“How am I doing?” asked Steve.
“You are doing fine. Just don’t worry about it, I am here to help,” said Tim. “If anything comes up, I will help. Just think of her as one of the guys.”
Christy stayed by Steve’s side for the rest of the evening. As Christy seemed to become more interested in him, Steve assumed that it was all because of Tim’s help and his great advice. Christy ended up asking Steve out on a real date at the end of the evening. And as far as Steve was concerned, it was all thanks to Tim’s expert advice.
Steve immediately fell for Christy. It was not so much Christy as it was the idea of having a girlfriend that really got to Steve. Christy played her role in the scheme flawlessly. She became the perfect sweet and caring girl that Steve told Tim he was looking for. Once Steve was interested, Christy ended up owning him after she forced him to second base on the evening of their first date.
Steve thought Christy was the one for him. He incorrectly misread the fine print that described the difference between sexual attraction and true love. He was a novice in a game being played by professionals. Steve was setting himself up for a big fall.
An unanticipated side benefit of Tim’s plan soon started to emerge. Steve gave all of the credit for his newfound happiness with Christy to Tim for helping him get her as a girlfriend. Steve assumed Tim’s suggestions and tips had helped him. After all, he would have never been able to get a girl like Christy on his own. Without Tim, he would still be back where he was. He would be lonely and alone.
Steve started to bring Tim into the inner workings of the business at Peterson Software. Tim was invited to high-level meetings while his peers were left out. Steve felt he owed Tim for all he did. Steve would often ask Tim for his opinion on important business decisions and even issues involving other employees. Tim was always more than willing to give advice and suggestions that best served his own needs.
Steve began to overlook Tim’s obvious shortcoming. He would let Tim get away with his terse demeanor around the office. This led to Tim’s outbursts becoming more frequent and his office conduct becoming even more demeaning. The more leeway Steve gave to Tim, the more he took.
Steve believed Tim was working to help him and the company. Tim played his role well when he was around Steve. He was able to keep his true intentions hidden from view. Steve had no idea that the only thing Tim was really working at was undermining Steve’s authority and control over the company.
Tim could not believe his good fortune. He was amazed at how the simple plan started to pay off in ways he could not even have imagined. But the plan also proved to have a dark and unexpected downside for Tim.
Seeing Steve with Christy something changed in Tim. Even though the entire plan was Tim’s idea from the start, he became very bitter and deeply resented Steve for being on the receiving end of Christy’s affection. Even though Christy’s affection was nothing more than an act it ended up affected Tim greatly.
Tim wanted Christy for himself, now more than ever. In his mind and his heart he truly loved her. She was like him. She was his perfect soul mate. After the IPO deal and the windfall that would be associated with it, he planned on getting Christy back.
Chapter 25 - The Ride
The parking lot was dark when Steve got back to his Honda behind the clinic. He fumbled with his keys in the dim light for a few moments before he finally managed to hit the correct button to unlock the driver’s door. It was a little after seven thirty in the evening when Steve finally slid into the driver’s seat.
The review of the homeless shelter contract ended up taking a lot more time than either he or Jim Hart had planned. Steve felt that in the end it was well worth it. All of his issues had been addressed. He and Jim also penned a draft version of the addendum to outline the addition of a medical clinic to the shelter specifications. Steve smiled. Laura will be pleased, he thought.
Steve leaned forward and pushed the key into the ignition. He grabbed the stick shift and began to press down on the clutch pedal. Before he could depress the pedal even half way down, he gave up. The pain from the puncture wound in his foot shot up his leg from the pressure on his foot.
Steve sat for a few minutes. He readjusted the position of the pedal against his foot and tried to press it again. This time he couldn’t even press it down as far as the first time. He sat back in the seat and let out a sigh. Steve knew he would not be able to drive the car home. His mind ran through a mental list of options.
Steve picked up his cell phone to call a cab. He was about to search for the local Yellow cab number when he heard a tapping on the driver’s side window. Steve looked up and saw it was Laura. She was motioning for him to lower the window.
“Hi Steve, What are you still doing here?” she asked. “Are you feeling all right?”
“Yeah, I am OK. I was able to reschedule the meeting with the planning board at the homeless shelter. The meeting ended up going a lot longer than I had planned.”
“How’s that foot of yours doing? I told you that you should go home and stay off of it for at least twenty-four hours. That was a pretty nasty puncture wound. You need to keep off of the foot and keep it elevated. If you don’t, it is really going to swell up on you.”
“Yeah I know. I should have listened. It really isn’t doing that good. It stings a lot and it’s pretty swollen already. I was just about to call a cab for a ride home. I can’t even press down on the clutch with the foot.”
“Where are you going?” asked Laura.
“I need to stop and get the prescriptions filled and then I am going straight home to put the foot up. Just like you said to do.”
“No. I mean where is home? Where do you live?” asked Laura.
“Oh. I live in South Tampa right on Bayshore Boulevard.”
“Well Steve Peterson, today is your lucky day,” said Laura with a smile. “I live in Hyde Park. You are right on my way home. You can ride with me. I’ll be happy to drop you off.”
