Ch 57: Back in the day

Janet waited with as much patience as she could muster as Dawn seemed to go back in time, her plump face acquiring a reminiscent glow. 

“I say this with the utmost affection, but your father was pathetic when it came to Wendy.  Frankly, not much has changed.”

“You think so?” Janet said, unconvinced.

Dawn smiled. “Yes, I do. Your mom was very popular back then, you know, from the moment she arrived in town. Why wouldn’t she be? She was perfect. Beautiful, charming, smart, sweet as pie and so witty. She had all the girls wishing to be her best friend and all the guys drooling at her feet, but none so much as Jeff. Love-sick puppy, he was,” she said.

“And this Karen person…where does she come in?” Janet asked.

“Wendy and I were cheerleaders and so was Karen. Karen was the most popular girl in our school until your mom showed up with that charming Texas drawl.”

“She doesn’t have it anymore though,” Janet observed.

“Oh, she still has a bit of one when she’s riled up.  She just rarely gets riled up!” Dawn said, grinning.

“True,” Janet replied.

“Anyway,Wendy didn’t have a problem with Karen and for the longest time tried to be friendly, but Karen hated her through and through,” Dawn said.

“But why?” Janet asked.

“Jealousy,” Dawn said. “Karen didn’t like sharing the title of queen bee, but there was also Jeff.”

“She liked my dad?”

“Oh, she was crazy nuts for Jeff! Ever since…the fifth grade or something, and it didn’t take her long to see that Jeff was totally smitten by Wendy. He never really liked Karen, but she never gave up hope.”

“Did my dad lead her on?”

“No. He was nice to her, but nothing more. He merely tolerated her, really, but when Wendy was around? Faggeddabodit! You’d think Karen was completely invisible.  Her only consolation was that Wendy didn’t seem to care about Jeff… at least, not at first.”

“Did Mom have other boyfriends?” Janet asked.

Dawn shook her head. “She wasn’t allowed.”

“What?” Janet said, bewildered.

“Your mother’s dad was extremely strict and wouldn’t allow her or her older sister to date until they were sixteen. So, for two years, every boy who drummed up the nerve asked her out and she told each one no. Of course, no one knew the reason. She was embarrassed to have to explain that her father was such a tyrant. She just said she didn’t want a boyfriend yet.”

“So, my dad asked her out and she turned him down?”

“Not quite.  He started dating Karen instead.”

“But you said he never liked her,” Janet said, frowning.

“He didn’t, but he was an idiot. He actually thought that Wendy would like him just because Karen wanted him.  He hoped to make your mom jealous,” Dawn said, rolling her eyes.

“That’s totally stupid.”

“See? Anybody with a brain would have known that! He goofed. Karen was thrilled to be his girlfriend for about two weeks until he had quite enough of her and he realized it didn’t help with his desire to get Wendy. Oh, no one ever said teenagers were geniuses.”

Janet almost laughed thinking of Wes and his business cards which pretty much said as much.

“So, I told him about the no dating until sixteen rule, and I advised him to just be friendly and patient with Wendy. I figured he’d endear himself to her and then when the time came and she was allowed to date, maybe she would like him enough to go out with him.”

“And did it work?” Janet asked.

“Obviously!” Dawn said, laughing. “He was her first and only boyfriend.”

“Really?” Janet said. “She told us that, but I never believed it.”

“Well, believe it! After they finally got together, nobody could get between them and many tried.”

“ Like Karen?”

“Yep, her especially, but also some more popular and cooler guys who couldn’t believe Jeff won out over them.  They kept asking her out and so started Jeff and his jealousy.”

“I never knew about that,” Janet said.

“No, they kept that sort of stuff to themselves.”

“So, what happened with Karen?”

“She was livid when he dumped her and more so when your parents eventually  got together. She figured Jeff was rightfully hers. She saw him first, she had him first and no newbie in town was gonna take him away. I tell ya, she tried everything, but nothing ever worked. How could it? You can’t mess with true love.”

“Obviously you can,” Janet muttered to herself. Then she added, “But what could she do?”

“What didn’t she do! She tried to seduce Jeff, she spread rumors that Wendy was sneaking around with Mike Maverick, she....”

“The lawyer Mom worked for, for about a month?”

“One and the same. That was Wendy’s big mistake in all this.”

“I remember Dad not being too happy about that,” Janet said, straining her memory for any tidbit.

“Wendy knew how Jeff felt about Mike. He knew Mike wouldn’t stop trying to get Wendy and still she took the job. It started it all.”

“Mom didn’t sleep with him, did she?” Janet asked, horrified.

“Oh, of course not! But like a stubborn fool, she insisted on showing her independence and doing whatever the hell she wanted despite Jeff’s feelings.”

“So, you blame her? She wasn’t the one who cheated!”

“No, but she as much as drove Jeff to it.”

Janet gasped. “You really are on Dad’s side more than Mom’s,” she said, stunned.

“No, Honey. I love them both fiercely and will defend both to the other until my dying breath. I simply can see past the he said/she said bullshit and tell it as it really is. I’m not sugarcoating this because that’s what you said you wanted. If you wanted me to put the entire blame on one over the other despite the facts, then we’ll stop right now.” Dawn stood up and made every appearance of leaving the bathroom.

“No, Dawn, please. Tell me about the night he slept with Karen,” Janet said anxiously.

Dawn sighed and sat back down. “They both gave me their versions of that night and from what I can tell, he told her point blank to quit that job at the law firm and she pretty much told him he couldn’t tell her what to do,” she said bracingly. “One thing led to another, nasty things were said, he accused her of having a thing for Mike because he was more successful, drove a fancy car, took grand vacations to Europe, yadi-yada-yada and she blew up at him for his unfounded jealousy.”

“That doesn’t sound that bad,” Janet said. “He didn’t have to go off and sleep with some…”

 “All that would have been fine if it had stopped there. And if Wendy hadn’t said that since she already was being accusing of the deed, that she might as well have sex with Mike. That still would have been fine, if Jeff only realized she wasn’t serious and he hadn’t gone off furious.”

“Oh,” Janet said. 

“He went to a bar down port and had one too many tequila shots, which ironically is literally one.”

“But he never drinks anything other than beer,” Janet said.

 “That’s the problem. That man cannot hold a drop of liquor to save his life.”

“Oh.”

“So, there he was after… I think he said he had two before he couldn’t remember anything, and as fate would have it, Karen walks in, finds him almost passed-out drunk and she takes him home with her. Why that stupid barkeep let her do it…oh, I could kill him!”

“But  if he was that drunk, what did she want with him in that condition?”

“Oh, honey, if we knew the finer workings of the spiteful mind of a determined bitch, we’d know everything, wouldn’t we?"  Dawn shrugged and added, " I wish I had pushed Karen off the bleachers when I had the chance. I just wasn't that mean back in first grade.”

“Guess he wasn’t too drunk to sleep with her,” Janet said, biting her bottom lip.

“Well, as he remembers none of it, he couldn’t exactly say for sure,” Dawn said, with a mirthless laugh. 

“What did you say?” Janet said, just as the door slammed open putting an abrupt end to their discussion.