Girls Night Out, Part Four

It’s been a couple of days since I met Carol, and I’ve managed to think about little else since. One of the problems with not working, or having much structure in my life is I have way too much time on my hands, sometimes.

 

Almost all of my thoughts about our evening together are good ones. She does seem a little more high-strung than I might prefer, but then again, we did tank up on coffee pretty heavily. I think it’s only fair to give her the benefit of the doubt on that one, for now.

 

I’ve been tempted to call her, but have been saved by Carol twice. Both times we had long chats about all kinds of things. Each time we talked over an hour and covered almost every imaginable subject. It was more interesting than just playing 20 questions and Carol and I managed to learn quite a bit about each other.

 

It’s apparent Carol has conducted her share of interviews. Probably at work, but regardless, she’s a very skilled interviewer. Skilled enough it came off like really good conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed both talks with her. Plus, she gave up as much information as she sought out.

 

Of course, I still had a few questions, but I prefer to let the answers come as they will in the course of spending time together.

 

As I’m making sure I remember everything I want to pick up at Wal-mart, I feel my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. I’m outside without my reading glasses, or a magnifier, so I haven’t much idea who is calling. I answer anyway.

 

“Hello”, I answer, less than friendly. Friends almost never call, and I hate those solicitation calls and don’t want to encourage them.

 

“Rick, it’s Carol. How are you?”, came the voice on the other end.

 

“Carol. I’m good. How are you?”, the requisite answer.

 

“Sorry for the short notice, but are you free this evening for a quick dinner and some talking?”, she asked sounding as if in a hurry.

 

“I’m okay for that. What do you have in mind?”, I inquire.

 

“How about I pick up Chinese and bring it to your place. Since I’m imposing and being so last minute, it’s my treat, if that’s okay.”. she said sounding like she’s been hitting the coffee again.

 

“Perfect. What time?”, I ask trying to help her keep the conversation short and sweet.

 

“Would 7:00 be okay?”, she suggested.

 

“Works for me”, I confirmed.

 

“What should I get for you?”, she asked.

 

“No bones, less sugar is better with chow fun, or noodles”, I reply.

 

“Got it. Talk to you closer to 7:00”, she spit out.

 

“Thanks. See ya’”, I retuned. The phone went dead.

 

I had paused outside Wal-mart to have my conversation with Carol, and now had to regroup and make sure I’m not going to forget anything. I remember the names of people I went to elementary school with, but sometimes only hit 3 out of 4 from my shopping list. Of course, actually taking the shopping list with me might improve those odds. Who knew?

 

Free dinner is always good, I’m thinking. Obviously, she has something specific on her mind, other than treating me to Chinese fast food. Even if all she wants to do is see me again, and buy me dinner, I’m okay with that too, but I have a feeling this busy, complex woman is probably up to something.

 

Walking back from Wal-mart, with everything I went for, my cell phone vibrates again. Luckily I have only one bag and am able to fish the phone out of my pocket. Best I can tell, it looks like Carol again.

 

“Hello?”

 

“One more thing. Can I bring my daughter?”, she wanted to know.

 

“Of course. Just don’t forget to get food for her too.”, I answer.

 

She laughed before saying, “Thanks. Talk to you later.”

 

Interesting twist. I had envisioned meeting the daughter might take a while, and might be a bit more of a “formal” affair. Oh well, it’s too close to 7:00 to spend much time contemplating such things. I’ll know soon enough.

 

In the mean time, I need to do a little “touching up” around The Crib. My place is usually pretty close to “guest ready”, but I still want to tidy up a little bit.

 

I have some time left after my cleaning up, so I head off to Don Quijote and grab a bag of Chinese black tea to serve with dinner. I know it’s only Chinese fast food, but I should contribute something to the evening, and Chinese tea seems to be a reasonable choice. I don’t do ice cream or desserts, so tea is as good as it gets.

 

I figure out the portions for the tea and take a shower by about 6:15. I hate being late. There’s nothing on TV, so I just check e-mail and messages on my web sites. Of course, it’s a quiet day and I still have almost a half an hour to kill, if Carol is to actually be on time.

