Chapter 5: An Apology

June 22, 1992, Iron Mountain, Michigan

I stopped, straightened and looked at Jodie. I almost said ‘Seriously?’ but realized that would be the absolute wrong thing to say. In fact, saying NOTHING at the moment was the right thing. I took two steps to her and pulled her wet body into my arms. I kissed her softly and hugged her.

“I thought you realized,” she whispered in my ear.

“Uh, nothing I say right now is going to sound right,” I stammered.

“Why? It’s OK. It was wonderful and I’m glad we did it!”

“It’s just at first you were so nervous, then after you teased me about the animals you suddenly became confident. And you seemed to know what you were doing and what you wanted.”

“Well of course! I may have grown up on a farm but I’m not a dumb hick! I took sex ed. I talk to my friends. I knew what to do!”

“Yes you did! And it was wonderful.”

“But?”

“No ‘buts’ at all! Well, except this really cute one,” I chuckled, squeezing her butt cheek.

“You just seem shocked.”

“Just surprised because of what you did, like with my shirt.”

“I covered your face because I didn’t want you to see me in case I couldn’t do it. I almost didn’t. I was super nervous.”

That made perfect sense. She’d unknowingly made it erotic, almost like a blindfold.

“Well, it was fantastic.”

“Will you come see me again before you leave?”

“If you want,” I said.

“Are you kidding?” she giggled. “Yes!”

I hugged her tightly, crushing her small breasts against me, and she wiggled her hips.

“We could do it again tonight if you want,” I whispered in her ear.

“Oh God, yes! Please!”

“We could do exactly the same thing, if you want!”

She laughed, “Guys love blowjobs, don’t they!”

“I prefer home runs to triples any day! It’s up to you.”

“Let’s do what we did! This time you can watch!”

We went back to the rock for a repeat performance, but this time I watched intently. About an hour later, were in the brook once again, washing up. We walked naked in the clearing until our skin was dry, dressed, and mounted the horses for the ride back. I helped her put the horses away, gave her a quick kiss while we were in the barn and out of the sight of anyone in the house, then headed back to the cabin where my family was staying.

“I know THAT look,” Kara giggled from where she was sitting on a bench on the front porch with Birgit and Stephie.

“What?” I grinned.

“When you left, you were in a so-so mood. Now, your step has a bounce in it and you’re smiling. That says you got your smoking hot, red-haired, green-eyed, athletic farmer’s daughter with small breasts!”

“And thoroughly enjoyed it. She wants me to ride with her again on Friday evening, if it’s OK with you and Jess.”

“I think we can agree to that if it’s going to put you in this good of a mood!”

I kissed her and my two girls, then went inside.

“Hi, Tiger! You look happy!”

“That’s what I said!” Kara giggled from behind me.

“She asked permission to see me again Friday,” I said.

“If he’s going to be in THIS good of a mood after what happened between Friday and this morning, then I think he should go see her as often as she wants!” Kara said.

“Just Friday evening,” I replied, but shaking my head with a smile.

“Let’s put the kids to bed and then we can spend some time together,” Jessica said.

June 23, 1992, Iron Mountain, Michigan

“How are you REALLY doing?” Elyse asked as we climbed into bed on Tuesday evening.

“I’m OK,” I said. “Is this what you want to do tonight? Talk about the situation with Samantha?”

“All night? No! I have something ELSE we could do all night! But I have a different perspective than your wives do, because of work. I’m concerned about Jeri and the drama she’s brought into the company.”

“I hear you, but if things are what they seem, then this really was Lisa Glass acting on her own to wreck something which made her extremely jealous.”

“And her dad?”

“I don’t see any trouble there. He needs this deal more than we do, and I made it clear to Lisa that I wasn’t going to put up with any crap.”

“Are you going to try to talk to Samantha?”

“If I can, yes. But that will be up to her. I’m not going to obsess about it.”

“Good.”

“Do you have your plans set for Miami?”

“Yes. I’ll fly down on Friday afternoon and come back on Sunday evening. That’s the 17th to the 19th.”

“And?”

“We’ll see how things go.”

“Remember the rule is transitive, so if you decide to be with him, he has to be tested.”

“That complicates things. If I tell him that, it implies I’m going to sleep with him, but if I don’t, then I can’t, even if I want to.”

“Welcome to my world!” I said. “You did me a huge favor with Jodie by telling her about that requirement last year.”

“It puts a real crimp in spur-of-the-moment sex, doesn’t it? That would have wrecked that first night we had together.”

“I’ve been fortunate so far in that the times I’ve had those kinds of opportunities the girls had tests for various reasons. For example, Pia had a test because her boyfriend cheated on her, and Cèlia had hers because a friend of hers got an STD from a guy Cèlia had been with before. She was clean, obviously.”

“There must be times when you wished we lived in a world without those kinds of diseases.”

“There is a positive aspect, and that is that it makes sure that the girl is sure. If she goes for a test, that’s a pretty clear indication she’s sure it’s what she wants.”

