Joel and Carrie Ch. 10

"Okay, this is ridiculous."

"It has to end," I agreed as I looked across a table at the woman I loved. She was clearly angry. I didn't blame her. It was early in the morning and we were in a very small diner that neither one of us liked all that much, but it was mostly empty and more important, across town. Our parents were still being unreasonable and with any luck no one they knew would see us in here.

I returned from my first year of college the day before and went to visit Carrie almost immediately. Her mother actually refused to let me in. Not only that, Mrs. Capanna threatened to call the police if I didn't leave immediately!

"They can't really expect to keep us apart forever," I said, shaking my head.

"I was talking about us meeting secretly like this. Our relationship is their problem, not ours. We can't let them dictate when and how we see each other." Carrie's expression was just as frustrated as mine.

"Yeah, it is silly, isn't it?" I agreed sheepishly. It was my idea to meet here, but only because I was afraid of how Carrie's parents would react if they found out. Oh, I wasn't worried about what they did or said to me. On the other hand, Carrie lived with them.

"But you're right too," my golden goddess added. "They really want us to stop seeing each other no matter how we feel."

"I got that when your mother threatened to call out the swat team last night," I joked, but neither one of us laughed.

"I tried talking to her this morning and it was completely pointless. She back to threatening to move. It seems with everyone returning home from college, what happened last summer has become the talk of the town again. Mom says she's lost friends over it."

"That sucks," I sighed.

"Some friends! She's better off without them."

"It can't be easy for her," I offered, causing Carrie to frown. Her mom was wrong, but my girl wasn't being particularly understanding of how what we did affected her mom's life. That wasn't like Carrie, but there was a lot of emotion in this situation.

Our town was small and insular. Being away at college opened my eyes to just how much so. The party last summer was big news. It was actually covered in the local paper. The article basically turned into one of those "What's happening to our youth?" stories. The term orgy was never used in the story, but it was implied, and that's how people referenced it when they talked about it.

Truthfully, I guess that's what it was technically, but to me the word 'orgy' implies a wild sex party with people getting completely smashed, screwing people they'd never met before and doing things that only the devil could appreciate. That wasn't what happened.

Carrie threw a private graduation party for some of our closest friends at her parent's beach house. Yes, people drank, but no one got wasted. Sex was definitely part of the party, but I liked to think of it as a shared pleasure between friends. Okay, I'm probably splitting hairs, but sometimes it's not what you do, but how you view it that makes all the difference in the world.

"Is your father still being as difficult as my parents?" Carrie was obviously shifting the conversation away from her mother. I sighed and wished she'd picked a different direction. My father's reaction last night when I mentioned the situation was bad, very bad. Halfway through his rant I realized he wasn't even talking about Carrie anymore.

It turned out my mother had done more than just leave him when I was a baby. She'd cheated on him, badly. He'd never mentioned it before, but he talked about it last night. Well, talked really isn't the right word. Pop used words that I'd never heard come out of his mouth before. I felt bad for him today, but last night I was angry as hell that he was judging my relationship with Carrie based on his with my mother. Let's just say that pop wasn't the only one yelling.

"Worse," I mumbled in reply. "He was in a foul mood last night. I guess it wasn't the brightest thing to bring us up, but after your parents' reaction I think I was looking for a fight."

"How bad was it?" Carrie was looking at me. The concern in her expression almost made what I was feeling bearable.

"Bad," I sighed. "He yelled. I yelled back. He stormed out of the house and came back very late. He was still asleep when I left this morning, which isn't like pop. He's usually up with the sun."

"Does he hate me that much?" It was almost a rhetorical question, but the sadness in her eyes was too much for me. I took Carrie's hand in mine across the table and squeezed.

"No. Pop doesn't hate you," I smiled sadly. "Let's be honest. He's never really taken the time to get to know you well enough for something as strong as hate."

"I don't understand," Carrie frowned, so I explained to her what my father said about my mother the night before.

I told her all of the gory details. I hadn't realized I remembered everything he said, but it came out almost verbatim. We were still holding hands when I was done, but now Carrie was comforting me.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I shrugged and remained silent for a few moments. It took a while for my thoughts to coalesce. Carrie remained quietly supportive, waiting for me to come to terms with it.

