"Hello, Janet."
"Hello, Dexter."
"Hello, Janet," Dexter repeated feeling like an idiot even as he did it.
There was a long moment of awkward silence.
Finally, Janet asked, "Why are you calling?"
"I thought ... I was wondering if ... Would you go somewhere with me ... Thursday night?" Dexter asked.
Confusion evident in her voice, Janet asked, "Where?"
"I thought we'd go to a restaurant, and then to jazz club," Dexter answered.
"I ... well ... you mean ... would it be like a date?"
"I guess."
"This is kind of unexpected," Janet said, surprised by his answer.
"If you don't want to go, I'll understand," Dexter said rushing his words nervously.
Dexter didn't quite understand why he was asking her to go out with him. Samantha's comment about her considering him a married man, had gotten to him. So had the discussion with Calvin and Mary about the fact was that he was still wearing his wedding ring.
He kept thinking back to the early days of his marriage to Janet, and how much he missed that. He was also reminded of how she still viewed him as an engineer. Events of the past few weeks had reminded him of his roots.
Of course, no one had been nearly as insistent or as convincing as Amber. She had talked about him making the call for hours during her last visit. She had asked him if he had called her during their last phone conversation. He was almost afraid to tell her that he hadn't made the call, the next time they talked.
Janet said, "What time will you pick me up?"
"About seven?" Dexter suggested.
"I'll be ready at seven."
"Okay."
There was a long pause while each of them tried to think of something to say.
Finally Dexter said, "I'll see you Thursday at seven."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
After disconnecting the call, Dexter sat back in his chair, unable to believe how nerve-racking that conversation had been. It had taken him almost four hours, and two scotches, to work up the nerve to make the call.
He looked down at his wedding ring, wondering why he couldn't force himself to remove it, despite the fact that the divorce had been finalized months ago. Maybe, despite the divorce, Dexter wasn't willing to admit that his marriage had failed.
Sarah opened the front door and stared at her father. He was dressed nicely, but she felt that he could have put a little more effort into selecting his clothes. A suit would have been better. After all, he was dating her mother.
"She'll be ready in a minute," Sarah said.
"Okay," Dexter replied thinking this was a rather awkward moment.
He stood on the porch, looking at Sarah wondering, when she was going to invite him in. She was looking back at him, wondering why he was just standing there. He felt like a kid trying to pick up his date, with her father guarding the door.
It finally dawned on Sarah that she hadn't invited him in.
"I guess you can come in."
"Thank you," Dexter said.
It was hard remembering that this wasn't his home anymore. He had lived in that house for a lot of years. There were so many memories locked up there. Some good and some bad. It was bittersweet being there.
The house had undergone a few changes since he had seen it last. The exterior had been redone with new siding. It really changed the appearance of the house significantly. The lawn looked like a landscaping company had performed some sort of magic feat in turning it green. There was now a real flowerbed, complete with flowers, in place.
Dexter stepped into the house. The interior walls were freshly painted. They were soft pastel colors, rather than the strict white that he had always insisted upon. The carpet had been replaced with a new carpet. It was a lighter brighter color than the old one. Surprisingly, the furniture had not been changed.
"You've done some redecorating around here," Dexter remarked.
Sarah said, "Mom hired people to fix up the outside of the house. She painted the interior."
"She did the painting?" Dexter asked.
Janet had never been one to help out much with that kind of work around the house. Of course, those kinds of things were his job. He wondered what had inspired her to do it. A better question was, who taught her how to do it.
"There was some guy down at the paint store she hired to show her how to do it. He came to the house and everything," Sarah said.
"Ah," Dexter said finding it interesting that someone actually had taken up the idea of providing home repair instruction.
Janet stepped out of the hall. She no longer looked like a sneech. Her dress showed off her feminine figure. Her heels were high enough to give shape to her legs. Her hair was a little longer, and more ornately styled ... as if to announce that she had a little more time every day to take care of it.
Dexter said, "Wow. You look nice."
"Thank you," Janet said looking pleased by his reaction. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes," Dexter answered.
The Italian restaurant was a family owned place. It wasn't as large as many of the restaurants in the area, but Dexter assured her that the service was excellent, and the food was great. Janet glanced around wondering how Dexter had discovered it. This wasn't the kind of place he normally visited. He usually went to steak places, but she imagined he would get tired of having steaks seven nights a week.
Lowering the menu so that she could look at Dexter, Janet asked, "What's good, here?"
"Everything," Dexter answered. "I've never been disappointed with anything that I've ordered, here."
"I'll try the Chicken Parmesan," Janet said.
"That's a good dish. I'm going with the Angel Hair de la Mer," Dexter said.
"That sounds good, but I'm not quite that adventurous," Janet said thinking that she needed to avoid pasta, to stay on her diet.
Dexter said, "You'll enjoy the Chicken Parmesan. I've had it here, before, and it was very good."
"Great," Janet said awkwardly.
For the next few minutes they intently studied their menus as a way of avoiding conversation. Each knew the other had already selected his or her meal. It was just a good way to avoid talking.
