Troubled Waters

by Jerry Cole

  “My grandmother used to make something like that, too.”

  They went to the living room and Ness got his luggage while Darren made the medicinal drink.

  Ness came out of the bathroom when Darren showed up at the guest room door. “Here, drink this and then get in bed.”

  Ness took the drink and put it by the bed. He got in and pulled up the covers. Darren sat on the edge of the bed and felt Ness’ forehead again.

  “Hmm. Sleep as late as you like. We can take you to the doctor’s tomorrow, if need be.”

  Ness shook his head. “This is so fucked.”

  “I know.” Darren got up and went to the door. “Drink up and then sleep. See you in the morning.”

  “Goodnight.”

  Darren lay in his bed staring out the bedroom window at the night sky. This was not how he’d wanted this week to start out. Was this going to work between them? Ness, always on the road. Him, about to launch a major water project in Africa. How could they ever form a stable relationship?

  It had been an exciting and exhausting couple of days, and he quickly fell asleep.

  ***

  “Why no fencing match today?” Reggie asked as he burst into Darren’s office. “Are you burned out from non-stop fucking?”

  “Reggie, please, this is an institution of higher learning. Such language…”

  Reggie plopped down in the chair opposite Darren’s desk. “I saw the concert broadcast. Oh, Darren… your boy, Ness…” He wagged his hand as a measurement of how hot Ness was. “Is he really up here now?”

  Darren put on a mock frown. “He is, but he’s in bed—sick.”

  “Poor baby. What is it… overdoing-it-with-Darren fever?”

  “No. He’s got a regular fever and a sore throat and feels like crap. Started last night, so will probably last the rest of the week. Now, isn’t that just dandy?”

  “But, but, but… I wanted to meet him.”

  “Unlikely.”

  Reggie stuck out his lower lip. “Pooh. What if I put on a surgical mask and stood back ten feet?”

  “He’s not a museum exhibit, Reggie.”

  “How about an autograph then—for Diane?”

  “I’ll ask him.”

  Reggie leaned forward. “So, did you make a lot of money off the concert? Did you just rake it in?”

  “We did nicely.”

  “I gave twenty-five dollars. Doesn’t that get me a Teddy bear or something?”

  “It gets you a tax deduction.”

  “And that’s it?”

  “I could shake your hand as a thank you.”

  Reggie waved Darren’s absurd suggestion away. “And I’m your oldest and dearest friend. You would think…”

  “Well, second oldest. Thelma Burnside, in French literature, is just a teeny bit older.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” Reggie put his hands together and placed them between his knees as he considered. “So how’s it working out for you two? Wedding bells?”

  Darren sobered. “Oh Reg, I don’t know. Nothing ever seems to work out for us. Our timing always seems to be off. He’s so committed to his career. And it’s going to be a great career. I don’t see how there’s going to be time for us together.”

  “It’s not a unique problem for successful couples.”

  “I know. But there’s a ten-year difference in our ages. I’m ready to settle down and he’s just getting started. Not sure I can see how we can work it out.”

  Reggie was thoughtful, then said. “Diane makes a killer chicken soup. Guaranteed to get you on your feet in two days. I’ll give her a call. It might not cure your relationship, but it might help with his illness.”

  ***

  Ness was sitting in a rocking chair beside a warming fire in the living room when Darren returned. Darren could hear Ness’ hacking cough even before he came in from the garage.

  “You sound terrible. You’ve developed a cough, I see. Well… hear.”

  Ness nodded. He answered with a hoarse voice, “I can’t talk very well, and my head feels like it’s splitting in two. I hope you don’t mind that I lit the fire.”

  “Not at all, I’m glad you did.”

  Ness held up a bowl. “Your friend’s wife brought me this soup.”

  “Guaranteed to make you well in two days, she swears,” Darren said, as he put down his briefcase and went over and kneeled beside the rocker. “What am I going to do with you?”

  “Shoot me?”

  “That bad, huh?”

  Ness put his hand on Darren’s shoulder. “This is not what you planned for, I know.”

  “We take what we get. Nothing to be done except to make you as comfortable as possible and get you well.” Darren stood up. “Can I get you anything?”

  “More tissues, please.”

  “Be right back.” Darren went to the cupboard in his bathroom and took out the box of tissues. He closed the door and sighed, leaning his head against it for a moment.

  When he returned, he gave Ness the tissues, put another log on the fire, and poked the embers with a poker. “Would you like some music?” he asked.

  “Just you.” Ness held out his hand, inviting Darren to come over and sit beside him.

  Darren pulled up a chair. Ness took Darren’s hand and looked at him. “I’m afraid I’ve got more bad news.”

  “What?”

  “Philippe called today. It seems he needs me back in Athens in two days. There’s a problem with a couple of tracks on the new recording, and the record company is insisting we redo them, and there’s a deadline.”

  “Oh, Ness, you promised…”

  “I know. I’m sorry. But it’s not just me alone anymore. We’ve got all these people depending on us.”

  “You can’t fly in your condition. The airlines won’t allow it.”

  “He’s sending our plane and a doctor to pick me up in New York.”

