Author's Note:
This chapter picks up where chapter five ended; the story continues here.
I hope you'll enjoy the unwinding saga of Neil, Kat, Amy and the folks they meet along the way. I'd like to ask, please help me to improve on future stories. Leave a note about how you reacted to the story. Also, if you are interested in proof or a beta reader, please reach out to me; I'd like to hear from you. As always, all the players are over 21 in this fictional character study.
Chapter 6 What's next doc?
"Neil? What's with Ru? I thought you told me that he's a heading dog and not a retriever?"
"Amy, or more fully, isn't it Amelia? You're funny; then again, that was kinda funny. Kathleen? In many ways, she has reinvented herself. There aren't that many people that hold two terminal degrees. She's a very complex woman, someone who was lost in a world where she didn't see herself fitting in. I just hope that the time she spent in school gave her a sense of being and direction. Anyway, you had asked what she was like. Now that you've encountered her, what do you think?"
"Well, for sure she dresses well, then again nobody here wears designer anything. If what you got covering your ass don't come from Wally's Palace down the road, it ain't happening. That and her attitude was, at best off-putting. Also, a little bell in the back of my head started ringing really loud. That bell goes off when I run into a woman who is at the least bi, if not a full-on lesbian. You never asked, and until now, I had no reason to say anything. But in the distant past, I played for the other team. That little girl needs to do a lot of growing up. Honestly, babe, she strikes me as very insecure and unsure of herself. The way I see it, the only place she might be working here is over at the art college. If she comes across to the students there, as she did to us, then she'll be dead in the water. Hey, Neil? Let's get home; I need something that only you have."
I had to chuckle at that.
"What! You stinkin' old dog."
"Nothing darling, nothing at all. Miss Amy? Have I told you lately how much I love being with you?"
"Mister, don't even think you can smooth talk your way out of the dog house you and Ru live in."
"Ya know, when I first met Sandy and Charlie, well, both of them intimidated the hell of me. I don't recall what Charlie started to say or do. Anyway, Sandy came down on him like five tons of bricks, and he just lit up with a huge grin."
"Tell you what, the next time they are over, and this would work better yet if Cathy and Carl were there too. I can suggest that the three of us menfolk go out to the shed cause I have an excellent bottle of bourbon that I'd be delighted to share with my good friends. Step back and watch the fireworks. Cathy will tell Carl that he'll be walking home, and when he gets there, he can sleep with the dogs' cause that's what he is. Charlie will try to explain to Sandy why that is a most excellent idea. Then he'll start to walk towards the door and the shed. Sandy will remind him that she has the keys to the car and the house. So he'll be walking home with his buddy, and since it took him so long to walk home, she will have locked the place up and have gone to bed. After that, she'll oh so sweetly call out, nighters, my fair-haired boy, that is if you still had some hair left on your head, hope all the bugs don't eat you up while your sleeping outside again. Yes, Amy, like you, all of our wives run us, and yes, we love it cause we love you each in our own way. That, my dear, is the god's honest truth."
We were lying in bed curled up next to each other like a couple of newlyweds. "Honey, real simple my man, you are the best, and I love you. But if you go out to the shed to sample that bottle of bourbon with your buddies and don't invite me along, you'll be sleeping with Ru after I kick your ass. Does that work for my sweets?"
A few weeks later, all of us were having dinner together when Sally chimed in, "so Amy? Hear you and Neil met his former sweetie. What do you think of her?"
"I'm sure she is a very talented artist and very intelligent too. However, seems to me that she does have a very high opinion of herself."
"Amy, that's an excellent way of saying it. She's in the administration here at the art school and teaching an advanced color theory class. The folks there at UC wanted to keep her there so she wouldn't inflict herself on us ordinary folk. But that's often the problem that very high IQ people have. They cannot relate to the rest of us mere mortals like the bozo twins over there."
