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- As Things Change
- Part V
Bo walks into the house carrying a dozen white roses as Matt
jogs down the stairs. “Hey, Dad. Flowers? What did you do
wrong?”
-
- Bo smirks. “Funny, wise
guy. Your mother and I have a date tonight.”
-
- Matt rolls his eyes. “’Nuff
said. I’m headed over to Stevie’s. I’ll be back
after lunch tomorrow. What time are we going driving?”
-
- “Did I say we were going?”
-
- “Oh come on, Dad! You
have to teach me sometime. You know I can get my license this
summer. I am turning 16.”
-
- Bo nods. “I’m well
aware of that. I just don’t see that you have to be driving
right now.”
-
- “I’m old enough,”
Matt points out. “I passed my Driver’s Ed class and
I have my temps.”
-
- “I know all of that
too. I have a plan, Matthew. Trust me.”
-
- “Care to share?”
-
- Bo sets the flowers on the
coffee table. “Not tonight. I’m not in the mood for
a family drama. Shouldn’t you be going? What are you boys
up to tonight?”
-
- Matt puts out his hand. “That
reminds me. I need cash. We’re going to the Putt Putt Park.”
-
- Bo pulls out his wallet.
“We need to talk about you earning your own cash. I’m
not an ATM.” He hands Matthew some money. “Are you
taking a date?”
-
- He pockets the money. “You
don’t get to ask that.”
-
- “I do when I’m
footing the bill.”
-
- Matt chuckles. “I’m
not dating Kallie again if that’s what you’re asking.
We’re just friends.”
-
- Bo nods with an amused grin.
“Did I mention Kallie? Is she going to be at the Putt Putt
Park tonight?”
-
- Matt shrugs. “Not sure.
Besides, it’s not the most romantic place to hang out.”
-
- Bo gets a faraway look, remembering.
“I wouldn’t say that. I seem to remember it had definite
possibilities when I was dating…”
-
- Matt laughs. “Yeah,
like Mom would ever fall for that.”
-
- Bo winks at him. “You
would be surprised, young man.”
-
- Matt heads to the closet
and gets his jacket. “I think we’re venturing into
TMI territory so I’m outta here.”
-
- Nora comes down the stairs,
dressed for a night out. Bo whistles as she stops on the bottom
step, posing so he can get the full effect. He walks over and
offers her his hand, bowing slightly. She takes it as Matt laughs.
“You two really need to get out more.” He walks over
to Nora. “You look great, Mom. Have fun. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”
-
- Nora kisses his cheek. “Where
will you be tonight? Do you have money?”
-
- He pulls away. “Dad’s
got the third degree covered. He can fill you in. I’m late.
Bye.”
-
- Matt grabs his backpack and
disappears out the door as Bo turns his attention to Nora. “I
thought he’d never leave.”
-
- She laughs as she kisses
him. “Bo, that’s our son you’re talking about.”
-
- “Our son who will be
gone until tomorrow afternoon. Let’s take advantage of our
good fortune.”
-
- “Oh, what do you have
in mind?”
-
- He walks over and picks up
the flowers from the table. “I happen to have a date with
a beautiful woman. No kids invited.”
-
- She takes the flowers from
him. “This date…” She smells the roses. “Anyone
I know?”
-
- He pulls her into his arms.
“I can give you a few hints.” He starts to nibble on
her neck. “Are you getting warm?”
-
- She playfully pushes him
away. “Easy there. I haven’t had my dinner yet. A date
usually includes dinner. At least from what I remember. It’s
been so long since I’ve been on a date.”
-
- Bo holds out his arm. “Then
let’s get this dinner out of the way so we can move on to
the fun stuff.”
-
-
- Michael slides into the booth
opposite Marcie. “So Lauren is pregnant?”
-
- “Well, we don’t
know for sure yet. I got her an appointment with Dr. Conklin
for next week. But all the signs are there.”
-
- “Is it Rex’s?”
-
- Marcie giggles. “Michael!
That’s mean. Can you imagine Rex being a father?”
-
- “No, that’s why
I’m making sure it’s his.”
-
- “I think he’ll
be very sweet with a baby. He really is a marshmallow.”
-
- Michael rolls his eyes. “So
you keep telling me.”
