Penny & Squirt: A Love Story

by T. M. Haught

  The blood drained from Penny’s face. “No… no! I mean, that’s very thoughtful of you, really, but we’re okay, so Jonah and I can just take the bus home. It’ll be fine.”

  Jonah looked at her but said nothing. There was a momentary silence from the other end of the line.

  Then Rebecca said, “I… I understand, Penny. I really do. But I would be careful driving. You wouldn’t have to worry about me.”

  “I know,” said Penny, still struggling with emotions that were hard to control. “But… I… I don’t want you driving over just for that.”

  Jonah put his hand on her arm and leaned closer to the phone again. “It’s okay, Mom. We’ll take the bus. I think that might be best, all things considered.”

  “Okay,” said Rebecca’s voice. “I think you’re right. But give me a call when you’re leaving. I’ll see you both when you get home after classes. Bye now.”

  “Bye,” said Penny, and touched the screen to end the call. She looked over at Jonah, then put her hand on top of his where it rested on her arm. “Sorry. I guess I didn’t handle that very well. I hope I didn’t hurt your mom’s feelings.”

  “You did fine,” Jonah told her. “And I know my mom understood, so don’t sweat that. Now cheer up. You’ve been doing great so far. And give your dad a quick call, before the bell rings and we have to head to our next class.”

  She displayed a pouty smile. “Okay, I will. And I so want to kiss you right now, but…” she glanced around quickly “…guess I’d better save that for later….”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  There’s no place like home

  The school bus that had dropped them off was already halfway down the block as Jonah was unlocking the front door to the old Victorian style house at 4:15 p.m. He let Penny inside and then followed her in, closing and relocking the door. They both sat their backpacks down in the living room and headed for the dining room, then on toward the kitchen beyond.

  Rebecca was there, just sliding a large roast in a pan into the oven. She closed the oven door and adjusted the controls for the oven temperature and time, then wiped her hands on a paper towel and turned as she heard the footsteps behind her.

  Jonah said, “We’re back, Mom.”

  Rebecca smiled at him and at Penny too as she followed Jonah into the kitchen. “Wonderful! I just put dinner on. It will take a little while to cook.” She approached the two teens. “How are you doing, Penny?”

  “I’m fine,” Penny told her. Her brow furrowed slightly. “And I’m sorry I snapped at you when you offered to come pick us up.”

  “Oh, no apology needed,” Rebecca said. “I knew why you were worried. Considering the stress you were already under today, I probably shouldn’t have added to it by suggesting that.”

  “You were just trying to help, and I appreciate that,” said Penny. “I just kinda flashed back to a year ago when you said that.”

  Rebecca’s expression softened even more and she gave Penny a little hug, then turned back to the counter where she had been preparing the roast. She picked up the cutting board and knife and scraped the trims of fat that were there into the garbage bag, then rinsed the cutting board and placed it into the dishpan. She added detergent and ran hot water into the pan, letting it fill as she washed the knife and put it in the rack.

  “So how did the rest of your day go,” Rebecca asked them, looking over her shoulder.

  “Actually, it went pretty well,” said Jonah. “Our friends helped us a lot, and the school security guard kept an eye on Penny, like he said he would, so there weren’t any scary or awkward moments.”

  “Yeah, everyone was great,” Penny said. “I guess my dad told you about the TV crew this morning when we arrived?”

  Rebecca laughed lightly. “Oh yes, he certainly did! He had a ring-side seat before he left the school. I don’t know if you told you or not, but he captured the whole thing on video with his cell phone. He sent it to me as soon as he got to his office and told me about it then.”

  “Wow,” said Jonah. “You must have enjoyed seeing that reporter arrested as much as we did.”

  “It did kind of make my day,” said Rebecca. “That and seeing how your friends formed a huddle around you to get you up to the door.”

