Chapter 46

Saturday morning, the alarm on the phone goes off and I wake up. Ashlee is asleep on her side facing away from me so after shutting off the alarm and I roll over to her and squeeze her perfect rump. "Time to wake up honey. Today is party day and you have stuff to do." I kiss the little space behind her ear and say "Come on honey. Time to wake up."

"hmm, five more minutes."

"Ok, five more minutes." I get out of bed and do my bathroom stuff. I even go ahead and brush my teeth and get big glass of water into my system. Texas is kinda dry.

I got back to the bed and come around to the other side. I pull the sheet down little by little, exposing more and more of my woman's body to my gaze until she is out in the open from the waist up. I run my hand up and down her side from hip to shoulder. "Come on honey, you need to wake up and get the day started." Well that isn't working, so sunlight is the next tool in my bag of tricks to wake up the dead. I go to the window, and take a firm hold on the drapes. "One more chance before I yank them open." She doesn't move, just continues to lie there. "Ok, here goes."

I yank the drapes open and the morning sunlight streams in hitting Ashlee right in the face. "Aaaaah, THE SUN! IT BURNS US! IT BURNS US!" She tries to find the sheet and roll over away from the window but I'm on her and keep her from rolling over.

"I knew it. I knew you weren't sleeping. Time to get up!" I start tickling her and she starts to move around trying to get away from me. She goes one way and I got with her.

"All right! All right, I'm awake." She stops fighting and I relent, and then I get in her face. She wraps her arms around my neck and I go in for the kiss. "Mmmm, that wasn't very nice of you, you know. I am going to have to get you back for that." She purrs at me.

"Crap." I said.

"Yes. You are in for it mister so be on your toes because when the time is right, I'm gonna get you good." I was in deep trouble.

"I'm sorry honey, but it is time to get up for the day. The party is tonight and you have a lot of stuff to do."

She kissed me again this time tasting the toothpaste left on my lips. "I know, but I hate getting up."

I got off of her and stood at the bedside. I take her hand and pull her to a standing position and she groans in protest. I walk her, well pull her actually, to the bathroom and close the door. I walk to Brenda's room to see if she is awake or not.

"Hi daddy. Glad to see you finally awake."

I walk in and lean down to kiss her on the cheek. "Thanks. I'm glad to see you awake as well. Your momma is a hard one to wake up."

"Yes, she is. But once awake, she is up for good. So don't worry about that."

I sat on the bed. "Are you comfortable with nudity as you seem to be?"

She stopped putting on her shirt and sat down next to me. "I wasn't always ok with it for a while, but now that I'm all grown up, I'm ok with it."

"How long has your grandparents been nudists?"

"Ever since I was a baby."

"Did you go to their resort when you were a kid?"

"Sure. I thought it was fun. Mom and my grandparents tell stories that once I was out of diapers, I ran free as a bird all summer growing up. They said I had the best all over tan of any kid in school. Of course, I didn't show that off growing up in school, but that all changed once I got to junior high school. Once I hit puberty I didn't like going anymore. The boys kept looking at me and I just didn't like it as much as I did before. So, mom and I didn't go very often. Maybe once a year to the resort."

"Did you all still go and see your grandparents now that you are all grown up?"

"Well sure, we went last year and of course I didn't mind all of the attention of the other boys around. Some of them were quite nice to look at."

"What about sex? How do you and your mother handle that while at the resort?"

"Oh, grandpa doesn't like sex to happen out in the open. If the need comes upon us, we just go back to our room and do it there."

I was listening and nodding my head. "You didn't think that we did it out in the open, did you?"

"No, that didn't cross my mind. I figured that it was done behind closed doors like it is with regular people. That would be crazy to do it out in the open like that."

She gave me a suspicious look then continued with her story. "So anyway, it was during the summer just before I turned 16 that the need came over me while I was hanging out with a boy whose family came every summer for a week of true relaxation. We managed to make it back to his room where I lost my virginity and found out just how nice it is to have sex. It wasn't anything special, just some good fun. The week that his family was there, we snuck away and did it a couple of more times and during one of those times, my mom found us. Or I should say caught us. After that, I was put straight onto the pill by our OB/GYN doctor. She didn't want me to get pregnant like she did. She also told me that doing what we were doing can be fun, but just make sure that the boy I'm with understands that it is for fun and not a relationship."

