Chapter 52: First Time?

May 30, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“I call bullshit and say Bethany is being played and he’s trying to play you through her,” Stephanie declared on Wednesday morning as we drank tea in her office.

“I agree, and that’s what I told Bethany. I told her I’d have helped him at any point if he’d come to me and asked for help.”

“Even after the divorce?!”

“Yes.”

“Because of Bethany and her dad.”

“Exactly. And the thing is, had he come to you and confessed, you’d have forgiven him after you’d extracted a price of some kind. Hell, you’d have agreed to mutual hall passes if he’d asked in advance. You were never possessive except with one person.”

“The one I couldn’t have. But forget that. You’re right. So, what’s his angle?”

“Beats me,” I replied with a shrug. “If he wanted help, he could ask for it directly. Hell, he could even send Bethany to ask! But asserting martyrdom? It doesn’t fit anything I know about Ed. As I said to Bethany, Ed is NOT that smart, or perhaps not that cunning, crafty, or devious.”

“You are!”

“No shit! As I told Bethany, there are things about me she doesn’t know and she knows me better than anyone, including you. I also pointed out that nobody has ever played you, and I’ve only been played once.”

“And I still say you should have fired Jeri just on general principles, but I understand why you didn’t. I still can’t believe you’re allowing yourself to be sucked back in.”

“Ben Jackson asked, and I agreed. Jeri isn’t going to be involved in operations in any way, and Ben has a free hand to operate within the bylaws and guidelines. That means Project Lydia, the shelters, the hospital, and all the other things I care about are going to be properly funded. Not to mention the Board of Directors is loaded with people who won’t put up with any bullshit. It’s not the same Lundgren Foundation as it was even five years ago. And, now that everyone has forgotten about Margaret Lundgren’s involvement in the Noel Spurgeon fiasco, it’ll look good on my profile page on the NIKA website.”

“So what do we do about Ed?”

“You tell me! He’s your ex!”

“Let him rot. He had his chance to come clean and ask forgiveness. He chose to try to hold me up for money. Now he wants to say that’s all an act? Fuck him! He can rot with Lisa Glass at this point for all I care!”

“What will you tell the kids?”

“That their dad was an idiot. Seriously, you know my net worth right down to the last Penny, Pound, Franc, and Deutschmark; as you should, as MY consigliere!”

I chuckled, “I do.”

“Seriously, Ed could have quit working and done nothing but play golf, fuck my brains out, and be a good dad, and I’d have been happy.”

“Jessica thought that’s what she needed and wanted, but it turns out that wasn’t the case.”

“You’d have found something to do with computers, just because you enjoy it.”

“True, but we’re veering into ‘What if?’ territory.”

“I have a date on Friday!” Stephanie declared.

“With?”

“His name is Joel. He’s a Master Carpenter.”

I chuckled, “Stephanie can use a man like Joel? How’d you meet him?”

“He was behind me in line at Starbucks this morning. I caught him staring at my ass and asked him if he’d like a chance at being able to really check it out!”

I laughed hard, “Only my sister!”

“Oh, please! You’d do that too!”

“I would,” I agreed with a grin. “Last Friday I told a cute college-age waitress at Ed Debevic’s I wanted to order a pair of breasts and a side of thighs! She actually wrote her name and number on the check.”

“Only my brother could get away with that! And?”

“On the advice of counsel, I elected not to call her. Too much of an airhead.”

“You always did like smart girls, starting with Melanie and Jennifer.”

“I still do! Brains and beauty, with brains being far more important.”

“True, even with your penchant for teenage pussy, you want INTELLIGENT teenage pussy.”

“Yeah, well, I have to be very, very careful there. The rule is eighteen, with only limited exceptions, and those have to be rare.”

Stephanie laughed, “Kathy’s daughter! Everyone knows that’s going to happen!”

“Only time will tell, and the fact that everyone knows, as you say, is actually what gives me serious pause.”

