No Visible Means of Support

"Hey, Geena, I promised I'd call back."

"Oh, Hi, Nolan. What's up?"

"I've been thinkin' about the dinner invite and I'm going to decline."

"Oh, why?"

"It just doesn't seem right for the girl to be paying and I certainly can't, so the answer is 'no'."

"I'm sorry to hear that. You know, it's perfectly OK for the girl to pay. I don't mind it at all."

"Well, I do. Sorry."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I don't figure myself being a kept boytoy or anything."

"A boytoy?" she almost shrieked. "Jeez, Nolan, I'm just a few years older than you and I think you're very mature, way more than most of the guys in my classes. I don't look at you like that at all."

"Well, OK, but I still can't see myself lettin' you pay for such a fancy dinner. Sorry. Talk to you later."

"OK, uh,..." she said before she realized he had hung up on her. The call upset her not so much because of the age issue but because he refused to let her pay for a nice meal. She was getting quite fond of him and though it was fairly early in their relationship, she had been able to imagine something developing over time. For the first time she realized her wealth actually was a problem when it came to meeting and going out with guys.

-----

A few days later she received a call from her accountant.

"Geena, this is George Summerville. How are you?"

"Hi, Mr. Summerville. I'm fine. What's up?

"Well, first of all, it looks like we're going to be communicating a lot over the next several years and I would appreciate your calling me George. OK?"

"Sure. OK."

"I wanted to do a quick overview of your finances if you've got the time."

"Sure. I can do that right now."

"Let me start off by telling you your investments are doing very well. And, I need to let you know that you are not spending nearly as much as we had anticipated."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Real quick, let me summarize. With all the money you have invested, you can more than easily live on the earnings alone and never hit the money you won, that is unless you decide to go out and spend money like crazy."

"Yeah, I don't want to do that. I'm quite comfortable, have a nice little house, new furniture, a decent car. There's only one thing I don't have."

"What's that?"

"A decent guy. I am trying to keep things quiet about the money though I did invite a nice guy out to dinner and he turned me down. Didn't want me to pay for dinner at a nice restaurant in the area."

"Well," he laughed, "I'm no counselor or anything like that. I just deal with money. And you need to know that you could easily expect to live on five hundred thousand a year and never take money from your principal."

"Oh. I can't see myself spending so much. I like it here and it wouldn't look right or feel right if I spent so much."

"You know, you could consider dedicating a certain amount to charity. That would help with your taxes, too."

"So, if I tell you the names of the charity, you'd send them the money anonymously?"

"Yup. Exactly."

"You know, the food bank there in Brownstone helped me out fairly often. Could you send them a thousand dollars?"

"Geena, I don't think the magnitude of how much you have has really sunk in. I mean, a million dollars sounds like a lot and you have over eleven. If you donate a thousand dollars, that is less than half of one percent of your annual income. And that doesn't even touch the eleven plus million. It's hardly anything."

"I see. How much should I consider donating every year, you know, to keep things stable?"

"It's entirely up to you but if you are going to live your current lifestyle, you could easily donate two and half or even three hundred thousand a year and still your assets would grow."

"Wow," she replied in a stunned voice.

"That's partly the reason the rich do so well. Some have so much money it keeps growing faster than they can spend it. And as long as you live your current lifestyle, you're going to go from being rich to being stinking rich real quick," he chuckled.

"I see. Uh, look. That food bank was super good to me and they can always use more. Why don't you send them three thousand every month and I'll email you the name of the food bank here. We can do the same, OK?"

"That's very generous of you, Geena, and you'll never miss it. That's seventy-two thousand a year. And I would suggest you look into other charities and let's aim for about two hundred and fifty thousand a year in total donations. That will still leave you way more than you're spending and never even touch the original money. OK?"

"Yeah, OK. It just seems like so much."

"It is compared to where you were in June of last year but it is still quite modest compared to your total. I'll let your investment guy know the plan. He'll contact you to authorize the payments and they'll start soon. OK?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine."

"And remember, Geena, you really are helping people which is ultimately the best thing of all. When you've decided on any other donations go ahead and shoot them to me in an email. One more thing. Your home loan was sold to an investment bank by your local bank. You can pay the loan off faster and no one will be the wiser. I recommend increasing your payment to the maximum that won't trigger any fees or raise any eyebrows. OK?

