Ch87 Time Well Wasted

“Oh, just perfect!” Wes snarled, as he was forced to stop for the long line of school buses cutting in front of his car. “Now we’ll never get home!”

“Never, Wes?” Janet said. “Being a bit melodramatic, aren’t you?”

“It sure will seem like it,” he retorted.

“It’s your own fault. If you hadn’t wasted ten minutes kissing me, we would have been out of here way ahead of them.”

“I hadn’t seen you all day and you know I need my Janet time. Kissing you is time well wasted,” he replied, and for good measure he pulled her toward him—as much as the seat-belt around her would permit—and kissed her again. “God, I love you.”

“Me, too,” she said dreamily. Then her eyes popped open in horror of what she just admitted. “Uh…” she said, doing some quick thinking. “I love God, too. It’s nice to let him know every once in a while, so He can keep the devil away from us.”

Wes smiled. Who was she fooling? Not him! He had been about to kiss her again, but a honking horn directly behind made him stop.

“Hot damn!” he said, pulling out into traffic before a bus which stopped to allow some late students on. Just as he reached cruising speed his cell signaled a text coming in. 

“Could you check that for me?”

He handed his cell over to Janet and she read it. “It’s from Steve London. He says: Having trouble again. Can you come tonight?”

Wes grumbled. “Yeah, all right. Tell him I’ll be there…between six thirty and seven.”

Janet quickly typed it in and sent the text back. “Guess that puts an end to your Janet time.”

“Come with me. You did last time,” he said.

“Yeah, and all I did was distract you. You don’t really want me tagging along like a puppy, do you?”

“I wouldn’t mind. You’ll keep me company. Please?”

She sighed in ever suffering mode. “Oh, all right. I could always…hey, that’s my cell.”  She took her phone out, read the text and smiled. “Omigosh, it’s Alana! She wants me to come over tonight to Luke’s for our first practice. This is perfect! You could drop me off before you go to the lumber mill. It's not too out of the way.”

Wes frowned. “To Luke’s house?”

“She told me he’s got a huge music studio in their backyard, so yeah,” Janet said smiling at him. Her smiled faded when she caught his surly expression. “You’re not still jealous of Luke, are you?”

“No,” he said, grumpy as anything.

She giggled. “Wes, Luke’s totally into Alana. Besides, she’s going to be there with us the whole time.”

“How do you know?”

“Because she says so right here,” she said reading the text to him, “Meet us at Luke’s recording studio tonight if you can. Us, she said, not just him. Now will you take me, pretty please? I promise not to swoon and fall at Luke’s feet.”

“Yeah, okay,” he said, though he still didn’t sound happy about it.

Janet tried not to laugh nor even smile too much, but it was difficult. She couldn’t help feeling exceedingly excited. She so wanted to start singing with Luke!

“Maybe we can have a snack at my house before we go. Okay?” she said, placing her hand on Wes’ arm.

He glanced over to her and smiled. “Okay, just remember your promise.”

She giggled and nodded. "Yes, I'll only swoon at your feet, okay?" she joked.

"That's my girl!"

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Cindy had never in her entire life had so much fun while technically being sick. 

She and Wendy had some tea and talked. They baked cookies—supposedly for her dad-- and talked again. They ate most of those cookies and talked a bit more. Then they had to bake more cookies to replace the ones they ate and talked a good deal more. After that, they started dinner and, yes, talked some more.  

It was while she was making a salad that Stevie bounded in the kitchen door shouting, “Mom, did you get…Cindy!” He stared in shock as she smiled at him.

“Hi, Stevie,” Cindy said. “Guess you didn’t expect me here, huh?”

He shook his head. “What are you doing here?”

“Your mom got me at school. You called her, remember? We've been baking cookies, making dinner and stuff. She’s so much fun,” she said.

“Thank you, sweetie,” Wendy said as she stirred the pot on the stove. “How was practice?”

“Uh…okay,” he said, still staring at Cindy. “You staying for dinner? You feeling okay now?”

“Uh-huh,” Cindy replied.

He grinned like a fool. “Cool.”

Just then Troy and Jasmine came in arguing. 

