Chapter 29: Best Left Unknown

Greg sat down at the patio table and took a sip of his scotch. Dinner was over and he had gone out onto the patio to enjoy a little quiet time with his wife. It had been nice for the two of them to have a nice romantic dinner alone and sharing a drink would extend the intimate mood. Carrying a small glass of sherry, Sharon joined him at the table.

Once she was comfortable, she said, “This is nice.”

“Yes, it is. The weather is really nice for this time of year,” Greg said looking up at the sky. It was slowly changing colors as sunset approached. The temperature was not as hot as normal for that time of year.

“Cathy had a very nice day today,” Sharon said looking over at her husband. She still couldn’t believe what he had done for their daughter.

“Oh? What happened?” Greg asked. He was curious about what the kids had been doing, but Sharon had not wanted to discuss it over dinner. Cathy had come home just when they were finishing dinner. Although he had thought it odd, Cathy had helped Sharon clean up the kitchen. He assumed that it meant that Cathy wanted a chance to discuss something with her mother and dismissed it. He had just shrugged it off as boy trouble.

“Well, her young man made her feel real special today,” Sharon answered biting her lower lip nervously.

“Oh? What did he do?”

“He gave her a very special and romantic afternoon,” Sharon answered wondering how much she should tell him.

“Oh.” He realized that he was saying that word a lot during this discussion. His stomach clenched when he realized what his wife was telling him. There were just some things that a father wasn’t supposed to know. He sighed and said, “I take it that she’s no longer my ‘little girl.’”

“You could put it that way,” Sharon said watching him carefully.

Greg was quiet for a minute while he considered the events. Daughters were supposed to remain virgins until their wedding night. Hoping that he wasn’t going to have to beat the kid to a pulp, he asked, “Did that little shit make it nice for her?”

“Very nice,” Sharon answered wincing at the tone of voice he used in asking his question.

“At least he kept his promise,” Greg said with a snort. He took a sip of his scotch and stared at the pool. He didn’t really feel like talking about it. He felt like taking the kid out into the woods and leaving him there.

“It was nice of you to have him make that promise,” Sharon said.

Shaking his head, Greg said, “What I really wanted to tell him was that I’d cut his balls off if he touched my little girl.”

Sharon nodded her head in understanding. She knew that fathers tended to be protective of their daughters. She said, “I know.”

“Where’s Harry?” Greg asked hoping that there would be good news about one of the kids.

“Uh, he won’t be home tonight,” Sharon answered.

“Why not?” Greg asked sitting up straight in his chair. He had figured that Harry was at work that evening.

“He’s staying the night over at Lisa’s house.”

Greg stared at his wife for a minute and then finished his drink in one gulp. Standing up, he said, “I’ve got to do something about this.”

“What are you going to do?” Sharon asked afraid that Greg was going to do something to ruin the night for Harry and Lisa. Poor June had worked so hard to make sure that everything would be just right that evening.

Greg stopped and turned to look at his wife. The tone of voice she had used suggested that he shouldn’t do anything to break up the evening. In a quiet voice, he said, “I figure that Jack probably needs a drink about as much as I need one.”

Giving him a soft smile, Sharon said, “You go ahead. I’m sure you’re right.”

Greg pulled into the parking lot of the bar that Jack pointed out. It was the only car in the parking lot and Greg wondered why Jack had picked this place. The two men got out of the car and made their way to the building. Once inside, Jack nodded to the grizzled bartender and then took a seat at the bar. Greg would have preferred a table, but he sat down next to Jack.

The bartender looked at the two men and said, “You gentlemen look like your dog died.”

Greg nodded his head in agreement and said, “I feel like it too. I’ll take a scotch and make it a double.”

In a miserable tone of voice, Jack said, “Same here.”

“You look like you have a problem.”

“Sure do,” Greg answered.

“Well, gentlemen, we need to find out if this is a beer or a whiskey problem,” the bartender said wiping down the bar in front of the two men.

Jack had gone through this same dance with this bartender before. Frowning, he said, “His son is making a woman out of my little girl.”

