Chapter 12

Sammy Ramirez was sick, and she was pissed off.

She was sick because the temperature that had started to climb last Friday was still slightly above normal levels on Monday afternoon. And she was pissed that it had caused her to miss her friend Bobby's first day at her school.

She'd finally persuaded her dad that she was well enough to be left alone a couple hours ago, and he'd gone off to check on the auto repair shop. He'd been reluctant to leave her until her temperature had begun to fall, but now that it had, he was not sorry to be out of range of her foul mood. His daughter was not the most cheerful patient in the world when she was sick. Her tongue had gotten near razor sharp as she told him, in Marine like language, that he should get the hell out of the house — now!

Still, Raul had insisted on bundling her up and dropping her off at Barbara and Bobby's house on his way (the two families had long ago exchanged house keys to facilitate sharing logistics like this). Barbara worked "banker's hours," which meant she was typically home from work a couple hours before Raul. Sammy would be alone for an hour or so, but then Barbara and Bobby would be home to look after his little hellcat.

Raul could easily forgive the occasional rough tongue treatment at the hands of his daughter. One, because it happened so rarely (well, to a much lesser degree about once a month). Two, was because she was simply the light of his life. He adored her to near worship, which he masked with a gruffness that didn't fool Sammy for a minute.

In his eyes she looked more and more like her mother every day, which meant she was transforming from a tom boy into a beautiful young woman. Her face was like an interlocking set of finely crafted ovals, with high cheekbones setting off her flashing eyes and framing a wide full lipped mouth. She typically wore her hair in a ponytail, but when she let it down, her resemblance to her Mother would take Raul's breath away, while making his heart ache for their loss.

She was lying on the couch watching TV in the Taylor's family room when she heard the garage door opener go off and Barbara pull her car in. Raul had called Barbara at work, so Sammy knew she was expecting to find her there.

"Hey kiddo, how're you doing?"

"I'm getting a little cabin fever crazy, but my temperature finally broke a few hours ago. I'm still feeling sweaty and bitchy though," answered Sammy truthfully.

Barbara came over and placed her hand on the girl's forehead. "Yeah you're still warm, but definitely not as hot as yesterday." Barbara had brought over some chicken and biscuits to feed her and Raul the night before. Since her Mother's death, Sammy had essentially taken over managing the household for her dad.

"So if you're feeling better, why are you bitchy?" asked Barbara with a grin.

"I missed Bobby's whole first day of school!" she exclaimed. "Who knows what kind of trouble he got into today? There are all sorts of assholes there he doesn't know that could mess with him."

"You are aware that he knows karate and is bigger than probably every other kid in the school?" asked Barbara teasingly.

Sammy glowered at her. "Yes I know that! I'm talking about getting sucked into the wrong crowd. He's too trusting Barb, you know that."

Barbara looked at her in amusement. "The wrong crowd huh?" She decided to probe a little bit. "Is that really what's bothering you?"

The young girl's face, already flushed with her temperature, got a little redder. She didn't speak for a minute, and Barbara could see her getting more and more agitated.

Finally she blurted out, "He could have some of the school sluts put moves on him! You know how he is with girls — he has no clue! And there are some real barracudas that will try to jump on him as soon as they see him!" As she finished speaking she burst into tears.

Barbara sat down next to her on the couch and wrapped her up in her arms. She and Raul had suspected that Sammy had feelings for her son, and her illness had weakened her tom boy façade enough to expose what was underneath.

"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay," she crooned to the sobbing girl. Sammy would never let her father see her like this. She always tried to stay strong for him. But Barbara was fast becoming like a second mother to her - in fact she hoped that her father would wake up and make that official some day!

Barbara held and rocked her gently. She'd always wanted a daughter, and they had tried for another child after Bobby was born. When time went on and she didn't become pregnant, they eventually learned that problems with Barbara's fallopian tubes were preventing many of her eggs from getting to the uterus.

The doctors said that Bobby was practically a miracle baby. The doctors also counseled that an operation to correct the situation would have been too risky to undertake. So despite not being on birth control since Bobby was born, he'd remained her only child.

If she'd had a daughter, Barbara would have been proud for her to be just like Sammy. The more she knew her, the more she grew to love her, just as her feelings continued to grow for her father.

She appreciated Sammy's obvious love for her dad, yet knew that she was selflessly still encouraging him to pursue Barbara. She also admired the way she wasn't afraid to take on anything. From playing baseball with boys, to taking honors classes at school, to running the household after her mom died, Sammy shied away from nothing, and did it all with an infectious smile on her face.

As she held the sobbing girl, she pondered how she should counsel her about her feelings for Bobby. She knew her son considered Patty to be his girlfriend, and Barbara also liked Patty. She also knew with the perspective of experience, that her son was almost certainly headed for his first heartbreak.

She felt that Bobby would hang on and be faithful to his first relationship. He was loyal to a fault, and a true example of the romanticism of youth. She also didn't doubt the sincerity of Patty's feelings for her son. But it was just too much to expect the relationship to survive, with Patty being more mature (and likely having more mature needs, she thought wryly), and being off at the high school with older boys.

As much as she liked Patty, she was certain she was going to hurt her son. And there wasn't much she could do to prevent it, other than to keep the communication going with Bobby, and be there with Band-Aids when the fall eventually came.

And the girl in her arms could wind up being Bobby's stepsister. If the two began a relationship, and it went awry, imagine living with your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend for years afterwards! That could make for a tense household. She was reluctant to overly encourage Sammy's interest in Bobby, at least at their current ages.

So she chose the time tested parenting technique of preaching patience to impatient youth.

"Honey, you just need to trust Bobby. You're right... he is pretty clueless about how girls feel... even the girls that are the closest to him." At that she gave Sammy a tender look, and hugged her again. She was letting her know she understood that Sammy wanted to be with her son, without saying it.

This brought on another brief onset of tears, which Barbara again soothed into submission with hugs, rubs, and cooing reassurances.

"You just have to be patient honey. Things will work out eventually. And I don't think you need to worry about another girl at your school getting her hooks into him. He's still trying to stay with Patty right now, and you know he won't let anything happen until that situation changes."

"What do you mean, until that situation changes?" said Sammy, suddenly sitting up straighter on the couch. "Is Patty cheating on Bobby?" she said, anger instantly blazing forth.

"No, no, no, I'm not saying that at all honey. I know you don't like to hear it, but I'm just saying that you are all very young."

"So?" exclaimed Sammy.

Barbara smiled at her gently. "I don't know anybody my age that is married to their first boyfriend or girlfriend that they started dating in middle school, okay? That doesn't mean that people your age can't sincerely love each other — like Patty and Bobby do." Sammy frowned at this. Barbara went on, "I'm just saying that things change, and they tend to change more when you're younger."

She tenderly put a hand to Sammy's face. "You shouldn't get discouraged if Bobby's with someone else right now. You shouldn't get discouraged if you see him talk to another girl at school. But also, you shouldn't think that Bobby is the only boy in the world. I happen to think he's pretty neat too," she said with a wink, "but you need to learn about boys, just like he is learning about girls. Then if later, it turns out that the two of you decide to go out, you'll both know more about what you like and what you want in a relationship."