Ch 118 Just perfect

          “Just perfect,” Wendy muttered, slamming down the phone.

It never failed. Without so much as consulting her, May Lyn decides to hop a flight tomorrow and expect Wendy to drop everything to go get her at one of the busiest airports on the east coast and during rush hour. Oh yeah, it’ll be fun and games!

She had so much to do even without this bit of bother. She had to help Alec get the restaurant ready to open next week. She wanted—no, needed—to hear what Janet had to add to the Jeffery/Karen Harris situation, and then there was Jasmine’s thing and having to tell Jeffery about that and… oh, what a complicated mess her life had become! It was as if her sister was intent on causing her as much disruption of her already kooky life as possible.

Made her wonder why she so desperately wanted May Lyn around. Oh, she knew perfectly well why…she loved her sister and missed her horribly!     Besides, May Lyn needed to be home now, not in Texas where she barely knew anyone and had zero family now that her in-laws had moved to Arizona. Perhaps May Lyn could even help Wendy, giving her the sound advice she required to get her life back to normal, or at the very least back on track. It would be just like when they were kids. They both missed that.

But until then, Wendy was on her own. So, what was she going to do? How would she to get all this done without blowing a gasket? To her astonishment, her little nephew came up with the wonderful solution.

“Is Mr. Bashan gonna get Mommy at da airplane? I liked it when he got me at da airplane and den we went to da playground and to McDonalds and...maybe Mommy can have fun wiff us, too. Den it doesn’t hafta be a secret,” Tristan said, as he nibbled on his muffin getting crumbs all over the place. “We can make a picture board so she can find us just like Mr. Bashan made for me. I liked it. I wanna show Mommy when she comes. It’s in my room.”

As Tristan chatted away, Wendy’s frown turned upside down. That certainly would be absolutely perfect! Donny and Tristan could go and get May Lyn at the airport and…the romantic wheels in her head spun at lightning speed. Only thing was…would Donny agree, would he have time, would he want to…and most important of all, was he willing to fulfill her fantasies of making her sister get over Chad and fall endlessly, happily in love again, with Donny?

First thing’s first, though. Would he be busy tomorrow afternoon? She would soon find out.

“Tristan, are you done?” she asked, brushing at the crumbs on the front of the boy’s shirt.

He nodded. “Is Mr. Bashan coming today?”

“We will see him at church today. I have to get ready so to go, and you can watch a nice cartoon for now, okay?”

“ ‘Kay, “ he said scrambling off the tall bar stool, taking his sippy cup of milk with him. “Maybe Mommy will like Mr. Bashan and we can be together all da time.”

Wendy smiled watching him leave the kitchen. “My thoughts exactly, sweetie.”

*****

Tristan pulled his little hand out of Wendy’s grip and ran through the wandering, chatting crowd milling around in front of the church. He went straight to Donny who was speaking to someone while Cindy and Wes stood beside them. She watched as Donny scooped up the little boy and hugged him. He then listened intently, nodding as he did so. By the time Wendy reached them it had all been decided without much fanfare.

She approached slowly, a bit wary. “Hello, Cindy,” she said, casting an apologetic glance at Wes before adding, “Hello, Wes.”

He merely nodded but Cindy hugged Wendy around the middle smiling brightly. “Hi, Ms. Meadows! Where’s Stevie… and Janet?” she asked eagerly.

“I saw them talking to Luke and Alana over by the side entrance,” Wendy replied, staring at Wes. “I’m sure they will want to find you both, especially you, Wes. Janet can’t say enough good things about you and I’m sorry I forgot that this morning.”

“No worries. You had a big shock last night and you didn’t appreciate me being there so early,” he replied.

“You’ve already been over their house today? Don’t you ever sleep past six o’clock?” Cindy said, incredulous.

“Janet called to tell me she made muffins and she wanted a taster to tell her if they were any good,” Wes replied. “Of course, they were awesome!”

Cindy pouted. “And you didn’t bring any home for us?” she shrieked.

Wendy laughed. “You can come over later and have one, okay?”

“Cool! Let’s go see Luke!” Cindy said, grabbing Wes’ hand, half dragging him away.

She watched them go then turned to Donny who still held Tristan in his arms and was saying good bye to his friend.