“My daughter had sex with a boy this afternoon,” Greg said following Jack’s example.

The grizzled old bartender reached up and took two glasses down from the rack. While filling them with ice, he said, “Put your car keys on the counter, boys. This is definitely a whiskey problem.”

Greg slid his keys across the bar top and watched as the bartender poured two scotches. Much to his surprise, the bartender had even taken the bottle off the top shelf. While pouring the drinks, the bartender said, “I remember when I caught my little girl in bed with a man. I was so mad that I threw the fucker through the window.”

The bartender slid a drink across the bar. Greg accepted the glass of scotch from the man and asked, “What happened?”

“Well, I spent the night in jail. My little girl spent the night packing. I got home and she was gone. She didn’t speak to me for almost five years,” the old man answered. There was a pained look in his eyes while he related the story.

Jack took a sip of his scotch and said, “That’s rough.”

“I hope you gentlemen haven’t reacted like I did,” the bartender said.

“No. I more or less gave my blessing. I told my wife that I’d rather have our daughter explore that stuff in her bedroom than in the back seat of a car. The wife set up a room real nice for the event,” Jack said shaking his head. He wished he could have taken those words back, but that wasn’t possible.

“Same thing goes here. I made the little bastard promise that he’d treat my daughter right,” Greg said.

“I think you men did the right thing. If you were to do what I did, they’d lock you up in jail and throw away the key,” said the bartender.

Curious, Greg asked, “So what happened to you?”

“I was lucky in a way. The judge had a daughter, too. He only gave me six months probation and some community service,” the old man said. He wiped down the counter to clean up some of the booze that had spilled while pouring and said, “Of course, I would have been willing to go to jail for six months if I had been able to talk to my daughter. Those were the worst five years of my life.”

“Five years,” Jack echoed shaking his head. He was just learning how to talk to his daughter. A mistake like that now would have destroyed all chance of them having a real relationship.

“Yes. I think you did the right thing. At least your daughters will be talking to you tomorrow,” the bartender said. He looked at the two men and said, “That doesn’t mean you have to like those boys. You can growl and glower at them all you want.”

That was advice Greg was going to take to heart. He looked over at Jack and said, “Jack, I give you permission to call my son what ever names you might see fit this evening. Hell, I’ve been calling the little shit that spent the afternoon with my daughter all kinds of things.”

Shaking his head, Jack said, “I can’t blame him too much. My wife and daughter have been planning this thing for a long time. What do you do when your little girl is all ready to grow up? You can’t stop them. They’ll sneak off into the woods again.”

Groaning at the reminder, Greg said, “That was a horrible day. You know, you try to protect them and keep them innocent. You try to make them happy. You can’t do that in today’s world. It’s just too ugly.”

“Well, my daughter is nearly seventeen and I can understand her wanting to grow up. Your daughter is fifteen. This must be eating you up, Greg,” Jack said. He’d had enough time to get used to the idea that his little girl was growing up.

Greg took a drink and noticed that it was almost empty. He set it on the counter and gestured to it. He said, “I knew this day was coming. My wife warned me about this a couple years ago. She told me that Cathy wouldn’t want to wait. You see, Cathy takes after her mother and my wife can be a real passionate woman at times.”

“Same with Bunny,” Jack said even though there had been almost seventeen years in which she hadn’t been all that passionate with him.

Greg looked over at Jack and said, “You know. Your wife kind of reminds me of a playmate. Was she ever one?”

“No, but she could have been. I couldn’t believe that such a pretty girl would actually marry me,” Jack said. He took a sip out of his glass. The scotch went down a whole lot easier with this sip. He looked down at his glass and realized it was empty. He gestured to it with a finger and asked, “Have you got any advice that will make us feel better?”

The bartender rubbed his chin for a second before he said, “Every generation has got to learn the same old lessons. You grow up, get married, have kids, and then watch them grow up while they are making the same mistakes as you did. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how much money you have, we all go through it. Sometimes things are out of sequence here and there, but life is just like that.”