Chapter 20

The next day, Lance jumped from his bed as early as possible. He had spent most of the night rethinking and regretting the manner he had challenged his mother earlier in the evening. He finally came to the conclusion that it had been crude and unnecessary, so he would wake up early and try to gauge how she felt about it and perhaps apologize before she would be off to work.

After brushing his teeth in record time, he jogged down the stairs to the kitchen. Then he remembered that the new girl might be in there with his mother. He certainly didn't want to have any conversation in her presence. But peeping in just to find out if she was there or not wouldn't hurt, would it? With that in mind, he strolled into the kitchen, but he was surprised to find his mother very much alone. Clearly, no one else was up yet, not even Anna.

"Morning, Mom," he hailed as he approached her. "How was your night? Sleep sound?"

"Yeah, very much. Thanks," was the lukewarm reply. She didn't seem surprised by such unusual concern from her son and neither did Lance fail to detect the absence of her usual morning vivacity, but he acted like he didn't notice.

"Can I help?", he asked brightly.

Carol's eyebrows shot up, but she dropped them immediately, trying not to look surprised.

"It'd be nice if you don't mind washing those greens," she simply said, jerking her head towards the sink.

Instantly, Lance went over and fell to work. He was aiming to please! But he had no idea that his mother was watching.

As he concentrated solely on washing the 'greens', his mind slowly drifted to other things and he soon forgot his mother's quiet presence, until she suddenly reminded him in a manner he would never forget.

"I know you're still seeing Cara."

Lance nearly fell head first into the vegetables he was washing! It took him almost a minute to recover from the shock. When he finally did, he swallowed audibly, but didn't dare turn around. After a few more seconds of silence on his part and quiet studying on her part, he spoke, in a voice he could hardly recognize as his own.

"If only you'd listen to us..."

"Who's the us?", Carol cut him off immediately, almost startling him. "You mean, my son and his abuser?"

"There we go again," Lance murmured. He would have rolled his eyes, but he didn't dare, even though she couldn't see his face. Right now, he didn't know whether a slap was on the list of things he would receive before the morning would kick off proper. But something he was sure of - a lecture was certainly on the way.

"I know you think you're an adult and all of that," Carol began.

Think?! Really, Mom? But he didn't dare say anything out loud. Nevertheless, she continued, "but still, it's my responsibility to keep you safe and stable. Whatever's going on between you and that woman... it's forbidden."

Can you kindly give me a good reason, Mom?

"She's clearly preying on you," she went on, as if in answer to the question on his mind.

"But if she were my age, she wouldn't be preying on me, would she?", he boldly asked.

"Depends on the kind of girl," Carol shrugged. "That woman is clearly using you to satisfy her filthy urges. Some girls may do that too, but nowhere near as likely as with someone her age."

Lance sighed in frustration.

"But Mom, you need to..."

"And the more you stick around her, the greater her chances of getting into trouble."

Lance stiffened immediately.

"Is that a threat?", he asked, suddenly fearing for Cara.

"Call it a warning," Carol sighed as she finished cutting the onions and put away the board. "The same one I've given her at least once. But she's clearly too stubborn to listen. Hopefully, you'll be better at communicating it to her... for her own good."

Lance said nothing in response. Frankly, he didn't know what to say. He knew his mother would not listen to any plea. She had given her conditions and the only available options were acceptance and rejection, and neither was satisfactory to him. So he simply focused on slicing the vegetables while his mother just watched with arms folded across her chest.

The sun was not yet up and neither had the stove been turned on, but Lance was beginning to sweat. Between the fact that his mother's unwavering eyes were trained on him and the thought of her recent threat against Cara, he was having a hard time making real progress with slicing the vegetables. Every now and then, he would slightly miss cutting his hand or miss cutting anything but empty air. In a bid to ease the tension, he tried to resume the conversation, with a different topic of course.

"Where's the um... new girl?", he asked almost breathlessly, as if he'd been running a mile. "She sure does sleep deep," he added as he realized the awkward nature of his question.

"She left this morning," Carol quietly replied.

"Really?" He was genuinely surprised.

"She's convinced that she's not welcome here."

Lance knew that this was a direct accusation. He could feel his mother's eyes on him now more than ever. He swallowed before mumbling, "I'm sorry. I..."

"It's okay," Carol stopped him. "She wasn't angry or anything. In fact, she sends her regards to you and Anna."

Lance nodded, not knowing what else to do.

"She's a good girl and real smart too," he said as a form of atonement, hoping it would be accepted.

"Yeah, that's the kind of female you should be with, not predators like Cara Holden."

"Is that why you brought her home... to force her on me?" Lance regretted it as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Oh no, I shouldn't have said that! He stood there expecting anything from a fiery slap to a tongue lash. But nothing came. So he turned to see why.

Carol was already leaving the kitchen. In fact, she had gone past the door and he had not heard her move.

"You know what to do with those," she threw over her shoulder as she went.

Sure, he did. Lance did not always like to cook, but he was grateful to have so lightly gotten away with everything he had said in the last twelve hours that his dislike for cooking quickly took a backseat. He sighed in relief as he heard the sound of her footsteps die off. He would just rush through this cooking operation and then go immerse himself in something more interesting. Whew! Close call there. He would never push his luck this far again. Not with his tongue, not even by being with Cara. It was heart-rending, but he had to stay away... for now.. for her own good.