"It's sad really," I finally said. "I know it's wrong because she's my mother and I don't know her side of it, but I hate her. I can't help it. I hate her and nothing is going to change that."

"It's understandable," Carrie said, trying to comfort me.

"Is it really?" I asked. "I mean, who hates their mother?"

"Right at this moment, I'm pretty close," Carrie sighed, but I knew it wasn't true. I started to say so, but she smiled slightly, squeezed my hands and let me know it wasn't necessary. "We've talking your mother here, not mine. She left you and never looked back. I think that gives you the right to hate her."

I shook my head and decided not to dwell on it. There were more important things to worry about, not the least of which was Carrie's relationship with her parents. Mrs. Capanna was a good mother. The growing distance between Carrie and her was sad, but at least they were talking. Well, yelling really. I was more concerned about Mr. Capanna. Carrie had always been 'daddy's little girl' and I knew how much it hurt her when he stopped treating her that way.

"Let's go," I said, standing suddenly and dropping some cash on the table to cover our drinks. We hadn't ordered yet, but that was okay. Like I said earlier, the food here wasn't very good.

"Where to?" Carrie said, hesitating a moment before standing as well.

"I'm not going to have another summer like last year's, and I'm done sneaking around to see the woman I love. It's time we talked to our parents, even if they refuse to listen."

"You know, my mother might seriously call the police," Carrie warned. "She's really not dealing with this well."

"We'll see," I shrugged, unwilling to back down. Carrie looked at me and smiled slowly.

"Finally!" she grinned. "I been dying to tell my parents off since all this first happened."

"Carrie," I said, shaking my head. "We're not going to tell our parents off, or at least that's not the goal. We going to try and get them to accept that we're together, and will be forever."

"Whatever you say," she replied, but there was a glimmer in her eyes that had me concerned.

"Just don't do or say anything that will hurt more than help."

We worked on an approach as we drove back across town. It was a lot harder than you would think to come up with one. A lot depended on how our parents reacted and based on our experience to date, it was probably going to be bad.

"Who do we start with?" Carrie asked.

"Hmm, good question." I rubbed my hand through my hair as I thought about our options. "This is going to be tough." Carrie took my hand and smiled.

"But worth it." I looked at her and shook my head. She really was looking forward to the confrontation. I was starting to think this wasn't the best idea in the world. On the other hand, what choice did we have?

"Let's start with my father."

"Are you sure?" Carrie asked. "Even with what happened last night?"

"Yes," I replied. "It's time he got to know you. We'll stop at Tony's and get a couple of egg sandwiches. Pop loves just about anything from there and maybe food will help."

It didn't take very long before we were standing in front of my house. I swallowed once and took Carrie's hand in mine. She smiled nervously as I opened the door and walked in with her. Pop was in the kitchen burning French toast. He didn't notice us at first. He looked tired and more than a little hung over.

"Hey pop," I said. "You remember Carrie?" He turned at her name and stared for a moment. He was frowning. I was certain he was about to say something bad, very bad, but instead he just nodded and went back to the stove. I looked at Carrie and shrugged before adding, "We brought egg sandwiches from Tony's." Again, pop turned. He saw the bag in my hand. He surprised me then. He smiled slowly and shut off the stove.

"Good," he said. "I'm not in the mood for French toast anyway. I'll get the dishes, you start unpacking the sandwiches."

Carrie had to squeeze my hand to shake me from my paralysis. Well, this certainly wasn't what I expected. It didn't take long before the three of us were sitting at the table. We ate in silence for a while.

"Mr...." Carrie bagan, trying to break the ice, but my father cut her off.

"Joel made it obvious last night that you are the love of his life," he interjected between bites. "Do you feel the same?"

"I'm going to marry him one day," Carrie replied honestly. He looked at her carefully for a moment before nodding.

"In that case, call me pop, or dad if you'd prefer," he said, and that was that. I shook my head. Pop wasn't a great communicator, but this was too much.

"That's all you have to say?" I knew my tone wasn't great, but at the moment there was little I could do to control it.

"I wouldn't mind a grandson or two," he shrugged. "After you're married of course." I was speechless.

