Chapter 11

The Andrews and the Jensons began to gather in the Great Room about 6:30 for dinner. Caroline had explained the house rules about dressing for dinner to Anita, and she had told the rest of her family. First, Malcolm came in dressed in a blazer, slacks, and a tie, then John came downstairs dressed much the same. The twins and Caroline came in together, having met in the hallway upstairs. Caroline was wearing a full-length gray cocktail dress, low cut but with a lace insert covering her abundant cleavage. Cory and Laurie had found similar mini dresses among Caroline’s loaners, with flirty hemlines and halter tops. Anita arrived last. Conversation stopped when Anita entered the Great Room and walked up to the bar where her husband was sitting.

“Wow, Mom, you look hot!” said Laurie.

“Forgive the language, Anita,” said Malcolm, “but I have to agree with your daughter. You look absolutely stunning.”

Anita smiled and pirouetted. Her outfit accented her every positive feature, of which there were many. She was wearing a very tight white leather miniskirt which only barely covered the tops of her sheer stockings. The stockings highlighted her shapely legs, right down to the four-inch white spike heels she had on. A matching white leather bustier pushed her D cup breasts up and out, so that seeming acres of freckled flesh were exposed. Over the bustier top, she wore a short white leather bolero jacket. Her makeup was done lightly but perfectly, and her perfume was intoxicating to both John and Malcolm. Anita carefully climbed onto a barstool next to John and seductively crossed her legs. Reaching over, she placed a balled-up fist in John’s blazer pocket and withdrew it, empty. “You like it?” she asked.

“I should say so!” said John. He reached into his pocket to see what his wife had placed there. Realizing what it was, he jerked his hand out like it had been bitten and glanced at Anita. She simply grinned back. “When did you get that?” he asked.

“Oh, about a month ago,” she said. “I got it for this trip.”

“You were going to go out in that?” asked Cory. “With us?”

Anita laughed at her daughter’s discomfiture. “No silly. I was going to go out in this with your father.”

“Huh?” said John.

“Well, it’s your fault,” she replied. “You were the one who said the girls could have their own hotel room this time. I figured if they were old enough to stay by themselves, they were old enough to stay out of trouble some night when you took me to dinner.”

Laurie and Cory understood this to mean that Mom had been planning on seducing Dad some night when they weren’t around. They also realized that she had probably brought something other than her regular flannel nightgowns, now that they weren’t going to be in the same room all the time.

“I think I’m jealous,” said Caroline. “I’m the tallest woman here, with the longest legs, and I’m the one wearing the long dress. You look smashing.”

“Thank you,” said Anita to her audience, then repeated herself to Malcolm as he handed her a martini.

“Let’s go check on dinner,” said Caroline to Anita. Anita carefully slid off the barstool. Discretely pulling down her skirt, she followed Caroline out into the hallway, glass in hand. Laurie and Cory climbed onto the barstools as Malcolm mixed them some soft drinks.

Out in the foyer, Caroline whispered to Anita, “This must be Phase Two?”

“Yep,” said Anita. “Phase Three comes after the girls are in bed and it’s time for some brandy.”

“You’ve got something special planned?”

“You’ll see,” said Anita, grinning.

“Fantastic. How did Phase One go?”

“Super. We almost didn’t make it down here for dinner,” said Anita as they entered the dining room.