Ch92 Google it

Janet rounded the corner and ran smack into Vice-principal McIntyre.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she cried as her books flew out of her hands.

“My fault, wasn’t watching where I was going,” he said, helping her pick them up. “I’m a pile of nerves lately.”

“It isn’t wedding jitters I hope?” she said, anxiously.

“Oh, no!” he said handing the books to her. “I can’t wait for that. We’re so perfect together. It’s more my mother and her sisters. They’re taking over the wedding making it far more complicated than it needs to be and it’s making us crazy. What is it with weddings? They make people go nuts!”

“You’re asking the wrong person. I’m thoroughly in favor of eloping,” Janet adamantly said.

He burst out laughing. “I’ll suggest it to Kimmie. You remind me so much of your dad, Janet. You both have the best sense of humor.”

“Do you know my dad?”

“Of course, we went to school together. I’ll always be grateful to him.”

“Why?”

“Oh, he told me not to date this one girl in high school. He said it was the worst two weeks of his life, so I think he felt it was his duty to keep all his friends from making the same mistake. Karen was a crazy ex-girlfriend before there was such a thing,” he laughed.

Janet’s jaw dropped. “Mr. McIntyre, could you tell me this girl’s last name?”

“Harris,” he said. “Anyway, you should get going. Gotta get to class, don’t you?”

She nodded and headed down the hall, all the while thinking of Karen Harris—the bitch from hell.

An hour later Janet sat in the cafeteria zipping through google looking for this woman, her whole concentration on that person and nothing else. That explained why she jumped a mile into the air when Wes sneaked up behind her and kissed her cheek.

“Wes! Why do you do that?” she whined. "You always scare me."

He laughed. “Sorry,” he said, sitting next to her. “You look guilty. Don’t tell me. You’re emailing Luke and setting up a secret time and place to meet while me and Alana are tossed over to cry ourselves to sleep each night from now until doomsday.”

Janet gaped at him. “You really ought to write stories like your mom did. You have a flair for the dramatic.”

He laughed again, closed over her laptop and tucked it under his arm. He then grabbed her hand and led her out of that noisy room.

“Hey! I was doing something really important,” she said.

“More important than me and lunch?” he said lifting up a paper sack with green writing which read, Simon’s Café.

“It might be,” she said, feeling her traitorous stomach growl.

They found a quiet spot in the windy courtyard. It was nearly empty due to the cool temperatures, but they didn’t seem to mind. It was better than a crowded, very noisy room with fries on the floor, mustard on the ceiling and ketchup  on the seats.

“Here you go. I think you’ll like it,” Wes said, handing her a sandwich.

“Another client, huh?” she said unwrapping the food. “You really get around.”

“Not as much as you if you’re running off with Luke,” he replied, smirking.

She gave him an impish grin. “You got me. We’re going to rendezvous at…Oh, I can’t tell where or it won’t be secret anymore.”

He took the sandwich away from her and kissed her, slowly and surely, until she melted against him. “Still running off with Luke?” he asked, kissing her neck.

She sighed and shook her head. “You’re very persuasive. I love y…uh, that sandwich. It’s yummy,” she said, pulling away and taking the food back, her cheeks oddly flushed.

Wes grinned. “How do you know it’s yummy? You haven’t even tasted it yet.”

“Oh, shut up and eat,” she said.

He laughed and took a huge bite. “What were you doing then?”

“Googled someone.”

“Who?”

Janet took her time chewing and wondered if and what she should tell him. 

As if he knew what she was thinking, he said, “Janet, you can tell me anything, you know. I'm good at keeping secrets.”

“Okay. Remember what I told you about my dad?”

He swallowed and nervously glanced at her. “That he cheated on your mom?” he said.

“Allegedly,” she corrected.

“Are you suddenly lawyer for the defense?” he said.

She sighed. “It’s just that, it’s possible he didn’t actually sleep with Karen.”

“You mean you know who your dad slept with?” he asked, incredulous.

