Chapter 53

“Where are Amanda and Terry?” Dan asked as he exercised on the weight lifting machine.

“They are out on a date,” Tom answered while peddling the bicycle.

Dan was about to ask who they were on a date with, when he realized that it was a pretty stupid question. He asked, “How is it going with them?”

“Good, I guess,” Tom answered. He stopped peddling and said, “Saturday nights have become barbecue nights over at Amanda’s house. His father is warming up to me, but her mother is nasty as hell to Terry.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Dan said.

Nodding his head, Tom said, “I had to pick up Amanda for their date tonight. Terry waited around the corner.”

“That really sucks,” Dan said.

“The one good thing about this, is that Terry and my mother really get along,” Tom said. He hadn’t been surprised that his mother would be nice to Terry, but they were really turning into friends. He had no idea what they talked about, but they were always together.

“I’m glad,” Dan said. His chest and arms were starting to burn from the exercise. He stopped and said, “It sounds to me like Terry doesn’t have anyone to turn to for advice. She talks like her parents don’t understand her sexuality. Amanda’s mother isn’t accepting it.”

“You’re right. Terry hasn’t told me much about her past, but it doesn’t sound like her home life was all that great,” Tom said.

Dan returned to exercising and said, “Maybe you ought to take her out on a date.”

“Are you kidding me? She’ll kill me if I suggest such a thing,” Tom said.

Shaking his head, Dan said, “No, I’m not kidding. You two need to work out the issues that exist between you. It isn’t healthy.”

“You’re probably right,” Tom said returning to cycling. His legs were really starting to hurt. He’d been surprised at how little exercise he got at work. Back at the university, he’d had to walk everywhere.

Dan said, “I’ve been taking the women out on individual dates. It’s amazing how much that is helping ease tensions around the house.”

“Really?” Tom asked.

Nodding his head, Dan said, “Yes. It’s hard to say what has changed, but the general atmosphere in the house is a lot more relaxed.”

“That’s good,” Tom said.

He felt that Dan was so much better at reading people than he was. It was as if those years of being tortured by his classmates had given Dan a much better appreciation of the qualities of the people around him.

“I was talking to Sue the other day, and she was telling me that she couldn’t see how our relationship was functioning. She felt that it was too far out of balance to work,” Dan said.

Her comments had forced him to think about the problem long and hard. He didn’t want it to change, but he knew that it was going to have to grow and evolve in order to survive.

“I can see that. Alison is really kind of stuck as an outsider,” Tom said. He could imagine what would happen if Terry had twice as much power as him in their relationship with Amanda. He’d hate to be in that position.

“Yeah,” Dan said.

“So what are you going to do about it?” Tom asked.

Dan answered, “I don’t think there is anything that I can do to relieve the tensions any more than I have.”

“You’re probably right,” Tom said.

Dan made one last lift and then said, “Let’s hit the pool.”

“Good idea. I hate this bicycle,” Tom said.

“What do you mean you hate that bicycle? You always choose it,” Dan said.

“It doesn’t go anywhere,” Tom answered winking at Dan.

Amanda and Terry were seated in Tom’s car at the park watching some kids playing baseball. Parents were watching the game from bleachers meant to hold a hundred people while young brothers and sisters were running around playing the kinds of games that kids their age have played for centuries. There was a small shed selling snow-cones and soft drinks. Occasionally the air would be filled with the sounds of the watchers cheering some action on the field.

The two women were not interested in the baseball game. Amanda looked over at Terry and said, “I’m sorry that I dragged you here.”

“I’m not,” Terry said.

“My mother has been perfectly horrible to you,” Amanda said unable to believe that Terry wasn’t completely miserable.

“I really like Tom’s mother,” Terry said.

Meeting Tom’s mother had been worth the whole trip. She had never had a mother figure who accepted her for what she was. It was rather amazing to her that someone understood.

“She’s a doll,” Amanda said wishing her mother was more like Tom’s mother.

“Why don’t you move in with us?” Terry asked. She figured that Tom’s mother would accept Amanda living with them.

“I couldn’t do that,” Amanda said shocked by the idea.

“Why not?” Terry asked.

Looking at her lover as if she was crazy, Amanda said, “My father will kill me.”

“I don’t think so,” Terry said. She studied Amanda for a minute and then said, “Let’s go get some coffee at a coffee shop and call your father.”

“Why?” Amanda asked.

“To talk with him,” Terry answered.

She had talked with Tom’s mother about this problem. The woman had not given her any kind of advice, but had suggested that she consider the feelings of Amanda’s parents before making any rash decisions.

“Why?”

Looking at the terrified expression on Amanda’s face, Terry said, “I think it’s time that you let your father be your father. Ask him for his advice. Tell him how unhappy you are. Let him get to know me.”

“Are you crazy?” Amanda asked.

It was obvious to Terry that Amanda was miserable. She needed to spend a night or two with Tom. Looking out the window, she realized what she was thinking. Tom would help Amanda.

