Chapter 7: Anna

“What have we done?” Lily Cortales moaned as four moms sat at my kitchen table over coffee on Saturday morning. “I must be out of my head.”

Yesterday, we’d dropped our children off at the Starbridge Dude Ranch. Not only that, but we’d agreed—Agreed!—to let them stay in the same cabin. All based on this flimsy sheet of paper lying on the table in front of us. At my request, Saul Gordon had typed up a copy of ‘The Agreement’ and while we sat at the table at the ranch, our five children signed it. It was a formality. They’d already signed the agreement and had their copy with sixteen names on it. To all appearances, the kids were abiding by the letter of the agreement but I couldn’t help but think we were missing the loopholes. After they’d signed the agreement, we’d left them—two fifteen-year-old girls, two fourteen-year-old girls, and my son, who turned fifteen today.

That was the real problem. If he weren’t in the equation, the other moms would have had no qualms about leaving their daughters at the ranch. Evelyn Gordon laid a hand on Lily’s to comfort her.

“They are good children,” she said. “Hannah isn’t ready to do anything sexual and I’ve been watching her with Samantha. They are great friends. I know that Samantha wouldn’t let anyone push Hannah and I’m sure Hannah would object if anyone pushed Samantha.”

“She just has so little self-control,” Lily said.

“From what I’ve seen and heard, Brian has enough self-control for all five of them,” Anna said. We all looked to her. I was so glad she’d come to spend the weekend. We had a good time laughing and talking way too late last night before we’d gone to our rooms—Anna in the guest room, Hayden and me in our bedroom. When Hayden reached for me, he found me wet and ready. But we’d been circumspect with each other and had avoided anything suggestive while getting to know Anna better.

“What have you heard?” Lily asked.

“I have a good relationship with both Jennifer and Courtney,” Anna continued. “And Crystal really wants to come up to meet everyone, too, but Friday and Saturday are their big days at the restaurant. They just couldn’t get away. Which is why I have Courtney with me so much of the time. After the Girl Scout visit to the ranch a year ago, both girls came back changed. Maybe I should say awakened. The two girls are ... into each other. They might be in love with each other. But for the first time in their lives, there was a boy in their conversation. Brian. I thought it would fade away, but after Christmas they started exchanging letters. The conversation about Brian never flagged. I heard about him rescuing Jennifer. There was something about being rescued three times. I figured out the first one quickly enough because they were both impressed with the fact that Brian had caught Jennifer when she fell off a horse. The second was mentioned frequently because they talked about how they both wanted to be rescued off the barrels, which I came to discover was a kind of skill race they do on horseback. But the third rescue remained a mystery until they started talking about this weekend and I asked Jennifer pointblank what the third rescue was. I had to bite my tongue so hard it bled in order to keep from lashing out at my daughter for her stupidity. After Brian became her hero, she’d snuck out of the Girl Scout cabin and went to his. She offered to have sex with him. Brian refused. He wasn’t unkind, but he said he had a girlfriend and he’d never do anything to hurt her. I think he was talking about Hannah.”

A tear sparkled in Evelyn’s eye. She reached for Anna’s hand. I just kept my head down. It was my son they were talking about. I hadn’t heard about that bit.

“What teenage boy do you know who wouldn’t take advantage of a teenage girl who offered herself to him?” Anna continued. “I listened to them on the phone as they were working on the agreement. I just placed my fifteen-year-old daughter and my best friend’s fifteen-year-old daughter in the same cabin with that boy because I believe he has self-control.” Anna reached over to place her hand on mine. I rolled my hand over and laced my fingers through hers. She smiled at me and my heart melted.

“Do you believe Brian has that much self-control, Marilyn?” Lily asked. I sighed.

“He’s way too old for his age,” I said. “Our friend Dennis Hopkins once said, ‘With boys you only have to worry about one penis. With girls you have to worry about all of them.’ And right now, the one you are worried about is my son’s. I keep better track of his whereabouts than he realizes. Since the agreement was signed, he’s been on eight dates. He has been out with six different girls as his ‘date’, even though all but one was with a group and that one was here at the farm for horseback riding. Three of his dates included Hannah and two of them included Samantha. He’s been out with two seventeen-year-old seniors and both comported themselves with gentleness and reserve, even though I was told that they both had a bit of a reputation before they joined the group. I believe he is still a virgin and will be until the rules against it in this agreement have been lifted.”

“I guess that is a bit of a relief,” Lily sighed.

“Your daughter isn’t a little bi, is she?” Anna giggled. “My daughter might be a bigger worry.” Lily opened her mouth in such a look of horror that we all started laughing and, in a moment, she joined in. I wasn’t that sure Anna was joking, but it lightened up the conversation. Regardless, I didn’t think the five kids at the ranch would get into more trouble than they could handle. I was pretty sure there would be some kissing and I didn’t want to think of what I’d want to do if I was my son, but I believed they would be okay.

“I had an idea I wanted to run by you and then the other parents of the signers in this group. I know several of them, have met others, and would like to meet the rest. Like we are doing this weekend with Anna,” I said. Well, I didn’t want to get to know the others quite as well as I wanted to get to know Anna. I need to get control of myself! “I was worried when Brian was asked to go to the football game with the head cheerleader two weeks ago. She’s one of the girls that I’d heard about and frankly didn’t trust. When I called Hayden, we decided to go to Goshen for dinner and just hang out at the game. Everything seemed to be okay and Hayden broke a few speed limits getting home before they did. Brian invited Renee into the house, introduced her to me and they sat and had milk and cookies at the table here for a while.”

“That’s sweet,” Evelyn said.

“Yes, but it got me thinking about how we protect the kids when they are starting to date,” I continued. “There’s going to be a time somewhere along the line when things don’t go right. Someone is going to need help.”

“That’s what I worry about all the time,” Lily said. “I’m afraid Sam will get in over her head and not have sense enough to call me.”

“That’s what I’m thinking as well,” I said. “And not just about Sam. What if we put together safety net—a list of all the parents’ phone numbers—and gave it to every signer of the agreement. We’d have to have an agreement among us as well. A kid in trouble could call any name on the list and a parent would come to get them, no questions asked.”

“That last phrase is very important,” Evelyn said. “Saul and I talked about something similar. Both Hannah and Sarah are a little ... slow socially and could get into a situation they aren’t ready for. I’m pretty sure neither one would hesitate to call us, but sometimes kids just can’t stand the thought of facing their parents. They need to make the call and they need to know that the person who picks them up will not be judgmental or yell at them.”

“Evelyn and I took it upon ourselves to meet with Janet Anderson and Doris Trane early on. They both agreed that they’d like to participate in this,” I said.

“Wow! That is such a great idea,” Anna said. “That kind of thinking makes me want to just move up here with Courtney and Jennifer so they can be closer to the group.”

My heart skipped a beat.

Among us, we knew most of the parents in the group. There were a few we’d have to introduce ourselves to, but we divided up the list and set to work. By noon, Anna and I had completed our list with good results all the way around. We were well on the way to having a parents’ group that matched the dating group. A couple of the parents were surprised to hear about the group for the first time. I talked to the parents of the girls who had dated Brian. There were only four other than Evelyn and Lily, so that wasn’t a great challenge.