 

My phone goes off at 6:43. It’s Carol.

 

“Hello?”

 

“On my way. We’ll be there in about 10 minutes”, she announced.

 

“Great, I’ll find a place for all of us to sit.”, I reply. The phone went dead. Not much on niceties, this one. Habits of a busy woman, I suppose.

 

I buzz them into the building and wait by the front door for them to get off the lift. Momentarily, here comes Carol and a very tall, very beautiful young girl. Both laden with bags of wonderful smelling food.

 

I reached out and took the bags Carol had as she kissed me on the cheek and said, “Hi. Thanks. This is my daughter, Terri. Terri, this is my friend, Rick”.

 

“Hi”, said the young girl in a pleasant and confident tone.

 

“Nice to meet you”, I replied. Terri’s smile broadened in response.

 

“Come on in. Follow me and we’ll take those packages off your hands.”, I told Terri. Carol had come in, slipped off her shoes and put her purse down.

 

We all ended up at my kitchen counter. Carol and Terri unpacked and separated the food. It smelled wonderful.

 

“We got this near our house. It’s always good. I got you black bean chicken and shrimp with vegetables over chow fun. Hope that’s okay.”, she said as she handed me my dinner and smiled.

 

“Sounds great. Smells great. You sure you don’t want me to help you pay for all this?”> I asked to be polite.

 

“No thanks. My party, my treat”, she said.

 

Terri had the cat that swallowed the canary grin going on, making me feel for the first time that dinner might not exactly be free.

 

Terri was lovely. She stood a full 5’11”, with a slim athletic build and jet black Asian girl hair tossed up and clipped to the back of her head. Seemed like a lot of hair clipped together. Carol is Chinese, and Terri also looks Chinese, although I have no idea what her dad’s background is. She was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt with no printing, or logo. She seemed very pleasant and comfortable. A similar self confidence to Carol’s, although much more subtle and understated.

 

Dinner was excellent and we mostly ate with a little small talk thrown in. Everyone was hungry, so eating was the immediate priority.

 

I put on the water for the tea as we gathered up the rubbish. Carol thought the tea was a nice touch. Terri and I took the rubbish around the hallway to the rubbish chute and returned to find Carol had poured cups of tea for all of us. I have a really nice Japanese tea service I had never used until tonight.

 

“Love the tea pot and cups”, Carol said.

 

“Wedding present. Not sure how I came to keep it, but I like it.”, I replied.

 

“Nice tea”, Carol added.

 

“Good. Glad you like it. Terri, are you okay?”, I said.

 

“I’m good”, the young girl replied politely.

 

Carol had said she was 16. She gives the first impression of being fairly mature for 16, although I’m getting the feeling Carol wouldn’t put up with less. Seems like a nice kid, but then most kids are nice when sitting within arms length of their parent.

 

Carol chuckles to herself as she says, “I guess you are all wondering why I’ve called you together here tonight”.

 

Terri blushes slightly as if almost embarrassed at her mom being more than a little corny.

 

I looked at Terri and asked, “you don’t know why we’re all here?”

 

“No clue”, she said smiling and shaking her head.

 

Looking at Carol, I ask, “so you grab Terri by the arm and tell her that you’re picking up Chinese and we’re going to a strange man’s house for dinner?”

 

“Pretty much”, Carol confesses with a blush of her own.

 

Looking at Terri, with my eyebrows raised in astonishment, I ask, “she do this to you often?”

 

“Never.”

 

“Okay, then. I guess I should shut up and let you clue us in.”, I say looking directly at Carol.

 

“Terri is a wonderful young girl and a very loving, considerate daughter. Not because she’s my daughter, but just because that’s the way she is. I’d love to take all the credit for it, but some of it comes from her dad and some of it comes from goodness knows where.

 

“It’s the goodness knows where part that has me a little concerned. As you know, I’m a single mom and because of that I do everything possible to provide the best I can for Terri and myself. I have turned myself into an over achieving workaholic. I work very hard and work lots of hours, and therefore I’m not always sure where Terri learns the things she knows about life.

