Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (24 page)

“You wouldn’t be home if
everything was fine.” She countered.

“Mum, please,” he frowned but
made no attempt to pull out of her grasp. “My girlfriend dumped me.” He stated.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing as far as I can work
out, she went on about not being ready for a relationship, I don’t know, I
stopped listening after a while,” he shrugged “I have work in the morning Mum,
I should get some sleep.”

Carmen collapsed on the bed
after he had gone, she felt dreadful over having hurt him and her heart was
breaking knowing she wouldn’t see him again but she couldn’t saddle a fifteen
year old boy with a baby, she just couldn’t, it was better for everyone this
way she told herself. Picking up the phone, she left a message on the school
answering machine stating that she wouldn’t be at work the following day. She
used that day to call old contacts in Gloucester and before the weekend dawned
two days later, she had secured a job in a newly opened private school.

Paul threw himself into work
and would return home exhausted and filthy. His mind was reeling and he
couldn’t shake the feeling of abandonment caused by Carmen’s rejection of him. He
would strip down to his boxers in the utility room before going upstairs to
shower then taking advantage of his weary body, he would grab a couple of hours
sleep before his insomnia woke him and he would spend the rest of the night
alternating between paperwork and wondering what Carmen was doing.

Monica watched her son
carefully, she had taken note of his withdrawal from his social and family life
in general, and he said very little to anyone and when questioned, would usually
reply with a one word answer before leaving the room. She worried that he
barely ate enough to sustain his large frame and she often heard him get up in
the night, he rarely returned to bed once he was awake. She was sorting the
washing in the utility room the following Saturday morning, a mere week before
her beloved twins turned sixteen when she inadvertently overheard the
conversation between her two boys.

Paul passed his brother the
cereal and milk then joined him at the breakfast bar, pressing a tea towel full
of ice to his right eye having been exceptionally rude to Michael moments
earlier, he now bore the beginnings of a black eye. He had considered
retaliating against the blow and the thought had clearly been written on his
face as Michael had told him in a menacing snarl;

“Think twice boy.”

He hated himself for backing
down, knowing he only did so as not to cause further friction in the house.

“Is Carmen alright?” Matt
asked around a mouthful of cereal.

“As far as
I know.”
Paul replied.

“How come she hasn’t been to
school?”

Paul put the ice down. “She
hasn’t?”

“Nah, how come you don’t
know?” Matt questioned.

“She dumped me.” He picked up
the ice again.

“That makes sense now,” Matt
mused out loud “I wondered why you were spending so much time at home.

“How many days has she been
off?” Despite telling himself he wouldn’t ask
,
he just
couldn’t help it.

“Since last
Thursday.
When did she dump you?”

“Last Thursday,” he answered
“Have you been given any reason why she’s not there?”

“Nope but there’s a rumour
flying around that she’s leaving, someone said she’s moving to Gloucester.”

Paul’s heart dropped, she was
going home,
he
couldn’t let her go without seeing her
one last time “I gotta go.” He mumbled and bolted for the door.

Carmen looked up from wrapping
glasses in newspaper when she heard footsteps on her patio, seeing Paul, red
faced, chest heaving from his sprint over here made her catch her breath.
Initially surprised when he hadn’t made any contact with her, she was only just
becoming accustomed to life without him when he appeared. He reached for the
door handle, finding it locked; he looked up at her and spread his hands, a
silent plea to be let in.

“You shouldn’t be here.” She
told him, opening the door and gesturing for him to come in.

“It’s true, you’re leaving.”
He stated looking around at the many packing cases.

“Yes. How did you find out?”

“Matt heard rumours at school
about you moving to Gloucester. Did you forget that I know that’s home for
you?” He spun to face her “Why are you doing this?”

“I’m giving you your life
back, you should be grateful.”

“You’ve ripped my world
apart, I can’t sleep, I don’t care about anything, I’m empty from losing you,
all my feelings are directed towards trying to get you back. You weren’t even
going to say goodbye.”

“I thought a clean break was
the best thing for both of us.” She walked away to answer the phone before he
could reply.

He sat at the kitchen table,
ripping small pieces off the piled newspapers there and rolling them into
balls, flicking them into one of the empty boxes. Carmen, a mere three feet
away from him, watched as she spoke to her friend, keeping her voice low,
knowing he could still hear her, hoping he wouldn’t understand the
conversation.

“It’s kind of hard to talk
right now.” She spoke into the phone.

“Is he there?” Helen asked.

“Yes.”

“I thought you finished with
him?”

“I did, this is the first
time he’s been here since then.”

“I see
,
I hope you aren’t considering getting back with him.”

“I don’t know Helen, it’s so hard.
You can’t help who you fall for.”

“You can when he’s fifteen
years old. Come on Carmen, get your head straight, finish packing and get up
here then we can see about getting rid of that baby.”

“Actually, I have made that
decision, I’m going to go through with it, I’ve taken on board everything you
said about how hard it is but I’ll manage somehow, I know I will.”

“Christ,” Helen sighed “Are
you absolutely sure you’re pregnant? It’s not just some wishful thinking,
phantom thing?”

“I’m sure.”

“You’ve done tests?”

“Yes.
Four
to be exact.”

“Have you seen a doctor?”

“Not yet, they are 99%
accurate though.”

