

"Does our relationship bother you?" I asked.

"Oh no! But at the end of it, I'm a girl and I want to get married and have kids! I think about stuff like that a lot, despite being all modern and wanting a career, too."

I chuckled, "I think about it a lot, too. Maybe too much, at least I did in the past. I used to obsess over it. Now I'm just comfortable taking one day at a time. What brought this on, if I can ask?"

"That time of the month!" she giggled. "My period will most likely start tomorrow and I get these odd urges to settle down and stuff right before my period. It has to be the hormones."

"So we're OK?" I asked.

Stephie stopped, turned and hugged me, "Yes, you big oaf, we're OK!"

We kissed and continued walking. She'd given me a bit of a scare, but in the end, she was really behaving normally. She was almost 20, and I had no doubt, she longed to be a mom the same as a lot of girls I knew did. There were plenty who didn't, like Julia, Tracey, and Debbie V, but there were far more that did. And even for those who didn't, it wasn't never, it was 'not now'.

With my guy friends, Pete, Josh, Mikael, Kurt, and Marty were, but most everyone else wasn't. Dave was looking for THE girl, but he wasn't going to make any commitments until he graduated and got settled, which most likely was what Jamie, Chris, Mike, and the rest were thinking as well. I had been like Pete and that first group, but now I was more like Dave — looking for the person who I would commit to in the future.

It might well be Stephie, and despite Bethany, Kathy, and others thinking it would be Jennifer, I felt that Stephie was the leading candidate. Things with her just seemed, as my friends in Sweden would say, «lagom», or 'just right'. We had two more years of a 'trial run', so to speak, to make sure. Yes, I was going to see Tatyana, Jennifer, and Karin, but Stephie was indeed the 'main girl' as I told her she was.

When we left the Zoo, we drove out west for dinner at TGI Friday's in Bloomingdale. As we got back in the car, Stephie suggested a movie, so we drove to Oak Brook to check out what was playing. When she suggested Valley Girl I threatened to leave her in the suburbs and let her hitchhike back to Hyde Park.

"It looks like fun, Steve. Kind of burnouts vs. preppies, only set in California. Take me to see the movie!"

"I told Melanie that the only way I'd go to the theatre for that movie was if I was going to burn the theatre down!"

"Come on, I want to see it!" she said in a pouty whine.

We parked the car, and I bought us tickets for the show. I was prepared to hate it; in fact, I wanted to hate it. In reality, I loved it. It was, more or less, a modern Romeo and Juliet, though it didn't only last three days and end with six deaths. The acting was pretty good, the story was decent, given that it was a riff on Shakespeare, but the music was fantastic. The highlight of the soundtrack was I Melt with You by Modern English, though Who Can it be Now by Men at Work was a close second.

"You liked it, Yankee, I can tell!" Stephie said as we walked back to the car, hand-in-hand.

"OK, OK. You were right. The 'Valspeak' was a bit much, but overall, I liked it. The music was nothing short of fantastic."

"Which song did you like best?" she asked.

"I Melt with You. There were some great lines like 'Making love to you was never second best' and 'There's nothing you and I won't do'."

"And that's true?" she asked with a smile saying she knew it was true.

"Peaches, I love making love with you," I said, "and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!"

"Not even Katy?" she asked with a sly smile.

"Of course not! While that might be a fun fling, it's never going to happen. And even if it did, it couldn't compare to you and me. There's more to sex than just putting tab 'A' into slot 'B'. You know damn well I've had lots of sex with lots of girls. There's a difference between fucking and making love. What did I say I do with you?"

"Make love. We've done the other thing, too, but even then, it's special, isn't it?"

"It absolutely is Peaches. Don't worry, OK? I'm not comparing you to anyone, and I'm not looking to replace you."

She gave me a soft kiss before we got into the car and drove back to Hyde Park. When we entered the apartment, it was quiet except for rhythmic squeaking from the springs of Elyse's bed. Stephie giggled, then covered her mouth, and we went quietly to our room and shut the door.

"I bet THAT goes on all night," she whispered.

"They won't see each other for three months, so I'm sure they're getting in as much as they can!"

"Well, my period starts tomorrow, so I want as much as I can. How much you got in you, Yankee?"

"I thought the question was how much I could get in YOU!" I teased.

We made love three times before falling asleep spooned together, which was Stephie's desire. In the morning, when she and I got up, we showered and went to make breakfast. Just as I was getting the food on the table, we heard Elyse cry out in passion and Eduardo groan loudly. I wondered for a moment if she'd gotten her toys out, but I figured it was just a really, really passionate last fuck.

After they showered and dressed, I fixed them breakfast and after they ate, the four of us went to the airport in Elyse's car. We saw Eduardo off at the International Terminal, and after a long kiss between Elyse and Eduardo, he boarded his plane bound for Madrid by way of London. Stephie, Elyse and I headed back to the apartment, ate lunch and then walked over to the house to check on the construction.

As promised, the first coat of polyurethane was being applied and all the windows in the house were open to help it air out. The brick barbecue grill was ready to go, and the tub had been delivered that morning. I talked with the foreman on site and he said that they had the extra plumbing in for the dehumidifier hookup and that everything else was done. They only had to mount the doors once the second coat of polyurethane dried. The window upgrades had been completed the previous day. We thanked him and headed back to the apartment.

