Chapter 17: Convincing cookie

Megan let me sleep until seven-fifteen before she woke me with a glass of orange juice in hand.

As I staggered to the bathroom, I saw her taking her seat at the folding tables. I shaved, showered, and got ready for school. Megan was studying feverishly. We left early to give us time to walk the two miles to school.

"I can't wait to see what your friend has in store for us this quarter," she said.

Her mention of Doctor Mercer made me realize that I hadn't seen him for a month.

"Bring your running togs over tonight. We'll go for a run," I said, thinking, 'did I just invite her to stay with me a third night in a row?'

"I don't think that's a good idea, Sammy. What if Professor Mercer sees us and thinks I'm tagging along with you in order to be noticed by him?"

"That's not the reason. We haven't run for over a week. It'll do you good to work up a sweat after studying."

"You're probably right," she said, giving my hand a squeeze as we parted.

I saw her again in the one class we had together, Business Management. Professor Ballard announced that there had been another drop out, and since Megan's group had been reduced to three members, they would join our group.

Casey, Kalian, and I were acquainted with our new team members from previous years, but Megan didn't know that. She introduced Chase and Gifford to us. We shook hands, and I excused myself, saying my Architectural class was on the other side of the campus.

With a student body the size of Pontiac, everyone knew everyone else. By this time of the year we even knew the freshmen, if not by name, certainly by recognition. I'd had classes with Chase and Gifford in past years. Currently, Chase was in my Applied Business Theories class, and Gifford was in my Managerial Accounting class. Casey and Kalian had other classes with our new team members, too. I didn't foresee any problems with the six of us meshing. Actually, I was happy to have Megan on my team.

After the Architectural class, I sat in the cafeteria with Victor until a group of drama students arrived. Zelda joined us saying that she was enrolled in an acting class this quarter.

"I hope you're not leaving because I'm here," she said when she saw me get up.

"I've got a busy afternoon," I said.

"He has lunch with Megan," Victor said, speaking confidentially to Zelda.

She cupped her hand to her mouth and whispered, "From what I hear he takes all his meals with Megan. Skip says they danced every dance together at the wedding."

"Skip wouldn't know about that. He and Laura left the reception at nine o'clock," I said, as I left them.

I got a table in the cafeteria where I could read my Architectural notes and watch for Megan to enter the serving line. She and Kalian arrived together. They waved at me, and I signaled that I would hold the table until they came to claim it.

Megan was wearing heavy slacks and a sweater under her parka. Her hair was arranged in its customary ponytail; only the small curls looked out of place.

Casey took his place at the end of the line. I waved at him, and then I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. A guy that I recognized as a junior was talking to Megan. She smiled and shook her head. He persisted. She smiled and shook her head again, more vigorously, making the ponytail swish back and forth.

"What was that about?" I asked when she placed her tray on the table.

"What?" she asked.

"You know what," I said before heading for the end of the serving line.

While I was in line, I saw two more guys come to our table and speak to Megan. She smiled at them and said a few words.

"Okay, what's going on?" I asked her when I joined the others at the table.

Kalian spoke up. "They were asking Megan for a date."

I was dumbfounded. "All those guys were asking for dates with you? What did you tell them?" I asked.

I'm sure Megan was not a stranger to drawing attention from males, but she had a look of concern in her eyes, like she didn't know how to handle it. Just then, she looked up and my eyes followed hers. Joe Kerrigan was approaching our table.

I knew Joe from previous years. We'd been in classes together. He tapped me on the shoulder as he leaned over the table. His right hand was inches from my plate. "Ms. Freeman, Scent of a Woman is playing in town this week. Would you like to see it with me?"

Megan smiled at Joe the same way she'd smiled at the others. "Thank you, but Sammy's taking me to see it on Saturday night if he gets back in time."

Joe jumped at the opening. "Will you go with me if Oldham doesn't get back from wherever he goes on Saturdays?"

Megan smiled, but looked uncomfortable.

"I'll be back on time," I said.

"I wasn't talking to you, Oldham. I was speaking to Ms. Freeman," Joe said.

"Get your hands off this table and get lost, Kerrigan," I said, squeezing my fork between my thumb and finger.

Megan's voice was surprisingly calm as she reached for my hand. "Please don't make a scene, Sammy."

Kerrigan got in a final shot before he left. "Everyone knows your relationship with Ms. Freeman is strictly platonic, Oldham. Go back to your redheaded girlfriend and give me a chance with her."

