Ch 107: Just call her

Jeff wandered out onto the porch. He wore no jacket even though it was a bit chilly. It was late enough he should be thinking about getting to bed. Janet, however, wasn’t home yet and he was starting to worry. She had never been out this late before, and it didn’t help knowing that it might be because she also never had a boyfriend until now. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Wes…okay, let’s face it, that is exactly what it was. Wes was a teenage boy, after all, and Janet was…well, just as beautiful and as naïve as her mother had been.

Jeff sighed, hating that Janet was now the age Wendy had been when he and she… He forced his thoughts away from such. He would give her ten more minutes and then he’d give her a call…or call out the Marines.

He hadn’t been staring up at the somewhat cloudy sky to find an elusive wishing star more than a minute when Wes pulled into the driveway and he sighed with relief.

“Daddy, what are you doing out here so late and with no coat? It’s cold!” Janet said, rushing to the porch.

“He’s waiting up for you, of course, like any good dad,” Wes answered before turning to her father. “I’m sorry it’s so late, Mr. Fummel, but trying to get Janet away from Luke is like pulling teeth. He’s a music Nazi!”

Janet laughed. “He totally is! At least we got a lot of practicing in and we almost finished picking out all the songs for the gala,” Janet said. “It’s in two weeks, Daddy, and I’m so nervous! I know I’ll faint before I get to go on stage. Jasmine will have to take my place if...”

“No way!” Wes shouted. “You’ll be great.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Jeff calmly said. “I have complete faith in you. We’ll all be there for moral support, so you’ll do fine.”

She gaped at her father. “You will?”

“Of course. You think I’m not going to see my baby girl at her first public performance?” Jeff said.

“It’s not really…the tickets are like… so expensive,” she giggled nervously. “And I don’t know if you can get tickets at all. I heard they sell out quickly.”

“Alana told me you get about four free tickets to hand out, so your whole family can go,” Wes said.

“She didn’t tell me that! But what about you?” Janet said. “You promised you’d be there, too.”

“I bought tickets as soon as I heard you were singing with Luke,” Wes explained. “You think I’d miss out on seeing my girlfriend singing on stage? Heck no!”

Janet lost her head and hugged him. Then she gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek—her dad was watching, you know. “Thanks, Wes, for taking me to Luke’s.”

He nodded and wished he could take her into his arms and properly say good night, but he knew he couldn’t, not with Jeffery watching. It was a good thing then that he had pulled over just around the corner and thoroughly kissed Janet before getting her home. What was ten more minutes when they were this late?

“Good night. See you tomorrow,” Wes said and he went back to his car with a secret smile and drove away leaving the other two waving to him.

“Oh, Daddy, were you really worried?” Janet said, hugging him. “I should have called.”

“I was… a little, but I trust you,” he said, caressing her cheek and looking deep into her eyes. “I don’t know if it’s Wes or Luke, but you look so happy, Baby. It’s good to see.”

“I am,” she said, but her smile faded slightly as she stared at her father. “You don’t though. Are you okay?”

“Sure. I’m here with my kids,” he said. “What could be better than that?”

“Mom here, too,” she replied. “You should call her.”

He shook his head and turned them toward the house. “I don’t want to bother her, honey. Besides, what excuse could I give for calling? She’ll just…she won’t appreciate me hounding her. I’ve already done enough of that.”

Janet went inside first then and watched him lock up for the night and turn off the porch lights. Thoughts turned in her head until she came up with a good, plausible reason for Jeff to call Wendy.

“Tell her that Tristan came home safe and that he really likes Mr. Sebastian. Tell her about me and Luke, and that we’re getting ready for the gala and that I have tickets so the whole family can come, and about…uh… Stevie and how he did in the last game and uh… Jasmine….tell her… I dunno…something about her and Troy. She’ll like that. She texts me every once in a while, and I text her back, but I know she’d really like a more detailed report. You know how Mom is. She wants to know everything,” Janet said. “Do it, Daddy. Really, it would be good…for you and for her. Even if she doesn’t return your call, leave a message. Okay?”

Jeff stared at her as he thought on this. He smiled and hugged her, kissing her forehead. “We’ll see. Come on, Sweetie, it’s late and you have to get up early to see your boyfriend.”

