Blame it on the Stars (The Blame Game) (11 page)

David held up his hands
. “Hey, I told you, I was home. I didn’t feel good, remember? Teresa and I watched TV until I went to bed.”

“
Which doesn’t make me believe you’re innocent in all of this.” He looked at Catlin, his eyes imploring her.

She couldn
’t resist those eyes. Never had been able to. “Well, I was also home in bed when Clint called me at about eleven. He was very scared and upset. It seems someone had spiked the punch, and Dana was drunk and sick.”

“
So what did you do?” Barbara interjected angrily.

Catlin gave her the evil eye
. “What was I supposed to do? Leave them there? Clint told me he’d had a couple beers, and I knew he shouldn’t drive. So I went and picked them up.”

“
From where?” Steve asked.

“
A frat house.” Catlin looked out the window, not wanting to witness the coming explosion.

Steve did not disappoint.
“A frat house! My God, Dana. You’re sixteen years old! What the hell were you thinking?”

“
Calm, remember?” Catlin looked at him. “I don’t think Dana
was
thinking. It was Halloween, she was out with her boyfriend, and things just got out of hand.”

“
Okay.” Steve shook his head to clear it. “So you picked them up. Then what?”

Catlin answered.
“I took them to my place. Dana was throwing up, and I just wanted to take care of her.”

Steve said in a low voice
, “In my car?”

“
I brought a bucket.” Catlin rolled her eyes.

Barbara sneered
, “How nice, to plan ahead.”

“
Oh shut up.” Catlin had heard enough from Barbara.

“
Go Catlin!” David chuckled, and both his parents gave him the look.

Steve paced the floor, frustration evident.
“Can we stay on topic here, please? What happened after that?”

Catlin sighed, and crossed her arms.
“Well, hell. I just plain did not know what to do. I knew Dana was late for curfew, so I called here and David answered. I told him what was going on, and we talked about what to do.”

Barbara sneered again
, “Do you always take advice from seventeen-year-old boys?”

Catlin ignored her and looked at Steve.
“I really didn’t know what to do. If I called you, I knew you’d be so upset, you would have rushed home.”

He nodded
. “I probably would have.”

“
If I called Teresa, she would have called you, etcetera, etcetera.”

He nodded again.

“I thought the most important thing was that Dana was safe, in my home. I cleaned her up and put her to bed. She was still sick the next day, so I let her stay in bed. And might I add, after school I had a talk with all three kids about the seriousness of their actions, and how nothing like that better happen again.”

Steve
thought for a moment before speaking. “There’s one little part we’re missing. What did you say to Teresa?”

Catlin
rubbed her hands over her face. “David made me do it.”

David looked at his father
. “It’s true, I did.”

Steve
continued to pace. “Christ, it’s like I have three teenagers to deal with.” He paused in front of Catlin. “What did you say to Teresa?”

She stood up.
“I lied to her, okay? I told her I was Dana’s friend’s mother, and that Dana fell asleep studying. I said we should let her spend the night, and I would take her to school the next day.”

Steve
closed his eyes.

Catlin
went on, “I had never met Teresa. I couldn’t tell her the truth. She didn’t know me, and it kept coming around to the fact that she would just call you. The kids didn’t want that.”

“
Oh, I’m sure they didn’t!” His laugh held no amusement. “So the three of you were feeling pretty comfortable that you’d pulled one over on the old man, eh?”

“
Steve.” She approached him, and he looked in her eyes. Catlin could almost see the flash when he realized why she’d needed to be with him so much Friday afternoon. The look of pain she saw in his eyes then would haunt her for a long time.

“
I need to think about this,” he said quietly to her.

She walked over to the table and picked up her purse and jacket.
“Just remember one thing. All I was thinking about was Dana, getting her home safely and taking care of her. I did that. And I would do it again.” She looked at Barbara. “Unless you’d have me leave her lying in the yard of the next frat house.”

Barbara crossed her arms
“There won’t be a next time. I’m going to see to it that the children have proper supervision from now on.”

Catlin s
norted. “Look around you, Barbara. They’re not children anymore.” She headed to the door.

Dana ran after her.
“Catlin!” She hugged Catlin tightly. “I’m so sorry!”

“
I know.” Catlin squeezed her. “We all are.” She let go of the girl.

“
See you, Catlin.” David called, and she waved at him. She looked at Steve’s emotionless face, and walked out.

When Catlin got home, she put her small suitcase of things away, and looked around her home. She was at a loss of what to do. She lay down on her bed, and curled up with the pillow that still faintly smelled like Steve.

Monday morning, Dana and David were in her classroom when she got there. “Hi.” She smiled at them.

“
Catlin, we are so sorry!” Dana began. “What a horrible mess.”

“
I knew it would be. Deep down, I knew this would happen.”

David spoke up
, “We told dad that we made you do it. You didn’t want to—”

She cut him off.
“I knew what I was doing. Despite what everyone keeps telling me, I am an adult. We all share a certain measure of the blame.”

“
We heard that over and over.” Dana rolled her eyes. “Last night and this morning, both mom and dad.”

