“Thank you, David. You don’t know how happy that makes me.”
I could hear the relief in her voice and she visibly seemed to relax.
“Look, David, I’ll talk to you at school.”
“Okay, I’ll see you Monday.”
“Oh, and David?”
Hmmm. Something was up.
“Yes.”
“Are you naked?”
I blushed.
“No, I have a towel on. I just got out of the shower and was headed to bed.”
“Could you give me a little show?”
This was a girl I could really like. I looked at her in mock horror.
“Tracy Dole! Who knew you would try to take advantage of poor little me? Next thing you know I’ll have screen shots of me all over school.”
“We could play a little you-show-me-yours-and-I’ll-show-you-mine.”
Now we’re talking!
“Yes, we could, but might I suggest we do that in person? How about you unwrap me as your birthday present?”
She shivered.
“David, I would love to, but I’m not sure I’m ready for you. Make me a promise.”
“I will if I can.”
“On Friday, don’t let things go too far.”
Normally it’s not a good idea to put the guy in charge of what was too far.
“You can trust me, but don’t get me wrong: you push all the right buttons for me. If you ever give me the go-ahead, I’ll do everything in my power to rock your world.”
Her eyes got big.
“I know you will. But I’m trying to take things slow.”
“You set the pace,” I assured her.
“Thank you. I’ll see you Monday.”
“Yeah, bye,” I said as I stood up, turned around and dropped my towel to give her a view of my butt.
I heard Tracy burst out laughing as I shut down the link. I crawled into bed exhausted. I was asleep soon after my head hit the pillow.
Sunday September 8
I WOKE SUNDAY MORNING to my dad shaking my shoulder.
“Get up, you’re going to church.”
Crap. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in God, but I went all summer without going and fell out of the habit. I knew Dad wouldn’t go, and it sounded like Greg would get out of it too. That meant I had to go and have some one-on-one time with my mom.
I got up, dressed and found Mom waiting on me. It turned out to be a good experience. We went to the early service and got home around eleven for brunch. Greg and Dad had made bacon, tomato and Swiss omelets; hash browns; melon wedges; and orange juice. It was nice to have the whole family together for a meal. Of course, it was a chance to talk about everything that was going on.
Mom had some news.
“Your Uncle Jim is going to come live with us for a couple of months. He landed a consulting job and I convinced him to stay here instead of paying for a short-term lease.”
Uncle Jim was my mom’s younger brother. He lived in Florida with my aunt Tanya and my cousins Julie and Elizabeth. I had a soft spot in my heart for El, as we called her. She was three or four years younger than I was. I always made it a point to include her. Her older sister ignored El at family gatherings, which made me feel sorry for her. I was lucky my older brother didn’t do that to me. When she was a little girl, at one of our big Thanksgiving get-togethers, El had once declared that one day we would be married. Everyone had laughed at her announcement, but I had curbed my own amusement, because I could see she was serious. Everyone else’s reaction put her into tears. I spent the afternoon comforting her. I told her it was all good, and that even though I hadn’t thought about getting married yet, that I wasn’t opposed to marrying her.
We had an apartment above the garage that I’d always wanted to move into. Uncle Jim had stayed with us twice before on his consulting gigs. Each time he had said he would come for a month or so, and ended up he stayed twice as long. I knew this irritated my dad. Not that he didn’t like Uncle Jim, it just seemed he always overextended his stay. Okay, Uncle Jim was a self-centered jerk. Dad was just too nice to say so.
“I want to move into the apartment over the garage,” I blurted out, not thinking it through.
I could see Greg ease back from the table. You never wanted to be caught in the crossfire when a family discussion went south, and this had the earmarks of a bad one. Both my mom and dad zeroed in on me. My Uncle John had taught me over the summer that in a negotiation, the first one to speak usually loses. So I just shut up and waited. Greg started to squirm in his chair, because no one had said anything. I was surprised when my dad was the first one to speak.
“All right, give us your reasons for wanting the apartment.”
I smiled because I knew he’d given me the opening I needed.
“There are three reasons that I think you should consider accepting my proposal. The first is you could never allow Greg to move into the apartment, because he’s such a slut he would have girls in and out all the time.” I turned to Greg and said, “No offense, man.”
He just nodded. We all knew he was a slut.
“The second reason is over the summer Uncle John introduced me to meditation to help center myself. I’m finding with all the noise in the house that I can’t concentrate. The third reason is that I know money is tight. Greg got a car for his sixteenth birthday. Mine is coming up in July. I’ll take the apartment instead of a car.” I saw my mom flinch at that one. “The final bonus reason is that if Uncle Jim has to move into my old room and share a bathroom with Greg, he’s not extending his stay like he always does. Greg’s worse than a girl is in the mornings. Uncle Jim will never make it to work on time.”
My mom snorted and my dad broke into a big grin.
“You have some valid points. Let me ask you: is this really something you want?” Mom asked.
“Yes, seriously, I think I need this. I need some space right now, and this is the perfect solution.”
My mom and dad looked at each other, my dad nodded yes to my mom, and she smiled.
“Okay.”
Greg about jumped out of his seat.
“You little shit. How did you pull that off?”
I grinned at him.
“I asked.”
Mom looked me in the eye.
“So, you really think this will keep Jim from overstaying his visit?”
We all burst into laughter.
We had a rule in our house that if you cooked, the rest of the family cleaned up, so this time it fell to Mom and me. I told her I’d take care of it. It was the least I could do. I had a feeling she and I had a new arrangement, and she didn’t have to clean up if I was involved.
WHEN I WAS DONE WITH the kitchen, I looked at the time. It was 12:30. I was late. About that time, I got a text from Beth who wanted to know where I was. I sent her a message back to let her know I’d be there in fifteen minutes. I ran upstairs and put on my swimsuit and a t-shirt. Beth lived two blocks down, so I just walked over.
When I got there, Mrs. Anderson answered the door. She and my mom were best friends. She was in many ways my second mom.
“David, how was your time on the farm with your uncle?”
“You know what, Mrs. A, it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. Uncle John helped me get my head on right. I was a little depressed after my classmate almost died at the party I threw. I think I blamed everyone else for my problems. Uncle John helped me see the error of my ways.”
She just smiled at me.
“I have to say we all missed you and are glad you’re back. Also, I have a surprise for you,” Mrs. A said, with a gleam in her eye that caused me to break out into a huge smile. “We got a hot tub.”
“Awesome! Football practice has been kicking my butt, and a soak would do me wonders.”
“Listen, if you need to use it just swing by.”
That’s what I loved about Beth’s family: they were open and I always felt welcome.
“I’ll take you up on that. I think you’ll be seeing a lot more of me. Hook up one of those big outdoor TVs and you’ll never get rid of me.”