Chapter 41: Sorting Out A Complex Situation

January 2, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Dad! Dad! Dad!” Jesse shouted as I walked in the front door.

He was, literally, bouncing off the walls.

“Nicholas is moving here! Nicholas is moving here!”

I couldn’t help but laugh, “I know, Jesse. Aunt Bethany told me.”

“Can they live with us? Can they? Please? Can they?”

“Jesse, I only found out an hour ago. You knew before I did! Can we wait, please?”

“Can Nicholas go to the hockey game with us tonight?”

That would put us a ticket short, but if I bought one at the stadium, and one of the adults kept him on their lap, we could probably get away with it.

“I think so, but you need to ask Aunt Bethany when she gets home.”

“Yay!” he said, running out of the foyer.

“Wow!” Kara laughed.

“He is a bit excited. Let’s go change. I want to go back to the office for a few hours. Pick me up in the minivan, and we can get Jess. Bring Jesse and Nicholas with you. Well, assuming Bethany says it’s OK.”

I went upstairs and quickly changed. Kara and I exchanged a quick kiss, and I headed back to the office.

“Steve, a reporter from Crain’s Chicago Business called for you and asked that you please call him back today.”

“And so it begins,” I sighed. “Keri, effective immediately, no calls should be put through from anyone I don’t know, or who isn’t a customer. If someone calls to inquire about potential business, put them through to either Kayla or Charlie, depending on whether they’re looking for software or consulting.”

“What happened?”

“I think you’ll get to read about it in the papers, but Jess made a donation to the new crisis counseling center at the hospital that my best friend is going to run. And I’m donating funds to cover materials. Anyway, for reporters, take their information and I’ll call them back. The one exception is Stan Jakes, from the Tribune; I already gave him an interview. Him you can put through.”

“Got it. I wrote that down. I’ll make sure Kimmy knows.”

“Thanks,” I said.

I took the pink phone message slip from Keri and walked to Elyse’s office. I explained what had happened.

“Wow! Bethany?”

“So they didn’t tell you?”

“No!” Elyse replied. “I think they might have been concerned that I’d have told you. And I probably would have. Jess made a bad decision.”

“Al Barton agrees with you.”

“I need to call the phone company.”

“Why?”

“To change our home phone numbers and make them unlisted,” she said.

“Shit,” I swore. “Yes, do that, please. Figure out how to get the new numbers into everyone’s hands.”

“Your private line, the one you, Jess, and Kara use, should have VERY limited distribution. Just the closest people. Everyone else can have the main number.”

“I let you manage those things,” I said. “Make it happen. I’m going to call this reporter.”

“Why?”

“Jeri’s advice. Think about what the Trib reporter might have uncovered about Kara if I’d refused to speak to him and he decided to dig on his own. I know it will eventually come out, but as Jeri said, why not control the message as best we can?”

“Let me know if you need anything.”

“I already gave Keri new instructions about calls. It kind of sucks, but I guess we don’t have a choice.”

“No, we don’t. I’ll talk to her.”

I went to my office, gave Penny a quick rundown, then dialed the number on the slip. Jim Crenshaw answered.

“I got a tip from Stan Jakes,” Mr. Crenshaw said. “I’d like to do a story on your company. Would you have some time to talk in detail with me?”

“How much time do you need, Mr. Crenshaw?”

“Say two hours, with the possibility of some follow up later. I’d want to bring a photographer as well.”

“When?”

“How would Tuesday morning of next week work for you?”

“9:00am? In our offices on Hyde Park Boulevard?”

“See you then,” he said.

I hung up, and tried to focus on work, but wasn’t having much luck. I decided I’d call Dante to discuss his proposal. We spoke for about fifteen minutes, and then came to the staffing issue.

“This woman, Sam? She’s as good as Greg?”

“I think so,” I said. “A different skill set, and a different personality, but an excellent engineer. Penny and I will be working on this project as well.”

“That makes me more comfortable. Your legal problems? Are they going to interfere?”

“No. I’m sure you’ve run into this situation before where a competitor decides to use the courts to gain an advantage.”

“And ended up with a half-dozen lawyers all charging me by the hour!”

I laughed, “I said the exact same thing! We’re in the wrong racket, Dante. Their hourly rates make ours look like chicken feed!”

“Tell me about it,” Dante sighed. “I have to keep two on retainer at all times.”

