Chapter 3

I woke up late and decided to eat breakfast before I showered, so I threw on a robe and hurried toward the kitchen. That's when Dad's thoughts entered my mind and stopped me in my tracks. He was having another one-sided conversation with my dead mother.

She lost her innocence, Hazel. When I gathered dirty clothes to start the laundry, the evidence was obvious. Now what? No, don't answer me. You lost yours at a younger age than Katy. You're probably surprised she waited this long. I am. Losing her innocence isn't the real problem, though. She's mature enough to handle sex, but the jerk making her heart go pity-pat will leave her in a week, and I'll need to deal with her broken heart. I can help her control her gift, Hazel. I can help her with a lot of the problems she'll face, but I can't help her mend a broken heart. Even after all the practice I've had, I don't know how. Mine broke when you left me, and there's still some pieces missing.

Bless his worrying heart, I thought. It's time I straightened out some of his skewed thinking.

"Good morning, Dad," I said cheerily as I breezed into the kitchen. I threw my arms around him, hugged him and kissed his cheek. "It's a gorgeous morning. Let's have breakfast outside on the patio."

He looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. It's hot in June in Arizona, even early in the morning, too hot to eat breakfast on the patio.

"Never mind. I know. It's too hot." I busied myself squeezing some oranges for juice.

"You heard me talking with Hazel, didn't you?" he said.

"Uh-huh, and I need to clear up some misconceptions you've created in your fertile mind." I set a glass of orange juice in front of him and returned to the counter to squeeze mine. On the way, I popped some English muffins into the toaster. "Bacon and eggs?"

"Fine. What misconceptions?"

"While we eat."

Ten minutes later we sat across from each other with hot coffee, bacon, eggs, English muffins and fresh-squeezed orange juice gracing the table. Suddenly, I was as hungry as a bear waking up after hibernating, so I dove in.

"What misconceptions?" he asked again.

"Jason isn't a jerk. He's my five-day, college-boy lover. He's sweet and unselfish and romantic, and he makes my heart go pity-pat for sure, but my heart won't break when he leaves."

"Hah! We'll see. By the way, Barbie called last night after you left with your college boy on your so-called double date."

There goes any need for subterfuge, I thought with a nonchalant shrug. "For some reason, Barbie cancelled her date with Terry last night, so I had my college boy all to myself, Dad, and I couldn't have wished for more." A little shiver of pleasure danced up and down my spine when I thought back to the previous night. Dad noticed my lapse in concentration, and from his thoughts I knew he figured out the cause. I didn't want to delve into my feelings for Jason with Dad at that moment, so I said, "I didn't know the planned double date had gone awry before I left with Jason, or I'd have told you, Dad. Did Barbie say why she cancelled? Was she sick?"

"No, and being the nosy, worry-wart I am, I asked. She told me she had a personal problem she needed to deal with."

Oh, oh, probably the problem I recognized developing between her and Claudia, I thought, and then Dad's silent meanderings captured my attention.

Five-day lover, indeed! She lost her innocence with the college boy, and she's as happy and bubbly this morning as I've ever seen her, which says a lot. Therefore, when her five-day lover leaves, he'll break her heart.

"Argh!" I groaned after listening to his rebuttal to my earlier statement. "Think, Dad! You know me as well as I know myself, so if you put your fine mind to the problem, I know you'll eventually come up with the right answers, but you're worried, which upsets me, so I'll lay it out for you and save you the time and worry. Jason can't break my heart because I haven't given it to him. Until last night, I was one of the few seventeen-year-old female virgins in the known universe. Why? You know why. With my gift, I became very discriminating, and being not only discriminating but also mentally organized, I established some criteria and specifications the boy had to meet for me to pick him for the momentous event, and yes, I picked Jason; he didn't pick me." I paused and looked my dad in the eye. "You know me. Would I give it up to a boy who only wanted a piece of ass?"

"Not in a million years."

"Correct. Therefore, I needed a boy with some romance in his soul, and Jason fit my first criteria in spades. Jason cares about me, Dad. He knew he'd be leaving in a few days, and because he cared about me, he'd decided to take a pass on the obvious opportunity I presented him - my nubile body. I had to seduce him, not the other way around."

I took a deep breath and continued, "I know you've been against me dating college boys, Dad, but my next specification almost required one. I wanted my first time to be a happy and pleasurable experience and a memory I could cherish. To achieve this end, the boy I selected had to be sexually proficient, certainly not a bumbling incompetent, which seems to be the norm for high school boys, at least those not already taken by other girls. Again, Jason fit my specification. Are you starting to get the picture?"

He nodded. "Continue."

"Although I'll grant you a local boy could've met the first two criteria, my search revealed that sexually proficient boys with romance in their hearts are almost as rare as seventeen-year-old female virgins, and I was at a point where I was ready to discard my third criteria if I found a boy who met the first two who wasn't taken already. Make a stab at my third criteria, Dad. I'll give you a clue. I call Jason my five-day lover."

"Hmm. Turn off your gift. Let me think in private for a minute or two."

I flipped my mental switch, extinguishing my gift, and waited. My dad loves logic problems. He'd figure it out. It took him thirty seconds, not a minute or two.

"You're not ready to get bogged down with a heavy commitment," he stated with a grin.

