Chapter 2

Karen found Bob Thurlow's number on a list somebody had put together of the volunteers who comprised the Boggy Creek Restoration Project. She remembered who he was. They had even worked side by side before. But she couldn't remember saying more than a few words to him. Based on the prefix, the Thurlows still had a land line. She was mildly surprised, but then again, she was calling them on one herself.

"Thurlow residence," announced a girl's voice when the phone was picked up. Karen's initial impression was good. She remembered answering the family phone like that herself, years ago.

"Robert Thurlow, please," she said.

"Okay. Hang on."

Karen heard the girl call out, "Daaaad. It's for you!" and then the voice came back on the phone. "He'll be right with you."

Polite. That was good. Karen's mood improved.

"This is Bob," said a deep, male voice.

"Hi," she said. "This is Karen Ross. From the Boggy Creek volunteers?"

"Yes! Hi! I'll be there."

"Be where?" she asked.

"Saturday," he said. "We're working Saturday ... right?"

"Yes, but the reason I was calling is that Jack is my son. I believe your daughter asked him out on a date."

"Oh! That," he said. "Uh ... I wasn't aware she'd actually asked him yet."

"He told me she did. And that you were going to chaperone them."

"Well, that's what Amanda and I talked about. I didn't think things would progress this quickly."

"Well, it appears they have," said Karen. "I wanted to talk to you about this before it happens."

"I'm fine with that," he said. "How about Saturday? I don't know what's planned, but maybe we can work together."

Karen's intent had been to talk right then. That's why she'd called. But face to face might be better.

"That sounds good to me," she said.

"Okay. I'll see you then."

"Thanks."

That was it. It was a tentative first discussion about something unrelated to the only thing they had in common, thus far. And it felt odd to both of them. Not that they hadn't talked to a member of the opposite sex that way before. Karen talked to men most of every day. And most of Bob's peers at school were women. But those kinds of conversations were usually professional in nature. True, some of her customers flirted with her, occasionally, but to Karen that was just part of her job. It made it a little easier, in fact, to increase the original sale, sometimes.

But this conversation, and the one they'd engage in on Saturday, was of a more personal nature. Their children were involved, and that made things more intimate right off the bat. Different emotions and concerns were involved. Each had hopes and dreams for their child, and now, the other was becoming involved in those hopes and dreams, even if only on the periphery.

For the kids, it was the agony of having to wait, to delay gratification, as each asked his or her parent what the status of this new activity was, and were told that it wouldn't be negotiated until Saturday. And that meant that the date couldn't take place this weekend, as both had hoped.

Two kids made sure their parent was up and about Saturday morning, and wouldn't be late to get to the thing that, prior to this, neither child had been concerned with at all.

Bob looked over as the door opened and Karen Ross walked in. She was dressed in a checkered shirt, jeans and ankle high boots. The volunteers had learned a long time ago not to wear tennis shoes when working in the creek. The sucking mud pulled them off of feet as if it had fingers.

He'd noticed Karen before, but hadn't given much thought to her other than to appreciate her sultry looks. He'd assumed she was married, though no "Mr. Ross" had ever come with her on a work day. She was pretty in a plain kind of way, the way beautiful women look without makeup on. Her hair was pulled back into a long pony tail. She had a strong chin and high cheekbones. It made her look like she might have some Indian blood in her. His eyes slid down to her chest, where twin points held the shirt away from her body six or eight inches. His eyes dipped, to take in rounded hips. He couldn't tell about her waist, because the shirt hid that. He looked back up to find her staring right at him. Busted! She started toward him.

"Mr. Thurlow," she said, approaching him.

"Bob," he said, automatically.

"Bob," she said, almost patiently. He expected her to say something about him ogling her, but that didn't happen. She was direct, though.

"Forgive me if I don't exhibit excitement about my son entering that phase of his life that is being around girls in a private environment."

Bob smiled.

"That makes two of us," he said. "I know it's not realistic, but I hoped Mandy wouldn't get interested in dating until she was, oh, I don't know, twenty, maybe?"

"My father felt the same way," said Karen. What made her feel conflicted was that at times, she wished she'd listened to her parents more.

"Can't stop progress, I guess," he said.

"I understand you're going to chaperone them?"

"Actually, what I told her was that I wanted to be there on her first few dates to make sure things got started off with good controls in place. I also told her that I have a policy of not allowing my daughter to ride in a car with a teenage boy until I've gone along a few times to see how he drives."

