Chapter 31: The yenta’s work begins

“He really likes her,” Cindy whispered to her dad. “And I do, too. She’s awesome.”

Donny smiled and nodded watching Wes with the very pretty, amusing and rather talented girl, Janet. He had to agree with his daughter. It was quite apparent his son was smitten. He just worried Wes might like her too much; more than she liked him, anyway.

 “I don’t remember the last time we all had a home cooked meal together. Thank you, Janet, this is very special for us,” Donny said.

“You’re welcome,” Janet said.

“I remember,” Wes mumbled, looking down at his plate.

“Me too,” Cindy said, a sad look on her face.

Janet realized with a jolt, they must be remembering the last time their mother had been with them at this very table eating food she had prepared for them all. Janet grabbed Wes’ hand and squeezed it. He smiled and she knew he wondered how she always knew how he felt. Well, it wasn’t hard. The sudden sadness felt like a dark shroud had just been tossed over all of them, herself included. Janet knew she had to do something, anything to lighten the mood.

“I already told Wes, but I’ll tell you, too, Cindy and Mr. Sebastian,” Janet said, putting on a cheerful front. “When you go to Mexico it’s best to wear a tight-fitting swimsuit or else it’ll fall off and then you’ll never get rid of the guys that will follow you hoping that it falls off again.”

Cindy burst out laughing. “Did that really happen to you?” she asked.

“No, not me. Jasmine. But since they couldn’t tell us apart they followed both of us. It was rather annoying,” Janet replied, a derisive look on her face.

“I would’ve liked to have been there,” Wes said, his expression wistful and perhaps a bit grateful.

“Oh, sure, you could join the crowd gawking at us. You’re such a guy!” Janet said, poking him playfully in the ribs.

“That’s not what I meant. I’d like to go on vacation there. Sounds cool,” he said, looking at his father. “Don’t you think so, Dad?”

 “Mexico isn’t a particularly safe place to visit nowadays, Wesley,” Donny replied.

“You promised not to call me Wesley in front of Janet,” Wes said through clenched teeth. 

“Oh, yeah…sorry,” he said, grimacing.

“Well, we were quite safe at the resort," Janet interjected, determined to change the mood. "They had armed guards at the entrance and everything and they escorted us to and from the airport, too. They know they have to protect the tourists or they won’t get anyone to come. We had a great time,” Janet said.

“Who went with you?” Cindy asked, excited. “Your parents?”

“My mom, sister and brother plus my aunt May Lyn and cousin Tristan,” Janet answered.

“Wait, you have a Chinese aunt?” Donny asked, gaping at her.

Janet giggled. “Everyone thinks that, but no.  May as in April-May-June and Lyn as in…ah…Lynda.

 Drives her batty when people say that she’s Chinese, so if you ever meet her, you’ve been warned!” she said shaking her finger at them.

Donny laughed. “Gotcha!”

“Anyway, Aunt May needed to get away after… um…” She faked a cough here and took a sip of water before continuing. The last thing she wanted to mention was her dead uncle. It would only get them all depressed again. 

“Sorry…uh… where was I? Oh, yeah, she loved getting away… we all did. We went scuba diving and snorkeling, swimming…when we could keep the guys away from us and even horseback riding. You guys should go,” Janet said.

“Daddy, can we go to Mexico on vacation? It sounds like so much fun. Please?” Cindy asked.

“We’ll see,” Donny said.

Cindy’s face fell as did Wes’. They knew what that meant; no way in hell.

Janet, however, had only just started. “If you liked this meager meal, you guys ought to come to my house when my mom’s in the mood to cook…which is like all the time! She loves cooking for friends and then we can show you our vacation pictures. Aunt May took most of them. She’s a great photographer,” Janet said.

“Is that what she does for a living?” Wes asked.

“No, she was a fitness instructor before Tristan was born. She just does photography for fun,” she replied, frowning slightly as she watched Donny. He was staring off into space and didn’t seem to be listening. This was going to be tougher than she thought.

“Cindy, I was wondering if you know my brother. He’s in your grade. Stevie Fummel?” she said curiously.

“Are you serious?  Who doesn’t know Steve Fummel? All my friends are in love with him. He’s like the Justin Beiber of West-Castillo middle school,” she said looking thoroughly disgusted.

“Who’s Justin Beiber again?” Donny asked coming out of his revery.

“Oh, Daddy, you are so out of it. He’s just the hottest thing out there,” Cindy replied, exasperated.

“Jasmine thinks the hottest guy is Johnny Depp from the pirate movies,” Janet said. “I don’t see it. Why would I want as boyfriend who wears more makeup than I do?”

Cindy burst out laughing.

“So, who’s your pick?” Wes asked, grinning.

“Luke Tramaine, of course,” she said, giggling when he frowned.

“Luke is so cute and he sings so nice,” Cindy said. “Do you know him?”

“Never saw him, but everyone says I have to fall in love with him so I guess I will,” she said shrugging. 

“I told you already. He has a girlfriend,” Wes said.

“Guess I’ll have to settle for you then,” she said wrinkling her nose at him. 

“Thanks,” he said, grinning.

“So, all your friends think my brother’s a hottie,  huh? I thought he was getting too many phone calls, but he said they just wanted help with math. He’s a wiz at math, you know,” Janet said.

Cindy grimaced. “Just my luck. He’s in my Spanish class. I don’t need help with that. Wish he was in my math class then maybe he could help me,” she said grumpily.

“Well that’s perfect. He’s failing in Spanish. You help him there and he’s sure to help you with math,” Janet replied.

“That would be cool but if my friends know he’s tutoring me they’ll wanna come, too, and then I’ll never get any help.  They’ll be flirting with him and trying to kiss him and stuff. I’m just gonna fail this quarter,” Cindy said miserably.

“I said I’d help you, Cindy,” Wes interjected.

“No thanks. You go through it so fast it only confuses me more. You’re smart, Wes, but you’re not a great teacher,” she said.

“I’ll ask Stevie, okay? I think we can keep it a secret from your friends,” Janet said.

Cindy shrugged apparently unconvinced and went back to eating. 

“Janet, tell us about your family. Your mom and dad, have they met Wes yet?” Donny said.

“Her mom is Ms. Meadows, the lady I told you about that works for Mr. Gantry at the pharmacy,” Wes answered for her.

“Why would you tell your dad about my mom?” Janet asked curiously.

“Because she’s so nice,” he replied.

“Yeah, I remember,” Donny said not entirely truthfully.

Janet was totally at a loss. She still had no idea what to do about getting Donny a lady love. She abruptly stood up and grabbed the empty plates in front of her. “Well, if everyone’s finished I’ll clean up so we can go,” she said brightly.

“Oh, don’t go yet,” Cindy whined. “We can watch some TV or play scrabble or something.”

“No TV tonight and we can do scrabble some other time,” Janet said, finally deciding on a plan. “We’re all going to the movies. Mr. Sebastian, you pick out a good movie, maybe something with lots of action.”

They all gaped at her nonplussed. She smiled and went to the sink. She knew now she was getting somewhere.