"Of course," Carrie laughed, taking it in stride. "And maybe even a granddaughter."

"I've never been very good with girls," my father said.

"That will change," Carrie said confidently. Pop looked at her and smiled slowly. He was going to like her. I could tell.

Carrie and my father spoke as we ate. I added little, but mostly because my brain just couldn't get around how easily my father seemed to accept her so suddenly. Their breakfast was done while I'd barely started on mine. Carrie excused herself to use the bathroom, but I had the feeling that she thought I needed some time alone with my father. She was probably right.

"Carrie seems very nice," pop said into the silence that followed.

"She is," I replied, but then couldn't come up with anything else.

"Look," he finally said, shaking his head. "Let's get this behind us. You made it plain last night how you felt, so I've decided to try to be more opened minded."

"But you were so angry last night," I said. "Why the sudden turn around?"

"Because I realized something after our argument," he replied, meeting my eyes. "You're not a kid anymore. You proved that last night when you stood up to me."

"So you're okay with Carrie and me being together?"

"I'm not thrilled with what happened last summer, but in the end, it's not really any of my business. You're the one who has to live with any decisions you make." His response made all the sense in the world, but it was quite a difference from before. "Besides, Carrie seems like a nice girl."

"She is," I smiled. "I'm glad you're finally getting to know her."

"Me too," he replied. "By the way, I was angry last night, but not at you. Work was real bad yesterday. I'm sorry for taking it out on you." He proceeded to tell me a bit about what was going on at his job. I looked at him as he spoke. It wasn't like pop to talk like this, at least not with me. I was seeing a side of my father that I didn't know existed. For the first time I looked at him as a man and not just my father, and suddenly it hit me. I saw everything he'd done for me over the years. I saw how he lived his life. Pop was a good man, but not a happy one.

"Pop, you should quit," I said seriously. "You've always hated that job."

"Three more years and I'm out of there," he said. I knew exactly what he meant. I'd be out of college in three years. Pop was sacrificing his happiness for me.

"No, you should quit on Monday," I argued. "You've done a great job of being there for me my whole life. Like you said, I'm an adult now. I can take care of myself. It's time you started doing the same."

"And what about school?" he asked.

"I'm going to finish," I replied, making him smile slightly. I knew school was important to pop. "But there are state schools that are good in my major. I'll transfer to one of them and I have all summer to save up to help pay."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm paying for college."

"But pop..." I began to argue. He cut me off.

"No Joel," he said. "This is something I want to do."

"But I can help!" I argued. "Besides, my education isn't as important as you being happy."

"Joel, I'm your father," he smiled. "Doing this for you makes me happy."

"But..." I began.

"Whatever you two are arguing about, please let it be," Carrie said to me as she rejoined us. "At least for the time being."

"Smart woman," pop grinned.

"Oh, I'm on Joel's side," Carrie replied. "But I don't want to ruin the morning with an argument."

"Do you even know what we're arguing about?" my father asked. Carrie shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, I'm always on Joel's side." Pop laughed. Carrie joined him. I looked back and forth between the two and shook my head.

"I'm going to like you," he said.

"Good, because I'm going to be here," Carrie promised.

The rest of the morning passed by quickly. You have no idea how great it felt to see my father and Carrie getting along so well. Of course, we still had to face Carrie's parents and I was sure that wasn't going to go as well. I was thinking about how to approach them and lost track of the conversation for a bit. I started listening again when I heard Carrie switch to a dangerous topic.

"You know," was saying thoughtfully. "You've been alone too long. We'll have to do something about that this summer."

"I knew it!" pop cried. "Let a woman into your life and you get an instance match maker."

"It's not like that," Carrie said.

"Oh yes it is," I grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "You're always setting people up. It's like you can't stand to see a person alone."

"You say that like being alone is a good thing," Carrie argued.

"I like it," pop put in.

"That's only because you were burned by Joel's mother. You just need to meet the right person." I watched my father carefully. I typically loved the fact that my girl was so blunt, but just this once I wish she hadn't said what came to mind. Pop did not like to talk about mom.

"Young lady..." my father began, but Carrie cut him off.

