Chapter 59: All Good Things...

August, 1983, Chicago, Illinois

On Tuesday night when I arrived home from karate, I saw the message light on my answering machine flashing. I decided to shower before listening to it, so I walked into the bathroom and quickly got out of my gi and into the shower. After washing up, I put on my silk pyjama bottoms and a loose t-shirt and pressed 'play' on the answering machine.

I pressed erase and debated whether or not I should return Carla's call. I had told her that she needed to sort things out, so I decided that I at least owed her a return call. I looked up her number and dialed it. She answered on the fourth ring.

"Hi, Carla, it's Steve Adams. I'm returning your call."

"Hi. I was wondering if you might want to get a cup of coffee or something so we could talk."

"Sure, I suppose I can do that. When?"

"What are you doing right now?"

"Talking to you!" I chuckled, "But seriously, I just came back from karate and I'm sitting in pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt. I don't feel like going out tonight."

"What about Thursday sometime?" she asked.

"How about mid-afternoon? Say 3:00pm at the coffee shop on Hyde Park Avenue just east of Woodlawn."

"See you then," she said.

I hung up and went down to get something to drink. Jackie saw me and asked if I was busy. When I said that I wasn't, she asked if I wanted to play some chess. I agreed, and we went to the great room where I'd put the chess table and realized there weren't any comfortable chairs for playing. I suggested we use the kitchen table, and we took the board and pieces with us and sat in the breakfast nook and played three games.

Fortunately for me, Jackie wasn't as good as Becky and I actually won one of the three games. I was still pretty rusty, something that only a significant amount of playing would solve, and I simply didn't have the time for it. On the other hand, playing casually would improve my game so that I could at least hold my own against other casual players. When we finished the third game, we returned the board and pieces to the great room and I headed back up to my room.

I started up the Apple IIe, loaded up VisiCalc and updated my list of things I needed for the house. I also adjusted my budget based on the union contracts and how much I had coming in from my housemates. When I finished, I read about thirty pages from Atlas Shrugged and then went to bed and slept quite soundly.

Wednesday was a repeat of Monday, and nothing exciting happened on campus. After dinner that evening, Penny showed up as planned and we spent about ninety minutes in the study room. I realized that there was going to be a problem if I needed to talk to her with the computers in there, because it was supposed to be a quiet room. We hadn't bothered Jackie, who was hard at work on the drafting board, but if anyone else had been in there, it might have been a problem. I'd have to figure something out for the future.

After Penny went home, I went upstairs to call the Blanchards' to check on Kara. According to Nancy, Kara was doing about the same. I then talked to Kara for a few minutes and decided that I agreed with Nancy's assessment. I heard sparks of Kara's personality returning, but it was fleeting in each case. I felt that was a good sign, but she still had a long way to go.

When I hung up, I called Bethany to see how she was doing. She and Pam were settled in and classes had started. She had been out on a date with Bob on Sunday, but otherwise was just trying to get back into the swing of school.

"I told Jennifer I loved her on Monday," I said.

"So? You've said that to her since ninth grade. Even when you guys had your issues."

"No, Bethany. I told her that I LOVED her."

"Whoa! Like 'I love you, will you marry me'?"

I chuckled, "Not quite, but I told her I'm ready to take the next step. I think she was close to giving up on me, honestly."

"Yes and no. She could wait you out because you never objected to her exploring her long-term relationships with girls, so she wasn't waiting for you so much as hoping you would get your head out of your butt at some point. She never stopped hoping, but she wasn't counting on it like some of the other girls. So now what?"

"We'll keep talking. She's coming to see me after Christmas. Her comment was that if either of us can walk at the end of that week, then we've failed."

Bethany laughed, "Same old Jennifer. So where does that leave you with the other girls?"

"Well, except for the Swedish girls, there isn't anybody except you that I'm involved with in that way. Stephie and I are pretty obviously done, at least as far as I can tell. Anna Wilson is interested, but I'm not, really. Anala is an enigma, almost as much as I am, but I'm not worried about her. And you know that Kara's about as far out of the picture as she could possibly be."

"Now I know you're not sitting around chaste, but I think this is the first time in a long time that you haven't had someone close to you to be with all the time, and yet, you seem calm and comfortable. Who's providing the outlet?"

"Stephie, occasionally, of course. And Jackie's available if I need her, as is Elyse. There're a few other girls here and there who I'm talking to or seeing, but honestly, nobody who is thinking in terms of a long-term relationship."

"So what about Tatyana, Sofia, Karin, and Tina?"

"I'll see Tatyana in about a week. She herself has acknowledged the huge impediments and I think she's seen the writing on the wall, so to speak. As much as I like her, and as much as she likes me, the chasm is just too wide for either of us to cross. Stranger things have happened, I'm sure, but I don't think they will in this case. If I had to guess, it'll end when she finishes Harvard and goes back to Russia.

"As for the Swedish girls, Sofia is doing her best to come to Chicago to go to school. She wants to get her medical degree in the US, and that gives her a chance to be with me. Or maybe it's the other way around and her chance to be with me is causing her to go to school here. Either way, most likely she'll be here next Fall. I certainly could see us being together, but the problem for her has always been an unwillingness to share, which I think means there's not much chance there unless things with Jennifer fall apart.

"For Tina and Karin, they're both younger, and Tina significantly so. In the end, the only way I see those working out would be if I were to move there, or if I were to commit to them and have them move here. Tina has never made any demands on me of any kind, so I can't really be sure what she's thinking in that regard. Karin is the one I really feel bad about. She's tried so hard and things just haven't gone the way she wants them to. Mostly that's my fault, but part of it is that it's so tied up in Birgit that I wonder if we can ever escape that."

