Ginny's Story A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright© 2017 Karen Lockhart All Rights Reserved.

CHAPTER 28

We decided to see a movie first, then have dinner. I had found out the hard way that to have a full meal, then sit for a few hours in a theater sometimes led to embarrassment!

Kevin drove us to the theater in Danvers next to the mall. The movie was the latest in the James Bond series. It was more for the guys than for Wendy and me. Oh it was exciting enough, but I miss Judy Dench as M and I still think Sean Connery was Bond, every other actor just played at it. I definitely mean George Lazenby in “On Her Majesty's Secret Service” opposite Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas trying to be Blofeld.

Too bad, I always felt that was Ian Fleming's best story but with the weakest actors, except for Diana Rigg of course! After the movie Kevin and Billy decided to take their dates to Joe's American Bar for dinner.

Actually, this choice made me happy, Wendy of course, would have been happy at Micky Dee's. The two teenagers had Cokes, Kevin and I had draft Papst Blue Ribbon. This PBR is becoming popular with the college kids, so it's showing up on tap at more and more places.

Our drinks arrived, and the waiter took our choices for dinner. I ordered a shrimp cocktail and a taco salad with the salad bar. The boys ordered steaks with baked potato, and the salad bar. Poor Wendy didn't know what to do, order a steak or baked stuffed haddock. She leaned towards me and asked “What's a haddock?”

I smiled and said, “Order it and find out. Trust me, you'll like it.”

And that's what she did. The first forkful was eaten like it was worms, but as she chewed, a smile broke out.

Kevin and Billy ordered Baked Alaska for desert, Wendy and I were more genteel, ordering the bread pudding. Again she asked me what it was, but I just smiled and sipped my after dinner coffee.

I excused myself to go to the Ladies, and suggested Wendy accompany me. Once inside I asked her how things went in the darkened movie theater.

Wendy's face reddened, and said that nothing happened, but by her color I knew they did more than share popcorn! As I redid my lipstick, I asked again. This time, I got an answer.

“When we first sat down, he put his arm around me. After a few minutes, I realized it felt good, so I kinda snuggled into him. In a little while, he was rubbing his hand on my thigh, which I stopped. He leaned over and suddenly kissed me!”

“Did you hit him?” I asked.

Wendy turned red again, “No, it felt good, so I kissed him back. Then it really felt good, and we touched tongues. Is that a French Kiss?”

After hearing that, I almost drew a line of lipstick across my cheek!

“Let's get back to the boys, they'll be wondering if we snuck out.”

We returned to our table, finishing our coffee and desert. Kevin gave me a raised eyebrow look, that I returned with a wink.

Kevin paid the check, and we left for the car, hand in hand. I could tell Wendy was a girl after all by the way she and Billy bumped hips as they walked.

We arrived back at the condo and Kevin parked my SUV next to Ellen's. I invited the two guys in for more coffee, but Kevin begged off, saying he had to get up early on Sunday to play a round of golf.

He and I kissed good night, promising to talk on Monday. I looked over at Wendy and saw she and Billy were playing tonsil tennis.

I gave her a nudge and suggested we go inside before the Morality Police were called by the neighbors. The kids reluctantly broke up with promises to call each other on Sunday.

No sooner were we inside, when Ellen pounced, wanting to hear every little detail of the date. I had seen the living room curtains move, so I knew she saw THE kiss.

I sat back and let Wendy fill Ellen in on how things went. Whenever she started to gloss things over, I harrumphed sounding like a cartoon banker.

Ellen was hanging on every word, asking “What happened in the theater when the lights went down?”

Wendy started to skip the hugs and snogging, but I harrumphed loudly, and didn't stop until Wendy told Ellen of the snuggling. I harrumphed again, with a look in my direction, she admitted Billy was rubbing his hand on her thigh. Before I could make a sound, she said he kissed her.

Ellen's eyes light up. “Did you kiss him back?”

Wendy turned bright red again, (I thought this was like a polygraph machine, Santa, paying attention? ), “Yes I did, then we touched tongues. When we did, I felt an electric tingle go through me. Aunt Ellen, does this make me gay or something?”

Ellen sighed, “Or something,” she said.

“Wendy, when Kevin and I kissed, I felt my toes curl, and my heart sped up.”

Ellen laughed, “So did Miss Heart's heart speed up?”

She turned red again. I couldn't help myself, I started to giggle. This made Wendy's face even redder, if possible.

“I was peeking through the curtains, was it a kiss like that?” Ellen asked.

I spoke up finally and said we had given poor Wendy enough grief for one night. Ellen agreed, and turned the cable to local news before retiring for the night.

It was the usual, a multiple shooting in Boston, a cute dog clip, then a huge black bear wandering through back yards in Andover. This made me think of Tina. I hoped she was closing and locking her doors even during the day.

Next was the weather. I swear the dresses on the weather girls (now I'm doing it) were getting tighter every year. Hot in the central part of the country, but much colder than normal in New England. It was down to the high 30's or lower 40's at night and only the 60's during the day. We decided to turn on the gas heat, rather than light a fire.

Sunday dawned with a cold misty rain. The wind off the ocean made it raw along with cold. I wondered if Kevin was playing golf like he said or was cuddled up in front of his wood-pellet stove with a beer.

After the others were up and about, I decided to make buttermilk pancakes and crisp bacon for breakfast. Over orange juice and coffee, the others read the morning paper while I cooked.

I covered the pancakes with butter as I stacked them up. With hot maple syrup, heated on the stove, this was as close to gourmet hotcakes as you could get.

We decided to take the cars to the car wash on the Lynnway. All three of us would go in each trip, with a stop at Walmart before washing my Honda CR/V.

What girl could resist shopping, even at Wally World? After picking up a few things for Wendy and some more pillows and sheets, we drove into the car wash. At this one, the passengers had to get out and walk to the cashier. I preferred the ones where you stayed in your car. If you were claustrophobic, when the soap started, you would get anxious.

A quick trip home for Ellen's Explorer, and a stop at the dollar store, where we picked up wrapping paper, birthday and Christmas cards, and Ellen got a lot of flashlight batteries, the Hurricane season was approaching after all.

We decided to use the other car wash; we just wanted to sit and talk and not watch while some one else drove our car through the brushes.

After the car was toweled dry, we went to the drive-thru at Burger King for lunch. With my Whopper, I got onion rings and a vanilla shake. The other two got chicken sandwiches, fries and strawberry milk shakes.

We stopped on Lynn Shore Drive to watch the waves while we ate. The beauty and fierceness of the ocean fascinated me. Wendy was mesmerized by the surf breaking over the ledges behind our condo. Our quiet lunch was interrupted by the screeching of brakes and a thump we heard inside the SUV!