“Same here, basically. But, in this instance, I think it will work out OK.”

“Counter-suit?”

“Among other things,” I said. “You know I can’t really discuss the details.”

“No, you can’t. Are we going to do this deal?”

“Same basic terms as the test equipment?”

“Yes, you son of a bitch!” he spat, but he was laughing.

“Good. Our usual meeting place?”

“Shaw’s. How’s Wednesday look?”

“See you there at 7:00pm,” I said.

I entered the dinner into my calendar, wrote out my notes from the conversation, made some adjustments to the schedule, and then let Dave know that we had the deal. That meant he’d have to hire a programmer, and he promised to have the paperwork to Elyse by the end of the day Friday. Kara arrived a few minutes after I finished with Dave, and we headed to the hospital to get Jessica.

“Well?” I asked as she climbed into the passenger seat next to Kara who was driving.

“He reamed me. Both for my medical judgment, or lack thereof, and keeping secrets from you.”

“I have mixed emotions about the whole thing,” I said. “But in the end, the only thing that really annoys me is that I have to give interviews to reporters.”

“Why? Just tell them ‘no’ and move on.”

“Jeri strongly advised me against that. Her take is that a reporter can be a friend or foe, and if you treat them as a foe, they’ll act like one. If you treat them as a friend, you have at least a fighting chance to control the message. The reporter had a question about who Kara was; I think that will turn out OK because of how I answered. If I’d refused to talk and he started snooping, you know what the lede would be!”

“Your sexual prowess?” Jessica giggled.

“Something like that,” I laughed. “With the interview I have set for next week, I can probably get away with saying that I want to protect my family’s privacy. It’s with the business paper, Crain’s, and I think my answer is reasonable. Where the problem will come is the ‘society’ stuff. Some reporter is going to figure it out, and write an article about the ‘Swinging Doctor’. And not to mention all the fundraising calls we’ll get as soon as the articles are published. But forget that for now. What happened?”

“An informal reprimand with nothing in my file. And a very pissed off Doctor Barton.”

“I’ll have lunch with Al next week,” I said.

“Let it drop, Tiger. He feels this is medical.”

“Not the secrets part. I get it, but I’m not sure I can explain it to him. And I do believe the three of us have some talking to do without the extra ears.”

“Me?” Jesse asked.

“You!” I grinned, and tousled his hair.

We managed the ticket situation as I’d planned, and watched the Hawks lose their third straight game, as the Rangers beat them 4-3.

January 4, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Finally, some time to talk,” I said on Saturday afternoon when we finished lunch.

Bethany had gone home on Friday morning, and I’d been out with Gina Swanson on Friday night. I hadn’t had time to talk to Bethany, but we’d have time because she wasn’t due to open the clinic until June 1st. She, the hospital, and the Foundation had a lot of work to do before then. Jason had left on Friday afternoon, much to Abbie’s dismay. She was clearly smitten, but the distance made a relationship impossible.

“Let’s take some tea into the ‘Indian’ room,” Kara suggested.

I made a pot and we took it with us to the ‘Indian’ room where we lounged on the large floor pillows.

“Jesse was already sizing up the playroom for Bethany!” Kara laughed. “And said he wants a second bed in his room to share with Nicholas!”

“I’m sure he has this all mapped out in his mind, but it’s WAY more complicated than that,” I said. “And I need to share a complication he’s not aware of, and that you two don’t know.”

“Secrets, Tiger?” Jessica asked.

“A confidence. I received permission to share it last night, because I knew it had to factor into this conversation.”

“Is this the broad conversation we talked about, or just about Bethany?” Kara asked.

“I don’t see how it could be ‘just about Bethany’,” I said.

“Before we get to that, you got in late last night,” Jessica said. “How is Gina?”

“I sat at the Woodlawn Tap for about six hours listening to her tale of woe. Her most recent ‘Mr. Wonderful’ turned out to be a scumbag. What I’d call, if he were a woman, a ‘gold-digger’.”

“You know men can do that, too!”

“Obviously!”

“No urge for a ‘pity fuck’?” Kara giggled.

“No. And please don’t ask about that again. I know you’re teasing, but this has to be purely platonic. She did ask for a candid assessment about 1:00am.”

“And?” Jessica asked.

