Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (22 page)

“Don’t be so blinkered Mum,”
she edged past her dirt covered brother “He has a girlfriend, I’ll bet anything
that he spends most of his nights with her.”

“Paul? Is this true?”

Paul pushed his hair out of
his face and glared at his sister “Yeah, I have a girlfriend.” He admitted.

“Is she from school?” Monica
asked.

“Kinda, she’s a little older
than me.”

“Oh, do I know her?” Tessa
asked.

“I don’t know
,
we don’t talk about school.” He was becoming very
uncomfortable with conversation.

“Don’t her parents get a
little tired of you staying there?”
Monica this time.

“She doesn’t live with her
parents,” he replied, consoling himself that it wasn’t an outright lie “Mum, I
gotta get cleaned up and make a move, do I have any clean clothes?”

“Of course you have clean
clothes” Monica frowned “I take it you aren’t staying for dinner?”

“Not tonight.” He called over
his shoulder as he bolted for the stairs.

“You’d never have let me stay
out the way he does at his age.” Tessa accused her mother

“I know darling but at his age,
you were still at school, not running your own business, he pays rent now and
therefore I feel he has every right to come and go as he pleases, he’s far more
mature at fifteen that you were.”

“God,” Tessa sighed “He’s
always going to be your favourite isn’t he?”

“I don’t have a favourite
Tessa. You all have qualities that I like and some that I don’t but you are all
my children and I love you all equally.”

“And yet Paul gets away with
everything.”

“Not where your father is
concerned he doesn’t, you and Matthew get an easy ride there, he needs to have
at least one parent on his side.” She tried to explain.

“His beef with Dad is
entirely his own doing, you shouldn’t baby him the way you do.” Tessa
protested.

“I’m sorry, didn’t I run
around after you this morning when you couldn’t stop being sick and had the
headache from hell?”

Tessa nodded, suddenly
feeling guilty “You did, sorry Mum.”

Within weeks of school
resuming, they had once again settled into a steady routine. Paul remained at
home on Monday and Tuesday evenings in order to appease his mother even though
he became uncomfortable when the conversation inevitably turned to his love
life but it was good to re-connect with Matt and even though the two days away
from his lover dragged, he enjoyed spending time with his family.

With Tessa out with Suzanne
for the evening and their parents joining friends for dinner, Matt and Paul
were left to their own devices resulting in Matt cajoling his brother into
helping him with batting practice for his forthcoming cricket match. Paul
became adept at ducking the cork and leather bound missile that Matt fired back
from his haphazard attempts at bowling.

As he straightened up, Paul
heard the thwack of the ball connecting with Matt’s willow bat, the projectile
heading straight for his face. He dropped to the floor as it hurtled over his
head, so close that it ruffled his hair, the next thing he heard was a smash
and he turned from his crouched position in time to see the glass of the huge
patio doors shatter into a million tiny pieces as the ball shot through the
double glazed panels and on into the dining room and Monica’s collection of
Wedgewood tea sets, the resulting crashes turning both boys to stone, neither
could move, both filled with fear of the inevitable repercussions.

Slowly, Paul came to his feet
and joined by his brother and they stood and surveyed the damage from the
garden.

“Now you’ve done it.” Paul
told his brother.

“Me?” Matt’s voice rose in
shock “You threw it.” He accused.

“You hit it.” Paul retorted.

“We are totally in the shit.”
Matt said.

Paul nodded in agreement “I
think I’m going to take the coward’s way out and disappear to Carmen’s.”

“You can’t leave me to deal
with this on my own.” Matt protested.

“Oh I think I can.”

“Come on Paul, it won’t be so
bad if we own up to this together.”

“It won’t be so bad for you,
you mean. Dad will turn the whole thing around so that it’s my fault when I am
only partly to blame.”

“I won’t let
him,
I’ll tell him that it was my idea in the first place.”
Matt nudged him.

“Alright Matt, stop shitting
yourself, I’ll stay,” Paul stepped over the shattered glass “Give me a hand to
tidy this up.”

The boys waited nervously for
their parents to return, both knowing that Michael’s reaction was pretty much
guaranteed but they worried about Monica’s reaction to the destruction of her
collection of tea sets, many of them priceless.

“This is going to be one hell
of an insurance claim.” Paul muttered as they heard the sound of Michael’s
Mercedes pull into the drive way.

Matt stood and made his way
from the kitchen to the front door, greeting his parents and explaining what
had happened. As expected, Michael exploded halfway through Matt’s attempts at
apologising. Monica stood in silence as she surveyed the remaining pieces of
her china that Paul had managed to salvage from the mess on the floor.

“I want both of you in my
study.
NOW.”
Michael demanded, preceding the two boys
up the stairs.

“I’m so sorry Mum.” Paul
hesitated,
he wasn’t in any rush to join his brother and
father.

“I’m sure it was an
accident.” She replied, she looked into her son’s eyes and saw the slightest
hint of fear there.

“It was a total accident.”

 “Your father will
understand if you keep your cool and explain it clearly.” she told him “It’s
best not to keep him waiting”

Closing the study door behind
him, Paul stood beside his brother as Michael proceeded to tear strips off both
of them.

“What the hell were you
thinking?” he shouted.

“I needed the practice Dad.”
Matt explained. “I asked Paul to bowl for me and he did even though he didn’t
really want to, we made a mistake, it was an accident. In hindsight, perhaps we
should have gone to the batting cage.” He shrugged.

“What do you have to say for
yourself?” Michael turned his attention to Paul.

“Matt pretty much covered
it.” Paul replied not wishing to be drawn into the conversation.

