Emily checked the time on her phone and noticed that she and Adrian were a couple hours into the afternoon birthday party they had been invited to. The party was hosted by Adrian's friend Gabriel, and the two had known each other since shortly after Elle was born. They had met on a new-fathers community forum online. When they had realized that they lived in the same city, Adrian set up regular play dates with Gabriel, his wife Helena, and their son Dominic. As the two kids grew up, they'd naturally drifted apart, forming their own relationships with friends who lived closer by—Elle had little interest in being carted twenty minutes across town on a regular basis, just to play with kids, when she could instead wander down a few blocks to Nat's by herself—but the two fathers maintained their friendship nevertheless.
Emily enjoyed the company of Gabriel, but did not hold as strong a relationship with him as her husband did, nor with Gabriel's wife. Early on, Adrian took the risk of inviting him to join a threesome or foursome between the two couples, but Helena was not amused. Ever since then, even though Adrian and Gabriel continued to carry on like normal, Emily felt like she was something of an outsider.
"How's Dominic been doing?" Adrian asked.
"Eh, you can see for yourself. Dominic!" Gabriel called into the house. "Come say hi to Uncle Adrian and Aunt Emily."
A gloomy boy with a slim, ropey build appeared in the window in a black band tee with the sleeves cut off. He waved in acknowledgement, but didn't go outside.
Gabriel turned back to Adrian and shrugged. "I guess he's getting to that age where we're suddenly not cool anymore, huh?" He punched Adrian on the shoulder.
"Not cool anymore?" Adrian asked, shooting a worried glance at his wife.
Emily snorted and sipped her beer, but said nothing.
Gabriel redirected the subject. "Elle's starting to grow up, too. I've seen the pictures on Facebook. She's getting tall." He leaned in to Adrian. "I hate to tell you, man, but she's got more of her mother in her than you."
"She lucked out," Emily interjected wryly.
"I have to say, I agree." Adrian said proudly, and wrapped an arm around his wife to pull her close.
Gabriel cast his eyes downward. "I was hoping she'd come along. I thought maybe she and Dom would play together, like old times. Where did you say she was this afternoon?"
"She's at a fashion show with her friend," Emily replied and added, "and a lot has changed as she has grown. I don't think those 'old times' are coming back."
"True. You know," said Gabriel wistfully, "I always regret that the kids didn't get along better than they did. It would've been nice to see them blossom together."
Adrian nodded, "I know, but you know kids. They can't see beyond their own neighborhood. They've got it easy, really. They want their entire social circle within reach. If it's not directly in front of them, they won't even give it a chance. I got Elle a new bike, and she won't even ride it. She's already asking me for a car and she hasn't even gotten her permit yet. Meanwhile, there's a whole world out there for her to explore."
The screen door swung open and Helena came out with presents and, balanced on top of the stack, a cheese tray.
"Speaking of changes," Gabriel said, plucking up a cube of cheddar as his wife passed, "We're starting to talk with Dom about sex."
"Lovely party conversation," Helena mocked.
A self-conscious chortle escaped Gabriel. "Anyway, we're hoping we're not too late."
"Too late for what?" asked Adrian.
"You know, kids these days get their sex education off the internet, if you know what I mean. And I'm not talking about SkillShare."
"Wouldn't that be something?" Helena asked bemusedly. The foursome burst into laughter at the thought of an online video class that taught sex education through live demonstration, but it died out into fidgety reflection on the topic.
Gabriel spoke up to end the awkward silence, "Anyway, I know Dom's almost a little too old to have not yet had The Talk," he paused to emphasize the euphemism, "but I was curious how you went about it."
"Well…" Emily fumbled for the words, "we've found ourselves in the same situation as you. We've noticed that Elle is becoming more sexually active. We've caught her…" Emily then paused, looking to Adrian for the right thing to say, "exposing herself to new perspectives recently."
Adrian felt a lump in his throat, unsure how much his wife was going to say.
"You caught her?" asked Gabriel with surprise. He looked to Adrian, who grimaced and nodded. "With a boy?"
Adrian interjected, "Not with a boy, no. Not yet."
Gabriel chucked, "See? That's what I mean. We have to get to them before the rest of the world does." He turned to his wife, "Lena, have you ever caught Dom?"
"Caught him? No, but I've seen evidence that his tool is in working order," she joked. She then rolled her eyes and bemoaned, "Copious amounts of evidence. In socks, underwear, towels. Boys!" she harrumphed. She finished with a wink at Emily and the two women laughed knowingly while the two men shifted bashfully. Helena then continued, "We've been trying to strategize what to do next, but we can't seem to agree on an appropriate approach for Dom. What are you two planning for your daughter?"
"We're starting to get something together, but we still need more collaboration around it," Emily remarked. Helena nodded in agreement. "I just know that when I was a young girl," Emily continued quietly, "my dad, at first, took a very hands-off approach to my sex education. He wasn't very comfortable talking about sex, at least not with me. But I found that the school curriculum was—shall I say—inadequate. It left me with a lot of questions that couldn't be answered in a public institution."
