Chapter 3: Getting To Know You, Part I

June 22, 1992, Iron Mountain, Michigan

The phone rang just as we were finishing breakfast on Monday morning.

“Hi,” Jeri sighed when I answered.

“Jeri, I don’t want to talk about this until I talk to Samantha,” I said.

“I talked to Samantha.”

“Then she should be calling me so we can work this out.”

“She doesn’t want to,” Jeri said, her voice full of trepidation.

“Why? Didn’t Lisa talk to her?”

“Yes, but there’s a complication.”

“Tell me,” I sighed.

“She was really upset and when she got to Monaco she met up with a friend from previous trips.”

“A guy friend,” I said flatly.

“Yes.”

“I don’t care if she slept with him. I really don’t. Have her call me. We can work this out.”

“I tried,” Jeri said with resignation. “I really did. She’s sure it’s over.”

“Jeri, you know my history. I can deal with it. Samantha and I just need to talk.”

“She said ‘no’. I think she feels she trashed everything.”

“Do you have her phone number?”

“Steve, unless she tells her dad it’s OK, you can’t call her or even talk to her.”

“Fuck! Well, Lisa can forget ANY kind of help from me. I hope she has fun explaining to Alec why the engagement was called off. And I hope she realizes that she has NO CHOICE but to tell the truth.”

“Please don’t escalate!” Jeri begged.

“Escalate? This is all part of my use of decisive force to destroy an enemy. John and his firm shouldn’t suffer. If Lisa does ANYTHING that causes Alec to move his business from Hart-Lincoln, they will hear from me what happened. They’re a customer. And that will be a VERY interesting conversation when Alec talks to John.”

“You are a ruthless bastard, you know that?”

“Tell Lisa not to fuck with me on this. I am NOT kidding!”

“I’ll tell her, but I don’t think she’ll do it. She can’t admit to her dad what she’s been doing!”

“The one faithful man in the entire room? I can see how that would be embarrassing. Tough shit. And no more calls on this. I’m done with it.”

“Lisa is going to flip out.”

“I don’t care; let her. I’ll see you on Monday. Tell Kimmy no more calls from Lisa. Period.”

“OK,” Jeri sighed.

I hung up, picked up my coffee cup, and walked out the front door. I was surprised, but happy, that none of the women followed me outside giving me time to think. There were several things to consider. Was there any way to repair my relationship with Samantha? Even if it just ended up being friendship, it would be better than the current situation. The problem was, I couldn’t even talk to Samantha unless her dad gave permission. Well, at least until she was eighteen, which was about ten months away. All I could do was hope that at some point, Jeri could convince Samantha to talk to me.

The thing that bothered me the most was that I couldn’t see where I’d done anything wrong. I’d kept my word to Samantha, and I’d turned down not just Lisa, but Gracie. I’d avoided any flirting with Jodie when she’d been in Chicago. I’d brought Samantha into our family, and started to integrate her into our lives. I’d made time for her and seen her at the times she’d requested. And Lisa Glass had blown it all away by falsely claiming to have slept with me.

Now, Samantha, having reacted in anger, apparently felt there was no way to restore our relationship. I could forgive her, if she’d let me. If Jeri was telling the truth, and I felt she was, then it seemed as if Samantha wasn’t going to let me. She was gone for two weeks, and even after that, I didn’t know how I could talk to her unless she relented. Even going to the July dinner wouldn’t solve the problem unless Samantha relented. The only word I could think of for the situation was ‘hopeless’.

It was nearly ten minutes before Jessica came outside.

“Are you OK?”

“I suppose,” I said. “I assume you got the drift of what happened?”

“Elyse just told us about your speculation. What are you going to do?”

“If she won’t talk to me, there isn’t anything I CAN do. Samantha is in Monaco for two weeks. I can’t call her. Jeri tried to get her to call me but Samantha refused, saying it was over. I’m sure she feels guilty, but if she’d talk to me, we could work it out. Honestly, I’d be the world’s biggest hypocrite if I wasn’t willing to forgive her.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Not be an idiot,” I said.

“That’s good, but I was hoping for a more specific answer,” Jessica said, putting her arm around me.

I slipped my arm around Jessica as well.

“At this point, would you accept Samantha back into the family in as if nothing had happened?”

