Chapter 72: Best Friends

April 26, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Welcome home,” I said to Jennifer late on Sunday evening.

“Did Jesse behave?” she asked with a smile.

“We are talking about our son, right?” I grinned. “He behaved as well as his dad does!”

“Do you have the police reports?” Josie teased.

“He was fine,” I said with a smile. “He went to school, played with Nicholas, and went to church with us for Pascha. How was Ohio?”

“Very interesting,” Josie smirked.

“Never mind!” I chuckled. “When will you know?”

“Around the 10th of May, I suppose, roughly. I consulted with my OB and Doctor Jessica on the timing.”

“And that’s when you’ll tell Jesse?” I asked.

Josie sighed, “That is really our decision, Steve.”

“You know I try to interfere as little as possible in your concept of your family, but Jesse is still my son and I need to look out for his best interests. Usually, the three of us agree, or to be blunt, I voluntarily butt out. But not this time. You’re playing with fire, in my opinion. The last thing I want to see happen is Jesse harboring anger or resentment. I’m not telling you to ask permission, but you need to take into account who he is, and tell him what’s going on.”

Josie was about to say something back but Jennifer put her hand on Josie’s arm and looked at me.

“Let’s not fight about this. Josie and I will talk about it. OK?”

“OK,” I agreed. “I didn’t mean to start a fight.”

Jennifer smiled, we hugged, and she and Josie headed back to the coach house. Abbie appeared a moment later with a bag she’d had with her.

“Everything OK?” she asked. “They seemed a bit out of sorts.”

“Just the whole situation,” I said. “Don’t sweat it. Did you watch the race today by any chance?”

She laughed, “Are you kidding? I’m probably the biggest NASCAR fan in the house at this point!”

“That’s even more outrageous than the idea of you getting married and having a kid!” Jessica teased.

“Bill finished 10th and Alan 16th,” Abbie said, ignoring Jessica. “Alan led like half the race early on, but then fell back. Mark Martin won, and Davey Allison crashed with just over 100 laps to go. I think he probably shouldn’t be driving. Even though he won in North Wilkesboro, those broken ribs really concern me.”

“He’s driving with broken ribs?” Jessica asked.

“Sustained at Bristol,” I said. “He used some sort of electro-shock device at North Wilkesboro to control the pain.”

“Now that’s just dumb!” Jessica protested. “Why let him race?”

I smiled, “For the same reason hockey players go back on the ice after losing teeth or getting stitched up. Because it’s their job.”

“But shouldn’t the guys in charge stop him from racing if it’s dangerous? Like team doctors who take players out of games?”

“Maybe. But they don’t.”

“Dumb, Tiger. Very dumb.”

“Careful, Babe. Abbie and I have close friends who do this for a living.”

“Jess, let’s go up to bed,” Kara said, trying to defuse the debate as she usually did. “He’s going with Elyse tonight. As we agreed.”

They kissed me, and Jessica whispered an apology into my ear, and I did the same. We’d long ago agreed not to go to bed or part if we had a disagreement that wasn’t resolved. We’d probably never resolve this one, but we both knew we shouldn’t fight about it. Abbie looked a bit sad when Elyse and I got up to go upstairs. I took Abbie’s hand, pulled her gently up from the couch, and hugged her.

“I love you very much,” I said. “But Jason loves you more.”

Abbie smiled, “I know.”

I gave her a quick, chaste kiss, and Elyse and I went up to bed.

“First a fight with Josie then with Jessica,” Elyse said as we undressed. “Is there an issue?”

“No. The one with Josie has been going on ever since they decided to try to get pregnant. Jennifer is kind of on the fence. She sees both sides, and she’s supported Josie because that’s the right thing for her to do. I agreed to let them be a family, and I need to do that. But that doesn’t mean keeping my mouth shut.”

“It feels like there’s something more, though.”

“Oh, I’m sure there is. Jennifer’s request. I’m guessing Josie is struggling with that. And for good reason.”

“The same reason you and your wives are struggling with it,” Elyse said.

“Yes. The Lay’s Potato Chips problem!”

“No one can eat just one!” Elyse laughed. “But with you it’s never just one!”

“That’s Kara’s usual line,” I chuckled as we climbed into bed and got under the covers.

“How is that different from Bethany?”

“Night and day,” I said. “Bethany and I were never meant to be together. Jennifer and I were, just as you and I were. In fact, if you had been OK with some ‘hot girl on girl action’ that’s probably how it would have played out!”

