Page 2 of Mama’s Boy

Tuesday Afternoon

Chase waited three days for Rowan to call. He had just about given up and was going to call himself when the phone rang.

“Chase? This is Rowan. Do you remember me from the checkout line the other day at Wegmans?”

“Of course I do. How are you?” Chase wanted to do a happy dance but played with a paper clip instead. He always played with something when he was nervous.

“I’m about to start teaching classes the first week of June. This is my first year as a full professor and I’m nervous.” Rowan gave a little laugh.

“Where and what do you teach?” Chase asked, paperclip twisting in his fingers.

“I teach mathematics at Monmouth University. Since I’m the new guy on the block, I’m getting the remedial classes.”

“What did you do before becoming a professor?” Chase was curious. This was the first man that really interested him in a long time. He bent the paperclip.

“I went to work at a brokerage house in New York right out of MIT, devising complex mathematical formulas to design derivatives. I took the job because it paid so well and I had student loans. The crash woke me up. I didn’t lose my job, but after 2008 I started to go back to school at night.

I got my doctorate last year and finally was able to quit.

It was really a soul sucking job, long hours, questionable ethics, and when I realized what the company was doing, I knew I had to move on.

What got you into writing gay romance? I must admit I was taken aback. ”

“It’s a new lucrative niche market. I do well at it, enough to afford a small house and a decent car and I’m good at it. I think everyone needs a good love story.”

“I know I could use one.” Rowan chuckled. “Are you busy Saturday? I thought maybe we could go to the beach at Belmar, get some supper and then a few beers somewhere on the boards? It’s Memorial Day weekend, so everything should be open.”

“That’s sounds great. I didn’t get over to the beach much last year.” Chase thought about all the time he spent carting his mother around since she moved down to Ocean Township in May.

“I’d like to pick you up, where do you live?”

Chase smiled and put down the paperclip. “In Oakhurst, on Oakhurst Road, it’s small, only two bedrooms, but that’s all I need…and you?”

“Interlaken, I bought an older home. I’ve spent the spring fixing it up.”

“Nice area, was the house hit bad by the storm?” Chase asked genuinely curious.

“I got it after the storm. It had some damage, but not enough to scare me off. The storm surge didn’t get this far.”

“I was lucky. Deal got hit hard. Oakhurst is one town over. We had a power outage, I had a couple of trees come down, and the basement was wet. It wasn’t too bad considering.

I figure if the house made it through that storm, it will make it through any other that comes along.

The flood insurance covered most of the damage.

It cost quite a bit to get the trees hauled away, though. What kind of damage did you get?”

“The house is set up on a small hill so it was mostly wind damage and a few trees. Nothing hit the house though.”

“What time do you want to go on Saturday?” Chase asked.

“How about ten…I’ll pack a lunch, since we’re both so close to Belmar, maybe we could go home and change for dinner.” Rowan suggested. “Let me jot down your address.”

Well that means a good round of housecleaning . “That sounds great, so I’ll see you at ten on Saturday. I’ve got to go, I have to take my mother to the doctor.”

“That’s too bad. Anything serious?”

“No, other than a need for attention, I enrolled her in a driving course on Monday. She takes her first lesson tomorrow. I hope it goes well.” Chase wasn’t optimistic.

“For your sake, I hope it does.” Rowan chuckled.

“I’ll see you on Saturday, then.”

“Right.” Chase broke the paperclip.

“Bye.” Rowan hung up. Chase was still holding the phone.

* * * *

Rowan speed dialed Marty. “I have a date for Saturday.”

“Is he a nice guy?”

“Seems to be, he writes gay romance novels for a living.” Rowan laughed at the thought of being Chase’s latest research project.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I was just wondering if I’d wind up in a book, the Professor and the Romance Writer.” Rowan sat down on a white wicker chair in his sunroom. Marty couldn’t stop laughing. “Stop laughing at me. It isn’t that funny.”

“You laughed first,” Marty told him, indignant.

“Yeah, but you laughed longer. Listen to us, we sound like we did in middle school.” Rowan picked up a book from the glass table and blew away the dust. Oops, better get Olivia in here before Saturday.

“That’s one of the other reasons we never made it as a couple,” Marty observed.

“Why?”

“Because when we get together we act like two recalcitrant school boys, you know I’m right.”

Rowan thought a moment. “I’ll have to get back at you another time. I’m temporarily out of zingers.”

“God forbid.”

“Yeah, God forbid. I’ll get back to you and tell you how it goes.” Rowan got out Olivia’s number.

“Get the house cleaned before he comes.”

“You bastard,” Rowan said without heat.

“Nope, just know you too well, everything in its place under an inch of dust.” Rowan traced his name on the table. “Don’t fuck this up.”

“I’m hanging up now.” Rowan put down the phone and shook his head. That was always the problem, Marty knew him too well.

* * * *

Thursday

On Thursday, Chase waited for the inevitable phone call from his mother. Her driving lesson ended at two and it was two fifteen. He sat on the couch reading Sports Illustrated , with his cell on the coffee table waiting for it to ring. Aha, there is the phone now.

“Hi, Mom, how did it go?” Chase really didn’t want to ask the question if he wasn’t going to like the answers but he knew he should. He stood and went into the kitchen and held the phone to his ear with his shoulder.

