Chapter 16: An Uncomfortable Conversation

February 11, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“I knew you resented your mom when we hired you,” I said. “But the timing seems odd. I mean, you were eighteen when you were with Noel, and twenty-two when we hired you. I didn’t even know Samantha at that point, and by the time Noel was arrested, you’d already left NIKA.”

“Everything was in motion, but I changed my mind once my mom tried to renege on letting me come to work for you.”

“How was my dad involved?” Samantha asked.

“I deceived him the same way I deceived Steve.”

“You weren’t a virgin?!” Samantha asked in surprise.

“No. Perhaps I should start at the beginning, which means revealing something I’ve never revealed to anyone, ever, and which changes the story I told you after my deception was exposed. Do I have your word that what’s said stays in this office?”

“So long as it doesn’t implicate my wives or NIKA, yes,” I said.

“Or Spurgeon,” Samantha added.

“I don’t believe it does, at least not at this point. It might affect your relationship with Jonathan, though.”

“Wait!” Samantha gasped. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I think we just let her tell her story,” I said. “And decide if, finally, she’s telling us the truth.”

“I promise the whole truth this time,” Jeri said. “Though I understand if you don’t believe me.”

She took a sip of coffee, then continued.

“I met Jonathan at Lisa’s house not long after he moved to Chicago. I liked him right away because he was tall, good-looking, in great shape, and, most importantly, wasn’t part of the clique. Lisa hating his guts was a plus, too. She and I hung out, but she was already a complete bitch at that point.”

“Why did she hate him?” I asked, interrupting Jeri.

“I think she figured out in the first few minutes that she couldn’t manipulate or control him, and you know that’s how she operated, even at twelve. She was already sizing up guys she could control with her body at that point, and had her eye on your dad, Samantha. Anyway, I talked to Jonathan briefly and decided I wanted to be his friend. I had already cultivated the reputation for being very shy, which I’d started at fourteen to avoid having to talk to anyone at the galas my mom threw. Samantha used a different tack, playing the bitchy Ice Queen.

“Anyway, I saw Jonathan a few times at Lisa’s house, and then when his plans for Thanksgiving fell through, I invited him to our house. I really liked him, but he was reluctant because I was only fifteen, but I persisted, and on my sixteenth birthday, I found a way past his objections when my parents didn’t come back from California as planned. I convinced him to go to dinner with me, then I seduced him. We were occasional lovers after that until he got into a relationship.”

“That explains a few things,” I said, remembering back to our ‘Wonder Woman’ episode.

“I always wondered why you weren’t suspicious, especially after our second trip to California.”

“You had me completely snowed,” I replied. “But you had plenty of time to perfect it, and you worked hard at it.”

“I almost slipped up with Dave,” Jeri replied. “I’m pretty sure it was Alonzo who first clued him in, though. Anyway, when Jonathan and I were together for my birthday, we agreed to team up, and I gave him some money to manage for me. That relationship continued after we stopped being lovers, but I continued my shy act. Your dad tried to hit on me, but I just kind of stammered and blushed and he gave up around the time I turned seventeen.

“When I started looking at colleges, Mom wasn’t happy that I wanted to study computers, and made some serious threats to try to prevent it, and even tried to interfere by going to UofC. Fortunately, she had no way to actually pressure them, as she had never been a donor, and she didn’t want to give them money that might otherwise have gone to her left-wing causes. But she made it very clear that the moment I graduated, I was going to work for the Foundation and nothing could prevent it.

“I needed an ally, and Jonathan would have been perfect, but at that point, he hadn’t climbed far enough up the ladder to help me the way I needed, so I resolved to go to the one person who could — Samantha’s dad. He was like putty in my hands, because he thought I was a virgin, though he was a bit reluctant when I named my price — help me wreck the Foundation and ruin my mom.

“But his desire to bag the shy virgin who had withstood his advances won out, and I extracted a promise from him — when I graduated from college, he’d use his influence to cut off donations to the Foundation and have competing functions for every gala or fundraiser, basically taking away the monied people she needed to sustain her work. I did leave out that if she let me go to work and didn’t interfere, I wouldn’t collect on the favor.

“As you both know, Steve was completely immune to her pressure and was willing to go toe-to-toe with her. That meant I could actually pursue my goals, though I did let Steve talk me into being involved in the Foundation, with a promise to help me redirect things. That worked out even better than I had hoped when Samantha’s dad was arrested and the Foundation was implicated, forcing my mom completely out.”

“I’m not sure why you were so worried,” Samantha said. “None of that really impacted anything beyond the original story. And honestly, being able to manipulate my dad is admirable. None of the other girls were able to, not even Lisa Glass.”

Jeri laughed softly, “Because he knew Lisa wanted to fuck, so she lost some of her power. In her case, advertising ceded the power back to your Dad. He just had to outbid a couple of other rich men, which was trivial for him. In terms of his money, it was a drop in the bucket to get to fuck a virgin willing to do anything to get what she wanted from him — money and gifts.”

“I still don’t get that,” I said. “Alec spoiled her rotten.”

