Rhubarb Crunch

Chapter 3

“There he is!” Matt said dragging Ian onto the bus. “Just look at him.” Jake was sprawled on his bunk with his arms flung above his head.

“Just got off the phone with her, huh?” Ian asked.

Jake nodded slowly.

Ian grinned. “You’re hopeless. Just like a teenager with a crush.”

“And this is the girl with the kid!” Matt said. “The one in Kansas, right? Short, small, brown hair.”

Gary shook his head. “Boy, she isn’t the typical type that you are normally interested in.”

“Right.” Jake said. “Because I’m not ‘interested’ in her. I don’t know what it is. She isn’t like the others at all.”

Ian had to nod in agreement as he thought of his wife back home. “Yeah, that happens once in a while. Hang onto it man.”

The phone rang and Kelly glanced at her watch before picking it up. Jake was right on time for their weekly talk. “Hello!”

Hey Kell.” They talked a few minutes discussing their weeks until he said, “Hey, I’ve got a favor to ask.”

“Ok. Go ahead.” She couldn’t imagine what he wanted.

“Actually, it’s not really a favor but,” She could tell he was a little nervous. “Ian and Matt are gonna be visiting family in Ohio for a week next month and I was wondering if you’d like some company. Me, I mean, come visit you.”

“Well…”

“I hope it suits! I already called the hotel in town.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course I want to see you. You know that. Which week would that be?” He told her and listened as she flipped through her calendar. “I already have a couple of days off that week myself, but I was going to take Linden up to his grandparents for his birthday.”

“Oh.” He sounded dejected. “I guess we’ll have to wait for another time.”

“No way! I want you to come visit! I am not sure that you will want to deal with my parents, but we can work something out!”

“Kelly!” She heard him yelling as he raced in the driveway and up the stairs.

“Jake!” She ran for him too, throwing herself into his arms with a force that almost sent them tumbling down the steps.

“I’ve missed you!” He began to turn in a slow circle, still holding her. “God, I’ve missed you!” She grinned and pressed her face against his shoulder. “Where’s my Linden boy? He asked.

“Outside.”

“Then by all means, let’s go see him!”

They spent the next couple days shopping for Jake’s wardrobe for the new concert season, entertaining Linden at the park, sipping coffee at the table for hours while they talked, and watching late night movies just to stretch the days out and make them longer. Then Thursday came and they drove the hour to Kelly’s parents home. “You ready to go in and get this over with?” She asked.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “If you are?” They had been sitting in front of her parents’ spacious home for a few minutes now. He could see how nervous she was and wondered vaguely if he ought to be more upset to justify her worrying.

When they rang the bell the door opened immediately to reveal both of her parents. “Linden!” They scooped him up covering him with kisses and popping trinkets and candy into his pockets. When they finally set him down and sent him running for his pile of birthday gifts her mother glanced up and invited them inside. “Kelly, when you said a friend was coming along I assumed that you meant Chris.”

“No. Sorry. Mom, Dad I’d like you to meet Jake Remus. Jake, these are my parent: Cliff and Lila Felt.”

“Nice to meet you.” They shook hands exchanging normal casual greetings then sat down to watch Linden with his gifts.

That afternoon Jake stood with Mr. Felt as he grilled chicken and Mrs. Felt and Kelly played with Linden on the swing set. “Just got that swing put in for the boy at Christmas.”

Jake wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. “It’s nice.”

“We’ve rearranged our lives to provide for him and Kelly.”

Jake wanted to choke. Every time he looked around at the opulence surrounding him here he thought of the shabby sparseness of her apartment. Thought she tried to mask it he could often hear the exhaustion in her voice as she struggled to perform the endless tasks of keeping their lives going. He knew that she did not accept her parents’ limited charity. It came with too many strings attached. Loving gifts were one thing, but condescending gifts were another matter all together. What she had been forced to take was set-aside in Linden’s college fund. But Jake’s thoughts would have to continue another time. Mr. Felt was not finished, instead he was staring pointedly at him “We are not interested in another addition to the problem.”

Jake did choke this time. He sputtered out a cough. “Mr. Felt, Sir, I assure you that my intentions with Kelly are purely honorable.” Her father clearly did not take him at his word, but turned away and let the conversation fall.

“Today went alright, didn’t it?” Jake asked pulling Kelly against him as they flipped channels looking for something good. They had been home for a little over an hour and Linden was finally settled down and asleep for the night.

