In Love With An Older Man 22

"I'm seriously considering transferring my credits to UCLA and finishing college here," Carly announced one evening in August over dinner.

"Are you sure, hon?" Gary asked. "You've only got one more year to go."

"I just don't feel like there's anything left for me in northern California anymoe, except painful memories of Ben."

"What about The Digital Divas?" asked Cindy.

"Oh, they'll find another lead vocalist, no problem. I miss my old friends from high school. The only times I can get together with them are when I'm home on vacation. A lot of them go to UCLA, and I could see them all the time if I transferred."

"Well, it's your decision," Gary told her. "But if I were you, I'd sure think long and hard about it."

"Do you think she's serious?" Cindy asked Gary later.

"If she is, I think she's doing it for the wrong reason," Gary replied. "I think she should go back to her own college with her head held high and show Ben Levin that she can make it just fine without him."

"Well, that may be easier said than done," Cindy said quietly. "I never told you about Ned Wilson, did I?"

"Who's Ned Wilson?"

"He was my first serious boyfriend. I was eighteen and a freshman in college. He was nineteen, and a sophomore. I was a little insecure and thought that he was just so totally cool. I fell head over heels in love with him really fast."

"One night we had gone out and went parking afterwards. We had done that before, plenty of times. We kissed and necked a lot, but that was as far as it ever went. Well, this particular night, I guess he was feeling especially passionate and took a condom out of his wallet and showed it to me. I told him that I wasn't ready for that. He tried his best to persuade me, but I held my ground. Finally he got mad. 'Well, in that case, you can just get out of my car and walk home,' he said."

"Did he really put you out of the car?" Gary was incredulous.

Cindy nodded. "I had to walk to the nearest convenience store and call a taxi to pick me up and take me back to my dorm."

"Lucky for him I wasn't there," Gary said coldly. "I'd have bashed in his teeth."

"Luckily, the term was almost over, so I didn't have to see him around on campus that much after that happened. I sure cried plenty over the holidays when I got home though."

"I'm sure you did, honey," Gary said softly, holding Cindy close. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, sweetheart. But I'm so very glad it didn't turn you against all guys."

"Of course not. Why should it have?"

"Jake has decided to stay in Miami with his grandparents and attend college in south Florida," Gary told Cindy as he got off the phone.

"Are you okay with that?" asked Cindy.

"I may as well be." Gary laughed. "He's eighteen now and can make his own choices."

"But it might be hard to get used to him being so far away for so long."

Gary sighed. "It's understandable. Carly and Jake didn't see nearly as much of the Sterns as they should have after Jackie...well, you know. That was my fault. I should have made more of an effort to see that they saw more of their other grandparents, but I didn't."

Cindy went to him and put her arms around his waist. "I don't think you should be so hard on yourself," she told him. "You were overwhelmed enough as it was."

"Yeah." Gary smiled half-heartedly. "Well, it'll be nice for him to get to know the Sterns better, and for them to get to spend time with him."

Cindy knew that he would miss Jake and felt sad for him.

"Guess what!' Carly announced at the dinner table shortly after they had learned the news about Jake. "Ben just called me long distance. He said that he realized that it was wrong for him to make me choose between The Digital Divas and him and that he's sorry and wants another chance."

"So are you going to give him one?" asked Cindy.

"I'm seriously considering it. By the way, I changed my mind about going to UCLA . I'm gonna just go back to the college I've been in after all. I do have only one more year there anyway."

"I think you're making the right choice," Gary told her.

The day finally arrived for Carly to return to college. Gary and Cindy stood at the window watching her drive away.

"The house sure seems quiet, doesn't it?" asked Gary.

Before Cindy could respond, Rebecca jumped off the sofa and ran to her room with Jonathan close behind. She returned with her Barbie ride-on toy, accompanied by her brother on his Thomas The Train ride-on toy.

"Beep! Beep!" Rebecca shouted, pretending to blow the toy's horn.

Gary sat on the sofa holding both arms open wide, and the twins immediately got off their toys and sat in his lap.

"If it weren't for you guys, I'd be suffering from empty nest syndrome big time right now," he told them, hugging them both tightly. Rebecca giggled happily. Jonathan just grinned.