Part 67
Zander was stuck going against his original vow; never to go to Oksana's house.
But Peter and Rosa were there. Supposedly, Pete was in this town to see more of him, so it was asking a little much to demand that he always get in the car and go somewhere else to see him, when he had school and soccer practice and homework. The house was big, and Oksana wouldn't always be there, and Zander tried telling himself that he didn't have to get into an argument with her every time he saw her – maybe he could manage a time or two without one.
So he went over in the late one afternoon, after work, and Pete was hitting tennis balls. He played tennis against Pete for awhile. "You are rusty, Sander," Pete said. "I remember how good you were, and I can't be beating you like this except that you must not have played in a long while."
"You're good," Zander said. "It's that."
"No way can I be as good as you were! See now, aren't you glad we're here, Sandy? Now you have a tennis court and you can practice and get back up to speed. You like it, I know."
Oksana came outside. No such luck as she could be gone just then.
"What are you doing with the school stuff?" she asked Zander, as if they'd never been estranged and he had merely been lazy about signing up for college.
"Researching," he said, deciding against telling her it was none of her business, in the interest of not having an argument with Pete around. Pete was chasing after a couple of balls and then hitting them a few more times, and then chasing them again.
"You need a tutor. Mrs. Connor said so."
"Would you let Mrs. Connor pick this tutor?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Why not? She's a teacher. She can do a better job than me."
"Really?" he said.
"Why wouldn't I?" she asked. "She's a teacher. It's her field. If she wants to do it. Why are you thinking I won't?"
"I don't know."
"Well, she can pick him, or her, if you want. If that'll convince you to take the tutor."
"OK, if you can do one other thing."
"What's that?"
"Talk to Dr. Baldwin. My psychiatrist, the one Alexis sent me to. Dr. Baldwin wants to talk to you."
"Me? How come?"
"I don't know. Shrink stuff. It's her field."
"What does she want me to do?"
"I don't know. It's not that hard. You go there and talk, that's all. She wanted to talk to you. That's all. She knows what she's doing."
"I've never talked to someone like that before. I don't know what they do to you."
"Nothing scary. You talk to her. That's it."
"She doesn't try to get you to take drugs, does she?"
"No! She hasn't said a word about that! Look, Oksana, are you going or not?"
"She wants to talk to your father?"
"No, she didn't mention Dad, so far."
"Why do you call me Oksana but say 'Dad' and call him 'Dad'?" she asked.
"I don't know," he answered. "He's got me feeling more easy going around him already. Does it matter that much? Are you going to go and talk to Dr. Baldwin or not?"
She looked off toward Peter, and then rolled her eyes. "All right," she said. "I'll call her tomorrow."