 

“Don’t get me wrong. We’ve had the requisite mother-daughter talks about the birds and bees and men and the like, but we really haven’t had nearly enough time together for me to have taught her all the qualities she has that make her a very special girl.

 

Terri is squirming on the couch next to Carol, not completely comfortable hearing all this true confession from her mom.

 

I’m loving every minute of it. I love when people wear their heart on their sleeve. Eliminates the guess work. More to the point, Carol seems very sincere.

 

“My concern is, no matter how good Terri is, she may find herself in, well, bad situations if left to her own devices all the time. I don’t think she’d ever go looking for trouble, but it seems that trouble often finds teenagers with too much time on their hands, despite everyone’s good intentions.

 

“I’ve seen lots of articles and TV shows on latch key kids, and don’t want anything bad to happen to Terri just because she spends a lot of time at home, usually alone and unsupervised.

 

Terri’s look turns a bit more serious. She doesn’t seem upset, but she is definitely paying close attention.

 

I have no idea where Carol is going with this train of thought.

 

“I’d like both of you to think about something for me. I know Terri is too old for a babysitter, per se, but Rick, I’d like it if she could call you, or even come over from time to time. I’d like her to have a person to talk to, or to be with that could offer some adult supervision, or adult influence.

 

“I have a sister, but she’s as busy as I am and her kids are all grown and moved out of the house. I think from the time we’ve spent together, and the time we’ve spent talking, and from all the nice things AC said about you, you’d be a good resource for Terri. And for me.

 

Carol settled back into the couch and took another sip of her tea, indicating she had said her peace.

 

Terri and I looked at each other. Deer meets deer in the headlights.

 

“No clue, huh?”

 

Slowly shaking her head from side to side, she replied, “None.”

 

“I’m guessing that for the cost of dinner, you’d like some instant gratification in the form of a pretty quick answer.”, I suggest to Carol.

 

“If you can, sure. If you need to think about it, please do. We are talking about the welfare of my daughter here.”, Carol said very businesslike.

 

“Certainly, if there’s anything I can do to help either of you out, I’m happy to oblige. However, I’d like to hear how Terri feels about all this. I don’t want her to have to be dragged over here kicking and screaming.”, I answer

 

Carol nods, and looks at Terri, then says, “do you need some time to think about this, honey?”

 

Terri starts shaking her head, slowly back and forth, her brow furrowing in the process, then says, “I actually think it’s a good idea. I know you work hard, so we can have stuff and live in a nice place and all that and I really appreciate it, but it would be nice to have someone around more often. I also know you really love what you do almost as much as you love providing for us, so I can’t ask you to let go of any of that.

 

“I’m okay to give it a try. I think Uncle Rick and I need to spend some time getting to know each other before we can say for sure it’s a good thing, but I’m willing to try it out and see.” Terri said.

 

What a kid. I’m wondering if there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Has something happened? I hope not. This could become very interesting. Hell, it’s already very interesting.

 

“If you’re okay to try it, I’m okay to try it. I agree we need to spend a little time together to see how this might work, or not, but I’m okay to give a shot.”, I reply.

 

“How can I compensate you?”, Carol asked.

 

“I don’t care about money, or anything for my time, but if I’m gonna feed Terri, it’d be nice to get a little help with buying food. I have limited means, as I’ve told you before.”, I respond.

 

“No problem, at all. Of course, I’ll take care of any expenses you incur on her behalf, especially food.”, Carol replied with relief in her voice.

 

“Do you have a specific schedule in mind at all?”, I ask Carol.

 

“Not really. After school is probably the most obvious time. Sometimes, I work Saturday’s and even Sunday’s, but we can play the schedule by ear as you two get to know each other and we all figure out how this is working and so on. Is that okay for now?”, Carol wanted to know.

 

As Terri sits nodding in agreement, I answer, “sounds good to start with. I guess Terri and I can work out the schedule as we go.”