"That is good. so many kids, at least when I was young, got caught up thinking that the sex they were having was for a relationship and not just for fun. So many hearts were broken back then. It could have all been prevented if the couple would just talk about it before hand."

"Yup, open communications before the pants come off prevents that sort of thing."

She got up and finished putting her clothes on and then started in on her makeup. "Brenda, I have a question."

She looked at me through the mirror. "What?"

"Do you think that your grandparents are going to like me and welcome me into the family?" I was really concerned about that. I had the same doubts back when I first met Sam's parents. Of course that worked out for the best, but I still had to ask her the same question back when we were dating.

"Paul, dad, they are going to accept you just fine. You treat both of us like queens and I think they will notice your true love for mom and me just like we notice your love for us. don't worry about a thing. Just be yourself and everything will work fine."

"Good." I sat up a little straighter on the bed and took a deep breath. "Thanks for saying so. Sometimes I need to hear that sort of reassurance."

"Sure thing."

"Now all I have to worry about is my parents meeting you all and introducing the two families before the wedding. That ought to be fun. NOT!"

She got a laugh out of that. "Why do you say that?"

"Because as much as your family is relaxed and liberal, my family is conservative and up tight. Having the two of them meet face to face might just cause world war 3."

"I can't imagine that happening." Brenda assured me. "It will work out, I'm sure of it."

"Thanks." I bent down and kissed her cheek just like a father does. "Enjoy you day by the way. And Happy Birthday."

"But that was last week."

"Yes, that is true, but today is your party so today I get to wish you a happy birthday just like everyone else is going to."

"Thanks." She kissed me back on my cheek and I left the room to see how my woman is getting along. She was in the bathroom getting ready so I knocked.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." I opened the door to find her brushing out her wet hair.

I walk up behind her, wrap my arms around her and plant a kiss on her neck, behind her ear. She shivered at my touch and when I look in the mirror, I see that her nipples have crinkled and are now standing up rather straight. I take a deep sniff of her hair and skin. "You smell great. What is that?"

"Just some of the hotel body wash. You like?"

"Yes I do." I go in for another sniff and this time a wet kiss on the nape of her neck near her shoulder.

"Now stop that. I have to get ready, we girls are going out in a little while and I don't have time to get all cleaned up afterward. So, go, get a shower and leave me be."

"Ok fine." I step back but instead of going straight for the shower, I give her rear end a quick pinch. She spins around and swats at my hand and I retreat into the shower.

"Behave" She says while pointing a hair brush at me.

"Yes ma'am" I say with my hands up in surrender.

I get cleaned off and Ashlee finishes her hair and leaves the bathroom. When I get back to the bedroom, Ashlee is already dressed in a sports bra, her yoga pants and sneakers. "You look good enough to eat."

"I know." She teases. "But you will have to wait until after the party to have a tastes of this." she says while motioning to her own body.

"Party pooper."

She kisses me on the cheek, grabs an oversized t-shirt and leaves me to get dressed.

"Talk more later." "Bye dad." They both leave to meet up with the others for their day at the spa.

I arrive in the lobby and go to the front desk. They don't have a concierge so the front desk has to work to keep me happy. "Hi. Can you call me a cab or do you have a car that can run me on an errand?"

"Yes sir. We can call a cab for you. Where are you going?"

"I have to go to a body shop and check on a car of mine being repaired."

"Oh sure thing. I'll make the call. Where are you going to be waiting?"

"Here in the lobby."

"Very good." I wandered over to the front door and took a seat watching the drive for my cab. While I was there, a bus arrives and the driver gets out. Right behind the bus a car arrives and our party planner gets out and comes in.

"Mr. Johnson, what are you doing here?"

"I'm just waiting for a cab. Got an errand to run before the party."

A look of panic passed over her face. "Is there something that I should have done?"

"No, nothing like that. I have to pay a body shop for some work that is being done and that is not your responsibility. Please, relax. So far so good."

"Yes sir. So far so good."

