Taylor Made Owens (16 page)

“Jenny! Calm down,” Bill instructed.

“I won’t go back home, Uncle Bill,” she asserted.

“You won’t have to. Your dad’s coming in tomorrow, and we’re going to work things out. Come home with me.” Bill put his arm around her and took her to his place. His wife and daughter soon returned from shopping, and the family did a lot of talking. They decided she had to go live with her father in New York.

Her father flew in Wednesday and returned home to New York City with his daughter the next day. Both father and daughter were overjoyed, though Jennifer would continue to pine for Robert. When her period came on schedule a week later, she wept, fearing her last chance at Robert was washed away with her unfertilized egg.

Robert came over to see Kristen soon after Jennifer had left. She led him into the family room. He was friendly; she wasn’t. With an impassive expression, she told him what had been decided and looked to see his reaction. He, too, showed little emotion; he already knew what had happened. “That’s best for her I’m sure. She’s lucky to have your family.”

“You’re not upset she’s gone?”

“Of course I am, but she was in bad shape and needed help. She needed to get out of here.” Robert was more upset than he was letting on. He’d cried after Jennifer phoned to tell him she was moving away for good, and that she didn’t want to hear from him again.

“She made the fatal mistake of demanding marriage, eh?”

“It wasn’t like that. I really felt bad for her and was worried about her. That’s why I called your father. I didn’t want to get married, it’s true, mainly because I, um … couldn’t give up her cousin.”

“Oh?”

“Krissy, I can’t bear being apart from you.” She opened her eyes wide. It was the first time he ever called her that. “I don’t have anyone else I enjoy talking to or laughing with, just being with. I’m sorry for reacting the way I did when you told me about—you know. You were right. I am a hypocrite. I know now how I’ve made you feel all along. Please forgive me.”

“Not this again. I fell for it last time you came asking for clemency and promising to give up other women. Never again.” She sounded adamant.

“Come on, Krissy. Since then I learned you
too
had been fooling around, so you’ve lost the high ground on this. Can we please forget the past and start over?”

“The past of which you speak ended for you only yesterday. You think you can do anything you want, and that I’ll just forgive you. Not when your treatment of me has been so contemptible. You sat in this very room on this couch fooling around with Jenny expressly to humiliate me!” she said heatedly.

Embarrassed, he looked at the floor and had no ready reply. After an awkward pause, which she let pass while he squirmed, he said, “I’m sorry. It was a spiteful and classless thing to do. It’s just that I was devastated when I found out you loved Dominic, and that you made love … I know it was childish, but I wanted to hurt you back. I ask your forgiveness.”

“Odd that the one who has meted out ninety percent of the hurt in this relationship should feel he owes me more.”

“Krissy …” He had no words. She was right. He knew he deserved her deprecation. It seemed pointless to apologize again, so he sat silent, afraid her next declaration would be to dismiss him for good.

After an uncomfortable minute, she resumed: “Jenny’s not gone forever, I’m sure. As soon as she pops back into your life, you’ll pop back into her.”

“She is gone forever,” he maintained as his eyes glistened with tears, which Kristen noticed. He’d already lost Jennifer; now it seemed he’d lost Kristen, too. It was all he could do to stop from crying. “I want you.”

“You only want me because she’s gone.”

“No, you have that backwards. She’s gone because I rejected her, which I did because I couldn’t give you up. I’d rather be with you than any other person on earth. I know you’re angry at me. I don’t blame you.” He took her hands. “Can we at least be friends?”

“I’m sorry, Bobby, no,” she said, taking back her hands.

Upset, Robert went on, “Please don’t shut me out, I’m begging you. I’ll commit to only you.”

Precisely what she’d been dying to hear for over a year, but he had sinned once too often with Jennifer. “No. I want you to leave.” His devastated expression failed to move her. Looking at him dispassionately, she commanded, “Go now.” He lowered his head and walked out.

Robert stayed away for eight days, eight days of anguish for him, coming by her house to press his case anew on Friday evening. “She’s here, but she’s with Dominic,” Jeremy told him. “Do you want me to call her?”

“No thanks,” said the gloomy young man. He went home convinced he’d lost her forever. Jeremy later informed his sister that Robert had come by and left dispirited when told she was with Dominic. She walked up to her room with a gratified smile.

