First Date--Part Five

4247 Maplewood Dr.

Saturday, May 4, 2002

1:38 PM

“Lee, could you please stop pacing?” Amanda asked her husband. “You’re going to wear holes in the carpet in a minute.”

“Well where is he?”  Lee looked at his watch. “Didn’t his mother say that she’d be here by one-thirty?”

“It’s only one-thirty eight,” Amanda reminded him. “The movie doesn’t actually start until two-forty. And besides, Jenna’s still upstairs getting ready—this will give her some extra time.”

“She’s been up there over an hour now,” Lee replied.  “What exactly is she doing to herself, anyway?”

“Well, she’s just—” Amanda’s voice broke off as Dotty swept into the room. 

“I swear, those phone people are getting more annoying by the day,” she said. “You can hear them breathing now, but they don’t say anything—they just hang up. Amanda, have you seen my purse?” 

“It’s on the coat rack, mother,” Amanda told her. “What did the caller ID say?”

“Oh, the same,” Dotty grabbed her purse and unzipped it as she spoke. “Unavailable—no number given—that’s what it always says. Ahh—here it is.”  She fished out a small light pink tube. “Jenna just wanted to borrow my lip gloss—I think this would look just right on her.” 

“Lip gloss?”  Lee repeated. “As in makeup—she’s up there putting on makeup?”

“We did say special occasions, remember?”  Amanda said. “I think this qualifies.”

Special occasions—Dotty and Amanda were both looking at him now, waiting for him to speak. Lee let out a sigh.

“Yeah,” He admitted finally. “Okay, you’re right—that’s fine.”

Amanda was right—he knew she was right. So why was his heart racing, his mouth suddenly bone dry?

The makeup was a sign, he thought. Yet another sign that she was growing up—just like the bra. And when she had come downstairs last night he hadn’t even noticed she was wearing one.

Why hadn’t he noticed? He was trained to notice things, to be observant—it was part of his job. And yet that had passed right by him.  His own child.  Was it because he hadn’t expected it, Lee wondered, or was he completely losing it? Would that boy notice? At that age he definitely would’ve noticed—

No.  Hastily Lee shoved that those thoughts to the back of his mind—he couldn’t allow himself to think that way.

‘She’s growing up—this is what happens. It’s what supposed to happen.’  Somehow that didn’t make him feel any better.

The doorbell rang. Again Lee looked down at his watch. Forty-three minutes after one. 

“Took him long enough,” he said. “I’ll get the door.”

“You’d think he was the one with the date,” Dotty remarked drily. “I’ll just go upstairs and give this to Jenna.”

The doorbell rang again. This Chris certainly was impatient, Lee thought.  He unlocked and opened the door. 

“Hello Mr. Stetson,” Chris said.

The boy standing in front of him had straight sandy brown hair and blue eyes. Nicely dressed but not too dressy, Lee noted—he wore a green polo shirt and khaki slacks. Clean-cut looking too, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything.  In one hand he held a small bouquet of flowers, which he held out towards Lee.

“I—um—I brought these for Jenna,” Chris told him.

“Thanks,” Lee took the flowers.  “She’s still upstairs. Where’s your Mom?” 

“Oh, she had to go,” Chris said.  “She’s a real-estate agent and she’s holding an open house today. She said to tell you ‘Hi’. ”

“Hmm.” Lee replied, looking down at him.  He watched in satisfaction as Chris swallowed—plainly nervous—exactly what Lee wanted this boy to be. 

“Can I come in?” Chris asked. 

“Come in? Sure.”  Lee held open the door, allowing him to pass.  “Right this way—Chris.”  He led him into the family room.

“Hello, there, Chris,” Amanda stood as they entered the family room. “I’m Jenna’s mother—it’s certainly a pleasure to meet you—and I’ve heard so much about you.”  

“Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Stetson,” Chris replied.

So much about him, Lee thought—while he himself had heard almost nothing. Though he fully intended to find out all he could today.

“Oh, these flowers are beautiful,” Amanda exclaimed as she took the flowers from Lee’s hands.  “I’ll put them in some water. Can I get you anything , Chris? Soda, maybe? Or cookies?”   

Chris smiled. “Soda would be good.” He looked at his watch. “Will Jenna—”

“She’ll be right down,” Lee told him. “Take a seat—we can have a nice talk while we’re waiting.”

“Sure.” Chris sat on the sofa, while Lee took the armchair facing him.

“I’ll be right back with your soda,” Amanda told Chris—shooting Lee a warning glance as she left the room.

Then it was just him and Chris.

For a couple of moments Lee just stared at him, not saying anything, watching as the boy shifted and squirmed in his seat.

“So,” Lee asked suddenly.  “You’re going to see Spiderman, is that right?”

“Yes sir,” Chris replied.  

Sir?  Lee wondered whether this kid was just being polite or if he was trying to get on his good side. “I’ve heard that’s a good movie.”

“I’ve heard that too.” 

“So, Jenna tells me you go to Williamsburg Middle School.”

“Yeah.”

“Eighth grade?”

“That’s right.”

From the kitchen Lee heard a cabinet door open and close—he knew Amanda was listening. He tried to keep his tone light and conversational. “Do you enjoy your classes?”

“Some of them are better than others,” Chris replied. “But yeah, I guess they’re mostly okay.” 

“Jenna’s pretty good at Math, you know.” 

“I know,” Chris said. “She’s told me.” 

“I see,” Lee said. “You look like someone who makes probably makes pretty good grades.”

Chris shrugged. “They’re not bad, I guess.”

Not bad I guess—what was that supposed to mean, exactly? “And do you have a lot of friends in school?” 

“I have a few.”

A few—Lee was tempted to ask him how many a few was.  “And do any of these friends at your school happen to be other girls?” 