"Jack doesn't drive yet," said Karen. "He won't get that until next summer, after Driver's Ed. I can't afford the insurance until he passes that class."

"Then I guess I'll be driving them around," said Bob. "Assuming that's okay with you."

What happened next was the result of Karen's ongoing evaluation of Bob Thurlow. All her impressions were positive, thus far. He was erudite, and polite, and seemed to have good values. She could understand his concern. Girls were generally the ones who faced the most risk in a dating situation. Not that she would allow Jack to try to pull some of the stunts she knew boys tried to pull. She'd make sure of that! But parents of girls usually worried more about dating than parents of boys.

The only down side thus far was that, because she was impressed with this man, her subconscious snuck up on her and alerted her to the fact that he was also handsome. As he had assumed she was married, she made the same assumption. As she thought of that, she pushed his attractiveness back. The father might expect a boy to be a boy, but a girl's mother would not. Because of that she was curious as to why he hadn't included her in the chaperone part of this whole enterprise.

"How does your wife feel about this?" she asked.

"I'm not married," said Bob. He rarely trotted out the story of his dead wife. That was private.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Karen.

"Why would you be sorry that I'm not married?" asked Bob. Amanda had gotten her literal senses honestly. Bob viewed things literally himself, sometimes.

That's not what I meant," she said, flustered, her cheeks turning pink. "I was married, but not anymore. It didn't end well. When you said you weren't married, I thought of that. Really, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."

"So you're a single parent too?" asked Bob.

"Yes," she said.

"Something else we have in common."

"Yes." She still felt the heat in her cheeks. "So ... I guess that's part of why this is so difficult. I have no husband to talk to my son about how to behave, and you have no wife to do the same with your daughter. It's ... difficult. I guess I just wasn't quite ready for it."

"You and me, both," said Bob. "But I remember being that age, and how exciting all that was."

"Jack was so excited at being invited on a date that the fact you were going to be there with them didn't bother him at all."

"To be honest, it was actually Amanda's idea that I be their chaperone. I think that was to box me in, but she didn't mind at all when I jumped right on that band wagon." admitted Bob. "I expanded it to 'the first few dates' and she didn't bat an eye. That's how badly she wants to do this."

"I do feel better knowing an adult will be with them, at least initially," she said.

Bob had been evaluating Karen too. The fact that she wasn't married put her into a different category than she'd been in before. He hadn't explored that category of woman for years, and hadn't planned to ... but now he found himself to be interested.

"What if we both chaperoned them?" he suggested.

She blinked. "At the same time?"

"Of course," he said, smiling again.

He had a nice smile. And such dark, brown eyes. Suddenly, Karen felt her nipples crinkle in the cups of her bra. It was shocking, almost electrifying. She hadn't been attracted to a man like this in a long, long time.

"A sort of double date," she said.

He hadn't thought of it that way, but the idea of it appealed to him.

"Yes," he said. "A double date, where we can teach them the dos and don'ts of dating."

"I like that," said Karen.

"I'll talk to Amanda," he said.

"And I'll talk to Jack," she responded.

They didn't have a chance to say any more, because Phil Solistra, the president of the organization, announced loudly it was time to get to work, and shooed everyone out of the building.

The first date was, indeed, a bowling date. There was much excitement as the participants all got ready. In a way, the preparations were quite similar.

For the kids, they were heading into the unknown. Their primary desire was for the other person to like them. Kids want to be liked, and their greatest fear is that they won't be.

Bob and Karen, of course, had been on lots of dates. They'd both been in serious relationships. They'd both suffered the pain of loss, though it was different kinds of loss. And yet, in an odd way, they wanted the same thing their children did. She hoped he'd like her, and he hoped she'd like him. Everyone wants to be liked.

Another shared quality was that nobody was thinking long term. The kids didn't anticipate becoming high school sweethearts who would stay together forever. The adults had no intent to cultivate a serious relationship. All of them were looking for short term gratification.

But there were differences as well.

The kids hoped they'd get to explore some intimacy. Not much. "Intimacy" was still a hazy concept, to them. Maybe there might be some hand holding, and possibly even a kiss, though that left them both feeling a little upset. Neither of them had done much kissing, none outside a family setting in fact, and were worried that, if a kiss did happen, they'd do it wrong.