A week passed. Kristen was beginning to wonder if he’d given up when he at last returned. Lisa answered the door and called her daughter. Kristen came down and invited him to her room, but halfway up the stairs she turned and stopped. She held out her arm to stop him two steps down. Looking down on him with stern visage, she asked her supplicant, “What do you want?”

“Um, I know you’re seeing Dominic. Since I assume you’ve picked him to develop that relationship you wanted that might lead to marriage, I wonder if I might at least be a friend. You know, maybe we could hang out together once in a while? I could guard your apple,” he said with a feeble smile.

“Friends?” Kristen said. “Is that all I am to you? You just want to be friends?”

“No, but you’ve chosen Dominic.”

“So you’re saying if it weren’t for Dominic, we could start an exclusive relationship that could very well lead to marriage?”

“Yes.”

Kristen pulled him one step up so that her eyes were level with his. She smiled and said, “I believe I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Excuse me? I don’t understand.”

“I broke up with Dominic last week. I want to pursue that relationship with you, Robert Owens.”

“With me?” he said—surprised but delighted.

She leaned forward to kiss him, then took his hand and led him to her room. Closing her door, she explained, “I dropped Dominic because I love you. You must be blind if you haven’t seen how much I love you.”

“But why would you choose me over him?” Robert inquired. “Oh, wait, I know. He may be richer, but I’m uglier,” joked he. She furrowed her brow, but chuckled. “Really, why?” he resumed, “He’s rich, he’s loads of fun, he’s hunky and he can beat me up.”

“That’s all true,” she was happy to concede, “but you are so much more. That day by the river, it was you who shined. You annihilated him with your wit. All he could do to get you back was hit you. You are the much better man.”

“Did you or did you not have sex with him?”

“Let’s just say he banged on the front door, but I kept it locked.”

“He beat around the bush, eh?”

“Robert Peter Owens!” she said, tittering through the syllables.

“You were naked with him?”

“Yes, I was.”

“What did he, um, do with you when—”

“Just know that I didn’t make love to him, and let it drop. Okay?”

He looked her over as if trying to ascertain where and how Dominic had touched her. His jealousy was conspicuous, and she enjoyed every second of it. With her cool demeanor, she test-drove her hard-won control over him. She laid down the law: “Remember, I’ll be watching. If you cheat on me, that’ll be it; I won’t stand for it. Do you understand?” He nodded meekly. “Now, if our relationship is going to last, we have to be together. You need to tell me where you might be next year.”

“I have no idea.”

“Come on, Bobby. That’s not acceptable to me. I insist you run down the possibilities. That way I can apply to the universities closest to where you might be.”

“Well, let’s see. I can choose to go into the major league draft this June, or I can go to university and play ball there, or, apparently, I can join the American Army.”

“Pardon me?” stated the surprised girl.

“Some Marine-looking guy came to my house yesterday and told me he was with the special forces of the American Army. They somehow knew all about me: my marks, my dead family, my baseball, my American citizenship. God knows what the government has on every one of us. It seems a smart, athletic orphan is ideal for them. Gee, I wonder why. He tried to sign me up.”

“My God, I hope you said no.”

“No, I leave for boot camp tomorrow,” he jested. “Of course I said no.”

“You should go to university with your brain,” Kristen contended. “You have scholarship offers at USC, Stanford, and Berkeley?”

“Yes, but—”

“Well, then that’s a start. I’ll apply to those three universities, and to Western just in case.”

His preference was not to go to university because he was worried his arm might give out before he got the chance to play in the majors. He could see the pressure to accommodate her already beginning, which made him worry about his freedom. She saw his discomfort and changed the topic, but she fully intended to revisit this issue as often as it took to secure his promise to live together.

Soon thereafter, it was Christmas season again. This year, Robert got two invitations to dinner. Kim, who had recently returned from staying with her mother and sister in BC, invited him first. When Kristen asked him and he told her, “Someone else invited me to Christmas dinner,” her face showed the look of a woman betrayed.

“What? I assumed my boyfriend would be spending Christmas with me. Who is this mystery person?”

“Just a widow I work for every now and then,” he said.

“Just a widow? You’re spending Christmas with just a widow?”