“I gave her one. I’m not sure how she took it, but I told her what I saw, at least from the time I’ve talked to her, the good and the bad. Personally, I think she’s looking for love in all the wrong places.”

“Lookin’ for love in too many faces?” Jessica smirked, completing the next line of the song.

“That was in Texas,” I chuckled. “So you would know! Anyway, she’s sort of alternated between doctors and lawyers and ne’er-do-well bad boys. I don’t think a college professor is her speed, either. I’d say skilled trade. Somebody like Jacqui’s dad, who’s a bricklayer, or a carpenter, or electrician. Her hours aren’t nearly so crazy now, and as she gets seniority, she’ll have fewer night and weekend shifts.”

“Me, too!” Jessica said, then sighed, “In ten fucking years!”

“You chose the path, Babe. Stay on it. Anyway, I didn’t tell her that yet, but we’re seeing each other next week, and I’ll kind of gauge how she’ll respond. She’s a VERY nice person.”

“It’s interesting to hear you talk about a woman in those terms,” Kara said. “It hasn’t happened much in your life.”

“No, it hasn’t, for the reasons Doctor Mercer spelled out before Christmas.”

“I’m glad it’s working out for you both,” Jessica said. “Along those lines, what about Crystal?”

“That one is tougher. We already crossed that line, so to speak, according to Doctor Mercer, and there really isn’t any way to erase what happened. No matter what we do at this point, there will always be that niggling thought in the back of both of our minds. If you want my candid analysis, she wants to, but the whole sharing thing has her completely flustered. Maybe I’m wrong, but she doesn’t seem like the one-night-stand type. But I could be horribly misreading her. I am taking her to dinner again later this month. As James Bond.”

Kara laughed softly, “At her request? Then we KNOW she wants to fuck. It’s just a question of whether or not she can handle your terms.”

“We’ll see what happens there,” I said. “But the over-under says ‘no’.”

“And your ex-Navy friend?”

I chuckled, “She’s a wild one. Whereas I use sex for closeness and companionship, she engages in raw, pure, unadulterated fucking. The last thing she said was, basically, ‘same time next year’.”

“So you didn’t measure up?”

“Top-10, but I kind of pale compared to her getting double-teamed, or her first time with a six-six, 275 pound, muscular petty officer who was, and I’m quoting here, ‘hung like a horse’. That was apparently a two-day sex marathon where she lost all her cherries and learned to deep throat a monster dick!”

Both girls laughed.

“That tiny little girl?” Kara said, shaking her head. “Wow!”

“And that friend of Jeri’s?” Jessica asked.

“I’m on the fence. Jeri wanted to talk to me about her, but I put her off until next week, given all the stuff that had gone down on Wednesday. And from that, plus a few other things, we have a slew of issues to deal with. Perhaps we can take one that is complex, but in many ways, one of the easier issues. Fawn’s request.”

“There’s an easier one, Tiger. Jill.”

“I suppose that is a simple decision,” I said. “She was fun. I don’t think there’s a schoolgirl crush, or anything even remotely resembling that. She thought it was sexy to be the naughty babysitter seducing the dad. Her request, at least to me, seemed like she wanted a bit more fun, and then she’d be done. The thing is, as noted, there are other possibilities. And some FAR more important ones. Like Fawn’s request.”

“You said you were clear with Fawn that it was a one-time thing,” Jessica said. “Just those four days in New York.”

“I was. And she acknowledged that. But Kara and I were planning a torrid short-term affair and look what happened! Abbie was supposed to be a one-night stand with a possible single repeat. You get the point.”

“You’re worried about how she feels.”

“Aren’t you? Fawn is in love with me.”

“And you with her, but I’d almost call it ‘puppy love’ on your part. Something similar to what you had with Penny. It’s not real in the same way you love us, or Abbie, or Bethany.”

“That doesn’t make it any less dangerous,” I countered. “What happens when I go to New York and she decides I should make regular trips there? And she puts her plan to steal me away from you two into action.”

“Seriously?” Jessica asked.

“You’ve talked to her more than I have over the past six years. You’re the one who told me she would have accepted an offer to have sex down in Indy when she was barely thirteen.”

“It’s interesting to hear you argue against being with a girl with whom you had, and I’m quoting you, ‘one of the most erotic experiences of your life’.”

“Isn’t that alone a good reason to say ‘no’? It’s possible to get drunk on great sex.”