Megan's hand on mine was all that kept me from going after him. My eyes followed hers to my right hand. She patted it and smiled when she saw how my fork was folded into a U shape. I smiled too, and heard Kalian release a breath of relief.

I straightened the fork to near its original shape, but found I wasn't hungry. Kalian filled me in on what had been discussed with Chase and Gifford after I left. "We tried to talk them in to meeting with us at your apartment, but they weren't interested," she said.

"Chase sits near me in my next class. I'll try to talk to him," I said.

I was still on edge during Applied Business Theories. Professor Irene Ramsey said it was time to apply the theories we had been exploring the first quarter. She split the class down the middle, calling my side of the room company A and the other side company B. We had eleven students; there were twelve students in company B. Chase and Casey were in company A. Kalian was in company B.

The rules were simple. Our company plan was due on Thursday. It was to include names of our officers, the type of business we intended to pursue, and how much capital we had raised. The maximum investment was optional, up to ten dollars per student.

Chase took over the discussion of our group and was immediately named company president. The vote was unanimous. As we discussed the investment everyone was willing to make, I overheard company B talking about bake sales and setting up a stand to sell candy bars.

Our company was just as bogged down with disagreement over our capital investment as company B was over the type of business they would operate. Near the end of the hour, I offered my apartment as a meeting place. Four of the other males were agreeable to meet at eight o'clock that night, but Chase and the other male joined the four females in refusing to come to the center of town. I appealed to the only female I knew. Angie was the girl I'd rescued from the clutches of my roommate when we were freshmen. She later dated Charlie and had lived with him briefly in my apartment. Angie agreed to come to my apartment, making the vote six in favor of accepting my offer to five against. Chase quickly charmed the others into joining us, and our meeting was adjourned when the bell rang.

Chase overheard me telling Casey to come early for our Business Management meeting. Casey went to catch up with Kalian, and Chase walked part way with me to my last class of the day, Managerial Accounting.

"You were quite persuasive with that girl. Do I smell some history between you?" he asked.

"I was acquainted with Angie a long time ago, but there's no history," I answered.

"You seem to hold some mysterious power over Casey, too. I was impressed with the way he barked when you told him to fetch."

"Not as impressed as I was at the way you took over our group," I said in retort.

"What's with you and the blonde? I hear its all show. Do you mind if I try my luck with Megan?"

I stopped walking, and glared at him. "What did you hear?"

Chase was a little taller than me, not bad looking, and charismatic as hell. He didn't answer me. "I'll get in touch with Gifford. We'll be at your place at seven," he said, turning and walking briskly away.

'Skip, ' I said to myself as I walked into my accounting class. It was our first meeting of the second quarter, and I had trouble concentrating. I was too busy thinking of what I was going to do to Skip for repeating what I'd told him the day before about my relationship with Megan.

"Who did you tell?" I asked as soon as he came to the phone.

"What?" he asked, playing dumb.

"You told someone about Megan and me pretending to be a couple. It's all over school. I witnessed four guys hitting on her, and that was only while we were together."

"I said something to Kent, but he knew about your arrangement with Megan," Skip said. "He's the only one I told, honest."

I put it together. Skip had told Kent and he had told Amy. She had told a couple of friends, and by lunchtime, it was perceived by everyone in the school that Megan was available. "It's not your fault that Megan is being pursued by every guy with a dick between his legs."

"With a frame like that girl has, I'm not surprised," Skip said.

"What's your girlfriend's number?" I asked.

"Why?"

"I want to tell her how stupid you are. She'd be crazy to marry you."

"I'm not giving you Laura's number," he said, defiance dripping from his tongue.

"I was just kidding, Skip. I need the number for her store. I want to ask her about those belly bracelets we were talking about yesterday."

"They're called hip huggers," he corrected me.

"Okay, hip huggers. What's her number?"

I had to promise him that I wouldn't repeat what he'd told me about his hesitation to accept a job from Laura's father. He gave me the number.

Laura sounded apprehensive. "Did something happen to Skippy?" she asked.

"Nothing happened to Skippy. I want to talk to you about hip huggers. Do you stock them?"

She said there wasn't much call for hip huggers, but she carried a small stock. I told her about Irene Ramsey's class and my idea for our company to market hip huggers. She said she'd had the same course from Irene, and gave me some tips for carrying out my idea. We discussed it for several minutes, and I talked her into faxing the information to me. She said her father would fire her if he found out the discount she agreed to give us. "I wouldn't do this for just anyone," she said.

"Thanks, Laura. I appreciate it."

