Chapter 110

It took me a second to realize that it was Cindy lying next to me when the clock radio woke me. She was still asleep, so I slipped out of bed, went into the bathroom, and closed the door. I did my morning thing then turned the shower on. I was waiting for the water to get warm when the door opened and Cindy came in rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She smiled at me then sat on the toilet and began to urinate. The fact that she was comfortable doing something so personal gave me a strange feeling and I tried to think why it did as I stepped into the shower. It wasn’t the first time that a girl had done that in my presence, but this was different somehow. This was Cindy. The shy, introverted girl who thought of herself as invisible a short time ago, was peeing in front of me like it was the most natural thing in the world. It was oddly comforting to know that she was so at ease with me, and I began to think about what it might be like to have her as my steady girlfriend again.

I was rinsing off when Cindy pulled the shower curtain back and said, “Hey! Are you going to be in there all day, we have to get going.”

I pulled her inside the shower with me and kissed her. She willingly came, and we stood there kissing with the water running off us until it started to run cold. I released her and started to apologize, but she put her finger to my lips and said, “Don’t worry, it’ll be another memory. It was worth it and I can shower properly when I get home.”

We quickly dressed after we toweled off, then stood and looked at each other for a second. I think that each of us felt a little different and I wondered what it would be like to be with someone less complicated like she appeared to be again.

I nodded toward the box of sex toys when we stepped into the bedroom and said, “I, uhh, guess we didn’t do everything that you wanted to do last night.”

“What we did do was more important. The sex part was wonderful, but beyond that, last night and this morning showed me what it’s going to be like when I find someone to love.”

Surprised, I asked, “That person can’t be me?”

“No, Dear, it can’t. I know the direction that your life is headed in, and I know that I can’t go there with you. I can’t compete with the kinds of people you’ve been with. I don’t know any movie or TV stars, and I don’t stand a chance against girls like Kristen or Monique.”

I started to protest, but she came to me, touched my cheek, and continued, “I know that you have feelings for me, I saw it last night and again this morning. I’m thrilled about it, Pete. It’s the answer to a dream that I’ve had since the first time I met you. Part of me wants to grab you and never let you go, but I know that it would never work. We need to go our separate ways. You have a career ahead of you and I have living to do. It was like I was living in a cave or something before I met you. I had almost no friends and my life consisted of nothing but school and taking care of Digger. I’m pretty sure that Digger has someone else to look after him now and I’m glad for him because you and Erin showed me that there’s more out there for me, a lot more. You guys gave me the courage to look for it and I want to find out what it’s all about.”

“Are you sure that you wouldn’t like me to come along with you for a while?”

“I can’t. I hope you understand when I tell that it would be trading one kind of cave for another. It would be easy for me to give myself to you and follow you around like a puppy, but neither of us wants that. I need to do this on my own. You gave me the courage and it’s time that I got out there by myself.”

“You know that you can count on me if you need me, don’t you?”

“I know, and I hope that you know how much that means to me.”

“I’m going to miss you.”

She came to me and we held each other for a while. Her eyes were glistening when she stepped back, then she turned and left without saying goodbye.

I couldn’t get her out of my mind as I drove to the photo studio. Did I do the right thing by letting her go without an argument? Cindy is a sweet girl. I think that we could have been good together and that life would probably be a lot simpler than it would be with someone like Kristen, but I’m sure that it wouldn’t be near as interesting.

Two people from Burgers met me at the photo studio. There was a middle-aged guy and an older, heavy-set lady who seemed to be running things. She introduced herself as Greta Weiss, then she turned to the guy and said, “This is Jim Sutter.”

He smiled and stepped forward to shake my hand. He appeared to be sizing me up and it took me a second to realize why. This was the guy I was going to be traveling with, so I took a closer look. He looked to be about five foot ten, his hair was thinning, and he was probably close to fifty. I don’t know what I expected but I’d have to live with it if this was the way things were going to be.

They took me to a room where several boxes of clothes were sitting on a table. Two of the boxes were filled with shirts and the other held white pants. There were also some jackets and a pair of new white sneakers. The shirts and the jackets were both navy blue and there were two different kinds of shirts. One batch was regular t-shirts and the others were golf shirts, the kind with collars. Both kinds had a pocket with the Burgers logo on it and the jackets had the logo on the back and ‘Ask Pete’ on the front.

The lady came closer and looked at me for a second, then she walked around me, stopped in front of me, and said, “You’re six foot five, two forty and change.”

“I-I guess so, I haven’t been measured for a while.”

“You don’t need to, I’m never wrong about these things.”

She seemed to be frowning, so I asked, “Is there a problem?”

“They told me that you were a big guy, but you’re even bigger than I expected. You’re well-proportioned, but it’s going to be hard to shoot you next to people, especially children, without you looking like the incredible hulk, but we’ll work it out. Did you shower this morning?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good, go ahead and get dressed. We’ll use t-shirts for the first set, and put these pants on, they’re a little different.”

She handed me the top pair of pants and I saw that they looked a little different than the others. I took them and said, “Okay, where do I go to dress?”

