Father & Son: Book two of the Jensen Family Series (12 page)

“In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s Sunday
which happens to be my day off and the day you have both boys and yours is
awake.” Helen had paused only briefly to take in the situation in front of her
before delivering her tirade and dumping Gavin on the bed. “You must be insane
to put yourself through this again.” She addressed Carmen. “He’ll hurt you.”

“It’s my life Helen. I know what I am
doing.” Carmen answered her, relieved that Paul had actually rolled off her and
pulled Gavin onto his lap.

“I hope so. You know where I am if you
need me.” She shot Paul a dirty look before stalking from the room.

“I get the distinct impression that she
doesn’t like me.” Paul murmured while bouncing the baby on his knees.

“She’s just looking out for me.” Carmen
responded.

“I understand that.” He handed the child
to her as he got out of the bed. “She doesn’t have to keep harping on though
does she?”

“I suppose not.” Carmen sniffed the bundle
in her arms, “Do you want to be on breakfast brigade or nappy duty?” She asked.

“I really should say breakfast but if I’m
going to take him home with me sometimes then I need to practise the whole
nappy thing.”

“You brave boy.” She laughed and handed
Gavin back to him. “I’ll wake Luke and get breakfast started, good luck.”

Paul watched her leave his room before
regarding his son, “Why do I get the feeling she knows something I don’t?” He
asked the child who simply gurgled a reply.

Two o’clock Monday and Paul finally made
an appearance on site. He caught the keys to the van that one of his men threw
to him and turned away to dump his bag in the back and pull on his work boots.

“Well strike me down with a feather boys,
look who’s showed his face.” Phil grinned at him, thoroughly enjoying playing
to his audience. “If one of us was this late without leaving word, you’d sack
us.” He chided.

“Not straight away.” Paul protested, “I’d
listen to your lame excuses first, then I’d sack you.” He chuckled. “Sorry I’m
late guys, I sort of got delayed.”

Phil gestured to the men to go back to
work before handing Paul a spade and walking with him to the plot he was
working on.

“You look tired.” Phil commented as he
started to dig.

“I am, long and hectic weekend. I went to
see my boy and rekindled old flames. I should have caught the last train last
night but I found it more difficult to leave than I had imagined. I’m tired, I
ache and I need to find a way to have my son with me.”

“Do you think his mother will want that?”

“God no. She barely lets him out of her
sight; if I wanted full time custody I would have a battle Royale on my hands
and as I seem incapable of staying out of her bed it complicates things
further. I need to persuade her to move closer or find a place here where she
can come and stay for weekends to share some of the travelling burden but a
niggling part of me tells me she won’t go for that either. I need to start
thinking with my head and not my dick when I’m around her.”

“Why not try to arrange meetings at a
neutral place?”

“Because I’d still want to fuck her even
if we did that and I’d find a way to do it too, if you saw her you’d understand
why I can’t say no.”

“I’d say you’re screwed mate.” Phil
slapped him on the back and laughed.

“Thank you for those encouraging words of
wisdom.”

Life plodded on as usual with gardening,
office work and fortnightly visits to see his son with driving lessons squeezed
in where possible. Paul would bemoan the fact on returning home from his visits
that Carmen seemed to have an irresistible pull on him and he had once again
found himself in her bed and was getting more and more involved with her each
and every time he saw her. It was becoming increasingly difficult to leave and
he feared that one day, he would simply stay.

Spring brought a welcome change in the
weather along with celebration as first Matt then Paul passed their driving
tests and began the hunt for a car. At first, they had looked at having a car
each but after discussing it and realising that they rarely went out without
the other one in tow, they settled on sharing a car.

It wasn’t long before Paul arrived home
with an old but physically immaculate Ford Escort Mexico and they took turns in
driving it each time they went out. Sadly, the outer beauty and physical
perfection of the car was undermined by the serious mechanical flaws and
unreliability of the engine and more often than not, it would break down on an
evening out.

“Its unpredictability is sort of becoming
predictable.” Matt commented as he and Paul peered into the engine bay.

“Yeah I know but it’s nothing I can’t fix
once we get it collected. Looks like we’ll need a visit to the scrappy for
another radiator though.”

“Do you reckon that’s the only issue?”
Matt waved down the break down vehicle.

“Sadly no, I think I bought a lemon. I’m
going to look into getting another engine for it as it’ll be a shame to scrap
it, the bodywork is immaculate and the car is solid.”

