Chapter 3

I blinked in surprise at my sister’s question. She was actually curious about incest? Not disgusted? Or just ambivalent about it? But sitting across from me in the tub, she looked calm and genuinely interested. She even had a small, amused smile.

“Well...,” I began, “If there was some specific reason, she never told me. But she was pretty much interested in anything related to sex.”

“But ... her dad?”

I shrugged. “I think it was the taboo. She got off on doing things she wasn’t supposed to.”

“Like sex in a concert.”

“Yeah. Like sex in a concert.”

She nodded.

My own curiosity got the best of me. “Why?”

She furrowed her brow.” What do you mean, ‘why’?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m curious.”

“But you’re not disgusted.”

She shook her head.

“That’s unusual.”

“You weren’t disgusted either,” Natalie pointed out. “You kept dating her.”

I chuckled. “Fair.”

“Besides, it’s not like I want to fuck my father.”

I laughed at that, but I remained curious.

“So ... I’m curious.”

I tamped down my laughter. She was serious.

“Well...,” I said, “Cheryl was, well, is, very sexual. I don’t want to call her a nymphomaniac, but ... maybe hypersexual?”

Natalie nodded.

“If she had her way, she’d have sex every morning and every night. Maybe nooners too.” I wryly smiled. “It was exhausting.”

“You poor boy.” She shook her head in amusement.

“Okay,” I admitted, “I might be exaggerating a bit, but she was really into sex of all types, if you know what I mean.”

“Which also included being into her father.”

“I don’t know how much was him, and how much was the idea, you know?”

Natalie nodded. “She have any siblings?”

“No. And her mom wasn’t in the picture.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

She nodded and fell silent. As she thought, I drank some more wine.

“Any other questions?” I asked.

“Mmm. No.”

“Okay ... my turn.”

“Mmm?”

“So why are you interested?” I quickly added. “In Cheryl and her dad?”

Natalie laughed.

“Really.”

“Because it’s so crazy!” She laughed and rolled her eyes. “I can get being hypersexual. God knows I can.” She rolled her eyes again, but this time far more seriously. “But your own dad? Ugh. No.”

“It’s a buzz kill.”

“Eh. It’s kind of hot, in a way. But I think of our dad and no. Just no.”

“Yeah.” I smiled because I didn’t know what else to say.

We didn’t stay in the hot tub as long as we had the evening before. Once we’d each finished our wine, Natalie said she was ready to get out. I couldn’t complain. We could always get back in later.

Natalie suggested a movie, so we logged into Netflix and she picked a rom-com I’d never heard of. It was okay, but extremely predictable.

After the movie, we had lunch, and then Natalie suggested a game. We found Parcheesi and Monopoly in the closet, along with a couple of decks of cards. After a game of Parcheesi, which we both found reasonably dull, we ended up playing rummy until Natalie’s phone rang.

“Hello?” She listened for a moment and then mouthed “owner” to me.

“Mmm hmm.” She nodded her head. “Mmm hmm. Well, I didn’t know that.”

She scowled.

“Well, my father was the one that booked the rental, and he didn’t tell us. So is there something we can do?”

Her scowl deepened as she listened.

“I see. Well, we’re trapped here then.” Another pause. “Uh-huh.” Another pause. “Uh-huh.”

She gave me an exasperated look.

“I see. Well ... if we paid for plow?” Pause. “Uh-huh.” Another pause. “Well, we’d be willing to ... okay. Thanks.”

She hung up. “Ugh!”

“What?”

In a clipped voice she mimicked, “The rental agreement clearly states that you need to have four-wheel drive in the winter and that the owner is not responsible for access when there’s snow.”

I groaned. “You’re kidding.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “The county will plow the road, but it’s low priority. They probably won’t get to it for weeks.”

“That’s ... too long.”

“Yeah.” She took a deep, frustrated breath. “If we pay for it, she might know somebody that’ll plow it and the driveway sooner. She’s going to check with them and call back tomorrow.”

“Great! So we’re stuck!”

“At least for a couple of days.”

I sighed. “So what now?”

“I want a drink,” she said. “And something stronger than wine.”

“How about some vodka screwdrivers?” I knew we had all the ingredients.

“Yeah,” she said, “because we’ve certainly been screwed.”

Given that it was already four o’clock, we declared it “Happy Hour.” Natalie got out some chips and salsa while I prepared the screwdrivers. I kind of wished I’d bought tequila for margaritas, but I hadn’t thought of it while I was in the liquor store. We sat at the dining room table and mindlessly snacked.

“This really sucks,” Natalie said after a bit.

“Yeah. Could be worse, though.”

“How?”

“We could be trapped with Dad and Brenda.”

“Oh, God!” She shook her head. “Now that’s a nightmare.”

“Yeah. Worse than being trapped with your little brother.”

She laughed. “That’s not that bad.”

“Uh-huh. But it’s not as good as being trapped with some hot hunk. Or ... hot gal?”

She blushed. “I shouldn’t’ve admitted that.”

“I don’t know.” I grinned. “I think it’s cool that my sister is bi.”

“Yeah ... well ... I’m a lot more into guys.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I am! I don’t fall for girls. They just...” She paused and bit her lip.

“They just what?”

“They’re just better at eating pussy.”

I laughed. “Really?”

“Yeah.” She squirmed in her seat. “Most guys ... most guys don’t know what they’re doing.”

“Some of us do.”

“Oh. Really?”

I shrugged and gave her a shit-eating grin. “We do. Cheryl insisted I get good at it.”

She scoffed. “Of course she did.”

“She did. Then she made me prove it with her friends.”

“Ha!” She laughed loud and hard. “My little brother’s a perv!”

“No more than my big sis.”

“I don’t know about that.”

I smirked and waggled my eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. “This isn’t a contest, you know.”

“Okay, so we’re both pervs. Runs in the family.”

She sighed and drank a bit more. I took a sip of my own screwdriver and felt the burn. They were stronger than I’d intended.

“Dad’s a perv,” she suddenly blurted.

“Huh?”

“He’s a pervert. He used to steal my panties and ... use them.”

I went very, very still.

“I’d leave them in the hamper, and when I went to do laundry, they’d have come in them. He probably figured I wouldn’t notice.”

“Wow.” My heart was racing.

“I thought it was you,” she continued, “but then it happened when you were at basketball camp, that one summer.”

“My junior year.”

“Yeah. When I was back from college. You were at camp, so it had to be him.”

My pulse still pounded, and I forced myself to nod. “Yeah, had to be.”