It was incredibly hard for Kyle to close the door to Chelsea’s apartment and walk out to the Triumph. He would have liked to spend the night with her, and she clearly wanted him to stay – but they both knew that he shouldn’t, and that was that.

Dew was starting to settle on the little sports car as he got in and drove slowly across town to his apartment, since the spell of the last few hours was still on him and he wanted to enjoy it. There was no point driving to the storage shed and trading it for the pickup, since he’d want the car the next morning, so he left it parked in the driveway at his apartment.

He shut the car off and leaned back in the seat, unwilling to get out. He hadn’t been expecting the last few hours in the slightest, but they had been wonderful ones indeed. Chelsea had been as intense and fun a lover as he had dreamed, and maybe then some – but he felt an indefinable unease as the reality of things settled over him. Maybe, he thought, it reflected what they’d talked about earlier, that sooner or later she would have to be moving on to another job, and that could well mean that she’d be moving out of his life as well. He didn’t like the thought very much, but there it was – as much as he liked Chelsea, as much fun as he had with her over the last few weeks, there could be an end in sight. If there was something he could do about it, he wasn’t sure what it was.

Maybe things will work out, he thought. If they don’t, then the thing to do was to enjoy being with her while he could.

Finally, after he’d reached that conclusion, he got out of the car, locked it up, and went up to his apartment. It was hard to go to bed alone, having spent the time in bed with Chelsea earlier – his bed now seemed incredibly lonely.

Mixed thoughts kept going through his mind as he tried to get to sleep, and it was very late before he did. He didn’t sleep well, and was only wakened by the ringing of the phone. He and Chelsea had agreed that the first one to get up would call the other, and as he fumbled for the phone he realized that it was much later than he normally slept. Finally, he got it in his hand and said, “Good morning to you, Chelsea.”

“Who is Chelsea?” he heard his father’s voice reply.

“Oh, the girl I was out with last night,” he replied. “We were going to get together for breakfast. I thought it was her calling.”

“So you have a girlfriend now? Your mother will be glad to hear that.”

“I don’t know if it’s going to get to be anything serious,” Kyle replied. His mother had been trying to set him up or marry him off since about middle school, and sometimes she got a little obnoxious about it, hinting about grandchildren and such things. Kyle felt he had enough time left in his life to consider children and what they represented when he was good and ready, and that time wasn’t yet. Or maybe it was? Chelsea certainly had him thinking that direction. “But we’ve been hanging out together the last few weeks, just having some fun together. So what’s the news today?”

“Not much around here,” his father told him. “It’s just that we haven’t heard from you for a while and were wondering what you were up to. We couldn’t get hold of you last night, so I decided to try this morning.” Before Kyle could reply, he could hear his father saying distantly, as if he’d taken the phone from his mouth, “Cathy, I’ve got Kyle on the phone.”

Almost instantly Kyle could hear another phone being picked up and his mother say, “Good morning. I suppose you were out partying with your friends until all hours last night.”

“Well, I was at a party in the afternoon, but it was down south a ways and Chelsea and I were a while getting back.”

“Chelsea? Who’s Chelsea? Are you telling me you have a girlfriend?”

“Well, sort of,” he replied. “Look, Mom. Don’t read anything too serious into this. We’ve just been hanging out together a bit, but there’s a good chance it may not last. She thinks she may have to move away soon, so we’re trying to keep things cool.” He wasn’t about to even hint that the previous night probably changed that, although there was no telling how. What he hoped and what he feared were two different things.

“Is she a nice girl?” his mother asked, clearly ignoring his attempt to make things sound casual.

“Oh, yeah, she’s pretty nice,” he replied. “She’s a librarian, and she’s a little under employed, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she has to move away to get a better job. There’s no way of knowing anything just yet.”

“Well, we’d like to meet her,” his mother said. “It’s good to know that you’ve got a girlfriend, rather than just sitting around your apartment or hanging out with your friends drinking beer or something.”

“I don’t have any friends here that I’d hang out drinking beer with,” he replied. “Yeah, I had a few guys I’d hang out with when I was at school, and sometimes we had a few, but I really haven’t developed any friends like that here.”

“It’s good that you’ve got a girlfriend, then. You need to be thinking about things like that. Didn’t it get a little lonely sitting around your apartment by yourself?”

Yes it did, he thought. And if Chelsea wound up leaving, it would get lonely again. But he didn’t want to get too deep into those thoughts, either with himself or with his mother. “Oh, it’s been fun being with her,” he replied, trying to slide out from under her line of questioning, “But it’s too early to get serious, especially since she may have to leave. Look, Mom, if it happens, it happens.”

