Chapter 72: A Surprise Greeting

June 17, 2002, San Francisco, California

🎤 Steve

“Kara?!” I exclaimed in surprise when I walked out of the secured concourse into the arrival hall.

“I decided to surprise you!”

I took her in my arms and we exchanged a soft kiss.

“I’m happy to see you!”

“I figured Kara’s Taxi Service beats taking a cab into the city!”

“Always!”

We began walking towards the exit.

“Dinner?” Kara asked.

“I’d like that.”

“Sex?”

“I’d like that, too!” I declared.

“What did you commit to Nalani?”

“Nothing is set. She’s supposed to call early this evening. I can see her tomorrow. Her family flies home on Friday, as I said when we planned the dinner with your colleagues and grad students.”

“Meet anyone interesting on the plane?”

“A businessman was next to me, and he was singularly uninterested in even being civil to the flight attendant, so I put on my noise-canceling headphones and ignored him.”

“Pretty flight attendant?”

“Nice looking, and about your mom’s age.”

“So WAY too old for my Snuggle Bear!”

“And you know we’ve changed the limits, with only limited exceptions.”

“Tiffany, Amber, and possibly one other?”

“Amber is likely to happen if she wants it, because Penny won’t object.”

“Oh, Penny will object!” Kara tittered. “Because you know Amber will give her full details and it’ll make Penny positively green with envy!”

“Tiffany will all depend on Julie,” I replied. “I encouraged Julie to have a frank conversation with Tiffany, not because of Tiffany’s obvious desire, but because it’ll be good for their relationship.”

“You think she will?”

“I do. Julie discovered a whole new side of herself!”

Kara laughed, “You do have that effect on women! And speaking of that, how are Tabitha, Rachel Kealty, and Estrella?”

“Tabitha is involved with her mid-fifties man who is at the last stage of his divorce. Rachel is ready to test the dating waters, and she’ll be at the Fourth of July party. Estrella is dating, though I don’t know too many details, as she told Suzanne she didn’t feel right discussing that with a former lover.”

“So, Tabitha decided you weren’t old enough?” Kara teased.

“There is something to be said for mature, experienced men,” I replied.

“Mature? You?”

“I am mostly housebroken,” I chuckled. “Though the women close to me do tend to need the rolled-up newspaper on occasion when I pee on the carpet!”

“Mostly Liz and Natalie. I think they feel a bit more freedom because their relationships are different from the ones you have with Jess, Suzanne, and me.”

“Perhaps,” I replied. “But you know you’re free to speak up if you think I’m out of line or neglecting you or whatever.”

“I only have one complaint, Snuggle Bear!”

I chuckled, “You don’t get sufficient voyeuristic or exhibitionist opportunities!”

“Especially virgins!”

“You do have a thing for watching me deflower girls! Just don’t go creepy like Jade’s mom in Endless Love!”

“That was pretty bizarre,” Kara replied. “And not something I’d do.”

“You know I’m open to another encounter, so long as Jess and Suzanne are in agreement.”

“I know, and perhaps someday, I’ll meet the right girl for that. But for now, I’m really looking forward to our first night in Stockholm!”

“So is Jess,” I chuckled. “Which surprised me.”

“You mean because she’s become less frisky and more in tune with your idea of sublime sex?”

“Yes.”

“Jessica’s sexuality is complicated,” Kara replied. “It takes a back seat to her career, to the point that if she had to choose, she’d choose work over sex. But she does have desires and likes them fulfilled. Her idea of ‘toe-curling’ sex is basically the same as yours, so it’s a perfect match. I believe she knew her sex drive wasn’t anything like ours, and that’s why she was more than happy for you to have your dalliances.”

“And yours?” I asked.

“Simple!” Kara tittered. “I like sex with you and Jess as often as I can get it!”

“Do you feel I’m neglecting you when I spend the night with other girls?”

“No. That said, a month of celibacy during my research month in California each Summer is NOT ideal!”

“You know you have the freedom if you want to exercise it.”

“I don’t,” Kara said firmly. “You are, and always will be, the only man to be inside me. And I don’t feel right with a one-night-stand with a woman. Sex with Jess is different, even when you aren’t participating. That’ll be true with Suzanne, too.”

