Chapter 17: A New Arrangement

"Is Phil going to be all right?" Fiona asked quietly as we lay in bed that night.

"I think so. It'll take some time. He's hurting, but he's young and resilient and I believe he'll get over this in time."

"And what about you?"

"Good question. I've been wondering what would have happened if I'd still been married to Carla when this occurred. How would I have handled it? How would I have felt afterwards? It's pointless, really. I spent a lot of time at night wishing I was here with you. I did not want to be in that house. It was my past and I don't want to go back there."

"Well, here you are, right where you want to be. It'll get better now, right?"

"It already has," I said as I rolled toward her and pulled her to me.

"I'm glad you don't have to go back to Langley," she murmured. "I hear the planning meeting is going to be held here."

"Yeah. Leo decided to reward the sales and management group with an away meeting since we're having such a great year."

"You know I volunteered to be hostess, don't you?"

"I heard a rumour to that effect. Just what does that entail?"

"While you and your people are in meetings, I'll be in charge of entertaining the wives and others."

"So what are you going to do to entertain them?"

"Well, I will hire a small bus and we'll sightsee, shop, eat, shop, go to San Francisco and shop," she grinned.

"You've got three days to do all that, so I can expect some interesting charges on my Visa I suppose."

"Don't be frightened, dear. I'll use my own card. I've had several very good months lately."

"Yes, I know. I keep hearing about it from Leo. He likes to needle me that you're making more money than I am."

"Are you jealous?"

"Not for a minute. You've earned every dime. I'm so proud of you I could burst."

"And I'm proud of you, Andy. You made it all possible. Everything I have is thanks to you."

"You aren't giving yourself enough credit. You made it happen. I just gave you the tools to do the job."

"And," she said, wrapping her hand around my slowly growing erection, "it's a mighty fine tool too."

The house was sold, although for less than I expected. The market had softened and particularly in the price range that our house had been listed at. We netted $265,000 after retiring the mortgage. I split the money equally in three, with a little over $88,000 thousand going to Neal, Phil and Ruth. Ruth didn't want to accept it, but it was a provision in the will and I convinced her that it was Carla's wish.

Neal accepted the cheque and thanked me. I reminded him that it was from his mother and he looked somewhat embarrassed. Phil had no noticeable reaction to his check. He looked at it and I wondered what he was thinking. At length, he handed it back to me.

"Look after it for me, will you?" he asked. "I'll just piss it away if you don't."

I nodded. His mother's car was sold and we would use that money for a down payment on a new car for him. He was going to be staying here in Livermore for the foreseeable future. He could start community college courses in the New Year and that would give him some time to recover from the loss of his mother. I noticed that Tina was being particularly attentive to him, trying to cheer him up I suppose.

"What are we going to do with four cars in this household?" Fiona asked one day.

"I don't know. I haven't even thought about it. Why four?"

"Well, there's you and me and Phil and Tina. Unless our children decided to share, there's going to be four cars on the property."

"Well I guess we'd better convince them to share then, hadn't we," I grinned.

Phil had his eyes on a Mustang until I went over the realities of car insurance in California for young people. We collectively, with Tina's inclusion, chose a Ford Escape. Phil chose the model and Tina chose the colour. I didn't get any feeling that they weren't both in full agreement with the choices.

I wasn't astonished when Phil told me that he was going to attend the same community college as Tina. Tina still had a year left in high school, but had already stated she was planning on attending Las Positas College. Phil would have to write an entrance exam to back up his school records from Langley. As long as he applied before December first, he could enroll for the second semester beginning in mid-January.

The college campus was in Livermore, less than five minutes from our favourite golf course. It seemed like an ideal solution for us and them. They also had high school courses and that's when Tina surprised us. She was going to finish her high school by the Christmas break and apply to the college for the spring semester, just as Phil would.

"Can you do that?" Fiona asked.

"Yes, Mom. You know I'm ahead on some of my credits, so I talked to my counselor and she agreed I could take the exams in December. I can put a conditional application in for the spring and as long as I pass, Phil and I will be starting at the same time. It just makes sense, doesn't it?"

Fiona looked at me and I shrugged. "If you think you can do it, then ... okay," Fiona said hesitantly.

That brought a big smile from both Tina and Phil, along with a high five.

"Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad." In a flash, she and Phil were gone.

"What do you suppose that was about?" I asked innocently.

Fiona looked at me with mild distain. "Boy, are men ever dumb," she said, shaking her head.

Over the next two months, I saw Tina and Phil with their heads in her books, studying together. That was something new for Phil, who regularly crammed for any exam at the last minute. When I quizzed him about it, he explained that he was making sure he wouldn't have any problem with the entrance exam and was helping Tina as well. I wondered if it wasn't the other way around, but any sign that he was taking his education more seriously was welcome, so I left well enough alone.

As fall approached, the early morning golf on Thursdays came to a close, but we were invited to join some of our unofficial club on Sunday mornings to help them make up mixed foursomes. We immediately agreed. We soon found ourselves in with five other couples, playing regularly once more. We alternated partners and got to know a number of new people, none of whom had anything to do with our business.

The golf led to our being invited to social gatherings including barbeques, card parties, and other occasions which allowed us to meet new people and make new friends. We reciprocated, of course, and by the end of the year, had acquired a group of new acquaintances. I had both Fiona and Carla to thank for this. Fiona was a natural when it came to making new friends and Carla was the one who drew my insular social habits to my attention. In the space of a few months, that had all changed for the better.

Christmas was approaching and I already knew there was one gift that I wanted to share with Fiona. It was a membership at Las Positas. It wouldn't be a surprise since I wanted to make sure I could qualify for one, but with three of our friends acting as sponsors, it wasn't a problem. This was one membership I knew we would use regularly.

The week before Christmas, Fiona and I were out Saturday evening visiting one of our friends' homes and had been introduced to two new couples. One was the brother-in-law of our friends, the other his neighbour. We got along very well with them and on the way home late that night Fiona remarked that we seemed to be collecting new acquaintances at quite a rapid rate.

"I have to thank Carla for that," I said.

"Oh ... why?"

"She was the one who pointed out how narrow my interests were. You are the one who helped me change all that."

She reached out and squeezed my hand. Words weren't necessary.

When we walked into the kitchen, I could hear the TV in the living room and we looked in to see who was up. What we saw was Tina and Phil lying together on the sofa, both of them sound asleep. We also noticed that Tina's bra was on the floor and Phil's hand was tucked up under her sweater while Tina's hand had slipped inside Phil's fly.

I looked at Fiona and she looked at me. I think we were silently asking ourselves the same question. "What now?"

It was Fiona that reacted first, taking my hand and leading me back into the kitchen and opening and shutting a couple of cupboard doors, hopefully making enough noise to awake the sleeping teens.