Elyse laughed, “Gross! No thanks! But that’s probably a good analysis. But why did I lose out to Kara and Jessica?”

“By the time Jennifer sorted things out, you and I were at very different places.”

“But you were going to propose to Kara!”

“Do you believe I was thinking straight then?” I asked.

“No. But you certainly thought you were.”

“Delusion. Her walking out on me was the best thing that could have happened. It prevented a massive mistake.”

“But you married her in the end!” Elyse protested.

“Yes. When the time was right. So much of what happened in my life was wrong timing.”

“Including me. I should have told you how I felt when you came home from Sweden. Especially when Jennifer left.”

“But you did tell me, in your own way. I was just too clueless to understand. As I said, timing.”

“Telling you I’d room with you.”

“Yes. I don’t think the seventeen-year-old Elyse could have said it directly. The nineteen-year-old Elyse couldn’t. She just asked me to marry her!”

“If there is one thing I truly blame Sean for, it’s that. He completely messed up my understanding of sex, love, and relationships at fourteen. That’s part of why I was the way I was during our senior year. Trying to figure it out. But by the time I sorted things out in my mind, life had moved on. And this is NOT me complaining or regretting anything. I would NOT trade you, Matthew and Michael, or my job, for any hypothetical alternate reality. And in THIS reality, I want you to love me. Now!”

That was a request from Elyse I would never refuse.

April 27, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Last week,” Jessica said at breakfast on Monday morning. “May will be Monday to Friday, 6:00am to 6:00pm.”

“Do you know what happens in June?”

“Not yet. It could be any of the surgical shifts, and they vary greatly. A lot will depend on which Attending is assigned as my mentor. I’m hoping for either Ty Landers or Neela Sinha. Those are the two best trauma surgeons besides Doctor Barton. I don’t want Frank Young. He never lets his Residents do a damned thing.”

“In a teaching hospital? How is that even possible?”

“It happens. If I were to get him, I’ll have to fight tooth and nail to do any important procedures. He has a reputation for grandstanding.”

“Remind me never to get hurt if he’s on duty!”

“He’s very good. Very, very good. But he’s a lousy teacher.”

“When will you find out?”

“In two weeks when they publish the schedule. Before I forget, did you decide what do to about Samantha?”

“Do you have an opinion?” I asked.

“Are you absolutely sure this isn’t a game that Jeri is playing?” Jessica asked.

“That thought has crossed my mind once or twice. In a sense, it is a game, at least in terms of her long-term plans. That all makes sense. My only issue there is that she didn’t take me into her confidence first. I believe she learned her lesson about that from the blowup at the Board meeting. If she’d filled me in completely, that blowup never would have happened. She tried to order me around instead of treating me as a partner. I bet she doesn’t do THAT again.

“As for the situation with Samantha, Jeri had joked once about using sex to cement deals, but the deal is between Samantha and Jeri. And she, Lisa, and Samantha are friends, and were before I came into the picture. Even Jeri’s remark about ‘or more if you want it’ wasn’t serious at the time. Sure, she knew about Samantha’s ‘warm’ side, but based on past experience, she didn’t expect Samantha to show it to anyone involved with the Foundation.

“So two things have happened. I’ve been invited into Jeri’s inner circle that consists of Alec Glass, his daughter Lisa, and Samantha. And that means developing relationships with them. Alec Glass called to invite us to dinner, and also to verbally invite us to Lisa’s wedding in August. We’ll get a formal invitation in the mail soon. I told him we’d be happy to come to dinner, but explained about our trio. He got a kick out of it and said all three of us were invited. I need to let him know some good days and times.”

“Try for either Saturday night that we don’t have Girls’ Night Out or a Friday night. That way we don’t have to leave early because of me needing to get up for work and you to run with Gina. So that answers Alec and Lisa. Samantha?”

“I suppose I’ll call her, but I’m going to treat this as a friendship, the way I do with Michelle or Gina.”

“I think it’s too late for that, Tiger. Remember what you said about inflection points and points of no return? I think you missed something, if you explained it correctly. She obviously wrote out her name and phone number and put it in her purse when she went to the ladies room, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then downstairs, the sequence was that she kissed you and you didn’t do anything other than accept it. She gently berated you for that, then kissed you again, and this time you kissed back, though not a deep kiss.”

“That’s right.”

“Then she unsnapped her purse and extracted the paper and handed it to you, and invited you to go riding with her.”