"Yeah, sounds good. You'll take care of it all?

"Of course. By the way, one of these days I'd like to set up a teleconference with you to review your entire situation in more detail. I'll send you all the data in an encrypted email and we can go over everything line by line and review your taxes. You need to be aware of things to make sure you're comfortable with everything and with me."

"OK, Mr...uh, George. Set that up almost anytime. And thank you. Appreciate it."

After she hung up, the realization grew slowly in her mind that escaping her financial dire straits, moving and getting a new house were the simplest things she had done. And it slowly dawned on her she now had a responsibility to manage the money and make sure it was handled correctly and for the benefit of Emma and herself, as well as others. And that responsibility practically scared her silly.

-----

By the time her summer classes were finished, she knew she wanted to continue college work and resume volunteering in her daughter's school. She arranged for two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and would again work in the school's office in Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The school was glad to have the free labor and fortunately no one questioned her about her financial status.

On her first day back, an Asian appearing man came to the office and grabbed some mail from a cubby. Geena spoke up.

"Uh, Sir, that is Ms. Anderson's mail."

"Oh, Hi, I'm Larry Tanaka and I'm taking over her class."

"Oh? I didn't know. Is everything OK with her?"

"From what I understand she's gone into preterm labor. I was slated to take over the class once she delivered but things have been pushed up."

"Oh, I see. I didn't know. I think you'll like working here. Have you been a teacher long?"

"For a few years. I'm usually a sub. I earn barely enough to get by while I write the great American novel," he chuckled.

"You're a writer? Neat. Can I be so bold as to ask...?"

"I would love to answer questions about what I'm writing but I prefer to keep it private. I don't want people offering suggestions, you know."

"Yeah, I get it. Well, good luck."

"Thanks, uh,..."

"Geena. I'm Geena Nelson."

"Nice meeting you, Geena. I'm sure we'll bump into each other often," he smiled as he turned and left the office.

"I see you met Mr. Tanaka," said the office secretary. "I think he's pretty nice. Chatted me up quite a bit yesterday when he arrived. Single, in case you're interested," she giggled. "I'd go after him if it wasn't for this little thing of mine called a wedding ring."

"You never know. I'm pretty busy with college and volunteering here that I don't have a lot of spare time," replied Geena.

"A girl's gotta have fun some time. You know, all work and no play makes Geena a dull, dull girl," she laughed.

"Yeah, I guess. So, you want me to file these papers for you?" she asked, changing the subject.

-----

Over the next weeks she met Larry several times. At a teachers' conference one Friday afternoon all the employees were in a good mood. The school year seemed to be going well and most of the teachers were satisfied with their classes. After the principal wrapped things up, she offered everyone a glass of wine to celebrate the end of the week. As the teachers and staff mingled, Larry Tanaka approached Geena.

"Hi. This was really nice that we get to celebrate a Friday, huh?"

"Yeah. Don't think this happens with every conference 'cause it's the first time I've seen it. So, how are you liking your class?"

"It's good. Nice kids. I sense two of them will need additional help, but otherwise, no problems."

"Glad to hear it. I'm not involved with any class details but I'm sure you know how to handle problems."

"Yeah, thanks. I actually already sent an email to the principal about them. Tell me about yourself. Why are you working here?"

"Work? No, I volunteer three days a week. Gets me out of the house and lets me help in my daughter's school."

"What grade is she in?"

"First. You might see her next year if you're still working second grade."

"Yeah, I dunno. That's too far in the future for me to think about. You like helping?"

"Uh-huh. Keeps me busy, I guess. Two days a week I'm a student at the JC."

"Really? Cool. What are you studying?"

"Office systems. That's a fancy way of saying office management. And accounting."

"Good luck. Say, I need to scoot. See you around."

"Yeah. You too."

Geena found her conversation with him was casual and comfortable. He seemed like a nice guy, a feeling she had reinforced on the next few times she spoke with him in the office. One Friday he lingered during his lunch hour and finally spoke to her quietly when the secretary was out of the room.

"Geena, would you be interested in having dinner with me?"

"Umm, yeah, I would. Thank you. Is this with my daughter or without?"

"Either way, it's up to you."

