Chapter 1

"Kenny? Kenny Jacobs, is that you?"

Ken looked over at the person who had seated herself beside him on the bench. His first impression was of nice well-tanned legs in open sandals and as his gaze moved up, he saw that the rest of her was just as nice. When he got to her face he saw the lines, slight wrinkles, and the hint of gray in the brown hair indicative of middle age, nothing severe, but noticeable.

"I'm sorry ma'am, do I know you?"

"Kenny, it's Marcia Friedman, I was your history teacher at Central Coast High School. Remember me?"

"Oh, hi Mrs. F. I didn't recognize you; you look a lot different without the business dress and with your hair down. How are you doing ma'am, and how is Mr. Friedman?" Ken didn't feel that it would be polite to mention the fact that Mrs. Friedman was a lot slimmer than he remembered her being.

"Oh, I'm doing fine; and Donald left me for his svelte young secretary. I'm living with my sister now and I am much happier. How about you Kenny? The last I knew, you were on your way to school to be a mechanic. Why are you here, and in that uniform?"

"It's a long story Mrs. F, let's just say that things didn't work out and let it go at that. It's been nice seeing you again ma'am, you are looking good. I should get back to work now."

Ken stood up and placed his hat, emblazoned with "SECURITY", back on his head and made to move out.

"Wait a minute Kenny, are you having trouble? You look about as sad as I have ever seen anyone look. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ken looked back down at the woman, "Not really ma'am, it's something that I have to deal with. I'll be okay."

"You don't act like it," she reached into her purse, "here, take this card and call me tonight. I would like to hear the whole story. Maybe you could come to dinner. My sister and I don't have company often enough. Please tell me that you will."

"You don't need someone like me around ma'am. I think I'll pass, thank you for the thought though."

"No, please Kenny, call me. I would like to help."

"I'll think about it ma'am; but I really do need to get back to work now."

Ken put the card into his shirt pocket, the pockets on his pants were too much trouble to get past his bulging waist to get into, and promptly forgot about it. Mrs. F sure did look better that she had in school; she must have lost 50 lbs or more. Though history had not been one of his better subjects, Mrs. Friedman had been one of his favorite teachers. She was not that much older than the students and had always been pleasant and willing to lend a hand when it was needed. Too bad about her husband leaving though, he must have been an ass to leave such a nice woman.

Walking around the mall didn't allow him to get away from his own troubles. This was the only job he was able to keep, and the pay sucked. There were too many bills to pay. Sally Mae was after him for the school loans, the hospital wanted payment for the birth of his daughter, and the credit card his wife had used to leave him was maxed out and screaming. The rent was due on his efficiency apartment in Seaside and the insurance was due on his old Toyota. The thing he had the most trouble understanding though, was how he was staying so overweight living on mac & cheese and ramen. He couldn't even remember the last time he had had real meat in his diet. The double cheese at Mickey D's didn't count.

This was the end of what was supposed to be his visitation weeks with his daughter. The problem with that was that Belinda had taken the baby with her to her parents' house in Idaho. Ken couldn't afford to take the time off of work, nor did he have the money required to drive all the way to Boise from Monterey. Why the hell did he have to get so drunk at that damn party? Everything would have been okay if he had just stayed away from there, or at least stayed sober enough not to sleep with the drunk girl.

Now his life was, for all intents and purposes, over. Nothing he could do now would get him out of the hole he had dug for himself.

Ken's thoughts kept going around in circles for hours trying to find a way out when suddenly his stomach growled, and reminded him of the card in his pocket. Mrs. F had suggested dinner; he was willing to bet that it would have meat in it. He hated to freeload off of someone as nice as her, but the prospect of another package of ramen made his stomach wince. Ken decided to call Mrs. F after work, he got off at 5 this evening and had two days off after that. The last thing the security company wanted was for him to get in 40 hours and have to be considered full time. If that happened the union would require them to put some money into benefits for him.

"Come on Marta, he'll be here soon. I told him 6:30 and it is after 6 now. We have to make a good first impression if my plan is to work."

Marta Horne gave her younger sister the finger as she turned to go upstairs to change into a more suggestive outfit. She wasn't sure that finding a young man to live with them was the best solution to their problem, but it couldn't hurt to try.

The problem had begun to show within the last few months. Her older husband had died of a heart attack 3 years before, and then her sister's husband had left her 6 months later. They had combined households for convenience and to console each other. Neither of them had been left wanting financially. George had a hefty life insurance policy as well as some very good investments, and Donald had lost much of his livelihood to Marcia's lawyers. They had both started a fitness and diet program shortly after Marcia had moved in. Marcia had done the best at this, but Marta had trimmed down considerably as well. With the loss of the weight and the improved physical fitness had come urges, which were becoming more and more urgent. Neither of the sisters wanted to subject herself to the bar and dating scene; but then Marcia had come up with the idea of getting a live in companion. Finding a suitable candidate was not as easy as it seemed, but maybe this young man would do, Isobel sure thought a lot of him.

Ken arrived a few minutes after 6, and when Marcia answered the door she took his breath away. She was wearing a long green sheath dress with slits on each side nearly to her waist. The top cut across the middle of her breasts without straps showing a nice light tan skin with no lines.

When they got to the dining room table Ken was surprised again, Marta was wearing a little black dress that was short and backless displaying firm legs and very large breasts.

"Kenny, I would like you to meet my sister, Marta Horne."

"I'm sorry Mrs. F, I didn't realize that you would want me to dress for dinner. You and your sister look marvelous, I'm overwhelmed."

"You're fine Kenny; we just wanted to look good for you. It's been a long time since we had anyone to dress up for."

"Well thanks for asking me to dinner; it has been a long time since I had a home cooked meal."

"What about your family Kenny? What happened to them?"

"I don't have any family around here Mrs. F. Dad was posted to Ft. Bragg before he retired, and he and mom stayed there. My mom's people are in Massachusetts and dad has never had much to do with his family that I know of; I think most of them are in Wisconsin. I'm kind of on my own here. They don't even know what is going on as I have been ashamed to tell them. They would probably want me to move there, and I really don't want to leave California, this is the only place that has ever felt like home to me."

"Let's eat and you can tell us what has happened with you Kenny," they each sat at the large table, Marta at the end and Ken and Marcia facing each other next to her, "you said that things hadn't worked out as planned. What happened? Did you fail out of school or something? I have trouble believing that from a sharp guy like you."