Steve started to panic. The recollection of the last encounter came flooding back in waves. He did not want to be in a position where he knew he would surely end up looking like a fool again.
“No, no that’s OK Laura. I’ll just get a cab. I don’t want to be a bother to you,” said Steve.
“Steve, don’t be silly. Come on, it’s not a bother. It really is not a problem at all. Bayshore is right on my way home.”
“But my car, what about my car?” Asked Steve as he grasped at anything he thought might help him to get out of the potentially ugly situation.
“Steve you have to leave the car here if I drive you home or if you take a cab. What’s the difference?”
Laura lifted the door handle and opened the door. “Come on Steve, roll up the window and let’s go. I won’t take no for an answer,” said Laura persuasively.
Steve was out of excuses. “OK, you can drive me home,” he said. His tone was uncertain. He rolled up the window and managed a weak “Thank you…”
Steve sat in the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt. He was worried; worried he would say the wrong thing. He was certain he would end up acting like a jerk. He sat motionless in the seat. He remained quiet. He stared straight ahead. His stomach began to churn as he reviewed the trip home in his mind.
It didn’t look good. Steve knew he needed a plan. There was no way that he wasn’t going to say something really foolish, Laura was much too pretty and the trip over to Tampa was too long. He knew how his mind worked and knew the trip was going to be a disaster.
Steve quickly decided the best thing that he could do was to just keep quiet. If he didn’t speak, he wouldn’t say anything wrong. It might be a little uncomfortable but at least he wouldn’t end up looking like an idiot.
Laura pulled out of the parking lot and glanced over at Steve. “I was wrong,” she started.
Steve turned to Laura and gave her a puzzled look. He followed his plan, he didn’t speak. Laura smiled back.
“I said that our cars we
re exactly alike, but they’re not. I have an automatic. You have a stick,” she said lightheartedly. “If you had my car with the automatic, you would be driving yourself home right now.”
Laura’s warm smile and light conversation helped to calm Steve. He glanced over and nodded with a forced smile. In keeping with the plan, he said nothing. Laura stared straight ahead at the road and continued with her light conversation.
“So why a Honda Steve?” asked Laura. “You could drive any car you want. Why in the world did you choose a Honda Civic? Why not a Corvette or maybe even a Ferrari?”
Steve’s plan started to fall apart. Laura asked a question. I have to answer the question or I would really look like a jerk, Steve thought. He mulled over the question for a few seconds and tried to give a normal response.
“Fuel mileage,” he said weakly. “Basically it was all about fuel mileage. The Honda had the best. It’s a very green car. It is good for the environment. No matter how much money I have, the world only has so much oil. I didn’t want to use more than my share.”
Laura nodded. “Price was a big factor for me, but right behind that was fuel economy. The automatic doesn’t get quite as good mileage as the stick but I never learned how to drive a car with a stick shift. I really wanted one of the Honda hybrid vehicles but the waiting list was too long.”
Steve felt a little courage from his coherent answer. This seemed to be a topic he could speak to without getting tongue tied. He was able to respond without acting like a fool. He decided he could continue with the conversation.
“I had a hybrid on order,” said Steve. “But the wait was too long for me too. I cancelled the order and got the Civic instead. It is a really great car for the money.”
For the first few minutes the conversation remained rather light. They discussed their cars, the weather and the awful drought. They discussed the common topics that were meant for nothing but killing time.
The more they spoke, the more relaxed Steve became. By the time Laura reached the causeway to cross over Tampa Bay, it was almost like Laura and Steve were old friends. The conversation started to touch on more personal topics.
Laura felt very relaxed around Steve. She felt a genuineness in him that she found lacking in her other acquaintances. She was able to see his underlying qualities and started to understand the nervousness she had encountered in her office. She was enjoying the conversation and she was enjoying his company.
Laura spent most of her time between her own practice and running the clinic. She had little time left for anything else. Her life was her work. She had few friendships outside of her circle of professional associates.
Laura wouldn’t admit it to anyone, even herself, but she was lonely. She hadn’t had a single date since she broke up with Jim Hart almost two years ago.
Laura thought Jim was the one. She was ready to marry him. When she learned of his affair, she was devastated. Her heart was broken in two. She immersed herself in her work. Her personal life ceased to exist.
The conversation heightened halfway across the causeway. Laura and Steve found they had a lot in common. As they talked Laura mentioned a yearly fund raising event she helped to organize the year before. She remembered that Steve donated heavily to the event. She thought she remembered seeing him there but did not know who he was at the time.
Laura’s comments sparked an increase in Steve’s heart rate. He did not let on but he now remembered why Laura looked familiar. The conversation about the event jarred his memory about the charity event and Laura.
The event was several months before he met Christy. He remembered meeting Laura. He liked her and thought she was pretty. When they spoke he remembered he said something ridiculous to her because he got nervous.
Steve quickly tried to change the subject. He feared that Laura might remember the whole ugly conversation.
“So how did you get involved in all of your charity work?” Steve asked. He expected a very simple answer.
