Just Supposed to be a Summer Job

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jennifer yelled. "Six months worth of planning down the drain!"

Then it clicked for Jennifer.

"You bastard! You thought I was pulling a Traci on you, didn't you?"

"I-I-I," Stevie stammered, unable to say more.

"Get out! Get out! How dare you!"

Stevie was crimson, still trying to form words, but he headed up to the bedroom to get a dry pair of pants. He hit the ground running once he got down the stairs, and got back in his car and headed back to work.

Stevie headed straight into Gary's office when he got back to work.

"She's planning a goddamned surprise anniversary party for me!" he shouted to Gary. "I saw a strange car in the driveway, thought I caught her in the act like I did Traci, even pulled my goddamned gun. And it turned out to be the caterer. Thought the woman was going to come unglued.

"Then Jen accused me of not trusting her because of Traci and threw me out!"

"All because of a goddamned anniversary party!"

"Calm down, Hairball," Gary said, calling his friend by his longtime nickname for him. "I'm sure once she realizes what went down, she'll be OK, but I'm not sure that caterer woman will ever work for you again. She probably shit a brick right there on your sofa, man!"

The visual of what Gary said made Stevie break into a smile, and he plopped into a chair in front of Gary's desk. Gary went to the mini bar that was in his closet and poured Stevie a shot of Old Granddad. Stevie took the shot appreciatively and sipped the amber liquid.

"I'll call Mel and see if she is gutsy enough to get in the middle of this for you," Gary said.

Stevie was pretty worthless the rest of the day at work, and at about 4 in the afternoon he told Gary he was going over to the Cozy Tavern to drown his sorrow and get something to eat before heading home to get some clothes and things so he could find a motel to stay in for the night. A little after 5, Gary showed up and ordered a Jack on the rocks.

"Mel says Jen's madder than a wet hen," Gary said using one of his favorite Iowa sayings. "She's pretty sure you were spying on her, trying to catch her with another man. Says there can't be much love there if there is no trust."

"Ah, holy shit, Gar. How could my life go from just about perfect to shit in one day, just because I spilled some coffee on myself?"

Stevie knew he needed heavy-duty help. When he got settled in at a near-by motel, he called Jennifer's mother, Marianne. Marianne had always been very good to Stevie in all the years, and Stevie knew that Jennifer would listen to Marianne no matter how mad she was at him.

Stevie knew that Jennifer would have called her mother almost first thing after she threw Stevie out of the house. He knew that Marianne was probably going to be hostile at first, but she would at least listen to his side of the story.

Marianne answered the telephone on the first ring. Stevie thought she might have been sitting in the kitchen just waiting for it to ring.

"Wow, Stevie, would you have shot her if it had been a man sitting on the sofa with her?" Marianne asked when Stevie timidly said hello.

"It's not like that Mom. I went home to get some clean pants because I spilled coffee on myself ... and when I got there, there was a strange car parked in my driveway. I've never told you this before, but that's exactly how it happened with Traci all those years ago. So what was I supposed to think. My heart was breaking ... I wasn't thinking straight. I pulled my gun, expecting the scene to be the same.

"And you can't blame me for even thinking that. Did she tell you she's been going out on Saturday nights with the girls and getting home who knows when. Put two and two together and you see what I'm thinking, don't you?"

"Oh my God," Marianne blurted out. "I forgot she said she was checking out food for the party on Saturday nights with some of her friends. Ooh, that probably didn't sit well with you in the first place ..."

"No, it didn't ... and she was being very secretive ... so now you see?"

"Son, you get yourself over here right now. I'll call my addle-brained child and she'll meet you here. We'll get this worked out right now, before one of you does something you'll both regret."

Mario met Stevie at the door when he got there. Despite the advancing years, Mario still had a good head of gray hair, and his wit was still sharp.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't shoot her, but my damn fool daughter sure left herself open to be drilled," he told Stevie as he handed him a shot of Old Overholt and led him into the family room.

Jennifer got to her parents house a few minutes later, and looked nervous as Marianne led her into the den.

