Chapter 88

"I don't understand, Jack. You knew this was going to happen as soon as I got that check. Why do you need time to get used to it?"

"I'm sorry, Jill. There's a difference in knowing it's going to happen some day and actually having it happen. Look, Myra and I have been talking while you were out with the dogs. I'm going to have to have an accountant open a business account for me. I won't be able to legally sign a check from that account. I can't sign my own contracts. I'm almost three years older than you and all of a sudden, you can do all the things we're trying to figure out a way for me to do. Then the way you came to me just now and were talking about all the things we can do. I'm sorry but we can't do them, you can. I can't do them till March. It just hit me the wrong way. Give me some time and I'll get used to it."

"No, Jack. That's not going to cut it. You've known about this for a long time. You tried to make me feel guilty about it when I said that's what I wanted without discussing it first. OK. I apologized for that. But Dammit, this is something I worked my ass off for. I knew a fifteen year old wasn't worth shit in this society and I got off my butt and I did something about it. You could have done the same thing but you chose to leave things the way they are. OK. Maybe I came on a little strong trying to include you in my success in accomplishing this but that's no reason for you to try to make me feel guilty about it. I'm not just doing this for myself, you know. I'm trying to do what's best for the two of us, trying to make us into a team."

Daddy got up. "Honey, I'm going to take Laurie and go down to the house. I'll see you later."

Myra said, "We've got to get going, too."

"I don't care what you guys do. You can stay or go. Jack's the one who's always talking about not bringing things up in front of other people but he's the one who opened this can of worms."

It really was amazing how quickly they all cleared out. I'm sure I would have laughed myself silly if I wasn't so pissed off.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What have you got to say for yourself?"

"I love you."

"And?"

"And I've been acting like a kid who didn't get his own way. I'm sorry. I was frustrated after talking to Myras and was mad because of where I am and then you were all bubbly about the things you could do and they were the same ones I couldn't and then you used the word 'we' and I lost it. You're right. You worked hard to do it and I have no right to ruin that for you."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"What would you like me to do?"

"You can start by giving me a kiss."

"I can do that."

He took my face in his hands and he gave me soft, gentle kisses all over. My eyes, my cheeks, under my jawbone. I pointed to my mouth. "Here."

He started out slow and then it built and built and built until neither of us could breathe. He moved back to brushing my face with his lips. I undid the top two buttons on my shirt and held it open. "Here."

He buried his face in my chest, kissing my collarbone, and everything he could reach that wasn't blocked by my bra. I reached back and undid it and he pulled it up under my neck, freeing my breasts. I let him kiss them for a minute, then made him sit back while I pulled the old out the arm hole trick with it.

"More."

He came back, nuzzling and kissing and undoing two more buttons.

"You need to shave."

"Sorry. I'll be right back."

"No. Not now. Later. Lock the door and take me into our room, Jack."

I went in and lay on the bed. I unzipped my pants and when he came in I pointed between my legs. "Here."

A Declaration of Emancipation is great but nothing can make me feel like a woman the way Jack can.

We must have dozed off. I smelled cunt and opened my eyes. Jack was curled up to me, his face next to mine. I grabbed his arm and shook it.

"Come on, Jack. It's time to get up. You smell like pussy so take a shower. And don't forget to shave."

He got up, then pulled my legs apart and stuck his tongue inside me.

"Come on, we don't have time for that. We still have to cook stuff for dinner."

I needed to clean up too but I decided it could wait till I started my cooking. I knew I'd have to fight Jack off if I tried to shower with him.

I went into the kitchen and set my pork roll up for roasting. We have one of the only vertical roasters I've seen. Most have some kind of horizontal rod that skewers the meat and rotates. We got this one way back when Price Club opened up. They sold out to Costco a few years later. Picture a CD with four prongs sticking up about eight inches. That's what's used for roasts like I had today. The roast stands up straight and rotates. There are heating elements on the sides of the roaster.

If you want to cook a chicken, there's a weird piece where the four prongs bend in toward the center and meet. They form a shape that fits inside the cavity of the chicken. The nice thing about cooking a chicken in this roaster is you don't have to worry about tying the wings and legs. They just sit there naturally as the chicken goes around in a circle

There's also a square cage and some shish kebab skewers that came with it. I think you're supposed to be able to roast shrimp and other small stuff. I never figured out how to use it. Anyway, if I want to do something other than boil shrimp, I use the barbecue.

I set the temperature at 375 and the timer for 1:59. One more minute and it would zero out. That's usually all I need for a roast whether it's pork, beef or lamb but I always use the meat thermometer to verify it. My secret to a good roast? Wash it off and cook it. No salt, pepper, marinade, no nothing. If you don't like the taste of the meat, don't buy it.

The ham was wrapped in gold foil and I took it out. I had to remove some plastic wrap that was inside the foil. Jack had already opened it so he could get his out for breakfast. I just heated the oven to 350 and put the foil wrapped ham on a cookie tray.

I heard a scratching at the front door so I went out there. I had to unlock it to open the door. Laurie was outside.

