Not His Type (29 page)

Just as she got settled in with a cup of decaf and a
fashion magazine, the phone rang.
She looked at the caller ID. It was Andrew.
“Hello, Andrew.”
“Hi, mom.”
“This is a pleasant surprise. What’s going on?”
“Not much, Mom. I wanted to see how you were
doing.”
“I’m good. I did tell you I was going to Florida this
weekend, right?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m going to Tampa for the Yankees’ weekend series
with the Devil Rays.”
“That’s cool, Mom.”
“I thought so, too. Be sure to tell your brother.”
“Okay.”
“What about you? Do you have any plans or a date this
weekend?” Cathy knew she’d stepped into foreign territory.
She normally preferred a don’t ask, don’t tell policy when it
came to her sons’ dating life, but today she made an exception.
“No.”
“You don’t like anyone up there in particular?”
“Well, there is one girl but she’s in the Jane Austen
Club.”
“Now there’s a girl after my own heart. Is she in one of
your classes?”
“She’s in my English class. We’re reading novels by
English authors this semester.”
Cathy’s inner nerd was very intrigued. “That sounds
interesting. What authors are you reading?”
“Bronte and Austen are two I can think of now.”
“
Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and
Sensibility
, I love those books. I even re-read them every
now and then. They are classics.”
“You’re a literary agent. You’re supposed to read books.
It just seems like we’re reading the book versions of chick
flicks.”
Cathy tried to sway her son. “Well, the male characters
are timeless and appealing to women of all ages.”
“So what is it about those guys? They don’t seem like
nice men.” He was perplexed.
Cathy couldn’t help chuckling. “It’s called brooding.
Women find it intriguing.”
“I don’t get it. A guy snarls around all day making backhanded comments and girls go all gooey.”
“In their defense the English countryside is beautiful
but it does have its share of gloomy, overcast days, particularly in late fall and winter. They could be suffering from
seasonal affective disorder. You know, not enough light.”
“We’ve been to England, Mom. I think their disposition has more to do with the lack of dentists. I bet you they
had some mean toothaches back then. They probably
wandered around the moors until they got tired enough to
sleep,” Andrew said matter of factly.
Cathy laughed in spite of herself. “You have a point,
Andrew, but give Austen and Bronte a chance. You may get
to like them.”
“I’ll try, Mom.”
“You’ll have to do better than that; you have a GPA to
consider. Who knows? Maybe you can ask that young lady
to study with you one day.”
“I didn’t think of that. Boy, Mom, going out again has
really changed you.”
“Really? How?”
“I would never expect you to give me advice about
meeting a girl. Any other time you don’t want to hear about
it.”
“I realize you and your brother are growing up. I can’t
stop you from being interested in girls or dating and I don’t
want to. However the minimum age for grandparenthood
age is over 52. Remember that.”
He laughed. “I won’t forget.”
“Make sure you don’t. I didn’t have choices growing up,
but I made damn sure you did.”
“I know, Mom. Well, I’m getting a little hungry so I’m
going to head over to the dining hall.”
“All right, go ahead, I’ll talk to you later. Don’t forget
I’ll have my cell phone with me in Florida so I won’t be out
of reach.”
“I got it, Mom. Have a good time and don’t worry.”
“Okay. Love you, beautiful child of mine.”
He groaned. “Mom.”
“I know. You’re not a baby, but you two will always be
my beautiful boys.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
Cathy looked at her sons’ graduation photos on the
dresser. As they grew up she’d allowed them the freedom to
take part in many of the activities she hadn’t been allowed
to do when she was a teenager. They’d participated in
school sports programs, belonged to clubs and gone on
marching band trips all around New York state. They even
went to the prom with dates. Why? Cathy didn’t want
Andrew and Alexander get such a late start in life doing
normal things
. In addition to talking about sex, she’d
demonstrated how to use a condom. Cathy knew she could
have asked her father or Madison to do that, but there was
a method to her madness. Although she would prefer abstinence, she had to be realistic. There was a lot more at risk
than unwanted pregnancies What’s more, she figured the
mental picture of their mother demonstrating the proper
use of a condom would singe their minds just enough to
buy her a little more abstinence time.

The next morning Cathy tried to calm her nerves while
waiting in the exam room for Dr. Adams. The last thing
she needed was a high blood pressure reading to complicate her life and ruin her plans for the weekend. The
Yankees had won 19-2 the previous night and she couldn’t
wait to get to Tampa. Her heart raced when Barbara came
in to take her blood pressure.