“How much is that going to cost?” Matt
asked.

“Dunno but don’t worry, I’ll cover the
cost of it and I think I’ll be able to fit it myself with a little help.”

“Where to boys?” The recovery driver
asked.

Paul gave the man the address of the
workshop that took care of his company vans; he was fairly certain that with
the promise of more company vehicles, the owner would allow him to work on his
own car using their space.

Monica allowed Paul to take her car on his
next visit to his son, making him vow as she dangled the keys in front of him,
that he would call her the moment he arrived and let her know he was safe.

Paul huffed while lamenting, “I’m
seventeen Mum.”

“You’re still my baby.” She gave him her
standard answer with the twinkle in her eye as she chuckled at his bereft
expression on being called a baby.

Swallowing his pride, he took the offered
keys, “Of course I’ll call you, I promise, cross my heart and hope to die.” He
mocked as he wrapped her in a hug, “Thanks for letting me take the car.”

Carmen’s good mood evaporated when she saw
Monica’s dark blue BMW pull up in front of her house. Thinking the older woman
had driven up to check on her; she was pleasantly surprised when Paul climbed
out of the driver’s seat and waved at her while talking into his phone. Call
finished, he made his way into the house.

“Hi.” He dropped his bag and wrapped his
arms around her waist, “Miss me? Where’s my boy?”

“Gavin’s in here and of course I missed
you. I thought for a moment there Monica had come to check up on me.”

“She wouldn’t do that, she has been asking
when she can see Gavin though, might be nice if you could bring him down
sometime. She let me borrow her car cause mine’s off the road.”

“That was nice of her.” Carmen watched as
the love of her life easily flopped onto the living room floor and began to
babble to the other love of her life, her baby boy.

Paul turned onto his back and pulled Gavin
to sit across his stomach, “She is nice.” He answered, looking around his son
at her, “It’s about time you gave her a chance.”

“Yeah well, that cuts both ways don’t you
think?” she huffed.

“I guess.” He shrugged and turned his
attention back to the gurgling child bouncing on him. “Where’s Helen?”

“Luke had a birthday party to go to so
she’s with him and I’m beginning to notice what a handful Gavin is without Luke
around.”

Paul came lithely to his feet, cuddling
his son, “So let’s do something with him and keep him entertained while his
buddy is out having fun.”

“OK, what would you like to do?”

“Oh, I dunno, er, swimming?”

“After the way it ended the last time? I
think not.” She poo pooed that idea.

“Alright, is there a playground around
here?”

“He’s too small for that.”
“No he’s not, we’ll be with him, come on Carmen, it’ll be fun.”

It turned out to be a very pleasant
afternoon resulting in Gavin falling to sleep shortly after his evening meal
with Luke following only moments behind having exhausted himself at the
birthday party. Paul even managed to have an amicable conversation with Helen
over dinner then the three of them settled down to watch a film.

When Carmen and Helen began the nightly
ritual of securing the house, Paul stretched and asked, “Where am I sleeping?”

Carmen shot a glance in Helen’s direction
before answering, “My room, I took your bag up there earlier.”

Not giving Paul a chance to reply, Helen
cut into the heated looks the two exchanged, “Why do you insist on doing this
to yourself? I’ll admit he’s great with the kids but seriously Carmen, he is no
good for you whatsoever, I’ve said that from the beginning.”

“I want him in my life Helen, it’s where
he belongs.”

Luckily for him, Paul’s thought of
I
don’t think so
never made it out of his mouth before Helen started in on
her again.

“That’s bullshit and you know it, you
can’t fill your loneliness with a boy and one who forgets about you the moment
you are out of sight, you’ve seen for yourself what he gets up to when he goes
home, he will never be faithful to you and if that’s what you think then you
are kidding yourself and you are an even bigger fool than I’d originally taken
you for.”

“We haven’t discussed our relationship so
at the moment, he has no reason to be faithful, I’m sure when we get down to
the nitty gritty and solidify this thing between us he will stop his
philandering ways.”
“Whoa, hang on a minute.” He’d had enough and stepped into the conversation
knowing that what he would say would positively guarantee he didn’t get any
nookie but knowing he had to say it nonetheless. “Firstly, I am in the room and
you don’t have to talk about me as if I wasn’t. Secondly, what goes on between
us is none of your bloody business Helen so I suggest you shut up and butt out.
Thirdly, we have a child together Carmen, we do not have a relationship nor do
I want to enter into one with you at this point and I’d appreciate it if you
didn’t make those sort of assumptions without discussing it with me first.”