“We’d still like to meet her,” his mother persisted. “If you’re not doing anything today, why don’t you drive up and see us?”

“I don’t know, Mom. I haven’t talked to Chelsea about it, and she may have other plans.” He was losing this battle and he knew it. “All I can say is maybe.”

“I know it’s a long drive up here, but we don’t see you often enough. Why don’t you just plan on driving up to see us? I can have dinner, oh, the middle of the afternoon.”

“Yeah,” his father added, piling on. “It wouldn’t be a bad day for you to get the Triumph out and get some miles on it. It’s going to be a ragtop day if there ever was one, and there won’t be many more of them left this year.”

“I’ll talk to her,” he conceded. “Look, I can’t make any promises. Like I said, she may have other plans. But if I can’t make it up today, maybe next weekend, with her or without her.”

“Try to bring her along. I’d really like to meet a girl who got you interested.”

“I’ll ask,” he sighed. “That’s all I can do. But look, if we do make it up there, just remember that she’s a girlfriend, not a fiancée or anything. We haven’t known each other long enough to get that far. It’s entirely likely that it won’t happen, and if it does, it may take a while, so don’t go jumping to any conclusions and don’t try to push things.” As if that wasn’t already happening, he thought. He was already being pushed harder than he wanted.

It took a while to get his folks off the phone since they did have a few other things to discuss, after all. They included the progress on his dad’s current car project, the latest word on his aunt’s grandkids – which, of course, was part of the reason his mother was leaning on him – and how the job at Mercer-Howe was going, to which the best thing Kyle could say was “along.” But whenever his mother could get a word in edgewise, she was urging him to bring Chelsea up to meet them that afternoon.

Kyle really didn’t want to do it. The big reason, of course, was that his mother could not be depended on to keep her word about not pushing things – she’d be pushing hard right from the moment that she met Chelsea. He certainly didn’t want to expose Chelsea to that! Beyond that, of course, was the feeling that had hardened in him overnight that this was too good to last. It seemed likely that sooner or later Chelsea was going to be leaving for a better job, probably out of reach, and that would be the end of that. It was going to be hard enough to stomach the thought of it at all without his mother being a pain in the neck about it, not that there would be much he could do.

He finally managed to get his folks off the phone, once again promising to call Chelsea about the idea of going up to visit them this afternoon. He hung up with the thought in mind that if the relationship with Chelsea didn’t work out in the long run he was going to start looking for work far out of Wychbold. It would be nice to live far enough away that if and when he found another girlfriend his mother couldn’t push her way into his relationships. As long as he and Chelsea were together and this close to home, she was going to be pushing every damn chance she had.

He sat looking at the phone for a moment, thinking that perhaps he just ought to wait a few minutes, then call them back and tell them that Chelsea had other plans for the day, and that they probably could get together another weekend in the indefinite future. Even as he thought about it, he rejected the idea. Oh, he could put them off for a while, he was sure about that, but if he did it too long they could be dropping in without warning, and Murphy’s Law just about decreed that it would be at the worst possible time. It might be sometime when he and Chelsea were in bed together or something, not that there was any guarantee that there was going to be another performance like the previous night.

After several minutes of putting off the inevitable, Kyle sighed and called Chelsea. “Oh, it’s good to hear from you,” she said when she heard his voice. “How are you this morning? I’m still aglow over last night.”

“There’s a part of me that feels the same way,” he told her. “But there’s also a part of me that’s a little ticked.”

“Not something I did, I hope.”

“Oh, no,” he reassured her. “I wasn’t even awake yet when my folks called, and they managed to worm out of me the fact that I have a girlfriend now. They’re all anxious to meet you, and want us to drive up for dinner today.”

“Well, we could, I suppose,” she replied. “It would be a nice day for another drive. Is it far?”

“About as far as going down to Marcie’s yesterday,” he sighed. “A little quicker if we kept it to the Interstate. But look, I have to be honest, and don’t get me wrong on this. I’m not sure I want you to meet my folks yet, not that I’m ashamed of you of anything, but as soon as we get there my mother is going to want to know when the wedding date is.”

“Oh,” she laughed. “I know just how that works. We’re just lucky my folks moved down to Texas, because after yesterday I’d be getting the same thing out of them. As least they’re far enough away now that they won’t be getting directly involved for a while.”

“We could tell my folks no,” he submitted. “I already told them that it’s not a sure thing, that there’s a good chance you may have to pick up and move, and that it would probably be the end of that.”

“As much as I hate to say it, you’ve got that right. Kyle, we had a wonderful time last night and I can hardly wait until we can do it again. But I don’t think we’d better let ourselves get too serious since that could happen, and maybe all too soon.”