“I cannot believe you could
be so careless.” Michael exploded “What the hell is wrong with you that you
can’t catch a ball?” he directed at Paul.

“It was coming at me so
fast,
the only thing that would have stopped it was my
face.” Paul lost his cool, his voice rising to the same level as his fathers.

“Rather that than my
windows.” Michael sniped back.

 “Nice.” Paul retorted,
“Told you it would be my fault.” He said to Matt.

“Dad,” Matt stepped between
Paul and Michael. “I hit the ball so hard there was no way he could have caught
it, he’d have broken his hand if he had, this isn’t Paul’s fault.”

“I do not understand why you
feel the need to defend him Matthew.” Michael bellowed.

“We fucked up
Dad,
we didn’t deliberately set out to break the window.”
Paul shouted resulting in Michael removing his belt.

“I’m told I can’t leave
visible marks on you boys, doesn’t mean you won’t be punished, I’ll leave it up
to you to decide who goes first” he turned toward his desk to await his first
victim.

Matt and Paul faced each
other both of them had expected this. Paul shot his brother a wry smile before
prising open the button of his jeans.

“Sorry.” Matt murmured.

“It’s ok,” Paul grasped his
brothers’ shoulder and squeezed “I pity the fielders of the other cricket
team.” He finished as he stepped up to Michael’s desk and dropped his jeans to
the floor.

The following evening, the
twins were hustled into Michael’s car having been told in no uncertain terms
that they couldn’t be trusted alone in the house and so they would both attend
Matt’s parent/teacher meetings.

“I don’t even go to school
any more
.” Paul complained as he adjusted his seating
position, favouring his left cheek as the right side of his behind had taken
the brunt of Michael’s beating.

Monica turned in her seat to
look at him. “Do you really think your attitude is the best course of action?”
She asked “Given recent events, I think it may be prudent for you to keep your
mouth shut.”

“Why does it seem like the
whole thing is my fault?” Paul hissed back at her.

“Matthew got the exact same
punishment you did.” Monica replied.

“Really?
Funny that because my arse cheeks seem to be far more
painful than his.” Paul scowled.

“I just have more muscle on
my bum than you.” Matt nudged him “Shut up dude or we’ll get more.”

Arriving at the school, Paul
suggested that it might be a good idea for him to stay in the car;

“If I were to allow that,
what are the chances that you would have disappeared by the time I return?”
Michael asked, holding open the back door of the car and glaring at his son.

Paul shrugged and unfolded
himself from the back
seat .“
The chances would be
pretty high.” He admitted.

“That’s what I thought.” Michael
slammed the door and locked the car “You stay in my line of sight at all times,
do you understand?”

“Yes Dad.” Paul mumbled.

Paul managed to keep himself
in Michael’s peripheral vision throughout the evening and gave his father no
course for further repercussions. He became uncomfortable as Matt led their
parents towards the science labs but knew if he asked to wait outside the room
that it was likely to arouse more suspicion than if he accompanied them into
the room and did his best surly teenager act.

Entering the room, he felt
his temperature rise and his groin tighten at the sight of her. She looked good
enough to eat in that sweater, it was deep red and Cashmere, he knew that
because he had bought it for her, he didn’t remember the fit being quite as
snug though, she had coupled it with black jeans that clung to her shapely legs
and bottom and had him mentally kicking himself for staring. He hadn’t seen or
spoken to her since Sunday and he was hungry for her company.

Carmen looked up from her pile
of student files and smiled;

“Mr and Mrs Jensen, so nice
to meet you, please take a seat. Matthew, sit there.” She gestured to the chair
in the centre of the two adults “Oh, hello Paul, I haven’t seen you here for a
while.” she at last acknowledged his presence.

“Hi Miss.” Paul answered
making brief eye contact with her, memories of the way he pursued her and
teased her in this very room flooding back. Shoving his hands into his pockets,
he moved over to the work benches by the window, keeping himself in Michael’s
sight at the same time as he turned his back on those present and pretended to
look out onto the school grounds.

There was quite a lot of
discussion over Matt’s work, from what he could gather from the snippets of
conversation he could hear, Carmen was telling his parents that Matt’s work had
suffered since Paul had left school and he had dropped several points in his
grade average which surprised him as Matt had always been the one who was far
more interested in science but thinking about it, they had bounced ideas off
each other, their differing personalities covering every angle of the problem
presented to them.

“Paul was a very good
student.” Carmen was saying “He always had a healthy input into class
discussions.”

“He always has liked the sound
of his own voice.” Michael sniped.

“Oh, I think you may have
misunderstood me Mr Jensen. Paul’s opinions were usually
spot
on and between him and Matthew, they got their peers far more interested in the
lesson than I ever seemed able to and while Matthew still holds the attention
of the class, it isn’t quite the same without Paul’s input. Both boys are
excellent students and presented their ideas in an extremely mature manner, I
am so pleased to have been able to teach them.” She beamed as she closed Matt’s
student file. “Do you have anyone else to see?” she asked, deftly changing the
subject
..

“Just my
English teacher to go.”
Matt
confirmed.

“I’d better let you get over
to her then. Do you mind if I borrow Paul to help me put the room back to
normal? I’ll escort him to the English block when it’s done.” She saw Michael
hesitate and Matt grin as he rose from his chair.

“Well, Paul’s only here as he
is grounded as punishment for breaking a window and some very valuable china,”
Michael started “I’d rather keep him with me to make sure he behaves.”

“I see. If it’s of any
comfort, I have never known Paul to misbehave here, I’m sure he won’t give me
any trouble.” Carmen countered.