"I want to spend the afternoon and tomorrow getting some things for the house. From what I can see, the main things we need to get today are bathroom towels for the powder room, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, and some bath mats. Tomorrow, we'll look for a dining room table and chairs and beds for the guest rooms. Oh, and the pool table, given my dad is paying for that. I figure our current table and chairs will work for the breakfast nook."

"You'll need some kind of wardrobe for each of the bedrooms downstairs, you know, something with shelves and drawers. Those closets are kind of small. That's what you gave up to get two rooms," Elyse said.

"True. I'll want to stock the bar, but I'll need Julia's help for that; she's 21. I'll see if I can arrange to do that when she comes here in July to set up her room. Oh, and I'll need stuff for the grill — an apron, spatula, fork, that kind of thing. And more silverware!"

"That can wait until August, I think," Stephie said. "It's just you and me most of the Summer, and just you for part of it."

"Good point. But not just silverware — glasses, plates, that kind of thing," I said.

I could see the money that Don Joseph had given me being spent very quickly. But then again, I was setting up a house for the first time. And the longer I lived here, the more I could do. I'd start with relatively inexpensive things, but of decent quality, and over time I could upgrade them.

"We'll need area rugs, too. Obviously, we'll get one for the dining room first. The ones we have in the apartment will work in a pinch for our bedrooms, plus where we put the entertainment center and stuff."

"How are we getting everything here?" Elyse said.

"Movers," I replied. "It'll be cheap. I talked to Mike at Theta Xi. His brother works for a moving company. We pay by the hour for two guys. If we pack everything, it'll take a few hours and they can move all the big stuff and we don't have to worry about it. It's tentatively set for next Monday. I didn't want to push things with the construction, but I could call now and probably get them for Friday."

We talked about it and decided to do that. I called the movers and was able to reschedule for Friday. We walked back to the apartment and headed out to buy some of the things on my list. We dropped everything at the house just before 5:00pm and then we went back to the apartment again.

"Remember I have my dinner with Anala tonight," I said.

"I remember," Stephie said. "How late will you be?"

"Probably by 10:00pm. Elyse, am I sleeping with you tonight, or do you need a break?" I asked with a smirk.

"Sleep with Stephie tonight, Steve. I'll get other chances, I'm sure."

I nodded and then went to take a quick shower and dress before heading to Anala's for dinner. I had called her the previous Thursday and changed the day to Wednesday instead of Tuesday, given everything that had been going on and Eduardo's change of plans. Before I left, I called the Blanchards' to check on Kara.

"She's doing OK, I guess," Nancy said. "She hasn't really changed, though Doctor Mercer said that Kara's talking to her and not holding back, which is a good sign."

"Good. How are you holding up? And did you take the new position?"

"I'm doing OK, I guess. And yes, I took the new position. It pays much better, and I feel a lot more confident in my ability to take care of myself and Kara now."

"That's good. I'd like to speak to Kara if she's up for it," I said.

"I'm sure she is. She looks forward to you calling, from what I can tell. She doesn't talk a lot, but when she does, she always mentions how much she likes hearing from you."

I waited for a moment and Kara came on the line.

"Hi, Steve," she said softly.

"Hi, Kara. How are you?" I asked, keeping my voice as soft and gentle as I could.

"OK. Work is fine, and I saw Doctor Mercer today. She's really nice."

"Yes, she is. And you're talking to her and telling her the truth?"

"Yes. It's scary, but I'm doing it for you. And I have my bear with me. I hug him and think he's you."

"I'm glad. You keep talking to her and let her help you. And I'll see you in a few weeks and take you to lunch."

"I'd like that," Kara said.

We said 'goodbye' and hung up.

"Steve, you talk to her like she's a toddler," Elyse said. "It's really that bad?"

"Sadly. I don't think she's capable of having an adult conversation with anyone right now. Well, I guess she does OK with her friends at work, but not the rest of us. I suspect at work she more or less does the minimum to be sociable. She's fixated on that bear I sent her, but it seems to have broken through enough that she's talking to Doctor Mercer, so I'm not going to discourage that in any way."

"I'm just floored at what happened," Elyse said. "She was always so bubbly and excited."

"Well, even with all the other blame to go around, her dad and her former pastor did a number on her. It's enough to make me swear off religion forever."

I said 'goodbye' to the girls and drove to Bridgeport to have dinner with Anala. When I changed, I stripped completely naked before pulling on the silk pants and over-garment. I put on the soft shoes and sat at the table, where Anala gently washed my feet, then brought the food to the table. She was wearing a different outfit this time. The conservative blue sari was gone, replaced by a jade green, form fitting blouse that exposed her midriff and a hip-hugging pale green skirt that reached her ankles. It was, without question, extremely sexy, and the jeweled waist chain that was exposed flashed as it caught the light.

The evening's dinner included a curry chicken dish to go along with the saffron rice and two different vegetables, both made with different types of spices. There was also heavy bread and a chili pepper spread. After Anala read the prayer, we ate with gusto. When we finished the main course, she brought a plate of fruit for dessert, with a yogurt-like topping to add to it. As she had the previous time, she also brought sweetened coffee.