Jeannie looked away distantly. She hardly touched her dinner. "I'm worried about Amy" she said.
"Why? What happened?" I asked.
"Nothing happened. I'm just worried about her, that's all."
"Why Babe?"
"It's really hard for me to talk about." She said. "I've been thinking about this from the day we moved here 6 months ago."
Jeannie and her daughter Amy moved to Denver from Austin, Texas about 6 months ago. Jeannie is in the Air Force and has moved across the country several times. They've lived in 6 different places over the past 7 years. Her husband Rob was also in the Air Force, but he was killed 9 years ago in Afghanistan. Amy was only 8 when he died, and Jeannie and Amy have been on their own ever since.
I started dating Jeannie about 4 months ago after a friend of mine introduced us. My friend Darlene had a daughter on the track team with Amy at school and she thought Jeannie and I would hit it off. She was right.
Jeannie went on, "She's been invited to the prom next month and I'm not sure she'll know how to act."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "She's 18. She'll know how to act at a prom."
"She just turned 18 last month and frankly, with all the moving we've done, she's never had a serious boyfriend. This boy Jason seems nice and she seems to really like him, but I don't want him to get scared away if she doesn't know how to act. This could be the first stability she's had in her life in a long time."
"What do you mean, 'she doesn't know how to act?' You mean like talking with her mouth full or something", I laughed.
"No, No." Jeannie pondered. "God, this is really hard for me. I mean, I'm worried she doesn't know how to act ..., you know...., sexually."
"Ah. I see. She may be too inexperienced for these advanced kids from Denver." I joked. "We're all sluts out here in the mountains."
"I'm serious Ed." "She's never had a boyfriend and I really want this to work out with Jason."
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Amy's a sweet kid. She's very pretty. I'm sure she'll do just fine." I said. "Have you had 'the talk" with her yet?" I smiled.
"Yes, of course, but with no man around the house to tell her what these boys are like and how they act, well, I don't know what to do."
I reached across the table and grabbed her hands. "Would you like me to talk to her? Maybe pretend to be her date or something and tell her what to expect? I was an 18 year old boy too, you know."
"Would you really?!?" she smiled. "I'm so happy you said that. I was afraid to bring it up to you. I was trying to think of a way to cleverly get you to agree to do this for her. I was going to resort to my special means of persuasion." She grinned and reached down and grabbed my crotch.
"No problem, Babe. I can become an 18 year old in no time. Shit, emotionally I'm not much older than that anyway!" I said.
"Oh Ed, I can't thank you enough. I'm sure Amy will be thrilled to get your help. It will mean so much to us," she glowed and stared deep into my eyes.
"If she's anything like her mother, she'll have this boy eating out of the palm of her hand. Among other places..." I joked.
Later that week, Jeannie invited me over to the house for dinner. She was making my favorite fried chicken dinner. I brought along a couple bottles of nice wine and some dessert. Jeannie told me that she and Amy have been talking about my "helping her" for the past week, and Amy would actually like me to do this for her. Evidently her friends have all told her that the prom in Denver is a pretty special thing and Jason has had several girlfriends over the years. She really wants him to like her and wants to know what to expect so she'll know how to act and what to do.
Jeannie and I had finished our dinner and were about half way through the second bottle of wine when Amy came home from track practice. She was a pretty girl, shoulder length brown hair, about 5'7" or so and thin. She was wearing a baggy sweat suit and a baseball cap. "Hi Mom. Hi Ed." She said as she walked over to the table and gave us both a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi honey. How was practice?" Jeannie asked.
"Fine. I'm just a little tired."
"And sweaty!" I added with a smile.
"Yes, that's all part of my charm", she joked. "Don't I look like a desirable prom date?"
"Stunning," Jeannie said. "Now please go shower and change. We're just finishing up."
"OK. OK. Seriously Ed, Thanks for helping me with this. I'm a little nervous, and I really don't want to be an idiot at the prom with Jason. He's sooooo cute!" she giggled.