Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (26 page)

Monica gasped “I cannot
believe you would be so shallow or that you would speak to me in that manner.”

“You wanted to know,” Paul
shrugged “Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so blunt, but you did want to know.”

Over the following weeks, his
contact with Carmen became hap hazard at best and when they did speak, she
seemed closed off to him and their conversations were brief. It became
increasingly clear to Paul that she was being ever more influenced by Helen
about their relationship and he wasn’t in the least surprised when Carmen once
again called a halt to it in their most recent conversation and while he
regretted some of the things that came out of his mouth, he still wasn’t ready
to give her up.

His behaviour deteriorated
along with his attitude and while he was fine working on his
own
,
when he had someone with him, he was quick to snap and often found himself
apologising. At home, things were tense, Monica avoided the subject of Carmen
altogether not wishing to hear any more of her sons’ admissions of his physical
draw to the woman in question, things hit a further downward spiral when Paul
snapped at Michael over dinner and then proceeded to dodge every blow the older
man aimed at him, infuriating him further and causing him to storm from the
house. Monica realised around this time that her youngest child was out to
irritate his father by any possible means and promptly moved him to his
grandparents to avoid further confrontations.

Although Jackson and Paula
didn’t understand their Grandson’s attraction to a much older woman, they did
listen when he explained the situation of her living with her best friend who
was slowly but surely poisoning her against him and that he needed to borrow
some money short term to invest in a property for her, he carefully omitted the
fact that she was carrying his baby.

Using Paul’s absence from the
house, Monica systematically went through all of his belongings, gleaning as
much information on the woman as possible, finding photographs and notes that
had been passed between them, then she approached the school armed with her
full name, even more furious that she had sat across a desk from this woman
discussing not only Matthew but Paul, she mentally kicked herself when she
recalled that it was her who had allowed Paul to remain behind on the
supposition of helping the woman straighten the classroom.

Horrified and shocked at her
allegations, the school launched an immediate investigation and took full
responsibility for Carmen’s actions as well as contacting the school she was
due to start at the following week.

Leaving the school, Monica
went straight to her parents’ house and confronted her son with the facts about
the relationship that she had found in his room. Infuriated beyond belief that
his mother had violated his privacy, Paul, for the first time in his life,
raised his voice and directed all the frustration and hurt he was feeling about
his situation at her.

“What gives you the right to
go through my things?” he shouted.

“You live in my house.” She
responded.

“I pay rent to live there.”
He barked back absolutely seething. It was at this point that Monica’s brother
John stepped in. Placing a hand on Paul’s shoulder, he guided the shaking,
angry teenager from the room.

“Ok, I understand why you are
angry but do you really want to be talking to your mother like that?” He
asked,
his voice calm.

Paul closed his eyes and hung
his head at his Uncle’s words, hating himself for shouting at Monica, taking a
deep breath and making a huge effort to compose himself he replied “No, I
shouldn’t be speaking to her that way.”

“Good. Let’s go back into the
fray then, you keep calm, I want to talk to my sister before you open your
mouth again ok?”

“OK, thanks John.”

“Hey, I’m on your side kid,
don’t ever forget that,” he answered and led the way back into the living room
“Monica, what on earth made you decide it was a good idea to search Paul’s
things?” he asked his sister.

“I wanted to know more than
he was telling me.” She defended herself “He still lives under my roof and at
sixteen he isn’t considered an adult yet, I’m only trying to protect him”

“But he doesn’t need
protecting Mon, take a good hard look at the boy, he mature beyond his years,
responsible and sensible. We all have our vices and I believe Paul has just
found his.”

“Older
women?”
Monica questioned, tutting
when John nodded “I think I would prefer it if he smoked.” she folded her arms
across her chest.

“I do smoke.”
Paul this time “I drink too” in for a penny in for a pound.
“Mum, I’m sorry I shouted at you it won’t happen again but you were wrong to go
through my stuff.”

“Thank you for the apology.”
She paused “You smoke?”

“Yep.”

“Do you think you can stop?”

“I can
try,
”
he shrugged “We’re getting off point here. Mum, you need to accept that I’m
dating someone older than me, your disapproval isn’t going to change that.”

“Perhaps it isn’t but
have
you given any thought as to why she keeps pushing you
away and ending the relationship?”

“I don’t have too; it’s her
vindictive friend who’s making up her mind for her.”

“Or perhaps she has finally
realised that entering into a physical relationship with a fifteen year old
boy, one who was her student no less, is completely immoral as well as
illegal?”

“I’m sixteen, no longer at
school, there’s nothing illegal about it.”

“You seem to be forgetting
that I have seen evidence that suggests your relationship started while you were
fifteen and still her student. I have spoken to the school and made them aware
of this fact, they are taking the appropriate steps to ensure she never works
with children again.” Monica raised her chin in defiance.

“Oh
Monica.”
John shook his head.

“No, you have to tell them
you were wrong, you’ll ruin her career, she loves teaching and this will
destroy her.” Paul ran his fingers through his hair “Mum please, don’t push
this,
call
the school.”

“I can’t, wheels have already
been set in motion, I am expecting that she will be arrested any time now and
the police will want to talk to you.”

“I have to talk to her.” he
made to leave the room.

“You will do no such thing.”
Monica’s voice took on the tone that brooked no arguments causing Paul to look
up from his mobile phone.