Stevie raised his hands in a surrender of sorts, and a tearful Jennifer ran halfway across the room before launching herself into Stevie's strong arms.

"I'm so sorry for everything," she cried into his neck. "I never expected you home in a million years this morning and never even gave a consideration as to what the situation looked like to you. And then you put that together with my going out on Saturday nights dressed up and everything ... hell, I probably would have shot me under those circumstances!"

"Well, then I'm glad I'm the one with the gun and not you," Stevie responded back.

Jennifer explained to Stevie about the anniversary party and taste-testing foods with the girls at those Saturday night get-togethers. It had never dawned on her that Stevie might get the wrong impression if he put two and two together.

"That had to look like it was happening to you all over again. I'm so sorry. I should have known better than to try and put one over on you, even if it was for a good cause," Jennifer said.

Jennifer's face then took on a stricken look.

"But you have to play along. Everyone knows it's a surprise anniversary party and has been working real hard not to say anything to you. So you've got to be totally surprised when this goes down, Mister. I better see an Academy-award winning performance, or everyone's going to be crushed."

"Color me unbelievably surprised," Steve said. "But tell me one thing. Do any of the El Quattros know about this?"

"Those blabbermouths? Are you kidding? If we would have told any of them you would have known in five minutes flat. You guys are so loyal to each other and so tight it's sickening."

"I had to ask. Gary didn't seem to know a thing about this, and he surely wouldn't have been able to hold out on me."

"Mel couldn't risk telling him then, but he knows now that you do. She's sworn him to secrecy for everybody else, under penalty of no sex for the next six months. She knows her man and what works."

Stevie did everything but faint when he and Jennifer walked in to the Galaxie Lounge and was greeted with shouts of "Happy anniversary!" Jennifer later admitted to him that she almost fell for the act it was so good.

Jennifer wore a floor-length dress with a high side split revealing a lot of left leg. When she walked out of their bedroom after getting dressed, Stevie looked his wife up and down, and broke into a leering grin.

"The greatest legs to ever stride the earth," he said out loud as she approached.

"I thought you might like this," Jennifer said.

The band Jennifer hired for the evening played a lot of oldies, and Stevie and Jen were on the dance floor a lot. Stevie had learned to dance while dating between his two marriages, noting that there was nothing more pathetic than sitting at the bar drinking while the good-looking women were dancing. So Stevie had taken a few lessons. All Jennifer ever knew was that her handsome husband on the dance floor made her the envy of many a woman at any event that had dancing.

Jennifer told Stevie that she needed a break when the band went into "I Think We're Alone Now," by Tommy James and the Shondells, but Stevie reached out and grabbed his wife by the wrist. As other couples danced all around them, Stevie reached into his pocket and pulled out a small leather bag with a drawstring and handed it to Jennifer. Jennifer slowly opened the bag to find a 2-inch solid gold heart on a brocade gold chain, with Stevie's name etched across the front in script, preceded and followed by what she would later learn were a pair of flawless one-carat diamonds. Jennifer stood mesmerized, so Stevie leaned in, took the pendant and put the chain over her head and around her neck.

"You've always had my heart. I just wanted to give you this as a reminder."

They kissed like they were the only ones on the dance floor.

Gary and Melody danced by at that point, and Melody saw the pendant around Jennifer's neck.

"Nice touch, Hairball," she said to Stevie.

++++++++++

Death of a relative or close friend very often makes one reflective, and Stevie was no exception. Six months before, he had given the eulogy at Charlie Bonafiglio's funeral, now he was going to do the same at Angela Bonafiglio's. As he sat at his desk in the president's office at CAB Construction, Stevie, now 60, thought back on what he considered to be a great life and a rewarding career, and how much a part of that the Bonafiglios were. What made Charlie Figs choose him that night to accompany Angela to buy ice cream? He never had the nerve to ask Charlie. But that singular moment was the starting point for almost everything else that happened in Stevie's life. Stevie chuckled to himself at the absurdity of it all. It would make a great story to tell someday, but he knew he never could. Besides, nobody would ever believe it. It was just supposed to have been a summer job ...