Chapter 64: Setting the Stage

November 8, 1985

On the surface, it appeared to be a blessedly uneventful Friday evening, a Friday that was well in line with how I envisioned our weekends would be. I left work at about seven o'clock and drove down to Inez's place. Our plans were to settle ourselves in for a relaxing, romantic evening. We'd decided to have our dinner date, the one postponed from the previous Friday evening, tomorrow. With it being Saturday, getting the date off to an early start would not be a problem.

No sooner had I arrived at my girlfriend's place when she laid some news on me. "We're having a visitor," she informed me in a low voice. Her tone and somber face concerned me.

"Oh no," I said in response.

Inez broke out into a wide smile, letting me know that she was yanking my chain. "It's Evie," she said. "She got back from Atlanta on Wednesday. I had a long talk with her late last night, and I filled her in on everything that happened while she was away."

"Meaning ... the entire Victor fiasco."

"Yeah, I told her the whole story."

"How'd she take it?"

"It's hard to say," replied Inez. "She did say that she wants to talk to us both together."

We lounged out on the couch together, waiting for Evie to arrive. In the meantime, I addressed another matter of concern.

"Have you been able to find another project partner yet? Were your professors able to figure something out?"

"Not yet, but something should be finalized on Monday or Tuesday. With the two exams last Tuesday, the group projects pretty much took a back seat, anyhow. That won't be the case next week, but I'm not too worried about it." I decided that if she wasn't worried, I wouldn't worry, either.

Evie arrived on the scene a few minutes later. It had been a month since either of us had seen her; she greeted us with hugs that were full of their usual warmth. But at the same time, there was a seriousness in her demeanor that I found a little unsettling. Inez's body language informed me that she felt the same way.

Evie was never one for mincing words; she got right to the point. "That situation with that Victor character... never should have gotten as far as it did. Both of you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. I'm about to help you both – no, make that force you both – to do just that. Consider this an intervention of sorts."

An intervention? I thought, a bit befuddled and concerned. Just what is she going to say to us? I kept those thoughts inside, however, and tried to counteract Evie's no-nonsense approach with a little levity.

"You know, Ev," I said with a chuckle, "there are usually more people organizing an intervention than subjects of the intervention."

She actually glared at me in response. "Oh, I don't think I need any help," she shot back tersely.

I shut up.

Evie then turned to Inez. "Let me start off by asking you a question. Do you think you're an attractive woman?"

My girlfriend appeared somewhat confused, and just a tad put off. She paused for several seconds before replying, "Well ... I guess so ... maybe ... I think..."

At that, Evie shook her head, a gesture which gave off a distinct air of disdain. "You think so," came her reply. "That's your main problem right there. How many times has that insecurity of yours caused you pain? This time, it went further than that. It caused pain to someone you love."

Inez appeared stricken at that point; I couldn't let that pass without a comment. "That's harsh, Ev," I said softly but firmly.

Evie didn't even cast a glance in my direction. She merely held up her hand to me in a "stop" gesture, indicating that she fully intended to have her say, harsh or not. It also hinted strongly that I, too, would have my turn in the hot seat.

"In all the time I've known you, Inez," Evie went on, "we've been through this on countless occasions, starting with the Danny mess. Your self-image is the pits, and I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard before. But I have a news flash for you. You're an intelligent and beautiful woman! Men are attracted to you, and are going to continue to be attracted to you, and their intentions aren't always going to be noble. Many won't give a damn whether or not you're attached. You need to learn to recognize that, and deal with it when it happens. If you don't, this kind of thing will happen again and again."

"I just figured," offered Inez, "that since my uncle liked Victor, he was okay. Of course, I didn't know that –"

"Answer me this," Evie interrupted. "No disrespect to your uncle, but when are you going to live your own life, and not seek approval from your elders for everything you do? You're twenty-two years old, right?"

I saw my girlfriend's eyes briefly flash with anger; for just a second, I thought she was going to lash out. Then, she appeared to consider Evie's point, and her expression softened considerably.

"There's a cultural aspect to all this, Ev," I cut in, aiming to defend my girlfriend. "And last Sunday, when we were at her uncle's house..." My intent was to tell the story about how Inez had planted a kiss on me, in defiance of her uncle. But I never got the chance; Evie raised her hand once more, instructing me to halt, in no uncertain terms. Before I could say any more, she resumed speaking.

"The problem, Inez, is that your impaired sense of self-worth, combined with your need for approval from those you look up to, makes it very hard for you to be objective when assessing other people's motivations toward you. Remember, the devil is in the details." Evie paused briefly, before finally turning in my direction. She regarded me with a stern look that rivaled anything my mother ever showed me.

"Pat, you didn't get to have your date with your girlfriend last Friday night," she began. "So what?"

A little slow on the uptake, I rolled my eyes from side to side, uncertain as to what she was getting at. "So what?" I repeated, sounding confused as hell.

"You heard me. So what?"

I responded with reflective silence. Evie allowed me to stew in my uncertainty for several seconds, before verbalizing her point. "Do you trust Inez?"

"Absolutely." No hesitation there.