 

Looking at Terri, I suggest, “I’ll give you my e-mail address and cell phone number. Use either anytime, okay?”

 

“Thanks.”, came her sincere sounding reply.

 

“I know I’m going to be working late tomorrow night, so would that be a good time for you guys to spend some time getting to know each other?”, Carol asks.

 

“Fine with me”, I answer.

 

“After school okay?”, Terri asks.

 

“Sure, what time would that be?”, I ask.

 

“Between 3:30 and 4:00?”, Terri says.

 

“No worries. Just call when you’re downstairs.”, I reply.

 

“I know I need to talk to you, Carol about ground rules and such, but I’d like to say one thing out loud in front of both of you before we start.

 

“I don’t care about making a regular schedule, but can we agree that if we plan on a time for Terri to be here and something happens, please let me know as soon as you can.”

 

I look at Terri, as I continue, “You are a teen age girl, after all, and more importantly, not my teen age girl, so nothing is more important than your safety.”

 

Terri and Carol both nod as I continue, “And one more thing. I think two rules are probably enough for now. That one and Terri, if Mom says no, the answer is no. Okay?”

 

“Two good rules. I totally agree.”, Carol stated.

 

“Sure.”, Terri added.

 

“As far as other rules go. I don’t have many rules for Terri. Of course, no drugs, no smoking and no roaming around with friends in cars without prior approval from me.

 

“If she’s here with you, she shouldn’t be out at night alone. I’ll leave it up to you if you want to let her girlfriend, Karen come over. Karen is a very sweet girl and she and Terri are very close. I trust them together, but they shouldn’t be out at night without you either. Karen’s mom is also very nice”, Carol added.

 

“Terri, anything you wanna ask, or say?”, I ask the attentive young girl.

 

“Do you have internet I can use? I need it for homework, and stuff,” she wanted to know.

 

“Sure. I have DSL. It ain’t Roadrunner, but it’s okay enough and you’re welcome to share.”, I tell her.

 

“Mom, any rules about online?” I ask Carol.

 

“She knows way more about that stuff than I do. It’s one of those things where I have to trust her.” Carol replied.

 

“Cool. For now, my computer is off limits. I’ll do a couple of things so that we can share if necessary, but not right away, okay?”, I ask Terri.

 

Terri smiled as she said, “Sure. I have a laptop I’ll bring over.”

 

“Anything else?”, I ask Terri.

 

“I don’t think so. At least not for now.” She said, then after a short pause added, “and thanks”.

 

“Happy to help out”, I added.

 

“Of course, I have complete bathroom facilities if you need to shower, or whatever. And, I’ll try to remember to keep the toilet lid closed.”, I said laughing.

 

Terri laughed as Carol said, “Thank you so much.”

 

“So, you’ll pick her up sometime tomorrow night?”, I asked Carol.

 

“Should be around 10:00, or hopefully not later than 11:00 if that’s okay.”, Carol answered.

 

“Well, I’m not gonna kick her out, so as long as I have an idea, it’s no problem.”, I respond.

 

Carol looked at Terri and asked, “you okay, sweetie? Should we get going?”

 

“I’m good”, Terri replied.

 

“Rick, thank you again. And thanks for letting us have dinner here. I hope you liked the food”. Carol said.

 

“Happy to help out. The food was great. You can bring, or send dinner anytime.”, I said with a smile.

 

Terri and I sort of looked at each other. She was smiling pleasantly when I said, “The Uncle thing is optional. Whatever you’re comfortable with is okay with me.”

 

“Cool”, she replied.

 

Carol smiled and gave me another quick peck on the cheek as we all exchanged good-bye’s.

 

I packed them off into the elevator and returned to my apartment wondering what I had just gotten myself into.

 

The premise for the whole thing is certainly legitimate enough, I’m just wondering why I was picked for the job. What about Karen’s mom? Maybe Carol thinks Terri could use some kind of male influence. Time will tell.

 

Oh well, if Terri turns out to be as nice as she seems, all of this should be just fine.