Febe swallows her pride
Waiting is the hardest part. I was confident that I had done everything I possibly could to get this job as housemother. Still, I was uncertain about how I might handle myself with Larry. He was good-looking and goodness knows he was charming, which made him dangerous enough for me. I'm pretty vulnerable to the kind of charm Larry had poured on at the dance. From bits and pieces Trent, Monty and Steve had all revealed concerning his accomplishments, there were even more dangers in store for me. It seems he had managed to 'entertain' not one but two cheerleaders for an entire weekend last Fall. One of them had turned up half-naked and half-drunk on the quadrangle on Monday morning. The other one was found a short time later completely naked, stark-raving drunk and sleeping soundly on the front porch of another fraternity down the street. When they awakened her, she claimed to be on a secret mission for the Dean of Student Affairs. When questioned, she proudly told everyone her code name for the mission was Triple-X. Each of my young sources also reported similar versions of stories involving his entanglements with more than one attractive middle-aged professor on campus in the past couple of years. I sat in the middle of the room in my chair waiting for him. I only hoped I could keep my panties on long enough to get the job.
"Hi, Febe!" Larry beamed. He fairly rushed into the room, closed the door behind him and was standing in front of me before I knew it. His smile completely disarmed me.
"Why did they ever have you sitting in the middle of the room? A beautiful woman should
never
be treated like this! Here. Come. Sit over here," he commanded, then offered me both hands to help me to my feet.
Before I knew it he and I were seated side by side on the couch. He turned slightly toward me and our knees touched.
"Better?" he asked when we were comfortable.
I nodded and realized for the first time Larry was still holding my left hand and his other hand was resting gently, warmly upon my shoulder. I should have been worried. I smiled happily instead. He was already making me feel like the most important person in the room. Alarms should have been going off in my head but they weren't. He smiled at me, rolled his big hand fondly, softly over my shoulder to my neck and back. Everything was going to be alright. I had no worries, I told myself. I had already decided the mantra I had used after my shopping trip last week would be useless with Larry.
"It seems you've satisfied everyone's expectations, Febe. Even Mrs. Hall didn't find anything to complain about. That is quite an accomplishment, Febe. And then," Larry said with surprise showing in his voice, "Stan and Evan couldn't stop praising everything about you!"
"What did Peter have to say?" I asked.
"Well," he said with a puzzled expression, "He was very quiet. Didn't say much - but the other two did everything short of offering me a bribe to hire you. You know, that's the first time I've ever seen Peter
not
wearing flip-flops."
I smiled and thought to myself, it won't be the last, if I do my job. To Larry I said, "I must have done something right!"
Larry turned serious and said, "You know all of the basic particulars of this job. You'll be responsible for keeping order in the house, cooking dinner six nights a week, grocery shopping for them, some basic cleaning in the common areas like the living room, this study room where we are now and of course, the kitchen and dining room. It wouldn't hurt if you could encourage sound study habits as well. Rho Rho Beta House has a reputation for one of the highest GPAs among the fraternities and sororities on campus and some of the guys staying on this summer are staying on to bring up their grades." He thought for a minute and added, "You're
not
getting the hardest working Row Boats to work with!"
I imagined Peter was one of them but kept that thought to myself. Study habits were something I could work on too and I hadn't thought of that. I was sure I could encourage healthy young male college students to study. I kind of stored that thought away for later. I would come up with a strategy there when I had time. Maybe, I thought, they just needed to be encouraged and then rewarded properly for their hard work.
"Steve tells me you're a great cook, so we don't have to worry about that," Larry announced and then paused.
My thoughts had been so taken up with new ideas for encouraging good study habits that I missed a couple of subtle changes in the interview. Larry's right hand was still at my shoulder. He was gently kneading my shoulder and it felt lovely, reassuring and so relaxing. It was the same sort of feeling Steve had given me the night before after dinner, except that Larry wasn't nibbling on my ear or running a hand over my bare hip. Larry's left hand was no longer holding mine. It was resting directly and quite gently on my thigh above the knee. My own hand was now resting above his on my skirt. He was smooth, I had to admire that in him.
There was a pause in our conversation then. Larry appeared to be considering something - I didn't know what - but for the first time I felt reassured that I might get this job.
"Febe, at the risk of violating
all
of the sexual harassment guidelines, not to mention several of the age discrimination taboos for hiring, I'd like to ask you a couple of sensitive questions. I'm not asking them in my own personal interests, even though I am
very
interested. Heck, hiring the summer housemother is probably going to be my last official act as Chapter President. I graduate in a few days and I've already been hired by an engineering firm in Phoenix. I'm going to be eighteen hundred miles from here in less than two weeks," he said in a sort of wandering way to introduce what he really wanted to say.
I already had a suspicion about his questions.
"Well, congratulations on your new job, Steve! Sounds like your future is off to a great start," I told him.
He smiled and nodded and then he took a deep breath and began to ask his question, "Febe, as an employer I am not supposed to ask your age but-"
"I'm sixty-one," I interrupted him.
Something strange came over Larry then. He got a sort of wild-eyed expression. I couldn't tell if he was excited or angry but I wasn't finished.
"And I'm a grandmother," I added and let that sink in. "And yes, I came to the dance last weekend as Trent's date."
Larry's jaw dropped. He didn't try to close it.
"And yes - from all the things Trent and Larry and Monty have told me, I am a GILF," I told him.
His mouth was still open and I was afraid he was going to attract flies so I asked him with the straightest face I could muster, "Do you think I'm a GILF, Larry?"
"Um . . . Um . . . UM!" he finally said. It wasn't a very intelligent reply but at least he had his voice back.
It was nice to see the reaction I had on him. I was sure he was normally a very cool customer who rarely got flustered. He had a reputation as a charmer and a real lady's man (if anybody still uses that phrase) and it did my confidence a world of good to see him stammering like a school boy just because I was attractive and didn't mind knowing young men found me desirable for a lot more than my apple pies. Larry was certainly excited by my own awareness and appreciation for the special attraction I held for men his age.
It was encouraging to see I'd managed to shake him up. Knowing I was attractive, a granny and completely aware of my impact on young men seemed to excite him.
I could tell he was excited first by how dumbfounded I had made him and second by the way his hand had absentmindedly advanced up my thigh. His forefinger and thumb were now resting on the bare flesh above my stocking, a mere inch or two from my lovely gray thong and my freshly landscaped landing strip.