The adults had no intent for any kind for intimacy other than simple platonic ease to enter their relationship. They did not, in fact, assume any "relationship" would ensue from this double date they were going on. After all, the primary reason they were going out together at all was to chaperone the young ones.

The kids had high anticipation that this would be the best night of their young lives. Kids are like that. Everything they experience, at least that they like, is "the best." They have a whole string of "best" friends. Each good movie they see is the "best". New foods are temporarily given "best" status, and each party they go to is better than all the rest. It's just a product of evaluating new things. But kids are aware that there are "worst" things too, and their unconscious fear was that this might turn out to be one of those situations. Their biggest fear was that they'd do something stupid, embarrass themselves, and ruin everything.

The adults were wary. Each had enough life experience to know that things might not go all that well. It might be boring, something to be endured, while the kids started navigating this kind of social interaction. The only thing worse would be if the kids didn't like each other at all.

None of them knew that they were all wrong. And they were wrong about almost everything, as it would turn out.

Bob had taken Amanda bowling half a dozen times, as she was growing up. It was something they could do together which didn't last hours and hours. Not that he avoided spending hours and hours with her. But going bowling didn't completely consume their time like, say, camping might have.

Karen had been on too tight a budget to expose Jack to what she considered luxuries, such as bowling, movies, and the like. At least not frequently. Instead, she and Jack had played board games, and made up games, such as reading to each other from the dictionary. She'd been bowling as a girl, but that had been a long time ago.

So the Thurlows assumed the roles of teachers. Together, they explained the scoring system. It was done automatically, and the scorecard appeared on a big screen above their alley, but at least Jack understood why it looked like it did, as things progressed. Amanda took Jack to find a ball, and showed him how to approach the foul line and swing the ball. She didn't throw it. When he tried it, the ball slipped off his fingers and slammed into the gutter. His profuse apologies embarrassed Amanda, and all she could think of to say was, "That's happened to me zillions of times. You'll get the hang of it."

Bob and Karen watched, smiling. The interaction of their kids brought back sweet memories. They didn't know it, but their body temperature climbed a degree, as adrenaline seeped into their bloodstreams.

"I haven't done this for years," said Karen.

"Just like riding a bicycle," said Bob. "Want me to help you pick out a ball?"

"I'm not completely helpless," she said, but smiled.

No problem," said Bob, and unzipped the case he'd brought with him, pulling his own ball out.

"Oh, a ringer," said Karen. "You brought us suckers here so you could fleece us."

Her use of the word "suckers" zipped into Bob's brain and he was unable to avoid thinking of another situation in which a woman might be called a "sucker." It was his turn to blush as he reacted. His private embarrassment caused him to flirt, instead of backing away.

"What do you have I might be able to fleece you out of?" he asked, arching one eyebrow.

Guys flirted with Karen all the time at the auto parts store. As the only female on staff, she got a lot of attention. But none of it was from men she was interested in. She tended to be intentionally un-interested in most men. She had decided long ago that she didn't need a man in her life, that they were more trouble than they were worth.

This time, though, she reacted differently to his obvious innuendo. This man she had positive feelings about. And it was harmless. They were on a double date, but it was a date in name only. The kids were right there. What could happen? She hadn't flirted in years. And flirting could be fun.

"Why suh! If I didn't know better, I might think you had unseemly intentions," she said, trying to affect a southern drawl.

Bob was startled. This was the first time he'd seen Karen be anything but sensible and serious. This was a very pleasant surprise.

"I'll go easy on you this first time," he said. "I wouldn't want to be labeled a cad on our first date."

She laughed. "Cad? Who uses that word these days?"

"English teachers do," he said, grinning.

"Are we going to bowl, or are you guys going to flirt all night?" asked Amanda, who appeared, suddenly, beside them. Jack was with her, and was staring at his mother. He looked curious.

"We are going to bowl," said Bob, holding up his ball. "Prepare to be destroyed!"

He won, but he didn't destroy anybody. The only reason he had his own ball was because a girl he'd dated in college had insisted he get one. She was the better bowler, and was avid about the sport. She turned out to be too avid. Bowling was all she ever wanted to do, and Bob had eventually drifted away.

It is fair to say a good time was had by all. Jack and Amanda got to chat, indeed getting to know each other better, and finding that they did, in fact, like each other. Jack accused Amanda of being bossy, to which she simply said, "Of course I am. I'm the boss."