"So where did you get ten million dollars to invest in a coffeemaker company?" Janet asked.
"Another lawsuit," Dexter answered.
He shrugged his shoulders, as if that explained everything. In a way, it did.
"You're taking that company for everything you can," Janet said with a smile.
Dexter replied, "Yes, I am. It cost me everything that was of value to me."
"Am I included in that?" Janet asked suddenly serious.
"Yes," Dexter answered, while looking away.
The topic of conversation was drifting into sensitive territory. He would have preferred to avoid that. He still wasn't sure of his feelings.
The waitress came over to the table, interrupting their discussion. The pair ordered dinner along with appetizers. Having eaten there in the past, Dexter knew that dinner would take about two hours. The waitress left and then returned with bread, a plate filled with olive oil, and a bottle of house wine.
Janet stared at the bread. "There goes my diet."
"Don't worry. One meal, on occasion, won't kill you," Dexter said.
"You've got no idea how hard it has been to lose weight," Janet said.
Dexter said, "I've lost a little weight myself. I've spent lots of hours at the gym under the unforgiving eye of 'Samantha the Terrifying.'"
"I understand that she calls you 'Uncle Dexter.'"
"How do you know that?" Dexter asked.
"Amber told me about it."
"That explains it."
"I can't believe you hired an escort to take care of you," Janet said shaking her head.
She would have been willing to nurse Dexter after his heart surgery, but Dexter wouldn't have accepted it, at the time. Amber had been there when he had needed her. He was a nice guy and would have treated Amber with respect. She wasn't surprised that Dexter and Amber had become friends.
Janet knew that Dexter was basically a nice guy, but was somewhat immature when it came to dealing with others at an emotional level. She guessed it was part of being an engineer. Engineers looked at life like it was some kind of machine that needed fixing. They felt uncomfortable with the emotional 'messy stuff.' Dexter had a tendency to get reactive when things turned emotional on him. She had forgotten that, and her texted message had backfired because of it.
"It made sense to me at the time," Dexter said.
"In a strange way, it does make sense," Janet said. "However, I think you were very lucky to find Amber. She's a lovely young lady."
This topic was making Dexter a little nervous. How many men talked to their date about their relationship with an escort? He didn't think it was exactly a common topic of dating conversation. Janet could tell that he was uncomfortable.
She said, "The kids enjoyed their camping trip with you. Are you planning on taking them out again?"
"I was thinking of going camping next week. I'll invite them along," Dexter said.
"They would enjoy that," Janet said.
If anyone had told her two years ago that the kids would enjoy going camping she would have laughed at them. It seemed to her that was all they talked about now. Will had discovered that the real world was a lot bigger than a video game. In the game world, a short hike for his avatars took him out of the woods, and into the middle of a plain. In the real world, a short hike in the woods, meant that he was still in the woods. In a way, that had been a real surprise.
The camping trip had taken some of the fun out of playing computer games, as well. The game world was flat and uninspiring compared to the real world. Trees had a lot more variety and texture than shown on the computer screen. It seemed to him that each little trip exposed something – a small meadow, the edge of the lake, a stream cutting through a gully, or a tree that had been struck by lightning. Those little elements were missing in the game world.
"I'll talk to them," Dexter said.
Janet said, "Will and Sarah said that you guys talked a lot on that camping trip."
"We did. I still don't understand them, but it is a little better. Will talked about playing his computer games. I had always thought of it like playing cowboys and Indians when I was a kid. In a way it is, but without the imagination. I still think that seventeen going on eighteen is a little old to be playing cowboys and Indians. Maybe I'm wrong about that," Dexter said.
That difference between the kinds of games Dexter played when he was young, and the kind of games that kids played today, was really an indicator of the gulf that existed between the two generations.
Dexter had had a job at Will's age. He hadn't played games every day. The games he did play were sports, although he wasn't really all that athletic. Occasionally, his family would play a board game. On his days off, Dexter was more interested in tinkering with gadgets or looking at girls.
Of course, he wasn't one of those lucky guys who had a ton of women interested in him. All throughout high school, he had been fortunate enough to have two girlfriends.
Janet said, "I'd say that your stock rose a little in their estimation. You managed to show them a little of the world they didn't know existed. Will was really blown away by that trip."
"I'm ashamed that my relationship with the kids got so bad. At the least, I should have been involved with Will when he was in the Boy Scouts," Dexter said.
"Will was never in the cub scouts, or the Boy Scouts," Janet said. "I don't even know if his high school has a scout troop."
"That's a damned shame," Dexter said unable to believe it.
Scouting had been an important part of his childhood. He remembered going on hikes, camping in a two-man tent, attending Jamborees, and earning merit badges. He had been quite proud of each advancement made, in the scouting ranks. He didn't make it to the Eagle Scout level, but that was because his school and part time job at the gas station had interfered.
The enormity of just how poor of a father Dexter had been crashed down upon him. He thought about all of the life lessons that his son had missed out on. He wiped his eyes.
