Moving On
But in one respect it was true that things could not be sustained. Too many comings, too many goings. On a Saturday in early March, Tom and Eileen drove down to Tuckahoe. There was not too much, so they with Kerry and Suzanne loaded up the Outback with Eileen’s stuff. A fair chunk of her wardrobe had already been brought to Chappaqua so she was able to fit the rest—all save a minimal cross-section of things she kept in Tuckahoe. The Subaru was being transferred too, Suzanne’s old Camry being more than enough for the girls, and after hugs and more, Tom in his Audi and Eileen in her Subaru headed north and before they had gotten to the parkway a mile away Kerry and Suzanne had begun the process of moving their things into the master and when Tom and Eileen were still a few exits from Chappaqua Kerry and Suzanne were half-lying on the bed in the master, legs draped over the side, and staring at the ceiling and thinking that they finally had a home.
The deal was that Suzanne, who was well paid at her new job—we will let her explain about that at a later time—would take over the mortgage payments although the house remained in Eileen’s name for the time being. Things were somewhat informal, but everyone felt that it was a bit too early to be doing all the necessary paperwork. Plus Eileen had a good chunk of equity in the place. Thus her daughters—and she long considered Suzanne a daughter—were essentially renting the place.
A Trip to the Country
Kerry was bored and a little bit jealous. It was early April, and Suze was in Dublin on a four-day work gig having something to do with Brexit. Suze loved her job and her job loved her and so she was tapped for this hardship assignment.
Kerry was bored and jealous that her Sweetie was in Ireland. She called Andi. It went to voicemail.
“Hey Doc. It’s your favorite little sister. Listen, Suze is in Dublin and I’m not. If you’re off, give me a call. Maybe we can do something. Oh, it’s Kerry in case you weren’t sure. Ciao.”
She got a text about an hour later.
{Andi: Poor baby. Stuck at hospital today. Tomorrow? When’s she coming back?}
A few minutes later:
{Kerry: She’s back on Tuesday. Wanna go for a drive manana?}
{Andi: I’d love to. Can you pick me up?}
{Kerry: No problem. I need your address and a time. I’ll think of where we can go.}
So, on Sunday at 11 or so Kerry drove to upper Manhattan to pick up Andi and the two were heading north to Millbrook, a little village, for a stroll among its overpriced antique stores and galleries. The drive was the point, and Andi relished that chance to sit back while Kerry drove and provide an almost stream-of-consciousness description of her love life, and of the trials of being a hospital resident, the latter being of far greater interest to her chauffer, and Kerry enjoyed the strange closeness she felt from simply listening, with the occasional interruption of a snarky comment on her part, to wherever Andi was going.
“How did you know?” It was Andi after a longer-than-usual pause, attempting to be matter-of-fact.
Kerry was waiting for this. “I liked guys, but one day I realized that I loved Suzanne.” Kerry tended to use her formal name when being particularly serious with someone about her Suze. “That was kind of it.”
“I tried it once.”
Kerry sucked in a breath and quickly glanced at her passenger.
“I wanted to know, you know? ‘Curious.’ She was a good enough friend in my dorm sophomore year and I forget who suggested it to whom but we were in the same boat. I mean, I did not have feelings for her, nor she for me. Just friends. And we wouldn’t have done anything if we had feelings because neither would risk destroying something. We went to her room one afternoon and after a few ‘you start’s and ‘no, you start’s I simply took my shirt off and took my bra off and waited until she did the same. I’d never stared at another woman’s boobs before and, well, they were nice. I touched one and then the other”—and the lawyer-to-be couldn’t resist teasing—”which one first” and receiving a “shut up’ in reply, Andi continued, “I touched both of her boobs and both of her nipples, and, you know, they didn’t bite but it didn’t do anything for me and she said it didn’t do anything for her.”
Kerry let her go on. She was looking straight ahead.
“She leaned over and kissed me and the moment our tongues touched we both knew it wasn’t for either of us…Although she did insist that I let her feel me up too. After which she said, ‘Nah, it ain’t working.’ And we laughed about the whole experience, although we never told anyone, or at least I never did, until now. It was one of those check-the-box things we both took care of.”
To which Kerry simply said, “It’s a relief to know I am safe. You really aren’t my type anyway,” and after a slap and a shouted “I Want A Man” from Andi and a “don’t be gross” and a laugh from Kerry the conversation reverted to its early lightness.