Julian

III. March, Ch. 39

     Spring break was filled with fun activities for most San Kolbe teens, but not for Shelley.

     With her father at work during the day, she would spend her mornings and afternoons with Mrs. Atwood, her elderly next-door neighbor.

     Bruce would stop by to have lunch and keep Shelley entertained for a few hours. His visits were like the only television in prison.

     Their afternoons together were filled with long walks around the neighborhood, where no one knew Bruce was rich, and clandestine driving lessons in vacant strip mall parking lots, where Bruce proved to be a patient and valiant instructor.

     At least her father approved of him, so long as he gave him a hand with the yard work. For reasons Shelley didn't comprehend, Bruce asked her to mums the word about his wealth, as if her father didn't read the paper and wasn't familiar with Cassles Oil.

     But it took a little more brown-nosing to grant Shelley permission to attend an impromptu picnic with some of the girls from the cast.

     Bruce dropped her off at Marciano Park at a quarter to noon. She promised to bring him back a sandwich upon pick up.

     After an hour of going through lines and eating al fresco, time was surrendered to the gods of gossip.

     "Do you guys think Mr. Stuart and Ms. Conway are involved?" said Elizabeth.

     "I think so," said Michelle "They leave in the same car after rehearsals, don't they?"

     "Yeah, but they take Mr. Leblanc with them."

     The girls looked at each other and wrinkled their faces in disgust.

     "Ew, and the three of them live together?"

     Elizabeth dusted off crumbs from her shirt. "Who knows? All I know is that Mr. Leblanc could pass for Jim Morrison if he shaved his sideburns."

     "But I like his sideburns," one of the girls added.

     Shelley kept her lips on her cup of pink lemonade longer than necessary. It was a matter of time before the girls would bring up her name.

     "But none of us have a chance with him, except for Beatrice."

     Shelley groaned inside her head. She finished the lemonade. "Oh, here we go again."

     Elizabeth pushed her knee gently. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you don't see it."

     Shelley did have her suspicions, which were only perpetuated by Bruce when he wanted to tease her.

     "Mr. Leblanc digs you," said Michelle.

     The words send chills down Shelley's spine. She understood that any involvement with Calvin outside of school work was wrong, but she couldn't help feeling flattered the same way she first felt with Doug. "You think so?"

     "Definitely. And is he not out of sight?"

     Of course he is. Shelley blushed. "I don't know. He's so much older than I am."

     "Ten years? That's nothing. If you ask Mr. Leblanc if age means anything, he'll tell you it doesn't, not if two people love each other."

     Shelley threw a piece of stray grass at Elizabeth. "Why don't you ask him?"

     She laughed. "Fat chance. He's your man."

     The girls ganged up on Shelley, singing about love and marriage and baby carriages.

     Calvin did seem to look after Shelley quite often, even acting concerned when she told him she was getting rides home from Bruce. Concerned or jealous?

     She smiled to herself. What is it about older men? I suppose I have to find out.

     Anything to get her mind off Doug.