Lee parked his car alongside the curb outside the building that housed Jamie's two o'clock class and glanced at his watch to check the time. "Three o'clock. Right on time," He said gleefully as he got out of his Ford. He made his way up the walk toward the building just as his stepson was exiting while trying to stuff a book in his backpack, not noticing Lee's presence until he'd grabbed him by the arm and said, "Let's talk," and steered him toward a low stone bench.
Jamie didn't fight him. He'd known he'd have to have this conversation with his stepfather sooner or later. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he sat down on the bench Lee had indicated wearily dropping his backpack to the ground in front of it.
"The question is what are you doing?" Lee asked him back with a pointed look as he sat beside him.
"I...uh...I don't know what you mean," Jamie hedged. "I...uh...I just got out of class."
"That's not what I mean and you know it," Lee scolded. "You withdrew a large chunk of cash out of your college fund today and I wanna' know why."
Busted, Jamie thought. He then nodded to Lee and replied, "I was wondering which one of you would be the first to find out about it." He then smiled a slightly nervous smile. "I'm glad it was you."
"Oh, it wasn't. It was your father. He's the one who told me and-"
"You didn't tell him?" Jamie interrupted his eyes wide with fear.
"No," Lee answered gently. Once Jamie had visibly relaxed he continued, "To be honest, I didn't know what to tell him because I'm not quite sure myself what you're up to...though I do have a pretty good idea." When Jamie hung his head, Lee slid from the bench and knelt in front of him, giving the young man no choice but to look at him. "You're gonna' be a dad, aren't you?"
Jamie nodded slowly. "Beth told me Thursday night."
Lee nodded curtly in understanding, his jaw clenching slightly as he resumed his seat next to his stepson. "So, what's the plan?"
"Th-th-the p-p-plan, Jamie stammered.
"Yes, Jamie, the plan," Lee repeated. "I assume that your trip to the bank today wasn't done so you could go on the bender of all benders. I also assume that the binge drinking and making a total ass of yourself by coming home drunk every night is over."
"It wasn't every night," Jamie argued.
"Three out of the last four nights is damn close enough," Lee pointed out, "And Friday night, you didn't come home at all. You worried your mother half to death with that one."
"I called," Jamie protested. "I told her I'd be staying with a friend."
"Oh, yeah, I know you did, but that's not good enough," Lee admonished him. "You missed dinner with the family and you were so vague about where you were gonna' be-"
Jamie rose from the bench and glared at his stepdad. "Look, I'm an adult and where I go and what I do is nobody's business but my own!"
"You're right. You are an adult," Lee concurred and then paused for a moment as he watched Jamie's expression soften slightly. "But you're also wrong. It is our business where you go and what you do," When it looked like he was about to protest, Lee held a hand up to silence him. "...To a point." He sighed, raked both hands through his hair and explained, "You chose to live at home with the family and your mother and I welcomed that because neither of us was quite ready to have you gone, but with that decision comes some responsibility on your part."
Jamie crossed his arms and said defiantly, "Is this the part where you tell me that as long as I'm living under your roof, I have to abide by your rules?"
Lee chuckled softly and answered, "Pretty much."
"You can spare me the lecture. I've heard it before," Jamie grumbled. "All about accountability and responsibility-"
"Well, you apparently missed one lecture that I gave you on responsibility," Lee retorted. "You remember the talk we had when you were getting ready to start high school?"
July 4, 1990, 10:00PM
They had just said goodbye to the last of their guests from their backyard barbecue and tucked the younger children into bed. Dotty and Amanda had headed off to begin putting away leftover food and cleaning up the kitchen when Lee, with trash bags in hand, said to his teenage boys, "Why don't you two come help me clean up outside?" When Phillip and Jamie grumbled, he said in a sterner tone, "Come on, Guys, you and your friends helped make the mess, so you can help clean it up."
The boys complained, but obeyed, following their stepfather outside and began picking up paper plates and cups throwing them into one bag while Lee started tossing the remnants of exploded fireworks into another. "Those sure were some cool fireworks this year," Jamie commented.
"Yes, they were," Lee agreed. He thought about the conversation that Amanda had asked him to have with the boys before school started up again and while he knew it needed to be done, he felt a bit awkward about it and how to broach the subject. He sighed as there never seemed to be a good time for the seriousness of the subject matter, but he supposed now was as good a time as any. "Hey, fellas, speaking of fireworks, there's...uh...there's something that I've been meaning to talk to you both about." He gestured toward the picnic table. "Have a seat."
Phillip and Jamie looked at one another worriedly as they sat down and then Phillip questioned, "Are we in trouble?"
"No," Lee shook his head as he sat down across from the pair. "No trouble and I'd like to keep it that way. You're...uh...you're both getting older. Jamie, you're starting high school this fall and Phillip, you're going to be a senior and I..." He sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought. "I couldn't help noticing today with Christie here all the looks that you two were exchanging..." He blew out a long slow breath to brace himself and then continued, "...And Jamie, you've just started showing an interest in girls-"
"Is this gonna' be a sex talk?" Phillip, the bolder of the two brothers blurted out cutting Lee off, "'cause if it is, Mom already had that talk with us a long time ago."
"Uh...yeah, it is, Phillip, but not the same talk that your mom had with you. I know what she'd say to you. Don't do it because she doesn't want to admit that you're growing up. Me, I'm a bit more realistic about it. I know what it's like to be a teenage boy full of raging hormones and surrounded by teenage girls with equally raging hormones, so the talk I want to have with you is a bit different. I want to talk to you about how dangerous it can be. I know in your health class, they talked to you about AIDS and how to prevent it and while it's a big one, but that's just one danger..."