She took a couple of deep breaths then thanked me for having her do this work and then excused herself to go and gather up the freshman girls for their makeovers. She moved off and a few minutes later, a gaggle of young girls and many mothers all filed past me and out into the bus. I didn't bother them, even though none of them even knew that I was the person footing the bill for their makeovers. If I were evil, I would have used my position to extort sex from each and every one of them. But that is not me and that is not how I live my life. I was giving them a weekend to remember and they were going to remember the wonderful time, not because some creepy guy made them do things they didn't want to do.

I pulled my phone out surfed the web for a bit until my cab arrived.

text I love you honey. Look at this.

Ashlee sent me a text message with a picture attached. She was sitting in the chair and the picture was of her with her hair all done up.

text here is Brenda.

Another picture and this one was of Brenda with her hair all done up.

text You two look gorgeous. Give good tips to the people working on you both. They deserve it!!

text we will. Love you and thank you for this weekend -Brenda

text love you too

I put the phone away since no more messages came to me.

"Are you looking for a cab?" A man with a thick Spanish accent was standing next to me.

"Yes sir I am."

"Let's go."

Not very polite, but maybe my trip will change his mind.

"Where to?" he asks me from behind a window of safety glass.

I read him off the address to the garage and after putting it in his GPS, we set off.

I look through the window at the ID card on the dash. "Mr. Rodriguez, when we arrive, I ask that you hang around to give me a ride back. Is that OK?"

"Ok sure thing. I just have to leave the meter running. I can't hang around for free you know."

"Sure thing. Hopefully it will be a quick in and out."

I sit back and watch the road go by. I check my own GPS on my phone and the route he is taking, is exactly what my GPS is suggesting.

When we arrive at the address of the Monkey garage, there are two large trailers on the street. One of them has a Discovery channel logo on the side of it. Uh oh, they must be filming.

I thank my driver, ask him to wait and go inside. "Welcome to Gas'd Monkey Motors. How can I help you?"

The young lady behind the desk is not someone I recognize from the show. "Hi. I'm Paul Johnson and I'm here to settle the bill I have with you all on my car."

"Oh, you have the classic blue mustang?"

"Yup, that's me."

"Wait right here while I get Richard."

She leaves and I take a seat picking up a magazine and start thumbing through it.

"Paul!" Richard says with great enthusiasm as he comes into the waiting area. "So glad to see you. Why are you here this early? The party isn't until tonight."

I stand up and offer him my hand. He takes it and then comes in for a hip-hop man hug like you see on the TV. After he lets go, I get a better look around him and that is when I notice the cameraman standing behind him.

"What is going on?"

"Oh, just doing a shoot for the upcoming season is all."

I point at the camera, "What about him?"

"Just ignore him. Come on, let me show you what we have created for you."

He leads me through to the body shop and under a cover is my car. "Check this out." He pulls the cover off revealing a dark blue mustang with two broad white stripes from nose to tail. The wheels are shiny chrome with thin tires made for going fast.

"Wow! That is amazing!" I am shocked. Shocked at what they did. What was a crumpled mess along the driver side is now perfect sheet metal. I run my hand over the paint job and it is so smooth, I can't even believe it. When you look at it, the depth of the paint is amazing. It looks like a bottomless well or the deep blue of the open ocean.

"Here, check this out." He opens the door and pops the hood.

I open it and they have a chromed out big V-8 under the hood. Again, I am amazed and can't get over what they did here. "That is incredible. What am I looking at?"

He comes along side me and out the corner of my eye, the camera guy has moved around in order to get a shot of Richard looking over the engine bay. "We got for you a crate engine from Ford racing with a supercharger from Ford. Both of them have full factory warranty and they work like you won't believe. I made sure it has factory air just like you asked."

"Did you manage to find a good transmission that fit this car?"

"Oh sure." He went on to tell me all about the body mods he had to do to the car to make their new transmission fit under the car. He told me they changed out all of the suspension, the rear end, the shocks, struts, and everything else that made the car go and stop. I reached up and closed the hood, again marveling at the paint job.

"Who did the interior?"

"We had Miss Sue do it, just we do with all of our big builds."

I opened the door and climbed in. The leather was flawless and the dash looked original but all of the gauges were new. It had a nice stereo in the dash and when I clicked over the key it came on. I changed the station and turned it up a bit. boom boom thump thump The subwoofer worked.

I clicked the key back off and went to the back and opened the trunk. It had space for groceries even with the sub box already in there. The carpet in here was new and again flawless.

