Knitting Under the Influence

pulled her outside where he would say, “Ball?” and then walk her over to the basketball court; Zack, who was calm almost all the time now, who hardly ever screamed anymore, who learned by leaps and bounds and with whom she found herself more in love every day.

With him, at least, her relationship was uncomplicated and satisfying.

6.Casting off

I

The next week, Jason asked Sari if she could stay after Zack's session that coming Friday and have dinner at their house. “Denise wants to meet you, and she's free that evening.”

The problem with being as confused as Sari was about everything having to do with the Smith family was that she didn't even know anymore what her normal response would be to something like that. If any other father had said to her that she should stay for dinner to meet the child's mother whom she had never met before and who really should be given a chance to consult with her… would she feel obliged to say yes? Or would she have every right to say no?

When feelings of anger and desire and revenge and attraction didn't get in the way of a decision like that, then what would the decision be?

It was paralyzing, this confusion.

Jason misinterpreted her hesitation. Or, quite possibly, he interpreted it correctly. “You don't have to worry about being alone with me,” he said with a tight smile. “Denise and Maria and Zack will all be there. You won't even have to talk to me if you don't want to.”

“It's not that,” she said. “I was just trying to remember if I had plans that night.”

“Do you?”

“I don't think so.” She made up her mind. “I’ll stay.”

His face lit up, but all he said was, “Denise will be pleased.”

Denise was late. They waited for her from five-thirty until almost seven. She called four times to say she was just about out the door. After the fourth call, Jason offered Sari a drink. Sari declined-as she had the previous two times he'd offered-but he continued to have better luck with himself and filled his own glass for the third time.

So he was definitely a little drunk by the time Denise finally made her appearance at the house with a bang of the front door and an entrance into the living room that included a cheery, “Hello! Here I am!”

Sari rose to her feet, but Jason didn't get up, just raised his glass in a brief salute and said, “Welcome.”

“I’m so sorry I kept you guys waiting,” Denise said.

“No, it was good,” he said. “Gave me time to work on my show pitch. Want to hear it?”

She was still smiling brightly. “Jason-”

“No, no, it's great. Listen. An attractive young therapist moves in with an autistic kid and his family, and hilarity ensues. I mean it just ensues.”

“Ha,” Denise said. “I’ll suggest it to the network.” She strode forward to greet Sari. “Sari Hill. I can't tell you how excited I am to finally meet you. Zack has blossomed since you started working with him. It's beyond incredible.” She took Sari's hand and squeezed it warmly. “I can't ever thank you enough. There are no words.”

She had long blond hair, a perfectly toned body, and cheekbones you could trip over. She was dressed in a sleeveless silk top and a pair of carefully tailored black pants that showed off her tight ass and toned legs.

“So,” she said as she released Sari's hand and looked around.

“Where is my little Zacky, anyway?”

“That's a kind of chicken,” Jason said. He hadn't gotten up from the chair he'd been sitting on when she arrived-had, in fact, slumped even deeper into it.

“Excuse me?” she said.

“Zacky Farms. They make chickens. He's with Maria having dinner in the kitchen.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll go say hi in a sec. Do I get a glass of wine, too?”

“The bottle's over there,” he said, indicating the wet bar.

“Lovely,” she said. Sari couldn't tell if she were being sarcastic or not. “Sari, would you join me in a glass of wine?”

“No, thanks.”

“What about dinner?” Denise walked over to the wet bar, slid a glass out of the hanging rack, and poured wine with the ease of someone who knew where everything was. “I’m starving. What's the plan?”

“Ah,” Jason said. “Here's the thing about dinner. We were waiting for you to order. You were late. Therefore, we have not yet ordered.”

“Have you at least offered our guest something to eat while she's been waiting?”

“No, because you kept saying you'd be here any minute.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Denise said, swiveling back to Sari.

“You must be starved. I am so sorry. I had just assumed you'd go ahead and start eating without me. If I had known-”

“I’m fine,” Sari said. “Really. I was sharing Zack's M &M’s with him all afternoon and almost made myself sick on them. Job hazard, you know.”

“ ‘Job hazard’?” Denise repeated, raising the wineglass to her lips.

“She uses candy as a reward,” Jason said. “Which you would know if you had ever come to see her work with him.”

“It's not that I’m always shoving candy at him,” Sari said to Denise. “I don't want you to think that he's like a dog, getting a treat with every trick or anything like that. Most things he does, the reinforcement comes naturally, like if he wants to go outside and he says, ‘out,’ and then I take him outside. But the M &M’s come in handy for a lot of games and working on color names and stuff like that. Everyone likes candy!” She was talking too much, the way she always did when she got nervous.

“I see,” Denise said politely.

Sari felt like an idiot.

“Here, Denise,” Jason said. “Let me put it in terms you'll understand. Say your assistant does a really good job of lying for you when you don't want to talk to someone on the phone. You don't scream at him for five whole minutes and he gets the idea that he's been a good boy and should do lots more lying in the future. That's called positive reinforcement.”

“Jason's going to give you the wrong impression of me,” Denise said to Sari with a good-natured laugh. “I’m actually a pretty decent boss.”

“Oh, of course,” Sari said. Then: “I’m really so glad we're getting a chance to meet and talk about Zack's progress.”

“Are you kidding?” Denise said. “I wouldn't have missed this for the world. I’ve been dying to learn more about how you do what you do.”

“Sure, you have,” Jason said. “That explains your constant presence at Zack's sessions.”

Denise pivoted on her heel so she was facing him. “I work in the afternoons.” She smiled at him. “So you don't have to, I might add.”

“You might and you did,” he said. “So what should we order for dinner? I seem to be already eating shit, but I’m open to a change of menu.”

Denise turned back to Sari and took her arm. She lowered her voice. “I’m sure you realize that Jason's just trying to be funny. Sometimes drinking affects his judgment a little bit, and he's not always aware of how he sounds.” Then, in her normal voice: “I just want you to know that we couldn't be more dedicated to pulling