Chapter 4

Sam awoke Sunday morning to a soft body climbing over him. He knew the smell of Ashley’s shampoo. Knew the feel of her body. His hands reached around her and cupped her butt through the nightgown, sinking his fingers into the supple flesh. He pulled, crushing her groin against his morning erection. It was a great way to wake up.

Ashley clamped a hand over his mouth. Sam’s eyes popped open to see her shaking her head with a panicked expression. His forehead creased as his eyebrows knitted. Ashley flicked her head to the side. Sam looked to see his daughter sleeping in the bed.

Ashley leaned next to Sam’s ear and whispered, “Sorry I woke you. Didn’t want to wake Kimmy.”

She slithered out from under his hands and off the bed. Ashley disappeared into the bathroom.

I’m never going to have sex again, Sam thought as he closed his eyes.

Later, when they finished breakfast, Sam said to his daughter, “Kimmy, go for a bike ride. See if you can find other kids to play with.”

“Do I have to?”

“Don’t you want to have friends?”

“I had friends. You made me move.”

“You’ll make new friends. Go for a bike ride. It’s a nice day.”

Kimberly turned to Ashley. “Mommy, do I have to?”

“Do as your father says. He and I still have a lot of unpacking to do.”

Kimberly shoved her chair back and jumped from it. “It’s not fair,” she said, storming out of the room.

The front door slammed.

“Maybe moving wasn’t such a good idea,” Ashley said to Sam.

“She’ll make new friends before we know it.”

“She hears noises.”

“What kind of noises?”

“That’s why she came to our bed last night. She heard noises and they scared her.”

“It’s an old house. It creaks.”

“It’s more than that,” Ashley said. “And now she’s mad. She didn’t even kiss us goodbye.”

“She’s nine. She’ll forget about it in an hour. C’mon, I’ll help you clean up.”

Sam and Ashley carried everything to the sink. While Ashley was bent over loading the dishwasher, Sam ran a hand over her rump. She shot up as if he had stuck her with a pin.

“What are you doing?” Ashley asked.

“I, um, I thought with Kimmy out on her bike we have the house to ourselves. I thought we’d finish what we started last night.”

Ashley crossed her arms over her chest and hmphed. “Is that why you told her to go for a ride?”

“No. It’s a nice day for a bike ride.”

“Well, keep your dick in your pants, buster. It’s bad enough that you don’t care about your daughter, but you start your new job tomorrow and Kimmy starts her new school. It was wrong to take her out of her old school in the middle of the semester and have her miss a week while we were traveling and in the motel. We should have waited until the end of the school year.”

“You know I couldn’t. We talked about it. The job offer was now or never.”

“It was wrong and you know it. I should have stayed in our old apartment with her until school ended. If you cared about your daughter—”

“I care about Kimmy. That’s why—”

“That’s why you sent her outside! So that we could fuck! Well, buster, I’m not in the mood. We have a lot of unpacking to do so get your ass in gear.”

Sam knew that Ashley’s use of “buster” was not to be taken lightly. And she had used it twice. He left the kitchen to search for a box to unpack. The sooner everything was put away, maybe the sooner everything would be back to normal.

Sam and Ashley went from room to room, box to box, unpacking and putting things away. Coming from an apartment, they really didn’t have much, so in a few hours they went searching for another box without finding one. They looked at each other and smiled.