“I’m sorry. She invited me, and I said yes without thinking.”

“Who is she?”

“She’s Kim Arnold. She lives on Pioneer.” She’d seen Kim and knew how pretty she was. With Kristen brooding, he added, “Um, I’ll leave her house early and come here for dinner. Okay?”

“Don’t bother. Just stay there.”

“Come on, Krissy. I made a mistake. I’ll stay there for an hour or so, then I’ll come here. Okay?”

She relented.

On Christmas, he told Kim that he could only stay for a little while and was just about to say he’d be eating dinner elsewhere when Kim said, “Just stay for supper then. I’ve been at it for hours.” He could not disappoint her.

As they ate, she fidgeted; she seemed uneasy. Not that Robert noticed as he shoveled the delicious food down his throat. After an interlude of awkward silence, she said, “So, you graduate in a few months? What are your plans after that?”

“Baseball,” he replied with a full mouth.

“And if that doesn’t work out?”

He gulped and growled with a grave gawp, “Why would you ask that?”

Seeing his antagonism, she smiled to disarm him.

“You don’t think I’m good enough?”

“Of course. I didn’t mean it like—”

“I have to go. Thanks for dinner,” he said as he got to his feet.

“No, wait. Please. I have something for you, something that will help you reach your goal.” She left the dining room and returned shortly with a nicely wrapped gift for him. “Open it,” she said.

He did, and his eyes opened wide. “This is, like, the best glove you can get. It costs hundreds of dollars. Thank you very much, Kim, but I can’t accept this: it’s too much money.”

“I have plenty of money, and it was on sale. Take it. Merry Christmas.”

“Are you sure?” She nodded. “Thank you, that’s the nicest gift anyone has ever given me—or maybe anyone. I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve this.”

“You’ve done so much.” He looked at her quizzically as she stuttered through her explanation, “You, you’ve um … given me … something, um …” She looked away to gather her courage, took a deep breath, turned back to him, and said, “You’ve given me something wonderful!”

“What?”

Just then her face changed. “Oh! Pardon me, I have to go to the bathroom,” she said as she got up and dashed out of the room with her hand pressed against her stomach.

When she returned, Robert said, “Maybe it’s just me, because I like baseball so much and all, but I think the best glove a person can get is a better present than the runs.”

“No, silly. I mean you gave me a reason to get up every morning when you were last here.”

“You mean because I wouldn’t leave you alone in bed?”

“No,” she said with an exasperated chuckle.

“Because that was maybe the best four-day period of my life, you know,” Robert said. She smiled.

As her queasy stomach began to rumble again, she found herself thinking wistfully of her four-day periods that had ceased almost three months ago. She never thought she’d long for them. He gave her his present to her, which was wrapped clumsily in the Sunday comics. She opened it and erupted in laughter. He’d bought a slinky one-piece bathing suit for seventy-five percent off.
This won’t even cover my stomach by June
, Kim thought.

He left without learning about his child, cuddling his new baseball glove all the way to Kristen’s house.

“Hi,” greeted Kristen. “What’s that?”

“Only the best baseball mitt on the market. Kim gave it to me for Christmas.” He showed it to Kristen. “I’m so excited. I’m going to sleep with it tonight.”

“Why would she do that for a boy who does odd jobs for her?” asked the curious and now worried girl. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Really. I don’t know why she got it for me. I asked, and she said it was on sale, and she was rich, and to just take it.” Kristen frowned and led him in.

Kristen was cool with Robert, so dinner was uncomfortable for both of them. The family started talking of Jesus. Robert said nothing throughout, though he rolled his eyes a couple of times. Noticing, Lisa said, “Don’t you believe there’s anything greater than you in the universe?”

“Mrs. Taylor,” he said, while turning his head toward Kristen, “I believe there’s something greater than I at this table.”

Kristen’s antipathy vanished as she tittered and went to fetch a plate of fudge she’d confected for the occasion. It was her first attempt at baking fudge. She passed the plate around and awaited their verdict. Robert sniffed it and recoiled at the burnt sugar smell. He tasted it and put his hand to his mouth, then under the table where Billingsgate took it off his hands. The dog slunk away, off to clean his anus for a better taste in his mouth.