"Uh, let me see if I can ask a lady I know if she'll cover. Her daughter and Emma are best buds and babysitting them is a breeze. They're good kids and entertain themselves nicely.

After they swapped phone numbers she promised to call him. When she did, they set up plans for dinner the following Friday evening. Emma was delighted to play with Sofia while Maria teased Geena about finally getting a real man and not some young guy.

After he picked her up, Larry made an innocent comment about her having a nice place. Suddenly she became nervous about her apparent financial status. She thanked him and went to change the subject.

"Where are we headed?"

"Manny's Restaurant. I hear they've got great food."

"Oooh, Mexican. Great."

"How long have you lived here?"

"We moved here last year, early fall, that is."

"Like it?"

"Yeah. Nice community. Good school and I hear their office aide is great," she laughed.

"I heard that also."

"What about you? How long have you been here?"

"A couple of years. I wanted a place with lots to do but not a big city. I can work part-time as a sub and still have time to do my writing," he said.

"I'm going to ask the one question you probably don't like to hear: Have you been published?"

"Oh, a couple of short stories, one in the New Yorker and another in the Texas Monthly. But I'm really working on the book. If I can get that published, well, I'd be over the moon."

"Good luck! I think it takes guts to put yourself out there like that."

"Well, we'll see once the rejection notices come in," he chuckled. "So, here we are."

They went in and had a nice, leisurely dinner. They talked about the city, politics and the local baseball team. Anytime he drifted into asking her more about herself she answered simply and turned the conversation back to him. When the check came she offered to split the check and he declined saying he had invited her.

"That settles it. Next time I'll invite you and I'll pay, OK?"

"You mean you'd like to do this again?" he asked.

"Definitely. I've had fun."

On the way to Maria's to pick up Emma they enjoyed the soft music playing on the stereo. He escorted her to Maria's door and told her he had a nice time and would like to see her again. She agreed and they exchanged a quick hug while he lightly kissed her cheek.

"Until next time. Thanks for a wonderful evening."

"Hey, I enjoyed it, too," she smiled.

Once he turned to leave, she rang the bell, chatted with Maria a few minutes and took a tired Emma home. Once Emma was in bed, Geena thought about the evening. Larry was a nice guy and she admitted to herself she was looking forward to another date.

On the next week she saw him Wednesday and he invited her again. She agreed but wanted something to include Emma. They decided to go to a nearby state park for Saturday afternoon.

Emma was excited to be doing something different and was thrilled when Larry brought out some fancy stunt kites. He showed her some of the tricks and let her and Geena fly their own kites. By late afternoon they were hungry and Geena suggested an early dinner.

"Let's hit the Burger Barn, my treat."

"You don't have to do that, Geena. I'll take care of it."

"Nope. You paid last time and I'll do it this time."

Larry agreed and they had a "Family Meal" consisting of small sliders, fries, onion rings and drinks. On the way home Emma fell immediately asleep in the back seat. After checking on her, Geena spoke softly.

"This was fun. Thank you. I know it meant a lot for Emma, too."

"Yeah, sure. She's a great kid and I'm glad to have the chance to meet her."

"Uh, it's pretty obvious that she is part of who I am, if you get my drift."

"Yeah, I do. If I want to spend time with you, she will be part of the equation. That's why I was tickled to meet her. Well, here we are. Would you like me to carry her into the house?"

"Yes, please, that'd be nice."

Once Emma was tucked into bed, the two sat in the living room drinking a glass of wine.

"Can you tell me a little about her father? Is he in the picture?"

"No, thank God. My parents were dead and I was all alone, nineteen and barely scaping by. I was so lonely and he was a smooth-talking guy. I was looking for 'family' and he was looking for...uh...well, you know. I guess one of the condoms broke or something and once I was pregnant, he took off. He didn't even tell me. I went to his place two days later and it was empty. The only thing left was his old cell phone. He flat out disappeared."

"How'd you manage?"

"I had to go on assistance, get food stamps, you know, the whole deal. I finally got a part-time job at a law office and began to take in children for day care. Putting everything together helped me get by." Geena was getting quite worried he would ask more about her situation so she quickly asked him about his.

"My folks live in the Bay Area. Dad's people immigrated from Japan and he met my mom in college. She's Scotch-Irish and they each had issues with in-laws until it became apparent they had a good relationship. The families get along great now."