“Hello, Wendy. So, I hear your sister’s coming home tomorrow,” he said, grinning. “And this little guy wants me to go get her at the airport. Would that be okay with you? And more importantly, would your sister mind a stranger getting her?”

Wendy could barely contain her excitement. “You’re not a stranger. You’ve talked to her before. Really, Donny, that’s awfully nice of you, but you’ve already done so much for me. I couldn’t ask you to do that too,” she said, managing to hide a smile.

“You don’t have to ask,” Donny said, smiling at Tristan. “My buddy here already did, and I’ll do anything for my buddy. Besides, my schedule is flexible. You told me you’re all tied up for the next week. You can’t possibly take time out to go to the airport. Alec will have a heart attack and maybe a hissy fit. That’s never pretty!”

“Well, if you really don’t mind,” Wendy said, and then gave him the particulars about the flight.

“Will you come with me, Tristan?” Donny asked. “You can help me find your mommy, ‘cause I don’t know what she looks like.”

“You don’t?” Wendy said. “But we showed you all our vacation pictures. Didn’t you see her in them?”

He frowned thinking back and shook his head. “I don’t think so. I would have remembered. I did see Tristan but he was much younger then. I only saw you and your kids in them.”

Wendy gaped at him, then she hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. “That’s because she’s always behind the camera! I thought for sure we took a few of her, but knowing her she probably deleted them before she made us the picture CD. Oh, I should kill her!”

“No! Don’t do dat,” Tristan cried. “I won’t have nobody to take care of me.”

“Oh, honey, I was kidding. I would never hurt my sister. You know that,” Wendy said, stepping closer and kissing his cheek. She then looked up at Donny and noticed he was a bit too close for comfort. She hurriedly stepped back and forced a smile. “Well, uh…we should go. Mass will start soon. Come on, Tristan.”

“I Wanna stay wiff Mr. Bashan,” he whined wrapping his arms around his neck.

“I don’t mind. We can sit in the same row, both our families together,” Donny said.

As her idea was to make Donny part of her family—specifically her sister’s family-- she thought that just about perfect. She smiled and nodded, but out of the corner of her eye she spotted Jeffery and he was staring daggers at them.

“I…uh…if you’ll excuse me, Donny. I need to speak with Jeffery,” she said.

“Tristan will be fine with me, wontcha, buddy?” Donny said.

“Uh-huh,” he said.

“We’ll meet you inside,” Donny said and he turned away with the chatting little boy.

Wendy gulped, placed a nervous hand on her belly and tried to steady her nerves, then slowly walked to where Jeffery stood apart from everyone, leaning against an orange and yellow leafed maple.

“Hello, Jeffery,” she said, her voice coming out like a squeak.

“Janet said you had something you wanted to tell me,” he said by way of greeting.

She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to tell you, but I know I have to,” she answered.

His eyes narrowed. “Not a great way to start a Sunday…if we’re going to have another fight right here in front of church.”

She sighed. “I was hoping we wouldn’t fight, Jeffery. Did Janet tell you?”

“Not a word. She said it wasn’t her place, but whose place is it then, I wonder? Donny’s perhaps?”

She blinked. “This has nothing to do with him.”

His eyebrows rose. “Your new boyfriend has nothing to do with this?”

“I…he’s not my boyfriend!”

“Isn’t that what you call someone you go off with for a romantic weekend?” he asked giving her a knowing look.

She stared at him, stunned. How in the world had he found out?

“May Lyn let the cat out of the bag,” he said reading her thoughts. “You ought to tell your sister which are secrets best kept from me.”

“I…it’s not what you think, Jeffery,” Wendy said hurriedly. “It was just a reunion and we had separate rooms and nothing…”

 “I don’t care what you did with him in Boston or anywhere else. I will fight you every step of the way.”

“Fight me? What are you…”

“ I’ll never give you a divorce. Funny thing is, I now can prove I didn’t have sex with Karen, but can you prove you didn’t with him?”

“I… I didn’t. This isn’t about Donny, Jeffery, or anyone else. It’s about Jasmine and what she did,” she said.

“Jasmine?” he said, taken aback. “What are you…”

“Yes, Jasmine and what she did right under my nose…with Troy,” she said. “Just like you said would happen.”

“What are you saying?” he asked, stepping away from the tree, going to stand right in front of her.

