Megan decided to wait a few days and see what happened. Maybe things would change of their own volition and she wouldn’t be faced with making such a difficult decision.
True to form, as she was faced with confusion in her own life, things began to stabilize around her. Carrie, ever malleable, had given up on diapers and immersed herself in another trend. This time, it was faux-urbanism, her most radical departure to date. She seemed happy enough and Megan left her alone. Stephen put his trouble making on hold and took up karate instead. Oddly, this had been Nancy’s idea: she believed it would give him a little self-discipline. She and Drew had an anniversary coming up and they were actively planning some sort of romantic getaway. As if she didn’t have enough on her mind already, Megan seemed at a loss for what she could get her parents.
“Why don’t you and your brother and your sister all go on vacation?” Raul had suggested. “That’d make them happy.”
Megan smiled but shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“What about cash? That always works.”
“I’m not giving my parents cash for their anniversary!” Megan protested.
“Fine. Suit yourself.”
“Don’t worry,” Natalie affirmed. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
It was her first day back and Josh’s as well. Aside from picking up a slight cold, he’d had such a great vacation that nobody wanted to ruin the memory of it by telling him what happened. Vern explained that he’d break the news eventually, but until then everyone was to keep his or her mouth shut. In the meantime, they were interviewing security guard candidates for “precautionary reasons.” To keep costs down, they avoided contacting a professional service and instead had placed a want ad seeking someone with “imposing physical build or demeanor. A police or military background is preferred.”
So far, there had been a fairly steady stream of candidates in and out of Vern’s office. Megan and her co-workers had a bet running on who would get the job. Among the candidates in the race were an ex-Marine, two police officers (both female) and a guy named Gus who “used to play college ball” and was “handy with his fists.”
“That’s my man right there,” Raul bragged.
Megan scoffed. She had her bet on one of the police officers, a younger woman who could deal with any problems should they arise but would not scare off customers. Natalie was backing the ex-Marine.
“I don’t know,” Megan contended. “That guy looks like he has no personality.”
“Well, we already have Josh,” she joked. “And Dario.”
“Hey…lay off of Dario.”
She realized that she had been quick to defend him. Perhaps, a bit too quick….
As the day progressed, the stream of candidates gradually trickled down to an eventual halt. Periodically, either Megan or Natalie or Raul would pop into the office and ask Vern and Josh if they’d made a decision yet. The answer they received had been consistent: no. The delay only heightened speculation and the stakes were raised. Even a customer demanded to get in on the action.
“I’m sorry,” Megan politely informed them. “But we don’t allow gambling here.”
“But…. but you’re……”
“It’s an employees only privilege,” Natalie said with a smug smile.
Megan glanced at her watch. Her shift would be ending soon and a choice still had not been made. She didn’t even know who was on the list for callbacks, if such a list existed. The waiting made her cranky. She wanted to win (or lose) her money and she wanted it now!
“Damnit Josh,” she said to herself. “Pick already.”
“You know what?” Raul interjected. “I think I’m gonna apply.”
Natalie chuckled. “You already work here!”
“I know. But maybe it’ll pay more.”
“Don’t even think about it!” Vern hollered.
Megan sighed.
“Looks like I’ll have to find out tomorrow. I’m out of here.”
Before she could leave, however, Josh emerged from the office with a triumphant grin on his face.
“Attention, all my minions…. er…. employees,” he declared. “Barring a disastrous second interview, we have a new security guard. Mr. Jed Brazell.”
“Which one is that?” Natalie asked.
“I think that’s your marine,” Megan informed her.
“Oh. Cool. Money for me!”
Megan and Raul begrudgingly reached into their wallets to pay her. She seemed happy to have won the bet, Megan thought. It looked like whatever nightmares she’d had had ended.
In contrast to the constant metamorphosis that was Bledsoe’s these days, Megan’s life at home remained surprisingly stable. She lapsed into a steady, yet comfortable routine: diaper change, nap, write in journal, eat dinner with family, go out with friends (if she felt like it and they had the time), lather, rinse and repeat. Her initial fears that her regression would escalate at an uncontrollable rate proved to be unfounded. She hardly did anything more than suck her thumb (or pacifier) and color or play with toys. Even then, she was lucid.
“I’m not a mental case,” Megan affirmed as she tapped her feathered pen against the spine of her journal. “Maybe just Howard Stern material.”
For the first time all summer, the change that surrounded her did not seem impossible for her to swallow. Yes, she would eventually have to settle the guy situation and Jess’s impending wedding would be a period of stress for the entire family, but there was no pressure. Megan felt as if she could finally breathe easy.
Sometime after dinner but before she finalized her plans for the evening, she received a call from Bledsoe’s. It was Josh.
“Hey. How’s the cold?”
“It’s….” he began, than paused to blow his nose. “Going away.”
Megan grinned. “Yeah…. I can tell.”
“Meg, do you think you can come in tonight? We need to talk.”
“Umm…OK. When?”
“Preferably now.”
Megan bit her lip in concern. “What’s this about?”
Josh cleared his throat. “Well…. we had a second interview with Jed. He got the job, by the way.”
“Good for him.”
“And one of the first things he did was to take a look at the security tapes for the past two weeks.”
“Yeah….” Megan replied, still not comprehending. Suddenly, it hit her. Dario. Her teasing of him. The ice cream. Everything…and it was caught on tape. Horror seized her and she helplessly wet her diaper. A scream welled up inside her throat but could not burst forth. She felt like the kid whose pants fell down while they were accepting an award in front of a large crowd.
“Meg?”
“Josh,” she croaked. “Am I in trouble?”
“Well…” he answered. “I wish I could say that you aren’t. But I honestly don’t know. Come on in and we’ll see if we can sort it out. OK?”
“OK,” Megan echoed and hung up.
She was crying by then and feeling very, very bad for herself. The two worlds, the two perfectly balanced sides that she had worked so hard on keeping separate had just collided. And she had no one to blame but herself. She supposed it was time to face the music now. Who knows…. it might not be that bad. Ah, who was she kidding. It was horrible! They had her on tape. Then again, Josh said he was confused. Maybe she could offer him another explanation. It was on a dare. No, wait. Dario made me do it. No….
“Damnit!” she sniffled. Never had she needed an out more than she did then.
A.)Megan decided to come clean. At the very least, she wouldn’t have anything to hide any more. Who knows? Maybe they’d understand. Just maybe. Yeah…. right. But what choice did she have?
B.)Megan threw some cold water on her face and began to formulate an excuse. It would be the excuse of all excuses, the biggest whopper of a lie she ever told, but if the end result was saving her diapered butt, she was more than willing to give it a try. Of course, they might not buy it…