With that last comment, the
penny dropped for Paul. Her growing breasts, the way her tops were now far too tight,
the thickening of her waist that he had noticed at their last meeting. He
jumped to his feet and pulled out the kitchen bin, finding it empty, he glanced
up at Carmen and saw the stricken look on her face as she realised she had said
far too much then he headed for the dustbins, up ending them and kicking
through the rubbish by the time she reached him.

“Stop this,” she screamed at
him, then “No,” as he bent to retrieve what he was looking for

“You’re pregnant?” He stated,
holding out the positive test. “You should have told me.”

“I finished with you so that
you didn’t have to know.” She replied quietly, defeated.

“Whoa, this is huge,” he sat
suddenly on the wall surrounding the patio “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t
tell me.”

“Come inside, I’ll make some
tea.”

With the hot drink slowly
going cold in front of them, they tentatively began to talk;

“So, what do you want to do?”
He asked “About the baby, I mean.”

“I’ve decided to keep it.”
She answered “I have a job to go to in Gloucester, I’m going to stay with Helen
until this place sells then I’ll get a house close to work and take it from
there.”

“Do I figure in any of this?”

“I didn’t want to put you in
this position which is why I ended it. In reality, I think I just didn’t want
to see you run away.”

Paul huffed at her last
remark. “Don’t get me
wrong,
every nerve ending is
screaming at me to bolt but what kind of person would that make me? I was
serious when I said that I’m in love with you, I can’t help that. I can support
you; you won’t have to work once the baby is born.”

“With the sale of the house,
I’ll have enough to keep me going for a while even with buying another house,
you don’t have to worry about any of this,
I
won’t tie
you down to fatherhood or child support.”

“I want to be part of this
baby’s life and yours, moving to Gloucester is perfect, I can come with you, we
can be a family.”

“You are fifteen; you can’t
possibly take responsibility for me and a baby.”

“I earn more than enough to
support you, in fact, I earn more than you do and I have a fair bit saved and
I’m only fifteen for another week. By the time you move, I’ll be legal and
nothing can touch us.”

“You can’t come with me, it
simply won’t work.”

“I want to be with you, how
many times do I have to say it before you will believe me? Come on Carmen, you
know me; if I was going to run I’d have done it the moment I realised what you
were talking about. I’m not going anywhere; I’m in this for the long haul. If
you really don’t want anything to do with me then fine, I’ll deal with that
eventually but at least let me be a part of my kid’s life.”

They talked late into the
night, Paul’s arguments finally winning her over. They decided that she would
move and he would stay here, he vowed to visit her regularly and promised to support
her in every way he could.

“Telling my parents is going
to be epic.” He commented as he closed his eyes.

“Do you think that’s a good
idea?” She asked as she snuggled into his side.

“Nothing is a good idea where
my parents are concerned but I will have to tell them at some point.” He
reasoned.

“I suppose. I must say, you
have taken this remarkably well”

Paul laughed dryly and turned
towards her “I’m shitting myself Carmen, I mean, ok, I can and will support you
but at the end of the day, I’m still a kid and I have no idea if I can do
this.”

“
Which is
why I wanted to make a clean break.
”

“Have you even considered
abortion?” he asked.

“I thought about it. Is that
what you would prefer?”

“I don’t think so,” he mused
“I wasn’t suggesting it either, I just wondered if it was ever an option.”

“Paul, you don’t have to do
this, I can manage on my own.”

“I know you can but we did
this together so we’ll deal with it together. I wish you’d reconsider moving
though.”

“My friends are in
Gloucester, that’s where I’m going to get the most support. I need to go home.”

“Yeah, I understand that, I
just wish you wouldn’t.”

He was alone in the bed when
he woke later in the day, he reached out to the crumpled sheets where she had
been, finding them cold, she had obviously been up for some time and then panic
began to set in as he remembered the packing cases all over the house and his
sleep addled mind crashed upon the idea that she had left while he was
sleeping. Jumping out of the bed and dragging on his jeans he called her name
as he reached the bedroom door, relieved to hear her answering call from the
bathroom.

“I thought you’d gone.” he
perched on the edge of the bath

“No. I couldn’t sleep.” She
stroked his hand, she loved him like this, dressed only in jeans, his toned and
tanned torso was very easy on the eye “There’s fresh tea in the pot if you want
some” she handed him her mug encouraging him to make her one too. He returned a
few moments later with two steaming mugs of tea, balancing one on the edge of
the tub; “Are you getting in?” she asked.

“Actually, could I use your
phone; I have a few things I need to re-arrange?”

Matt, meanwhile, completely
oblivious to his brothers’ anguish, finished his cereal and went to put some
bread in the toaster as Monica came out of the utility room.

“Do you fancy pancakes
instead of toast?” she asked.

“Maple
syrup?”
Matt grinned as she
nodded. Reaching into cupboards, he handed her the ingredients she would need
before re-taking his seat at the breakfast bar.

Monica piled pancakes high
onto a serving plate and put them in front of her son, giving him a fork and a
smaller plate along with the maple syrup before taking her seat opposite him,
watching as he eased vast amounts of the cooked batter into his mouth.

“
So.
Paul’s girlfriend?
How much do you know about her?” Monica
asked.

Matt looked up from his plate
into his Mothers’ eyes and swallowed almost half of the food in his mouth,
thinking “Crap,” as he frantically tried to come up with a cover story for his
brother while he finished chewing. “Er, not much.”

“Come on Matthew, you need to
give me a little more than that.”

“Honestly Mum, I don’t really
know that much about her.”