“Well, it goes back to my childhood,” said Laura.
“Your childhood?” asked Steve.
As Laura drove, she began to tell Steve her story. It was a story she seldom told anyone. But she felt comfortable with Steve. She knew he would understand and he wouldn’t judge her because of her past.
The story began to flow easily for her. She told of how her father left her mom a few months before she was born. How her mother got involved with drugs and abandoned her when she was just two years old. She spoke of how she spent the next several years in and out of foster homes. At seven years old she was placed in an orphanage. She was adopted by a family when she was nine years old.
Laura explained that she grew up knowing what it was like to be the one in need. That sometimes you do not have any control over the life you are handed. Each night in the orphanage she would pray to be adopted.
“To be part of a real family was my only wish,” she said softly. She had vowed to herself that if she were adopted, she would help the unfortunate. “As I grew up, charity work just came naturally. It just felt right to me.”
Steve never expected the answer he got. He turned to Laura and gently touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry. It must have been very hard,” he said gently.
Laura saw the look in Steve’s eyes. He was sincere and he understood. There was no judgment only caring. Laura felt cleansed from the conversation.
“Thanks Steve. You know, my childhood is a very large part of who I am. It’s sad that I never get to talk about it with anyone. Thanks for listening.”
Laura slowed the car somewhat as the causeway reached the Florida mainland. She turned and merged onto route 60 going east to Tampa. Steve sat quietly, mulling over the story he had just heard.
Laura felt like she needed to lighten the mood a little. “So how about you Steve? What was your childhood like?”
Steve’s earlier question intended to change the subject now turned on him. He struggled with an answer. He never discussed his childhood with anyone. Even Christy did not know the whole story. But then again, she never asked.
Steve struggled for a few moments with a response.
“It’s kind of a long story,” he started, hopeful that he wouldn’t be asked to share any more of the details.
“Well we still have about fifteen minutes before we’ll get to the pharmacy,” said Laura. She flashed a subtle smile toward Steve. “How about you give me the short version?”
Steve lowered his head slightly. He did not know how to start. How to begin? Where to begin? He took a deep breath and started to quietly tell Laura the story of his childhood.
“Both of my parents died in a car crash when I was eight years old.”
Steve paused momentarily. The words had come out easier than he imagined. That wasn’t too bad, he thought. He continued on with the story.
Steve told Laura about everything. He talked about his early years in Virginia, his move to Clearwater Florida after his parent’s deaths. He spoke of the time spent with his Uncle Jack. Steve told Laura about his problems as a child and how they still linger today.
“That is why I acted the way I did in your office,” he said with a goofy smile that tried to mask his feelings of shame. “I sometimes have trouble getting out my real feelings.”
Steve started to sound a little more upbeat as he told Laura about meeting Luke, Karen and Joe Jackson. He spoke of his many years with them. How they helped him and how they changed his life.
“I owe everything to Joe and Karen Jackson. Without them, who knows where I would be today,” he said.
Steve was finishing his story as Laura pulled the Honda into the downtown Tampa strip mall and the local Pharmacy. She parked the car and turned to Steve who was wiping away a tear from his eye. Steve hoped Laura did not notice. She did, but pretended she did not.
Laura didn’t know what to say. She wanted to hold him and squeeze him. She wanted to tell him that he turned out great. She wanted to give him a kiss, but she did not want it to be t
aken the wrong way.
“Steve, if you give me the prescription slips, I will run into the pharmacy for you so you do not have to walk on your foot.”
Steve was feeling a bit awkward about everything he had just shared with Laura. He handed over the prescriptions and did not offer an argument. “Thanks,” he said.
Laura soon returned with the prescriptions. She got into the car and looked over to Steve.
“I’m really sorry about your parents Steve. I am sorry that I asked you to get into all of that,” said Laura softly.
“No, Laura it was good for me. I never talk about my past either and I really need to. It’s good therapy. Thanks for listening,” said Steve.
The ride over to Bayshore Boulevard was short and quiet. Laura and Steve were both thinking about the stories they shared. When Laura pulled in front of Steve’s building, it was an awkward moment for each of them. Laura wanted to tell Steve everything was OK and that she really liked him, but she did not. She didn’t know how her words would be received by Steve.
“Remember Steve, elevate that foot,” was all she said.
Steve wanted to say he really enjoyed their time together and that he thought they could be great friends, but he did not. He was afraid of saying the wrong thing.
“I am going to lie down and put the foot up on a pillow,” was all he could muster.
Steve pulled on the door handle and turned to Laura. “Thanks again for the ride,” he said quietly. “I really do appreciate it.”
Steve pushed the door open and started to get out of the car when he suddenly realized he forgot to tell Laura about the addition of the clinic space to the shelter. Steve plopped backwards into the seat.
“Laura I almost forgot to tell you,” Steve started. His voice was full of excitement. “I got the shelter contract re-written to include the space for your medical clinic. It looks like it will be a pretty sure thing. The board will address it at their standard weekly meeting tomorrow night and I will know the outcome on Wednesday morning. I will give you a call as soon as I know for sure.”