Ch 113 Just like old times

           Just like old times,” Jeff muttered to himself, smiling as he parked his pickup in the driveway right beside Wendy’s SUV.

“Wendy, I’m here,” he said, coming in without knocking and hanging up his jacket. He followed the sound of laughter into the family room. He stopped dead in his tracks and his smile slipped from his face. There he found Tristan, giggling like mad. He sat on the floor in front of an ancient board game on the coffee table. 

Donny and Wendy, sitting on either side of the boy, were also laughing up a storm and looking entirely too much like a self-contained little family to suit Jeff. 

“Hello,” Jeff said.

          “Jeffery!” Wendy said, flushed and a bit flustered. She stood up and brushed her hair back from her face before facing him. “Hi, I forgot you said you’d come over.”

          “I can see that,” he muttered, briefly glancing at the other two. He tried to smile, but he simply couldn’t manage it.

          “Hey, Jeff, how ya doing?” Donny nervously said, hoping he didn’t look as guilty as he felt. He had never kissed a married woman, after all, let alone almost gotten her into bed, so he never knew how awkward it would feel to actually meet the husband after the fact. It was a strange, new feeling and not one he particularly liked.

“Hi, Uncle Jeffy!” Tristan shouted. “You wanna pway wif us? Mr. Bashan’s winning.”

“Good for him. It takes great skill to win at Trouble,” Jeff said, trying his best to not sound like a total jerk.

Donny laughed. “Well, I was a champion troublemaker back in the day. Knew it would get me somewhere some day.”

          “Where’s it gonna get ya?” Tristan asked.

          “Here having a fun time with you, goofy boy!” Donny said, grabbing him and tickling him until he squealed in delight.

          Jeff ignored them and only looked at Wendy. Was it his imagination or did she look guilty? Putting that thought aside, he said, “Stevie around?”

          “Stevie?” Wendy said.

          “Our son?” Jeff said, this time not bothering to hide his irritation.

          “He’s at the movies with friends. He took Cindy, too. When Donny dropped her off here, he stayed. Tristan insisted. Best buds and all…they are.”

          “Great,” Jeff said, unenthusiastically. “Janet back yet?”

          She shook her head. “Luke’s parents invited them, Janet and Wes, to dinner and then Luke wanted to practice some more.”

          Jeff shook his head, annoyed. “That’s way too long. They’ll strain their voices if they’re not careful,” he muttered.

          Wendy stared at him, a funny little smile just touching her lips. “I told them the same thing,” she said. “But Janet swore they were not singing the entire time. There’s a lot more than just singing, it seems.”

          “How about Jasmine, she home? Although, I don’t see why I bother. I’m probably still in the dog house with her, too,” he muttered angrily.

          “I think she might be over it by now, but she’s out with friends,” Wendy said, nervously fidgeting with her hands. “I hope you don’t mind that I undid the grounding for a month.”

          “I only threatened it if she continued to be nasty to Janet,” he corrected. 

            "I spoke to her about that. I think she'll tone the snark down now," she said, smiling at him. 

“Okay, so, no worries. You’re the one in charge anyway.”

          Donny surreptitiously watched them and knew he shouldn’t be there, but neither should Tristan. He whispered to the little boy, “How about we get some ice cream?”

“Okay!” he said. He then jumped up, went to Wendy and tugged at her hand. “Mr. Bashan wants ice cream.”

“No, Tristan! That’s not what I meant,” Donny quickly interjected, standing and scooping the boy up into his arms. “I thought I’d take Tristan out to get ice cream, if it’s okay. You guys might want time to talk… alone.”

“You don’t have to do that, Don. We can talk some other time. It’s nothing important, after all,” Jeff said, staring at Wendy with a longing he didn’t even try to hide.

“No, it’s really for me. You see, I just got a craving for a death-by-chocolate-chunky-monkey-berry blizzard,” Donny said walking into the foyer.

“Wuz dat?” Tristan asked his eyes wide with wonder.

“My two favorite ice cream flavors mixed together with strawberries and M&Ms. Awesome stuff!” Donny explained.

“Cool! Can I try some?” Tristan asked.

“You mean share my ice cream with you? Oh, no, I could never do that. We’ll have to get one just for you,” Donny said.

“Is dis anutter secret?” Tristan whispered, wrapping his arms around Donny's neck.

“Uh…maybe we'll tell your mom about this,” Donny said, waving to the others as he closed the door. 

Wendy laughed as she watched them leave. When she turned back to Jeff, her heart skipped a beat at the look on his face. How, after all these years, he still had such an effect on her she couldn’t say.

“I didn’t mean to drive your friend away,” Jeff said, stuffing his fists into his pockets, with the beginning of a scowl on his face.
“I ruined your game, too.”