“All right. I took the written test and got a learner’s permit. I drove around an empty parking lot. I did okay.”

Chase was in shock, for his mother, this was a ringing endorsement. Dare I ask, oh what the fuck? “When is your next lesson?” He expected to hear an excuse. Chase went over to his refrigerator and got a bottle of water.

“Tomorrow.” The water slipped out of his hand.

“You have another lesson tomorrow? That’s great.” Chase felt like jumping up and down. Yes!

“Mr. Schwartz said I was an excellent pupil and I picked up on things quickly.” Chase could hear her preen over the phone.

“About Saturday, you don’t need to take me to the grocery store. You said you had a date. Mr. Schwartz is going to take me.”

Really? “I’m glad you made a friend, but if you want him to stick around I’d just go to one grocery store, the meat market, and maybe the bakery.” Chase’s mind screamed, Don’t fuck it up!

“You like my pot roast, don’t you?”

“You know I do.” Please don’t ask me and my date to dinner.

“I’m going to ask Mr. Schwartz if he wants to eat some dinner after the grocery store. I can put it in the Crock-pot. Did I tell you he said he’d have me driving in three weeks? He said he’d help me find a car.”

Chase didn’t want to step on her happy but, “Maybe you and I should get the car, Mom. I know how much you can spend and…”

“Oh, don’t worry. Mr. Schwartz knows how much I can spend. He says I should drive a small car, he recommended a Mazda 2. I think that’s what he said.” Chase could hear her thinking. He picked up the bottle of water from the kitchen floor.

“A Mazda 2 is a small car and probably just what you need. Maybe he knows someone at the dealership.” Chase hoped he wasn’t getting a kickback.

“He does. He retired early and took this job to get out of the house. His wife passed, so he likes to keep busy. He used to work at the dealership.” Chase fumed. Definitely the possibility of a kick back.

“Didn’t I tell you, honey? He owned eight dealerships but he’s retired so his son runs them for him.”

Ducked the bullet. Issue a mild warning, then get the hell out of Dodge. “Be careful, don’t get involved too quickly.”

“Chase, it’s just a little dinner.” Chase stuck the water on the kitchen table and spotted a pencil. He picked it up and twirled it in his fingers.

“It’s okay, Mom, I just worry.” Why am I telling her this, I want to get out from under, don’t I?

“Well, I’m glad you worry, lately I didn’t know what to think.” Edith sniffed.

Ahh…there was the mother he knew and loved. “Have a good time on Saturday.”

“You too. Is it that boy from the supermarket?”

“Yes, Mom, it’s him.” Chase almost broke the pencil.

“Well, be nice. You don’t want to let him get away. You are getting older, Chase.”

Aghhhhhhhhhhhh . “Don’t worry about a thing, I’ll be nice and I’m not that old, I’m twenty-nine.”

“Where are you going?”

“Mom, I’m not fifteen anymore.” Silence. “I’m going to the beach and then out to dinner.”

“Be sure to bring sunblock.”

“I’m hanging up now, bye Mom.”

The phone rang almost as soon as he hung up. “You want me to pack you boys a lunch?”

“No, Mom. Rowan’s taking care of it.” Chase sighed and said, “I’ve got to go. If I want to go out on Saturday, I have to write another chapter today. Bye, Mom.”

* * * *

Friday Afternoon

Chase spent most of the morning cleaning his small house. It wasn’t very messy with just him but it did get dusty although why he was dusting the top of the refrigerator he didn’t know. Well, the guy is over six foot and hot, don’t forget hot.

The phone rang and he looked at the clock, it was 2:15.

“How was the lesson?” Chase put his phone on speaker. He sprayed the Pledge onto the coffee and end tables.

“I drove around a development today. I did very well if I must say so myself.” Chase ran a dust rag on the tables, being sure to take off the lamp and dust beneath it.

“What did Mr. Schwartz say?” Chase put the lamp back onto the end table and started on the coffee table.

“He’s making an appointment for my driving test in three weeks. On Sunday we start parallel parking.”

“Isn’t it a little expensive to have a lesson every day?” Chase frowned. Maybe he should arrange to meet the mysterious Mr. Schwartz.

“Oh, no. I stopped paying for the lessons after the first one.” Chase flopped back onto the couch. He knew his mother was an attractive woman when she put her mind to it. From the sounds of this, she was all in.

“That was nice of him. Maybe I should go with the two of you when you’re getting the car.” He didn’t want someone taking advantage of her. After all, she was his mother.

“Now listen here, Chase Summers. I am perfectly capable of picking out an automobile. I helped your father do it for nineteen years. Just because I lived in the city, doesn’t mean that I don’t know what’s what.”

“Okay Mom, so shoot me for trying to protect you,” Chase blustered.

“You were always such an obstinate little boy.” Chase rolled his eyes.

“Mom…just be careful, all right?” Chase put down his can and took the rag to the last table.

“I’m going to hang up. I have to press my blouse for tomorrow.”

“Bye, Mom.”

Chase hung up the phone shaking his head. Sticking the cell phone on the coffee table he’d just finished the dusting, he sat down in his recliner, put his legs up and grabbed his laptop. You have to do another chapter today, so get cracking.