Chapter 36

Dan Granger's turn:

I have to laugh. I tried very hard NOT to burn bridges when I left my old job. It paid off.

Steve called.

"Hey, Steve, what's up?"

"You ready to come back?"

"Not funny, Steve."

"Seriously. One of our clients specifically asked if we'd subcontract you so you can come in and do some stuff for him."

"What and when?"

Steve gave me the run-down. I wasn't too surprised. Big facility. I'd done a similar scope for part of it prior to moving to Alabama. Now they wanted the rest.

"I can come down for a few days, have a meeting or two, and get on with it."

"You know these guys," Steve said. "They'll want progress meetings."

"As long as they don't call on Monday morning for an afternoon meeting, I think we can handle it."

"We?"

"3Sigma. I'll handle the interface with the client and I will sign off on the work."

"Are you bringing Nikki down with you or is she too deep in classes right now?"

"You don't pay attention, dude," I laughed. "Nikki doesn't pay attention to classes. Classes pay attention to Nikki. The semester's ending. Her FIRST semester. She's unclassified."

"What's that mean?"

"She doesn't fit into that 'freshman-sophomore-junior-senior' thing. Not at school. And not at work."

"Work? The girl's fifteen."

"Sixteen now, actually, and she does data entry and reality-checking on our coordination studies and she's getting a federal stipend for research work."

"No shit?"

"Seriously. Beats stacking panties at Wal-Mart for a college job."

"So I can put you down as a 'yes' then?"

"Yes. When do you want a meeting?"

"It's Monday. Can we do Thursday?"

"I think so. I'll make reservations."

"Great! Are you averse to having dinner with me and Carole?"

"Sounds good!"

"And don't you DARE use that 'panty-stacker' thing in front of her. She worked at Target when I met her."

"I shall be as tactful as ever," I laughed.

"I need to check the doghouse then," he laughed. "Lookin' forward to it, buddy!"

A voice crossed the room. "Your old employer?" Alan asked.

"Yep! Been waitin' for him to call."

Alan laughed. "I know the feeling. The people I used to work for before I went on the road would've let Hell freeze over before they hired me as a consultant." He paused. "Idiots!"

"I hope Nikki can break loose for a day or two."

He laughed. "I'm sure there are people who'll be glad to see her go. And take Cindy with 'er."

"Yeah," I said. "Imagine that. There you are, a senior in an engineering program, you've been bustin' your hump for three years, kickin', clawin' and screamin' for a 3.0, and here come these two pixies that side-stepped the whole program..."

"And they're on a first-name basis with the department head and the senior professors."

"I'd think about committing seppuku in the quad at noon," I said.

"What's that kid's name that came to visit us last week? Albert?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Bert. Mechanical engineering."

"He said that if the girls came off as arrogant or something that the reception would be different, but they're not."

"That's our girls," I said. "Still amazes me."

"Yeah," Alan said. "That they're OUR girls. I mean, Cindy's Dan's wife, but she's part of our family."

"Yeah, sort of like Terri, the community's little sister."

"We have TWO community 'little sisters' actually. Rachel's in the mix now."

I chuckled. "Yeah, but I think Terri takes it to heart a bit more. She's really into it."

"Oh, that's Nikki and Cindy's doing, apparently. As long as at the end of the day she's still my little girl, I'm good with it."

"She adores Tina, too."

"Happy, happy thing, that is. I don't want to think about how it would be if it were otherwise."

"Could've been tough," I said. "Especially with the issues with the ex."

"Yeah. I worry though. If she decided to reverse her decision, it'd be tough on everybody. I think it would kill Tina and Terri."

"I can imagine. They fit together so well. And Terri is scary smart. The girls are handling that well." Home-schooling for Terri and Rachel was a riot. I didn't want to think about where those two might place in a standardized academic setting. In the third grade, where they would be based on chronological age. When I thought about the math they splashed around in the books they were reading, well ... And Terri'd already taken a couple of the practice tests for high school equivalency.

"Interesting," was Alan's comment. "I'm waiting to see what the university says. They've never had a Terri before."

Late afternoon, the back door swung open and our wives bounced in, accompanied by Terri and Rachel. I received my kiss. Yes, perfunctory on one level. The twinkly eyes that accompanied it though, validated it as a real kiss.

"How was your day, babe?" Nikki asked.

"Interesting. Can you get out of things for Wednesday and Thursday?"

"I think so. Why?"

"Steve called. Wants to subcontract me for one of my old clients. Need to fly down there for a meeting Thursday."

