The River--Chapter 4

JJ didn't talk to me for two weeks. I wasn't sure why since I knew he had to be my boyfriend for sure. So, week three--well into spring, now, and spring is next to summer--I asked him.

I knew that last period on Tuesday was Industrial Arts. The I.A. part of the school  was sort of disconnected and far from the rest of the school. Luckily for me, last period on Tuedsays I had study hall in the cafeteria. Not only was the cafeteria close to the I.A. rooms, but I also had the option of leaving early. I did my math homework, asked to be excused, and went to wait for JJ by the woodshop.

JJ saw me before he got out the door; he looked surprised, but not displeased.

"Wanna go to the river?" He asked as soon as he saw me.

"Yeah, tomorrow," I told him. I needed to prep better than last time.

We didn't talk about the two weeks in between; it didn't matter anyway. In fact we didn't talk about that day at all.

"Do you have to work the steak trailer for your daddy on Saturday?" I asked, making sure he was staying responsible.

"Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday," he told me. "Dad's worring about graduation. He knows I want to go to college."

"Wouldn't you have to have been accepted somewhere by now?" I asked.

"Probably, but community colleges are a little looser. I could at least take classes. I think he's afraid I'll leave the business in a lurch."

"Would you?" This is beginning  to concern me.

"Of course not, but I could learn how to run a better business; make more money. I could work at the same time--on the job training. Right now we're in the hole. It's costing the old man money to keep this thing going. He's probably going to sell the whole thing and go back to construction."

"Construction!? " I say. How things fall into place.

" I don't want to go into construction. I want a business."

"So be a contractor, then," thinking it won't matter much anyway.

"Hm. Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

......

That  was the beginning of my adult life, just like Bruce said it would be. JJ graduated in June and enrolled in summer classes at HAC while continuing to work the steak trailer. In August I found out I was going to have a baby. September I was to start the twelfth grade. . JJ's dad gave up the trailer in the fall, after Little League, and went into construction for the first time in fifteen years. JJ followed suit and quit HAC. We had seen each other off and on during the summer for river trips. I went all of September and October and most of November without seeing him. On Thanksgiving day, I went to his family's house--big with baby--to tell him the news.