I excused myself to my bedroom and pulled up Steven's number.  I tried to talk to him only when absolutely necessary, and this was one of those times.  I'd found a condom in his pocket while I was doing his laundry earlier.  Joey had already called him about it, but who knew if that explanation was accurate.  I'd like to think my son wasn't a liar and cheater, but, then again, he had Steven for a father.

He picked up.

"Hi," I greeted him shortly.  "Has Elliott talked to you at all today?"

"About what?" he asked me.

I sighed.  "I found a condom in his jeans pocket.  Joey was there and she called him up about it.  Apparently he said he had it just in case, but she thinks he might be cheating."

"Pip, I bought him those condoms," Steven told me.

"What?!" I almost shouted, exasperated.  He sighed.

"I want to have an open line of communication with my son," he explained.  "He's a teenager.  He's curious and he's gonna have sex eventually.  I just don't want him getting anyone pregnant."

"You bought our son condoms," I clarified.  "Are you crazy?"

"Did you call me just to criticize my parenting skills?" he asked me.  "Because you do that enough."

"I just can't believe you'd actually buy them for him," I shook my head, pacing.  "Steven, you need to talk to him.  He is way too young to be having sex."

"Is he?" Steven asked.  "I was sixteen when I lost my virginity."

"The prom queen," I remembered.  "How could I forget?  Steven, Joey is only fourteen.  She's definitely not ready.  Lin would flip his shit."

"If they're being safe it shouldn't be a big deal," he reasoned.

"Steven, she's fourteen!" I reiterated.  "You need to sit down with your son today and talk to him.  Make sure he's not thinking about pressuring her into doing anything."

"If you want to dictate all the parenting, why do I even have him?" Steven asked, obviously annoyed.  I tried not to step on his feet, but sometimes he was just clueless.  When I found out he was letting Elliott ride the subway alone when he was eleven, I lost it.

"Oh, get over yourself," I spat.  "Talk to him.  Goodbye."

I pressed end, wishing I could slam the phone down on the hook like I used to as a kid when I was upset.  I settled for throwing the phone down on the bed, then collapsing.  A few minutes later, Lin came in.  I scrubbed my hands over my face, frustrated, and felt him lay next to me.  His hand rubbed at my belly.

"Was that Steven?" he asked, and I nodded.  Lin just waited patiently for me to be ready.  After a minute I huffed, releasing my hands to my sides. 

"He bought Elliott condoms," I told Lin.  I was relieved to see that his brow furrowed, thinking it was weird.

"Wow," he said simply.

"I told him he needs to talk to Elliott," I went on.  "Tell him he's not ready for sex and that Joey certainly isn't."

"Think he will?" Lin asked.

"In some way," I said, sighing.  Lin traced random patterns on my exposed belly button as he thought.  "What?"

He looked up and met my eyes.  "I could talk to him.  If you think that might help."

I studied his face for a moment.  "Really?"

He nodded.  "Man to man," he said.  "Maybe he wants to talk to someone other than his dad?"

"What better person than the father of his girlfriend?" I pointed out, scrunching up my face.

He chuckled a little, letting his hand wander.  "Well.  Doesn't hurt to try," he said, leaning down to press a kiss to my shoulder, under my ear, my temple, and finally my lips.  We kissed gently for several moments.  He pulled back and gently stroked at my cheek with his thumb.

"Maybe you can talk to Joey," he suggested.  "I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to have any sort of conversation with her mother."

I nodded.  Joey and I seemed to have a pretty good relationship.  We weren't besties or anything, but she seemed to at least not hate me.  "I could try," I agreed.  He smiled a little.

"Thanks," he said softly, then leaned in to kiss me again.  Suddenly, he moved on top of me and I knew what else was on his mind.  I chuckled as he kissed me more insistently and his hands wandered.

___

The next day, the two younger kids were sufficiently distracted with a show and I'd just put a casserole in the oven.  Joey was back in her room doing homework and Lin was still out.  Thinking of our conversation the previous day, I wandered down to her room and gently knocked.  She told me to come in.  She had several notebooks and a textbook open on her bed, along with her laptop, deep into her homework.

"Wanna take a break?" I asked her, pulling out her desk chair.  She gave me a small smile and set down her pencil on one of the notebooks.  Joey tucked her hands beneath a leg and looked over at me as I sat down.

"Joey, I hope we're at a good enough stage in our relationship that you can talk to me if you need to," I began.  "I know you're a teenager now and you might not be comfortable talking to your dad about certain things.  And I know you and your mom argue a lot, so I just wanted to check in."

She bit her lip, looking a little uncomfortable.  "About what?"

I cleared my throat a little and moved in the chair a bit.  "Well, anything really.  But also about the whole thing with Elliott and that condom.  I know that was upsetting to find."

She looked away, not sure of how much to say.  "Well...we've talked and he told me he's not seeing anyone else.  And...I believe him."

I nodded, agreeing my son could be trusted. "Have you and him talked about sex?"

She shifted on her bed, looking uncomfortable.

"And Joey," I stopped her.  "This is between you and me.  I won't spill your secrets to your dad."

That seemed to calm her down a bit.

"Well, we've talked about it," she admitted.  "And I don't think either of us are ready."

I felt a wave of relief hearing that.  Was this talk for her benefit or mine?

"He told me that his dad bought those condoms for him," she made a disgusted face.  "So if anything happened he'd be prepared."

"Yeah, I think his dad's intentions were a bit misguided," I admitted.

"I'll say," she agreed, chuckling a bit nervously.

"There's a lot of pressure out there on teenagers," I went on.  "Especially girls.  In the media, on the Internet.  Kids seem to be doing more and more earlier and earlier.  You seem like you've got a pretty level head."

She nodded in agreement.  "I want to save myself for when I'm really ready.  In a committed relationship."

I felt so proud of Joey.  "That's great," I told her.  "You've got a good head on your shoulders, kid."

I gave her a hug – not an overly long one – and left her to finish her homework. 

That night in bed, Lin and I cuddled a bit as he read.  My head rested on his shoulder. He wore reading glasses, which I thought was super sexy.  I'd promised Joey I wouldn't tell her dad about what we'd talked about, but I at least wanted to assure him that she was in a good place.

"I talked to Joey earlier," I told him, my hand rubbing at his chest.

"Yeah?" he asked, eyes still on his book.

"I don't think we need to worry about her being pressured by Elliott," I told him.  "She's got plans."

He smirked and messed with my hair a little bit.  "She's going places."

"I promised her I wouldn't tell you what we talked about," I went on.  "I think she might be warming up to me a bit."

He smiled and kissed my head.  "Good.  I'm glad she has you to talk to.  Because I don't think she talks to her mother.  Do you think Steven talked to Elliott yet?"

I sighed, thinking back to our texts earlier.  "He said he did," I told Lin.  "I don't know how effective he was."

"Well," Lin closed his book setting it aside, using both his hands now to run his fingers through my hair.  "I'll still talk to him.  When he gets back, we'll have a conversation man to man."

I turned my head to look up at him, glad he was willing to do something like that.  We weren't married, obviously, so he had no responsibility to my son.  I liked that we were looking out for each other's kids.

"Thank you," I said softly, then leaned in to kiss him.  He readily accepted, leading to a make-out session.  The kids had once again exhausted me, so I soon fell asleep in his arms.  The arms of the man I was falling in love with more and more each day.