“Told you.” Helen smirked at Carmen before
she left the room.

“What the hell did you mean by that little
outburst?” Carmen asked, hands planted firmly on her hips.

“Just what I said, apart from being
parents to the same child, there is no relationship between us. What I do when
I’m not here is my business, my prerogative, it has no reflection on who I am
when I’m here. Don’t get me wrong, I do have feelings for you but right now,
I’m having trouble figuring out exactly what they are so until I do that, I
think it’s best to keep relationship talk to a minimum.”

“Are those “feelings” she made air quotes,
“Solely confined to the times we spend naked?”

“Ah Carmen, the sex is mind blowing but it
isn’t to be confused with anything other than physical gratification and
perhaps that’s where we don’t see eye to eye.”

“Really.” She said dryly. “Just so you
know, until you can man up and work out what your feelings are with me, you’ll
be sleeping in the spare room and the only sex you’ll be getting while you are
here will be with your hand.” She flounced from the room.

Nice going Paul
, he told himself as he mounted the stairs,
you
handled that really well, now you have two pissed off women to deal with all
weekend.

Rising early the following day, he checked
on his son and on finding him still sound asleep, Paul headed downstairs and
made himself a light breakfast and was sipping his tea while contemplating the
garden. Squinting up at the sky and judging that it would probably be a
pleasant day, he quickly finished his tea, got dressed and headed out into the
garden.

That’s where Carmen found him. The lawn
had been cut, the edges trimmed and Paul was on his knees weeding the flower
beds. A serious wave of déjà vu swept over her as she watched him work and
replayed the previous evening’s conversation in her head.

“He must have got an early start.” Helen
commented, standing beside her.

“I guess.” She shrugged, “What do you have
planned today?”

“Nothing really, thought I’d catch up on
the ironing but other than that, I have no grand plans for the day.”

“I think I might make a picnic and lay it
out on the lawn, it will do Gavin good to be out in the sun. I’ll keep an eye
on Luke if you want some space.”

“A picnic sounds good actually, mind if I
join you?”

“I’d be glad of the company; heaven knows
what sort of mood he’ll be in.” She gestured to Paul.

Engrossed as he was, Paul didn’t notice
the presence of the others until Luke plopped himself on the grass beside him,
grabbed a handful of mud and threw it in his general direction.

“Hey little man.” He sat back on his
haunches and wiped his muddy hands on his jeans, “No, no, you don’t want to eat
that.” He prised Luke’s mud filled hands from his mouth as he seemed to find
the dirt rather tasty. Paul looked over his shoulder to see a full scale picnic
being set up in the garden complete with chequered rug and wicker basket. Coming
to his feet, he lifted Luke into his arms and together they made their way to
the rug.

“Good morning.” Carmen smiled up at him,
“You must have been awake early to have achieved so much already.”

“Er yeah, I had trouble sleeping.” He put
Luke on the rug and watched Helen clean the boys’ hands and face as he shuffled
his feet. “About last night, I think I may have been a little harsh in
attempting to sum up our situation.”

“Yes, you were. Sit down Paul.” Carmen
paused as he sat and handed him a drink. “You hurt my feelings.”

Painfully aware that Helen was watching
him with her eagle eye, Paul attempted an apology. “It wasn’t my intention to
hurt you, it never has been or will be but that doesn’t detract from the fact
that although I meant what I said, I could have been a little more diplomatic
about it. It was wrong of me to phrase it the way I did.”

“Where do we go from here?” Carmen asked.

He reached to run his fingers through his
hair, stopping when he saw how dirty they were and smiling gratefully at Helen
as she passed him the damp cloth she had used on her son. With his hands clean,
he dragged them through his hair and half sighed, half groaned. “I don’t know,
Christ, I have feelings for you, strong feelings and the more time I spend
here, the harder it is for me to leave but once I’m home I revert back to my
classic behaviour and I’m comfortable with that. I don’t know what I’m supposed
to do about this, us. I want to be here as much as possible, I want you and not
just because you are smoking hot but because you stood up for me, you defended
me and you gave me a son. I’m confused Carmen, I don’t really know for sure
what I want.”