Chapter 62: The serious talk

“Wesley, I’d like a word with you, please,” Donny spoke, his voice coming from the living room.

“Oh, crap,” Wes muttered under his breath, softly closing the door behind him.

Wes found his dad sitting on the sofa and switching off the TV. He threw down the remote and gestured for Wes to take a seat beside him. Donny then proceeded to glare at him. “If you had walked from Janet’s house I could almost see it taking this long to get home… if you were keeping pace with a racing turtle. As you have a perfectly functioning car, however, and even if you had driven at twenty miles under the lowest speed limit, as unlikely as that is for a teenager to do, you should have been home quite a while ago. Am I wrong?”

“Dad, I…”

“Am I wrong?” Donny repeated, more forcefully.

“No, Sir,” Wes said. “But, Dad, we had a lot to talk about. I wanted to make sure we were okay after the fight.” 

“She seemed to have gotten quite over it. She was fine at the restaurant, bubbly and charming as ever.”

“It just looked that way. You don’t know Janet, Dad. She’s…she a pretty good actress. She can pretend all is great when nothing really is,” Wes explained. 

“And why would she do that?”

“Because she wanted everything perfect for her mom’s first night as chef. She was very concerned about that. She cares loads about her mom,” Wes said, staring earnestly at his father who didn’t look remotely like he was buying this feeble explanation. “I couldn’t just leave with her still mad at me and she was still pissed as hell. That’s why she practically ignored me all through dinner. Didn't you notice she was talking mostly to you? I had to make sure she wasn’t mad, Dad.”

“What was the fight about?” Donny asked.

“Nothing much,” Wes said, shrugging and looking away.

“Wesley,” Donny said, a warning in his voice.

“I’d rather not say,” Wes said, his shoes suddenly very interesting.

“I rather you did, Wesley,” Donny said.

Like a bandage, he did it quickly hoping it wouldn’t hurt as much. “I made her think her computer crashed so she would call me to fix it.”

“Wesley, you didn’t,” Donny whispered in horror. “Do you have any idea how unethical that is? This could ruin all you’ve worked so hard for. What were you thinking?” 

Wes hated the whisper. It was only a thousand times worse than his dad yelling, but Donny never yelled. Wes only realized now that may have been because his father may never have had reason to yell before now. 

“I know. I’m sorry, but there was no way she would even talk to me if I…”

“No excuse, Wesley. I’m extremely disappointed in you. I thought you’d have better sense. And all just for a girl,” Donny said.

“She’s not just any girl, Dad,” Wes said, finally looking up. “I love her.” 

Donny nearly groaned aloud. “Wesley,” he said, calmly, “This is just puppy-love.”

“No! It’s not” Wes shouted.

“Sit down and keep your voice low. Cindy is sleeping,” Donny said, waiting for Wes to sit down again. “You’ve only known Janet a few days. You can’t say…"

“And how long did you know Mom before you knew she was the one?” Wes asked. “Mom told me it didn’t take more than four dates and you were already planning the life you were going to have together.”

Donny’s mouth fell open, then he closed it again and swallowed hard. “That… that was different. We were in college. You’re just in high school. You’ll have a dozen girlfriends before you meet the one you’ll end up with. I had several before I met Margarita.”

“Well, that’s you, Dad. It’s different for me. You’re wrong.”

“I don’t want to argue with you, Wesley. That doesn’t have any bearing on what we need to discuss.”

“Like what?”

“At the restaurant, I had a little talk with Janet's father, mostly about you and her.”

“What about us?”

“Jeffery’s understandably concerned that the two of you… that you may be getting too…,” Donny said.

“Too what?” Wes said, frowning. 

“Too hot and heavy, too soon. He told me of the night he met you and he was far from happy to find his little girl being mauled by a horny teenage kid,” Donny said, grimly.

“I wasn’t!”

“I wanted to assure him you weren’t a horny kid, but I wasn’t so sure…not anymore. You’re more than an hour past your curfew and you and Janet were alone and you could be doing to her exactly what Jeffery...”