 “No, not right now.”

Meaning there had been? Even at that young age Lee had always had at least a couple of girlfriends on whatever base he happened to be staying at the time—the last thing he wanted was for Jenna to be in that kind of situation.  “But you’ve had other girlfriends in the past?” he pressed him. “At your own school, I mean?”

Now Chris looked distinctly uncomfortable.”  A couple,” he admitted. “But not now.”

“Must be hard, though—you know, dating someone from a different school.”

“Not really,” Chris said. “I mean, I get to talk to Jenna on the phone all the time, so it’s cool. She’s a cool girl.”

“Yes, she is,” Now he was getting somewhere. “But do you intend to keep seeing —” he began, when Amanda’s voice broke in.

“Lee.” She stood there, soda in hand—he hadn’t even heard her. “Why don’t you go upstairs and see what’s keeping Jenna?”

“I’ll do that.”  Lee rose from the sofa.  “Nice meeting you, Chris.”

“You too, Mr. Stetson.”

SMK SMK SMK SMK 

“Come in, Dad,” Jenna called out as he knocked on the door.  Lee opened the door to see her sitting at her dresser in front of a mirror, brushing her hair.

“How did you know it was me?”  He asked, walking over to stand beside her.  “I could’ve been your Mom or even your Grandma.”

“Your footsteps sound different.”

“Different footsteps, huh?”  Lee said. “You, know, that’s actually pretty observant.”

 “Well, you know, I do have parents who are spies, after all.” 

Lee patted her shoulder. “That you do, munchkin,” he replied, watching as Jenna put the brush down and pulled one section of her hair so that it fell over her shoulder. “I’m sorry—I probably shouldn’t be calling you that anymore now that you’re older, should I?”

“Munchkin is fine.”  She turned around in her chair to face him. “I’m really sorry about before—I felt bad, you know, snapping at you like that.”

“Hey—it’s all right,” he told her. “Believe me, I understand.”

“I don’t,” Turning back around, Jenna stared hard at herself in the mirror. “I mean, one minute I feel normal and the next I’m all weird again.”  She sighed. “It’s kind of hard to explain.” 

In the dumps one minute and on cloud nine the next—that was the way Amanda had described it.

“Yeah, well that—that’s pretty typical.”  Lee said. “Your feelings are—they’re perfectly normal for someone your age, believe me.”

“Now you sound kind of like Dr. Pfaff.” 

“Maybe,” Lee contended, wincing inwardly at the comparison. “But it’s still true.  You do know there’s a boy waiting for you downstairs?” 

“I know. You didn’t interrogate him or anything, did you?”

“Just a few questions.” Jenna gave him a look.  “Your Mom was there—I wasn’t too hard on him, I promise.”

“That’s a relief.”

 “But you do need to get down there if you don’t want to be late for the movie.”

“I know, but I can’t get my hair right,” Jenna replied. “I keep trying to braid it and it just—it won’t work.”

“You’re probably just a little nervous, that’s all.” 

“A little?” Jenna  said. “On a scale from one to ten ,I think I might be a twelve—look at my hands.”

“Then here,” Lee took the brush from her shaking fingers. Grabbing her other chair he took a seat behind her. “Let me help.”

“Dad, you’re going to braid my hair?” Jenna sounded doubtful.

“Trust me, okay?”  As he spoke Lee brushed out her hair. “I know I’m not your mom, but it just so happens that I do know a thing or two about knots.”

 “As long as you don’t do my hair in a kellick hitch or something.”

“I promise not to.”  Lee carefully divided her hair into three sections and began intertwining the sections.  “You really don’t have anything to be nervous about, you know. Chris—he likes you.”

 Jenna’s face brightened. “He does?”

“Yeah.”  He couldn’t believe what he was saying—that he was telling her this. “He said he thought you were cool—and actually he seems like an okay guy himself.”

“You really mean that?” 

“Well,” he shrugged. “I might exaggerate—just a little. Seriously, though—he doesn’t seem that bad. He even brought you flowers.”

Jenna smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Anytime.”

From here he could see Jenna’s face reflected in her mirror—eyes so much like her mother’s but he could see himself in there as well.

“You look so beautiful,” he told her.  “So grown up.”

 “Sometimes I wish I felt more grown up.”

“Give it time—you’ll get there.” 

“Yeah.”  Jenna fell silent for a moment. “Everything’s changing so fast.”

Changes—the apprehension welled up in Lee’s gut once more—it was more than just the makeup and the boys, he realized, though that was a part of it. It was everything.

She wasn’t his little girl, not anymore.

 “I can’t promise you it’ll be easy,” he replied. “It’s going to take some getting used to.” Especially for me, he added silently. 

“We don’t have a choice, do we?”  Jenna said. “I mean, I keep right on growing.”

“That you do,” he finished the braid, wrapping the elastic band around the end. “But we’ll get through it like we always do. Deal?”

“It’s a deal.”   

“In the future though, you might want to get your Mom to do your hair, munchkin,”  Lee said as he rose from the chair. “I’m not so sure that I did such a good job.”

“You did a great job.”  Standing up, Jenna wrapped her arms around him. “I love you, Dad.”

“Love you too,” he hugged her and kissed her forehead.  “You probably need to get downstairs, huh? Before Chris thinks you’ve vanished.”

“You’re right,” Jenna grabbed her purse. “I don’t want to be late on the first date, do I?”

First date. He watched as she slipped her feet into her sandals and headed for the door—

“Jenna?” 

She stopped, turned around— “Yeah?”

A million and one things went through his mind—things that he could tell her—things he wanted to say— but they all seemed to stop in his throat—no words would come.

“Have a good time,” he told her finally

Another smile. “We will.” 

TBC