Chapter 19
“ My mom wants to say hi,” Rich said.
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Tanya spoke to Gloria assuring her Rich was welcome and wondered what time she expected him home.“ Before midnight or sooner, as in, when you have had enough of Rich.”“ My husband has enjoyed the heated table tennis matches,” Tanya said, letting Gloria know there were two adults here. The women exchanged phone numbers and Tanya handed the phone back to Rich who said good bye to his mom and closed his phone.
Somewhere around nine o’ clock Eddie and Tanya excused themselves. Justin hung out until Nicole found a chick flick and the computer in his room held more fascination. Nicole’ s plan worked fine. Rich had stolen a few quick kisses throughout the day and an hour of alone time was what she wanted. Of course it was a little awkward at first. But nature takes over when teenagers are willing students. The exuberance of youth creates exceptional pupils. Nicole heard her mother’ s words,“ It doesn’ t seem stupid at the time,” and she understood. This was not her first kiss, but when the spinning bottle makes the choice, it was not the one she would have liked. Her choice held her, looked into her eyes and she was in control.
When her father made the rule it horrified Nicole. At this moment she thought Daddy might have known what he was doing, giving her the home turf advantage. The phrase“ My parents could walk in at any moment,” kept the young couple within Nicole’ s comfort zone. Tanya looked at the bedside clock.“ Do you want to go inform them it’ s eleven thirty?” she asked. Eddie shook his head. Tanya tossed her robe over her pajamas and headed down the stairway. Nicole heard the familiar step’ s creak, broke the kiss they were sharing and ran her fingers through her rumpled hair.“ Someone is coming.” she whispered.“ You two probably need to say goodnight if Rich is going to make it home by midnight.” Tanya said sticking her head through the doorway.“ Yes Mrs. Dodge.” Rich said, as Tanya made her way into the kitchen.
Putting some water in the white tea kettle, Tanya prepared a couple of cups and listened for the sound of the front door being locked.“ Please join me for a cup of tea,” Tanya insisted.“ Your father and I want you to know, if you need to be picked up for any reason, we will stop whatever we are doing, no questions asked, and come get you,” Tanya said, over her cup.“ Tell Daddy thanks for not being mean to Rich,” Nicole said.“ It’ s difficult for your father to see you being held by another man, but he wants you to be happy.”“ Would you get upset with me if I said I wanted to go on the pill?” Nicole asked, staring into her cup of tea.
The turmoil sat below the surface in both of them. Nicole was trying to figure out how far she could push her parents. Tanya did not want to bring to a grinding halt the dialogue that had begun between them.“ I was hoping that would come up at a later date, but since you asked. I would not be upset. I would however ask, what is the hurry?”“ No hurry. Just wanted to know,” Nicole said. They sat sipping their tea. The air in the room seemed to press in on both of them.“ I’ m not ready to have sex. I know getting pregnant is not going to help me get into college, and I really want go. I am not sure what I want to study. But a baby is not very practical.”
The breath Tanya had been holding was released as steadily as possible. The talks they shared, especially the most recent one set a foundation that Tanya wanted to build upon. For the first time she felt, maybe, it had not been built on quicksand. She had been teaching middle school from the beginning of her career. There was not a year gone by that some eighth grader did not turn up pregnant. No positive pattern emerged that pointed out which student that would be. How could any parent know what void would be filled by the most defiant act ever performed by a child.“ Let me know when you want to set the appointment.” Nicole wanted to think about her mixed emotions. She knew mom would tell dad.“ Can we postpone the appointment? I want to think about how I would feel if Daddy knew.”