Chapter 32: Katy and Kenneth

November 3, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"Ugh," Jessica groaned when her alarm clock went off at 4:00am.

The three of us had agreed that Kara would stay in bed and that I would get up with Jessica and eat breakfast with her. We left a soundly sleeping Kara in bed, and while Jessica showered and quickly dressed, I went downstairs to make breakfast.

"You didn't have to get up with me, Tiger," she said as I served her bacon and eggs.

"I'm going back to bed once you leave," I grinned. "Do you plan to nap when you get home?"

"Yes. I'll get a couple of hours before dinner, which should let me get back on track. You and Kara don't have to come to bed with me at 8:00pm, you know."

"No, we don't, but we will. It's all part of loving you, Babe!"

"I'm afraid there won't be a lot of loving except on weekends this month," she sighed.

"It's OK," I said. "What's important is that you're here for a month! I signed up for seeing you only on weekends for eight years! This is a vast improvement!"

She smiled. She finished eating, and I walked her out to her car barely twenty minutes after the alarm had gone off. I kissed her goodbye, and waited until she had driven away, then went back upstairs, took off my robe and pyjamas, and snuggled next to Kara to get another hour's sleep before Kara's alarm would go off.

"Did she get off to work OK?" Kara asked when her alarm went off.

"Yes," I said. "I cooked her breakfast while she showered and she was out the door about 4:20am."

We got out of bed, took our showers, dressed, and went down to eat breakfast. Afterwards, I kissed Kara goodbye, and she went to IIT while I went to the NIKA offices. As usual, I was the first in the office, though Kaitlin, Cindi, Charlie, Julia, and Dave followed not long after. I took my coffee out to the main office area for our staff meeting and sat on one of the desks and leaned against the wall. Elyse walked in just as Julia called the meeting to order.

Elyse gave a quick financial update, which was very positive, and then Dave discussed the situation in Waukesha.

"We don't have an answer yet about which way Waukesha is going to go, but John Forster was very positive with me at the Friday meeting. He said that the supervisors on the budget committee were very much in favor of using consultants rather than hiring full-time staff, at least for next year. At the end of the hearing, he said he was quite confident that we'd be renewed for next year. We can't take that to the bank, but the full board of supervisors meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month and that's when we'll know. That's the 25th. I plan to go to the meeting. Julia and I will leave for Ohio on Wednesday afternoon, if that's OK with you, Steve."

"It is," I said.

Cindi went next and had good news in that she and Mario closed two additional law firms in Cincinnati, and were close to closing the deal in San Diego, though she and Julia would probably need to fly there to finalize things. Sales of the medical office software were moving slowly, but she'd had positive reports from the small practices that were using the stand-alone version of the software. She was working on a proposal for the networked version with a group of doctors in Downers Grove, and hoped to close the deal by the end of the month.

"We do need to hire someone to do installation and on-site support," she said. "I talked to Elyse and we have the revenue to do that."

"Could I do it?" Zeke asked.

I nodded to Julia, who answered, "Let's talk after the meeting."

Zeke smiled and nodded. We'd need to hire someone to do telephone support, but I was very happy with Zeke's work, and the idea of promoting from within appealed to me.

"That brings us to the programming resources," Julia said. "We're just barely on schedule for our chargeable releases, and I think we need to hold off on hiring someone until we see what happens with Waukesha. Steve's instructed us to always act conservatively, so we won't do anything until we know for sure one way or the other. Waukesha and Purina Mills are our biggest sources of revenue and profit. We make decent money from the paid enhancements to the legal software, but nothing compared to what we make from those two deals.

"Which brings me to the next issue. We need to work on replacing the Waukesha revenue because we know that eventually it's going to go away. We're profitable without them, but if we don't have enough work for Tom or Debbie to do when that contract ends, then we'll have to make some hard choices. We do have something that Tom could work on right now, if we wanted the business, but he's full-time in Waukesha."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Do you remember the guy who approached us about the bidding system for jobs? He's lined up enough funding to start his company, but he needs the software. He wants it in Advanced Revelation, and Tom's our expert. Charlie knows Prime Information, but she's tied up with Purina Mills and working with Steve on the legal and medical software."

"I hate turning away business," Cindi said. "Could we sign the deal with an agreed start date of January 5th? We'll know for sure if we have the Waukesha deal for next year and that gives us enough time to hire someone. We could advertise — nothing says we have to hire someone."