“Yes.”

“She decided AFTER the second kiss to do that, not before. In fact, that’s why she asked for the second kiss. Once you complied, she felt safe in asking you. Before that, she wasn’t sure. And, in a funny way, you not kissing back the first time confirmed exactly what she thought about you. That you were the safest guy on the planet.”

“And the second kiss?” I asked.

“That you’ll rock her world if she asks. But only if she asks.”

“So?”

“So she can’t be like Michelle or Gina,” Jessica said. “Think how hard you work to keep those relationships proper; to the point of not being ‘you’ in either case. And no, I am NOT saying you should be doing something different. You’re learning some important things about yourself and you’ll change because of them. And both Kara and I think that’s a good thing.”

I nodded, “So does Doctor Mercer.”

“You need to get to work, Tiger. See you at lunchtime!”

I kissed and hugged her, said goodbye to Abbie and the kids, and headed to the office.

April 30, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Totally nuts,” Elyse said on Thursday morning. “That poor truck driver!”

“Rescued by two black men, which despite everything else, was heartening,” I said. “That news helicopter being overhead was pretty fortuitous for that guy.”

“I watched CNN while you were running. It’s getting completely out of control. It’s been escalating since the verdicts were announced yesterday.”

“Rioting and mayhem are uncalled for,” I said firmly, “but the city had to know that if those officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King something bad would happen. It doesn’t seem as if the police were ready for this, and now they’ve lost control.”

“They’re going to have to call in the National Guard,” Elyse observed.

“Or the army,” I replied.

“I thought they couldn’t do that?”

“The Insurrection Act will allow it. The Constitution allows the Federal government to put down an insurrection, and I daresay this is widespread enough for them to invoke it, as was done in 1968, after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Junior.”

“Martial Law?” Jessica asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I detest the idea, but the alternative is to simply let it play out, which will only lead to more violence.”

“Realism trumps idealism again?” Elyse asked.

“Either that, or it becomes a civil war, or race war, with people deciding to take matters into their own hands. It’s one of those situations where there are only bad choices. This had to be prevented up front, though I’m not sure how that could have happened, either. It’s a shitty deal, no matter what. I will point out that the genesis of this whole thing was police brutality.”

“I knew you’d find a libertarian angle on it if you talked long enough,” Elyse laughed. “I need to get to the office. See you in thirty minutes or so.”

She gave me a quick kiss and left.

“Seeing Siobhán today?” Jessica asked after the front door closed.

“Yes. But I need to figure out how this winds down.”

“Your issue with long-term, casual relationships?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Back to our trio plus Elyse?” she asked.

“Yes. And you know that at some point, Elyse will drop out because Eduardo will end up here. He’s coming to the US on business in July, and she’s flying down to Miami to see him again. If his company’s office in Chicago were to expand, I think he’d be here in a heartbeat!”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Always!”

“Don’t try to find an ending. Let it end naturally. My thinking is that you ended things with Abbie of necessity, and your regular thing with Tara in Pittsburgh ended because she has a boyfriend. You turned down Marie, and your thing with Crystal was probably truly a one-off. If I had my preference, you’d stick with this one girl on the side rather than adding to your list.”

“Are you asking me to stop?”

She smiled, “No, not at all. Just giving a preference. There’s less risk associated with one long-term girl than a series of what amount to one-night stands.”

“I see your point,” I said “What about Samantha? I haven’t called her yet.”

“Still on the fence? I suppose it depends on what she’s looking for, doesn’t it?”

“Let me get this straight, you would prefer that if I start something with Samantha that it was long-term, not a one-and-done?”

“So long as she understands it for what it is, yes. Kimmy was perfect in that way. No drama. No concerns. Low risk.”

“Have you talked about this with Kara?” I asked.

“Yes. We agree. We’d rather you had a regular girlfriend, if you will, than a string of random girls. Someone we could get to know and like. Again, like Kimmy, or like Abbie, though we agree she was different.”

“That’s for sure!” Abbie said, coming into the kitchen.

“Sorry!” Jessica laughed.

“For what? Saying that my relationship with your husband was different? It was. And do you know the most important thing he did for me?”

“Taught you how to love someone?”

“No. He taught me how to be loved.”

That night, before I went to get Jessica, I watched the Penguins beat the Capitals 5-2. They were still alive, but had to win at home, then back in Maryland to survive the current round. The Hawks were up 3-2 in their series, with the next game in St. Louis.