“Don’t you mean to go to school?” she said.

He grinned. “Same thing. Only reason I went to school willingly was to see Wendy.”

“Funny, Daddy!” Janet laughed than ran up the stairs.

He turned off the lights downstairs and climbed up to his room…to Wendy’s room. Once there he stared at the empty bed for a good, long time fervently wishing she was here with him.

“Maybe Janet’s right,” he mumbled to himself, as he removed his clothes and slipped into the cold, lonely bed. He propped his head on the cushy pillows then grabbed his phone. 

“Can’t hurt,” he muttered, although he surely didn’t feel confident about that.

He nervously gulped when the voice-mail message came on. He took a deep breath and forced himself to speak normally. 

“Hey, Wendy, how ya doing? Everything’s fine so don’t worry. Just wanted to tell you about the kids and what they’re up to. They all miss you of course, but they’re not about to admit it.

“Stevie was awesome at the game yesterday. Another hat trick. You should have seen him! I’m telling ya, that kid was something else.  Another thing though. Don’t know if you noticed it, but I think he’s got a major crush on Cindy. You know, Wes’ little sister? Not sure what she’s thinking though, if she likes him like that or not. You know I can never tell what girls think. You and Dawn always say no man ever does so…anyway.

“Janet was so cute today. She went with Wes to Luke’s house for some practice and she’s a nervous wreck about singing at the gala. I just told her we’d all be there for moral support and that seemed to calm her a bit. I guess I’ll have to get my old suit out of mothballs unless…gees, do you think I’ll have to get a tux? I probably do, huh? And one for Stevie, too. He might just kill me for even mentioning it.

“You’ll have to go shopping with the girls to get real fancy dresses.  Gowns, I guess. It is a gala, you know. Just remember, price is no object. This is special for my Janet baby. I don’t at all sound like a proud papa, do I?

“Anyway… oh, as you must know, Tristan’s here safe and sound. We called May right away and they chatted for a bit. That kid really took a liking to Donny. They’re best buds! It’s the funniest thing. He went on and on about Donny getting him and May a house with a tree house or maybe it was a tree house that happened to come with a real house. Donny promised to let him see Wes’ old tree house in the meantime and now that boy wants to live there. Dontcha love it?

“Can’t wait to see May. I miss her something awful. Hope she’s doing okay. I talked to her for a little bit and she seemed okay, but what do I know?

“Jasmine’s good, although, I caught her alone with Troy the other day and…well, let’s just say I’m glad we got here when we did or we’d be on our way to being West-Castillo’s youngest grandparents. We may have to have a very serious talk with her and Troy. I did my best, but who knows if they’ll listen to me? They’ll listen to you though. You’re good at that kinda thing.

“Um…I hope you like it in New York. Hope you’re doing well. Don’t worry about returning calls. We’re fine and we all know you’re very busy so…just have fun, okay? We miss you and love you…me especially. Take care, Wendy.”

Jeff stared at the phone for several minutes then tossed it onto the night stand and snuggled into bed. He switched on the TV and settled in to watch the news for a while. As always happens when the vapid-looking newscaster was barely into the first story, he drifted off to sleep with dreams of having Wendy back in his arms.

Meanwhile in New York, Wendy had just escaped by feigning a headache. Escaped what you might ask? Alec who was once again intent on yet another dinner party—one to surely last into the wee hours of the morning—maybe even dawn. Wendy just didn’t want to go. Honestly, who has dinner parties starting at midnight and then stay up until the sun comes up?

“Vampires and idle New York socialites, that’s who,” she irritably muttered to herself as she kicked off her killer heels and allowed her toes to wiggle in the plush carpet of her hotel suite.

She sighed and declared herself very lucky to be able to get to bed at a decent hour for a change. This New York gig was good and all, but, she was dreadfully homesick. She decided a long, hot bath would help soothe her frazzled nerves. Although, she knew it wouldn’t do anything to ease her loneliness. She so missed her kids!

She drew a bath and while she waited for the tub to fill she checked her phone for messages. She frowned seeing an unfamiliar number, but her heart gave a leap when she spotted a call from Jeffery, which put the strange number totally out of mind.