Catlin looked at her
. “Your mom stayed over?”

“
Yeah,” Dana replied, then added quickly, “Not in the same room, I mean, mom stayed in the guest room.”

“
I assumed so.”

David smirked
. “Probably because dad didn’t have any energy left from the night before.”

Catlin
shoved his arm lightly. “David, with everything in such a mess, it’s good to see that some things never change. You little twerp.” The first bell rang. “Go to class.”

He
grinned, an expression that made him look so much like his father. “See you later!”

“
Not if I see you first,” Catlin replied, and waggled her brows as he walked out.

She went about her day in a normal manner, trying not to be depressed. Jetta noticed something was wrong, but Catlin wasn
’t ready to talk about it yet. Steve didn’t call that night, and Catlin went to bed in a rotten mood.

The next morning, Dana asked her quietly
, “Did you talk to my dad?”

Catlin just shook her head.

“I didn’t think so. He’s in a foul mood.”

“
Is your mother still there? That would put me in a foul mood.” Catlin shook her head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“
No, she left.”

“
Well, there’s that,” Catlin muttered, as she tried to see any good in the situation.

After school, she was heading into the lounge when she heard
, “Catlin, phone call on line two.” The school secretary raised her eyebrows. “It’s
him
.”

“
Thanks.” Catlin gave her a small smile, and went to the phone in the lounge. “Hello.”

“
Are you busy?” Steve asked.

“
Just sharpening my guillotine,” she replied.

“
Now that scares me.” He sounded amused, which was better than the anger the last time she saw him.

“Did you want something?”

“
Yeah, to talk. Can I come over tonight?”

“
I don’t know,” she hesitated.

“
Catlin, we have to talk.”

“
I suppose.”

“
About seven?”

“
Whenever. I’ll be there.”

“
See you later then.” He hung up.

S
he clutched the phone in her hands. For some reason, she just couldn’t let it go.

Catlin’s stomach was a mass of knots, and she was fighting the urge to be sick. It was seven-fifteen when her doorbell finally rang. She answered the door and said simply, “You’re late.”

Steve
stepped in. “You said whenever.” He took off his jacket and tossed it on the back of the couch.

“
Want something to drink?” She stood in front of the refrigerator, getting herself a can of soda. She held one up to him.

“
Have anything stronger to mix with that?”

“
Sure.” She set it on the table and motioned to the cabinet. “Help yourself.”

While she
sat on the couch, he mixed some bourbon with his coke. He came out sipping the drink.

Catlin inhaled.
“I’d like to begin by saying I’m sorry. I never meant to go behind your back. I certainly never felt good about hiding anything from you.”

He sat down across from her, and nodded.
“That part slipped out in anger, I’m afraid. I never thought you did.”

“
It was such a horrible night, Steve. My first concern was taking care of Dana. Everything else seemed secondary after that.”

“
And I thank you for that. I’m glad you were here for her. That part has never been in dispute.”

“
Just my methods, eh?”

He set his drink down, so he could talk and gesture with his hands.
“Do you remember that Star Trek movie, the third or fourth one I think, where Kirk and his crew blew up the Enterprise and caused a whole bunch of trouble, but ended up saving the universe?”

She smiled
. “I think so.”

“
At the end of it, they had this long list of charges against Kirk. They told him that all the charges were dismissed, except one. Disobeying the orders of a superior officer.”

She looked at the ceiling while she gathered her words
, then gazed back at him. “You know, I get the gist of what you’re trying to tell me. And I don’t think you realize what a poor analogy you’ve chosen, so I’m going to put this to you real gently. You are
not
my superior officer.”

He started to speak, but she held up her hand.
“I’m not sure how your first marriage was structured, but I’m looking for more of a partner. Have you heard the saying, ‘Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow; don’t walk behind me, I may not lead; just walk beside me...”

“
And be my friend. Albert Camus, the Nobel Prize winning journalist said that. Of course I’ve heard it. Okay, perhaps I did choose a bad analogy. I want a partner, too.”

“
That’s funny, because you sure don’t act like it. We’ve had two arguments in two months, and both times you’ve lumped me with your teenagers in a ‘you against us’ way.”

“
Could that be because both times you sided with one or both of them against me?”

“
If we were married, don’t you think those kids would try to play one of us against the other whenever they wanted something? Haven’t they done that with you and—that woman whose name begins with a B?”

Steve looked at her
wryly. “Barbara.”

“
That wasn’t the B name I was thinking of.”

He
raised his gaze to the ceiling before focusing back on her. “You’re right. Kids have been playing one parent against the other since the dawn of time.”

“
I know I’m right. And you just said a key word there, parent. I realize your children have two parents, and don’t need another one. But if we’re going to be together, where does that leave me? Friend, who has no decision-making power whatsoever? Bimbo, who you just use for sex?”

“
Hey.” His eyes flashed. “Don’t even talk about using someone for sex. You were a different person this weekend. I’ve got to admit, I liked it, until I realized it was your guilty conscience acting out.”

She laughed at that.
“I did have a guilty conscience. But it wasn’t all bad, was it?”