She chuckled, “Just turn your back, nobody will peek.”

I’d been through enough of these things, so I just turned around and began undressing. She said, “No shorts, no undershirts, and no socks,” when I got to my shorts, so I just stripped everything off. The pants came first and they were a surprise. Talk about fitting like a glove. They had no pockets and they hugged every curve. The shirt was not much better. It felt like everything was painted on when I finished dressing. I had to laugh when I was putting the shoes on. Printed the back was ‘Sky Ty’. It was the shoe line made popular by Tyrone Washington, the basketball player I saw on the yacht.

We shot pictures for over four hours. I stood, I sat, I reached for something imaginary, I waved, I stood on a ladder, I smiled, I looked serious, and every thing else they could think of. I did a lot of poses with a serious look on my face for the first set, the one where I was wearing the tight pants. I then changed to the next pair which turned out to be regular pants and we started over again. We also shot things wearing the polo shirts and another set with the jackets. It doesn’t sound like much work, but during the day they trimmed, washed, and combed my hair before each set, and either adjusted or changed my makeup at least a dozen times. The hardest part was standing in one place and holding a pose for what seemed like hours while they reset lights and adjusted things.

We took a break around twelve thirty when a lunch truck came by outside, but it only lasted long enough to wolf a sandwich and a Coke down, and the shooting didn’t finish until after two in the afternoon. Mom called once to see how things were going, but I told her that I was busy and said I’d call later. Kristen also called and I told her the same thing. Ms. Weiss growled at me after that happened, so I turned the phone off.

Mr. Sutter helped load the clothes into my car when we finished shooting. He smiled when I said “Thanks, Mister Sutter,” and said, “Nell was right; you seem to be a nice young man. Please call me Jim.”

He left and I turned the phone on when I got into my car. There were two messages. One was from Amy asking me to call her cell, and the last one was from Mom asking the same thing. I returned Mom’s call, and after a brief talk about what happened today, she said, “I hear that you’re going to stay at Nell’s for a few days and you’re a little upset about it.”

“I, uhh, guess I was.”

“Why?”

“She decided for me without even asking me.”

“Are you still upset with her?”

“No, we worked it out.”

“That’s what she told me, but I wanted to check with you to make sure.”

“It sounds like you and she talk a lot.”

“We do, and we talked about you staying there this morning. I wondered how you would react when I told her to ask you.”

“She acted like she had already made the plans. I didn’t like her doing those kinds of things without asking me first. But we’re okay now. So you’re okay about me staying there?”

“Why, wouldn’t I be?”

“Well uhh, no reason I guess.”

She chuckled and said, “Look, young man, you’re almost eighteen years old. Your dad and I have allowed you to do your own thing for quite a while now as far as girls go. It might seem that we don’t care what you do, but that isn’t true. We pay attention to how you behave and you haven’t disappointed us so far. Your dad and I were suspicious that Nell might be taking advantage of you in some way when we first heard about the things that she has done for you, so I contacted her. We’ve talked several times since then, and I’m convinced that you’re going to be okay. As far as you staying with her while we’re gone, it makes sense logistically, and you and she are not going to be doing anything that you haven’t already done, right?”

“Yeah, I, uhh, guess not, but what convinced you that I’m going to be okay?”

“She’s an amazing woman, Pete. I got suspicious and I checked into her when I found out what she was doing for you. I found out everything that I could about her and some of the things were pretty scary, so I decided to call her. I was loaded for bear when I finally got hold of her. I didn’t want to jeopardize the Burgers contract, but I was going to let her know that she better not try anything funny with you. We ended up talking for almost two hours. She answered every question I asked and more. She really opened up to me, and I think that I ended up knowing more about her than I do about you kids. She explained how Burgers needs you. She told me how you’re absolutely perfect for the promotions that they have in mind, and I have no doubt that she’ll make sure that you’re treated fairly.”

“That’s good to know.”

“But I have some concerns. May I ask you some personal questions?”

“Sure.”

“You just spent some time with Kristen. How do you feel about her?”

“I like her, Mom, I like her a lot.”

“I’m glad, I like her too. Are you two planning anything together?”

“What do you mean?”

“She told Amy that you said you loved her, and that you and she are going to get married.”

I laughed, then I said, “No, Mom, she’s just pulling Amy’s chain. I don’t know what might happen in the future, but I’m not about to marry anyone for a while.”

“Did you tell her that you love her?”

I sighed, “Yes I did, Mom, but I love some other people too. I love you and Dad, and I love Erin and Amy.”

“Well, you have to be careful when you tell someone that you love them. We girls tend to take that kind of thing seriously.”

“I know that you’re right, but being with her can be a little overwhelming.”

“I imagine it can be. She’s a lovely girl and it must be a little intimidating being around her, but you’re not going to run off and do something silly, right?”

“No, I’m definitely not.”

“I didn’t think so, but you might mention that to Amy.”

“Why, did she say something?”

“No, but she’s been a little quiet since she talked with Kristen.”

“Is that why she called me?”

“No, it’s about something else. She’s on the phone right now, but Erin would like to talk to you.”