“I think after Julie’s overnight in September, I’m going to do my best to avoid overnights.”

“Why?”

“So I can sleep with my wives,” I replied. “Obviously, Natalie will have her privileges, but beyond that, dalliances or deflowerings will be time-limited, unless they happen to occur when I’m out of town.”

“As long as you’re happy,” Kara said as we reached her rental car.

“I am. Are you driving?”

“Afraid?” Kara asked with a silly smile.

“No, just asking.”

“The Mark Hopkins on California, right?”

“California and Mason,” I replied.

We got into the car, with Kara driving, and set off for the city.

[Rochester, Minnesota] 🎤 Jesse

“Hi, it’s Jesse,” I said when I called Doctor Mary after dinner.

“Hi, Jesse. Are you calling about what I read in the newspaper?”

“No, but that was my roommate.”

“Are you in any trouble?”

“No. I actually turned him in once I found out what happened. I spoke to my dad and my moms. What I’m calling about is I wanted to have an overnight guest on Saturday.”

“Decided to take a walk on the wild side?” Mary teased.

“Not in this or any other life on this or any other planet!” I declared. “It’s a girl, Gunny!”

“I’m not fully versed in Darmok. Which movie?”

“Heartbreak Ridge when one of the Marines tells his Gunnery Sergeant that one of the medical students they rescued in Granada had kissed him. Gunny Highway asks ‘Was he good looking?’ and the Marine responds, ‘It was a girl, Gunny!’.”

“Hockey player?”

“She’s what I think you would call an administrative coordinator. She makes sure everything is running smoothly with the buses, the dorms, meals, and so on. She’s flying back to Chicago with me for a week.”

“That got serious fast!”

“I like her and we want to spend time together.”

“And her parents are OK with this?”

“She’s nineteen,” I replied.

“Interesting,” Doctor Mary said.

“Is it OK?”

“Yes. What about Joy?”

“I’ll call her and tell her I can’t see her,” I replied. “We’re just friends.”

“With benefits!”

“The best kind of friend!” I declared.

“OK. We’ll see you on Saturday afternoon as we planned. If anything comes up, just call, or if you have any kind of trouble with the police.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up, then dialed Joy’s house. Her mom answered and called Joy to the phone. I explained the situation plainly and directly, and she was disappointed but not upset. We agreed to stay in touch, and then said ‘goodbye’. That taken care of, I pulled out a book to read until it was time for our evening run.

[San Francisco, California] 🎤 Steve

“Steve Adams,” I said when I answered my mobile phone just as Kara and I got out of the car in front of the Mark Hopkins InterContinental Hotel.

“Hi, it’s Nalani!”

“Hi! I had something come up at the last minute, so I hope it’s OK if we get together tomorrow morning instead of this evening.”

“That’s OK,” she said, sounding a bit disappointed.

“I do not have any work to do or any meetings, so you’ll have three full days of my undivided attention, and three nights as well.”

“What time tomorrow?” she asked.

“How about we meet at Coit Tower at 10:00am? I’ve never been there in all my trips here, and we can take it from there.”

“Great! I’ll see you there at 10:00am!”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I closed the phone and put it in my pocket.

“She wasn’t happy, was she?” Kara asked.

“A bit disappointed, but when you’re basically having an affair with a married man, you have to accept unexpected changes.”

“You don’t see it that way, though.”

“No, but society does, and it is the case that my family takes priority. And tonight, that means you! My undivided attention!”

“Whatever will we do?” Kara asked with a smirk.

“I’m sure we’ll think of something!” I declared as we walked into the lobby.

[Rochester, Minnesota] 🎤 Jesse

“We’re all set,” I said when Scarlett joined me on the bench outside the dorm after my run.

“I wish my parents were half as cool as your parents and your doctor friend. Speaking of which, how did you meet her?”

“She’s my dad’s doctor at Mayo,” I said. “He has a weird metabolism and an odd hormone imbalance which might be related to a problem with his hypothalamus. It’s not life-threatening, and so long as he eats a low-carbohydrate diet, exercises, gets enough sleep, and is careful with alcohol and caffeine, it doesn’t affect his health.”

