She Can And She Did
Chapter 12
When Amanda pulled into the driveway close to 11 that evening, she saw her mother's bedroom light still on, and shaking her head, pulled the car into the garage.
Shutting off the motor, she exited the car, and leaving the garage, closed the garage door before going into the house.
As she entered through the front door, she went to the kitchen, and putting her purse on the counter, went upstairs, first to look in on the boys, finding a light shining underneath Phillip's blanket!
Checking to make sure Jamie had not awakened, she carefully lifted Phillip's blanket, and whispered quickly, "Phillip! What are you doing still awake?"
Phillip shook his head, quickly answering softly, "N-Nothing, Mom! Just reading stuff for homework-"
Then, a magazine fell to the floor from his bed, and Amanda swallowed hard in shock as she saw what it was, and quickly grabbing it, responded with a harsh whisper, "We will discuss what this is, and where you got it from in the morning, Young Man! Now go to sleep!"
Grabbing the flashlight from her son, she shut it off, and taking it and the "reading material" with her, carefully made her way out of the room, closing the door, and in the hall, seeing Dotty's light on underneath the bedroom door, went to knock softly asking, "Mother? Are you awake?'
Dotty answered in a hushed whisper, "Yes, Dear, come in..."
As her daughter came in, closing the door, Dotty noticed the concern on her face, and asked quietly, "What's the matter, Darling?"
Amanda sighing, handed her the "reading material", and as Dotty eyed it, she was surprised and queried, "Wh-Where did this come from?!"
Amanda commented, "From the boys' room. I just caught Phillip looking at it! I wonder where he got it, since the two of us don't have anything close to that in this house!"
Dotty shook her head as she threw it in the wastebasket, answering, "Well, maybe if I ask the other mothers, we can-"
But Amanda, heading to the wastebasket, quickly picked it up, and shook her head remarking immediately, "No, Mother-"
Dotty asked, "No? Why not for heaven's sake?!"
Amanda stated, "Because now that Phillip's been caught with it by me, he's probably embarrassed enough by it, and won't want to discuss it anyway, even though I told him we would in the morning."
Dotty asked, "Then, what are you going to do?"
Amanda, looking at the time, said, "I'm gonna call Joe, and check on when he can come back for a visit..."
Dotty nodded, and then, noticing Amanda's expression queried, "Was there another reason you came to my room?"
Amanda, thinking about Lee suddenly, shook her head and waved it away quickly stating as she kissed her mother's cheek, "N-No, nothing at all, Mother...Good night..."
But as she saw Amanda quickly leave the room and shut the door quietly, Dotty chuckled softly muttering, "Carl, I do believe that not only is our grandson embarrassed by this, but also our daughter, who's embarrassed herself by something else that occurred tonight..."
-SMK-
As Amanda got to her room, she closed the door, changed into her nightgown, brushed her teeth, and then making her way over to her bed, went to her nightstand drawer to look for Joe's number in Estoccia.
Finding it, she looked at the time, and then dialed. Waiting for him to answer, her mind went over all that had happened that evening, first at Lee's place, and then the incident with Phillip.
Shaking her head, she wondered what made her say that comment to Lee about a cold shower? That wasn't like her at all! She felt a bit confused at this point and wondered what to do about it.
She sighed thinking, I'm a grown woman, and I'm actually insecure about how to be around him?
She knew she had feelings for him...And it was much different than she'd had before with Joe.
Oh, well...She'd just have to sleep on it, and it may be clearer for her in the morning.
But Phillip? He was only twelve, and...
Just then, she heard Joe's voice saying, "Hello? Hello!"
Amanda quickly remarked, "Joe? Joe, it's Amanda...Sorry if I didn't hear you at first."
Joe asked, "Is everything alright? You don't usually call at this hour- I mean, it's pretty late there."
Amanda sighed answering, "I-I know...I needed to talk to you, though. It's about Phillip."
Joe remarked with a chuckle, "Ah! He asked you about getting a dirt bike, right? I already told him I'd teach him how to ride one, but that you'd probably nix the idea of him owning one."
Amanda gasped commenting, "Oh, you're darn right about that! Anyway, it's actually about what I caught him looking at tonight...Joe... it was a Playboy magazine..."
When Joe simply answered with, "Uh-huh", Amanda queried concernedly, "Joe, did you hear what I said? Playboy! Now, I know you just send National Geographic to the boys to look at and discuss when you're here to visit, but this?! Where could he have gotten it from?"
Joe sighed responding, "Amanda, calm down...It's just a phase all kids go through...It'll pass-"
Amanda commented tersely, "Oh, really? And you'll talk to him when you come to visit which is when?"
Joe answered tiredly, "Probably in six months...I've gotta head to Uruguay, then the Phillipines, then over to Miami before I get up to D.C again...But I promise I will sit both boys down and have a long talk with them about this passage in their lives...Believe me, Honey, it'll be alright...Now, I've gotta get some sleep. I have a flight in a few hours...Was there anything else?"
Amanda swallowed at his cavalier attitude and commented, "N-No, thanks, Joe. Glad we had this talk...Bye."
She hung up before he could say anything else, and thought, Well, I guess it falls to me then to take care of this, like everything else here...
And as she laid down finally that night, she thought, Imagine, a mother, talking to her own sons about that!
She shook her head, knowing her late father would never have talked to her about that subject!
She chuckled, remembering when her mother was sick one time, but it was when Amanda needed to finally get a training bra, and thinking nothing of it, asked her father to take her to the store to get one!
He sat her down saying, "Panda, I will take you fishing or swimming, or camping, but the girl stuff you need? That job is for your mother!"
She fell into a troubled sleep wondering how she would tackle this subject of puberty and other things with her boys...
TBC