“Yeah. It did. Hey! Go back to that!” She interrupted herself.

“Chick Flick.” He groaned. “Too bad.” She snuggled closer and laid her head against his shoulder. “I love this movie.”

“Hey.” He whispered a little huskily.

“Yeah?” She sat up so she could see him.

“Nothing. Just…” He trailed off. “Just you.” He reached for her, then hesitated but finally pulled her close and gently tasted her mouth. When they pulled apart she resumed her position curled up against his side.

The room was quiet until Kelly broke the silence. “I guess Dad probably had the same conversation with you as Mom had with me.”

He smiled down at her. “Yeah. He did. Well, I guess it wasn’t really a conversation, but, yeah.”

“I’m sorry about that. I should have warned them.”

“It’s ok. They have a right to worry about you.”
“Not really.” She sighed. “I should tell you about Linden’s father.”

“You don’t have to Kelly.” Jake was brushing her arm with his fingers. “I’m here to listen if you want to, but I won’t push you. I trust you.”

She watched his face. “Thank you, but I want to tell you.” He nodded and she went ahead. “Almost five years ago now. I was a senior in high school. Jeff and I dated several months. I really cared about him and my parents loved it. Ya see, my Dad worked in Jeff’s father’s firm and he wanted more recognition and he was working on a big case… and… his career was rolling and me dating Jeff just helped it along. Jeff was a drinker though, more than I liked. We were both still underage. I wanted to break up, but my parents pushed me to keep it up.” His arm tightened around her. “It’s the typical story.” She met his eyes for a moment. “Prom night, I got carried away, had too much to drink, then before I knew what was happening we were together in his car. It wasn’t rape, but...” She stopped for a minute then continued. “We never officially broke up. He just disappeared out of my life. In a couple months, I found out I was pregnant and he was starting summer college in Washington.”

“What did you parents say about it?” Jake asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Yeah, they ignored me that whole time. It was fully my fault, I acknowledged that, but I was alone. I went to all my doctors’ appointments alone, they rarely spoke to me when I was home. I suddenly had to make all of the decisions and I had no idea where to turn. That’s when Chris introduced me to people at her church. I started going there. By then I had a job at Wal-Mart and with their help I was able to move into this apartment just two weeks before Linden was born.”

“Why didn’t you stay at home.”

“Mom wouldn’t let anyone come in to help me. She didn’t like the people from church, and she wanted me to give Linden up for adoption. I couldn’t do that.”

“So you’re here.”

“Yup.”

“I wish I could have been here.” He said.

That was the last thing she expected to hear. “Why?”

“Maybe I could have made it a little easier for you, or spared you the pain.” He held her tightly.

“It’s okay Jake. We made it thought that. Because of it I have God, I have Linden, I have my own life, more freedom than I would have ever had from my parents otherwise.”

“You amaze me.” He told her.

“I’m not trying too.” She said. “I’m not perfect.”

“I know and don’t think that I am either. I just wish that we could have been together all of our lives. I missed you before I knew you.”

Kelly laughed. “Don’t get too mushy on me now, but ya know, now that I think about it, I was missing you, too.”

“I can’t help but be mushy. I was looking for you for years.” He whispered into her cheek as they kissed.

“I never expected to find anyone again.” Kelly whispered too, but then she stopped him. “Jake.” She took a breath. “I know, on the road, there are a lot of girls. Sheesh. I don’t know how to say this, but I’m not ready for that. I did it once. I have Linden as proof. I knew it was wrong the whole time. I’m waiting till I’m married. Waiting for my husband. Kind of a recycled virgin.” She was nervous and looked scared of his judgment.

“Kelly. Look at me.” He said. “That is beautiful. Your husband…” He stopped. “I hope he will be me. I want to ask you, but I am not sure if I can commit yet. I don’t want to make a mistake and hurt you. I love you. If you will wait for me, I want to give you the best that I am.”

“Jake.” She stopped him by whispering his name. “I will wait as long as I have to. I love you.” HE grinned as she pulled his head onto her lap so she could stroke his hair. “As long as I have to. Okay?”

The End

---

Well that's it! What do you think? I was almost tempted to rewrite and add more to the story, but I decided to leave it as is and focus on new work.

I had trouble with spacing paragraphs. I wish that FP would allow indenting. I feel like my story just runs on into itself. Can't indent, can't skip a line. I put in dashes to signify a time jump, but when I uploaded the chapter they disappeared.

Have a good day!

K Ree