"Give the man a kewpie doll! You've got it, Dad. Jason made a woman of me, but in many ways I'm still a girl, and I'll be a girl for a few more years. Girls have no business getting tied down emotionally, especially seventeen-year-old girls. I have the future to consider. Oh, it's not all mapped out, but it certainly doesn't include a husband and children in the near term, not even after all the girl in me is gone, if that ever happens. As the song says, I enjoy being a girl. I want to finish college before a husband and children become a part of my life. So my third criteria specified a boy who wouldn't fall madly in love with me and make all kinds of heavy-handed demands. I figured with Jason being a boy from out of town, a boy who will leave in five days, an older, sexually proficient college boy, the chances that he'll fall deeply in love with me are next to nil." Maybe not, I thought. What were Jason's thoughts? Yes. Head over heels. Still...

I clasped my arms, hugging myself, and another pleasurable shiver ran up and down my spine. "So, Dad, waddaya think?"

His boyish grin reminded me of Jason's, or was it the other way around.

"I feel sorry for your college boy. If you're as delightfully randy as your mother, and I think you are, the poor boy won't last five days. Before he escapes to parts unknown, you'll turn him into a mere shell of his former self. I'm happy for you, cupcake. Take advantage of your five-day lover and have a wonderful time."

Then his grin turned into a frown. "You know it's possible you've underestimated your allure. What happens if the college boy falls head over heels in love with you?"

"Not likely." Liar. "We met yesterday afternoon. He heads out for parts unknown, as you put it, in five days. Our love affair will be intense because that's what I want, and it'll be short because Jason must leave to start his summer job. Five days isn't enough time to fashion and cement a long-term relationship. Even after five days, we'll barely know each other. If he falls for me, he'll recover." I glanced at the clock. "You're going to be late, Dad."

"Yikes, I sure am." He jumped up, gulped the rest of his coffee while backing to the door and set the cup on the counter. "If the college boy breaks your heart, or the other way around, you're on your own, cupcake," he said, and then he was gone.

I cleaned up the breakfast mess, took my morning shower and dressed before I called Barbie. Anticipating the nature of the upcoming conversation with Barbie, I would have preferred a face-to-face discussion so I could read her thoughts, but I didn't have time to traipse over to her house or have her join me at mine. I'd promised to make lunch for Jason, and I wanted to impress him with my culinary and domestic skills. Demonstrating exceptional culinary skills takes time.

Suddenly, I realized I might be making a serious mistake.

Wait just a minute, little missy, I told myself as if my father were talking to me. Why impress your college boy with such skills? If you're testing the theory that the way a win a man's heart is through his stomach, what was all that baloney you just spouted about an intense, short love affair, period, as opposed to a long-term, heavy relationship. You're acting like you want him to fall in love with you. Why?

"I hear you, Dad," I said out loud as I dialed Barbie's number. "Instead of my famous fried chicken, we'll have cold cuts. Instead of homemade dinner rolls, we'll have store-bought French bread. Instead of..."

"Hello," Barbie said.

"Hi, Barbie. What happened to you last night?"

"Claudia happened, Katy. After you left yesterday, a problem developed between us and became pretty intense, so I cancelled my date with Terry, which pissed him off big time, by the way. I wasn't worried about you, though. The way you and Jason were getting along, I didn't think you'd mind spending some time alone with him. Still, I tried to call you, but your dad said you'd just left." She chuckled. "He put me through the third degree, wanted to know if a double date had actually been planned, if you knew about the change in plans, and after I settled those issues, he wanted to know why I'd opted out of the double date."

I laughed. "Yep, that's my dad. Well, did you get your problem with Claudia straightened out?"

"After a fashion. Listen, Katy, although my problem with Claudia was and is very personal, I need to talk with someone about it, and, Katy, you're the only one... will you... I mean, do you have the time to discuss it with me this morning?"

She sounds embarrassed but desperate. She was my best friend and needed my ear, maybe my shoulder to cry on, and hopefully my understanding. I glanced at the clock. With the altered menu for lunch with Jason, I'd have a little time.

"Sure, if it won't take more than an hour, and because Jason is coming to my house for lunch, I'll need to bustle around the kitchen while we talk. Okay?"

"Great. I'll see you in about twenty minutes, less if I can get my mom to give me a ride."

She had a cooperative mother and arrived in ten minutes.

I settled her at the kitchen table with a glass of iced tea, poured one for myself, and started to trim and sugar some strawberries. They were a little bitter this time of year. A light coat of sugar made them just right.

Barbie was wondering if she was making a mistake, worried she might be putting our friendship in jeopardy. I let her go through her mental gymnastics without commenting. In the end, she decided to delay her confession by asking me about my date with Jason.

"He's wonderful, Barbie. We skipped the movies and ate in a quaint, little Italian restaurant. We talked and talked and soon found some common ground. He's studying architecture in college, and you know how much I enjoy art." I rambled on for about ten minutes without telling Barbie anything important about Jason and me while listening to her gather enough courage to interrupt me and tell me what happened. When I sensed she was ready, I said, "But you're not here to listen to me go on and on about Jason. Tell me about your problem with Claudia. I thought the two of you were good friends."

"I wish that's all we were, Katy, friends, that is." Suddenly, she figured out how to approach the subject. "Remember your question yesterday when Claudia chose truth instead of dare, the question about whether she'd ever considered making love with a woman?"

"Yes, of course."

"What made you ask the question?"