"Okay. So what's the big deal? You can go out later in the weekend, or the following weekend. Both of you have busy schedules, and you're bound to have to do a lot of rescheduling on a regular basis. And let me ask you this, too. You weren't able to sit next to Inez at the table when you got together at her uncle's place. So what?"

Another brief silence followed. This time, however, I began to explain my rationale.

"By itself, it's not that important. But when you add in all the other things that were going on..."

"Details, Pat," Evie said almost disparagingly. "Details. This is an ongoing problem with you; in this respect, you're the exact opposite of your girlfriend. You get so hung up on minute details and familiarities, that you lose the ability to view situations objectively. Even now, you're doing it. You tried to interrupt me twice earlier, attempting to argue about minor details, while entirely missing – or ignoring – the big picture."

I exhaled sharply, then reflectively passed my fingers through my hair. The point had been driven home.

"Now, despite all that, I have to commend you on one point," Evie went on, her voice mellowing for the first time during this discussion. "You handled that coffee and donuts plan wonderfully. It was exactly what you needed to do. And what you said to Inez about not letting your lack of quality time prevent you from just being with her? That's the gist of it. Now, if you can only learn to think and act that way most of the time, we just may be on to something here."

I looked over at Inez. Her eyes met mine; in those lovely eyes, I saw a look of contrition, but also one of gratitude. She turned and said simply to her best friend, "Thanks, Ev."

I nodded, for I too was coming around to the realization that Evie had our best interests at heart. "Yeah, Ev. That may not have been a lot of fun to listen to, but thanks for telling us what we needed to hear."

A faint smile crossed Evie's face. "Before I let you off the hook entirely, there's something I want to address with both of you. Inez, you're a big-picture person who sometimes ignores details. Pat, you're a details person who sometimes loses sight of the big picture. In many ways, you complement each other, and that's a good thing. But when you find yourselves in a stressful situation like that Victor crisis, there might be a tendency for you to become frustrated with each other. Please guard against that. You need each other in order to get a complete view. You both know... " Her voice trailed off for a second, as her tone suddenly became much gentler, " ... that there's no bigger fan of your relationship than me, which is why it pains me to hear about you suffering through an ordeal like that."

"We know, Ev," said Inez, flashing a bright smile in response. Then, she turned to me. "What we need to remember, mi amor, is to keep our eyes on the prize."

"If we do that," I replied with a nod, "nothing will keep us apart."

November 13, 1985

It was six o'clock on a Wednesday evening. I was in my office, talking on the phone with my sweetie, explaining that something highly unusual had transpired.

"I've finished all of my work for today," I said happily, "and I'm heading out. If you weren't busy studying, I'd say a midweek get-together might be possible."

"It is possible," said Inez without hesitation. "Come on down. I'll make the time. Anyway, there's someone here I want you to meet."

"Ah ... you must have a new project partner, right?"

"You'll find out when you get here." She giggled at my curiosity, refusing to divulge any more.

Driving down the turnpike, I couldn't help but have a vague sense of uneasiness. What kind of study partner did she end up with? I eased my concerns by telling myself, any partner, any at all, would be an improvement over Victor. No denying that.

At any rate, I didn't have to wait very long to find out. I arrived at Inez's place, and as soon as I stepped inside, she introduced me to another tall, handsome Caucasian male. "This is Jason Wayland, my new study partner. Jason, this is my boyfriend, Pat."

Jason offered me a firm handshake. "I've heard a lot about you, Pat," he grinned. "This lady of yours talks about you, I mean, all the time."

Before I could formulate a reply, I heard a door close, indicating that there was someone else in the apartment. I glanced in the direction of the sound, and saw a short, slightly pudgy, but not unattractive young woman walking toward us.

"Sweetie," Inez said to me with a fetching smile, "this is my other study partner, Valerie Graves."

"Wait a minute," I laughed. "You have two new study partners?"

"It's a long story," Valerie said with a smile, as she moved over to stand next to Jason, who put his arm across her shoulders and drew her in close. "We heard about Inez's little problem, and volunteered to help her out."

"Of course, it does make our study sessions less fun," Jason mock-complained, as Inez laughed. Valerie punched Jason lightly on the upper arm, an act seemingly full of affection.

"I've known Jason and Valerie casually since freshman year," explained Inez. "They were in a lot of my classes. I didn't really start to know them well until last year, when we realized we'd be in grad school together. Let me warn you about these two, sweetie. You think we're a couple of mushy, unabashed romantics? Wait till you see them in action."

Indeed, Valerie and Jason were just standing there, making eyes at one another. "We've been an item since sophomore year," Jason offered, "which means it's been three years now."

"Three years of blissful paradise," gushed Valerie.

"Oh, brother," groaned Inez, smiling and rolling her eyes at the same time. She pressed against me, as I squeezed her tight.

"Seriously, Pat," said Jason, "that stunt that Victor pulled was low, but pretty typical. We've known him for a while. He's nothing but a horse's ass."

"Don't sugarcoat it, honey," Valerie said. "He's a horse's ass dipped in a vat of bullshit." At that, four people began laughing uncontrollably.

When things calmed down, I glanced at my still-smiling girlfriend. "What can I say? I like them already. We clearly have viewpoints in common."