  “But you’ll never be able to sing.”

  “I told him it would have to be three days because of my voice and he’s agreed to the delay. And remember, the chicken soup is guaranteed to fix me up in two.”

  Darren smiled, but he couldn’t summon up a laugh.

  “I know it’s all fucked up, babe. I made you a promise, and I can’t keep it.”

  “This was to be our time, Ness. What does this mean? How are we ever going to be a couple like this?”

  Ness shook his head. “Maybe it can’t work.”

  “I guess it depends on what you want,” Darren said. “What’s most important to you? Your career or your relationship? It’s beginning to look like you can’t have both.”

  “I don’t believe that. It’s just that this is the beginning of my career. This is where all the work needs to be put in. I’m sure that later on, things will settle down and I’ll have a lot more free time. Otherwise, what’s it for?”

  “I’ve had thoughts about you coming to the U.S. to develop your career. I know Philippe’s been a terrific manager and you owe all your success to him, but what if you were based here? I’m sure we could find you the perfect U.S. manager, and I’ve got the money to back any project you might want to do. I’d gladly invest in your career, and then we could be together.”

  Ness really seemed to hear him, but said, “I could never abandon Philippe after all he’d done for me. And what about my family? I would hardly ever see them. And with you living and working way up here, how would that work out when I would need to be in New York or L.A. most of the time? It would be the same situation. It’s our old dilemma—you have your life. I have mine. I guess straight marriage has its perks. The wife follows the husband, and they make their life together wherever they might be.”

  “That’s outdated thinking, Ness. I don’t believe that for one moment. Women have careers now. Men are househusbands, and the gender of the individual has nothing to do with it. Two men, two women, a man and a woman—they all struggle to make their particular situations work.”

  “You’re probably ri
ght. It’s just life’s circumstances.”

  “I’m not giving up on you, Ness,” Darren said. “I absolutely believe there must be some way we can make this work.”

  “I’d like to believe that too. But how?”

  “Are you willing to stick with me until we can find that way?”

  Ness didn’t answer.

  “Is that a no?” Darren finally asked.

  “It’s an ‘I don’t know.’” He studied Darren’s face. “You’d do that? You’d not give up on us? No matter what?”

  “I would.”

  “Then how can I say no?”

  ***

  The next day Darren stayed home with Ness. He couldn’t bear to be separated from him with only one day left. Ness slept a lot, and Darren coddled him with hot drinks, more homemade soup, and a massage for his achy muscles.

  But finally, it was time for Ness to leave.

  “I promised Reggie an autograph for his wife. Although I suspect it’s really for him,” Darren said.

  “I gave her one when she brought the soup. She was very gushy. Kept talking about the concert and how it inspired her to be a better person.”

  “Wow, that’s reaching a bit, no?”

  “I get all kinds of responses. You can’t believe.”

  Darren stood looking at Ness, bundled up with a scarf wound around his neck several times. “You ready?”

  “Think I’ve got everything.”

  Darren had chartered a plane to take them from the nearest airport to JFK where Ness’ jet would be waiting to take him back to Athens.

  “You don’t have to go with me, you know,” Ness said. “You could just drop me off at the airport here. There’s no need to go all the way down there and back.”

  “Ah, but, you see, I want every second I can have with you.”

  “That’s sweet. What about your classes?”

  “I’ve got those covered.”

  Ness came over and held onto Darren. “You know, I really wanted us to make love at least once. It’s been a disaster, hasn’t it?”

  “Not the best.”

  “I was looking forward to our evening by the fire, and… you know.”

  “I do.”

  “Maybe another time.”

  “Yes, another time.” Darren took Ness by the shoulders. “Okay, time to go.”

  Darren drove them to the small regional airport. The small jet was waiting for them and they boarded quickly and settled in for the flight.

  “I suppose you have no idea when you might be free to visit again?” Darren asked.

  Ness said, “No idea, but I know Philippe is in the process of organizing a monster tour through Europe, Australia, the far east, and finishing up in the States. I would expect we could find some time then.”

  Darren thought for a moment. “And this next summer I plan to go to Africa to help with the water project. We should be up and running by then. If you’re still anywhere in Europe, I could take a detour and visit you.”

  “That would be nice. See, we can make things work for us.”

  Darren reached over and took Ness’ hand. “Whatever it takes.”

  ***

  Back home, Darren threw himself into his teaching. He’d slacked off a bit lately and wanted to renew his commitment to his students. But he was also being inexorably drawn more deeply into the water project, which he was equally interested in. The board had finally formed, and Melissa had scheduled the first video conference. All the board members had downloaded the secure software they would use on their computers for teleconferencing.

  Loretta, as president, called the meeting to order. “Welcome all. We’re very excited to initiate our first board meeting this morning. Delighted to have you all as part of our team.”

  “First, I’d like to introduce you to Melissa Matthews, our presumptive COO—pending your approval. All of you know her by now, as she has been in charge of recruiting our board members. So, as our first order of business, I propose we approve her for this position. Are there any nays?

  There were none.