Helena tsked, "And with education funding only going down these days, I'm sure the problem hasn't gotten any better."
"I begged my dad for guidance," Emily continued, "but he resisted, always saying that it wasn't proper conversation for a father to have with his daughter. And my mom was never around." She glanced over at her husband, whose attention was rapt. "I was just a young girl who needed help, and my dad was too embarrassed or unsure to give me what I truly needed."
Adrian swallowed, and said soberly, "I had no idea." The others remained quiet.
Emily continued. "My exploration became a… problem, in some ways, and my dad eventually intervened. It was pretty embarrassing for me at the time, but really I was so grateful for him, too. I see a lot of me in Elle today, and I want her to live the best life she can. I want her to feel rewarded in the end, like I've been rewarded with Adrian and Elle, and I think she'll get there with a more hands-on sex education."
"Like a SkillShare?" Gabriel butted in, attempting to elevate the mood.
"Maybe!" Emily exclaimed, eliciting laughter, though only Emily truly knew how honest she was being.
"You know," Helena piped up, "I feel like this conversation has brought us closer than the last ten years of our friendship." Emily smiled at her warmly. Helena continued, "Thank you for being brave enough to share your story." Helena spread her arms and the two women embraced. Gabriel smirked at Adrian and they clinked their beer bottles together.
Helena turned to her husband and the two of them changed the subject, talking amongst themselves about the pile of presents she had brought out. As they absorbed themselves in their own world, Adrian pulled Emily aside. "How come I didn't know anything about that?"
"I don't know," Emily deflected. "It was when I was very young, before I was truly sexually active. I didn't think—"
Just then her pocket buzzed. Checking the caller ID, she said, "Oh, it's Isla. The fashion show must be over. I wonder if she found the kids." She answered the phone.
Adrian wandered over to Gabriel and Helena, who were talking in hushed tones. They clammed up when they saw him approach.
"I think it's time for presents," Helena said, blushing.
"Sounds good to me," Gabriel sounded off with a broad smile.
Emily re-entered the conversation and said plaintively to her husband, "Unfortunately, honey, we're needed back home."
Adrian arced an eyebrow up.
"Can't stay for just one present?" Helena appealed.
"I'm so sorry Helena, we promised the babysitter two hours, and we're already late. We were just having so much fun, we lost track of the time."
Adrian could tell something was up, because he knew there was no babysitter, so he played along, nodding.
"Aw, bummer," Gabriel said. "I had a feeling we'd all get to enjoy at least one of these gifts. But thank you so much for coming." They gathered round and exchanged hugs. Gabriel shook Adrian's hand and, with the beer bottle in his other hand, pointed and winked, saying "If I get anything good, I'll text you."
"I wanna be the first to know," Adrian chuckled.
The Rowans retreated to the car and Emily started it up.
Adrian gazed at her from the passenger seat. "We didn't get a babysitter. What did Isla say?"
"She said that Elle has gotten herself into some trouble."
Adrian's heart dropped. Something told him, this time it was a doozy. "Trouble? What kind of trouble."
"I'm sure you'll already have some idea," Emily said pointedly.
"At the mall?"
"That's where Isla said she'd be. She must have run into the girls there. She told me that she brought the two of them home."
"I wonder what happened," Adrian mused. He contemplated what kind of predicament his daughter had again gotten herself into as they drove off. After her stint at the pool, he knew that she was not above gratifying herself in public places. Perhaps security had caught her in the bathroom, or maybe a cashier heard her in a dressing cubicle. He wondered about Nat's role as well, and he began to daydream about his tryst with her the previous night.
On the phone, Isla had given Emily an overview of what had gone down on the fashion runway, but Emily decided to keep that knowledge to herself for the moment. She wanted to talk to Adrian about something else first. "I know we've been talking a lot about this lately, but I just want to circle back around to our conversation about helping our daughter through these troubles that she's getting into."
"Her sex education," Adrian intimated.
Emily gave a curt nod. "Indeed."
Adrian's phone buzzed about an incoming text and he pulled it out to see if there was any more information coming from Isla. Instead it was from Gabriel. It said, "!!! Happy birthday to me. Helena was very taken in by Emily's story, so she gifted us a swap! You still down?"
"Holy shit," Adrian blurted out.
"What is it?" Emily asked urgently.
"Gabriel and Helena want to do a swap. I can't believe it." Emily groaned in frustration and Adrian balked, "Oh, you're not interested anymore?"
"No, it's not that," she bemoaned. "You're always getting distracted from your responsibilities by every fresh, new pussy that waves in front of you."
"What are you talking about?"
Emily frowned. "I was thinking you'd have taken matters with Elle into your own hands by now, but you've been distracted by another young girl the entire weekend," she alluded.
Adrian sputtered. "What? I haven't been—"
"Oh please, Adrian, I found her clothing crumpled on the floor in the living room this morning. You saw me in her T-shirt, for chrissake, and you're trying to pull off this lie?"
Adrian's cheeks burned.
"And while you were taking care of Nat last night, I was the one taking care of our daughter."