Chapter 33
Ron drove up to fetch Zoe from her house about noon the next day. This time she did not come bounding out as he pulled up. He turned the car off and walked up to the door. When he rang the bell, Zoe’s mother answered.
Donna Savron was a short woman with shoulder length brown hair. She was round and full and had a sense of the voluptuous about her. She did not smile as she extended her hand towards Ron and said, “Well, it’s nice to finally get to meet you. Usually Zoe just runs out of the house. She sits here by the window and watches for your car and then she is gone. We have been wondering if there was something so strange about you that she doesn’t want to give us the chance to get a look at you.”
Ron didn’t know what to say to that. He took her hand and found it warm and dry. He looked down at it and saw traces of paint smeared on her fingers. He smiled into her face and said, “I hope that you had a good holiday.”
The woman seemed surprised at the comment and took at step back. She turned to the side so that Ron could see the room. “Come in for a few moments, Ron. I’d like you to meet my husband.”
Paul Savron was seated in an easy chair in his study. The TV was not playing. Dark framed glasses were laying closed on top of a book that was resting in his lap. Ron tried to get a look at the title. He read ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS AND SOCIETY and immediately lost interest. He stuck out his hand and said, “Ron Tuck, nice to meet you.”
Pavel looked at his hand and then up to Ron’s face. It seemed to Ron that he took his hand reluctantly and shook it. Ron thought that he had felt cold and a bit weak. “Glad to finally meet you,” said Savron.
Ron thought that both of them said that with a hint of accusation in their voices. He wondered where Zoe was. It wasn’t like her to keep him waiting like this. “What is it that you do for a living Ron?”
“I’m a teacher,” said Ron.
“Yes,” said Savron. He nodded his white haired head slowly. “In a Catholic girls’ school, isn’t that right?
“Yes,” said Ron.
“In Newark, isn’t that right?”
“Yes,” said Ron.
“Is that what you intend to do?” said Savron.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Ron answered.
It was then that Zoe burst into the room. She did not run to Ron and put her arms around him. She stayed in the doorway smiling and nervous. She looked between her father and Ron.
“Come in Zoe,” said Savron. Ron felt like he was giving her permission to enter the room and that she had been standing there waiting for it. “Ron and I have just been getting to know each other.”
“What is it that you do Paul?” said Ron.
Ron watched as Savron absorbed the question. Then, still without answering he looked at Zoe. With his eyes still on his daughter, he said “I’m an account executive for Standard Brands.”
Ron crossed the room to Zoe and took her into his arms and kissed her. Zoe molded her body into him for the kiss and then seemed to stiffen and pull back.
“I was on the phone with Laureen,” she said. “They want us to go down there for dinner tonight.”
In the car, when they got into the corner, Zoe reached over and put her hand between his legs. She squeezed him with one hand and she waved goodbye to the house with the other. Ron could see her smiling and her sisters waving down from one of the upstairs rooms. They were waving and smiling too.
Zoe said, “I thought you handled that really well.”
“Handled what?” said Ron.
“My father,” said Zoe.
“I was only there for a few minutes,” Ron said.
“Wasn’t that enough?” she answered.
Her fingers were caressing between his legs and he was as hard as heated wood. “You better stop that or it’s gonna happen right in my pants, sad Ron. “I’m really horny.”
Zoe giggled. “I’m glad that you are. I’d be worried if you weren’t.”
“They do know that we are living together, don’t they?” said Ron.
“My mother does.”
“What about your father?”
“We haven’t talked about it.”
Ron looked at her and did not understand. “What do you mean? Where does he think that you sleep at night?”
“We haven’t talked about it,” she said again and shrugged. “I suppose my mom has told him.
When they got back to their apartment, Zoe knelt down and undid his belt, but instead of unzipping his pants, she pulled the belt from around his waist. “I want you to punish me for running away so that I learn to not do it again,” she said. The she turned on all fours unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down to her thighs and held up her bare ass for him and waited.
Ron wasn’t sure that he wanted to whip her with his belt. But there she was and she was waiting. It was what she expected of him. She folded her hands over the back of her head and said, “Please don’t hurt me too much.”