Bethany paused only a moment before answering, "I think that's a fair analysis. I guess that means I have some hard thinking to do. You've pretty much just told me what's going to happen, at least so far as you can articulate it at this point. I have one important thing to say to you, though."

I chuckled, "Don't count on things going the way you think they will."

Bethany laughed, "You're learning. Something is going to go haywire. And with you? Probably several somethings. Just stay calm, cool, and collected, and deal with things as they arise."

"With your help, I can do that!" I declared.

"Have you talked to Joyce?"

"No," I sighed. "I just haven't felt like it."

"Damn it, Steve! Don't let that fester. Call her tomorrow. Do you hear me?"

"Yes," I said half-heartedly.

"I'm planning on coming down on the 9th. Is that still OK?"

"Yes, of course!" I replied. "I'm always happy to see you, Sweetheart."

"Good. See you then, Steve!"

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I was about to turn on the computer when there was a knock at the door. I called out for whoever it was to come in and Elyse came into the room.

"We've hardly talked," she said. "I miss that."

"With all the people in the house and how busy I've been, I've neglected you. I'm very sorry about that."

"I understand. I wondered if we could talk and if I could spend the night?"

"Sure. I don't have any other offers!" I teased.

"Watch it, Buster, or I'll go to my room and get my strap-on!"

"Promises, promises!" I chuckled.

"Wait! You're OK with that? You like it?"

"Elyse, if it makes you happy, and you want to do that, go ahead. You know me."

"I do know you. And no, that's not what I need. Come on, let's get in bed and talk and make love," she said, closing and locking the door.

I pulled off my t-shirt and slipped off my silk pyjama bottoms, and Elyse pulled off her shorts and t-shirt and we got into bed. She snuggled close and rested her head on my chest.

"How are things with Eduardo?" I asked.

"OK. He's headed to Pennsylvania next year, and you know that he wants to go back to Spain. I don't see it going anywhere in the long run. I like him a lot, though."

"You guys can't find a middle ground any more than Tatyana and I can, I guess. Our life goals are just too far apart for it to work out. Kind of like me and Stephie, too."

"No way, Steve. She was willing to give up her life goals for you. The only thing that changed was Red, and I honestly think that he's the only person who ever could have pulled her away from you. Even so, she's torn up about the whole thing. It's a serious dilemma for her."

"And she's going to decide on Red," I said. "That's pretty clear to me."

"To me, too. But not to her. I think you're right that in the end, she needs to be in Georgia or in the South somewhere. And she needs to be with Red. She'll figure it out soon enough."

"She'll end up at Georgia Tech for her Master's, so she'll be moving out in two years, I'm sure."

"So you're really not going to be serious with anyone?"

"That's right. After everything that happened, I'm not having anyone live with me, not making any commitments. You know that Jennifer and I have been working on things and we'll keep doing that, but she's never demanded that I be exclusive and even if we ended up together, she still wouldn't. I'll date, I'll fool around, and just generally work on my concerns with Bethany and Anala."

"Speaking of fooling around..." Elyse grinned.

I pulled her to me and we kissed softly. I gently explored her body with my fingers, lips, and tongue, and when I slid into her, she sighed, "I've missed this."

Elyse was even more gentle and loving than she'd been the last time we were together. Her entire approach to sex had shifted from one extreme to the other, and yet, her orgasms were just as overwhelming as they were when we played with her toys, and mine were just as good.

"You know," she said as we cuddled afterwards, "I still want to have kids with you when we graduate. No ring necessary. I just don't find the whole marriage thing attractive, but I want to be a mom. I assume Jennifer won't object?"

I chuckled, "No, she wouldn't. How about we graduate first, you get your Master's degree and then the three of us talk discuss it?"

Elyse actually purred as she snuggled as close as possible, and we fell asleep together. In the morning after I ran, we showered together and went down to breakfast.

I didn't have class, so I took my time eating and took the opportunity to talk to each of the girls, if only for a few minutes, to make sure that there weren't any concerns. So far, everyone was doing fine and the only minor issues was transportation, but Elyse offered her car to Katy or Julia to use and that neatly solved the issue because Elyse walked to school every day.

When I got to campus, I went to the office and had my flyers stamped, then put them up in the computer science building, in the student center and in The Bog. I didn't bother with the dorms because I hadn't received a single call from anyone who'd taken a number in the dorms. I also stopped by Doctor Bauer's office and left some of the flyers with his secretary. Around 11:30am, I drove over to Bridgeport for my lunch with Becky. I was early, but I wanted to have some time to think about what I was going to say to her. I forgot about the fact that Candace would be there, and that she'd want to flirt and talk.

"Hey! You've been scarce!" she said when I walked in.

"Travel, friends visiting, and school starting all sort of got in the way."

"Last time was fun! Want to get together soon?"

"I'm actually working on reconciling with my girlfriend from High School. I need to focus on that."

"Bummer. You were a LOT of fun! Well, let me know. I guess you didn't mean Becky."

"No, I didn't. I'm going to tell her the same thing today, so you probably won't see a lot of me in the future."

"Well, that totally sucks! But I get it."

About fifteen minutes later, Becky came in and sat down in the booth across from me. I could tell she wasn't happy, but there was no doubt in my mind that she was still upset about me canceling our date. We ordered our food and made small talk until it arrived. We started eating, and I broached the topic that I knew was going to be a problem.

"Becky, Jennifer and I are trying to reconcile," I said, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"Shit. She hates my guts, doesn't she?" Becky asked, immediately coming to the correct conclusion.

"Something like that," I said.

"Is that why you canceled our date?" she said, her eyes turning glassy.