Sandy offered her experiences with Kat, or is it now Kathleen, while she was attending UC. From what she said, the two of them became very close to each other. Kat had lost or didn't know either of her parents. She felt almost abandoned even though her aunt and uncle had taken her in and ultimately adopted her. She'd often mentioned her fantasy of a man coming along on a white horse to carry her off. That fantasy is open to all kinds of interpretations, few of which are good. UC did a great job adding to her talent pool; Kat's problem is using all her skills and talents. Honestly, I think at first, she will fumble and stumble about. Which, I believe, is what happened when you met her. Amy? Might you say that Kat came across as being defensive? Kat does that with me often, and I will call her out for doing that, by the way. She is feeling her along new paths that are unfamiliar to her. These paths have new rules and expectations of her. Kat has been in school for basically the past eight years, and being out here in the real world is new to her."
After a few moments, Amy looked over at Sandy. "Thanks, Sandy, for sharing your insights and experiences. I know that you and Neil supported Kat in school; what these past four years or so? And here, of course, I'm guessing, but seeing her flop around frustrates the hell out of you. In Boston, I mentored architecture students. Mentoring is like a mother bird pushing a hatchling out of the nest; almost all take wing and fly. At first, maybe just a short flight, but they learn and soaring in the clouds in time. I remember one very bright grad student I had as a mentee. Incredible drawings and breathtaking concepts, but they had the social skills of a pink elephant trying to dance about. I kept pounding on their head; it is all about the client and meeting their needs. I told them if they don't get that, the only question they will be asking a client is, would you like that super-sized?" That got a round of hard laughs from everyone. "OH! Neil! Don't you even think about it, asking if I want anything super-sized? Dear heart, does that work for you?"
Carl chimed in, "Neil, it is so lovely seeing you with a ring in your nose."
I sat there in silence, shaking my head. Knowing well that being quiet was my best and only option. As I wondered what was next.
A few weeks later, while Amy was at the grocery store, she ran into Kat there. "Hi Amy, have you got a moment? I fear I might have come on a heavy when I ran into you and Neil at the square a couple of weeks ago. Honestly, I don't why, but I was surprised to see you guys there. Through Sandy, I had kept up with what Neil was doing and knew you guys had gotten married and lived here. I guess, first of all, congratulations. Neil is a great guy, but when I knew him, I just couldn't see getting married and going to school at the same. Everything just short-circuited in my head, and I ran. Can I buy you a cup of coffee, and maybe we can chat and hopefully get to know each other a bit?"
"Sure, Kat. By the way, here along the gulf coast, the beverage of choice is ice tea, usually sweet tea."
"Thanks for telling me that, and by the way, you are correct; I'm Kat. I have a hard time flipping from the professional world to the real world. Here's a kick for you, Sandy puts on seminars on one or another topic for fellow artists. In those seminars, she uses her maiden name, Sandy Abbot. When she's going around for the foundation, she uses her married name, Sandra Willamson. What blows me away is that people don't recognize that she is the same person and how smoothly she flows from one to the other persona."
It was delightful talking with her once the claws were in. Kat went on to tell about school and why she wanted to come here to Bird's Nest. I knew the school had a solid local reputation. For many of our projects, we had hired recent grads to work on one or another phase. Also, we had a host apprentices helping out as well. I explained to Kat why we actively went after the new grads. Neil and I hope that the students would get experience and progress to become a general contractor or a skilled artisan working in the field. I used to live and work in Boston. Back home, there is a crying need for people with the skills that the folks that graduate from the school here have. If she knows of any of her students that want to go there, please let me know. I know a lot of people that would die to have them working with them. I told Kat about the Meadows; she didn't know who was doing the project and was surprised to discover that I was the principal architect.
Kat asked if we ever used a color consultant, which I had never considered. What she suggested in how to use color in various applications was way beyond anything I'd seen. I knew that I would be talking with Neil about doing this. Doing this would move the Medows to a higher level at a minimal additional cost.
What amazed me was that we had been sitting here for two hours chatting away like the best of old friends who were catching up with each other after having not seen each other for some time. Something between us clicked on a fundamental personal level. I wanted to hate this woman, but instead, I liked her.
"Hi, babe," Neil called, walking in the house, "how was your day, Miss Sweetcheeks?"
