Picket Fences! Part 25
After Joyce called Rhys he soon arrived at her house.
"What do you want to tell me?", he asked.
"Let's have a cup of coffee while we talk", said Joyce.
"Arlene stopped by this afternoon on her way home from school. She told me something that really worries me", said Joyce.
"What did she tell you?"
"She said she was in love with this drooly guy. I asked her if he was a boy at her school and she said no, he's an adult. Arlene thinks she's in love with YOU!"
"She's just a kid. Why does she think I would even be interested in her?"
"Have you ever given her any reason to think you might?"
Rhys jumped up from the table . . .
"I ain't done nothing to make her think THAT!", he shouted.
"I didn't mean to imply that you did. I was just asking. Teenage girls sometmes take things the wrong way", said Joyce.
"I ain't seen her but three times. I talked to her a few minutes when she came home from school one afternoon when I was at Joy's house watching Kevin, then I played Red Hands with her at Julie's birthday party and I spoke to her when she came to pick up Kevin from my place", he said.
"Rhys, maybe Arlene read more into your actions than you intended", she said, "It's very easy to fall in love with someone like you. Just be careful what you say or do when you're around her. I still care about you. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble", said Joyce.
Then Rhys left to go home . . .
But before he left, he stopped halfway, looked around . . .
Then disappeared off the lot . . .
Then he reappeared a few seconds later.
He walked back toward the house and the gnome was sitting on the sidewalk. It must have been the gnome Arlene stole earlier.
Then Rhys came back in the front door . . .
Grabbed Joyce and gave her a makeout kiss . . .
Then he left again.
This time he went home.
The next morning at Rhys' place after Ryan left for school . . .
The telephone started ringing and Rhys answered it.
"Hello!"
"It's Claudia. Can you come over?", she asked.
"Sure, I'll be there in a few minutes", he said.
He arrived at Claudia's house shortly.
When Rhys walked in the house Claudia said . . .
"Thank you for coming."
"Sure, I'm always glad to see you", said Rhys.
"There's something I have to tell you. Rhys, I'm going to have your baby", she said.
"I can't have no more babies", he said.
"Well, tell the baby that", she said.
"Rhys, will you marry me?", she asked.
"NO!", said Rhys.
"What am I suppose to do? Everybody in town will be gossiping about me", she said.
"Claudia, I can give you all the money you need, but I can't marry you", he said.
"I don't want your money. I want you", she cried.
Then Rhys left to go home.
After Rhys left, the telephone started ringing. Claudia answered it.
"Hi Claudia, it's Jonathan. Are you alright?", he asked.
"Not really. It's just that I got a problem I don't know how to handle", she said.
"Maybe I can help. I'm a good listener", he said.
"Maybe you can. Come on over", she said.
Jonathan arrived a few minutes later.
"Alright, I can see you've been crying. What's this problem you have?", he asked.
"I'm going to have a baby. When I told Rhys, he said he would give me all the money I needed, but he wasn't going to marry me", she said.
"He needs to face up to his responsibilities. I'll talk to him. He might change his mind, but I can't make any promises", he said.
"Thank you Jonathan", she said.
Then Jonathan left to see Rhys.
He arrived at Rhys' place a few minutes later . . .
"I just came from Claudia's house. She told me what happened", he said.
"It ain't none of your business! This is between me and her", said Rhys.
"Claudia's my friend and a nice girl. She's not like the NPC's you can have your way with and then ignore. What you've done is going to ruin her reputation in this town", said Jonathan.
"I didn't force her to do woo hoo with me. I asked her if she wanted me and she said yes", said Rhys.
"Of course she said yes. If I was a woman, I'd say yes, too. But she would have been better off, if she'd said no, but it's too late now", said Jonathan.
"I told her I'd give her all the money she needed to live on", said Rhys.
"Claudia doesn't need your money. She needs a husband", said Jonathan.
"If you're so concerned about her, then YOU marry her", said Rhys.
"Maybe I will!", said Jonathan.
To be continued . . .
Subject: Picket Fences! Part 25 
Mon May 07, 2012 3:56 am
I can't wait to see what Claudia's response will be 
And, poor Claudia. Rhys was being true to his Romance Sim aspiration by saying "no," but poor Claudia is in a real 1940s dilemma. I think that Jonathan and Claudia would make a good couple. But, will she? Also, wondering how Rhys will react to Claudia's child. After refusing to marry Claudia, will he want to be involved in this child's life? If he keeps having NooBoos, then he's going to be spending all of his time getting to know his kids and won't have as much time for WooHoo. 