In Love With An Older Man 23

When Carly arrived to spend the summer with her family, Gary and Cindy were surprised to see that she was alone.

"Where's Ben?" Gary asked.

"Ben and I are over," Carly told him.

"I'm so sorry," Cindy said.

"It's all right. I'm actually enjoying my freedom," Carly said airily.

"What happened?" Gary wanted to know.

"He was always complaining that I spent time with the band that I should be spending with him. Eventually he told me that things were over between us unless I quit the band. I told him that it wasn't right for him to expect me to just give up something that I had worked so hard on and that was so important to me. We had a huge fight over it, and we haven't even spoken to each other since then." Carly's band was called The Digital Divas, and Carly was their lead vocalist.

"How did your classes go?" asked Cindy.

"They went all right. I passed everything, which was amazing, considering."

Gary and Cindy helped Carly unpack her luggage and take it to her bedroom.

Later that day, Cindy heard sobs coming from the other side of the door of Carly's bedroom. Concerned, she knocked gently on the door. When Carly opened it, Cindy saw that her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"Oh, Cindy, I miss him so much," Carly sobbed.

"I know it hurts, sweetie." Cindy embraced her stepdaughter and patted her back gently. Carly clung to her and cried for a few more minutes.

"Why don't you call Amy and Heather and see what they're up to?" Cindy suggested. "Maybe that'll help take your mind off it." Amy and Heather had been Carly's best friends in high school.

"Cool idea!" Carly said, grabbing the phone.

Cindy went into the living room, where Gary was sitting on the sofa watching a video with the twins. He saw her coming and smiled.

"She's taking it harder than she's letting on, isn't she?" he asked.

Cindy nodded.

"I thought as much." He put his arm around Cindy and hugged her tightly as she sat beside him and rested her head on his shoulder.

Several days later, Cindy received a phone call from Miranda.

"You should really keep a closer eye on what that stepdaughter of yours is doing," Miranda said right after Cindy said hello.

"What are you talking about?" Cindy was taken aback. "Carly's twenty-one years old. We trust her to make her own decisions about things."

"Well, the decision she made a couple of nights ago wasn't so hot."

"Are you talking about her taking Jessica and Ariel to see a movie? She said they had asked her to take them. What's wrong with that?"

"Do you know what movie she took them to see? 'Don Juan Demarco'!" Miranda sounded outraged. "My little girl is entirely too young to watch that type of movie! Melissa isn't too happy about it either. I told her I was going to call you about it."

"Oh...well..."

"Oh well? Is that all you can say?"

Cindy sighed. "Miranda, I didn't ask her what movie she was taking the girls to see because I didn't realize that it would be an issue. She knows better than to take them to one that's rated 'R'."

"'Don Juan Demarco' is 'PG-13'. Jessica isn't allowed to watch anything with a rating higher than 'PG', and she knows it."

"Did you tell Carly that?"

"Well...no, but I just assumed that she would have enough sense..."

"It sounds to me like if anyone's at fault here, it's Jessica, not Carly," Cindy said.

"Oh, you can be sure Jessica's already had a good talking-to about it, and I would appreciate it if you would speak to Carly about it as well." Before Cindy could say another word, Miranda had hung up.

"What was that all about?" asked Gary, who had overheard Cindy's end of the conversation.

"Oh, Miranda's upset that Carly took Jessica and Ariel to see 'Don Juan Demarco'."

"Isn't that movie kind of..."

"Yeah, I know. Jessica isn't allowed to see anything rated higher than 'PG', but Miranda didn't tell Carly that, so how was she to know?"

"I'll talk to Carly about it, but you're right. Miranda should have told Carly beforehand if she didn't want Jessica to watch that kind of movie."

"I just thought that it was such a good thing that the girls were getting along that I thought what movie they went to see wasn't that big of a deal."

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. You know how Miranda tends to over-react sometimes." Gary hugged and kissed her, and she felt better.

That weekend, Heather came over with her boyfriend Eric and a boy Cindy had never seen before.

"I'll go get Carly," Cindy told them. "I think she's in the bathroom."

"Give me thirty seconds!" shouted Carly. A minute later she appeared holding a hairbrush. She smiled at the boy with Eric and Heather.

"Hi, I'm Carly," she said as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Carly. I"m Dennis," the boy said. He was tall and blonde, with blue eyes and a dazzling smile. He was also quite muscular and tanned. Cindy guessed that he must be either a surfer or athlete of some sort.

"Well, come on, you guys," said Heather, and the four of them left.

"He seems nice, doesn't he?" Cindy asked Gary after they were gone.

"I suppose so, considering I've only known him for about five minutes," Gary said flippantly. "At least she's out having fun instead of moping around crying about Ben."

"Well, after I get the twins settled for the night, we'll have the house to ourselves," Cindy said.

"I'm sure we can find ways to stay busy." Gary winked at her.