-
- Marcie takes his hand. “Isn’t
it exciting they’re having a baby? You know, we’ve
been trying for a while now…”
-
- “Yes, but we’ve
also been trying to get our careers under control. You’re
finally making progress at the high school and I’m not a
lowly resident anymore.”
-
- “Right. So, I was thinking
that now might be a good time for us…”
- Michael looks at her doubtfully.
“Is this to compete with Lauren and Rex?”
-
- Marcie shakes her head fiercely.
“No! We’ve been kind of unofficially trying… I
mean I know we didn’t have any success and then things got
so crazy for you at work, but it’s better now and…”
-
- Michael shakes his head,
smiling at her. “Marcie, honey take a breath. Are you trying
to say you want us to have a baby now?”
-
- Marcie nods, fighting back
tears. “Very much.”
-
- He leans in and kisses her.
“I’d like that too.”
-
- “Really? You really
want a baby? Now?”
-
- He nods, grinning at her.
“As soon as possible. We could go home right now…”
He takes her hand, getting out of the booth.
-
- Marcie looks over as she
sees the door open as Rex and Lauren walk in. Marcie turns to
Michael. “Not a word to Rex. He doesn’t know.”
- Michael nods as Lauren walks
up to them, pulling Marcie into a hug.
-
- “Hi, guys. I didn’t
know you would be out tonight. You should have called us.”
-
- Marcie shakes her head. “Oh,
it was a spur of the moment thing.”
-
- Michael nods. “Right.
And we’re headed home.”
-
- Rex pulls Lauren to him.
“Don’t let us stop you.”
-
- She glares at him. “Don’t
be rude, Rex.” She turns to her friends. “Would you
like to join us?”
-
- Marcie takes Michael’s
hand. “We were just on our way out. Maybe another time.
Call me. Bye, Rex.”
-
- Rex waves at them as he slides
into a booth. Lauren frowns at him as she sits. “Must you
always be so rude to Marcie and Michael?”
-
- “Oh, come on. They know
I’m just joking around. Michael expects it and Marcie thinks
it’s just part of my charm.”
-
- “Well, I don’t
find it charming.”
-
- “Why are you so cranky?
It’s no big deal.”
-
- “Maybe it is to me.
Marcie is my friend and you treat her horribly.”
-
- Rex takes her hand. “Okay,
I’m sorry. I’ll be nicer. Promise. Can we talk about
something else?”
-
- “Like what?”
-
- “Like what are you doing
next Friday?”
-
- “Why?”
-
- Rex shrugs. “No reason.
I just wanted to see if you were busy.”
-
- Lauren laughs. “We live
together, Rex. You don’t have to make an appointment to
see me.”
-
- He begins to fidget. “I
just want to make sure you don’t have plans. I don’t
want to take advantage…”
-
- “Why are you acting
so strange? Well, more strange than usual. What’s up?”
-
- Rex shakes his head. “Nothing.
I swear. It’s just…” He sighs. “Are you busy
or not?”
-
- She chuckles. “You’re
being a weirdo but I’ll pencil you in on my calendar if
it makes you feel better.”
-
- Rex gives her his best puppy-dog
grin. “Excellent!”
-
-
- Matt strokes his putt into
the hole, holding up his putter. “Score! That’s another
sub-par. You’re toast, Taylor.”
-
- Stevie walks to the next
hole. “Lucky shot, Buchanan.” He looks up as he is
about to hit his next shot and stops when he sees Kallie and
Danielle going into the snack shop. “Hey, Kallie is here.”
-
- Matt shrugs. “So?”
-
- Stevie grins at him. “So
I know you still like her. Wanna go have a soda?”
-
- “No. I told you I’m
not interested in her anymore.”
-
- “You are such a liar.”
Stevie takes his shot and curses when his ball rolls over the
ramp and off the course. “I hate this game,” he mutters
as he jogs off to find it.
-
- Matt sets up his ball. He
is about to hit his shot when he hears someone call his name.
He turns to see Raven walking toward him. He remembers her from
the meeting. “Hi,” he says shyly.
-
- “Hey. What’s up?”
-
- Matt shrugs. “Nothing.
Just playing.” He points to the weeds where Stevie is searching
for his ball. “Stevie’s terrible. He’s off the
course again.”
-
- She grins. “You want
me to show you how to make it more fun?”
- “What do you mean?”