“How are you, Cathy?”
“Good.”
“Let’s see what we have.”
Stethoscope on, she put the cuff around her arm and

began pumping. Cathy prayed for a decent reading.
She took the cuff off. “Have you been on vacation?”
“No, but I’m going away tomorrow. Why?”
“Your numbers look great. It’s 110 over 70.”
“Good.”
“It really is.” She noted it in her file and Dr. Adams

walked in a few minutes later.
“Good morning, Cathy.”
“Morning, Doc.”
He sat on the stool. “So how are you feeling?”
“Overall, not too bad.”
“How’s your back?”
“I haven’t been all that bothered in the last couple of

“Good.” He made a few notations on her chart. “Okay,
then. I’d say you were good to go for your trip.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “So I don’t have to get
undressed or get poked and prodded?”
“Not unless you were looking forward to that.” His dry
humor surfaced.
“Doctor Adams has jokes this morning,” Cathy
laughed.
He stood up. “I’m here all week. Don’t forget to tip
your waitress on the way out.”
“You are too funny.”
“Seriously, Cathy, just keep the meds up as needed,
take frequent breaks and be sure to pace yourself in the
warmer weather.”
“I will.” She slid off the table.
“Good. Be sure to make an appointment for two weeks
from now.”
“Will do.”
“Have a good weekend, Cathy.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
Anna was reading
Ladies Home Journal
in the waiting
room when Cathy walked out.
She stood up. “Are you all cleared and ready for
takeoff?”
“I got the thumbs up. All I have to do is make another
appointment for two weeks from now and we’re out of
here.”
“Good, we can still make it to Magdalena’s for a wash,
set, blow and curl.”
Cathy looked in the mirror at her hair. “Lord knows I
need it.”
Hair was a sacred thing for Cathy and Anna. Their dad
had always said the hearings for Supreme Court nominees
didn’t hold a candle to choosing a hairdresser in the
Chambers family. Over the years, Cathy, Anna and their
mother had tried different salons with varying degrees of
success. Cost was never an object but time was.
Magdalena’s in Hempstead was their spot. Even
though they had to travel and most of the beauticians
spoke limited English, they did speak the international
language of hair. With walk-ins accepted and enough operators to handle them, the only real problem was to sign in
early. Otherwise, it was practically a roller derby without
roller skates. When they arrived at the shop at 8:45
A
.
M
.
they immediately got out to wait in front of the shop for
the doors to open.
Anna looked around. “I guess we’re first.”
Cathy peered in the window. “There’s no one at the
back entrance. Hopefully it will stay that way. What time
do you have?”
Anna looked at her watch. “It’s 8:52 give or take a
couple of minutes.”
A van pulled up next to their car and a group of
teenage girls got out.
“I guess we got here just in time,” Cathy whispered.
“We did. Antonio just walked in.”
Magdalena’s assistant, Antonio, unlocked the doors
and held the crowd of women back for a minute. Once he
had the sign-in book out, he quickly got out of the way of
the stampeding women. Cathy and Anna signed in. As
soon as they hung their jackets, they were called to the
sink. An hour or so later they were ensconced under the
dryer with the
CPA Journal
and
Publishers Weekly
to keep
them occupied.
When a discussion turned louder at the front of the
salon, Cathy looked up to see a teen girl sitting in the chair
arguing about her style.
“I want it like this,” the girl explained emphatically
and pointed to a picture.
“She wants the spiral curls up here like this.” Another
girl pointed to her hair.
Cathy shook her head.
Thank God I have sons. I can’t
imagine having two girls with hair issues.
Anna tapped Cathy on the hand. “See that?” She
pointed towards the front.
“Yes, I see it.”
“That’s enough to change my mind about having a
daughter.”
Cathy chuckled. “I bet it is.”
By the time ten-thirty rolled around Cathy and Anna
were done. Anna had her hair wrapped and covered by a
hat, while Cathy wore hers loose. They made a quick pit
stop at Dunkin Donuts before heading home. Quietly
sipping coffee, Cathy looked out the car window.
“I saw Paul when I went to the mall yesterday.”
Anna was floored. “You saw Paul yesterday and you
didn’t mention it until now?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t a big deal. I was looking in Torrid’s
display window and we started talking.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. He even helped me pick an outfit for the
weekend.”
“Were you on medication yesterday?” Anna was being
a little sarcastic.
“No. I had to drive to the mall myself so naturally I
didn’t take anything.”
“So you were nice to Paul without any medicinal
enhancements.”
“I was. We even had a nice little chat over Cokes in the
food court.”
Anna was incredulous. “This is just too strange. So
you’ve adopted this kinder, gentler attitude about Paul.”
“I can’t stay mad forever. I need to get rid of all the
baggage in my life. Lisa did tell me that Marcus had nice
girlfriends in the past and apparently there’s no bad blood
or anything, so I thought it was time I put Paul to rest.”
“Wow, big sister, that’s a really mature way to look at
things.”
“I know. I have to spread a little good karma out
there.”
“Oh, I see. Spread good karma and get good karma. I
get it.”
“At least that’s the way I hope it works.” Cathy looked
out the window.

