What Were They Thinking?
7 Anna
“WHAT HAVE WE DONE?” Lily Cortales moaned as four moms sat at my kitchen table over coffee on Saturday morning. “I must be out of my head.”
Yesterday, we’d dropped our children off at the Starbridge Dude Ranch. Not only that, but we’d agreed—Agreed!—to let them stay in the same cabin. All based on this flimsy sheet of paper lying on the table in front of us. At my request, Saul Gordon had typed up a copy of ‘The Agreement’ and while we sat at the table at the ranch, our five children signed it. It was a formality. They’d already signed the agreement and had their copy with sixteen names on it. To all appearances, the kids were abiding by the letter of the agreement but I couldn’t help but think we were missing the loopholes. After they’d signed the agreement, we’d left them—two fifteen-year-old girls, two fourteen-year-old girls, and my son, who turned fifteen today.
That was the real problem. If he weren’t in the equation, the other moms would have had no qualms about leaving their daughters at the ranch. Evelyn Gordon laid a hand on Lily’s to comfort her.
“They are good children,” she said. “Hannah isn’t ready to do anything sexual and I’ve been watching her with Samantha. They are great friends. I know that Samantha wouldn’t let anyone push Hannah and I’m sure Hannah would object if anyone pushed Samantha.”
“She just has so little self-control,” Lily said.
“From what I’ve seen and heard, Brian has enough self-control for all five of them,” Anna said. We all looked to her. I was so glad she’d come to spend the weekend. We had a good time laughing and talking way too late last night before we’d gone to our rooms—Anna in the guest room, Hayden and me in our bedroom. When Hayden reached for me, he found me wet and ready. But we’d been circumspect with each other and had avoided anything suggestive while getting to know Anna better.
“What have you heard?” Lily asked.
“I have a good relationship with both Jennifer and Courtney,” Anna continued. “And Crystal really wants to come up to meet everyone, too, but Friday and Saturday are their big days at the restaurant. They just couldn’t get away. Which is why I have Courtney with me so much of the time. After the Girl Scout visit to the ranch a year ago, both girls came back changed. Maybe I should say awakened. The two girls are… into each other. They might be in love with each other. But for the first time in their lives, there was a boy in their conversation. Brian. I thought it would fade away, but after Christmas they started exchanging letters. The conversation about Brian never flagged. I heard about him rescuing Jennifer. There was something about being rescued three times. I figured out the first one quickly enough because they were both impressed with the fact that Brian had caught Jennifer when she fell off a horse. The second was mentioned frequently because they talked about how they both wanted to be rescued off the barrels, which I came to discover was a kind of skill race they do on horseback. But the third rescue remained a mystery until they started talking about this weekend and I asked Jennifer pointblank what the third rescue was. I had to bite my tongue so hard it bled in order to keep from lashing out at my daughter for her stupidity. After Brian became her hero, she’d snuck out of the Girl Scout cabin and went to his. She offered to have sex with him. Brian refused. He wasn’t unkind, but he said he had a girlfriend and he’d never do anything to hurt her. I think he was talking about Hannah.”
A tear sparkled in Evelyn’s eye. She reached for Anna’s hand. I just kept my head down. It was my son they were talking about. I hadn’t heard about that bit.
“What teenage boy do you know who wouldn’t take advantage of a teenage girl who offered herself to him?” Anna continued. “I listened to them on the phone as they were working on the agreement. I just placed my fifteen-year-old daughter and my best friend’s fifteen-year-old daughter in the same cabin with that boy because I believe he has self-control.” Anna reached over to place her hand on mine. I rolled my hand over and laced my fingers through hers. She smiled at me and my heart melted.
“Do you believe Brian has that much self-control, Marilyn?” Lily asked. I sighed.
“He’s way too old for his age,” I said. “Our friend Dennis Hopkins once said, ‘With boys you only have to worry about one penis. With girls you have to worry about all of them.’ And right now, the one you are worried about is my son’s. I keep better track of his whereabouts than he realizes. Since the agreement was signed, he’s been on eight dates. He has been out with six different girls as his ‘date’, even though all but one was with a group and that one was here at the farm for horseback riding. Three of his dates included Hannah and two of them included Samantha. He’s been out with two seventeen-year-old seniors and both comported themselves with gentleness and reserve, even though I was told that they both had a bit of a reputation before they joined the group. I believe he is still a virgin and will be until the rules against it in this agreement have been lifted.”
“I guess that is a bit of a relief,” Lily sighed.
“Your daughter isn’t a little bi, is she?” Anna giggled. “My daughter might be a bigger worry.” Lily opened her mouth in such a look of horror that we all started laughing and, in a moment, she joined in. I wasn’t that sure Anna was joking, but it lightened up the conversation. Regardless, I didn’t think the five kids at the ranch would get into more trouble than they could handle. I was pretty sure there would be some kissing and I didn’t want to think of what I’d want to do if I was my son, but I believed they would be okay.