"Come on dad, deep down you know I'm right," she interjected. "It's time you moved on." My father shook his head and looked at me.

"Is she always like this?"

"Pretty much," I replied honestly.

"It's going to take some getting used to," he said, and then started laughing again. I sighed in relief.

"You know pop," I added tentatively. "Carrie's usually very good at these things. I wouldn't shrug off whoever she decides to set you up with."

"What have you done to my son!" my father cried, looking at Carrie. "First he insists I quit my job and now he's trying to help you set me up on a blind date!"

"Don't worry," Carrie grinned. "Whoever we find for you will be beautiful, I promise." My father looked at Carrie and shook his head. I thought he was going to fight it longer, but he surprised me.

"Make her a red head. If you're going to play matchmaker you should at least know my type."

"Men!" Carrie cried, laughing once more. "We've been talking all afternoon. Don't worry, I think I have your type down pretty well by now. I can't promise she'll be a redhead, but you'll like her, whoever she is."

We left not long after that. Carrie gave my pop a hug and kiss on the cheek just before we left. He smiled and returned the hug. I was in Heaven. The two people I cared most about in the world liked each other.

"Well, that worked out well," Carrie said as we drove away.

"You think?" I laughed.

"Do we go straight to my house and confront my parents now?" Carrie was looking at me. I still didn't like the look in her eyes when she mentioned confronting her parents.

"Not yet. Do you mind if we stop by and see what's going on with Robbie and Tina?" I asked.

"Sounds good," Carrie replied. "How is Tina doing?"

I knew what my girl meant. It was a shock to hear that Tina's parents had split up just after Christmas. I felt terrible for her. Robbie had his hands full for quite a while. She really didn't take it well.

"According to Robbie she was devastated at first, but she starting to accept it." There wasn't much more I could say on the subject. I talked to them both on the phone and kept in touch by email and text, but I was worried for my friends. I'd feel better once I saw them.

"I'm sure she'll be okay," my girl sighed. "Tina is strong and she has Robbie."

"Yeah," I sighed. "But it still sucks." Carrie looked at me and smiled sadly. I'd been friends with Robbie and Tina since forever. I liked her parents and was sad to hear they broke up. My girl nodded in understanding.

We drove up and parked in front of Tina's house. Her mother was just backing out of the driveway. She smiled and stopped.

"Hello Joel, welcome home!" she smiled. "You too Carrie."

"Hey Mrs. K," I replied without thought, but right afterward it hit me. Mr. K was gone. I should have called Tina's mom something else, but I had no idea what. She saw my expression and sighed. She obviously guessed what I was thinking.

"Don't worry about it," she said kindly. "You can keep calling me Mrs. K."

"I don't think so," I said. "It just seems wrong now. How are you?"

"It's been almost six months," she said. "I'm fine." I wasn't buying it fully, but she did seem better than I feared.

"That's good," I said. I decided to accept her at her word and let the subject drop. She probably preferred it that way whether it was true or not. "What should I call you from now on?" Tina's mom frowned for a moment and then shrugged, more to herself than anything else.

"You're not a kid anymore," she answered. "How about Bridgette?"

"That's going to take some getting used to. Frankly, I'm not sure I can do it. What's your maiden name?"

"Don't be silly," Carrie put in. "Just call her Bridgette. It's her name."

"I'll try," I sighed. "But if pop hears he's going to flip. He'll think I'm being disrespectful." Tina's mom laughed.

"Don't worry. I'll let him know I gave you permission," she said, looking at her watch. "Oops! I've got to go. See you both later." We waved and she started to pull out, but then stopped again.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I just forgot to tell you that Robbie and Tina are inside with two of Tina's girlfriends from college. They're studying abroad and needed a place to stay. They'll be staying with us for a while."

"Oh, Tina didn't tell me," I frowned. "Robbie either. They did mention the two girls in passing, but they didn't say they'd grown close enough for them to be coming home with Tina."

"I think they were more acquaintances up until recently. The four seem pretty close now," Bridgette said with a worried look. I wasn't sure why, but she shook her head and continued before I could ask. "Tina did tell me that Gwen and Stephanie were going to visit a few days, but I think that's going to quickly turn into a few weeks."