Chapter 6

Renee was agitated again by the time they got to her house. That was because Bobby ignored her for the whole trip. He responded to her comments, but didn’t drive the conversation forward. He almost acted like one of the men her father would have had drive her here or there, doing his job, and not attempting to mix with his betters.

Why that bothered her, she didn’t explore. All she knew was that it did. She didn’t think about the fact that she had rebuffed him, earlier ... had rebuffed him several times since meeting him. All she knew was that he should be paying more attention to her than he was, and it bothered her.

“The twins have been signing people up,” he said, astonishing her, as he set her bags down in the new play room. “You already have eight customers. They’re hoping you’ll hire them in return for that.”

“Of course I will,” said Renee, cringing as she engaged in tit for tat. She had no choice, really. She couldn’t take care of eight children by herself.

“I’ll have them call you when I get home,” he said.

Then, without another word, he just left ... getting in his car and driving away.

She wanted to scream again.

Renee didn’t have time to scream at anything. Her customers started bringing her their children as soon as she was back from talking to her parents. Not only did she hire Betty and Matilda as aides, she hired Linda full time, and four other girls on a part time basis too. The school schedule allowed the girls to work at different times of the day, which worked out well for all of them. Employment opportunities in Granger were few, and Renee’s new business brightened the lives of more than just her customers.

Within two weeks she had twelve children in her care on a more or less daily basis. There were also usually four or five drop-ins, but most of those were older children, who were normally cared for at home. Their mothers expressed their delight at Renee giving them the chance to go shopping, or visit friends, without having to take a child along with them.

She didn’t have to do any advertising. Word got around amazingly quickly. It seemed like no time at all before the cavernous great room she and Bobby had built, seemed cramped and small because of all the children that filled it. She had to send Linda to Wichita to get art supplies and other things she was running out of.

Bobby stopped in, occasionally, to see how she was doing and see if anything needed to be repaired. He seemed to know, somehow, when most of the children would be down for a nap, and Renee would have more than fifteen seconds to talk. He was popular with the kids who weren’t sleeping, some of whom knew him and called him “Uncle Bobby”, even though they were from different families. He played horsy with them, or helped them with whatever they were working on or playing with.

He looked like any young father playing with his kids.

Bobby was lying on his bed, reading, when there was a tap at his door. It opened slightly.

“Are you alone?” came Suzie’s voice.

“Yeah,” he said, grinning.

She stuck her head in, apparently looking to make sure.

“Why would anybody be in here?” he asked, teasing her a little.

“I know what you do in here!” she snorted.

“Is that why you’re here?” he teased.

“Of course not,” she said placidly. “I already told you that.”

“I know,” he said. “I was just teasing you. What’s up?”

She came in. The fact that she felt comfortable sitting on the edge of the bed might have had something to do with the fact that now that it was winter, he wore sweats to bed.

“I applied to K-State today,” she said, frowning.

“That’s great,” said her brother. “I’m proud of you. I know you’ll make it in. You’ve been working really hard.”

“I’m not worried about that part,” said Suzie. “My guidance counselor says there’s no problem at all there. The problem is that it costs too much.”

“We’ll work something out,” said Bobby.

“You always say that,” she moaned. “And you know how much I appreciate you paying for me to go to summer school in Wichita, but this is different. This is a lot of money. Tuition is expensive, even if it is a state school.”

“I know,” said Bobby, closing his book.

“And then there’s room and board on top of that!” moaned Suzie. “I don’t see any way it can happen.”

“Did you apply for scholarships?” asked Bobby.

“Yes,” she said glumly. “But I won’t hear about them until graduation, probably.”

“You can get a summer job, and save that up,” said Bobby.

“I will,” she said, “but it won’t be enough.”

“We’ll figure something out,” said Bobby. “It’s too important for us to have a doctor in the family, to let a little thing like money stop you.” He grinned. “I might get sick some day, and you know how expensive doctors are.”

She looked at him, but didn’t smile.

“I’ll never be a doctor,” she said.

“Yes you will,” said Bobby. “Don’t you worry about the tuition. You’ll get some scholarships, and we’ll find a way to make the rest of it happen. You are going to be a doctor, Suzie.”

“Do you really think so?” she whined.

“I know so,” he said. “You want to give me a physical, just for practice?”

She stood up and put her hands on her hips.

“Linda may play with it, and let you hump her like that, but she’s crazy. I’m not crazy!”

Bobby grinned. “That’s why you’ll make it through medical school. You’re not crazy.”

Still standing there, with her hands still on her hips, Suzie stared down at him.