But only pause, as her invitation was a fantasy/dream I very much wanted to fulfill.

“I understand. Society is going to hell in a handcart!”

“Let me know how your date goes.”

Stephanie laughed, “‘Oh, fuck’, or ‘Oh, fuck!‘“

I chuckled, “If it’s the second, you better be damned sure he’s had an STI test.”

“Yeah, that kind of prevents picking up guys at a bar or Starbucks and having screaming orgasms the same day!”

“Welcome to my world!”

“Except it always seems to work out for you, from the drift I get!”

“No comment,” I grinned.

“Whatever!”

“I have work to do!”

I left Stephanie’s office and went to mine where Penny was waiting so we could do a bit of ‘pair’ work trying to find a complex bug in the medical software. Two hours later, we found it - a buffer which hadn’t been properly defined and initialized and which didn’t cause a problem about 90% of the time.

“Are you going to tell Julia?”

“Are you suggesting I shouldn’t? Not only did it violate our coding standards, but it made it through code review. Tina is going to have to take her lumps, but she won’t be the one who’s really going to suffer Julia’s wrath - that’ll be Nelson and Lena, who did the code review.”

“Sucks to be them!”

“I introduced my share of nasty bugs back in the day!”

“Before we had full coding standards and code reviews! And, of course, on a day when I was out of the office!”

“Yes, Penny, you’re perfect!”

She laughed, “You’ve known that since I was fourteen!”

“I meant coding!”

“Uh-huh!”

“Get back to work, Pretty Penny. We have a long list of things to do.”

“I prefer a list of long things to do!” she teased.

“Take it up with Terry!”

“You’re just NO fun!”

“I know,” I chuckled.

Penny leaned over and kissed my cheek, and we both got back to work.

May 31, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

“Steve, I have Callie Shepherd on the phone,” Kimmy announced over the intercom.

I’d expected to hear from her, so it wasn’t a surprise.

“Let me go to Liz’s office and you can put the call through. Give me about a minute.”

“OK.”

“What’s going on?” Penny asked.

“I can’t share,” I replied.

I got up, left my office, and walked down the hall to Liz’s office. I went in and shut the door.

“Kimmy IM’d me,” Liz said.

The call was put through and Liz put it on speaker.

“Hi, Callie, it’s Steve. You’re on speaker and Liz Carullo, our in-house counsel, is in the room with me.”

“Well, then I suppose you know what this is about.”

“Yes. We assume you heard from Anne Nelson.”

“Yes.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That my entire testimony was made of whole cloth, that I tried to trap you and frame you, and it had nothing to do with your company.”

“Callie, this is Liz. What specifically did she say to you?”

“She said she’d read the transcripts of the trial, and that she’d spoken to the lawyers involved, though I know that can’t be right because Littleton is dead.”

“She likely spoke to his former partners, Zimmer and Levinson,” I said. “Go on.”

“Anyway, she said she wanted to interview me about you and that’s when I told her what I just said.”

“What did she say?”

“She wanted to know why I was covering for you. I said I wasn’t and said I had nothing more to say.”

“Thanks, Callie,” I replied. “How are things going?”

“Very good! Work is great and my son is almost one. What do you want me to do?”

“For now, just sit tight,” Liz said. “Let us know if she calls you again.”

“I will. Steve, I still owe you.”

“Thanks, Callie.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and disconnected the call.

“Just as we expected,” Liz said. “So, no changes at the moment. Anne Nelson is hitting brick walls.”

“Yes, and she’ll assume it’s stonewalling,” I said. “That would fit her MO and what we think is her plan to ‘get’ us.”

“Ultimately, the only possible ‘problem’, if you will, is Kaitlin. Both Mikela and Callie actually work in our favor, as both of them will admit that they were the ones who tried to get you into bed. That’s true of Kaitlin, too, but we can’t be sure what she’ll say.”