“I had an idea I wanted to run by you and then the other parents of the signers in this group. I know several of them, have met others, and would like to meet the rest. Like we are doing this weekend with Anna,” I said. Well, I didn’t want to get to know the others quite as well as I wanted to get to know Anna. I need to get control of myself! “I was worried when Brian was asked to go to the football game with the head cheerleader two weeks ago. She’s one of the girls that I’d heard about and frankly didn’t trust. When I called Hayden, we decided to go to Goshen for dinner and just hang out at the game. Everything seemed to be okay and Hayden broke a few speed limits getting home before they did. Brian invited Renee into the house, introduced her to me and they sat and had milk and cookies at the table here for a while.”
“That’s sweet,” Evelyn said.
“Yes, but it got me thinking about how we protect the kids when they are starting to date,” I continued. “There’s going to be a time somewhere along the line when things don’t go right. Someone is going to need help.”
“That’s what I worry about all the time,” Lily said. “I’m afraid Sam will get in over her head and not have sense enough to call me.”
“That’s what I’m thinking as well,” I said. “And not just about Sam. What if we put together safety net—a list of all the parents’ phone numbers—and gave it to every signer of the agreement. We’d have to have an agreement among us as well. A kid in trouble could call any name on the list and a parent would come to get them, no questions asked.”
“That last phrase is very important,” Evelyn said. “Saul and I talked about something similar. Both Hannah and Sarah are a little… slow socially and could get into a situation they aren’t ready for. I’m pretty sure neither one would hesitate to call us, but sometimes kids just can’t stand the thought of facing their parents. They need to make the call and they need to know that the person who picks them up will not be judgmental or yell at them.”
“Evelyn and I took it upon ourselves to meet with Janet Anderson and Doris Trane early on. They both agreed that they’d like to participate in this,” I said.
“Wow! That is such a great idea,” Anna said. “That kind of thinking makes me want to just move up here with Courtney and Jennifer so they can be closer to the group.”
My heart skipped a beat.
Among us, we knew most of the parents in the group. There were a few we’d have to introduce ourselves to, but we divided up the list and set to work. By noon, Anna and I had completed our list with good results all the way around. We were well on the way to having a parents’ group that matched the dating group. A couple of the parents were surprised to hear about the group for the first time. I talked to the parents of the girls who had dated Brian. There were only four other than Evelyn and Lily, so that wasn’t a great challenge.
The surprise on my list was Cecille Carver, whose daughter Renee had signed only a ‘one-night’ agreement so she could date Brian. She was quick to volunteer and said that her daughter, Renee, was showing the first sign of independence that she’d seen in six years.
“Renee got mixed up with that boy, Chad, and hasn’t been the same since. I’ve worried about her constantly, and I know she’s not been the kind of daughter I wished for. I’ve just tried to hold our relationship together,” Cecille said.
“I understand that,” I said sympathetically. “My daughter was quite a handful.”
“Well, something changed this fall. She came to me and begged my forgiveness for being a slut and not listening to me. I have to tell you that the night she came home from the first school dance this year, we talked all night. She’d finally seen Chad for the using bastard that he is. And the reason she gave me was your son and his dating group. I know she isn’t officially a signer of the agreement but she showed me a copy after her date with Brian that the two of them had signed. Marilyn, I have to tell you that I was concerned that she was up to some of her old tricks and getting involved with freshmen. Did you know that Brian’s date drove two other girls home after the dance? He walked each of them to the door and was a perfect gentleman. After we talked all night, Renee and I went out for breakfast and when we got home, I held my little girl in my arms and we fell asleep on the sofa. If there is anything I can do to support the rescue of my daughter, you have my word that I will do it.”
There was that word again. Jessica. Jennifer. Renee. Who else had my son rescued?
As a little surprise, Anna and I baked a birthday cake for Brian and took it to the ranch. The kids were out on a trail ride with two of the wranglers and the foreman assured us that they would be too tired and sore to get in trouble by the time they got back to the ranch.
Of course, checking up on them was not at all on our minds. Much. Anna and I talked all the way back home and somewhere about Bremen, I reached over to touch her hand and she held it. Held it like a teenage girl with her best friend.
“It’s too bad Hayden had to go in to work today,” I said. “I just know you’ll love him when you get to know him better.” Oh, God! What did I just say.
“I’m sure of it,” Anna replied without missing a beat. Did she even hear what I said? “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we stop at a grocery and pick up some things for a nice meal? I had so much fun baking with you this afternoon, it would be wonderful to spend the rest of the day in the kitchen gossiping. I’m probably not the cook that Brian is, but I’m not a total disgrace in the kitchen.”