-
- She grabs the putter from
him. “I’ll show you.” She hits the ball with a
full swing and it bounces off the ramp, onto another hole, popping
up in the air and hitting a teenage boy in the head. Raven hands
the putter back to Matt. “Run!” she yells as she takes
off.
-
- The kid grabs his head and
turns to see where the ball came from and who hit it. He sees
Matt holding the putter and heads toward him. Matthew holds up
his hands. “It wasn’t me.”
-
- Stevie walks back over. “What
happened?”
-
- The other kid gets in Matthew’s
face. “Funny boy here hit me in the head with a ball.”
-
- Matt starts to back off.
“I didn’t…”
-
- The kid grabs Matt by the
shirt. “You wanna try that again? You’re standing here
with the putter in your hand.”
-
- Stevie moves between them.
“Chill, dude. He said he didn’t hit you.”
- “I don’t see anyone
else around…”
-
- The kid tries to take a swing
at Matt but Stevie grabs his arm and tackles him. Matt tries
to grab Stevie off the kid. Someone yells “Fight!”
and a crowd forms as the three boys wrestle on the ground. The
manager of the snack shop wades through the crowd and grabs the
boys, pulling them apart. “Knock it off or I call the police.”
-
- Matt sits back as he is grabbed
by the shirt. The manager pulls Stevie off the other kid. His
nose is bleeding as he sits up. “That kid attacked me!”
-
- “You started it!”
Stevie yells. “I was just defending my friend.”
-
- “He hit me with the
golf ball.”
-
- “He said he didn’t!”
-
- “Enough!” the manager
yells. “All of you, come with me and we’ll sort this
out.”
-
- The boys get up and head
into the snack shop, followed by the manager. Matt sees Kallie
as he walks in the door. She rushes up to him. “Are you
okay? What happened?”
-
- “I’m fine, Kallie.
It was a misunderstanding.”
-
- She sees blood on his shirt.
“Are you bleeding?”
-
- Matt looks down at his shirt.
“I think it’s the other kid’s blood. I’m
okay.”
-
- The manager grabs him by
the arm. “My office. Now.”
-
- “I’ll call you
later,” Matt says as he is dragged into the office and the
door closes behind him.
-
- All three boys start to talk
at once. The manager hands the kid a towel.
- “Here, put this on your
nose. It doesn’t look broken. I don’t want to hear
anything from you three except the number for your parents.”
- Matt gets a sinking feeling
as he glares at Stevie. “This is not going to end well…”
-
-
- Bo and Nora are sharing dessert
in a cozy table at their favorite seafood restaurant. Nora sets
the spoon down after finishing the last bite. “So, are we
going to talk about Matthew’s camp idea?”
-
- Bo shakes his head. “Noooooo…”
-
- She cocks her head at him.
“Because?”
-
- He signals the waitress for
the check. “Because we are on a date. This is our first
childless dinner in weeks. I’d like to talk about why we
don’t spend more time with each other.”
-
- Nora smiles. “Well,
we’re parents, Bo. We’re not footloose and fancy free
anymore.”
-
- “Yeah, but Matt is a
teenager. He doesn’t require constant supervision anymore.
We should take advantage of that.”
-
- “What do you have in
mind?”
-
- “Well, if Matthew is
determined not to play baseball, his summer is much more open.
Even the ski camp doesn’t start until July. That leaves
June open. I spoke to Asa and he’s agreed to let us use
the plane to take a family trip down to the ranch.”
-
- Nora ignores the second part
of his statement. “You talked to Asa? Did you find out what
he’s up to with Matthew?”
-
- “No. That’s not
important right now. Did you hear what I said?”
-
- Nora is irritated. “Of
course I heard you… But I want to know what Asa… Wait,
did you say the ranch?”
-
- “The one and only.”
-
- “Texas? That’s
your idea of a getaway?”
-
- “Matthew would be with
us so whatever Asa is up to, it would have to wait. That’s
good, right?”
-
- “You can’t just
spring this on me and tell me we’re going down to the ranch.
What am I going to do in Texas?”
-
- The waitress hands Bo the
check and he sends her away with his credit card. “Honey,
you’re not seeing the possibilities. Asa has a thousand
acres down there. Matthew can roam around with the hands –
even camp out, since it’s summer. We would have the entire
ranch house to ourselves. It’s a great place.”
-
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