Jan

When I got into the den, Kelly made room for me at the end, and after I sat down and got comfortable, Jan moved down to sit on the floor by my feet. Once settled, she put her arms on my knees, and rested her head on them as she looked at me. By now, I know they want to talk to me about something, so I take a sip of my Coke and wait for them.

Kelly spoke first, telling me 'Dan, we have something we need to talk to you about.'

Jan followed her, saying 'Yeah. It's about the party.'

'What about it?' I asked.

'We'd like to invite Robyn, if it's okay with you.' Kelly answered.

'Why would it have to be okay with me?'

Here, Jan spoke up. 'Because we still think it might be a, uh, 'teaching' party.' she said.

'If it does, you'll be there, of course, and we want to know if it's okay with you if Robyn is there AND there's 'teaching'', Kelly added.

I looked at both of them, and Kelly said, 'We know that you said you would give Robyn a chance to start over with you, but we know that this party is pretty special, and private, too. We thought that you might have a problem with Robyn being here for that kind of a party so soon, so we wanted to check with you about it. Especially since you would be the 'guest of honor'', she added, with a smile.

They watched me as I thought about it – neither seemed nervous about what my answer would be; I got the distinct impression that they would accept whatever I had to say, and not fuss about it.

After a bit, I spoke up, telling them 'You know Robyn better than I do – you've known her longer, and see her pretty much every day. If you think she can be trusted for this, then I'll accept your judgment. Both of you know what the consequences are if you – and I – are wrong about her, or some kind of trouble happens. My only request is that you take it slowly, and make sure there aren't going to be any problems, before you get too, uh, involved in the party.'

Both nodded at that, and Kelly said, 'We know, and we will. We were going to be real careful about it, anyway.'

After a pause, Jan told me 'If it helps any, Kelly and I have both noticed that she's being real good about us. I mean, she was in the hall with some other girls that were starting to talk about us, and she told them straight out that they shouldn't talk about people unless that person was there, because they might say something wrong and that person wouldn't be able to tell them the right thing. All the other girls just kind of looked at her for a second, and started talking about something else; they didn't walk away from her, or shut her out or anything, so I think they were just kinda doing what she said, you know? And I don't think she knew I was there, since I was around the corner behind her.'

Kelly added to that by saying 'Yeah, I've heard her with some other girls, too. Some of them were talking about how they'd like to hang out with Kathy and Mary Alice, and Robyn told them right out that those two were nosy about everything, and couldn't be trusted to keep a secret.

The other girls didn't want to believe her, but she told them a little bit of how Kathy and Mary Alice had done her – not about us, just that they'd been so mean, and they believed her. I know it had to have hurt her, but she did it anyway. And some of the other girls that I know have come up to me and told me that Robyn is really sticking up for us whenever somebody starts to talk bad about us.'

I have to admit, these little snippets of information about Robyn's behavior did make me feel a bit more comfortable.

'That's good to hear; I'm glad that she's doing what she said she would, and trying to make it right. I think it does give us reason to give her some trust – but we're not going to go overboard with it, are we?' I asked.

Both shook their heads, smiling. They were willing to give Robyn a chance – to either prove herself, or hang herself. They were ready to cover themselves – and me – in either case.

Thanksgiving saw me, and Kelly, at Paul's house for dinner. He'd been thoughtful enough to make the invitation in Kelly's presence, to make sure she understood that she was welcome, too. When we all sat down to eat, he delighted her by filling her wine glass without asking, telling her 'If you're old enough to stay with that old fart, you're old enough to drink. God knows, you probably need it!' making Kelly and Jan both laugh. They both laughed harder when I asked him 'So, Paul, what have you broken on the computer, lately?' (he was notorious for having trouble with it), and getting an 'Up yours, asshole!' in reply.

After the meal, Paul and I headed into the den to watch the games; the boys were charged with clearing the table, and Jan with putting the food away. Kelly, to my pleasant surprise, offered to help. While the boys were getting started, Jan and Kelly brought Paul and I each a cup of coffee, then headed back into the kitchen.

During one of the innumerable commercials/replays, Paul asked me 'What's the deal about this party tomorrow night?'

'Jan and Kelly's idea. They wanted to visit with some friends, and didn't want to bother you and the boys. Didn't want to be bothered BY you, I think.'

'You expecting any trouble?'

'Nope. Phil is long gone, and his two sidekicks seem to have settled down quite a bit, last I heard.'

'I mean trouble besides that.'

'What do you mean?' I asked.

'You and Kelly is one thing; she's an adult, now. You and Jan, I'm okay with – I know it's been more than just the one time with you two.' – the last part coming as something as a surprise to me.

'Oh, yeah? Sez who?', I responded (brilliant conversation, eh?) 'C'mon, Dan. I'm not blind, and I'm not always stupid. I know she's got boyfriends, and she likes them, but any time she's over at your place for more than a day, she comes home too damn happy for her own good.'

'That so?' (such interrogation technique!) 'Yeah, that's so. Like I said, I'm okay with it – I know you care about her, and if she's happy, then I'm happy. And it doesn't happen often enough for me to worry about it; I know she's got her head on pretty straight, and that sooner or later, she'll find the guy for her. Until then, I know she's okay with you.'

'Hmmmph'

'Anyway, like I was asking, you expecting any trouble?'

'Five or six girls, one of me. What could go wrong?', I asked, sarcastically.

'I thought so. The way I hear it, these girls may be a little more frisky than you want.'

'Frisky how?'

'Frisky as in not too fussy about what kinds of view you get. Frisky as in one or two of them might just decide to have a run at jumping your bones.'

'Paul, where do you hear this kind of crap?'

'Heh. Told you I'm not always stupid. Most of them have been over here to visit Jan the last couple of weeks. She isn't always here when they are, and I'm harmless enough that they feel they can talk to me, a little.'

'And they talk to you about this kind of stuff?'

'Nah, not even close. I might be harmless, but I'm still Jan's dad. No, it's not so much what they say, as how they say it, and how they act.'

'You can get that much from that?'

'C'mon, you know I'm a hell of a salesman. How do you think I got so good, without being able to read people, and figure out what they want?

If you ask different questions about the same thing, you can figure out how the other person thinks. Ever play '20 Questions'? It's like that, only more subtle.'

'So you think some of these girls are gonna get 'frisky', huh?'

'Yup. Not a doubt in my mind. So watch yourself, pal.'

I nodded, and content that he'd done his fair share about warning me, Paul let the subject drop; we watched the rest of the games talking about other things.

Early the next afternoon, Jan came over, and the three of us sat around the den while I told them about Paul's warning to me – something that absolutely amazed Jan, when she heard about how he'd figured it out. I also reiterated the party rules, and cautioned them about letting things move too quickly; they understood that if any of the other girls got it into her head to take offense or cause trouble, there would be hell to pay for all of us.

About mid-afternoon, Mabel let us know that there were people at the door – 4, she thought. (Yeah, I know, Mabel isn't a 'she', Mabel is a collection of circuits and sensors, an 'it'. But it was easier to refer to her as a 'her').