We settled on trying a chicken recipe that she’d been experimenting with and we picked up a bottle of wine to chill.
“Marilyn, do you drink? I mean more than a glass of wine?”
“We tend not to keep hard liquor in the house,” I said. “It just seemed like too big a risk with two teens around.”
“I hear you. I caught Jennifer and Courtney sneaking a drink from my admittedly small stock and poured most of a bottle down the sink. They were so shocked that I would simply refuse to have alcohol in the house that they gave me their word that they would never touch a drop of anything I decided to keep. It’s not like I drink much, but when Bill and Crystal come over, we sometimes have a martini. Would you be interested in a cocktail before dinner?”
We pulled into Walgreen’s and bought a bottle of gin and a bottle of vermouth to go with the olives we got at the grocery store. I felt incredibly decadent. Anna suggested that we put the gin in the freezer until we were ready for it.
We spent the rest of the afternoon preparing coq au vin with all the trimmings while we laughed and told stories about our children. Having gotten a daughter out of the house and into college, I could sympathize with Anna’s tribulations with Jennifer. I also learned more about her relationship with Bill and Crystal Price, Courtney’s parents, and how she’d started taking care of Courtney on weekends when they opened the restaurant six years ago. The girls were already good friends and somehow it evolved that they were seldom separated. Either Courtney was at her house or Jennifer was at theirs.
“Hello, lovely ladies!” Hayden said when he got home from work. It was unusual that he had to work on Saturday, but he’d taken half the day off on Friday to take the kids and horses to the ranch. Fall was always a busy time as they geared up for new electronic thingies. I didn’t understand anything South Bend Electronics produced.
“Hi, Honeybunch,” I said as I wiped my hands on my apron and gave my husband a serious kiss, right in front of Anna.
“I have flowers for you, lovely woman,” he said, presenting me with a bouquet. “And for you, lovely woman,” he continued as he produced a second bouquet for Anna.
“Oh, my! How lovely!” she exclaimed. “Do I get a kiss, too?”
Why, that little minx! Granted, the kiss she got was just a little peck, but it made my heart flutter. I had to run a mental and physical check on myself to determine if what I was feeling was jealousy and if I was ready to defend my territory. The little spritz of moisture I felt between my legs convinced me that I was less jealous than excited.
“Something smells absolutely delicious!” Hayden said. “What can I do to help?”
“Go have a seat in the family room while Anna and I make cocktails,” I said. “Dinner is almost ready but we can have a leisurely drink before it’s served.”
We didn’t all pile on top of Hayden in his recliner, though it was tempting. Anna and I sat on the sofa and we had a wonderful, relaxing evening. And dinner was a smashing success.
I admit to being a little tipsy when it came to bedtime. I’d had a martini and a couple glasses of wine—which is more than I’m accustomed to drinking. We all said goodnight at the bedroom door.
“I’m so glad we’ve met, Anna,” I said.
“I feel so comfortable around you and Hayden,” she answered. “It’s just so…”
I didn’t let her finish the sentence. I leaned in and placed a little kiss right on her lips. I blushed. I think she did, too, but all I really saw was the beautiful smile that broke across her face.
Morning was a little more reserved. I think we were all a little embarrassed about how freely we had expressed ourselves the night before. Even though Hayden had no more than a hug and a little peck on the cheek from Anna the night before, he’d had a sloppy Marilyn riding him into the mattress before I let him sleep. I was as embarrassed about how I expressed my infatuation to my husband as I was about the little kiss I shared with Anna.
We were all fully dressed when we emerged from our bedrooms and I made coffee. I found out, much to Anna’s embarrassment, that she liked a little chocolate in her coffee. That was cute. It just emphasized to me what a playful young spirit she had.
Young! I was crazy. Anna was seven years younger than Hayden and me. We’d waited two years after high school to get married, had Betts, and then waited four more years before Brian came along. Anna’s Jennifer was two months older than Brian, but Anna was eighteen and married to a law student when Jen was born. Well, I was only thirty-nine and determined not to be any older. At just thirty-three, it didn’t sound like so much of an age difference as when Hayden had mentioned that we were born in the forties and she was born in the fifties.
But she was so pretty and young and firm.
I slapped bacon into a frying pan with a little more vigor than I intended and spattered grease.
“Ouch!” I yelled.
Hayden was still pushing back his chair but Anna had my hand in hers, wiping away the grease spatter with a paper towel and pulling my hand under the cool water.
“It’s not that bad,” I complained, waving Hayden back to his seat. “It was just spatter. Nothing to worry about.” Still, I didn’t pull my hand away from Anna’s as she soothed it. She pulled it out of the water and patted it with a towel so she could examine it closely. It was really nothing.
She kissed my hand.
“All better now?”
“Yes. But I need to turn the bacon before it burns.”
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