“Did you hear me?” Jenay asked.
Charles realized he had been distracted. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I asked how were the newlyweds. How was your son and his new bride?”
“Oh! Yes, Donnie’s happy anyway. He says his wife is too. So things appear to be going okay for them. At least at the moment.”
“They’re still on their honeymoon?”
“No, no. They’ve been back. And they’re already having problems, don’t get me wrong. But that’s what he wanted.”
“I heard at the reception they were going to trek across Europe.”
“That’s what they did.”
“You ever been to Europe, Charlie?”
“No, I’m not much of a world traveler. If I don’t have any business there, I don’t feel I have any business being there.”
Jenay smiled. “That’s an odd way to look at it.”
“That’s the way I look at it.”
“Sightseeing across Europe. I think it’s so romantic,” Jenay said with a smile. “Her father must be loaded to bankroll a trip like that.”
“I bankrolled it,” Charles said, “but I also think her old man is loaded.”
Jenay was impressed that he would send his son and daughter-in-law on such an elaborate honeymoon. “And you have four children. And all boys.”
“That’s right. Four strapping young men. My youngest is 18, my oldest is 22.”
“Do they have a relationship with their mother?” Jenay asked this and then looked at Charles. Her unasked question was a simple one: Does he have a relationship with their mother?
“Yes,” he said. “They have a relationship with her. Not a good one, but a relationship. I don’t, but they do.”
“Do you want a relationship with her?”
“Hell no! I can’t stand the bitch.”
Jenay smiled. “That’s not nice, Charlie.”
Charles smiled. “I’m sorry, Miss Franklin, for being such a bad boy. I suggest you take me home, put me over your knee, and spank the shit out of me.”
“Yeah, I’ll put you over something alright, but it’s not going to be my knee.”
They laughed. They both were having pure fun.
After dinner, they took a slow drive back to Jenay’s house. Charles held her hand, and occasionally squeezed it, but neither one of them had any appetite for conversation. It wasn’t until Charles’s Jaguar pulled up alongside Jenay’s rental car on her driveway, did they say anything at all. He looked at her.
“So you decided on Econolodge?”
“That’s right.”
“You said it was just outside of Boston. Where?”
“Oh, no, it changed. It’s Albuquerque now.”
Charles frowned. “Albuquerque? Albuquerque, New Mexico?”
“Yes! I was just as shocked as you were. But the job will be in New Mexico.”
Charles couldn’t believe it. “Why didn’t they tell you that at that job fair?”
“They said the manager at the one outside of Boston returned unexpectedly, so the only opening was in Albuquerque.”
“And you accepted it?”
She nodded. “I did, yeah. I figured if I’m going to get on with it, I need to manage a hotel, not assistant manage one. I need experience at the top. So I said yes. I’ll start next week. On Monday.”
Even this floored Charles. “Monday? That’s not enough time to relocate across the country like that. What’s wrong with them?”
“It’s enough time for me. I told them so. I have very little. The house I rented was furnished, and I haven’t received my check from the insurance company, so I don’t even have a car to worry about at this point. All I have to do is pack my bags, hop a plane, and get there.”
“As simple as that?” Charles asked regrettably.
“As simple as that,” Jenay said, sadly. “My life is as simple as that.”
Charles looked at her. So this was really it. If she was in Boston still, there would remain that temptation, or that hope, however he viewed it. But with her in New Mexico, there would be nothing. He was too busy, and she’d be too busy, to have any kind of hope of a cross country relationship. It really wouldn’t work.
He got out of his car and walked around to the passenger side door. Jenay watched him walk. Her news seemed to cut him short. She saw a look in his eyes that seemed to verge on a cross between sadness and disappointment. Which surprised her. She had wanted to see if more could come of their pairing, but she wasn’t at all sure if he wanted more. Now she was beginning to think that he might.
He assisted her out of the car and then walked her, with his hand on the small of her back, to her front door. It had been a long day. But to her complete surprise, he declined to come inside.