Spellman Ch. 17

I would just have to cross that bridge when I came to it. Right now Cece and I hadn't even had our first date. There'd be plenty of time to figure everything else out once I knew how well that went.

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful. Melissa texted asking if I wanted to join them for a swim at their apartment tomorrow afternoon, but I told her I already had plans. She apologized for last night, and I told her that at some point I expected to hear a full explanation of what the hell actually happened.

Oh boy, it's a good one. Can't wait to tell you all about it.

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

I already had a text from Cece when I woke up Sunday morning, sent before seven. It read:

I'll let you plan, but just a tip: Maybe for our date don't take me somewhere that will make me breath fire

Haha, good idea. You're up early. Don't even sleep in on Sundays?

Had to take Dad to church. Old people like going at 7am for some reason.

I hadn't known that Cece was religious, or at least that her dad was, but I guess it made sense. Not many secular families out there with seven kids, as far as I knew. That was definitely something for us to discuss at some point, but it was probably something best saved for after our first official date.

It was almost 9:30, and Paul said to be at his house by noon, so I had a bit of time to kill. I decided to treat myself to my favorite breakfast treat--a toasted peanut butter and bacon sandwich. Don't knock it until you try it. After breakfast I jogged for five miles then took a nice long shower.

I dressed in gray slacks with a dark green polo. Paul's instructions had been "casual but not sloppy," which wasn't much help, so hopefully this would be fine. They lived in a nice neighborhood, a gated community with what looked like lots of young families around. I imagined that was very nice for their daughters. The house had a long driveway but I parked on the street, not wanting to mess up any car logistics that might be going on. I made the long trek up the driveway to the front door and knocked.

Paul's wife Jackie opened the door to greet me. I recognized her from the pictures Paul had shown me of their trip to Disneyland, but I was stunned at how attractive she was in person. She looked like she should be competing in Miss America, not working as a professor of mathematics. Paul had really outkicked his coverage. Good for him.

"You must be Ryan," Jackie said with a winning smile, her perfect white teeth gleaming. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Thank you so much for having me. Paul's been a great friend to me since I've been down here. He talks about you all the time, so I'm glad to finally meet you."

"He's a sweet guy, that Paul. Most of the time, at least! Come in, come in. We're all out in the yard. I'm sure Paul is ready to make introductions and then disappear to watch some sportsball with you."

"Not a fan?" I asked.

"I'm just teasing. I can survive watching a game or two, but it's not my favorite. I do love tennis, though. Do you play?"

"Not very well, but I've enjoyed it the times I've tried."

"Paul said that you're seeing a girl you met at the gym? The two of you should play doubles with us sometime."

"He might have jumped the gun a bit on our relationship status, but I have a feeling that she'd be up for it anyways."

"My husband is a bit of a romantic. He's already planning his speech for your wedding."

"So he's told me," I said with a laugh.

When we reached the backyard, Jackie led me towards a crowd gathered in the shade near a table lined with food. "Everyone, I want to introduce you to-"

"Ryan Dillon!" one of the older men said, throwing up his arms. I didn't recognize him. He hurried over to shake my hand. "This young man right here played quarterback for my Stanford Cardinal."

Paul joined us out of nowhere. "Really? Ryan, you never told me you played college football."

"It's not a big deal. I was the backup."

"Nonsense, nonsense," the old man said. "You started three games your senior year, and did an admirable job in relief in the others."

"Well, thank you," I said. "I didn't realize there was anyone who cared enough to make a real note of me."

"I'm a Stanford alumnus myself, of course. Class of '70. Huge fan of the Cardinal. Dr. Jonah Robertson," he said, shaking my hand again. "Pleasure to meet you, Ryan."

"You as well, Dr. Robertson."

"Please, please, you're not a student. Call me Jonah."

"Jonah it is."

Jackie introduced me to several more of her colleagues, though of course none were as excited to meet me as Jonah had been. When we finished making the rounds Jackie handed me off to Paul, who handed me a beer. Jonah made his way over to us as well, wanting to talk my ear off about Stanford Cardinal football. Paul was interested as well, and a bit miffed that I had never mentioned my time as a college football player.

"That's because when we're together you do ninety-percent of the talking, Paul," I said.

Both Jonah and Paul laughed. "That's probably true," Paul said. I told a few football stories to Paul and my new buddy Jonah, but when another one of his colleagues arrived he tottered off to go greet her. "Let's get out of here before they start discussing combinatorial optimization or algebraic topology," Paul said.