  Rebecca looked back to the sink and shut off the water as the dishpan filled up. She began washing the cutting board, adding, “Robert told me that he also sent that video to his CEO at the home office, so he would know what to expect if he heard from the head of the television network. I have a feeling the CEO may have forwarded it to that… that… fellow. Either to annoy him or as a warning.”

  “Oh, my!” said Penny. “Anyway, my friend Isabel and Jonah’s friend Freddy were great. Jonah was the best. He kept me grounded, even when he wasn’t right there with me.”

  Penny checked to be sure Rebecca still had her back to them, then impulsively reached over and gave Jonah’s hand a squeeze. She grinned at him, then her smile became more tender as he grinned back at her. Then they both went back into “safe mode” with normal expressions designed not to reveal too much.

  At the sink, still washing the cutting board thoroughly, still with her back to them, Rebecca smiled in a way that crinkled her eyes and twisted the corner of her mouth. She didn’t turn toward them, but she did voice a comment as she rinsed the cutting board and put it in the rack to drain.

  “Have you ever heard that old saying, kids, that mothers have eyes in the backs of their heads?”

  Penny and Jonah immediately froze. They stared straight ahead at her.

  “Huh?” said Penny.

  Rebecca rinsed her hands and grabbed the small hand towel from the rack nearby. She methodically dried her hands as she turned to face them. Looking first to Penny, then to Jonah, then back to Penny again, she tilted her head slightly and smiled at them with great warmth.

  “You two are just so cute together,” said Rebecca casually. “Especially when you’re trying so hard to pretend you’re not in love.”

  Penny’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened. “You... you knew?”

  Jonah also looked stunned. He said nothing.

  “Of course I knew, Penny,” Rebecca said. “Women always know. In fact, I knew that even before you and Jonah figured out how you felt about each other. All that teasing and supposedly hurt feelings. But he talked to you like no other girl he’d ever been around.” She thought back, smiling. “The first time your dad introduced you to me I knew then that you and my son were made for each other. Sounds corny, I suppose, but you always know in your heart when it’s right. I’m so glad things worked out.”

  Now Jonah found his voice. “Wait... are you saying... that you planned this?”

  Rebecca shook her head. “Hmmm... planned is such a harsh word, Jonah. I mean, what mother in her right mind would ever plan to have her smart, sweet, but terminally bashful son hook up with an outgoing, lovely girl who is burdened by emotional baggage of her own and who desperately needs to find a really nice boy who will love her with all of his heart? Where’s the logic in that?” She gave them a sly wink, then looked to Penny. “Besides, I really didn’t need to engineer anything. All I had to do was suggest to Robert that he move in here with you after you lost your lease on that apartment, then just kind of stand back and let nature take its course. Can you ever forgive me?”

  Penny stared at her for only the briefest of moments, then practically jumped forward to hug her. Jonah hesitated a fraction of a second longer, then he rushed to hug both of them.

  Rebecca put her arms around the two teenagers and laughed lightly. “I’ll take that for a ‘Yes’,” she said. “That’s a relief.”

  As Penny finally stepped back a bit, she asked Rebecca with some reluctance, “What about my dad? Does he know, too?”

  Rebecca shrugged. “Robert is an extremely intelligent man, Penny, but he has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to his little girl. I think he’s still behind the curve about you two, and maybe we should keep it that way
for now. It might be better if he figures it out on his own rather than have us drop it on him unexpectedly. If he gets nervous he might do something rash, like move you both out of here. That would break your heart and Jonah’s.”

  Penny flashed her a knowing grin. “And yours, too?”

  Rebecca smiled and reached out to gently cradle Penny’s cheek in the palm of her hand. “Like I said, women always know. Robert is a wonderful man, and he and I both suffered terrible losses that made us think we could never be happy again. Sometimes fate is kind and proves us wrong. But, maybe we should all just pretend this little conversation never happened, for now at least. I kind of like the status quo, and I think you two do also. I’m sure we’ll have things to discuss later.”

  Rebecca turned to the canister that held the garbage and removed the plastic trash bag inside. She tied the top of it and held it out to Jonah.

