Jane is headed home with Miller

Advice given to Nadia, a young Russian who works with Lilly at Dillard's, on the news that some guy she met last night wants to marry her (so she can remain in the States): Remember, no man's motives are pure.

Yeh, I'd jump her bones.

Jane is enroute Raleigh with Miller. Due in later this afternoon. I'm at the job, dreading the mounts of work that remains to be done after the holiday weekend.

Last night, I drove out the Dillard's to pick Lilly up. Ralph was with me; we had the little Kia. We drove up and there was Lilly and Nadia and two other cute young women. I waved to Nadia and told her we could drive her home. Turns out I didn't know the half of it.

Soon, Ralph was in the back, squeezed in the seat with Nadia and the two other women, both Bulgarians here working... and looking for ways to stay. Lilly was in the front seat and I was driving; I got home without getting stopped by the cops. Lilly had invited everyone back to the house in preparation for the fire works. I'm thinking, "What the hell are we doing for dinner?" I ended up cooking a traditional Fourth of July fare: Mexican food... tortilla flats, ground meat, shredded chicken, refried beans, cheese, tomatoes -- a make-you-own-burrito feast.

At dinner we all chatted, the three foreigners about what they'd seen in the States (not much) and Lilly and Ralph and I making recommendations on what they ought to see. And the Bulgarians were wondering how they might be able to stay in the country; perhaps they could join the military (with the inability of our recruiters to fill the ranks, I suspect we are becoming like the French Foreign Legion). We had fun, with a slew of flirting going on. Nadia said she wanted to go to university down in Wilmington; I told her I'd tutor her in English so she could pass the TOEFL. This gag went on most of the night.

After dinner, Lilly's new friend Mike Jones and his buddy Justin came over to join us as we all headed out to see the fireworks. After the fireworks, Ralph and I came back to the house, and then the five twenty-somethings wandered back in. I started doing the dishes; at one point I went into the dining room to get the stuff which remained. Nadia offered to help clear the table; she was the only one; she can come over at any point. She cleared and I stood at the sink rinsing and washing and putting stuff in the dishwasher and we talked every time she came in with something else. Tutoring. She smiled every time... we'd focus on adjectives to start. "No time like tonight." Or perhaps we'd do verbs; did she prefer linking verbs or action verbs. "Action verbs," she said with a smile. I should'a figured.

Anyway, the Bulgarians skipped out and then Lilly and Nadia and Mike Jones and Justin headed out to some bar. I told Nadia we could start the tutoring when they came back.

At two in the morning, the phone rang. It was Lilly; she'd locked herself out... hadn't taken keys with her. I threw on a towel and stumbled downstairs. Lilly was at the door... with Mike Jones behind her. I let them in, half wanting to see Nadia for her tutoring lesson. She wasn't there.

Seems she was at her apartment with Justin. He'd told her at the bar that he wanted to marry her, to help her stay in the States.

Tutoring. Or a marriage for immigration. Either way, no man's motives are pure.

And Jane is due home in two and a half hours. And I have plenty of work on my desk I ought to plough threw this afternoon rather than blogging.