"We need Annette's booster."

"We've got your booster up here, too. And Billy's high chair."

"Just Annette's. So she can go home."

"They haven't gone home yet?"

"Uh uh. Daddy's been talking to Myra since we left."

"Really. I wonder what they've been talking about."

"I don't know."

"OK. Are you going to stay downstairs?"

"Uh huh."

"You want your dog?"

"Uh huh."

"All right. You take Annette's booster down to her and I'll get Posie and bring her down."

"OK."

I went into the kitchen and grabbed Posie. Bozo got up and followed us. I stopped at the bathroom and yelled to Jack, telling him I was going to talk to his mom about dinner.

Myra was driving off when I got downstairs and I let Posie down. "Laurie, she's over here going potty."

"OK."

I went into the kitchen and Mom was unwrapping a coffeemaker just like mine.

"I had to have one of these for myself and I figured I might as well get one for June," my father told me. He had a bag of coffee beans in his hand. "Oh, Mary, do me a favor. I forgot to bring in my briefcase. It's black leather and has a bunch of pockets and a strap for over my shoulder. Get it out of my trunk. There's a good girl."

He dug in his pocket and pulled out his keys. "Press this unlock button a couple of times and you can just lift the trunk lid up. Make sure you press the lock button when you're done."

"OK." She didn't look too thrilled to be running errands for my father.

Charlie got up to go out with her and she handed him the keys. "You do it."

Mom was setting up the coffeemaker while this was going on. She pressed the button and jumped back a foot when it started grinding the beans. "Oooh, this is so neat!" she said, hands clasped together in front of her face.

She looked and sounded like a teenager.

Mary came back in with the bag over her shoulder and Charlie was holding out Daddy's keys. He took them and put them in his pocket. "Thanks, Charlie."

Mary said, "Where do you want me to put this?"

"Put it wherever you want. It's yours for taking care of Laurie."

"There's something in it."

"I certainly hope so."

It finally hit her that she was doing something other than retrieving my father's briefcase. She unzipped a compartment and pulled out a small mouse and a charger. She looked at them as if she didn't know what they were. Charlie pointed to the zipper for the large compartment. She put them on the table and undid that zipper.

I was impressed. Daddy bought her an Apple Powerbook. Even at $100 a day, it was almost double what she'd earned watching Laurie. Aluminum case, black keyboard and 17" widescreen.

"Oh, it's so pretty," she said as she opened it up.

"I'm jealous," I said. "Everybody's getting new laptops but me."

"Oh, don't give me that crap, Jill. You're laptop's not that old," my father told me.

Mary was hugging my father, saying "Thank you, thank you." Then she looked over her shoulder at Charlie and stuck her tongue out at him. "I told you. I told you he wasn't going to expect me to do it for free."

He said, "Maybe you can get a car for the next few weeks."

Daddy said, "I'm sorry, but I've got future babysitting taken care of."

I said, "You found somebody?"

"Yes. Well, actually you did."

I must have looked puzzled because he said, "I made Myra an offer she couldn't refuse."

"You didn't offer to marry her."

"No, Jillian, I didn't offer to marry her. She's going to move into my house. She won't have to pay for rent, utilities or a good portion of her food. If she chooses to feed them Fruit Loops or McDonald's hamburgers, she can use her own money. She won't have to worry about her cable or Internet being cut off. And I won't have to cart Laurie all over the place."

"What about us? I hired her to work for us. We still have a lot of things we need done."

"I know that and my understanding is a lot of it was to be done at her place and it was causing some crowding problems because she had to work out of your apartment since she lost her Internet connection. I'll set up a desk for her in my office. I hardly ever use it, anyway. If she needs to meet with you, she can drive over here from my house just as easily as from her apartment. She'll just be bringing Laurie with her as well as her two. It will be good for Laurie and Annette to have each other around, too."

"I'm just thinking about the last person you had living in that house."

"Hey, this is strictly a business relationship. You have nothing to worry about."

"What happens when you get tired of having to pick up after the kids?"

"They aren't that bad. And Myra's going to do the picking up, not me. If it becomes a problem, I'll talk to her about it."

"When's all this happening?"

"She's going to start moving things in this weekend. It's a week till the end of the month so she should be able to do it all by then. What I'd like to do is rent a truck Saturday or Sunday and see if I can hire three or four guys to move the big stuff. It should take a half a day at the most."

Charley said, "I bet I could get some guys."

"OK. I'll pay you guys twelve bucks an hour but no goofing off. I'll get pizza when we're done. Do you think you can get three more guys for Saturday?"

"Sure. No problem."

"Good. Do that. Get three or four guys plus yourself. Plan on meeting at Myra's at 8:00 Saturday morning and working until two or three in the afternoon. When she gets back I'll talk to her about getting a truck. Mary, if you want to pack stuff, I'll pay you ten bucks an hour."

"How come I don't get twelve?"

"Because you don't have to carry stuff that weighs more than you do in and out of a truck. I'm talking about dishes and clothes and toys."

"Oh. All right."

"If you're interested, you may be able to get started tomorrow."