Chapter Ten B: Lunch with Janice

Aaron was pretty nervous about Saturday. What he hadn’t told Pol was that he did have a lunch date with Janice Linefelter. And that was confusing the hell out of him. He’d had a get-together of some sort with Janice every week since he bought the car. They’d met for coffee, had dinner, had lunch. Always food, nothing else. They always parted after the meal, usually with a chaste kiss on the cheek. At first, Aaron knew he was in no condition for anything more than that. In fact, he still hurt if there were any sudden moves. But he was puzzled about where Janice expected this to go. They talked—a lot. She talked about her childhood, the time she was with her mother, the life of a researcher, Aaron’s few years of marriage. They’d become very good friends. But, strange as it seemed to Aaron, he didn’t really feel sexually attracted to her. How was he going to handle this.

Today they were to meet back at Don Hall’s Steak House. He would have to order of the senior’s menu just to rub in how big their age difference was. Funny how it didn’t seem to make a difference to him when he was with Pol. She was only a couple years older. Well, he was going to have to face the facts and talk to her about their relationship. He wasn’t going to be accused of leading someone on.

They sat and ordered and began to chat about small things. She was adapting well to the life of an auto dealer. She still couldn’t believe she was doing this, but she was actually beginning to enjoy learning about and selling cars. Mike said it was in her blood and that he didn’t think he’d like selling cars at first either. It just sort of happened.

Finally Aaron hemmed a bit and broached the subject.

“Janice, we really need to talk about something,” he started.

“Wait!” she exclaimed. “Please don’t say another word. I have to ask you something and I don’t think I’ll be able to if you go on right now.”

Aaron cringed slightly, but nodded his agreement. If she wanted to start it, it was okay with him. This was going to be harder than he hoped.

“You know Mike better than I do,” Janice started. Aaron started to protest that, but Janice waved him down. “Longer then, at least. Aaron, what’s he going to think about me being involved, you know, with another person?”

“It depends,” Aaron said cautiously. This was a different approach than he had thought about. What would Mike think about he and Janice being involved. He wouldn’t be happy. Aaron knew that Mike intended to make Janice his heir. He’d immediately be suspicious that Aaron was trying to get a bigger cut of the money. Perhaps he could use this to explain why he wasn’t interested in going any further with their relationship. “I don’t suppose he would be happy about someone who knows how you’re related to him becoming seriously interested in you all of a sudden. He’d probably suspect that they thought they could somehow take advantage of you to get in better with him. No, I don’t think he’d be happy about that at all.”

“But I haven’t told anybody about that,” Janice said. “Besides, that’s not the real issue.”

“What’s the real issue then, Janice?” Aaron asked. He was a little confused. She didn’t have to tell him she was Mike’s daughter; he already knew.

“The real issue is that it’s another woman,” Janice said softly, as if she didn’t really want him to hear. Aaron was flat-out shocked. His mouth must have opened and closed a couple times without any words coming out as he stared at her. She looked away from him. “I thought you’d be able to understand,” she said softly. “I didn’t think you’d judge me based on my sexual preference.” She started to get up from the table.

“Janice, wait,” Aaron found his voice and tugged her back to her seat by the sleeve. “That’s not it at all. I thought you were talking about me. It was just such a shock to realize that I’ve read this all wrong…”

“You?” she exclaimed. “Oh, Aaron, I never intended to lead you on. I just don’t know many people here and you’ve been so helpful. I just needed a friend. Oh God! I don’t need a man!” Aaron burst out laughing so abruptly that it caught Janice by surprise. It wasn’t more than a moment before she had joined his laughter with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I was afraid I had inadvertently led you on!” Aaron said. “I was enjoying your company, but I wasn’t feeling romantic about you. I was so afraid you would be mad at me for not returning your feelings.”

“You dope!” Janice said. “Did I ever do anything to lead you to believe that I was interested in you in any way but as a friend? Couldn’t you tell I’m gay?”

“Chalk it up to old age and senility,” Aaron laughed. “If I had paid attention I’d probably have figured it out. I feel like such an idiot! I came here today to try to tell you that I couldn’t be more than a friend to you. In fact, I’ve started to see someone to whom I’m very attracted and I was afraid you’d be so hurt that you’d never speak to me again.”

“You’re kidding! I’m thrilled. Is she cute?” Janice asked bluntly.

“Yes, but you’ve already found someone. Tell me about her,” Aaron said.

“She was a customer two weeks ago. She came in to the showroom and the hounds descended on her. I could tell she was uncomfortable with all the guys hanging around trying to tell her about the new line-up. I was standing on the other side of the showroom and I had my arms crossed like this leaning against an Outback. I was pretty disgusted with them. They all want to hang around an attractive woman when one comes in the showroom, but they won’t talk to her at all if her husband comes in with her. They only talk to him. I was shaking my head thinking they were a bunch of jerks. Then all of a sudden this woman pushes her way through the pack and walks straight up to me and says this is the one that interests me. Could you tell me about it?” Janice paused remembering the detail of her first meeting with Katherine. “We went for a drive and started talking. I didn’t return the car until it was almost closing time. Mike was about to read me the riot act, but Katherine was signing the papers for the car. I left work a few minutes after she left and met her at the Kracker Barrel for dinner.

“Aaron,” Janice looked at him pleadingly, “we didn’t have to ask. We both knew we were right for each other from the first time we met. I know it’s sudden, but she is so wonderful. I have to tell Mike sometime because sometime I’m going to have to tell Katherine he’s my father. I’ve got to know how to approach it.”

“Whoa!” Aaron started. “How long have you known this Katherine?”

“Two weeks,” Janice moaned.

“Okay,” Aaron said. “Much as I hate to say it, in the long run it will make it easier if we break this into two issues instead of one. You are worried about whether Mike will accept your new lover, but you are also worried about whether he will accept you as a lesbian. Is that correct?”

“Yes. Damn it, that shouldn’t even be an issue,” Janice declared.

“You are right,” Aaron said, “it shouldn’t. But this is Indiana and the south starts at the Lincoln Highway half a mile from here. Now that taken into consideration, I think Mike is going to be okay with the sexuality issue. And I know how to approach it. He’s got a good friend who’s gay and she’s the one who introduced him to me. We’ll get her to help broach the subject with him. I just don’t think there’s going to be a problem there. Mike isn’t waiting for grandchildren or anything like that. And as far as I can tell, he’s pretty tolerant of other people just because he feels like he owes it to the world—and to you if I read him right.”

“I’m so glad to hear that,” Janice said. “After all is said and done, Mike and I are still basically employer and employee. But I do like him and I have this absurd longing to have his approval. I was never able to tell Mama. Her life was so miserable that I felt that I couldn’t add anything to her burdens. I never came out, but I never felt that I was in either. It just never came up.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Aaron said. “No matter what it is, it is a part of you. I think that Mike would want to know about that just as he wanted to know about how your mom lived and died.”

“What about Katherine?” Janice asked.

“That I think we should get Adele’s opinion on. Do it all at once or stage it one thing at a time. Think you can go with that?”

“When can we call this Adele?” Janice asked.

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