Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (25 page)

“Let’s start with the basics
shall we?” Monica asked “What is her name?”

“Carmen.” Matt replied. He
gathered his plate and put it into the dishwasher “Mum, I don’t have time for
this now, I’m meeting Hayley at the gym.”

“SIT DOWN.” Monica rarely
raised her voice but her family jumped to do her bidding when she did, it only
took seconds for Matt to return to his seat “Spit it out Matthew, what aren’t
you telling me?”

“Nothing!”
Matt’s voice rose with the lie.

“Paul usually brings his
girlfriends home, why haven’t I met this one?”

“She has her own place, it
makes sense that they would go there rather than here.”

“Exactly how much older than
him is she?” Monica frowned.

“I don’t know, a few years
maybe.” Not totally a lie as he really didn’t know.

“Matthew,” Monica warned “I
know something isn’t quite right with what’s going on with Paul and this girl
so you may as well tell me.”

“Look, all I know is that
she’s older than him, she has a job and her own place ok?”

“What else?”

“He loves her.” Matt
shrugged.

“That much I did know.”
Monica sighed “Are they sexually active?”

“This is Paul we’re talking
about, what do you think?” Matt shot back.

“Have you met her?”

“Yeah, a couple of times,” he
answered but he was thinking “So have you.”

“Describe her.”

“Brunette, curvy, a little
taller than you although it’s hard to say, she always wears stupidly high
heels, she seems to care for him a lot.”

“Do you know where he met
her?”

The words “At school” were
out of his mouth before he had even formed the thought.

“I don’t see how she can
afford to have her own place if she’s just left school” Monica mused.

“I think it’s been a while
since she left school but she is there pretty much every day.” Matt sniggered.

Then Monica realised “She
works at the school?”

Matt remained silent trying
to think of all the ways he could make this up to his brother as although he
hadn’t actually blurted out the fact that Carmen was a teacher, he had provided
the information that led Monica to the correct conclusion.

“Oh my God, she’s a teacher?”
Monica gasped, waiting for her son to deny it, his silence speaking volumes
“Tell me I’m wrong” she almost pleaded.

“I’m sorry Mum; I’ve already
said too much, you should talk to Paul about this.”

“Oh I will, don’t you worry
about that.” Her expression hardened “How could you keep this from me?”

“He’s my brother, he keeps my
secrets,
I
keep his.” Matt shrugged “Can I go?”

During that next week, Paul
was rarely home, he flitted in and out between jobs and the rest of the time he
spent with Carmen, helping her pack and taking full advantage of the fact that she
was beginning to feel guilty for leaving him. He spent the early part of his
sixteenth birthday with her, leaving only to return home to ready himself for a
meal out with his family.

The Jensen family were in
full preening mode when he arrived home to the sound of hairdryers and the
shower running, he found Matt in their bedroom, buttoning a whiter than white
shirt.

“Paul, I am so sorry.”

Matt’s words stopped him dead
“What did you do?”
Paul’s reply.

“Mum, kind of cornered me and
started asking questions about you and Carmen.” Matt hesitated “I didn’t say
too much but she twigged big time, basically, I dropped you in the shit.”

“She knows Carmen’s a
teacher?”

“Uhuh” Matt nodded “I’m
sorry.” He repeated.

“Tonight is going to be fun,”
Paul replied as he began removing his clothes “I don’t understand why she
hasn’t said anything to me, I’ve been here a few times this week.”

“I think she’s waiting for
the right moment. You know Mum, she’ll tackle you when you least expect it and
when Dad’s not around, she is going to go nuts though.”

“She has no reason
too,
I’m sixteen, totally legal, there’s nothing she can do
now.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t bet on it”
Matt commented.

“Carmen’s leaving in the
morning; at least she won’t be around to take any of the flack. I’m going back
there later so I need you to cover for me.”

“It’s the least I can do.
Hayley and I are going to catch a late film after the meal; just pretend you
are tagging along.”

The meal was torture. Matt
had obviously clued Hayley into his conversation with Monica over Paul’s
current romantic entanglement and she made leading comments all evening.

Sitting opposite his Mother,
Paul found himself on the end of more than a few stern looks but those he could
take it was the ones filled with disappointment that squeezed his heart. He was
on the verge of blurting out that, yes, he was dating one of his former
teachers and that, yes,
he
was madly in love with her
when Monica pushed two gift wrapped boxes across the table, one for each of her
sons.

Ripping open the paper
revealed a mobile telephone for each of them, quelling any further thoughts of
proclaiming his love for the woman carrying his baby. The teenagers left the
restaurant shortly after desert was served and after walking a short way, Paul
veered off in the opposite direction from his twin.

“How was it?” Carmen asked
wrapping her arms around his neck as he joined her on the sofa.

“Horrible,” he huffed his
lips playing with hers “I think I may be in need of your undivided attention,”
he smiled and pulled her closer “How about you undress me and do lots of
unspeakable things to the impressionable teenager currently in your care.” He
chuckled.

“You just made me sound like
a dirty old woman.” She rolled her eyes.

“I wouldn’t be with you if
you weren’t.” He answered.

The removal vans arrived
promptly at ten the following morning and Paul set about helping the hired
hands load the larger items of furniture into the vehicle.

“What am I doing?” He asked as
he jumped down from the back of the van “I’m only speeding things up by helping
them.” He explained to Carmen vainly trying to wrap his arms around her.

