It was almost time to leave work after a crappy day. It seemed like there was one crisis after another, and more than a few clients were complaining. Everything was finally working, and I had calmed the nerves of the bigger clients, but I was exhausted. When my phone rang again, I clenched my teeth. But when I saw it was my niece, Maddy, calling, my shoulders relaxed, and a smile crossed my face.
Maddy was my eldest brother's daughter. She was going to college about 20 miles from my suburban house, and I tried to take her to dinner at least once a month to catch up. She and I always hung out together at family gatherings. My two brothers were twelve and ten years older than me; I think I was a real surprise to my parents. But I was only thirteen years older than Maddy, so during her early teen years, when she needed to complain about her parents, she would call me. Of course, like most teens, she - AND her parents - managed to survive those hormone-fueled blowups, and she turned into a wonderful person. She was spending the summer at school, working on a research project.
"Hi, sweetheart, how are you?" I answered my phone.
"Great, Uncle Ethan, how about you?"
"Truthfully, I was in a real shitty mood after a real shitty day, but hearing your voice makes it all better. What's going on?"
"Welllllll...," she started, letting me know she was about to ask for something, "I was kinda wondering... you know, my 21
st
birthday is coming up."
"Of course I know. You can finally have your FIRST drink in a bar!"
"Uh, yeah... that's right... my first drink," she said laughing. "But I have a HUGE favor to ask you."
"You know I can never say no to you, Maddy," I said with a chuckle. It was pretty-much true.
"So, with the holiday weekend coming up, I was wondering If a few of my girlfriends and I could come stay with you at your lake house."
"Well, let's see. It doesn't look like I have any group tours coming in that weekend," I laughed, "so I'd love to have you and your friends."
"THANKS, Uncle Ethan! I really appreciate it. And, ummm..." She paused for a few seconds. "Would it be okay if some guys came to visit on Saturday. They won't stay the night, but I thought maybe they could join us for some swimming and dinner."
"GUYS?" I asked with faux shock. "Are you old enough to play with guys?" I asked, hearing her laugh in the background. "Yes, Maddy, that's fine. But not overnight. I don't want to explain that to your parents."
"THANK YOU SO MUCH, Uncle Ethan," she almost yelled. I was smiling knowing she was happy. "I'll let you know when we plan to show up. I think they'll be four other girls, besides me."
"Okay, sweetheart. Looking forward to seeing you."
I left the office in a much better mood than I had been in fifteen minutes earlier.
Maddy and I exchanged a few text messages over the next couple of weeks to finalize plans. The girls were coming up early Friday, so I decided to head up on Wednesday and work from the lake house for a couple of days. I told her I would barbecue any nights she wanted, or we could order in whenever she wanted. She said barbecuing would be great Friday night, and that Saturday night they'd all probably head out for dinner and hit some bars. I questioned her about drinking Saturday night if the guys were driving home, but she assured me they'd either have a designated driver or they'd uber to a local motel - they hadn't made up their mind yet. I pressed her on this, but she promised no one would be driving after drinking.
I left early Wednesday morning - it's less than 90 minutes from my house to the lake house. I hooked up my laptop to the monitor and the USB hub which I leave up there which includes a nice speaker / microphone and a ring light for zoom calls. I logged in and started my normal workday. I was happy to see there were no emails about overnight crises, so I could actually concentrate on my own to-do list rather than fighting fires.
At 4:00, I decided I was ready for the long weekend, which I extended by taking Friday off, too. I set up my out-of-office autoreply, sent a final note to my boss and a couple of direct reports, and I walked away from my desk. I went to the grocery store and the liquor store to buy supplies, and I was ready to forget about work for a few days.
The girls arrived a little after 10:00 on Friday morning. When I opened the door, Maddy gave me a big hug.
"This is Uncle Ethan," she said to everyone after releasing me.
The first girl behind her said, "Hi, I'm Mia."
Then she gave me a very tight hug, smashing her rather large boobs against me.
"Jesus, Mia, can't you even wait before you smother the guy?" one of the girls behind her said. Everyone laughed.
Each of the other girls introduced themselves without giving me a hug. The last girl, Sydney, thanked me for letting them all come to my house to celebrate with Maddy.
Maddy knew the place well, so she assigned rooms. Then she told everyone to put on bathing suits, as she turned toward me.
"Is the hot tub fired up?"
"Of course," I said.
There was a large hot tub at the top of the pool, with the water flowing from it into the main swimming pool. My ex-girlfriend and I used to enjoy that hot tub...
I didn't put on my bathing suit - I thought it would be creepy for me to be sitting in the hot tub with five college girls. I went out and skimmed the pool to remove a couple of leaves that had blown in. When the girls came out, I'll admit that I probably stared a little too long; hopefully, my sunglasses made it a little less obvious where I was looking. They were all good-looking girls with nice bodies. And their bikinis showed a lot of those bodies. There was nothing inappropriate - no little triangles that only covered their nipples and no thong bottoms - but there was certainly a lot of skin on display. And this 33-year-old couldn't help but notice.
After a few minutes, Mia - of course it was Mia - yelled, "Hey, Uncle Ethan!" When I looked toward her, all the girls were looking at me. "Aren't you going to join us?"
"Not right now," I replied. "Maybe later."
"Okay," Mia yelled back. "I'm gonna hold you to that."
Then she said something softer, which I couldn't hear, and all the girls started laughing.
Around noon, I asked if the girls were hungry. Getting an affirmative answer, I said I had some stuff for lunch.
"I'll help you," Sydney called out, and she started getting out of the hot tub.
"You don't have to. I can handle it," I said, but she was already out, wrapping a towel around her waist and walking toward me. She helped me put out the salads I had bought - tuna, chicken salad, egg salad, and some cold cuts with bread and rolls. We set it up in the outdoor kitchen area, and we all sat at the big outdoor table. I learned a little about each of the girls - where they were from, what they were majoring in... the usual stuff you ask college kids. When I asked the first girl how she met Maddy, she said they were ALL sorority sisters.
Maddy always had lots of friends. She was a really nice person and was friendly with everyone - regardless of their "group". She was friendly with the popular kids, the smart kids, the uncool "nerds" - really everyone. So, even though she was in a sorority which apparently had lots of good-looking women (based on a small sample of five), my bet would be that she had lots of friends who some of her sorority sisters wouldn't even talk to.
After lunch, Maddy said she was going to take the girls to the lake. She asked if I wanted to join them, but, again, I declined.
"C'mon, Uncle Ethan. Don't you want to play with us?" Mia asked in an overtly sexual way.
"Not this time," I said again. "You guys go have fun."
"Okay," Mia said, "but don't forget you promised to play with us later."
I shook my head with an amused look. The rest of the girls shook their heads with eye rolls.