NINE
My double date with Jen and David, and me and Sean began promptly at five when Jen half-dragged me out of my room, saying that we were going to be late.
“I told David to pick us up precisely at five, and it’s gonna take us at least sixty seconds to get downstairs and get to the front door.”
I told Jen that I was sure that David wouldn’t mind if we were a mere minute late, but she insisted that being late for my first date was bad luck.
“So, I don’t mean to be bossy, Chrissy, but let’s take these stairs like we’re being chased by the whole coven of Warrens!”
My getting ready for the date had been a whirlwind in and of itself, beginning when I’d gotten out of work at four. Already dressed in her own date clothes with her long hair done in pretty spiral curls, Jen had all but pushed me up the path from the blueberry fields, barking that I had to get in the shower ASAP. Once I’d done so and had dressed in my new pink sundress and tan, wedge-heeled sandals, she sat me down in front of the vanity table in her room and began hurriedly doing my hair, first blow-drying it and then creating long, loose, waves with a big-barrel curling iron. After that, she did my makeup even more hurriedly, although doing an excellent job despite working with such speed. All this had brought us up to five o’ clock.
When we arrived in the kitchen probably not even a minute past five, David and Sean were already waiting, sitting up to the island with Carol. As soon as they saw us, they both hopped off their barstools, simultaneously grabbing wrapped bouquets of flowers from the island.
Surveying Jen with his expression like a kid on Christmas morning, David presented Jen’s bouquet to her first. “These don’t look half as beautiful as you look right now, but I still hope you like them.”
Beaming, Jen sniffed a few fuchsia roses in the center of her bouquet. “I love them. They smell just like my favorite brand of deodorant.”
Taking a small, hesitant-seeming step forward, Sean presented me with my bouquet. “These are for you, Chrissy. You look beautiful, by the way.”
Smiling, I said thank you, taking the pale pink roses from him, which just happened to match my dress. He smiled in return and said I was very welcome; however, I just didn’t see the same spark in his eyes that I saw when David looked at Jen. This was fine, because I was sure that I didn’t have the same spark in my eyes that was in Jen’s whenever she looked at David.
Carol soon said that she’d put Jen’s and my flowers in vases for us so that we could all get going. Jen and I thanked Carol, and then our double-dating group began heading to the front door.
However, after just a step or two, Jen stopped suddenly and turned to look at Carol. “Oh, Carol? Could you please go out back and check on Johnathan about every ten minutes while I’m gone? He’s definitely become my actual son over the course of the day, and I will just absolutely lose it if that water tanker lady tries to take him home for her own or something.”
A few hours earlier, Jen and David had purchased a large, above-ground pool in Sweetwater. Fourteen by fourteen feet, it had a depth of almost four feet, and Jen thought it would be perfect for the ducks to swim in until their pond was installed in the vast backyard. Currently, the pool had been set up, and a water tanker truck, staffed by a husband-and-wife team, was out back, filling the pool with thousands of gallons of water. Upon arriving, the wife had been delighted with the ducks and with Jen’s whole idea, which had made Jen happy. However, she’d thought that the lady was maybe a little too delighted with Johnathan in particular and was possibly thinking that she’d like to have him as a pet.
In response to Jen’s request, Carol said no problem. “I’ll keep a close eye on Johnathan and the others while you’re gone.”
Jen said thank you. “Oh, and, also…could you please feed Johnathan and the others some of their organic croutons about every half-hour? That’ll probably keep them from gnawing on the pool liner.”
In addition to supervising the pool setup, Jen had done some online research and had learned that plain croutons were a good food to toss in the water to ducks, because although the water softened them, they didn’t fall apart as easily as bread. Jen had then proceeded to make her own croutons by cubing a loaf of organic bread and baking the cubes in the oven.
“This is all one hundred percent organic,” Jen had said to me over the phone while putting the bread cubes in the oven. “Nothing but the best for my son and my other children.”
She’d soon had to cut the call short when Wanted, who’d she’d always considered to be her “little brother,” had begun chasing the ducks around the backyard, barking furiously at them. Later, disappointing Jen, David had had to explain to her that because Wanted was part golden retriever, a breed specifically created to retrieve waterfowl, he was probably never going to get along with the ducks and leave them in peace.
Back in the present, Carol said she’d be glad to offer the ducks frequent crouton snacks while Jen was gone.