  “Would you mind, dear, taking this to the can outside?” she asked him. “It has some stuff in it that I’d rather not keep in here too long, and it will save you from having to do it later, when it’s starting to get dark.”

  Jonah took it. “Sure—no problem.” He headed out the back door, closing it behind him.

  Rebecca watched him go, then after a moment she turned back to Penny. “Well, now that it’s just us gals, I can tell you that I had a phone call today.”

  Penny was already looking a little nervous. “Oh? From…?”

  “It was one of the assistants at your doctor’s office,” said Rebecca. “Terri, at Dr. Bradwell’s office?”

  “That’s my gynecologist,” said Penny. “My new one here, anyway.”

  “Terri asked if you were here, and of course I told her that you were still at school, but before I could explain who I was she said that was okay, just to let you know that since you would probably be running out of the sample pills soon, the doctor was going to call in a prescription to the pharmacy for you,” Rebecca said. “She asked which pharmacy we preferred, so I just told her the one that’s closest to us here. I hope that’s okay?”

  “Sure. That’s fine.” Penny swallowed hard. She took a deep breath and let it out. “I guess I should explain. About a year ago my gynecologist where we used to live had prescribed birth control pills for me, to reduce the menstrual symptoms I was having. They helped some, but not as much as I hoped, so when we moved to Palmvista and I went to the new doctor my old one had referred me to, I mentioned it to her. She gave me a bunch of sample packs of another medication she thought might work better for me, enough to last for almost two months so I could see how that did. It does work better. There’s not much bleeding at all.”

  Rebecca nodded. “Quite a few girls your age take them for that reason.” She smiled wisely. “Among other reasons. Anyway, that’s your business. I did want to ask, though, did you explain to your father about that?”

  “I tried to, back when I started,” said Penny, making a bit of a face. “Especially with my mom gone. But whenever I mention things like ‘period’ or other woman stuff, his eyes kinda glaze over and he changes the subject.”

  Rebecca laughed lightly, reflecting on her own experiences. “Yeah, I’ve seen that reaction before with men, including my own father. Anyway, I wasn’t prying, I just asked because I wanted to know if you want me to pick those up for you. Would that help?”

  “Oh yes,” said Penny, relieved. “That would help a lot. Thank you Mrs. Nash… Rebecca. I appreciate it.”

  “Glad to help,” Rebecca said. “And I’m sure taking them is a good idea, for a number of reasons. You’re almost done with high school, but you still have college ahead of you. Whatever your plans might be, I hope that college… and finishing college… is still an option for you. For Jonah, too. Do you know what I mean?”

  Penny’s brow furrowed. “I think so.”

  “That’s good.” Rebecca gave her an understanding pat on the shoulder, then looked away, thoughtful and reflective. “You know, I don’t think I ever told Jonah this, but I met his father when I was in my first year of college in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Jeff, that was Jonah’s dad’s first name, was stationed at Ft. Bragg, which was his first duty assignment. He hadn’t been in the Army very long. We fell in love and got married, then a few months later he got sent to a base in Germany. I couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from him for a year, so I dropped out of college and went with him. There were off base quarters for military men and their wives, so that worked out fine. I actually got pregnant with Jonah over there.”

  “Wow,” said Penny.

  “I came back stateside in my eighth month so Jonah could be born here,” Rebecca continued. “After that we moved around from time to time over the years, living in different places, although just stateside once Jeff joined the Rangers division. Then he was based in either Georgia or Washington State and was sent on missions where and when needed. But all those relocations may have made it a little hard for Jonah to make friends. Then we came here during his last leave and bought this house. Jeff could have retired from the Army in six months or so and this was where we planned to spend the rest of our lives. Planned to… but…”

  Penny frowned, understanding all too well, then after a moment she said, “And you never went back to college?”