Wendy shut her eyes and put a hand to her aching temple. “She and Troy decided to have sex in her room last night while we were all downstairs.”

He stared at her, but remained silent.

“You can say I told you so. I won’t blame you. I was wrong about her and you were right. I’m sorry I didn’t heed your warning. At least…well, she informed me she’s been on the pill for a while so…”

“I know. I took her to the doctor myself,” he said, grimly.

She gaped at him. “You did what?”

“I was afraid this would happen. I knew it would. It was just a matter of time with her. Jasmine isn’t like Janet. She doesn’t have the self-esteem, the self-discipline to resist peer pressure. I knew she would follow the crowd and I knew she was stupid enough to follow it there... I knew since she was eight,” Jeff said.

“And I refused to see it,” Wendy mumbled, her eyes welling with tears. “I’ve been so stupid. ”

“You meant well, Wendy, I’m sure, but you treated them the same because you thought that was fair, and maybe it was, but they’re not the same. Nothing close,” he said.

“No, I see that now,” she said, frowning slightly. “So, you knew she and Troy…”

“I suspected… quite a while ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t think you’d want to hear it. You don’t want to hear anything from me anymore, remember?”

She pressed her lips together and looked down at the fallen leaves scattered on the lawn. “Are you mad at me, Jeffery? I won’t blame you if you are.”

He half smiled. “Did you put a gun to her head and say, ‘Do this or else’?”

She shook her head. “Maybe if I had she wouldn’t have done this.”

“No, I doubt anything would have stopped her,” he said. “She obviously wanted to get caught… desperate.”

“Desperate? Whatever for?”

He stared at her for a long moment. “You tell me. She must have said something.”

Wendy frowned and had opened her mouth, but shut it again. “All I know is this wouldn’t have happened if you were home.”

Stunned, he merely stared and had been about to reply, but was interrupted.

“Mom, Dad? Service is about to start,” Janet shouted to them from the church steps.

They turned and watched the milling crowd now entering the church, stepping around Janet and Wes holding hands by the front steps.

“Be right there,” Jeff said, waving to them. He turned back to Wendy and asked, “What do you think of Janet with Wes? Do I have to worry about them?”

“Something she said tells me no. you’re right about her too. She’s…well, she’s her own person and even Wes can’t budge her on her principles…so far. I don’t know how I could be so wrong about Jasmine. Don’t know what I did wrong to…”

“Don’t second guess yourself, Wendy. You’ve done great so far.”

“How can you say that?” she whispered, on the verge of tears. “I really messed up this time.”

“As parents you can only do your best. Raising kids is like leading a horse to water. They might drink or they may refuse just to spite you and end up dying of thirst. Or maybe they’ll take a swim and do great. Count yourself lucky if they don’t drown.”

Wendy laughed. “You always have a funny way of putting things into perspective,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I thought you were going to be so mad at me.”

He shrugged. “Why? We were the same age when we…started. I don’t regret it, but maybe you do.”

She shook her head. “Never,” she whispered. “Jeffery, I…”

“Hey, guys!” Stevie shouted. “Father Garcia’s gonna crucify you both if you don’t get in here now.”

Jeff grabbed her hand, pulling Wendy forward and said, “Come on. He’s still ticked off at us for baptizing the girls with un-biblical names.”

Wendy laughed feeling giddy as teenagers in love as they ran up the steps and entered just as the congregation rose to their feet to recite the Lord’s Prayer. They sneaked around the back to the right side aisle and stood at the end of their usual pew next to their kids with Wes and his family at the other end.

          Father Garcia would have punished Wendy with polishing every pew in the church had he known her thoughts while she ought to have been listening to the service. Sitting next to Jeffery she wondered how she could get him back home without her looking like a foolish harpy. That was if he wanted her back. Now that he knew about her weekend getaway with Donny all bets were off.

Yes, he had said he would never give her a divorce, but that didn’t mean he would forgive her for her own indiscretion, did it? He loved her though. She could tell. And she definitely loved him and surely with all that love still there things would work out eventually…maybe?

          She cast furtive glances at Jeff every few minutes, until he noticed. He then whispered in her ear, “Are you okay?”

          She smiled and nodded. For the first time in a very long time she really thought she was, or soon would be…if she could only find the time to talk to Janet.