Chapter 57

Tuesday, June 19

I slept well after my date with Bethany, blue balls notwithstanding, probably because of the ordeal her grandmother and George Patterson had subjected me to.

Tuesday would have been a great day to sleep in except for the fact that Jed was expecting me at the driving range and Dad was expecting me to do the yard. I dragged myself out of bed and got going on another day, scarfing down a bowl of cereal and a glass of pineapple juice before I went to the club.

While we were stretching, I told Jed I would have to cut tonight’s weight session so I could turn in early in preparation for the flight to California. I’d totally spaced on weight training when I asked Jan Metzger out.

“I’m going to have to get up at 4 a.m. to be ready to leave by 5 and make the airport by 6,” I said. “Maybe I can get it in this afternoon.”

“I get off work at 2,” he said. “Be there no later than that. I’ll spot for you.”

We ran, snapped, huddled and dispersed. I ran home to do my yardwork, making sure to spread more fertilizer around the elm, and made myself some lunch around 1 p.m. Since I was about to go work out again in just an hour, I passed on the shower. I knew Jed could handle the stench.

Instead, I laid out enough clothes to last until I returned Friday. Let’s see, two pairs of slacks, one of which I’d wear tonight, two pairs of cargo shorts, a polo, an Oxford cloth for tonight, two T-shirts and three pairs of boxers. No one in California would care that I wasn’t wearing socks.

I put the clothes I’d wear this evening to one side and put the rest in a small nylon duffle that I could carry on. I made sure deck shoes and loafers were handy just in case I got far enough off the beach to wear shoes, and grabbed my flip-flops for other times. The sneakers I wore for workouts could spend a few days airing out. My toilet kit would have to wait until I was done getting ready for this evening.

Mom had surprisingly gone along with the idea of me staying in one of Arlene’s guest rooms, I think more to avoid disruption here with a 5 a.m. departure than for my convenience. Dad was suitably jealous, but held his tongue. At least in my presence.

With that done, I headed back to the club to get my weight work in. I got there early enough to tell Arlene that I was almost packed and would get to her place after dinner, I just left out with whom I was dining. We’d agreed that I’d just go to the apartment since she was also going to try to get to bed early.

When Jed shouted that he was ready, the entire contingent of the Gang of Eight in attendance and their den mother followed us to the gym. Keri and Erin B. I could understand as they wanted to get in a session. Staci would wait for her regular session with the cheerleaders, but joined Arlene, Bethany, Callie and Erin A., who just tagged along to watch.

Jed said he would lift with the rest of the crew this evening, so I zipped through my workout even with him adding about 10 pounds per station. I was repping 185 on the bench without a problem.

Once I was done, I said my farewell to the girls. Bethany, claiming “interim girlfriend” rights, gave me a kiss to remind me to call her Friday. The four girls other than Keri, claiming “future interim girlfriend” status, also lined up for a kiss, which caused Bethany to have to get one more so she was sure to be the last one on my mind.

I made it back home by 3 and immediately jumped in the shower to wash off the day’s activities. I performed every ablution I could think of as much to make sure I would be able to go a day without, thus eliminating the need to go digging through my bag to find something in the morning, as to prepare for my date with Jan Metzger.

With nothing else to do, I loaded my bag and tablet in the trunk of the Beemer and went for a drive. I stopped to fuel up since all my driving Saturday, Sunday and Monday had the gauge down to a quarter tank. It was a quarter ‘til when I finished that task and headed out to the Metzgers’ for the second evening in a row.

Jan opened the door still trying to attach a hoop earring to her left ear. She was wearing an almost identical outfit to what Bethany had the night before. The biggest differences were her tank top was closer to burnt orange than peach and her sandals had a low heel. She locked the house, dropping her keychain into a pocket of her denim jacket, slipped an arm through mine and pulled me toward my car.

“Let’s go, Boy Scout,” she said. “Bethany’s spending the evening with Callie Dawson. I’ve got at least six hours to myself and I’m not going to waste it.”

I held the passenger door and handed her to her seat. Once in the driver’s seat, I asked if she had any place in particular she wanted to go.

“You said exactly the same as Bethany,” she said. “Take me where you took her.”

“How exactly are you wanting to do what she did?” I asked.

“Exactly,” she said. “Now get moving.”

“OK,” I said as I turned the key. “I’m not trying to get Bethany in trouble or put one over on you, but as soon as we turned the corner up there at the stop sign, she took her bra off.”

“And you didn’t try anything after that? You really are a Boy Scout,” she said, trying to find the lie in my words. “What the hell. I can afford to let the girls run free for a night.”

With that, she shrugged out of the jacket, performed the same contortion act her daughter had and pulled a lacy, black number out of an arm hole. Just like her daughter, she decided to stash it in the glovebox, finding Bethany’s still there.

“I thought you were shitting me, just trying to see what I’d fall for,” she said, holding her daughter’s garment up. “Arlene said you had a habit of collecting trophies. Looks like you’ve got some more.”

My glovebox seemed to be some kind of magnet for lingerie, a rather useful option to have on a car as far as I was concerned.

“Just how far did you get with my daughter, anyway?” she asked, putting both garments away and closing the lid.

“If she was a virgin when I rang your doorbell last night, she was still a virgin when she woke up this morning,” I said. “I couldn’t even tell you if she grooms her pubic hair.”

I could not believe some of the conversations I’d had lately with mothers of 16-year-old girls.

We arrived at The Catfish Place and followed the same script as last night. They even had the same kind of pie tonight. One difference was the reaction from the grandmotherly woman running the cash register.

“Does the young lady you were in here with last night know you’re out with her big sister tonight?” she asked, fixing me with what I believe was meant to be a baleful glare.

“I lost a bet,” I said, falling back on an old standby. “I’d be in worse trouble if I wasn’t out with her right now.”

One other difference was the table we’d sat at last night was occupied, but Jan headed for one on the opposite wall before I could make a decision.

“I haven’t been here in years,” she said. “I don’t know how they stay in business. I’ve never seen more than a few people in here.”

“I believe they make enough off summer weekends to carry them the rest of the year,” I said. “That’s a pretty big parking lot out there.”

“So, what did you and Bethany talk about?” she said.

“She heard I have access to a place where we could be alone and undisturbed,” I said. “She wanted me to take her there. I told her I’d promised her grandmother that I’d behave.”

“You expect me to believe you turned down a no-strings offer from a girl that had already given you a free pass to second base?” she asked.

“First, I’m supposed to have a girlfriend,” I said. “She’s the one who pushed me into this. Even though she’s said I’m free to play while she’s gone, I get the feeling she’s testing me and she’ll hold anything I do against me.

“Also, we never discussed birth control. I don’t know if she’s on anything and I didn’t have any condoms. Then there’s having to deal with my mother, who would do worse things to me than Mrs. Metzger could ever think of. She’s already convinced herself that Morgan and I are up to no good. She’d go nuclear if she thought I was fooling around with other girls at the same time.”

“Are you?” she asked with an arched brow.

“I guess it depends on your definition,” I said. “I have kissed all seven of those girls. But they were the ones who initiated everything. I’ve never pushed any of them if they said to stop. I don’t need the drama that comes with that.”

“Why did you bring Bethany home so early?”

“I figured it was the safest option,” I said. “We did wind up making out a little, but no clothes were removed.” Just moved out of the way.

Jan chewed on that for a while as we worked on our plates.

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but it sounded like she was crying,” she said. “What was that all about?”

“I made the mistake of mentioning her father,” I said.

“Oh, yeah, that would do it,” Jan said. “He’s never been able to have a good relationship with her and she has a hard time handling it.”