"That's not a problem, Mr. Andrews," Nia assured me. "I don't actually have a boyfriend just now."
Nia Bexley was the oldest applicant I had yet interviewed, a 21-year-old writing major (minoring in history) finishing her junior year. She was a tall, curvy woman, maybe 5'8", with long black hair, a roundish oval face, and warm sepia-toned skin. There was something about her expression that hinted at a taste for mischiefâwhich meant I should have been prepared when she added, "Don't worry, I promise I'll only watch porn when the girls are out, never when they're home."
I was still working my way through my coffee at that point (I'd offered Nia a cup, but she had declined), so I came very close to giving her the classic spit-take. I only avoided it at the cost of snorting coffee into my sinuses, which in retrospect probably wasn't an improvement. I managed to croak some sort of response, but who knows what I said.
"Mr. Andrews!" Nia said, pretending to be shocked. (Her smirk gave her away.) "Do you have a problem with girls watching porn? I hadn't thought you old-fashioned!"
"No . . ." I said, still grappling with the coffee I'd snorted. "I just . . . well, I wasn't
expecting
it," I finished lamely.
"If girls didn't like porn, girls wouldn't
do
porn," she said matter-of-factly. "And when I don't have a boyfriend, I need
something
to get me offâand I need to get off a lot.
"Do you watch porn, Mr. Andrews?" Nia asked ingenuously. "Or read erotica? Do you need it to help you get through the week? I bet a stud like you has a pretty high sex drive too."
"Umm, well, yes, I do," I admitted, wondering how the fuck this conversation had gone this way.
"What kind of porn do you like best? I bet I have an idea," Nia continued suggestively. "I know what
my
top fantasy is; I'll tell you if you tell me yours first."
I was saved by the bellâor, rather, by the ringtone: I heard Yakko, Wakko, and Dot sing out, "School, school, school!" That's my ringtone for Hope's elementary. I apologized to Nia, pulled my phone off my belt, and tapped the green phone symbol. "Hello, this is Rob Andrews."
"Mr. Andrews, this is Mrs. Garcia calling from the nurse's office at Hamilton. Your daughter Hope is down here with an upset stomach and a fever; she's already thrown up once. You need to come get her."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," I assured her. I turned to Nia and said, "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to postpone the rest of your interview."
"I understand, Mr. Andrews," Nia replied. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Well, are you available tomorrow night?" I asked. "I had a friend ask me this morning if he could meet me for drinks; I was going to put him off, but if you're free, I could give you the tour beforehand and finish the interview after I got back."
"Let me check my calendar," she answered. After a few moments, she looked up and said, "That will work, actually. When do you want me here?"
*****
Fortunately for me, Hope's bug went like they usually doâby bedtime, she was feeling more like herself, and by morning she was ravenous. School policy required me to keep her home anyway, so I kept Joy home as well and we had a daddy-daughter day. We played Legos and Thomas for much of it and spent most of the rest at the park.
Nia showed up several minutes early that evening with a smile on her face. I had set the girls up in Hope's room to keep them occupied during the tour, knowing when they saw her they would attach themselves to her like limpets and take over the conversation. Nia was delighted by the tour, and especially by the guest suite. I was a little nervous when I started showing her around, given her comments the day before, but she showed no sign of remembering them; we talked a little about writing, but mostly about the girls.
When we walked into Hope's room, Nia clapped her hands excitedly. Hope looked up and her eyes widened. "You're really pretty," she said.
"Thank you, sweetheart," Nia responded in a soft, happy voice. I introduced her to the girls, and they promptly attached themselves to her and started asking one question after another. I pulled each one off her in turn long enough to give her a hug and kiss, and made my farewells.
*****
I sighed inwardly as I walked into Louie's. Dave Reagor and I have been friends since fifth grade when my family moved here, and I couldn't bring myself to quit himâwe'd been through too much together. In fifth grade, I was a shy, nerdy runt, and completely lacking in social skills; Dave and I bonded over shared interests in books and music and a shared position in the social hierarchy (or perhaps I should say
under
it). For a few years, he was the only real friend I had.
But then a couple things happened. One, I discovered temperament theory, Myers-Briggs and cognitive functions, and then the Enneagram, and suddenly I could start making sense of other people. I started teaching myself to read them, reverse-engineering social skills for myself. I gradually stopped putting my foot in my mouth and aggravating my classmates, and they started to see (and enjoy) my sense of humor. I'd never talked a lotâit was just that I usually managed to say the wrong thing when I didâso it wasn't that hard for me to keep my mouth shut until I figured out something
helpful
to say.
Two, over the course of a (painful) summer, I added six inches of height, about that in breadth, and half my weight again of muscle. (Do I exaggerate? Maybe . . . I don't know if I remember the actual numbers, I just remember that's what it
felt
like.) My dad had always said that would happenâhe was a minor-league shortstop who reached AAA, and my mom was a champion swimmer at the D-III level; I'd given up on the idea, but he was proved right. I showed up for my freshman year with a very different body, and if
I
was still trying to figure out what to do with it, the coaches had all sorts of ideas. I ended up playing basketball and baseball, as those were the games I had some idea how to play. I may not have been the athlete my parents were, and I certainly wasn't the