"Let me call and talk to the guy," Julia suggested. "I'll tell him we want the deal, but we can't start until January. That way, we can assign Tom if things go badly with Waukesha. It'll give us breathing room to find more work for Tom, if it comes to that. Hopefully, with the holidays and the fact that we're already into November, a January start won't be a problem."

We reviewed a few other outstanding issues, and then Julia, Cindi, and I went into my office to talk about Zeke. The three of us agreed that he could certainly do that job, and at first, he could spend time in the office training his replacement, in addition to making customer visits. That would take some of the load from Cindi and Mario, and let them focus more on sales.

"Do we need to do anything formal?" Julia asked.

"I guess you should ask Jamie just to make sure, but I don't think so," I said. "You will need to talk to Joyce just to make sure she's OK with our plan. And remember, Stephanie has to sign the offer letters now."

"OK. Cindi, Zeke will be on your team, so I guess you should be the one to let him know."

Julia and Cindi went back to the main room, and I went to my office and pulled up the list of changes that I was working through, and got myself into the zone. Just before noon, Kaitlin came to the office to remind me to head home for my lunchtime walk with Jesse. I saved everything and headed back to the house where I had a quick bite to eat and then went out back to the coach house to collect my son.

"Dada!" he gurgled.

"Hi, Jesse!" I said.

"Park? Fra'ceca?" Jesse said.

"We'll see," I said. "She hasn't been there for the last week."

Jesse frowned. At just over eight months, he was able to communicate better than the kids, who were three or four months older than he was. His pediatrician said that it was likely that he'd be talking in full sentences by his first birthday. In addition, he was pulling himself up, standing next to furniture, and trying to 'cruise' along it.

I bundled Jesse up against the cool fall air, put him in his stroller, and we set off for the park. On our first trip around the path, we didn't see Carol and her kids, but on the second time around, we did. Jesse spotted them first and yelled for his paramour.

"Hi, Carol," I said, as we walked up to them.

I took Jesse from his stroller and sat him in the grass. Francesca walked over to him and hugged him, then sat down next to him.

"Hi," Carol said dully.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

A tear ran down her cheek. I knew something was up.

"Chuck is leaving me for his secretary!" she said, bursting into tears.

My first instinct was to hug her, but I realized that was a supremely bad idea. She'd already suggested what I felt would be an inappropriate relationship, and now she was extremely vulnerable.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Have you talked to anyone about it?"

"No," she sobbed. "I don't know what to do!"

"I think you need to talk to a counselor and a lawyer," I said. "I can give you a name of a lawyer, and I'm sure that Bethany can give you the name of a counselor."

She nodded and continued sobbing. I decided that she needed help right now, and that I could at least provide some. Carefully.

"Walk back to my house with me," I said. "I can give you Gwen Meyer's number, and Bethany should be home from class about the time we get back."

She gathered her kids and put them in a tandem stroller. I put Jesse into his and we walked back to my house on Woodlawn. Bethany was just coming up the sidewalk.

"Carol?" she asked, having seen the tears.

"Divorce," I mouthed silently.

Bethany helped Carol bring the kids inside, and I took Jesse with me. I went to my study and wrote out Gwen Meyer's phone number and address and went back to the kitchen, where Bethany was making hot chocolate. I handed Carol the paper.

"Carol, this is the lawyer who helped me get everything straight with my strange relationships. She does divorces as well. Give her a call. I need to get back to work, but you're in good hands with Bethany!"

"OK," she said, fighting to control her sobs.

"Bethany, if it's OK with you, I'll leave Jesse here with Francesca. You can take him back to Beverly when Carol leaves."

"That's fine," she said.

I took off Jesse's coat, hat, and mittens, and put them on a chair, then headed back to work.

When I arrived home later that evening, Jessica was still napping, so I went to find Bethany, who was in the sunroom.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"She's a wreck. Chuck told her last night that he was moving out. I guess he's shacked up with his secretary at her apartment or something."

"Did you put her in touch with a counselor?"

"Yes. And I got Carol to call Ms. Meyer before she left. She has an appointment on Thursday morning."

"Is she going to be OK alone?" I asked.

"I think so. She has enough money in her bank account to cover her expenses for a few weeks, and I'll call her each day. You need to be VERY careful around her!"