Cathy practically emptied out the contents of her
closet to pack for one three-day weekend. At her wit’s end,
she tried to keep to a dressy casual theme. However, she
finally gave up and chose another theme: whatever works.

When she finally finished packing, she put all the leftovers away. Underneath it all, she found her cell phone.
“Oh my God, I wondered what happened to that,” she
said out loud. Cathy picked up her phone to see she had a
text message from Marcus.
Hey, baby. Call 555-3764 room 426 tonight for Intro to
Phone Sex. There will be a quiz.
She laughed out loud. “He is too cute,” she whispered.
“Cathy!” Anna shouted from downstairs.
Cathy walked to the top of the stairs. “Yeah?”
“Roger is coming over to stay the night. It will be easier
for us in the morning.”
“Makes sense.”
“Have you called the car service for tomorrow
morning?”
“Actually I emailed E.D. to contact them. It’s the same
people we use when we have to head out of town.”
“Good. I’m heading to the drugstore. Do you need
anything?”
“I’ve got all my meds. I packed lotion, shaving gel,
bobby pins, rubbing alcohol. I’m not sure what else I
might need.”
“Condoms?”
“What?”
“You heard me. You do use them, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“What size?”
Cathy went cross-eyed. “Just get large or magnum or
whatever the heck they call large.”
“Lucky you.”
“Are you picking up condoms?”
“No, Roger knows to have them.”
“So does Marcus.”
“You haven’t seen each other in a couple of days; I’m
picking them up so you have extras.”
“Marcus isn’t just playing baseball. He has batting
practice, team meetings, pre and post game press interviews. How much bumping and grinding do you think
we’ll have time for?”
“You’re right. I’ll get you two boxes.”
“What?”
She left.
“Two boxes? Good grief. That’s a lot of pressure.”

A little while later Cathy decided to give Marcus a call.
She knew she was a little ahead of schedule but she wanted
to let him know she was looking forward to her lesson.

“Good afternoon,” a man answered.
“Hi. May I have room 426?”
“Certainly.”
It rang twice.
“Hello?” a woman answered.
Cathy was a little startled. “Yes, hello. Is Mr. Fox in?”
“May I tell him who is calling?”
“Yes. It’s Catherine Chambers.”

There was a pause. “I’m sorry, Ms. Chambers, he’s busy
at the moment. Can he call you back?”
“Yes, please.”
“Does he have the number?”
“Yes, he does, thank you.”
“All right then. Bye.”
Cathy hung up the phone slowly. “Who in the world
was that?”
Her mind went in a million directions. She’d dialed the
right number and asked for the right room. Who was that
woman? There was no way she was three for three in the
cheated-on department. She was older, wiser, and her radar
was much better. Cathy gave it some thought while she
paced the floor
. For one thing, I don’t know that Marcus was
there to begin with. Why should I believe a woman I don’t
know? Didn’t Marcus say they would be at the stadium in the
afternoon before they checked in?
She picked the phone up again.
Something is rotten in
Denmark
. “Good afternoon.” A woman answered this
time.
“Yes. Good afternoon. Can you tell me if the guest in
room 426 has checked in yet?”
“Certainly. Just a moment I’ll check the computer.”
“Thank you. Take your time.”
“No, ma’am. We show no record of check in.
According to the computer, he’s set up for a late check in
after eight
A
.
M
.”
“Thanks so much. You’ve been very helpful.”
“You’re welcome. Have a good day.”
“You do the same.”