Chapter 29: The Talk

When we got home we put Suzanne's car in the garage. I handed the keys to her and thanked her for letting me drive. The way I said it, "Suzanne, thank you for letting me drive your car," made her blush for some reason. I was coming to realize that I would never understand women, but I was starting to think I had some mystical power over her.

Suzanne, who normally was in control of any situation acted like a schoolgirl around me. She praised me for the little things I did, such as holding the car door open until she got in or helping her take her seat in the restaurant.

She waited for me to unlock the back door. "Thank you kind sir," she said as I held the door for her. I checked the security system to see if it was armed. It wasn't; Betsy was afraid to touch it.

I commented again on the dress Suzanne was wearing. Having discovered my power to unnerve her I couldn't resist making her blush. We both went upstairs to change our clothes. When she reappeared she was wearing slacks and a T-shirt. She phoned Mr. Oldham at the office. I heard her tell him that she enjoyed the game and that we had stopped to eat on the way home. "I let Sammy drive," she said before ending the call. I wondered what Mr. Oldham's response to that was. Would he remind her that I was not only an unlicensed driver, I was too young to have a learner's permit. Had there been an accident Suzanne and I would have been in serious trouble. But nothing more was said about my driving. When she hung up the phone Suzanne said Mr. Oldham's meeting would last another hour and that she was going up to their room. I said I would wait up for him. I wanted to tell him about the game. Suzanne said goodnight and left me alone in the sunroom.

What I really wanted to do was to talk to Alice. But she had specifically told me not to call her house so I read a school assignment from the works of Edgar Allen Poe and subconsciously listened for the phone to ring. It was nearing ten P.M. when she called. I answered the phone in the kitchen on the second ring, but Suzanne was already talking to Alice. "Sammy, it's for you. I think its Alice, but it may be one of your other girlfriends," Suzanne said, not even trying to disguise the merriment in her voice.

"How many girlfriends do you have?" Alice asked after we heard Suzanne hang up.

"She does stuff like that all the time," I said. "She just likes to tease me, but I'm learning how to pull her chain too," I boasted.

Mr. Oldham came in the back door and through the kitchen. I waved at him and he waved back as he headed up the stairs. Damn, I thought. I won't get to tell him about the game tonight.

"Are you going to have time for me this weekend? Am I going to be able to see you?" Alice's voice was soft and dreamy, like she was waiting anxiously for my answer. This was unlike her. She often told me what we were going to do.

"Are you asking if I'll have time to fit it in?" I asked, remembering how she had laughed when she said, "Fit it in. Get it?"

"I didn't mean it that way Sammy. I don't think that's a good idea right now. May I see you, just to talk?"

"Sure Alice, anything you want to do is fine with me."

"I'll go out for a walk tomorrow night, say about seven. We'll just talk, okay?"

"Okay," I said, trying not to sound dejected.

"Good. I'm going to bed now. I have a full schedule tomorrow at the club. Dream of me?"

"I will," I promised and we ended the call.

Well, so much for getting my rocks off. I wondered if she was in trouble with her parents. Or worse, did she have something serious to discuss with me? Why did I let her make me nervous? Perhaps it was nothing.

Mr. Oldham came back downstairs, wanting to hear about the game. We sat down and I told him how many times we had to punt the ball and how I had been the first one down field almost every time. I reminded him about the next game. My team was playing Dearborn Military Academy at D.M.A. and I hoped to get more playing time. He said he would try to make it. He said he knew Suzanne wanted to go.

"Is there any chance you could bring Alice?" I held my breath while he considered my request.

"Let's talk to Ned about it. He may want to take Penelope. If she goes we should take two cars. I'm sure we can work something out though."

I had my reason for wanting Alice there. I would avoid any contact with Debra Simmons. I wanted Alice to know that Debra meant nothing to me. I also wanted her to see me play because I had an idea that this was going to be a big game for me.

The next morning at breakfast Suzanne told Mr. Oldham about me asking her to dance. "He's such a good dancer John. Those lessons are paying off."

"I may have gotten myself in trouble for doing that," I admitted.

"Oh my, I hope not. Why did you do it if it's against the rules?" Suzanne asked, perplexed with me.

"There's no rule. It's just not done. I saw you wearing the red dress and I wanted to show you off to the guys," I said, knowing the compliment would make her blush.

"I wore one of the dresses we got in Chicago," she explained to Mr. Oldham. He looked up from his newspaper, nodded and went back to it.

Suzanne reminded Mr. Oldham about a golfing date they had with another couple. "Let's take Sammy with us," she suggested.