Jessica was silent for a moment, “No, I don’t think so.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I think for a similar reason to why you want to limit your association with the Foundation folks in social settings. All we’re doing is asking for more trouble like we just had. All those stupid games they’re playing. And here I thought the hospital was bad! I think, just as the hospital is off limits, anyone involved with the Foundation has to be off limits. And we need to avoid socializing with them as much as possible.”

“Wouldn’t that also apply to the hospital? Or to NIKA employees?”

“We don’t really associate much with hospital people, anyway. Just Doctor Barton and Gina. I eat lunch with a few different doctors and nurses from the ER, but don’t see them outside of work; not even Alicia. Remember, I thought it was a toxic social environment as a med student and my opinion hasn’t changed. As for NIKA, some of those people are very old friends. You really don’t associate much with anyone else. The only real concern would be Kajri and Cèlia coming to the Rap Sessions. That might be something we want to change.”

“You’re saying we need to keep business and personal separate?” I asked.

“As much as possible, yes,” Jessica said. “Certainly new employees shouldn’t be brought into private social situations. And we treat the Foundation as business.”

“I’m not sure I can agree to a blanket division like that,” I said. “I’ve told you what Don Joseph taught me. But that doesn’t mean not being more careful about it. How about we agree that the three of us will discuss the situation before we ask anyone from work into a private social situation that involves our family? I’m not talking about socializing like going to lunch with Dante or that kind of thing, since it’s not into the family.”

“That makes sense. We need to make sure Kara agrees.”

“Agrees with what?” Kara asked coming out onto the porch.

“Not making the mistake of bringing someone from work or the Foundation into our private lives,” I said.

“But it wasn’t Samantha who caused the problem,” Kara objected.

“No, it was Lisa,” I agreed. “But it was because Samantha was in that social circle that the problem occurred.”

“Couldn’t it happen no matter what?” Kara asked. “Anyone could try something like that.”

“Yes, they could,” I said. “Like Callie Shepherd. But why play with fire, so to speak? We’re not talking about not having friends, but about not bringing them into our private lives without discussion in advance. So you meet with the ‘Chemistry Mafia’ and I have lunch with Dante, and Jessica has lunch with Alicia, but we keep our distance as a trio, so to speak.”

“What about Gina? Or Dave and Julia?”

“We’re not changing those relationships. We’re just saying that new ones need to be discussed and agreed between the three of us.”

“Have you given up on Samantha?”

“I think she’s given up on us. She went with a guy she knew and told Jeri that it’s over. I suspect Samantha thinks she’s destroyed the relationship. And unless she relents and talks to me, I can’t even try to fix it. Not to mention Jessica being uncomfortable about bringing her back into the family after all of this.”

Kara was quiet for a moment, “I suppose I can see that.”

“So we agree that Steve shouldn’t try to revive the relationship?”

“I guess that’s for the best,” Kara said.

“It sucks,” I sighed. “But unless you two are completely comfortable, it’ll never work. So I reluctantly agree. What we just talked about does raise an issue about Jodie.”

“You’re free from your agreement with Samantha,” Kara said.

“Sorry, I meant about bringing someone into our family. Her dad asked me, privately, if we’d watch out for her in Chicago. I said we would.”

“I don’t think that’s an issue,” Jessica said. “It’s no different from some of the other college students you’ve helped over the years. She wouldn’t be moving into the house or anything like that. And watching out for her doesn’t mean involving her in our day-to-day lives.”

“True,” I agreed. “What about Michelle?”

“She’ll move into the dorms at the end of the summer and continue as before. Taking in a girl who had the kind of issues that Michelle had seems to fit your view of how the world should work. You have a serious problem with men who abuse women, and your involvement with Bethany’s mission in life tells me that will never change. And, honestly, I can’t think of a nicer person than Michelle that I’ve ever met. Well, present company excepted!”

Kara giggled, “Nice save, Jess! But I agree. I told Steve I thought Michelle is what I might have become with slightly different circumstances. Faithful, open-minded, thoughtful, and a virgin until I married.”

“That would be quite the alternate universe,” Jessica observed. “And not one I’d want to live in. I wouldn’t change a thing about our trio.”

“Me, either,” I agreed.

“Nor me,” Kara added.

“So what about your date tonight?” Jessica asked.