“I’m not!” Wes shouted. “Yeah, I love kissing her, but that’s all we were doing. She’ll tell you!”

“Of course she will. She doesn’t want to get in trouble with her parents any more than you do, but...”

“No, Dad, you don’t get it,” Wes said, frustrated enough to run his fingers through his hair. “She told me point-blank that she won’t have sex until she’s good and ready.”

“Holy crap, Wesley! Are you telling me you’ve already talked of having sex with her?” Donny shrieked.

“Of course. We talk about everything. We’re like…best friends. We can tell each other anything and we do. That way we know where we stand with each other. If something I do upsets her she’ll tell me. I want her to. I don’t want to mess this up.”

“So, you already tried to get her to…”

“No! I wouldn’t do that! First, we’re too young yet and she told me she’s not ready, and she won’t be until she’s married and she means it, Dad. So, sex is out of the question for us, which is fine with me. I doubt I’m ready either,” he said sensibly.

Donny gaped at him. “Are you human, Wesley?”

Wes laughed. “Yes, Dad. I’m quite human. I just love Janet too much to risk ruining everything we have. I know now how horrible it is to have her mad at me. Never again…not gonna do that. There’s time enough for sex anyway… whenever. There’s more important things,” Wes said, staring at his father. “I know what it’s like now.”

“What?” Donny asked, frowning. ”What do you know?”

“What it was like for you and Mom. You loved her like crazy and she loved you, too. You were perfect together, each other’s best friend and so much more. You were soul mates. She made you want to be a better person just for her and she did the same for you,” Wes said, his voice cracking. “She was everything for you same as Janet is for me. But Mom’s gone. I can’t imagine what I’d do if Janet…” 

Wes shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. “No, I don’t even want to think about it. But now I understand how you feel. Cindy and me miss Mom, too, but it’s worse for you cuz… cuz you lost…everything. Mom was everything to you. I’m so sorry, Dad.” 

Donny sat rooted to the spot, completely mute as his son embraced him and held him tightly. This was hardly how he thought this talk would go.

“Mom may be gone, but you can’t give up on love,” Wes earnestly continued after releasing his father. “You can’t stay locked away from people, especially me and Cindy. We still need you, now more than ever, cuz we don’t have Mom anymore. This weekend was the first time since Mom died that we were like a real family. You were happy and that was all because of Janet. She made dinner and we all ate together just like we used to do when Mom was alive. Janet got you to go to the movies with us and then we went out for ice cream and then church today and dinner out with everybody tonight. She made it all happen and you enjoyed it. I could tell. So if you’re still wondering why I love her crazy, that’s why. It’s not everything, of course, but a big part of why she’s so special to me."

"Okay," Donny said, numbly.

"You know, Dad, Janet’s a yenta.”

“A what?” Donny mumbled.

“Yenta, a matchmaker. She promised me she would find you a perfect match,” Wes said standing up and smiling.

Donny shook his head. “Wesley…” 

“No, Dad, no more of that. You can’t give up on love. Mom wouldn’t want this for you, none of us do. I know Mom was the love of your life, but there has to be someone else out there that can make you almost as happy again. A second love of your life. It can happen, I just know it! Janet will find her for you and then we can really be a family again. I want our family back and Cindy does, too. Both of us want you happy again.”

Wes walked toward the entrance hall, but turned back at the archway and looked at his father. “I have a game tomorrow. I want you to come. You can sit with Janet. She said she’d come. You do like her, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course. She’s… very engaging and sweet and charming,” Donny replied.

“Good, cuz she’s gonna be a fixture around here, if I have anything to say about it. Good night, Dad. I love you.”

For several minutes Donny stared at the place his son stood moments before, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Margarita, did I ever tell you what a fine job you did with that boy?” he spoke into the silence.

He could have sworn he heard her answer, “It’s about time you noticed, Donny.”