“You’re saying you’ve been looking a little harder than you let on last night, right?”

“Well, yes and no. It’s not inevitable, and nothing is a done deal yet, but I was thinking last night that I really ought to be a little more serious about looking. While I like the job here and I like being with you, the job is not a career job and there’s no way around it. It’s not likely I can increase the revenue from the Chastity White website enough to make up for it. There’s still a good chance that I can come up with a librarian job close enough to here that it may not affect us too much, but there’s a chance it could, too.” He heard her hesitate for a moment, then go on, “I just don’t know, and that’s why I think maybe we shouldn’t be too hasty to make commitments we can’t keep. That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun until it happens, though.”

“That’s pretty much my thinking,” he agreed. “Don’t get me wrong, I really hope that it won’t work out that way, because I like you more and more every time I see you, and that even slides past what happened last night, which was absolutely wonderful. But I think we have to accept that it could happen.”

“I’m sure I agree. We can wish that things weren’t that way, but they are.”

“Right, and that’s why I don’t want my mother jumping to conclusions, but how we’re going to keep it from happening, I don’t know. And that leaves the question of whether we drive up there today. I can put them off, but the more I do, the more curious they’re going to be.”

“Oh, why don’t we just do it and get it over with?” she replied. “Maybe we can leave them with the idea that it’s not all that serious, and that the chance I’ll be moving away soon is a little more likely than it is at the moment.”

“It might work,” he agreed. “But with my mother, I don’t know. I guess all we can do is give it a shot and see what happens.”

“All right, then. Give me a few minutes to get organized. I’ll pack some swimsuits, and maybe we can get some shots between here and there. But I’ll also bring, oh, a nice sundress or something so I can look properly demure to meet my boyfriend’s parents.”

“Maybe we can drive straight up there, get the hard part over with, and then come back the long way in the evening. There’s some pretty country we could use if we come home the back roads at least part of the way.”

“That sounds pretty good,” she agreed. “We ought to have plenty of time to talk over how we’re going to present ourselves to your folks.”

After he hung up the phone, Kyle still had a vague, discomforting feeling that he was making a mistake by doing this at all, but he couldn’t figure out just what was behind it. He got up off the bed where he’d been sitting and went to the bathroom, figuring that under the circumstances it would be better if he dressed up a little rather than just wearing cutoffs and a T-shirt. After all, Chelsea would be dressing up for his parents, and he felt that he ought to at least reflect what she was doing.

Twenty minutes later he pulled the Triumph to a stop in front of Chelsea’s apartment. It was still a little on the cool side, so he’d left the top up for the drive north; it could come down easily later. He had barely gotten out of the car when she came out of the apartment, wearing a snappy-looking halter-top sundress, and carrying her duffel bag, of course. “Wow, you look good,” he told her. “I know I haven’t seen that outfit before.”

“I don’t get to wear it very often,” she said. “I figure it’s conservative enough for no one around here to whine about if they see me wearing it, although I do have to dress more conservatively than this for work.”

He took a closer look, and not surprisingly, he saw the hint of a one-piece swimsuit under the dress. “I see you’re prepared if we find a good place to do a Chastity White shoot,” he commented.

“Of course,” she smiled. “That way all I’ll have to do is to slip off the dress. I did actually bring a strapless bra so I can look appropriately proper when we get to your folks’ house, though.” She didn’t mention anything about panties, and he thought it best not to ask.

They took their time. An hour or so up the Interstate, he pulled the Triumph off of the road at a place for a good photo opportunity. She pulled off her sundress, leaving her wearing a nice-looking one-piece. It didn’t seem like anything extra special to Kyle, but then he was comparing it to the most recent in his memory, the latex knockout she’d worn the day before. And in comparison to that, anything less dynamite would be a little on the pedestrian side. The light was a little harsh, as the sun was getting to be well up in the sky, but he thought he could make it work with fill flash, and after some fiddling around he took several shots that looked good on the tiny camera screen. There was no way of telling actual quality until he could get them on the computer screen, but he had hope.

After he put the camera away, they put the top down on the Triumph, and got back under way – without Chelsea bothering to put the dress back on. The traffic was a little heavy for one of her patent quick-changes, but they soon came to a rest stop where she used the rest room to put on a good-looking if rather conservative black swimsuit. There was a good place to set up right there, so they took advantage of it, and then she made use of the rest room again for another change.

As they drove along, they talked a little about what they wanted to impress on his parents, and how they would do it. They took their time and made another couple of stops on the way to his parent’s house. At their last stop she changed out of the swimsuit entirely, putting the sundress on – it was no stretch to see that she’d put the bra on, too.