“Oh, I was not!” Jasmine shouted.

“You were flirting with him. He said you were!” Troy said.

“And you’re gonna believe him over me?”

“You like to flirt, Jazz, everyone knows it,” he angrily said.

“Doesn’t mean any—hey, what are you doing here?” Jasmine said once she spotted Cindy.

“Helping make dinner,” Cindy replied, giving Wendy a Please-don’t-tell-why-I’m-here kind of look.

“Cindy’s been helping me,” Wendy said, casually, then quickly added, “Is Janet and Wes coming? Dinner will be ready soon.”

“They were right behind us, but they got stuck behind some of the school buses, so they’ll be late,” Troy said, still glaring at his girlfriend.

“I don’t think she’ll be staying for dinner anyway, Mom,” Jasmine said. “She said something about going out with Wes or something.”

“She knows better than to go off without telling me,” Wendy said, wiping her hands on a towel and reaching for the cell phone in her bag.

Just as she got her on the phone Janet walked in with her own phone to her ear. “Hey, Mom, why are you calling me when I’m home already?”

Wendy laughed. “See? I knew she wouldn’t,” she said to Jasmine, putting her phone back.

“Wouldn’t what?” Janet said, bewildered.

“Hi, Ms. Meadows,” Wes said, coming in behind Janet. “Would it be okay if we grab a little snack here before we go?”

“First, you should have dinner since it’s ready, and second, where are you going?” Wendy asked.

“Wes has a customer he needs to take care of and he’s going to drop me off at Luke’s house so we can…”

“Omigosh! Luke Tramaine? Can I come too?” Jasmine shrieked.

“What the hell for?” Troy asked.

“Janet said I could go and audition for him. He needs another backup singer,” Jasmine said excitedly.

“Someone else for you to flirt with?” Troy snidely remarked.

“Oh, will you stop? I was just…”

“Take that elsewhere, you two,” Wendy interrupted. “I have to feed my kids.”

“Hey, how about me? I'm your kid,” Troy said.

“Well, you seemed intent on arguing. If you want food instead of a fight, be a dear and set the table,” Wendy retorted.

Cindy giggled and brought the salad bowls out and said, “Shouldn’t we wait for…”

“Hey, am I too late?” Donny said letting himself in the kitchen door.

“Daddy!” Cindy shouted.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” Wes said, horror struck.

“I was invited. How about you?” Donny said, smiling at Wendy and winking at Cindy. “How are you feeling, Baby?”

“Good,” Cindy said, giving him a hug. “Me and Ms. Meadows made you something special.”

“Did you? Cool,” Donny said.

“Well, with so many here, everybody grab a plate and let’s go buffet style,” Wendy said. “Wes and Janet go first, cuz they have places to go, people to see and things to do.”

“What the heck is going on?” Wes whispered to Janet once they had their food and were seated at the dining room table. “Why is my dad here?”

“I have no idea. Thought you'd know,” Janet answered, as she watched her mom and his father looking awfully chummy. “It’s like…they can’t get enough of each other.”

“I know. Do you think we should forget about going out and just stay home?” he asked, suddenly realizing he had completely lost his appetite.

“What? Like chaperone them? Like we’re gonna keep them from making out on the couch?” Janet said, exasperated. “It’s not as bad as that.”

“Are you sure? Cuz I’m not at all sure,” Wes said. "I've only ever seen my father like that with my mom."

Janet frowned as she poked at her salad. “Mom?” she said.

“Yes, Honey?” Wendy answered.

Now what? Janet had no idea what she wanted to say. She just wanted her mother to stop laughing and joking around with Mr. Sebastian.

“Janet, something wrong? You're not eating much,” Wendy asked, now looking concerned.

“Um… this is really good,” she said, sounding lame as anything.

“Thank you, sweetie,” Wendy said, with a confused giggle.

“It is great. Is there nothing you stink at?” Donny asked.

“Well, if there was, I wouldn’t tell you!” she retorted.

“Fair enough,” he said, giving her a glowing look.

“Janet, what are we gonna do?” Wes muttered in her ear.

She wished she knew.