Wendy noticed his tense stance. She knew it well. She had only seen him do it a thousand times, whenever he was having what she called a jealous flare up. She didn’t have to wonder if he would have preferred to put his fist through the wall or someone’s face. 

Jeff saw the exasperated expression on Wendy's face and his suddenly changed to an apologetic one. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

She sighed. They knew each other too well. Without words they could say so much. Some would envy that, but it could sometimes be a curse. There was nothing to be done about that. It is what it is. She decided not to speak of it. After all, it was justified in this case, with Donny, whether Jeff knew it or not, and it would only cause a fight. She didn’t want that right now.

“Don’t you mean Tristan’s best buddy? I swear I don’t know which one is more keen on the other at this point. For instance,” Wendy said, heading toward the kitchen, knowing Jeff would follow, “I’m pretty sure he only agreed to allow Cindy to go out with Stevie and his pals so he could play with Tristan.”

Jeff watched her put on the tea kettle as she rambled on. She seemed nervous, but he couldn’t see why, unless she was planning on telling him something unpleasant. Something like she was moving in with Donny and needed a divorce ASAP. She should be nervous if it involved Donny, because he wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

“It’s nice for Tristan to be with a man like Donny,” she said.

“Yeah. He needs a father figure. I thought that would fall on me, but I’m apparently not fun enough. Or persona non-grata for his mom,” he said, sitting on a bar stool as she donned oven mitts and turned her back on him. 

He saw her bend over to open the oven door and couldn’t help admiring her jeans, or rather, how well she filled them. Had Donny noticed? He was an idiot if he hadn’t.

 

“Why would you say such a thing?” she said, as she pulled out two cake pans and placed them on the stove top to cool.

“The boy never knew his father and despite what every feminist would tell you, fathers are good to have around,” he retorted, taking a deep breath and smiling at the wonderful smell of devil’s food cake, his personal favorite.

“No, you silly!” she said laughing. “I mean the persona non-grata part.”

“Oh, well…” he said, feeling his stomach grumble. “Thought maybe May Lyn wouldn’t want me around her kid. I could be a bad influence or something.”

“Oh, stop that! You are not. You know she adores you and so does Tristan. Haven’t you eaten yet? I can hear your stomach from here,” she said.

“No, I rushed over after I closed up. Didn’t get to eat.”

“I’ll make you something. Kinda late to close up the shop, isn’t it?”

“Not my choice. Just as I was closing, this goofy kid came rushing in all frazzled, looking for a gift for his grandmother. He begged me to help him or he’d get disowned or something,” he said, chuckling at the memory.

Wendy giggled as she pulled out from the refrigerator one of the plates she had made up for Janet and Wes and popped it into the microwave. “I’ll feed you in just a minute.”

“You mean you’re going to actually feed me? You don’t trust me with utensils anymore?” he joked.

She laughed and shook her head. “Not what I meant.”

“Just wondering. Thanks,” he said.

“So, the kid found something?” she asked.

“Took him long enough. He told me he was raised by her when his parents died, so he loved her like crazy. That’s what he said, like crazy. He told me everything I didn’t need to know about Francine Harper, but when I finally suggested a tennis bracelet with rubies and sapphires he thought she’d really like it. He said she’d wear it to the gala if she did, so I guess I’ll see them there.”

She laughed. “You always get everyone’s life story, don’t you?”

He shrugged modestly. “It helps to find the perfect piece for each person.”

 “Your dad always said that you were better at that then he was,” she said.

He nodded. “I remember,” he said, watching her carefully remove one cake from its pan and placing it on a cake stand for frosting. “Isn’t it too hot still?”

“It cools better upside down,” she explained, giving him the cake pan to scrape out the bits that clung to the pan.

“Learned that in New York, did you?” he said, hungrily picking at the delicious cake crumbs. It really was like old times. He remembered being exactly like this a thousand times. It gave him hope.

“Nope. Figured that out for myself long ago. But I learned plenty of other things.”

“Oh yeah? Like what? How to max out a credit card in a New York minute?”

She laughed. “As a matter of fact, yes! Alec spent money like it was water…cheap tab water I mean, not Evian or anything.”

Jeff laughed just as the microwave beeped. He slipped off the stool and grabbed the scorching hot plate.

“Oh, Jeffery! You’ll burn yourself,” she chided attempting to take it from him with pot holders.

“You forget. I’m Jeffery potholder hands,” he said grinning at her.

“West Castillo’s answer to Edward Scissor hands.”

They both laughed at their stupid, inside joke. He ate his dinner as she went about making frosting all the while chatting aimlessly. It was nice, very nice, perhaps too nice. 