“They don’t know what causes it?”

“No. They speculate that it’s a congenital defect with his hypothalamus, but nothing shows on any scans, and blood tests are inconclusive except for showing the problem with hormone regulation.”

“Do you have it?”

“It doesn’t appear so, but Dad didn’t really show symptoms until he was in his twenties; well, not beyond the usual syncope teenagers often have with growth spurts.”

“How will you know?”

“If I have syncope or manic incidents. But being an athlete, I get lots of exercise, I make sure I get enough sleep, and I eat a healthy diet, though probably a bit too much pop and pizza.”

“So like a college student, minus the beer!”

“Most college students can’t legally drink until their Junior year.”

“As if that stops anyone!”

“My parents are OK with me drinking, but I don’t particularly like beer. Bourbon is OK, but I’d much rather have freshly squeezed lemonade.”

“You’re going to fail as a college student!”

“If I was going to a party school! Madison is more about protests than parties. Not that it won’t be fun, but I don’t need to drink to have a good time. Did you hear anything about Bill?”

“Just that his arraignment hearing was supposed to be this morning, but it was postponed until his parents get here and hire an attorney.”

“He doesn’t get bail until his arraignment, right?”

“That’s what I understand. They filed the charges this morning, and asked for no bail, which means they can hold him until the hearing. Or at least that’s what Coach Norm said.”

“I wonder how that works, because he’s from Dayton. I’m not sure they let you leave the state on bail.”

“No clue,” Scarlett replied.

“Let me make a quick call,” I said.

I took out my mobile phone and used the address book to dial Mike Knox.

“Hey, Jesse, what’s up?” he asked when he answered.

“I have a question. This is not for me, but if someone is arrested in one state but lives in another state, do they let them go home?”

“Usually not. It could be a condition of bail, but it’s rare. What’s the charge?”

“Felony rape.”

“They’ll never let him leave the state,” Mike said. “Not a chance. If he posts bail, he’ll have to stay wherever he is. A friend of yours?”

“My roommate at the hockey camp.”

“Did he make bail?”

“It hasn’t been set because he’s waiting for his parents to get here and hire an attorney for his arraignment.”

“There’s a good chance he won’t make bail, but I’m not up on Minnesota’s process. You’re not in any trouble, are you? I know some attorneys in Minnesota.”

“None at all. I actually turned him in after the girl told one of the coordinators here about it.”

“OK. If you do have any need for an attorney, call me right away and I’ll get a former JAG lawyer I know there to help you.”

“Thanks, Mike. See you at Guys’ Night!”

“So you can take even more of my money?”

“It beats working,” I chuckled.

He laughed, we said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up.

“You have an attorney in your phone address book?”

“I have seven attorneys in my phone address book!”

“Why?”

“You do not want to know,” I replied, shaking my head. “The one I just spoke to is a friend of my dad’s who I play poker with every two weeks. He used to be a Navy JAG, but now he’s a criminal defense attorney in Chicago.”

“You can’t just leave it like that!” Scarlett protested.

“My family has had several run-ins with the FBI over the past twenty years, and with DCFS and the CPD.”

“DCFS? CPD?”

“Department of Children and Family Services and Chicago Police Department. None of us has ever been charged with anything, or even arrested, but we seem to attract a lot of attention from them.”

“Why?”

“For my dad, it started when he was dating a Soviet citizen whose dad was a diplomat. The FBI was hoping he’d spy on his friends. He told them to get fucked, and probably in those exact words. Then there was the asshole who tried to frame my dad for a prison break. And the woman who sicced DCFS on us because she was pissed at my dad for hiring her daughter. And an ex-girlfriend of mine ran away and came to our house. Then she ran away again, but didn’t come to our house. And then the FBI decided our Saudi friends were terrorists, even though it wasn’t true.”

“That’s just crazy!”

“Tell me about it! And that’s why I have all those lawyers in my phone address book! And if that’s not enough, I could call my dad, because he has every important attorney in Chicago in his work address book, because his company supplies software for lawyers.”

“I know who to call if I ever get in trouble!”