“I agree, but the risk is that someone, somewhere, reveals my relationships with other women who work for NIKA. The admission that I slept with staff will look bad, and you know Anne Nelson will spin it that the girls are covering for me, no matter what they say. And I don’t want anyone perjuring themselves.”

“You think Kaitlin might have said something about it?”

“Maybe. It was a long time ago, and basically, the only women she could actually know about are Penny and Elyse, and Elyse is mother to two of my kids which doesn’t help Anne Nelson’s case. As for Penny, that was over when she was sixteen, and my understanding of the statute of limitations is that it expired when she turned thirty-one, so even some attempt to use ‘underage sex’ as a club won’t work.”

“Does anyone who has a grudge against you know enough to hurt you?”

“Who would that be? I can’t think of anyone. Ed doesn’t know any details. Spurgeon is dead, though I don’t think he had a grudge against me. Lisa never knew, except about Samantha, and she doesn’t work for NIKA. The jokers who broke Spurgeon out of prison have no clue.”

“Bethany?”

“Never. And what’s in it for her? It would destroy our relationship and she’d never do that. She’s going to Sweden for a year to SAVE our relationship.”

“How much did Littleton’s partners know?”

“Very little, if anything, except about Rachel and the stuff around the cheating scandal. And you know what Charlie will say if she’s called.”

“I believe ‘Fuck off!’ would be one of the milder things she’d say,” Liz said with a smile. “We basically have no disgruntled employees, and that includes Margaret! And nobody who has left has left under a cloud or is upset, except Kaitlin. Well, we’re assuming.”

“We don’t know if she’s said or done anything.”

“Very true. Let it go for now, and see how it plays out.”

“I will,” I replied. “Before I go, has Julius asked you to marry him?”

Liz laughed, “Not yet, but I think he will. Will you give me away when the time comes?”

“I’d be happy to walk you down the aisle, but you are an independent woman who will give herself to her husband.”

“Obviously! But you know how traditional I am.”

“I do. And I’d be honored.”

“Thanks. Is it OK to hug you?”

“I believe my attorney would say it’s OK!”

Liz laughed, got up, and came over to me. She melted into my arms, put her head on my shoulder, and sighed deeply.

“I love you, Steve.”

“I love you, too, Liz.”

June 2, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Matthew

“Mom, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, Matthew.”

“How do I know if I’m ready to have sex?”

Mom laughed softly, “You’re concerned because we’re on our way to Midway to get Chelsea and she promised you a VERY special birthday?”

“Yes.”

“Have you two talked about it? I mean REALLY talked about it?”

“Probably not. I mean, we’ve kissed and she promised what you said, and she’s on the Pill, and had an STI test as I did, but ... no, I guess not.”

“That’s the first step. I’m sure your dad told you that.”

“He did. And he said I had to make my own decision.”

“That’s true. There probably isn’t a more important, more personal decision you can make short of getting married or fathering a child.”

“I think I can wait on those!” I declared.

Mom laughed, “Good choice!”

“How did you decide?”

Mom took a deep breath and let it out, “I didn’t, really. I got so excited from kissing and touching that I just did it.”

“Dad?” I asked.

Mom shook her head, “No. Your dad was my second lover, and we were both sixteen. I was fourteen the first time, just like your dad was. I was seeing a guy who was quite a bit older and he knew exactly how to get me worked up to the point where I would have let him do anything. And I actually did. It was different with your dad.”

“Oh?”

“You know we met at Aunt Jennie’s wedding, right? I told you about watching the Reds.”

“Yes, but you never said you fooled around then.”

“We did, but we talked and he made sure it was what I really wanted to do. I was VERY worked up, but he was careful.”

“I see a pattern,” I grinned.

“Oh shut up!” Mom ordered, but she was laughing.

“And Eduardo?” I asked with a smirk.

“You are every bit as annoying as your dad ever was! I bet he was just like you at fourteen!”

“Dad’s pretty cool, so I’ll take that as a compliment!”