"I like the stereo and this carpet work in here is amazing. Miss Sue did a good job."

"Yes she does. So, did we do a good job?"

"Yes you did." I walked around to the other side again marveling at the paint job. "Yes you did."

He let out his trademark shout. "Great. Let's go back and get me paid."

I laughed with him. While I was in his office, a new man walked in. "Mr. Johnson, I'm Tim, one of the producers of the Gas'd Monkey garage show. I'm sure that you have seen it."

I stood up and shook the man's hand. He took the chair next to mine and began the pitch. "We have seen your car and Richard has told us just a little bit about your story. We would like to offer you a chance to be showcased on the show. We think that your story would make for a very interesting show."

I looked at Richard. "Is he serious?"

"Yes he is. I told them about the car being your nieces before you bought it from your brother in law and how you are giving it to your step-daughter for her birthday. They think that the fact that you are doing so much for your new family is really heartwarming."

"Tim. The offer is really nice of you, but I am not really in a position to be a TV star. I don't really have a face for TV."

"You are no uglier than any of the other men we have had through here. None of them were movie stars. This is a guided reality show so seeing people in their natural habitat is what we do."

I thought about it for a second. "Fine. You can interview me for your show."

Tim hopped up from his chair and pulled the walkie-talkie mic from his shoulder and spoke quickly into it then thanked me and walked out of the office. "Am I doing the right thing?" I asked Richard.

"You did. I think your life story is going to be a very good show."

"I hope so." I scratched my chin then reached for my wallet. "You said something about money?"

"Sure." He called for his assistant who I recognized from the show and had her bring in the bill. I pulled out my credit card and she ran off to run it. The bill was LARGE. I won't bore you with the details.

"How many gallons of paint did you use on it?"

"One. It was the clear coat that makes it look like it does. We put on several coats of clear on it so that it looks like it is deep."

His assistant came back in for the receipt to be signed and then she left me with the paperwork I would need for registration. With a new engine and all that was done to it, I needed more papers.

Tim came back with several others. "Mr. Johnson, if you would come with us, we will run you through hair and makeup then we will do the interview."

I went with them and had my hair spritzed and styled and then a makeup lady put some stuff on my face and made me look a little better. Then I went outside to where a chair and a camera were set up for me. Tim was there, he helped put a mic on then the interview began.

Tim - Please introduce yourself and tell us where you are from.

Me - I'm Paul Johnson and I'm from Kansas City, Missouri

Tim - What brings you to Gas'd Monkey Garage?

Me - I hired Richard and his crew to restore and upgrade a 69 Mustang for my future step daughter for her birthday.

Tim - How old is she?"

Me - She turned 18 last weekend but we are having the party here in Dallas so that I can give the car to her as her big gift.

Tim - Does she have any friends with her to celebrate with?

Me - Yes. I chartered a plane to carry her and 75 of her friends from school down here for the party. The second half of the attendees are the girl's parents since many of them are under age and need a parental escort for the trip.

Tim – That's a lot of people. How can you afford that?"

Me - I'm the same Paul Johnson who won the lottery a few months ago.

Tim's eyes opened wide and his eyebrows jumped up in surprise.

Tim - You're that Paul Johnson?

Me - Yes I am. Why, is that important?

Tim - Oh yes it's important. You are like the luckiest man alive. This show is going to be huge. I can't believe that we just happen to be here for this. I had no idea that your car was here. We are gonna have to do some quick shots of it before the party tonight.

He grabs his walkie talkie and spoke into it. I looked past the camera and back toward the truck parked alongside the street. Several men jumped out with cameras and ran toward the car which was parked back in the shop. Tim then turned back to me.

Tim - Are you going to have the car shipped back to Kansas City?

Me - I'm not sure. I have a feeling that my step daughter is going to want to drive it home after she sees it tonight.

Tim - Where is your wife and stepdaughter?

Me - My girlfriend and I haven't gotten married yet. I just love them both so much it is easier to refer to her as my stepdaughter instead of my girlfriend's daughter. It just isn't enough to show how deeply I feel for them both.

Tim - Have you purchased any other cars since winning the lottery?"

Me - Ya, but I don't really want to go into that.

Tim - Why not?