Chapter 12

Lena’s turn:

Loving my new life as wife of Jay. Thing one – we can hold hands in public. Little kisses, that kind of thing, because you know ... husband and wife. Thing two – no more tip-toeing around the hotel room, trying to be chaste.

Honestly though, I sort of started out in the hotel room that first night, knowing that chastity was on limited lifespan.

Besides, two of us naked in the same room is just plain fun. I don’t get that ‘he’s gropin’ me, him with his one-track mind’ vibe at all. When he does touch me, I feel loved. He acts like a blind man meeting the Venus de Milo. I’m good with that. I’d say my side of that story would be Michelangelo’s David but poor ol’ David’s sadly lacking and unresponsive.

Manassas. Antietam. And the Mother of All Battles, Civil War version – Gettysburg. And we angle off afterward towards Missouri. We’ll get there a few days before I’m expected to start work with Jay. That’s a few days where we get used to LIVING together, like who does what around the house.

“There goes that idea about you sleeping in the spare bedroom,” he laughed. “I don’t have to move my stuff.”

“Just make room for MY stuff,” I told him.

“You didn’t bring much stuff.”

He’s right. I loaded up the back end of the SUV with my belongings. I brought clothes, a few keepsakes, that sort of thing. I thought that sooner or later we’d get back there and I might bring more stuff, but when I left, I wasn’t absolutely sure what my future accommodations might be. After all, what if Jay pushed me out to make room for some floozy?

Nope. I’m sleeping in the bed with MY husband. We’ll figure out domestic issues as we go.

I’m pleasantly surprised at the apartment as we drive up. Jay said ‘temporary housing for the duration of the project’ and my mind filled in ‘run-down hovel’. I need to realign my mind. It was a nice-looking place. Back home, those are kind of spendy.

We parked in one of two spots with our apartment number on them and I started to grab a bag.

“Nope. We’ll lock it. C’mon!”

Okay, Jay’s not given to insanity, so he’s got something in mind. He’s got me by the hand as we walk up the sidewalk. He’s got his keys out. He opens the door, scoops me up. I squeal just a little as he maneuvers me through the door, letting me stand up once inside, then he pushes me back against the wall.

“There,” he smiles, kissing me. “I have brought my wife properly into her new home.”

I kissed him back. “I am in my new home because you are here.”

“Know what’s really sad, though?”

Inside, I sort of fell. Sadness? I had to ask. “What’s sad, baby?”

“We don’t have bread, so you can’t make me a sammich.” And he broke into a lopsided grin.

“You BEAST!” I squealed. I hauled him to me forcibly, covering his mouth with mine. Kiss. “I can see that Mom was right. I have training to do!” Kiss again.

“This is getting ready to be a crime scene,” I said.

“Crime scene?”

“Yep! I’m about to rape you. Show me the bedroom.”

He grinned. “Might not make it past the sofa.”

“Nope. Bedroom. I get to choose the scene of the rape.”

I had just enough time to admire his choice of bedding before we tossed the covers off the bed.

We had to get rid of a lot of clothes to conduct a proper rape and by that time the lines got really obscured as to exactly who was supposed to be raping whom but when it was all over, both participants pronounced it quite satisfactory.

I was lying beside him, both of us on our backs, holding hands, fingers interlaced.

“Perfect,” I said.

“Thank you. I do try, you know...”

“Jay, you just GET me.”

“Mutual, baby doll,” he said.

A little revitalization ensued. Then, “How many sets of sheets do you have?”

“Two, why?”

“Big puddle on these. As the lady who’s gotta do the laundry, it helps to know things.”

He rolled over to trap me. “It’s real, then,” he said.

“What’s real?”

“My Lena’s planning on being a proper mate and partner.”

“Of course. What would make you think otherwise, what with YOU still dripping out of ME?”

“I still think I’m dreaming. It’s been a very good dream, too.”

“Yeahhhh,” I sighed.

“C’mon,” he said, “Let me show you the place.”

I got the house tour while completely naked. Stopped in the bathroom long enough to note that the shower was big enough for two friendly participants and that there was toilet paper. I retrieved some, used it to make sure I didn’t mark the rest of my path through the place by a series of sticky spots.

End of tour. Like I said, nice apartment. I know a lot of people who live in much worse conditions. I was one of them.

We got dressed (dammit!) and hauled in the bags from the trip, then wrote up a list to go grocery shopping, needing to add perishables and ‘things YOU like’, per Jay. On the trip outbound, we drove past the jobsite. Yes, there’s a real, live, running facility there already.

“That’s Phase 1. I built that, at least the electrical part of it. Those trailers are our offices. They’ve already started the site prep for Phase 2. That’s what you and I will be working on.”