“Supposedly slept with, and…kinda,” she said taking a small bite of her sandwich. “Have you ever been drunk, Wes?”

He gaped at her. “Course not,” he said, indignant.

“Have you ever had sex?”

He paused and shifted uncomfortably on his seat. “You mean with a girl?”

She gave him a funny look. “Did you do it with a guy?” she whispered.

“Hell no!”

“Then why would you…oh…never mind,” she said, blushing.

“What’s drinking got to do with sex?”

“Well, I’d have to ask someone who’s done both,” she said, frowning.

“Why?”

“It’s a…hunch. I don’t think you can have sex if you’re too drunk.”

“How can you say that? Girls get drunk or drugged then raped all the time. Yeah, it’s not like they know they’re having sex cuz they’re passed out, but it’s still having sex,” he said.

"Rape is not sex, but that's beside the point," she mumbled shaking her head. “But it doesn’t work the other way around, does it? You can’t force a guy to have sex if he’s so drunk he’s passed out. Right?”

Wes merely stared at her, unsure what she was talking about. 

“I’m asking, Wes, cuz I don’t know how a guy’s …uh… anatomy works,” she said. "Is it possible?"

“Oh…” he said, a confused expression on his face as he thought this through. “I think you’re right…maybe. But why is that so important?”

“Because if that’s right, then it means my dad couldn’t have had sex with that lying bitch cuz he was so drunk that he can’t even remember it. If I can prove it, then maybe I can get my parents back together.”

“You really think that’s enough for your mom to forgive him?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, but there’s one more thing. My dad remembers waking up on her couch…alone. If you’re having sex with someone, aren’t you gonna fall asleep in the bed next to them and wake up there, too?”

“Makes sense, yeah,” Wes said. 

“So, I gotta find that woman and get the truth out of her. She's the only one who knows for sure.”

“What are you thinking, Janet? You can’t just go up to some person you don’t even know and ask, oh, by the way, did you have sex with my dad or was he too drunk to get it up?”

“No, I can’t cuz I can’t find her. I just googled her and found nothing. I don’t have a clue where to look for Karen Harris.”

“Wait, do you mean Karen Harris- Masinski?”

Janet eyes popped open. “Wes do you know her?” she shrieked.

“Yeah, she works for my accountant, and she just divorced her husband, Larry Masinski. You might want to look for someone named Karen Masinsky. She has kids, so she probably kept her married name for them.”

“How you know it’s the same person then?”

“She goes professionally by Harris now.”

She dropped the sandwich onto her lap and grabbed his arm. “Omigosh, Wes, can you take me to see her?”

“How?” he said. “I just can’t go and say, here’s my girlfriend. She wants to know if you slept with her father.”

Janet bit her lip, thinking. “You can put a virus on their computers and then they’ll want you to come and fix them and you can bring me with you,” she said desperately.

“Janet, you can't be serious! You want me to do to them what you were so ticked when I did it to you?” he asked incredulous. “Janet, I could get in so much trouble for doing that. I could lose my business. No one will ever trust me again.”

She gulped. “Please?” she whispered, biting her lip.

He shook his head ever so slightly, but she was looking at him with such a pleading expression, he found he couldn’t say no… not exactly.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and searched through his contacts until he found the right one, then he dialed.

“Yes, hello, Ms. Martha, this is Wes Sebastian. I need to check on some new software I installed last time I was there. Seems some nasty virus has been getting through on some of my client's computers and I'm hoping yours isn't one of them.  Yeah, I know. Just like the flu," he said, forcing himself to laugh. "Ms. Harris told me I could come by in the afternoon around closing time, just so you don't have too much interruption with your work day. Would that be okay? Great. See you later today. Thank you.”

Janet didn’t wait for him to put away his phone before she threw her arms around him and soundly kissed him. She beamed and said, “I love you, Wes!”

Stunned, Wes said, “Okay,” and he let her kiss him again.