“Yes, but at fifteen, she wanted her own money, and Noel was more than willing to give it to her. Remember, Alec didn’t give her serious money until she was sixteen, and the bulk of it came at eighteen. She wasn’t willing to wait the way I was. And, to be honest, Lisa used my dad for practice so she could manipulate other guys, including John Lentz. Steve was, as with my mom and your dad, Samantha, immune.”

“But YOU manipulated Steve,” Samantha said.

“In the same way I manipulated Jonathan — for our mutual benefit. Sex was a way to seal the deal with Jonathan, and a means to a mutually beneficial deal with Steve. I realize now that if I had just come to Steve with my problem, he probably would have helped, but I wasn’t sure. And I preyed on his one, true weakness — the innocent, virginal girl who wants to give her cherry to him.”

“He’s a sucker for those, for sure!” Samantha smirked. “No offense, Steve.”

“None taken! It is a weakness which young women exploit from time to time, though I’ve been burned by it a few times. I guess I’m in agreement with Samantha — this doesn’t really affect anything. We both knew you were a manipulative, lying bitch, and it’s no surprise it started when you were fifteen.”

“I guess I deserved that,” Jeri said ruefully.

“I said ‘were’,” I countered. “That changed once you came clean. Well, I think it has, and given what I know about Howard, he wouldn’t put up with that for a second.”

“No, he wouldn’t,” Jeri agreed. “You and Howard helped me become a better woman, instead of what amounted to a clone of my mom. The strange thing is, the more I tried not to be like her, the more I was like her until I came somewhat clean to you after Noel was arrested.”

“I have to ask something that’s kind of always bothered me, but I never voiced. You can refuse to answer, of course, but ‘Wonder Woman’?”

Jeri laughed, “Jonathan got all my cherries that first night, though I nearly wrecked everything by surprising him with the last one.”

“How the heck do you ‘surprise’ a guy with THAT?” Samantha asked.

“I don’t think I should go into that detail,” Jeri said.

“Samantha,” I asked, “have I caused a problem with revealing I know about your relationship? And with revealing it to Jeri?”

“Not really, though I suspect he won’t be happy. I’ll speak to him and take care of it. Just keep it to yourself because his reputation depends on being an enemy of Spurgeon Capital as a result of the falling out with my dad. When clients leave Spurgeon, some of them go to Clermont Capital, the boutique firm Jonathan runs with a friend he made while he was at Spurgeon. He has far less money under management, but that’s because he’s VERY selective about who he’ll accept as a client, and he doesn’t accept individual investors who want to pick their own stocks.”

“I’d say I’d like to get to know him, but if he can’t be around you, that makes it potentially troublesome.”

“You’d really like him,” Samantha said. “But he can’t have it known that we even talk. You saw us just walk past each other.”

“So why help you?” I asked.

“To fuck over my dad one more time!” Samantha declared. “He’s the only person to ever do that THREE times and not only stay in the business, but be successful. Like you, he couldn’t be bought.”

“Now I REALLY want to get to know him!” I chuckled. “But I’ll defer to his need to be your sworn enemy, at least in public.”

“I think that’s all, then,” Jeri said, then smirked, “unless Steve wants to entertain a pair of lonely, horny Navy wives!”

“I wish!” Samantha said, laughing, “But you know better than that! Brian and Howard are his close friends, and he’d never do that, even without his ‘no cheating’ rule!”

“Obviously,” Jeri replied, “but I knew you would both take it as a silly joke.”

Actually, I didn’t know that at all, because despite thinking earlier that Jeri was no longer a manipulative bitch, I couldn’t be sure that was actually true. Samantha and I got up, said ‘goodbye’ and headed out of the office. Neither of us said anything until we got into the elevator.

“You realize that was a serious offer couched as a joke, right?” Samantha asked.

“I had a pretty good idea that was the case,” I replied. “Please tell me she’s not cheating on Howard.”

“I don’t think so, but who can know, given what we know about her?”

“That’s what worries me,” I said.

🎤 Jesse

“That was wonderful, as always,” Angelina said, as she stretched out on top of me.

“I agree,” I said, wrapping my arms around her.

Angelina sighed deeply and rested her head on my chest.

“What are you doing during Spring Break?” she asked a minute later.

“Right now, I don’t have any plans,” I said. “Why?”

“My cousin is having her «quince» on that Friday, which is the 29th. Would you go with me? It’ll be lots of fun.”

“I should be able to, yes. Where and what time?”

“Cicero, from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. You’ll be able to drive by then, right?”

“Assuming I pass my driving test on my birthday, yes. I’ll have to make sure it’s OK with my dad, and you could be the only other person in the car with me, unless we have an adult with us.”

“No, just me.”

“So, what happens at a «quince»?”

“It’s a big party with lots of gifts, lots of food, and games. I’m sure they’ll have a piñata.”

“I hope it’s shaped like a bunny rabbit, because then I can tell Stephie about beating it with a stick!”

Angelina laughed, “That’s SO mean! But I would do something like that to my older sister!”

“You don’t get along?”

“We weren’t on the best of terms, and ever since she found out I got to give away my V-card and she still had hers, she’s been a real bitch.”