Squeal! "I have running room in my schedule. I'll work it out tomorrow. Send some emails right now to get 'em thinking about it." She plopped down and whipped out her laptop.

"Uh, before you start to email family, we're having dinner with Steve and Carole."

She didn't look too crestfallen. "That's okay. They're decent conversation. But we still..." she paused. "Let's think about itinerary. We can stay at our house. Maybe if we do things right, we don't have to cook. All that's left there is canned stuff and a few cold drinks in the fridge."

"Okay, we can hit up Dana..." Sister's usually good for a free meal, a good one if you act like it's special and give her a little lead time.

"Or we could bring Maddie and hit her folks up." Nikki grinned. Thinking of others. "I thought I'd ask you before I checked with her. She might not want to dodge classes."

"It's okay with me, but her classwork is important. We'll get 'er down there before Christmas."

"Okay, let me check with her, but I won't push hard." She smiled. "I'm going to the apartment. You coming along soon?"

"Yeah," I said, "Just as soon as I format this section," referring to the document on my monitor. I collected a kiss as she dodged past me.

"And that's how planning works at our house, too, except Terri gets an input," Alan said.

"Yeah, I married a girl with a brain. Just as well let 'er use it."

"One of these days one of those girls may be the evil overlord we've always feared," he laughed.

"Now that's a thought," I said. "Like Hello Kitty with death rays."

"Or Nikki as The Borg?" he laughed.

"She'd never go for that look," I said. "In all likelihood, the planet would be running on her command and nobody would even know they weren't calling the shots any more."

"Sounds like me. Rescued a troubled teen and next thing I know..." He laughed. "Sometimes you just walk into a situation and start playing the cards you get dealt."

"I'd say we drew a couple of winning hands."

Beck was at her desk listening. "I'd say you two have no idea what kind of luck you've had." She stood and walked back to our desks. "I never imagined I'd see such a thing as this bunch." She stopped. "I just said 'bunch'. Next thing you know, I'm gonna buy me a pickup truck."

"And start selling kosher pork rinds," Alan laughed.

"What's that number for EEOC? I think I'm being discriminated against."

"I'll give up pork rinds for your mom's kasha varnishkes," I said. Our little community had been graced by a visit from Beck's mom who played the Jewish mother stereotype for laughs, but the cooking was for real. And with real grandmas in short supply Beck's mom was quickly adopted. Went home with a family picture of her and her new grandchildren: her original Rachel, redheaded Cindy, auburn Tina, blonde Susan and my own Nikki, with that dark Cajun brunette thing going.

"I'll stir conversations up with this," she'd said.

I walked across the yard to our apartment. Found Maddie and Nikki sitting on the sofa.

"I can't go this week," Maddie said sadly. "I'm really sorry but I have a class I can't miss."

"Not a problem, sweetie," I said. Yes, Maddie was 'sweetie' to me, adopted daughter, my responsibility, Nikki's friend.

She left, books in hand.

"Problem," I asked Nikki.

"Just that college work is a bit more of a stretch. She thought she'd be able do like high school, just pay attention and stay in the top levels of the standings. She could, too, if she wasn't chasing the grades."

"Oh," I said. "I worry."

"Don't worry. Maddie's driving herself."

"I should pay attention to her social life," I said.

"Maddie? Come on," Nikki said. "Every guy that hits on 'er, she starts out by telling them that she's sixteen and unless he's pushing a 3.8 GPA or better, to take his ignorant self elsewhere."

"Interesting," I said.

"Maddie's a good girl. Some of the others ... Wow! Makes Mom almost look celibate. And I won't even think about guys."

I didn't comment. I knew. I'd been to college and knew that pursuit of knowledge was far down the list. No sense in talking about my own times.

My silence wasn't unobserved. I got Nikki on my lap. "I don't care, really, Dan," she said softly. "What you were then is not what you are now."

"I wasn't much then, at least in the realm of chasing girls. That's sort of how I ended up with the ex. I was an easy target, and apparently not a very interesting one."

She'd heard the story before. She kissed me. "She didn't see what I see, that's all. Her loss. My gain."

"Mine, too, princess," I said. I had long ago determined that this girl-woman was intended to be my completion. I would've felt bad about the hand that was measuring the pleasant curve of her sixteen year old ass. That is, if her eyes weren't twinkling and a purr wasn't escaping her lips.

"'Nuther day-dream about Dan today, guy," she said. "We downloaded some data, plotted the graph, measured it against the calculated values. Mindless." Giggle. "So if my mind didn't have to be there, guess where it wandered off to?"

I didn't comment. Just purred my contentment.

"Remember that day we went to the park the first time after the hurricane?"