I followed him to 'the den' as he called it, but let's call a spade a spade. It was a man cave. A very nice one. I plopped down on the couch and Paul tossed me a second beer before turning on the projector, lighting up the far wall. The Padres were playing the Yankees, so we both settled in to watch some baseball. Paul was surprisingly content to just sit silently and watch the game, sipping on his beer. At least for a while.

"So has there been any movement on the Cece front," he asked me between the second and third innings.

"You gossip more than an old lady," I told him.

He just shrugged. "You two would be good together. I'm a romantic. I root for love."

"We're actually going on a date this Friday."

"Yes!" he said, pumping his fist. "Attaboy! Do you know what you're going to do yet?"

"Not yet," I said, shaking my head. "I told her I'd take her out to dinner, but I don't want it to be just that. She's still new to the area, maybe I'll try to show her some San Diego highlights."

"Good idea. I have some connections at plenty of places, so let me know what you're thinking and I'll see if I can hook you up."

"I appreciate it."

We watched a couple more innings before Paul said we should make another round at the party--and maybe steal some more food while we were at it. The Padres were up 6-0 at that point, so things were looking pretty good.

Paul and I came across Jonah and a couple other guests talking in the kitchen as we emerged from the den.

"I should have brought my T.A. instead of my wife," one of the men said to Jonah.

"That T.A. thinks she is his wife," Jonah said in reply. "Langford needs to cool it. Everyone sleeps with a grad student here or there, but you need to at least have some discretion and propriety." He spotted us coming into the room. "Paul! Ryan! Where did you two disappear to?"

"Watching the Padres play the Yankees," Paul said.

"Ah! Good. I love baseball. Let me know when you go back in, I'll join you."

Paul gave me a look but I just smiled. I liked Jonah. "Will do, Jonah."

There were a few more people here now than there were when Paul and I ducked away. I immediately spotted the couple that Jonah had been talking about inside. A very busty blonde in her early twenties was sitting on someone's lap. I assumed that was Langford. The angle at which she was sitting meant I couldn't see his face. Jackie was sitting across from them. She called out to us.

"Ryan, come meet some more people!" she said. Not one to deny a beautiful hostess such a simple request, I went to join them.

The blonde gave me a wave, not getting up from the lap she currently occupied. "Hi! I'm Grace! I'm a PhD candidate."

"Ryan," I said, returning her wave. "Friend of Paul."

She shifted and I was finally able to see the face of the man she was sitting on. I recognized him immediately.

"Thomas, wasn't it?" I said, reaching out to shake his hand.

Riley's boyfriend looked like I'd just kicked him in the balls. "Right. Dr. Thomas Langford."

"Oh, you two have already met?" Jackie asked.

"Just yesterday," I said.

"Yes, it turns out we have a couple mutual friends," Thomas said, jumping in.

Jackie smiled. "Well that's nice," she said.

I let the conversation carry on without me as I thought through what I had just learned. Riley had told me about the situation with Thomas and his T.A. My understanding was he had decided to back off from the idea of an open relationship. That had been the whole reason she ghosted me in the first place.

"Excuse me for a minute," I said, getting up from my seat. I needed a minute to think. Walking towards the pool, I tried to run through everything. Obviously Riley and I had our issues, but I didn't think she was a terrible person, and if her boyfriend was cheating on her, she deserved to know, right?

On the other hand, she had made it clear that she had no intention of telling Thomas about the night she'd had with me. She was just as guilty of deception in their relationship as he was. Right?

"Ryan, wait a moment," Thomas said, catching up to me.

"Yes?"

"This is a bit awkward, isn't it?"

"What is?" I asked.

"Look, you probably don't know Riley well enough yet for her to have said anything about it, but we actually have something of an open relationship. That's why I'm here with Grace."

I nodded. "Okay," I said. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I just didn't want you to jump to the wrong conclusion, is all. It can be a tricky thing, polyamory. Not the most well understood thing in society, you know?"

"I don't, but I'll trust you on that one."

"Anyways, I'd appreciate your discretion here. I know Riley can be a bit embarrassed about the whole situation, so maybe don't mention anything at the school, either."

"Sure thing."

"Great. Appreciate it." He turned to go but then stopped. "Sorry if I came across as a bit of a dick yesterday. It was early and I hadn't slept very well."

"No problem. I had quite the hangover myself, I'm sure I wasn't the most gregarious person either."

He gave a curt nod. "Anyways, thanks again," he said before walking back to sit with Grace.

Paul came up to me and nodded over in Thomas' direction. "What the hell was up with that?" he asked.

"Dude, I don't even know where to start."