Jen thanked her. “Oh, and, also, please don’t forget to add all the fish to the pool once it’s all filled up and all the ducks are in it. I promised Johnathan that he’ll be having a fish dinner tonight.”
While in Sweetwater purchasing the pool, Jen had also bought over a hundred live fish suitable for putting in a pond, and also suitable for eating by ducks. Also, even in the midst of all these somewhat crazy errands, she’d managed to report to work to teach an hour-long firearms safety class at the gun range in Sweetwater. While many her daily activities may not have been considered especially productive by most people, I was always astounded at just how many things she was capable of getting done in a day.
Looking maybe just a little exasperated after Jen’s comment about Johnathan’s fish dinner, Carol took a deep breath before managing a smile at Jen. “I’ll make sure that everything is done, and that all the ducks are well-taken care of while you’re gone, especially Johnathan.”
Jen leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek, smiling. “You’re the best step-grandma Johnathan could have ever hoped for.”
When our double-dating group finally left the house, we ran into my mom, my dad, and my two little brothers, Mason and Alex, who were all returning home from visiting a flower festival in Sweetwater.
After my parents had inquired about where we’d all be going for our double date, and what exactly we’d be doing, my dad asked Jen how “all the duck shenanigans” were going, giving her a wary sort of look while he did so. Earlier that day, Jen had texted him for permission to set up the pool in the backyard, and he’d granted it, although I got the impression that he hadn’t been too thrilled. Not wanting a pool full of ducks and fish in the backyard permanently, he’d given Jen a two-week deadline to get the pond installed and get rid of the pool.
Jen responded to his question about “all the duck shenanigans” by saying that all the ducks were “happy, healthy, and thriving,” especially Johnathan. “Really, he’s just a gift from God, Hayden…just wait until you meet him. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be saying, ‘How the duck have I lived my whole life without this little guy in it?”
Holding my mom’s hand, Mason looked from Jen to my mom and dad with wide eyes. “We got ducks?”
Before my parents could answer, Jen said yes. “And one of the ducks, Mason, a very special one named Johnathan, is your new cousin. If your mom and dad say it’s okay, you can go out back and eat some organic croutons with him.”
Although I was pretty sure they didn’t know what organic croutons even were, Mason and Alex both began jumping up and down, begging to go eat with their “new cousin.”
Rolling her eyes a little but smiling, my mom gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Have fun on your date, sweetie, and have a nice evening. I have a feeling my own evening is going to involve lots of duck feeding.”
A while later, Jen, David, Sean, and I arrived at the mini golf place in Sweetwater, after a drive that was pretty boisterous in the front seat, where David and Jen sat, and pretty quiet in the back seat, with me and Sean. He was pretty quiet during mini golfing, too, really only speaking once, to David, to say that he’d pick up the tab for ice cream for me and Jen at the little clubhouse place afterwards, since David had paid for everyone’s golfing admission. I was pretty quiet during mini golfing myself, just enjoying the sunshine and letting myself be entertained by Jen and David’s antics, often forgetting that Sean was even there.
While the four of us sat at a picnic table outside the clubhouse, with Jen and I enjoying our ice cream, I thanked Sean for the treat, and he said I was very welcome, giving me a smallish, polite sort of smile. However, after that, he fell silent again, seeming to be listening very intently to a funny story that Jen was telling David, something about how she’d once briefly become “famous” on the internet by posting a picture of her and Wanted eating bacon in the bathtub.
After Jen and I had finished our ice cream, the four of us went to the Sweetwater campground and popped in on Phyllis and Bucky, who were thrilled to see us all. In the shade of a large awning extending from their RV, we all sat in lawn chairs and sipped iced tea while Jen filled them in about their new “great-grandson,” Johnathan. Cracking herself up, Phyllis said it sounded like his adoption and the setup of the pool had gone “swimmingly.”
Chuckling, Bucky threw in a grandparent joke of his own. “Now, Jen, waddle you do if little Johnathan grows up to be Daffy?”
Jen frowned, clearly confused, making Bucky chuckle again.
“Get it? Daffy like Daffy Duck!”
Jen groaned, although smiling a little, and buried her face in her hands. “Oh, Grandpa.”
After leaving the campground a while later, Jen, David, Sean, and I went to dinner at a fifties-themed burger place in downtown Sweetwater, and that was when Sean and I finally began to really talk. And, to my surprise, I found some of what he had to say pretty shocking.