  “So Melissa is approved.” Loretta laughed. “This is fun. And a lot easier than I’d imagined. Okay, let’s see what’s next. Oh yes, money. Always an interesting subject. Now Melissa, could you please give us a rundown on the income from our wonderfully successful concert?”

  “Happy to,” Melissa said, “First, we do have a final figure on the money raised. I’ve emailed you all copies of this report for your files. In the end, we raised fifty-seven million, two hundred seventy-three thousand and change.”

  “Is that net or gross?” Darren asked.

  “Gross,” Melissa answered. “And that brings me to the next point—the expenses for the concert.” She laughed. “And it wasn’t cheap. Again I’ve sent you an accounting for this. But it came out to ten million, four hundred and fifty-three thousand. A hefty sum, and Linda Spencer Events counted for six million of that. But we could not have done it without her. It is very expensive to setup and manage an event like this.”

  “So our net?” a board member asked.

  “Forty-six million, eight hundred twenty thousand.”

  “That should set us up nicely,” Darren said.

  “And where are we with recruiting for our African teams?” a second board member wanted to know.

  “We’ve been collecting resumes and have been vetting them.”

  Loretta spoke up. “We expect to have a shortlist quite soon and will pass that along with the resumes to you all shortly.”

  “And offices?” a member asked. “I understand you no longer wish to operate the company from your home.” She laughed. “I think I can understand that. Are you finding anything?”

  “We have several of our new staff members working on that,” Loretta said, “And the sooner the better.”

  “And what about the design of the program for Africa?” Darren asked. “It seems to me to be the most important element. We’re going to need a process for interacting with each community. We’re going to need a list of, and access to, the equipment needed to deliver the water. And most importantly, we’re going to need ways to find the water.”

  “And I would imagine there’s going to be a learning curve, and adjustments will have to be made as we learn from our mistakes,” Loretta said.

  “Yes, exactly. And that is indeed our biggest challenge, and one I want to address next, as it involves all of you,” Melissa said. “We need those of you with experience in these matters to step forward and volunteer to form a committee to study these issues and help us design our process. Please give this some thought and let me know if you want to volunteer and what suggestions you might have.”

  “I have a question,” Darren asked. “What about a chief financial officer? That seems like an important position, and I’m not aware who’s managing our finances.”

  Loretta answered, “Well, so far I am, honey. My investment advisor is holding the funds, and he’s been managing the payroll as well.”

  “Would he be interested in serving as CFO?” a member asked.

  “I don’t think so, but I’m sure he could recommend someone. Unless any of you know of someone.”

  “I suggest we start a search for such a person. Melissa, is that something you could oversee?” Darren asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Any further comments or questions?” Loretta asked. There were none. “Then I declare this meeting adjourned.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Tyler had turned ten. It was the Thanksgiving holiday, and Loretta was hosting. Darren had gone down two days early to work with Melissa on the African program. Mai, Ned, and Tyler were to arrive Wednesday evening.

  At Wednesday breakfast with Loretta, Darren said, “You must be so relieved to have your house back.”

  Loretta leaned back in her chair, her arms collapsed at her sides. “Ecstatic. It was fun for a while, but then I kept finding staff members in the oddest places. One morning I went to the pantry for a new jar of
cherry jam and found Edward asleep, curled up on top of a large bag of flour. Said he’d been working late and went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. But sleep overcame him. And Melissa found Betsy and Raymond snogging in the downstairs powder room one evening as she was leaving work.”

  “Speaking of which, any new gentlemen callers in your life?” Darren asked as he poured syrup on his waffle.

  “Darren, your father was quite enough man for me. No more men in my life… except for you and Tyler, of course. I am learning to cherish my solitude.”

  “Any outside guests for Thanksgiving?”

  “No, just family—and Melissa and Brandy, of course. They’re family now.”

  Darren nodded and took another piece of bacon. “I’ll be going into the new office to meet with Melissa later, actually. Is there anything you need me to get while I’m out? One always seems to forget something.”

  “If I think of anything, I’ll give you a call. But I believe Cook has it all in hand. After all, she’s organized dozens of Thanksgivings by now.”

  “Melissa was saying the African teams have been picked and assembled, and all that’s needed is the training.”

  “But we can’t do the training until you and Melissa finish up the program,” Loretta observed.

  “I know, and that’s why we’re trying to finish up this weekend. I’m prepared to work with her this weekend. I need to drive back to Sanderson on Sunday, since I’ve got a department meeting on Monday.”

  “Well, don’t exhaust yourself, darling. It’s a holiday, after all.”

  “I’m taking off all day tomorrow. Mai and I need to catch up with Tyler’s progress. She said she has some worries and wants to discuss them with me.”

  “Has he grown much?”

  “He has. It seems he’s finally starting a growth spurt. He was worrying us a little, always been such a runt.”

  “You were a squirt until you were twelve, then you grew like a weed.”

  “And look at me now.” He gave her his best Charlie Brown grin. “Any idea when the first teams might deploy?”

  “Oh, there’s still so much to do. I can’t see how it can happen until at least May.”

  “I’d like to go over there on summer break. I’m going to try and visit Ness on my way out if his schedule will permit.”