“If you paid close attention, Jodie didn’t really flirt at all. And she mentioned wanting to talk to me about schools, and her dad said that she wanted to do that. The only thing that was even a remote hint was her comment that she didn’t get a chance to talk to me the way she wanted to because her mom was at lunch with us.”

“Could we be misreading her?” Kara asked.

“I think my reputation and my history colors how we look at every situation. But Gina and Michelle are different. And I’m different. So maybe the three of you are misreading things. I’ll go ride with her and talk with her. And we’ll see what happens.”

“You’re very calm, Tiger. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”

“Both,” I said. “Good that I’m not depressed. Bad that I was, as Jeri and Lisa both said, a ‘cold-hearted bastard’.”

“Sometimes you just have to be. Why don’t we go back inside?”

“What’s the plan for the day, then?” I asked.

“Same as for the rest of the week. Spend time together, relax, and enjoy our family.”

About twelve hours later, I was sitting in a saddle on Jocko. I followed Jodie on her horse, Dahlia, out of the barn and along a path towards the pasture where I saw Bill Junior, on his horse riding along the fence line.

“He’s looking for breaks in the fence,” Jodie said. “Something we do every day.”

“Your dad said the farm was a lot of work. Do you have hired hands?”

“A couple of men who come in the morning to milk the cows. It’s all done by machine, but they hook everything up and run it. We have temporary help when it’s planting and harvesting time, too. Ellen gives riding lessons and we board horses. I help with that along with making deliveries of eggs and fresh vegetables.”

“It seems like you have a wide range of stuff going on here?”

“Family farms do whatever they can to make ends meet. Dad has always managed to turn enough profit every year to take care of us and save some money for me to go to college. I have some scholarships that are available to farm kids. They’d be more if I was going to study agriculture or something like that, but I’m not interested. If Billy wasn’t interested, my parents would probably end up selling the farm when they retired.”

We followed a path away from the fields and into a wooded area.

“And you decided to study computers.”

“Dad’s idea, but I think it makes sense. It seems like everyone who graduates gets a decent job. And it looks like it has a very bright future.”

“Which schools did you like?”

“Well, I liked the professors and the program at the school you went to, IIT, but Mom was scared to death when we were there. It’s in a really bad neighborhood.”

“It is. Housing projects to the north and south on the west side, and depressed areas on the other three sides. Across the expressway to the west is Comiskey Park, and past that is Bridgeport, which is a working-class area. There isn’t much in walking distance, really. I lived in Hyde Park, by UofC, and drove to IIT.”

“Mom doesn’t want me going there, so I think that’s out. I was thinking Purdue or Chicago, though Michigan would be a lot cheaper.”

“Can you afford the other two schools?”

“Yes. It’ll be tight, but I can manage between guaranteed student loans, scholarships, and what we’ve saved for my college. I’ll get a campus job to earn some spending money.”

“It sounds as if you have everything under control.”

“Mom is encouraging me to go to Purdue. She’s concerned about me being in the big city. What do you think?”

“Kara and I, along with my friend Bethany, and obviously my little sister, are from a rural county outside Cincinnati. Our hometown, Milford, has a population of around 5,000. I think Iron Mountain is bigger, though the closest big city to you is much further away. I think it’s Green Bay, right?”

“Yes. Don’t you come up through Wisconsin to get here?”

“No, we take the scenic route, on purpose. It takes longer, but we like to drive across the Mackinac Bridge and then drive across the UP along the lake.”

“So what was it like moving to the big city?”

“For me? Easy. It turns out I’m a city boy; I just didn’t know it. Elyse, on the other hand, doesn’t like it very much. She’s from the same county, but a different small town. She’ll end up moving out to the suburbs eventually. I like living in the city. The thing is, the UofC campus is really large, and has a lot of open space, and there are quite a few parks in Hyde Park. It’s not like at IIT where it’s basically cement with a bit of green.”

“Your friend Elyse went to Chicago?”

“Yes. And so did my little sister and some of our employees. Jessica is a Resident at the hospital there and Kara teaches Chemistry there. I have a pretty good relationship with some professors in the Computer Science department there, though I know the guys at IIT better because I graduated from there. I can’t say much about Purdue, though I have a friend who went there and thought it was a good school and certainly less urban than Chicago.”