Voice breaking, he said, "Every boy should experience the Boy Scouts."
Janet stared at him for a second. She asked, "Are you that upset?"
"I really blew it," Dexter said. "Where in the hell was I when he was growing up?"
"You were working to support your family," Janet said.
It was not an accusation, just a statement of fact. He had been working to support his family. She was well aware that it wasn't easy to support a family in the modern world. It wasn't the same world as when their parents had raised them. The annual property taxes on her house were almost as much as the original purchase price of her father's house.
"That's no excuse. There's something wrong, when a father doesn't even know that his son didn't join the Boy Scouts. I have really failed that boy. I should have helped him into Boy Scouts."
Janet said, "It's not that important."
The problem was that Dexter felt it was extremely important. His son had been raised without any kind of moral compass. He hadn't been there to instill his moral values. His son hadn't belonged to the scouts which would have instilled a little of his values even without him being present.
"It is that important."
Dexter raised his right hand in the scout sign, three fingers extended with little finger and thumb touching.
"On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and to my country, and to obey Scout Law: To help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."
"What's that?"
"That's the boy scout oath. I still remember it," Dexter said. "It's all about swearing to be a good citizen, compassionate to others, and being an honest and good person. That is what the Boy Scouts is really about.
"We need organizations like the Boy Scouts. You don't learn duty, honor, and self-reliance in school. You can't even mention God in school much less doing your duty to God and country."
Janet frowned while thinking about it. In a way, Dexter was right. The school wasn't in the business of teaching morality. She also knew that Dexter had tried to be a good example of a person who stepped up to his responsibilities, but it was an example that was provided in the worst way possible. In effect, they wouldn't see his actions for what they were: an attempt to provide his family with the best standard of living possible.
She said, "Maybe he did miss something."
"He missed a lot," Dexter said. "Most of all, he missed having a father."
"There's still time to make it up to him," Janet said.
Dexter didn't think it was possible to undo the effects of years of neglect. He feared that society had already hammered into Will, the currently popular ideals of conformity, mediocrity, and moral ambiguity. If things were bad now, he could only wonder what the world would be like after this generation took charge.
Dexter said, "I'll have to think about what I can do."
This wasn't a problem where an engineering approach would work. He knew that there weren't any magic knobs that he could tweak that would establish his values in his kids. Maybe a few more camping trips would help establish a better dialog between him and the kids. It might be wise to tell them about the dangers of the workplace.
"You'll come up with something," Janet said.
"Has Sarah gone to a prom yet?" Dexter asked.
"No."
Dexter said, "At least I didn't miss that milestone."
"The 'torturing of the poor lad who takes her to the prom' milestone?"
"Yes. Every father deserves the chance to terrify some young pup."
Janet laughed. "I would have said that would be impossible until I watched you take on that gunman. You were incredible."
"I had no idea what I was doing," Dexter said.
"It didn't look that way to me."
Wanting to change the subject, Dexter asked, "So what have you been up to lately?"
Janet answered, "I'm working just twenty hours a week. I've been doing a little gardening ... mostly in the backyard. I painted the living room and dining room."
"I noticed. You didn't paint them white," Dexter said.
"I picked the colors out of a decorating book. I kind of like them," Janet said.
"It looked nice."
"I've been working out and dieting."
"Where have you been working out?"
Janet answered, "There's a little place at one of the strip malls. They do personalized workouts and diets with an individual coach."
"I believe I'm familiar with the place," Dexter said. "That was one of the places that I visited when looking for a gym. I was looking for a place to workout in recovery from my heart attack, and not a weight loss program."
"I like the fact that I am the only one there. I don't want a bunch of people looking at me while I'm working out. That was particularly true before I lost weight," Janet said.
Dexter said, "Well, their program seems to have worked for you."
"I'm pleased with the results," Janet said. "Ellen has been a wonderful coach."
"That's good," Dexter said.
He was about to say a little more, but the waitress showed up with their appetizers – fried calamari and steamed mussels. They may not have been the most exciting appetizers in the world, but it was what they enjoyed.
They talked throughout the meal, but their conversation was about neutral topics. They discussed his website, the little changes in the quality of service that were appearing, and the subtle changes in how people acted. There was a lot that could be said about those topics. It was refreshing to be treated like a person again. Society had a long way to go before it would become a pleasant environment within which to live, but it was improving.
Janet enjoyed the jazz club, although she had hinted that going to a place to dance would have been nice. Dexter had agreed about enjoying the jazz club. He wasn't sure that he really wanted to go dancing. He didn't really enjoy dancing, but decided that he would look for a place where they could dance for their next date, if there was to be one.
The date ended with Janet giving Dexter a kiss before going into the house. Dexter couldn't remember the last time she had kissed him. It had been a nice kiss, but it had felt a little forced and artificial.
He walked away from the date wondering if she'd really had a good time, or was trying to be considerate of his feelings. He wasn't sure if he'd had a good time, or if he was trying to be considerate of her feelings. There had been a lot of awkward moments.
Edited By TeNderLoin