“I love you, you know,” she said. “Even if you do those things with Linda.”

“I love you too,” said Bobby. “And you don’t have to worry about anything like that happening between you and me,” he added.

“I know,” said his little sister. “That’s why I know you really do love me.”

It was June, and the weather was beginning to suggest that summer was finally almost here. Renee sat at her desk, looking through her accounts. She hadn’t been aware of how much paperwork would be needed to run a simple little business.

She stared at her ledger book. There was money in the account ... money she had earned ... money that had not just been given to her. That made her chest tight with pride. She had begun implementing the preschool program, and that was working well. She’d needed to hire another full time woman, to take care of the babies, while she put into practice what she had learned in college. The kids ate it up, and the parents were delighted that their children were learning things that, years ago, they wouldn’t have learned until they were in kindergarten.

She sat, staring at the ledger. She had a business. She had friends. She had even had time to go to dinner at Mirriam’s a few times. Her annulment was still being processed, but Father Michael said that, in this situation, no news was good news. He insisted that the fact there had been no requests from higher up for more information meant that things were being handled routinely. He admitted he was happy (though he reminded her pride was a sin) because this was the first time in his career he had attempted to process an annulment.

She thought about all the good things that had happened in her life, and was thankful for them. There was one thing she didn’t have though. She didn’t have a man.

Her schedule was too hectic to get involved in dating. For that matter, the available pool of men to date was pretty shallow. Most young men left Granger to go to college, or to find better paying work, or just to get away from a small town. It sometimes made her wonder where all these children came from.

She was tired at the end of the day too. It was a good kind of tired, but it was still exhaustion. The effort of meeting a man, and playing all the games that dating required, just seemed like too big a task for her to take on right now.

Whenever she thought about men, she thought about Bobby. He was available. But she couldn’t think about getting serious with a man who had who knew how many women panting after him ... women he ... did things with.

Still, he didn’t seem odd to her any more. She didn’t feel that misty, unformed dread about him anymore. She knew him well enough by now to know that he wasn’t at all like any gigolo she’d ever heard bout before. Sometimes she had a difficult time even believing what he’d told her. All she had to do whenever she began doubting, though, was remember Jill’s voice, saying, “I need to get laid bad, Bobby!”

As if thinking about him summoned him, Bobby stepped through the front door.

“It seems so quiet,” he said, looking around at the empty room.

She looked at him. She hadn’t called him, or asked him to come over. He just showed up ... dropping by ... like a friend.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi, yourself,” he returned, smiling. “How’s it going?”

“Wonderful,” she said. “I’m going to have to find another full time worker, for the babies.” She cocked her head. “You know anybody who might be interested?”

He thought for a minute. “I don’t know. I’ll check around.”

He came to the chair, on the other side of her desk. “You hungry?” he asked.

“Are you asking out on a date?” she heard her voice say. Why had she said that?

“Well, no ... not actually,” he said. “I just thought you might be hungry. I am.” He cocked his head at her. “Why? Do you want me to ask you out on a date?”

The first thing she thought about was his peculiar way of asking that kind of question. Some other man would have just asked her out, tried his hand, given it a shot. But he was blunt and just asked her what she wanted. She thought about that. It suddenly occurred to her that she could ... hire Bobby ... hire him to take her out. Would he do that? What did a gigolo expect to do when he was hired?

“Can I ask you a question?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said.

“If I hired you ... to take me on a date ... what would that mean?”

“First off, you don’t have to hire me,” he said, grinning. “I’d take you on a date anyway.”

She tried to think about that, but it was too tumultuous. If they just “went on a date” it would be too much like ... dating. It didn’t fit with her perception of him, wild and unformed though that was.

“I’m just trying to understand what you’d ... expect.” She wanted to close her eyes. This wasn’t working out very well.

“Oh, you mean because of all those other women.” He said it as a statement, and not a question.

“I guess so,” she said, weakly.

“Well, I guess that depends,” he said, as easily as if she had asked him what kind of food he liked. “If a woman hires me, I do what she wants me to.”

“That’s it?” she asked, astonished.

“It’s not as simple or clear-cut as it sounds,” he said casually. “Sometimes the woman doesn’t know what she wants.”

“How can a woman not know what she wants?” asked Renee.

“Have you ever been to a restaurant, and looked at the menu, and thought that lots of things looked good, and then there were things you’d never tried before, and you had a hard time figuring out what to order?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said.

“It’s a little like that,” he said. “Sometimes a woman doesn’t really know what she’ll like, or what to ask for. Sometimes you just have to play it by ear.”