Almost three hours later and
the final van was closed up, the workers climbing aboard to start their journey
as Carmen and Paul headed back into the empty house, their voices echoing.

“I should make a move.”
Carmen told him allowing him to hold her.

“Let me come with you.” He
whispered, his lips pressed to her temple.

“Don’t keep asking that, you
know the answer,” she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing
her body into his as he kissed her “Just give me a little while to get settled
then come and see me, we’ll talk again then, perhaps by that time I will have
missed you so much that I won’t want you to leave.”

“Alternatively, by that time,
Helen will have poisoned you against me and you will never want to see me
again.”

“Never
going to happen.
You are a very
special young man, you are going to achieve many things in your life, I knew it
the moment I set eyes on you and I now know it to be true having spent some
time with you.”

“I won’t let you down
Carmen,
I’ll always be here for you.” He allowed his hand to
glide over her stomach “For both of you,” he corrected
himself
.“
Take care of my baby” he told her, letting her ease out of his grasp
“Call me when you get there, let me know you are safe.”

Knowing he would more than
likely have to face Monica’s wrath, he still chose to return home after watching
Carman’s car disappear from sight. He felt empty and incredibly sad, he knew he
would see her again but the distance she was putting between them seemed like
an impossible chasm to cross at that particular moment in time. He heaved a
sigh of relief on reaching home when he saw that Michael’s car was nowhere in
sight and on entering the house, realised that he was alone. Pouring himself a
cold drink, he went out into the garden and rescued the lawn mower from the
mangled bits of push bike that Matt was working on and set about tidying the
garden.

Tessa was the first to return
home, spotting her brother in the garden, she asked if he wanted anything to
eat or drink before she made a start on dinner and when he had told her that he
would wait for the evening meal, she returned to the kitchen.

Monica was next to
arrive
. Matt and girlfriend Hayley in tow having bought them
with her from Kay’s house where she had spent most of the day. With her blond
son and the girl disappearing upstairs and her daughter busy in the kitchen,
she joined her youngest son in the garden taking note of the perfectly cut
grass as well as the bits of her lawn mower strewn within easy reaching
distance of the boy sitting cross legged on the grass.

“Thank you for cutting the
grass.”
Her opening mantra.

“That’s ok,” Paul looked up
and smiled at his mother “I broke the lawn mower,” he gestured to the parts
surrounding him “I should be able to fix it though.” He finished turning his
attention back to the part in his hands.

Monica, glass of wine in
hand, sat at the patio table and watched him work “Are you out tonight?” She
asked knowing she would have to start the conversation somewhere.

“I don’t think so,”
came
the reply, he didn’t stop what he was doing, he didn’t
look up but he felt his stomach begin to squirm, knowing the conversation would
soon turn to his affair with his teacher.

“Paul...” Monica started, she
stopped when she saw him rest his hands on his legs and look over at her.

“I know,
you know Mum.”
He cut her off and
turned back to fixing the lawn mower.

“What were you thinking?”
Monica, now
kneeling
the other side of the broken
machine, reached out and stopped his hands from working.

“She’s hot,” he shrugged “She
treats me like an adult, listens to my ideas and she believes in me.”

“I believe in you.”

“Yeah, it’s different Mum, I
fell for her the moment she walked into the class room,
I
couldn’t help it.”

“She should have known
better.”

“So should I, I knew what I
was doing was wrong on so many levels and she repeatedly pushed me away but
that just made me want her more. I was the one who pursued her; I made it
impossible for her to refuse me. I backed her so far into a corner that the
only place she had to go was into my arms.” He explained.

“Does she teach Matthew?”

“She did until Friday. She’s
moved back to Gloucester, I won’t be seeing her for a while.”

“How much older than you is
she?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to
know. I love her Mum, I want to be with her,
I’m
considering getting a place closer to where she is and starting a branch of the
business there.”

“Give it some thought before
you do anything.” Monica advised.

“I will. I thought you would
tear me a new one.”

“I want to but that’s a sure
fire way to lose you and you have always been able to talk to me, I don’t want that
to end. Promise me you’ll keep me in the loop, I will try to support you in
whatever you do, you surely know that?”

“I do, thanks Mum. I’d better
get this fixed before Dad gets home.” He changed the subject and went back to
work.

Paul spent the evening
watching films with his mother and sister, trying everything he could to avoid
his bedroom what with it currently being occupied by his brother with his
girlfriend being most intricately wrapped around each other the last time he
had checked. His mobile phone rung as midnight approached, making him jump out
of his chair and bolt for the kitchen.

Monica said goodnight to her
daughter then turned down the volume on the television so that she could listen
to her son, now she knew why he had been jumpy all evening. He sounded far more
animated in those few moments than he had been throughout the entire evening.

Returning to the living room,
he gave her a sideways glance, flopping into the armchair he said “That was
Carmen.”

“I gathered.” Monica replied
“It’s a little late to be calling” she sniffed disapprovingly.

“I asked her to let me know
she had arrived safely.” He countered “Mum, is this going to cause problems
between us?”

“I don’t know, I’m trying to
understand what a young boy would see in an older woman but I’m failing to
grasp it at the moment.”

“Then let me spell it out for
you,” Paul sat forward, irked by Monica’s attitude “She’s physically very
attractive with curves in all the right places, she’s caring and funny and her age
gives her the experience that girls my own age lack, even if I didn’t have
feelings for her, the sex alone would keep me with her.”