  “No,” Rebecca said. “It just wasn’t practical for a long time, at least it wasn’t for me, and after awhile it didn’t seem as important as it once did. Don’t get me wrong—I never regretted for one moment the decisions I made for love. Still don’t. But… sometimes I wonder what it would have been like.”

  “And you never told Jonah this?”

  “No. I’m telling you because you’re a young woman and I think you can identify with what I went through better than most young men can. Although,” Rebecca added with a smile, “Jonah is a lot more sensitive and wise than most young men.”

  “He sure is,” said Penny. “That’s a big part of why I love him. Thank you for telling me about that.”

  Rebecca reached out and took hold of both of Penny’s hands. “That’s the other reason I told you. Because you love my son and my son loves you, and because I love your dad. One way or another, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be a part of my family, Penny. An important part. And I couldn’t be happier about that. I really couldn’t.”

  Penny’s lower lip quivered and moisture welled up in her eyes, but in a happy way. As Rebecca released her hands, Penny gave her an impulsive hug. She sighed as she pulled away, and wiped the tears from her eyes with the backs of her hands.

  The sound of footsteps approaching the backdoor brought them both to attention, and they put on smiles as Jonah came through the door and entered the kitchen. He closed the door and locked it and started to head for the sink to wash his hands, then stopped in his tracks as he looked at both his mother and Penny. He arched an eyebrow as he studied their faces.

  “Ah… is everything okay?” he said.

  “Everything is fine,” said Rebecca. “Don’t worry. Penny and I were just sharing a little girl talk and got emotional for a moment. But I’m glad you’re back. You can help us decide what would be good for dessert tonight. I still have time to fix something, or…”

  Jonah and Penny exchanged looks, then replied almost in unison, “Ice cream?”

  Rebecca smiled. “That suits me.”

  * * * * * * * * * *

  Robert came home that night just before 7:00 p.m., set his laptop case and other things down in the living room and gave Penny a kiss on the forehead. He put his hands on her shoulders and studied her with a serious look.

  “So… how did you do today?” he said. “You sounded pretty good when you called me to check in, but I know this must have been a difficult day for you.”

  Penny nodded. “I was nervous at first, but it turned out to be better than I thought. Our friends helped a lot.”

  Robert gave her a hug. “That’s a relief.” He glanced to where Jonah stood. “And I’m glad that the ‘panic button’ app you insta
lled on her phone worked, too. That eased my mind a bit. Which reminds me…”

  He went to where his gear sat on the chair near the door and picked up a plastic bag that bore the logo of one of the town’s electronics stores on both sides. He handed it to Jonah.

  “I stopped on the way here and picked up the parts for your project,” he said. “Actually, I got two of everything, just in case.”

  “Great! Thank you,” Jonah said. He glanced inside the bag. “I was thinking about making an extra gadget anyway, in case you wanted to test one out.”

  “Sure,” said Robert. “I’m curious to see how well it works.”

  As they started for the kitchen, Penny hooked an arm through her dad’s arm and said, “Rebecca told us about the video you made of our arrival at school this morning.”

  Robert smiled at her. “At first I just wanted to record it so she could see how things went. That whole thing with the television crew rushing in and getting arrested took me by surprise.”

  “Yeah. Us, too.” Penny rolled her eyes. “And you sent it to your company’s CEO, too?”

  “I thought I should,” Robert said. “He was the one who went to bat for us and worked out the initial truce with the network head. I figured he should know what happened. He told me that he forwarded it to the network guy with a few choice words that I won’t repeat. He also let them know that he would send it to the rival networks and the wire services if they pulled any more stunts like that.” He grinned. “I don’t think they will try anything like that again.”

  “I sure hope not,” said Jonah.

  As they reached the dining room Rebecca was already coming out of the kitchen, carrying the roast she had prepared on a platter and heading for the big table there. She smiled as she saw everyone.

  “I thought we might as well eat dinner in our usual spot,” she said. She sat the platter down. “Let me go get the vegetables and drinks and then we can eat.”