“She needs to know it wasn’t
me who did this.” He protested.

“I hope she thinks it was
you,” she replied “Oh, I have cancelled the contract on your phone and
instructed your Grandparents to forbid your use of theirs; you will have no
further contact with that woman.”

“You can’t stop me from
seeing her.” It was his turn to fold his arms over his chest.

“I don’t have to, once she’s
arrested, she won’t want to see you again.”

“I beg to differ,” Paul
replied “You have seriously underestimated me.” He told her before he bolted
not only from the room but out of the house.

“Paul.” Monica called after
him, using her best stern voice.

“Let him go Monica,” John
said, stopping her from following her son “Whether you approve of his actions
or not, you won’t be able to stop him, he was right when he said that you
underestimate him.”

“You don’t understand John,
you aren’t a parent.” Exasperated, she knew her brother was right.

“No, I’m not and I don’t
understand your point of view but I totally get where he’s coming from. Do you
think you could let me deal with this?”

“What are you going to say to
him that’s any different to the things I’ve said?”

“For starters, I’m not going
to forbid him to see her and I’m going to allow him to talk to her. If this is
just a crush which is what I suspect you think it is, he’ll get over it and
move on. If in fact, he’s in love which I think he is
,
these next few months are going to be hell for him and for us. He needs support
Mon not conflict.”

“He knows I’ll support him.”

“You have a very funny way of
showing it.”

Paul only had to go as far as
the corner of the street to reach the nearest phone box. Filling the instrument
with all his spare change, he dialled Helen’s number and waited an eternity for
an answer. Helen went berserk when she heard his voice, screaming at him and
confirming his worst fears that Carmen had been arrested and was currently
being held at the police station. He tried several times to cut into her tirade
but finally gave up and let her rant only getting to speak and profess his
innocence once she had exhausted herself. He calmly explained what had happened
between his mother and himself and relayed his Grandparents phone number to her
before hanging up and returning to the sanctuary of their house.

Letting
himself
in though the back door, he closed it silently and lent against it, breathing
in the heavenly smell of his Grandmothers kitchen before steeling himself to
face his mother again. Prising his body from the door, he raided the biscuit
tin and then the fridge for Apple juice and once fully stocked, made his way
through to the living room, stopping in the doorway, mouth full of biscuits, he
briefly considered doing a runner when he set eyes upon the two uniformed
officers talking to his Mother before Jackson saw him and beckoned him into the
room, telling him in Spanish that the officers would like to talk to him and
that he should be as honest as possible shortly before John cut in with the
helpful fact that if he refused to say anything, they couldn’t press charges on
Carmen from anything he passed on, all they had to go on were the notes and
photos he had kept.

Sitting opposite the
officers, he listened as they spoke while munching on his biscuits, growing
more resentful with each word that came out of the officers’ mouths.

“You don’t have to talk to me
like I’m a child you know,” he finally replied “Sugar coating things isn’t
going to change them.”

“Very well, would you like to
tell us what happened?”

“No. I have nothing to say on
the matter.” He sat back in his chair, took a large gulp of Apple juice and
regarded the officers and his mother. “You can ask as many questions as you
like,
you won’t get any information out of me.”

“So you will
neither confirm or
deny that you were molested?” The second
officer asked

“Do I look like I’ve been
molested?” He sat forward, the officer was young and pretty, her tunic hanging
open in the warm house. “You’d look fantastic with your hair down,” he told
her.

“Paul!” Monica breathed,
shocked at her sons’ words.

“I feel you are being
inappropriate.” The female officer commented.

“I’m just stating a fact and
I’ll bet it’s nothing your male colleagues haven’t been thinking, I’ll bet you
would rock a short skirt too, you appear to have endless legs.”

“Young man, stop this now,
you are bordering on harassment.” The male officer spoke.

Paul smiled as he got to his
feet “There’s the basis of your case,” he said as he leant close to the male
officer, “You have nothing on Carmen, you have nothing on me and you won’t get anything
from me except that I wasn’t in any way forced to do anything I didn’t want to
do, I dictated the way things were, none of this is an act, it’s just me and
the way I am, I’m so good at this that no judge or jury would rule any
different so you have no case and you may as well get in touch with the
Gloucester Constabulary and tell them to let her go.” He left the room in
astonished silence and climbed the stairs to his room.

As her parents showed the
officers to the door, Monica slipped by them, dodged John’s attempt to stop her
and shot up the stairs to her sons’ room, throwing open the door and making him
sit up from his prone position on the bed.

“Pack your things, you are
coming home.” She told him, furious that he had embarrassed her in front of the
Police officers.

“I’d rather stay here.” Paul
stood “Even you have to admit that things are easier at home when I’m not
there.”

“I can’t keep such a close
eye on you here, you need to come home.” She replied as she pulled his bag from
the wardrobe and began throwing clothes into it.

“Monica, he’s better off here
for the time being.” John said as he watched from the door “Nice work with the
officers by the way”. He addressed Paul now.

“Encouraging him is not
helping,” she rounded on her brother “He is my son; he will do as I say.”

“Sorry Mum, not this time.”
Paul spoke up “I’m staying here, there are some things I need to sort out and
I’m working on a job just around the corner so it’s more convenient for me to
stay here right now.”

“What exactly, do you need to
sort out?” she asked, hands on hips.