From Here to Paternity

joined them. He wasn’t a big man by any means, but he had a wiry, rugged look. And, as soon became apparent, the manners to match. Joanna introduced him to Jane and he merely grunted noncommittally. “That damned kid thinks he’s on vacation or something,“ he groused.
    It took them all a moment to realize he meant the employee he’d just been talking to. “Told him twice to clean the storeroom and it hasn’t been done yet. I told Pete it was a mistake to hire a white kid for the job. The Indians work much better. They don’t want to yammer around socializing with all the swimmers. They just want to do their job and get paid and go home.“
    “Now, Bill,“ Joanna said soothingly, “you know the guests like Tory. They’re always saying how nice he is.“
    “ ‘Nice’ don’t get the storeroom cleaned. And what the hell kind of name is Tory, anyway?“
    Jane suddenly understood why he’d been so happy with the hunters’ cabins and felt the resort was such hard work. The man wasn’t suited to it at all. He was a tough, macho, reactionary old buzzard. Still, it had been his own choice, and in his own way he was good at it. At least, he must be for the place to be so nice and successful. Tenny’s responsibilities must have extended to keeping him out of the way of the guests. Jane noticed that Joanna had finished a light yellow row on her granny square and had selected a bright neon pink for the next row. Yes, between hiding Joanna’s ghastly domestic products and Bill’s abrasive personality, Tenny had a full-time job.
    As they’d been talking, Jane had been watching Todd and John, who were starting to look like big white raisins with blurry red eyes. She excused herself, got them out of the pool and dried off, and insisted, over their halfhearted protests, that it was time to get dressed and rest for a while. While they were getting ready, she brought them burgers and fries packed in the reusable padded boxes the resort used for carry out orders.
    When she came back to the pool, the boys were bundled up and ready to go. She took her leave of Shelley and the owners, saying she needed to dress for dinner, and abandoned Shelley to the Smiths. Shelley wouldn’t mind; she was in corporate-wife mode. Jane had tried to get the girls out of the pool, but they were determined to stay and claimed that Tory had told them they could eat dinner at poolside. Jane and the boys walked back to her quarters, taking the shortcut through the woods this time. It had gotten dark quite suddenly and snow was falling, but the path was clear and lighted at five-foot intervals with little lanterns. She reached her door just as Mel did from the other direction.
    “You’ve napped. I can tell,“ Jane said.
    “Sheet creases on my face?“
    “No, just bright eyes and a nice smile. Are you ready for dinner?“
    “I can’t ever remember being hungrier.“
    “Good. I’ll change fast.“
    “I’ll go back and let the boys in and get them set-tied for the evening,“ he offered. He returned a few minutes later and came in and turned on CNN in the living room while Jane ran a comb through her hair, put on fresh makeup and some of her new clothes. Shelley had made her shop before coming on this trip, and her “best dress“ for the resort was a long red suede skirt that not only had been on sale, but fit her perfectly. Shopping never went that well for her unless Shelley was along. Bargains of this sort seemed to call a siren song to Shelley as she stepped over the threshold of a dress shop. She’d stand for a moment, head cocked, eyes half closed, then head directly for the best deal in the store. With the red skirt, Shelley had selected a cream silk blouse and a sweater/jacket with the cream of the blouse, the red of the skirt, and several shades of khaki and brown in a splashy leaf-like pattern. It was really a stunning outfit.
    “Wow!“ Mel said, when she reappeared. “You look great!“
    “Shelley picked it all out,“ Jane admitted. “Let’s go. Oh, I almost forgot again. I’ve been carrying around a folder that belongs to one of the genealogy people.“
    “Why are you carrying it around?“
    Jane explained briefly about the genealogy debate and how she’d run into Doris Schmidtheiser and helped pick up her papers, but Doris had fled in mortification before Jane could hand these over. “I just need to drop them off on the way to dinner. I checked on where she’s staying and it’s on our way. I meant to