Knowing that it was a slim chance to get Amanda to agree, she asked, “Do you want to spend the night with Tom?”

“Yes,” Amanda said looking away from Terry.

“Then take my advice and talk to your father. It’s very easy. We’ll go to a coffee shop and call your father from there. He can come meet us there and your mother will never know,” Terry said.

“What if my mother answers the phone?”

Terry rolled her eyes and said, “Tell her that you have car trouble.”

“My dad will be charging over there in a minute,” Amanda said. The light went off in her head and she said, “That’s what you want.”

“Yep,” Terry said with a grin.

A half an hour later, Sidney walked into the coffee shop and looked around for his daughter. He frowned for a second when he saw that Terry was there. He had been expecting to see Tom.

Walking over to their table, he asked, “Where’s the car?”

“Sit down and have some coffee and apple pie. Amanda said that it was your favorite pie,” Terry said feeling her lover’s hand on her thigh. Amanda’s hand was shaking. In other circumstances she would have enjoyed it.

Sidney looked at the pie and coffee on the table for a second. It did look good. He took a seat and said, “I’ll eat a little bit, and then go look at the car.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the car,” Terry said. Amanda nudged her in the ribs with an elbow.

“Why’d you tell my wife that there was something wrong with it?” Sidney said with a frown.

It was tiring holding up the conversation. Terry glanced at Amanda and saw that she was just sitting there trying to look small.

Terry smiled and said, “She’s still Daddy’s little girl.”

“No, she’s not,” Sidney said.

“Yes, she is. She’s cowering here, afraid that she’s let you down. She loves you, you know,” Terry said. She slid out of the chair and said, “I’m going to powder my nose. I expect to see you two talking when I get back.”

“I’ll come with you,” Amanda said.

“No, I can find my own way. You need to tell your dad that you’re miserable. You need to ask him for his advice,” Terry said.

Sidney did not have a good opinion of Terry. She was a lesbian and he thought there was something wrong with that. He tolerated her, but he didn’t like her much. He had to admit that his impression of her was rising.

He looked at Amanda and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Amanda covered her eyes with her hands and started to cry. Between sobs, she said, “I’m so unhappy that I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you want to do?” He asked. His daughter had never cried to him like this. He knew that it a sign of great pain on her part.

“I want to run away and live with Tom and Terry. I want to run away from them and live with you and mom. Sometimes, I just want to run away from everyone,” Amanda answered as she reached out for a napkin with which to wipe her eyes.

“We all feel that way sometimes,” Sidney said eyeing the cup of coffee and the pie. Giving into temptation he picked up his fork.

As he cut off a bite of pie, Amanda said, “You don’t feel that way.”

Sidney stopped what he was doing, and put the fork back on his plate.

He said, “Every morning I drive past a highway intersection and think it would be so easy just to slip over a lane. Eleven hours later, I’d be pulling into Galveston. An hour later, I’d be standing by the edge of the water with a surfboard in my arms waiting for a wave.”

“You’re kidding,” Amanda said looking at her father. She couldn’t imagine him being a surfer.

“Nope. The day after you told me about your rather unusual threesome, I was two hours late to work. I had eased over into that lane. I had driven for an hour before my common sense caught up to me,” he answered. He picked up his fork and took a chunk of the pie.

“Wow, I never knew that about you. Maybe you can stop by Austin the next time you decide to take off like that,” Amanda said.

“I’ll never do it,” Sidney said with a gesture that was intended to dismiss the idea. He said, “It’s a foolish bit of nonsense that would only create more problems than it would solve.”

“I know,” Amanda said.

“I only think about it when I’m bothered by something. What’s got you so sad?” Sidney asked.

“I love Tom, but we never get any time alone for me to express my love to him,” Amanda answered.

There was only one interpretation about ‘expressing her love,’ and that meant having sex. Since they were a threesome, he imagined that would include Terry. Barely able to get the words out of his mouth, Sidney said, “So spend the night with him.”

“What about mother?” Amanda asked rather surprised by his answer.

“She’ll be overjoyed that you’re sleeping with a man. We don’t have to tell her that Terry would be there too,” Sidney said.

“She won’t be there. She doesn’t like men at all, that way,” Amanda said looking at her father.

“Oh,” Sidney said. The threesome was beginning to look more like a lover’s triangle with his daughter the critical vortex. He asked, “Nothing goes on between them?”

“Nothing goes on between them. She tolerates him and he accommodates her,” Amanda said.

Shaking his head, Sidney asked, “So what is holding this relationship together?”

“Me. I love them both despite the lack of feelings they have for each other,” Amanda said. She knew that it wasn’t exactly true that Tom and Terry didn’t have feelings for each other, but it would have been too hard to explain.

Sidney took a bite of pie thinking about what she had explained. It was a strange relationship and he didn’t really approve of it. After swallowing his food, he took a sip of coffee. Amanda watched him trying to gauge his mood.

He sighed and said, “I wish that Perker fellow with the pizzas was here.”