“Interesting. Looks like a mess.”

“It is. It’ll be a long time into the project before most of the new unit is paved. People will track mud into those trailers daily. Even with a janitorial service sweeping and mopping nightly, it’s still not a home for the meticulous.”

“You didn’t tell me that, Jay.”

“You worked in Dad’s garden. I sort of thought that dirt wasn’t going to bother you. And your cave will be one of the cleanest, anyway.”

“That’s why you said jeans, safety shoes and a work shirt are what I need, right?”

“Yeah. You’ll spend most of your day in your cave, but if you have to issue new drawings to the field, you might go out there yourself rather than wait and trust somebody else to take them out there for you.”

“Me in a hard hat and safety glasses,” I muttered.

“You’ll be the prettiest one out there. And believe me, it WILL be noticed.”

I touched his arm. “And it will be appreciated, laughed at, and rebuffed.”

“Just be careful. Some of those guys don’t rebuff easily.”

“First, I’m madly in love with YOU, so I will limit my interactions to business. Second, I will not allow myself to get into one-on-one situations. Third, no touchy. You touchy, I touchy back. Vigorously. Loudly.” I paused. “But Jay, my first REAL job...”

“We’ll go talk with them tomorrow, get your employment paperwork done, and Monday you and I can start work.”

I giggled. “You’ll teach me. I really LIKE it when YOU teach me stuff.”

“You’re a very good student,” he said, playing along.

“I’m motivated,” I giggled. “I love some of your subjects.”

Grocery shopping. Yes, every day, millions of people go grocery shopping. I’ve done it myself, helping out Mom, or for Jay’s dad. Today, though, is the first time that I’ve shopped for MY own house. Milestone. Direct connection to normality. I said so.

“I like normality with you, little girl,” Jay said.

“Well, we got it, babe,” I countered. “Both of us working...”

“And we’re quite comfortable, I think. My salary will take care of us and we sock a chunk of it away, and your salary...”

“Save all of it. When this job’s over - you and I do something special. Might go count kangaroos or something.”

“Polar bears,” he countered. “By the time summer’s over, I’ll be pretty much sunshined out.”

“That’s a thought,” I said.

“Could just play it by ear, huh?” he said.

“Plan to be spontaneous at some future date,” I laughed.

“Yeah. That.”

Jay’s turn:

I always enjoyed the bed I’d bought for this place. I hit it dead on with the mattress. Now I find that adding a healthy, happy teenager to it really enhances the experience.

“Queen,” she said, looking at it. “We know how to do queens, don’t we?”

Indeed we do. Wonderful night’s sleep. Bumped into each other for breakfast and coffee, then a run out to the jobsite.

I introduced Lena to Andy Cravens, our project manager.

“Andy, this is Angelina Harris, my wife. Your new documents analyst.”

“When you told me about hiring her, she was Angelina Crosby,” he said. “I guess this is a surprise, something new, something I need to offer congratulations to YOU and condolences to Angelina.”

“Lena, if you please, and I’ll accept congratulations as well, thank you,” Lena inserted.

“How long have you KNOWN this guy, Lena?”

“Since I was about five.”

“And you STILL married ‘im?”

This is where I see how Lena’s going to fare on the job.

She smirked, “He’s the very epitome of stability and has shown amazingly good taste by chasing me until I caught ‘im.”

Score’s Lena- 1, Andy – 0.

“Wow!” Andy blurted, laughing. “I walked into that one. I should’ve known ... Lena, I ... well, you two won’t be the first husband and wife team we’ve had on this job. The lady who had your position before was married to one of the process engineers.”

“That’s what Jay told me when he first talked about the job.”

“Well, if Jay thought you’re up for the job, then you already have some ideas about what it is, right?”

“Yessir.”

“Okay. See Emily. She’s our on-site HR rep. She’ll get you the paperwork. I suppose you have a birth certificate and a social security card and a driver’s license?”

“Yessir,” she said. “But my license is under my maiden name.”

“That’s okay. You ‘n’ Emily can work that out. You’ll want to get it changed as soon as you can, anyway.” He eyed me. “You can show ‘er where Emily’s office is. While they’re doing that, come back here and talk with me.”

“Sure,” I said.

Lena’s turn:

Jay looked relaxed when we met his boss, so if Jay’s relaxed, Lena’s gonna try and be relaxed, too.

Mister Andy cracked a comment about condolences for me marrying Jay. I told him that Jay was the epitome (yeah, sometimes those straight As in English come back to haunt me) of stability and decorum and he had the good sense to chase me until I caught ‘im.