“I’d avoid getting in trouble,” I said. “Once the LEOs have you in their sights, you’re basically screwed unless you have an army of really good attorneys and you’re squeaky clean.”

“What did your friend say?”

“That with a felony rape charge, they’ll likely never let him leave Minnesota. There’s also a chance he won’t be released on bail.”

“I’d say they have him dead to rights because Krystal had a rape exam and they collected forensic evidence.”

“All it takes is one pubic hair to prove it,” I said. “And even if he used a rubber, they’ll find something. They took the trashcan from our room, so they have that if he did.”

“Gross!” Scarlett said, making a face.

“Proper procedure is to wrap it in a tissue,” I said. “And I don’t make a habit of fishing in trash cans!”

“But a used rubber is still gross!”

“May I point out that you swallowed?” I asked with a smirk.

“Don’t be a jerk!” Scarlett protested, smacking my arm.

“Sorry.”

“You’re a real smart ass!”

“All of me is smart!” I declared.

“How do your sisters even put up with you?”

“You’ll have to ask them! Birgit will be home from Vermont and my other two sisters will be there, too! Want to take a walk before we go in?”

“Sure.”

[San Francisco, California] 🎤 Steve

“That was excellent!” Kara declared when we left Ruth’s Chris steakhouse. “Sorry we had to skip dessert.”

“No need to apologize,” I replied. “It’s just something I have to deal with. You could have had dessert and it wouldn’t have bothered me.”

“It just felt wrong.”

“You NEVER feel wrong!” I declared. “What did you have in mind for tonight?”

“I need my brains fucked out until you can’t go again!”

“I think I can oblige! May I suggest the whirlpool in between rounds?”

“You have a tongue and fingers!” Kara declared mirthfully.

I sighed theatrically, then said, “A husband’s work is never done!”

“You go without sex for nearly a month!” Kara protested.

“I could,” I replied. “I did it before our wedding to Jess.”

“You’re the most frustrating man I know!” Kara declared.

“That hasn’t changed since we first met!” I declared proudly.

“I should have brought a flogger!”

“Who says I didn’t?” I asked.

“I’m not buying it! You weren’t expecting to see me tonight and I don’t think your Hawai’ian girl is into that!”

“You never know!”

“Giving maybe, not receiving!”

“Again, you never know!”

We walked the eight blocks or so back to the hotel and headed up to our suite. We called home to talk to Jessica, Suzanne, and the kids and spoke for a few minutes. I had called Birgit right after we’d checked in, and Jesse didn’t expect a call, so Kara and I undressed and I did my best to fulfill her request.

June 18, 2002, San Francisco, California

On Tuesday morning, Kara and I had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, then she left for Stanford. I had a bit of time to kill before meeting Nalani, so I checked my email, spoke with Kimmy and my sister, then left the hotel. It was a nice day and Coit Tower was only twenty-five minutes away by foot, so I chose to walk.

Nalani was waiting in Pioneer Park, near the steps which led to the base of the tower. She greeted me with a hug, I paid the fee so we could go to the top of the tower, and we talked as we took in the panoramic view.

“Sorry about last night,” I said. “Kara surprised me by showing up at the airport.”

“How?”

“Sorry, I probably forgot to mention that she’s at Stanford doing research on polymers. She’s been here close to a month. We’d planned to get together on Friday night, but, as I said, she surprised me.”

“I guess I can’t complain about you being with your wife! I kind of signed up for that in Hawai’i!”

“What would you like to do today?” I asked.

“How about we go to Union Square? There are lots of stores on Market Street close to there and I want to check out Victoria’s Secret!”

“Not someplace to go with your mom?” I asked with a slight smile.

“Mom freaks out about bikinis! I can’t imagine her reaction to lingerie!”

“I promise I won’t have a negative reaction!”

“I bet!”

“What were you thinking?”

“A sexy bra and panty set and a bodysuit.”

“I’d be happy to provide an opinion if you’d like to model them for me!”

“Obviously!” Nalani exclaimed.

We spent about twenty minutes total looking out over San Francisco, then left the tower and headed for Union Square. The square itself was being rehabilitated, as it had become derelict during the 90s. The park would re-open in just over a month, though it being closed didn’t affect the high-end stores in the area.