Ch95 What Just Happened?

“Oh, snap!” Jasmine shrieked, pushing Troy away from her.

“What? What just happened?” he said, making a grab for her again. “It was just getting good, babe.”

“It’s my dad. He's here! Get your shirt on quick!” she snapped, straightening her clothes as she went to the door.

“Hi, Daddy!” she breathlessly said, a tad too happy to see him.

Jeff frowned. “You okay?” he said, looking curiously at her disheveled appearance. He then heard a noise from the family room and instantly understood. 

He raised a disapproving eyebrow just as a harried looking Troy entered the foyer.

“Hey, Mr. Fummel. How ya doin’?” he said, nervous as anything.

“Troy, why is your shirt inside out?” Cindy said, coming in beside Stevie.

“Huh? Oh…uh…” Troy mumbled as he looked down and sure enough, it was inside-out and also backwards.

“Your hair’s messed up, too,” Stevie said, smirking at Cindy, making her giggle when he added, “So busted.” 

Jeff clenched his teeth and fists, but drew a calming breath before saying, “I’d appreciate in future, Troy, if you would refrain from coming over while Jasmine is alone in the house.”  He glared at both his daughter and her boyfriend. “Things can happen, you see, things which I’d prefer not to occur until both of you are much older, much more mature and infinitely wiser. Got me?” 

“Yes, sir,” Troy meekly said. He grabbed his school bag and said to Jasmine, “I…I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Might as well stay for dinner. I’m sure Wendy made enough to feed even you,” Jeff said, grudgingly. 

“Thank you, Daddy. I’ll go fix dinner,” Jasmine said, taking Troy’s hand and tugging him toward the kitchen with her.

“Wait, Jasmine, where’s Janet?” Jeff asked, before she vanished.

“Um...I don’t know. Wes didn’t go to practice, so I’m sure Janet’s with him,” she said with the vague hope that getting her sister in trouble would somehow get herself out of trouble. “I’m sure they’ll be home soon.”

“Wes probably had work, Mr. Fummel,” Cindy volunteered. “He tells the coach he’s sick whenever he gets an emergency.”

“An emergency?” Jeff said. “An emergency for what?”

“For his computer business, of course,” she said, her eyes wide and innocent.

“Like a doctor?” Jeff said, laughing.

“Well,” Cindy said, defensively. “He does fix computers down with a virus. That’s almost like a doctor. Some people really freak when their systems go down. Like at the hospital one time. Wes skipped half his classes that day. He had to. The hospital really needed their computers working.”

Jeff gaped at her. “Are you serious? He’s that good that the hospital would call him in an emergency?”

Cindy shrugged. “He's very important to a lot of people with their entire business on their computers.”

Jeff stared at her for a minute, then shook his head not quite convinced. “Okay, if you say so.”

“We should go study for that test, Cindy, so we have the rest of the weekend free,” Stevie said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up the stairs to his room.

“Not so fast, Bud,” Jeff said. “Don’t you two get any brilliant ideas like  your sister. That rule goes for you, too. I’m sure Don won’t want Cindy up in your room unsupervised.”

“We’re not doing anything!” Steve said indignantly.

“And it’s going to stay that way,” Jeff replied grinning at them, and pointing toward the family room. “Any studying can go on in there where I can see you.”

Though looking quite mutinous, Stevie went past his father with Cindy in tow.

At the sound of a car door slamming Jeff looked out the window in time to see Janet with her boyfriend. “Least they’re not making out again.”

*******

“So, what are you gonna do now?” Wes asked as he drove them home.

“I dunno,” Janet replied. She fell into silent contemplation from which Wes tried in vain several times to disengage her.

When he pulled in front of her house, however, he had had quite enough of this eerie silence. He got out of the car, rounded the front and opened her door and still she just sat there as if in a catatonic state. This made no sense. She had been so happy just moments before!

“Janet, we’re home,” he said holding his hand out to her.

For a minute she merely stared at his hand, then she took it and held it to her damp cheek, much to Wes’ surprise. He never noticed she had been crying.

“Janet, what’s wrong?” he said squatting down to her eye level.

“I don’t know what to do. After all this, I just don’t know,” she whispered.

“I think you do,” Wes gently said. “You should talk to your dad.”

“But what could I say?” she asked, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“Oh, baby,” he said hugging her. “Don’t worry about it for now. It’ll come to you when the time comes, okay?”

She nodded as he held her tightly and after a bit she pulled away and forced a smile. "I'll sleep on it. I get brilliant ideas in my sleep."

Wes laughed and gave her a little kiss as they went up the walkway to the front door.

The time, however, came rather sooner than either of them expected. When they reached the front steps, the door swung open and there stood her father.

“Daddy! What are you doing here?” Janet asked, her heart skipping a beat.

Jeff looked from his daughter to Wes and frowned. “What have you done to her?” he snarled.

Taken aback, Wes opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

“You made her cry. What did you do?” Jeff yelled, taking a threatening step toward him.

“I…I didn’t do anything. I swear!”

“I wasn’t crying, Daddy. Wes didn’t do anything. I just got something in my eye,” Janet lied, stepping between them.

Jeff certainly didn’t look convinced, but said no more on that subject. “Where have you been? Your sister’s been here for over an hour.”

“We…uh…Wes had to…had work to do at…uh…” Janet looked to Wes.

“I have a client in Port Orianco’s professional Plaza who needed extra anti-virus protection,” Wes said. “We should have called you to let you know where we were. I’m sorry, but we didn’t know you would be here.”

“No,” Jeff said. “Don’t suppose you did. Well, I’ll be staying.”

Janet gaped. “You mean like…overnight?”

“While Wendy’s away. Until she returns,” he said, somewhat defensively. “I’m still your father. This is still my house. I have every right to watch out for my kids.”

“I know, Daddy,” Janet whispered, stepping into the house. “Welcome back home.”

Stunned, Jeff watched her go toward the kitchen and disappear.

“Maybe, if we’re lucky,” Wes said, dropping Janet’s school bag beside the door. “You can stay forever. We’d all like to see that, Mr. Fummel.”

Jeff blinked as he watched Wes follow Janet.

“What…what just happened? Are pigs gonna start flying?” he muttered.