"I don't think you're ready to play, but you can tag along," he said to me.

Getting my first taste of the game sounded better than hanging around the house so I agreed to go. Mr. Oldham instructed me as to what to wear. He also told me to bring a wind breaker, golf shoes and my putter.

Suzanne introduced me to the other couple as her nephew. They said they had a grandson about my age. The man was a banker and I could tell he was someone Mr. Oldham wanted to befriend so I watched my manners, offering to run back to the golf carts to fetch another club from their bags when they were undecided about which one suited their particular shot.

Mr. Oldham let me drive their golf cart and when we got to the fifth green he told me to try putting. I enjoyed being out on the course with the two couples. They explained little things to me about the game and tried to teach me the jargon. I took it all in, thinking that this was going to be my game. Tennis was challenging and good exercise, but there was something mysterious about the golf course, where a dogleg would lead, what was beyond a tree-line and how to read a green.

We finished the round about one P.M. and I carried the ladies' clubs to their cars. We passed by the tennis courts on our way to the dining room. Two couples were playing on one of the courts, otherwise the courts were idle. I wondered where Alice was and found out when we were being seated for lunch. I heard her laugh and turned to see Alice seated with two men.

She was wearing a short tennis skirt, a white T-shirt and the tiny earrings. I watched her interact with the two men. They were laughing together like old friends.

"Sammy, you look as if you've seen a ghost," Mrs. Burton, the banker's wife said. Suzanne followed the direction of my eyes and grimaced. "Oh, he's goo-goo over the woman sitting with those men," she explained. I turned my attention back to our table, thankful that Alice had not seen me watching her.

"Our grandson is the same way. He has a new girlfriend every time we see him, never a girl that old though," the banker's wife commented, making me wish I had not been so fucking courteous to her that morning.

We had what would have been a delightful lunch if it were not for my being aware of Alice sitting with two men. Mr. Oldham bragged to the banker about my football prowess and I savored the attention. The men talked about world affairs, the stock market and business trends. The ladies talked about fashion trends and why they hated pantyhose. I half-listened to both conversations, with my ears tuned to Alice's laugh.

I was inspecting the innards of my grilled Reuben sandwich when I felt a familiar hand graze my neck and slide down to my chest.

"Hello Alice, how's the job?" Mr. Oldham asked. I felt the hand pat my chest and her tummy lean against the back of my head.

"It's going well Mr. Oldham. Thank you for giving me a good recommendation," Alice answered as her hand left my chest and she moved to one side. I looked up at her and my heart stopped beating for a few seconds when I saw her smiling down at me.

"See you tonight," she said to me. She seemed to be waiting for my answer when Mr. Oldham spoke.

"Alice, we're going to Sammy's game on Friday. Would you like to come with us?" Mr. Oldham asked.

She hesitated, looking around the table for assurance that she had heard correctly before saying she would love to go. As Alice left us I noticed how tan the backs of her legs looked. I wasn't really looking for the tan; I was looking at her legs.

"John, have you lost your mind? How could you invite her to go with us? Now you're going against everything we've talked about. Do you know what you are? You're an enabler," Suzanne said, obviously furious at Mr. Oldham, who was smiling sheepishly.

"It was Sammy's request that we take her," he said, turning Suzanne's fury towards me.

Suzanne shook her head and probably realizing that she was invading territory where she had no business, attempted to justify her argument. "She calls him at all hours of the night and talks for hours. I've tried my best to make John and Sammy see this from a woman's point of view but..." she stopped and looked apologetically at the banker's wife before finishing the sentence, "they're just men and you know how they think."

Her comment that we were 'just men, ' brought a smile to everyone except Suzanne. She stubbornly clung to her case. "She marches over here and says she will see you tonight. What's that all about?"

"We're just going for a walk," I said, defensively. "She can't stay out late. She's working tomorrow."

Suzanne scoffed at me and turned to the banker's wife. "Just the other night, or should I say just the other morning, we came home to find her in his room. It was one o'clock in the morning."

"Suzanne," Mr. Oldham spoke up, a hint of warning in his voice, "that was only one time. I don't think it will happen again, will it Sam?"

"No sir," I said with conviction. "It will never happen again, not if I have to hear Aunt Suzanne go on about it."

Suzanne shot a look my way, her glare turning into a smile and then to a blush.

"She's a lovely girl," the banker's wife commented and I watched Suzanne bite her lip.

We walked by the tennis courts on the way to the car. Alice was busy helping two young females work on their forehand and didn't see us. She looked so filled with purpose that I didn't dare say anything to her.