“But that’s just like ... dating,” said Renee.

“I guess it is,” said Bobby.

“How in the world did you get started doing ... what you do?” asked Renee, entranced by how normal he made it sound, but thinking about how bizarre it really was.

“Are you hungry or not?” he asked. “Like I said, I am. Couldn’t we talk about this while we eat?”

“Oh!” She suddenly felt flustered. “Okay,” she agreed.

“It’s not a date,” said Bobby, grinning. “It’s just to get something to eat.”

“We have to go dutch then,” said Renee, not believing she actually said it.

“Of course,” said Bobby. “Unless you want to buy me dinner. I’m fine with that.”

“You asked me to go,” she said. “I can’t buy you dinner unless I ask you to go.” She grinned. She couldn’t believe how much fun it was to do this kind of thing with him. He teased her, and she teased him back. It was just fun.

“Dutch treat it is,” said Bobby. “Now, can we go?”

They went in his car, and they went to the Wagon Wheel, which was open until nine. Sal had new waitresses, since Jill and Christy had quit to run the photo studio full time. Bobby ordered as soon as the waitress showed them to a booth. Renee took the menu, and said she’d order when the waitress brought them their drinks.

He leaned forward, with his elbows on the table.

“Now, what’s this all about?” he asked.

Renee blushed.

“I didn’t mean to pry,” she said. “It’s just that I’m so busy ... and I haven’t met any interesting men...” she trailed off, not knowing what to say.

“And you miss being with a man?” asked Bobby, his eyes glittering.

Renee felt her face get even hotter. “Not like that,” she moaned.

“Like what?” he asked innocently, leaning back.

“I know what you meant!” she accused.

“What did I mean?” he asked, just as innocently.

“Don’t tease me now, Bobby,” she sighed. “Everything is going so well, but I need to have some fun too.”

“Okay,” he said, relenting. “So you want to go on a date or two, and just have some fun ... right?”

“Yeah,” she said, relieved that he seemed to understand.

“I’d be happy to do that with you,” he said calmly. “But...”

“But what?” she asked, automatically.

“You should probably hire me to do that,” he said.

“I thought you said that wasn’t necessary!” she yipped.

“Well, I’d really like to go on a date with you,” he said. “But, the thing is that on a regular date, I might do something that would make you feel uncomfortable. If you hire me, you call all the shots, and I won’t get ... carried away.”

“Why would you get carried away?” she asked.

“Renee, you’re a bombshell,” he said, almost sadly. “I’m very attracted to you.”

She blinked. He’d flirted with her before ... but nothing like this. She had no idea he thought about her like ... what? How did he think about her?

“But you’ve never...” What had he never done? He’d never made a pass at her, but she’d feel stupid saying that.

“I’ve tried to be what you wanted me to be,” said Bobby. “All you wanted was someone to help you a little ... to be your friend, right?”

“I guess so,” she said weakly.

“Okay, so I tried to behave myself,” he said.

“Behave yourself?”

“Your husband was an idiot for messing with drugs,” said Bobby. “He was also an idiot for not concentrating on you. You’re beautiful, talented, and smart. You started a business and made it work in just a few months. He could be here ... sleeping with you ... but he was too stupid to think about that. I’m not.”

Renee almost gasped.

“You want to sleep with me?” she squeaked.

“Any man would,” he said quietly.

Her first instinct was to just get up and run, but she conquered that fear. No, it wasn’t fear. She was just ... uncomfortable. Had he said these things before they worked on her house, they would have scared her to death. But part of her mind told her she could trust him. Still, she needed a little more information before she could relax.

“How long have you wanted to... ?” She couldn’t say it again.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said casually. “Probably since I visited you in the hospital.”

“That long?” she gasped.

“Hey, I’m a man,” said Bobby, holding his hands up, palms facing her. “Don’t hate me for being a man.”

“I don’t hate you,” she said instantly. She wondered where that came from too, and then realized it was the simple truth.

“Anyway,” he said. “You didn’t need that in your life, so I behaved myself. I don’t really think you need that in your life right now either, but I could be wrong. In any case, if you hire me, that will make it easier for me to keep behaving myself.”

It was a twisted kind of logic ... a gigolo, suggesting that a woman hire him to not make sexual advances toward her. But, for Renee, it seemed perfectly logical, for some reason.

“How much?” she asked.

“To hire me?” he said, grinning. “Normally, I just let the woman decide what it was worth to her,” he said. “In your case, since we’re buddies and all that, I’ll break that rule. How about five dollars?”