"Tell me about it," I sighed. "I was a bit concerned about bringing her here, but I knew that you would be home, and besides, Elyse is usually home for lunch. I wanted to get her Gwen's number right away."

"She'll need it. She doesn't work, and hasn't since the kids were born. She'll need alimony and child support, and that's going to require an attorney, even though Illinois law guarantees that she'll get those. She's also going to be very needy, if you know what I mean."

"I didn't take Charlie with me today because I wasn't expecting to see Carol. She's been pretty scarce since the conversation about sexually active teenagers."

"I bet that changes," Bethany said. "She'll do her best to latch on to you. She's frightened and you appear to be a rock of stability."

"A rock of stability with two wives, a son, and another kid on the way!"

"She sees a nice, loving father, a devoted husband, and a successful businessman. She's just scared enough to not care."

"I do NOT envy you," I said. "This is the kind of thing you'll do for a living."

She nodded, "It is. But that's down the road a piece. How was Stephie's wedding?"

"Good. It was something of a whirlwind trip. We have another one this weekend, though we won't be getting home so late. A bunch of us will be in Boston, including Cindi, Jackie, Julia, and Sofia. I know Chris, Jamie, and Dave are coming, but I think Sofia's going alone because Stavros doesn't know Katy."

"What about Kathy and Kurt?"

"They had something else going on this weekend," I said. "But we'll see Josh and Mary for breakfast on Sunday morning. They aren't coming to the wedding because they don't know Katy."

"Cool. Did you decide what to do about my research paper?"

"I'm just worried that Jess will somehow know that it's me and Stephanie, because you know the individuals and you observed them."

"But I didn't say that in my paper. Just that I had interviewed them and read Abel's journal."

"And I keep a journal. I just think it's too risky."

"So is keeping quiet," she said firmly.

"I know," I sighed. "I'll keep thinking about it."

I started preparing dinner, and a few minutes later, Jessica and Kara came into the kitchen. I told them about Carol and Jessica filled us in on her day. She'd spent it shadowing an anesthesiology resident doing pre-surgery workups. That appeared to be what she'd be doing for the entire month, though she would get into the operating room to observe.

"I think I need to be up at least fifteen minutes earlier, too," she said. "I cut it really close this morning. 8:00pm is still an OK bedtime. Are you sure you guys want to give up your evenings?"

"I'll come to bed after karate," I said. "I'm home by 8:15pm and need a shower. Will it disturb you if I get into bed?"

"I want you to, Tiger. It's OK. I like having you snuggled next to me when I sleep. You too, Kara! What's the plan for Friday?"

"We have an 8:00pm flight, but you're done with work by 3:00pm, so that's no problem. We fly back on Sunday at 1:00pm. That gives us enough time to have breakfast with Mary and Josh and get to Logan. We'll be home by dinner."

"How was the party?" Kara asked.

"No idea," I said. "We'll have to ask Elyse at dinner."

I finished preparing dinner and called everyone to the dining room. Elyse told us that the party had been a blast, and that everyone had a good time.

"Who did Jamie and Jackie come as?" I asked.

"Deckard and Pris," she said.

"I knew it was going to be Blade Runner," I said. "I assume that they won again?"

She laughed, "No! Nick and Bethany won!"

"What?!" I gasped surprise...

"They came as Zack and Paula from An Officer and a Gentleman. He carried her into the room like the final scene after having Jorge cue the theme song. Jamie knew he'd lost at that point."

"It was perfectly romantic!" Sofia said. "Stavros and I just came as Greek gods again."

"Any other costumes of note?" I asked.

"Cindi and Chris came as pirates," Bethany said. "And Cindi may as well have walked naked into the room for the 'barely there' costume she was wearing!"

"Don't give her any ideas!" my sister said with a smirk. "She just might do it!"

"Hmm," Elyse said. "A naked Halloween party! Just masks. Nothing else!"

"I'm game!" Leila said.

Everyone laughed.

"That might be just a bit over the top," I said.

We finished eating and Leila and Alejandra did the dishes so that Kara, Stephanie, Sofia, and I could head to karate class. When we arrived home, Kara and I used the shower off the kitchen for quick showers, and then went up to bed and snuggled close to Jessica. She stirred a bit, but didn't wake, which was a good thing, because her alarm was set for 3:45am.