"I wasn't talking about you, Sammy. I'm doing it to further the business curriculum at my Alma Mater."

While saying goodbye to Laura, I noticed a fax had arrived from Wally about my car. It said he'd received the quotation from the body shop and had already received approval from the insurance company to proceed with the repair. I immediately sent him a fax to thank him for the prompt action.

I called the body shop and spoke to Ollie's friend. "Your insurance administrator must carry a big stick. I've never seen a claim approved this fast before," he said.

"He handles the insurance for all our buildings. I guess it pays to put all your business in one bucket," I laughed.

I didn't press him on how soon my car would be ready and he didn't volunteer a date.

One of the questions I had asked Laura was how to size the bracelet to fit properly. She said that some of the bracelets were adjustable, but a tape measure is the required tool to ensure proper fit.

I needed to stock the kitchen with groceries, but my first stop was the dress shop. Aunt Olivia laughed when I told her why I needed a tape measure. She not only gave me one, she said she could obtain more for us if we went ahead with my plan.

On the way to the grocery store, I looked in the window of the only jewelry store in town. There was one hip hugger on display. The price was forty-five dollars. After shopping for groceries, I stopped at the bakery and bought three dozen cookies of various shapes and sizes. I was planning to serve hot chocolate and cookies to my guests.

Next, I telephoned Kelley at her office. She seemed surprised to hear from me, but she understood the reason for my call when I told her about the two meetings that were going to take place in the apartment.

"I suppose that means that you don't want any interruptions from me," she said, sounding hurt that I didn't have time to take calls from her.

"The meetings may not end until ten o'clock, and then we're going for a run. I'll call you at eleven if you want me to," I offered.

"I suppose 'we' means Megan and you?"

"Well, yeah."

"I suppose that means she'll be staying the night?"

I didn't want to say anything about Megan being besieged with requests for dates. But I had to give Kelley a reason for Megan's continued stay in the apartment.

"It's a good thing she was here last night. I had a nightmare," I said.

"Oh my, have you been to see a doctor?"

"No," I laughed.

"Sammy, what kind of nightmare was it? Did you have an out-of-body experience?"

I should have known that she would want to hear about the nightmare. "It was ghastly dream. I was driving the Jeep up the incline where the accident happened, and the truck pulled out in front of me. I couldn't make the brakes work, and I dreamt that I was killed immediately. But the dream continued. I didn't wake up until Megan shook me, telling me that I'd pulled all the covers off of the bed."

"Did she ... comfort you?"

"We put the covers back and she held me while I told her about the dream."

"Why didn't you call me, Sammy? You told her, but you're just now telling me," she said, sounding hurt.

"I didn't tell her everything."

"You didn't?"

"I didn't tell her the part about you. You're the only one that will ever know the rest of the dream."

"That's sweet of you, Sammy."

"I dreamt about the night I asked you if you had inserted your diaphragm and you said you didn't remember. I dreamt that you had a baby boy and you named him Sammy K. Oldham, Junior."

"Sammy, I told you I was teasing you about that. I also told you that I would never trick you. You really disappoint me."

"It was just a dream, Kelley."

"Dreams are often telling. Your dream suggests that you don't trust me."

"I told you about my dream because I trust you. I didn't ask you to analyze it."

"I think you should see a doctor. It doesn't make sense for you to have that dream on the very same night I told you I'd gotten my period."

"Dreams don't always make sense," I reasoned.

"You have a busy night ahead of you, Sammy. If you want to talk when you get back from your run, I'll be near the phone."

"Would you have preferred if I hadn't told you about my dream?"

"No, I'm glad you told me. I'm glad you trust me."

"I love you for saying that," I said.

"I love you for being you. Goodbye for now," she said.

Checking the time, I decided I had a half hour to read the case study we'd been assigned for our Business Management class. I was making notes when Kalian called to find out what I meant by coming early. I told her to come at six. "I'm making bratwurst and sauerkraut," I said.

I was in the kitchen when Debra and Megan came in. Charlie followed, carrying Megan's bag.

"I'm making bratwurst and sauerkraut," I greeted them.

"We didn't come to eat. We came to find out what you're going to do about all the guys hounding Megan for dates," Debra said with scolding urgency in her voice.

"I'm serving brown bread," I said, and saw Charlie nod his head.

"All right, if you're going to twist our arms, we'll stay for dinner," Charlie said.

Debra saw me looking at the bag Charlie was carrying. It was bulging. I wondered if Megan was planning to move in. "Don't get your hopes up, Sammy. She didn't pack her diaphragm."