Chapter 15

Throughout the drive back from the bar to her house, Sally worried about Scott.

She wondered just how she would ever tell him what she had to, that it just wasn't right for them to continue their sex relationship.

She arrived back at the house, then walked inside.

Scott was sitting in the living room watching television.

"Hello, dear," she greeted him with a smile. "Where have you been?" he asked.

"Oh, just around."

"You've been drinking."

"Yeah, I've had a few."

"I bet you've been doing more than drinking. I bet you've been balling."

"Scott, how you talk," Sally replied in a shocked tone.

"Isn't it true?"

"I wish you'd shut the TV off, Scott. I'd like to have a nice long talk with you. It's something I've been putting off for quite a while, but I need to do it right now."

Scott got up from the chair, walking over and turning off the television set.

He walked back to the chair and sat down, crossing his legs stiffly and looking up at Sally with anticipation.

Sally sat down in a chair directly across from Scott, then looked into his eyes.

"I've been doing a lot of hard thinking about us, dear, and it just isn't right," Sally said.

"What have you been doing tonight?"

"I was coming to that. I won't try and pull any wool over your eyes. I'll be as honest as I can. You see, my dear, I got to really thinking about everything this afternoon. I really began feeling guilty about us having sex. It was tough being in the stir as long as I was, not having your father around and not having any other outlets. That's why I'm sure I was so inclined to have sex with you. But now I feel that I've got to stop. It would be destructive for me, as long and as hard as I've worked to bring you up right, to weaken and have sex with you."

"So what did you do tonight?" Scott said sadly. "I've got a hunch that that has a lot to do with why you're talking this way."

"No, that's where you're wrong. When I got to thinking this afternoon, dear, I figured that it would be better for me to go out and have sex with somebody else rather than with you. At least I wouldn't be corrupting my own son. So I met a fellow at a bar and went over to his house."

"You don't know how much this crushes me," Scott said as tears began to form at the corners of his eyes.

"I think I do," she said sadly. "But I wish you'd bear with me. I'm real sorry about this whole thing."

"I'm disgusted," Scott said. "I waited for a long time for dinner, then I finally fixed myself a TV dinner."

"I'm awfully sorry about that, dear."

"Are you going to see this guy again?" Scott looked at Sally bitterly.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you about that too. I've been invited to a party at his house tomorrow night."

"Oh gee, that's great," Scott said nastily. "Lot's of luck, Mom."

"Please, Scott, don't talk to me that way," Sally said.

A sad expression surfaced on her face, and soon the tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"I think I've heard about enough," Scott said, jumping up from his chair and walking toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Out. I'm going to go over to one of my girlfriends' houses. I don't know which one yet. Maybe whichever one is still talking to me. I've been ignoring them lately because I've been so hung up on you."

"I'm so sorry, hone., but you're a lot better off not dealing with some of those girls. You don't want to knock one of them up."

"You ought to be the last person in the world to be talking to me about morality," Scott said. "What the hell, you got out and got smashed, then got dicked by some guy at his pad, and I'm supposed to be listening to you about morals."

"Don't say that," Sally shrieked.

"I will say it, because it's damned true, and you know it is too."

Sally's head dropped, and her son opened the door, leaving the house.

He slammed the door resoundingly, and Sally walked quickly into the kitchen and promptly poured herself a drink.

Sally drank the drink down fast, knowing that it would serve as something in the form of a relief for her, but it didn't accomplish that purpose at all. Sally continued to feel deeply depressed.

She still loved Scott deeply, and it hurt her that things were working out as badly as they were.

If only, she thought, she wouldn't have gotten involved with him in sex to begin with. That was what made things so difficult.