"Brothers? Sisters?"

"One of each. They all live down there."

"So, you're the one who took off?"

"Yeah. They both have stable jobs while I still hope to write a bestseller."

"I know you won't tell me much, but what kind of a book are you writing?"

"It's a novel. I am trying to combine Asian mysticism with modern scientific ideas. Carlos Casteñeda was a great inspiration of mine so it's along those lines, I guess."

"I've never read any of his work."

"Oh, you have to," he replied enthusiastically, "I'll loan you my copies. If you like them, then maybe you'd like my work."

"Speaking of work, how does a writer do it, anyway?"

"Before I got this long-term sub job I would get up at a regular time, have breakfast and then read my work from the day before. After that I'd start writing, knock off at noon for an hour and then resume. It can be really slow going at times."

"What about now?"

"I still put in one full day on the weekend and I try to do at least two hours each evening."

"Wow. Pretty dedicated. So, what's your timeframe?"

"I hope to be finished here shortly, clean it up and send it out. I have enough money to last me for two more years. My grandfather set up a small trust and I take fifteen hundred out each month. That plus my salary is enough to keep going. If I don't sell my book, well, I'll need to get a real job," he laughed.

"Good luck. I hope it works for you." She wanted to get away the subject of money so he'd not ask her situation. "Uh, look, it's late and I'm getting a bit tired. Thank you so much for inviting us and doing the kite thing. Was fun! I'm sure Emma will want to do more with kites soon."

"Sure. We can do it again sometime. I had fun, Geena, and I'd like to spend more time with you, too."

"Yeah, me too."

"Good night, Geena, sleep tight," he said as he leaned towards her and they shared a brief, tender kiss.

Once he left, she sighed in relief her financial situation wasn't explored in detail and she didn't have to tell him why she was doing so well. But she knew she would in the future and needed to prepare herself for the inevitable.

-----

The inevitable came on the very next date. They had gone out alone with Emma again spending time with Sofia. Geena knew how tight money had to be for Larry and she offered to pay for their dinner but he declined.

"Hey, I'll let you pay the tip, OK? But I've got dinner."

With a deep breath she quietly said, "Larry, I can help more."

"No, it's OK. Really. Thanks for the offer." On their way home he cleared his throat and quietly asked, "Uh, how are you surviving, anyway?"

"I, uh, I am OK for money."

"Yeah, I get that. But you went from food stamps and running a day care to living in a pretty nice house and volunteering and going to school. You're not working. I'm not prying, but..."

"Larry, uh, it's kinda personal, if you don't mind. I'm not wealthy," she lied, "But I have enough to get by. OK?"

"If you say so."

"I'd really appreciate it if this was kept just between you and me."

"Sure, no problem. Lips are zipped."

"Thank you. Now, may I be so bold as to invite you over for dinner Thursday evening? I can make a mean Tex-Mex meal and would be willing to share."

"Sure. And I'd like to spend more time with Emma, too. What time?"

Before picking up Emma they went to his apartment for an hour or so. He showed her his work station and computer. He had dozens of books strewn about the room, most opened or bookmarked.

"Wow, it looks like you're doing a lot of research for this."

"Yeah, I am. I want it to be realistic and need to check all the scientific stuff out. Say, can I interest you in a drink?"

"Maybe a half glass of wine."

They sat on the love seat, toasted silently and sipped at the wine.

"Geena, I, uh, I find I really enjoy being with you."

"And I you, too."

"I don't know if you're involved with anyone else..."

"Nope."

"Good. I'd like to do this more often. OK?"

She answered by leaning to him and gently at first, then more firmly, kissing him. After several minutes of them kissing each other, he broke apart and smiled. "That was nice, really nice. Can't wait for the next time."

-----

Over the next few months, the two spent more time together. They went out at least once a week, sometimes just for a quick walk or a cheap meal. Geena always had to keep Emma in mind and most of their dates involved activities with her. On those occasions when she was staying with Sofia, Larry and Geena spent more time exploring their physical relationship though they had yet to become intimate. Finally, one day Maria suggested Emma sleep over with Sofia. She said this with a wink and a smile. Geena blushed when she thanked Maria for the suggestion. She decided to make a special date of it and texted Larry with the invite.