“You would! But, in all seriousness, don’t do anything you aren’t ready to do.”

“But I think I want to...”

“It’s normal to be apprehensive or nervous. In a sense, it’s a contradictory situation - it’s better if you just let things flow and happen, but...”

“You can end up doing something you didn’t want to. Like with your first boyfriend.”

“Yes.”

“But you wanted to with Dad.”

“Yes.”

“So how do I decide?”

“I’m not sure I know the answer to that question. How do you feel about Chelsea?”

I laughed, “Does it matter?”

Mom laughed too, “You’ve changed your opinion since she declared she was going to marry you nine years ago! And yes, it does matter!”

“I know. We’ll eventually get married, and yes, that’s what I want.”

Mom parked her BMW at Midway and we got out. She locked the car and we headed into the terminal and checked the arrival board which showed Chelsea’s flight from Cincinnati was on time, which meant we had about twenty minutes before she’d be at the gate.

“I think,” Mom continued, after we’d walked in silence, “that you have the rest of your lives together, so it doesn’t have to be today if you don’t want it to be today. And Chelsea will understand, but you have to talk to her.”

“And it’s OK if she sleeps in my room?”

“If you want her to, yes. Otherwise, she can use the guest room as she has on every other visit. And remember, she’ll be here for nearly a month, and then you guys are going to Cincinnati. There’s plenty of time to talk. And remember, the rest of the family will be at the house tonight for your birthday party.”

“It’s not like I could forget my own birthday!” I replied.

🎤 Steve

“It’s an interesting idea,” Sensei Jim said after I explained my thoughts about the additional class. “I remember you asking if that was a requirement when you started.”

“Actually, I was more concerned about Buddhism than anything, though I think the last twenty years have allayed any fears I originally had.”

“I’d say five weeks in Japan was the key.”

“Yes, it was. I can’t really bring that here, though the thought did cross my mind. The problem is that American culture would never tolerate that kind of arrangement. So, I think, the best I could do is the six-week course I’m going to propose to Will. What are your thoughts about making it mandatory?”

“I think ‘strongly recommended’ is a better idea. And you know advancement beyond 1st Dan requires the correct mindset and thinking, so there is a natural limit to advancement for someone who doesn’t ‘get with the program’, as it were. I know you’ve been concerned about societal trends, and you know my take on that.”

“You’re escaping to Japan, and I don’t mean that derogatorily in any way. Sensei Robert elected not to return. May I say that I’m VERY glad you did?”

“You may. Have you broached this with anyone else?”

“I spoke to Molly and Miyu, and both of them agree. I wanted to make sure I was on the right track before I spoke to Will. In the end, it’s his decision.”

“He’s going to lean heavily on you for guidance, much the way Hiro-san did with Robert, and Hideki-san does now, though we both know Hiro-san’s wife and granddaughter are very close confidantes to Hideki-san.”

“As it should be! I think Marcia will be as well, in time.”

“Yes. I mentioned that about Will because you’re fully in tune with the challenges the dojo will face going forward. It’s going to need a very different approach to succeed, and there will be a struggle to find people with the right demeanor and the right attitude.”

“The same challenges I’ve faced with what I used to call the Rap Sessions but which is now the Southside Philosophy Club.”

“That’s helped prepare you for your mission, which is to build the «kami» of the dojo. You’ve done that for your company for the past sixteen years, so you have the knowledge, experience, skill, and understanding to do it here. That’s the help you can provide for Will. If I were going to be here past next year, I’d give you my blessing, but as we’ve agreed, it’s not up to me. If Will comes to talk to me, which I expect he will, I’ll give my opinion, but I’ll also do the same thing you will - tell him that it’s his decision, and we’ll both abide by it.”

“Yes, of course!”

“You have to come to visit me in Japan at some point.”

“I’d love to do that.”

“Hideki-san sent word through Robert that he’s sending his sister and her husband to Hawaii for Miyu’s wedding.”

“I had no idea he had a sister!”