With the several stops for photos, it was a little after noon before they pulled into Kyle’s folks’ house in a small town on the outskirts of Flint. “Well, I sure hope this works out,” he said to her as he parked in front of the garage. The door of the garage was open, and there were car parts scattered all over inside.

“Now Kyle, don’t be negative,” she told him. “We’re just going to do what we said we’re going to do.”

“Yeah, but still,” he agreed as he shut the car off.

As the noise from the Triumph died, he could see his father open the door to the house, and heard him call, “Cathy! Kyle and Chelsea are here!”

His mother didn’t quite bowl his father over getting out the door, but she didn’t waste any time getting outside, either.

Kyle got out of the car, and went around to help Chelsea get out. By the time she was standing up, his parents were right there looking at them. “Chelsea,” he said. “This is my mom and dad, Cathy and Joe Murray. Folks, this is Chelsea Walsh. We’ve been seeing each other a little the past few weeks.”

“Well, Chelsea,” his mother said. “We’re so pleased to meet you.”

“Oh, I’m pleased to meet you, too,” Chelsea replied. “Kyle has been telling me a lot about you.”

“We’re so happy you could make it. Kyle didn’t know if you’d be able to come or not.”

“It’s a nice day for a drive,” Chelsea said. “We didn’t hurry, we made a few stops along the way.”

“How’s the car running?” his father asked. Cars first, then girls, Kyle thought. Just like Dad.

“About like normal, no problems or anything. I really haven’t been driving it much, mostly lately when I’ve had Chelsea with me.”

“Well, good. A car that old, sometimes you have to wonder a bit.” He turned to look at Chelsea, who stood there with a smile on her face. “I can’t put my finger on it, but you look familiar somehow.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she replied. “This is the first time I’ve ever been in this area. Kyle told me that you and he restored his car. It sure is fun to ride around in.”

“Yeah, we spent quite a bit of time on it a few years ago. I won’t say it was a basket case when we got it, but it sure didn’t look like it does now. I hope the project I’m working on now comes out as well.” He nodded toward the garage.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell much more than it’s a car. What is it?”

“It’s a ’59 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider,” he explained. “It’s a pain in the neck, and I wish I’d never started it. Italian car, so it’s just about impossible to get parts for, and I’ve had to make quite a few.

“Well, if it comes out as well as the Triumph, it ought to be a pretty nice car. I’m afraid I’m not much of a car person, though.”

“Kyle tells me you’re a librarian.”

“Yes, it’s what I went to school for,” she smiled. “I’m afraid I’m a pretty bookish person. I like the job, but I’m just barely breaking even on the one I have now. We all have to start someplace, and Wychbold was the best place I could find to start.”

“Do you expect to get another job around where you are now?” Cathy asked.

“Well, I’m looking,” Chelsea sighed. “I haven’t found much of anything, though. I’ve got some résumés out, and I’ve picked up a few leads here and there. Right now, the best possibility I have is in Texas.”

“Texas? That far away?” Cathy frowned.

“Yes, my parents had to move down there while I was still in college, so I don’t see them very often. It would be nice if I could get that job, since I would be able to see them more.”

“Wouldn’t it be hard to move that far away?”

“It was hard for them to do it, but Dad had a good job offer there, and he would have been a fool to not take it,” Chelsea explained.

“Do you think you have a chance at that job?”

“A pretty good one, I think. There’s no way of telling but I hope it comes through. It’s for a lot more money than I’m making now, and I have a lot of student loan debt. It would be nice to be able to pay that off. If I could live with my parents again for a while, I could see them more, and not have to spend as much money. That would allow me to get the loans paid down nicely.”

“Well, I hope it works out for you,” Cathy replied. Kyle could see she didn’t mean a word of it, and he could feel her disappointment at a possible catch for him slipping through her fingers.

“Oh, I hope it does, too,” Chelsea replied, reinforcing the impression she was hoping to leave. “I’d hate to have to leave Kyle, because he’s a real nice guy, but first things first.”

“Kyle,” Cathy asked. “How do you feel about that?”

“If it happens, it happens,” he shrugged, trying to keep his real feelings from showing. “Chelsea and I have been having a lot of fun these last few weeks but I knew just about from the beginning that there was a good chance it wasn’t going to last forever, so I’ve just had to accept that.”

“Yes, sometimes, I guess you have to accept it,” Cathy replied, clearly disappointed now. “Let’s go sit in the shade out back. You must be tired after that long drive. Would you like something to drink? A beer, maybe? Dinner will be ready in a little while.”

“Just iced tea, thanks,” Chelsea said.

As they walked toward the back yard, Joe shook his head again. “I can’t put my finger on it,” he said. “But you sure look familiar.”

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