Chapter Fifteen
Steve
He knew that people from the Fair-Weather Friends Fan Club didn’t believe that he was Faith’s boyfriend. Steve could sense it even though he brought along the picture of the two of them at the beach as proof of their relationship.
It didn’t matter what those idiots thought, he knew the truth. Faith was his girlfriend and he got her pregnant. They had even talked about names: Zeus for a boy and Charity for a girl. They both liked strong boy names, and Steve knew Faith would want to name a girl after her sister.
He remembered when Faith had shown him the pregnancy test, how she cried with joy and how they made wild love on the silk sheets of her king-sized bed in her fancy apartment in the sky.
It all started when he opened that first letter from her, the day he was getting the mail at the end of the driveway.
He read and reread the letter probably two hundred times, kissed and then licked her eight-by-ten photo all over, and tucked both under the pillow of the twin bed he’d had since childhood.
He could barely sleep, he was so excited.
Faith was going to be his soon! He would be touching her, caressing her.
His face flushed and he stayed up until five AM, masturbating more in one night than he ever had.
She said she would write to him and for him not to write to her so he waited anxiously, debating what to do if she didn’t make that next move, but just three days later another letter came.
His heart soared when he saw it. She was as good as her word! When he opened it he was thrilled that she had really ramped it up: She said she had set up a private email address for the two of them to converse away from the eyes of management. And she said she was starting to fall in love with him.
His thought was Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
He ran (for the first time in twenty years) as fast as he could from the mailbox to the house and straight to the laptop computer his mom and dad kept on a desk in a corner of the dining room.
Panting, he frantically typed in the email address. He fired this off:
You’re the best Faith. I love you too. When should we meet?
An hour later came the response:
Let’s just flirt like this for a while. It’ll be fun. I’ll go first. Here’s a picture of me in my bedroom. Do you like what you see?
The photo was a selfie taken in a full-length mirror. It was from the neck down and she was wearing a very short silk bathrobe that was showing cleavage. He almost fell off his chair but was conscious that his mother was in the kitchen one room over making dinner.
“Stevie,” she called. “Food will be ready in twenty minutes. Did you get the mail?”
“Yeah, uh … I’ll uh … I’ll leave it on the table for you. I’m not hungry. I’m going to hang out in my room.”
“Not hungry? But it’s your favorite, meat loaf,” she said, and he noted a tinge of pleading in her voice. She had been using that tone since he was a child, always with him, never with his sister who was married with kids and had a job she enjoyed as a dental hygienist.
“Maybe later, Ma.”
He needed time alone with Faith, time to examine every inch of that photo and to take a selfie of his own to send back.
From there they had tons of fun sending photos.
Faith said she would send two or three a week, and he checked email incessantly until they came in.
He wasn’t really good at this “sexy selfie” thing, so he just emulated her.
If she took a picture of her bare shoulder, he took one of his.
If she was standing in her underwear, so was he.
If she had a hand on a hip, he did too. They agreed to never show anything above the neck because she said, “You know what my face looks like. Now it’s time to get to know my body,” and he thought that was a great idea.
It went on like this for more than a month.
He would watch Channel 9 at night with his parents, who had no clue what was happening between him and Faith.
But both his mom and dad were fans of Faith.
“She’s as cute as a button,” his mother had said more than once. “And that earring forecast is clever.”
“Yeah, I never thought no one could replace Jack but she’s a good one they got over there,” his dad offered.
“Do you like her forecasts?” his mom asked, turning to Steve.
“Aww, she’s all right,” he lied.
Meanwhile, he was having a ball emailing sexy things with Faith but he also started to get frustrated that they couldn’t meet. He asked her for that first date multiple times but she always had an excuse or said she wanted to keep sending pictures.
Then one night she announced on the air that the whole weather team would be at an R&B festival Saturday with the Storm Chaser vehicle. The four meteorologists planned to greet people and sign autographs.
He decided to surprise her.
He put on his best jean shorts and clean white socks, plus he asked his mother to iron a polo shirt for him.
“Where are you going, Stevie?” she asked.
“Just out,” he replied, and she looked happy. He knew his parents were always pleased to see him leaving the house.
At the festival he ignored the food and music and beelined straight to the queue of viewers waiting to see the weather team.
Matthew, Abby, and Chuck were there along with Faith.
The line was long plus Steve was anxious, so he pushed his way past an older couple about midway through the line, telling them he had to cut because he was in a hurry. They glared at him.
As he got closer to Faith he felt his excitement rise. She was going to be thrilled to see him! A boyfriend who comes out to show you support! A boyfriend who surprises you!
She was standing at the end of the line of the four meteorologists, next to Matthew.
She looked so good, in shorts and another station-issued polo shirt.
She was saying “Thank you for watching Channel 9” to each person but he knew he would get something else.
He imagined her eyes widening when she saw him and her mouth opening in shock.
He figured she would whisper, “Steve! Wait for me when I’m done,” or something like that.
He did a perfunctory handshake with Chuck, Abby, and Matthew and he was next to get to Faith. He waited for her to finish with the woman in front of him and then to catch his eye.
Her gaze slid over to him but she showed no recognition as she put her hand out and said, “Hi, thank you for watching Channel 9.”
What?! He was tongue-tied. Why was she acting like this? She must not recognize him right off the bat.
“It’s me, Steve,” he said. She looked blank. He tried again.
“Steve. Your boyfriend. We’ve been having fun with the pictures.”
Faith looked uncomfortable. Matthew glanced over at the two of them.
“Uh, OK, hi, Steve,” she said. “Thank you for watching Channel 9.”
Then she was on to the couple behind him and he was being pushed to the side. He slunk away, confused and humiliated, and when he looked back he saw Matthew staring at him.
Finding a spot under a tree, Steve watched Faith until the line dwindled to nothing.
He was thinking that he would talk to her again after the event and try to figure out why she was acting so aloof.
Yet, as soon as it was over, Faith, Matthew, Abby, and Chuck all got into the Storm Tracker and drove away.
He didn’t have a chance to get close to her.
Pulling out his phone, he fired off an email right there.
What’s going on? You were acting like you don’t know me today.
It wasn’t until that night that he got a response.
I’m sorry, honey. I just didn’t want Matthew and the others to know about us.
Oh, OK, that made sense. He guessed he could forgive her, but if they were going to be boyfriend and girlfriend they also needed to step out in public at some point, so he tried again.
Want to go to Applebee’s tomorrow?
She didn’t reply, and the next day he tried yet again, asking the same question. Still no response. He was baffled and angry and was about to tell her that when she finally wrote.
You know what would be even better for me for now? Can you follow me home at night in your car and come out to every event I am at to be sure I’m safe? There’s a weird dude stalking me and I would love your protection. I will email you my schedule of events.
He wrote back immediately:
Of course. I can start tonight
She might not have realized that he had already followed her home plenty of times.
He knew the route well. But now that she had authorized it he could be a little more public about it.
He thought he would honk as she turned into her parking ramp at the Three Diamonds, or be sure she saw him at every public event.
And that’s when their relationship really took off.
She trusted him. He followed her home, honking each time so she knew she was safe.
She emailed the list of events and he went to every one.
She told him she couldn’t talk to him at these but that just being there made her feel safe and protected, so he clung to that.
And they fell even more deeply, madly in love, culminating with the pregnancy.
She told him that the very first person she shared the good news with was her sister, Hope.
Steve had read a magazine article about Faith when she first moved back to Detroit and he knew that she had two sisters: Charity, the one who died very young, and Hope, the one she was close to now.