“Omigosh!” she muttered as she listened to the message, hoping and praying all was well. She sat on the bathtub edge as Jeffery’s voice sounded in her ear. It felt like a warm caress and she couldn’t help smiling. He sounded wonderful, just like he always did when he snuggled up to her in bed after a long day and just chatted endlessly, mostly about nothing. 

Gosh, she missed that, too!

She bit her lip as she glanced at the clock on the night stand. It was too late to call him back, but boy did she want to. She sighed and undressed, then slipped into the tub. The phone lay taunting her on the edge of the sink and after a few minutes she snatched it up and listened to the message again. She listened to it three times in a row and then lost her head completely and dialed his cell. She swore she would hang up if he sounded the least bit groggy.

Jeff had just awoken to find the news over and a late night talk show blaring discordant music at him. He turned off the TV and had been about to switch off the light and go to sleep when his phone rang. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized it was Wendy.

“Hello, Wendy,” he said, somewhat breathlessly.

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.

“No! Wide awake,” he said. “Um…how are you?”

“Miss the kids,” she said, biting her lip.

“Well, I figured that, but how is it in New York? Having fun?”

“Oh, Jeffery!” she gushed. “It’s so…it’s amazing here. I’ve met some of the top chefs and they’re so nice to me. It can only be because of Alec. He gets away with murder around here!”

“I’ll bet he does, but I have a feeling you may have a charming way about you that allows you all sorts of leeway. Just saying,” Jeff laughed.

“Alec has been so kind and I’ve learned so much and… well, you don’t want to hear all that stuff.”

“Of course I do. Tell me!”

“You sure? You have to get up early,” she reminded him.

“So what? How many times have we stayed up late just talking?”

“Only a million.”

“There ya go! What’s one more time? Tell me all about it, tell me everything,” he said gleefully, cradling his head on his interlocked hands with his phone propped on the pillow.

"Well," she said, splashing warm water onto her shoulders.

"Is that water? Are you...taking a bath?" he said, his body instantly reacting to the perfectly vivid picture his mind drew for him. Wendy in the bath...wow.

"Yes," she said, unaware her voice had become ever-so-slightly sultry.

"So... you're... naked?"

Wendy held back a laugh. "How often do you bathe with clothes on?"

"Not even once," he muttered, closing his eyes and sighing. How he wished he could see her. "Bubbles?"

"No bubbles, just scented bath beads."

"What...uh...what does it smell like?"

"Lily of the valley."

"Love Lilies. You have your hair up in a pin?"

"Jeffery, we're not doing this," she sternly said, even as the corners of her mouth tugged upward.

"Doing what?"

"I think we should say good night," she said, even as her heart sunk a little. She so liked this little talk. She liked all the more for teasing him unmercifully.

"No! I mean... please, tell me what you were going to say...about New York and Alec and the chefs and stuff."

She purposely sloshed  the water around and made him wait. She bit her lip to keep from laughing at the sharp intake of breath she heard on the other line. She supposed it was mean to torture him like this, but he had it coming, didn't he?

"Wendy? Still there?" he asked.

"Yes," she whispered. "So, um, where was I?"

He told her then listened to Wendy speak and swish in the water around for well over an hour. It was only when she realized how cold the water had gotten that she deemed to stop.

“You should tell me to shut up already,” she chided. "I've got goosebumps all over."

“Wish I was there to warm you up,” he said, envisioning her emerging from the tub with water dripping gloriously from her perfectly wonderful body. 

"I bet you do," she said. "I'll just have to snuggle into bed. I think I'll leave off the night gown tonight."

"You're killing me." 

This time she laughed.

It took some effort but he cleared his head of these lascivious thoughts. “I’m glad you’re having such a great time, Wendy...I mean in New York.”

They were silent for several seconds.

“I guess I’ll let you sleep. Thanks for calling, Jeffery. It was nice hearing from home,” she said. “Good night.”

“Good night, Wendy,” he said, forcing himself to stay quiet when he normally would declare his love and beg her to take him back.

“Jeffery?”

“Yes, I’m still here.”

“You made my night. Thank you,” she said and the phone went dead.

Jeffery lay there staring at the ceiling, joy bubbling up inside him. If he didn’t think he’d awaken the kids he would have whooped really loudly.

He was so glad he called her!