“How hard is it for a girl to lose her virginity?” I asked.

Angelina laughed, “Harder than you would think for my sister! The last time she tried, she got caught with a boy in the house and now she’s grounded except for school, cheer practice, and church. She tried to get me in trouble, but my mom didn’t believe her, saying that I was a ‘good girl’ who would never do that, and that Mirabella was making up stories to try to protect herself. I didn’t even have to say anything!”

“But couldn’t she do the same thing you’re doing?” I asked.

“No. She has to be at a specific friend’s house after school until my parents get home.”

“Where do they think you are?”

“I’m always home before they get there, in my room, doing homework.”

“And if they find out?”

“I’ll just say I was hanging out with a friend. Libby will cover for me, and it’s not like her parents are home to say otherwise.”

“True.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” I replied.

“Would you be willing to drive out to Cicero for lunch with my cousin?”

I knew EXACTLY what was coming next, and it wasn’t Angelina or me!

“Probably,” I said. “Just you and me?”

“Yes,” Angelina replied. “And perhaps you could help Inez fulfill her birthday wish before her «quince»!”

‘Nailed it’, I thought, then almost laughed because that was exactly what Inez wanted to happen. Or maybe she wanted me to ‘pin her tail’ or ... I could come up with a million of them!

“I hope you didn’t promise anything,” I said.

“No,” Angelina said. “She knows about my first time, and she said she wanted a great first time, and doing it before her «quince» would be awesome, but she didn’t know anyone she wanted to do it with. I told her I knew a guy who could give her a great first time, just like mine, if she wanted. She asked me to check if it was possible, and I said I would. But she has no idea it’s you, or your name, or anything.”

“Can I think about it?” I asked.

“Yes, of course! And if you say ‘no’, I’ll just tell her the guy wasn’t available, and you’ll be my date for the party, and she’ll never know otherwise. We won’t go to lunch if that happens, so there’s no way for her to figure it out.”

That was actually a very good plan, because it put zero pressure on me, and wouldn’t be awkward in any way if I decided not to do it. I couldn’t believe the number of girls I could have, though Mom One had said they always seemed to come out of the woodwork for Dad, even when she and Melanie weren’t bringing girls to him.

“That’s cool,” I replied. “Thanks for being discreet. Ready to go again?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

🎤 Ashley

“May I help with dinner, Yuriko-chan?”

“Yes, of course, if you’ve finished your homework.”

“I have. What are you making?”

“We’re having salad, fish, rice, and steamed vegetables. Of course, your dad can’t have any rice.”

“He could have a little bit,” I countered, “if he hasn’t had any other carbs today.”

“Would you cut up the broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots?”

“Yes,” I agreed.

I got the vegetables from the fridge and put everything on the island, then got a wooden cutting board and the very sharp chef’s knife from the magnetic rack. I knew how to use it and was very careful not to cut myself.

“You met my dad in Japan, right?” I asked.

“Yes! When I was thirteen! I was visiting my friend Sakurako.”

“Dad’s Cherry Blossom!”

“Yes! But I was a silly little girl then, not like you and your sisters.”

I laughed, “We can be VERY silly!”

“That is true, but I mean I was immature, unlike Sakurako, who was very mature, just as you and your sisters are.”

“And you wanted my dad at that point?”

“My friend and I both did, but we had no idea what that really meant. I think I’d have been too nervous and scared to even get undressed in the same room with him. I do not think you will have that problem, because you use the sauna naked.”

“Not with boys my age,” I said. “They’re idiots and do NOT deserve to see a naked girl!”

Yuriko laughed, “Men are often very childish! Women need to work very hard to help them grow up!”

“I think you’re right! Dad needed an army of women to help him, and he can STILL be a dumb boy!”

“I don’t think your father is a boy, nor is he dumb,” Yuriko objected.

“It means immature,” I said. “And Dad will admit that he is sometimes. You did say all men are like that.”

“I suppose I did,” Yuriko agreed.

“And you waited from when you were thirteen until Christmas so you could be with my dad?”

“Yes. I was so intrigued by him, and I hadn’t met anyone even close to him in Japan. When I came here, Sakurako suggested I do what I had dreamed about for a long time.”

“I like having you here and I hope you keep coming here until you go back to Japan!”

“Thank you, Ashley-chan! I like being here and having a family to be part of. It makes me very happy.”

“I bet!” I giggled. “Especially when you and dad are together!”

“Your dad is a very kind, very virile man!”

“What does ‘virile’ mean?” I asked.

“He is very good at the art of love,” Yuriko replied with a smile.

“I should have known,” I giggled, “because Mom and Kara Mom sure think so!”

“They are lucky women, as is Suzanne. I would like a position such as hers, but my duty is to return to Japan to help my grandfather.”

“Is that what you want to do?” I asked.

“Yes. But it is also my duty. That is very important to Japanese people.”

“Dad said Leigh is going to move to Japan with her sailor boyfriend.”

“Yes. She asked me what it was like to live in Japan, and I tried to explain, but it’s hard for anyone who is not Japanese to understand Japan. Your dad understands better than most, but not completely.”