They never came close to the topic they both knew they should be discussing. They knew it would put an end to this happy time. They would fight and all would be as it was for the past three months. It felt too good to go back to that, even if it was just for a little while.

Jeff certainly didn’t want to ruin with serious talk this wonderful feeling, nor the amiable mood they were both in. It would just mean him going back to his empty bungalow, a stone’s throw from the ocean whose vastness only served to emphasize his loneliness. Lucky for him, Wendy didn’t seem any more inclined to change things as he was and they continued just like old times. Even their silence wasn’t awkward, like when the mixer was on and it was too noisy to speak over it. 

He thought things couldn’t get much better when Wendy even allowed him to stick his finger in the frosting as she was frosting the cake.

“Hey you menace,” she chided, only halfheartedly slapping his hand away from her pretty cake.

“Just taste testing it for quality,” he said, leaning on the counter as he feasted his eyes on her beautiful face. He never got to do enough of that anymore, and here was his chance to indulge.

“Does it meet your approval?” she asked, trying to ignore the warm glow he gave her just by being close.

“I don’t know yet,” he said, sticking his finger into the bowl again. He pushed a strand of hair away from her face as he tasted the chocolate. “You’ve done something to your hair.”

“Just…highlights. Alec insisted,” she said, amazed that he would notice.

“You got a trim too. It’s about two inches shorter. Looks nice…very nice. You're more beautiful than ever…and that’s saying something.”

She turned away from the cake, still holding the frosting covered spatula she had been using and stared at him. His eyes hypnotized and pulled her toward him as his hand went up and touched her cheek. Before she knew it, he was kissing her and she was kissing him.

“Wendy, oh, Wendy,” he whispered against her lips, taking her into his arms, crushing her to him and the kissed continued, ardent now, with no restraints.

His hands slipped down the length of her back to cup her bottom. He held her firmly against him, but it wasn’t enough.

“Wendy, please,” he begged. 

She couldn’t think, not with him kissing her like that or holding her like this. She felt his hands skim over her shirt. He undid a couple of buttons and in his hand slipped, beneath her bra. “Jeffery…” she moaned.

“Upstairs…take me upstairs…”

Who knows what would have happened next had not the front door suddenly opened and slammed shut again.

“Mom? Dad? Where is everybody?”

“Stevie,” Wendy said, pushing out of Jeff’s arms. “We… we’re in here!” she shouted, her hand on her chest, too late noticing it was opened. She swiftly dropped the spatula and got one button done before they burst into the kitchen.

“Hey, kids,” Jeff said, feigning normal. “How was the movie?”

“Awesome, blood and guts everywhere,” Stevie said, grinning. “I didn’t know you were gonna come over.”

“I don’t think I’ll sleep for a week cause of that movie,” Cindy said. “It was like, so gross!” She then frowned, “Mr. Fummel, why you got frosting on your shirt?”

“Uh…” he said looking down at his left shoulder. He then grinned and looked up. “I lost the frosting war.”

Cindy dissolved in giggles. “My parent used to do the same thing! Mom would be frosting a cake and Dad would try to taste it before she was done. I always used to find them…”

She abruptly stopped, her big, dark eyes even wider as she looked more closely at Wendy’s flushed face and Jeff’s tousled hair. Oh yeah, that’s exactly how she used to find her parents, only her mom didn’t look guilty like Wendy and her dad was never as miserable looking as Jeff. She wouldn’t tell them that, though.

“Um…where’s my dad?” she said instead.

“He went to get ice cream with Tristan,” Wendy said, a bit breathless.

“But…his car’s outside. He must be here. It’s past Tristan’s bedtime, too,” Stevie said.

“No, it’s not that late yet,” Wendy said, then she gasped when she looked at the clock on the stove. “Oh, my goodness! It is late.”

“Well, they must be here somewhere…watching TV maybe,” Jeff said. “Go look for them, okay, Stevie?”

“Okay,” he said, completely oblivious to everything. 

Jeff watched with relief as his son grabbed Cindy’s hand and took her with him. He turned back to Wendy, but he could see the spell was broken before he could say anything.

“Wendy, don’t send me away,” he pleaded. “You know I love you more than life itself, and I think you still love me…at least a little.”

What an understatement! she wanted to yell at him. She also wanted to grab him and kiss him again. Or maybe just drag him to her room and ride like the wind. She turned her back to him and closed her eyes as she felt his arms go around her again, but instead of passion it was worse. She felt all the love they ever shared and she so wanted it back. She wanted him to stay, and stay forever.

“Jeffery…” she whispered.

Then the front door opened and shut again. This time they could hear Troy and Jasmine quarreling as they came in.

“Oh, for the love of…” Jeff muttered, running frustrated fingers through his hair just as Wendy slipped out of his arms. She shook her head, and all was back as it had been.

So much for old times.