"You mean like, STDs and stuff?" Jamie questioned.
"That's part of it too," Lee answered. "The main thing is if you do decide to have sex and I'm not saying that I want you to, but IF you do, it's important to be safe about it. It's also important to be completely honest with your partner because you just never know what their past looks like and as sad as it is to say, sometimes even kids like you have a past already. I think you've both known someone your age who has had to take on adult responsibility before they were ready because they were reckless."
"Yeah," Phillip concurred. "Joey Malone got Mindy Bishop pregnant and their parents made them get married."
"That's the other danger," Lee acknowledged. "You could get a girl pregnant and I don't think your mom would be too happy being a grandma this young and I don't think-"
"But you got Mom pregnant," Jamie argued, "Twice."
"Yes, true," Lee replied, "But your mom and I are older. We wanted kids and we were ready for them. "We were in our late thirties and that's a whole lot different than being a teenage parent, trying to raise a child when you're not much more than a child yourself."
"But what about Leah's Mom?" Jamie questioned. "You didn't want to have a kid with her, did you?"
Definitely not, Lee thought, especially not that way. "But that's exactly why I don't want you going down that road. How would either of you feel if you got a girl pregnant and she never told you about it and you find out years later that you have a kid you never knew existed? Not every parent would allow a teen marriage. If that ever happened to Leah, or Jennie or Emily, I think I'd want that boy to stay as far away from her as possible."
"If you didn't kill him first," Phillip quipped. "You'd probably wanna' use the guy for target practice."
Lee couldn't help laughing at Phillip's statement. "You get my point though, don't you? It's best to avoid that circumstance altogether, then you don't have to worry about it. That's where the honesty part comes in. Not only that, but being prepared. Sometimes things can happen when you least expect it." He took a deep breath and finished with, "Do you guys understand what I'm talking about."
"Condoms," Phillip answered.
"For a start and just so you know, if you ever need them, you can buy them at any drug store," Lee said, "Of course your mom's idea of you never having sex at all is even better, but...uh...I don't think that's a very realistic expectation in this day and age. Truthfully, it wasn't even when I was your age, but I was at least prepared. Even when I wasn't thinking about having sex, I always had one in my wallet."
"So, how old were you the first time?"Phillip inquired.
"Much too young," Lee answered with a slight flush rising in his cheeks, finding himself very grateful that the back yard was semi-dark only being illuminated by the glow of the back porch light.
"How young?" Jamie probed.
"I don't think-"
"Come on, Lee, you brought up the subject," Phillip interrupted.
"Yeah," Jamie agreed with a nod. "So, how young were you?"
"Sixteen, okay? I was sixteen."
"That's younger than I am now," Phillip mused.
"Yeah," Jamie nodded. "And I'll be fifteen in November."
"I know guys, but it was a HUGE mistake and I don't want you to repeat the same mistake."
"Why was it a mistake?" Phillip asked. "I mean, was it...was it bad of something?"
Lee shook his head. Phillip's bluntness never ceased to surprise him. "No, not bad, exactly, but it was kind of...I don't know...unplanned. It was my sophomore year of high school. I told you that I played football, right?" When both boys nodded, he continued, "Yeah, well, she was a cheerleader and it was after the homecoming game. We snuck out of the dance and under the bleachers with a flask she'd brought from home and well, let's just say, a little too much liquor and a little too much celebrating and we got carried away. We never spoke to each other again after that. That's why it was a huge mistake. We weren't ready."
"So, even though you're telling us to be prepared, you weren't when you were our age," Jamie said.
"To be fair, I didn't have a dad to talk to about this stuff, just my uncle and all he ever said about the subject is that if I ever got a girl pregnant, I'd damn sure better live up to my duty to her. That's why I wanted to talk to you guys, so that you know that you can always talk to me about anything, if you have any questions, you can come to me anytime. I admit that I made a mistake my first time and as I said, I don't want you to repeat that mistake." He sighed in frustration at being ambushed by the two boys and said, "Look, I don't think either of you are ready to take that step either, but IF you do, make sure you take all the necessary precautions and that you're ready to live with the consequences, okay? That's it!" He paused and fixed them both with a steely gaze. "Do you understand me?" When both boys nodded again, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, now, come on; let's finish getting this mess cleaned up."
Jamie sighed as Lee reminded him of that long ago talk and snapped, "Yeah, Lee, I get it. I screwed up, okay? I knew that I screwed up when I first told you about it on New Year's Day, but I'm trying to make it right. It's MY business, mine and Beth's."
"Well, how does Beth feel about all of this?"
"She's scared." Jamie sighed again and admitted, "I'm scared too. God, I'm so scared."
Lee reached to hug his stepson to comfort him, "I know, Sport, I know you are and with good reason." He pulled back to look at him. "I have to know, what's your idea of making it right? What was the two grand for?"
"I...um...I asked Beth to marry me," Jamie answered. Before Lee could respond, he said all in a rush, "the way I look at it, we were gonna' get married someday anyway and we talked about having kids in the future, we're just doing it sooner rather than later. I'm also arranging to go to medical school here at Georgetown in the fall and live in the family housing here so Beth can still finish her bachelor's degree. She'll have to take a semester off to have the baby, but she can make it up next summer and we'll...uh we'll be okay. We had a long talk today and we've got it all worked out."
Once Jamie had finished his Amanda-like ramble, Lee said, "I hope so, Kiddo, I sure hope so. Now, the big question is, when are you going to tell your mother?"