“And given your taste in girls, that helps you not make mistakes.”

“It didn’t seem to help with Samantha,” I sighed.

“But you said it was Lisa who caused it.”

“Yes, but if I’d taken more time, or Samantha had been more mature, we might have survived Lisa’s assault. But who knows. Are we done talking?”

Elyse sighed theatrically, “I suppose.”

“I could just go to sleep,” I chuckled.

“Only if you want to die!” she said, pulling me on top of her.

June 26, 1992, Iron Mountain, Michigan

On Friday evening, after dinner, I kissed my wives and kids and headed to the Billings’ Farm. Jodie greeted me as I got out of my car.

“Come inside,” she said. “Nobody else is home.”

I followed her into the large farmhouse and as soon as she closed the door behind me, she melted into my arms for a sexy kiss. She broke the kiss and took my hand and led me upstairs. She pulled me into the first room on the left and shut the door behind me.

“Mom and Dad took Billy and Ellen to dinner and a movie. They won’t be home until around 11:00pm.”

“That gives us about three-and-a-half hours,” I said.

“Then let’s get into bed!” she giggled, quickly stripping off her clothes.

I did the same thing and we hugged, kissed, and then tumbled into bed.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“Make me feel really good, like you did by the brook,” she sighed.

Just before 11:00pm, we were sitting on the porch swing in front of the farmhouse. Jodie had asked for a bit of tutoring and she proved to be a very good student. She greatly improved her oral technique and I rewarded her with a dozen orgasms from my tongue before we’d had a good, hard, old-fashioned fuck. After a second and third, we’d showered and dressed, then changed her sheets and opened the windows in her room.

“I think I’m going to go to Chicago,” she said. “I know you can’t promise me anything, but I don’t want to miss out on a chance to do this again with you if I can!”

“The feeling is mutual!” I said. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Why?”

I chuckled, “Right the first time.”

“Most of the girls at school have gone at least to third base, but none of the guys I hang out with are ones I wanted to do it with. I mean I made out a lot, obviously, and let them feel me up, but I always stopped at second base. Then I saw you last year and you made me weak in the knees! When I found out you were married, I was totally bummed, but then I discovered it wasn’t quite so clear cut. I could tell you liked me by the way you looked at me, and then when Elyse teased me about it, well, I decided that if you came back, I wanted to do it with you.”

“What exactly did Elyse say?”

“Well, I asked if you did it with all three of them, and Kara giggled and said yes. Then Elyse said that if I wanted you, I could have you. I was shocked and asked her if she was serious. And she said that if I wanted you to fuck me silly, you would, so long as I had an STD test and birth control.”

I chuckled, “That sounds like Elyse.”

“Well, all I could think about every night in bed since that first day was what it would be like to have you do that to me. I wanted you in Chicago, but Mom was along so there was no way I could tell you or sneak away. But I knew you were coming here for your vacation again. And then when you got here, I asked you to ride because I wanted what Elyse said.”

“And did you get it?” I chuckled.

“Yes! My two best friends are jealous! Their first times were over in five minutes! Marcie wanted me to invite her over tonight so she could try you out, but she didn’t have a test, so I told her ‘no’. I would have told her ‘no’ anyway, but that made it easier.”

“I’m happy it was just you. I really liked being with you.”

We saw headlights as a car turned into the drive and parked next to my BMW. Jodie’s parents, brother, and Ellen got out of the car and came to the front porch.

“Good evening,” Bill Senior, said.

“Hi, Mr. Billings,” I replied, standing to shake his hand.

“I wanted to talk to Steve about Chicago,” Jodie said. “He’ll be going home soon. We were just sitting out here because you don’t want me to have any boys in the house.”

“Well, come inside and have something to drink,” Mrs. Billings said. “I can’t believe you’re sitting out here without lemonade or something! Jodie, where are your manners? You know how to treat guests!”

“Steve didn’t complain, Mom! I asked what he wanted earlier and gave it to him.”

“Come inside, anyway.”

“What movie did you see?” I asked, following them into the house.

“Patriot Games, the new Tom Clancy movie,” Bill Junior, said. “It was pretty good. Didn’t follow the book perfectly, but close enough.”

“We’ll see that when we get back to Chicago. Things have been pretty hectic the last few months with my business and some other stuff I’m involved in.”

Mrs. Billings brought out lemonade and cookies. It didn’t exactly fit my diet, but I’d burned off enough energy earlier that I wasn’t too worried. I’d also been running each morning when I woke up.

“So, you decided on Chicago as your first choice?” Mr. Billings asked.

“I think so. The campus was really nice, there are lots of parks, and hopefully I can get a job with Steve’s company when I graduate.”

“No promises, remember,” I said. “You have to graduate, and we have to have an open position, and I don’t hire the programmers, the managers do.”

“I remember,” Jodie said. “But I get really good grades in math and science, so I think I’ll do pretty well.”

“You’re heading home tomorrow?” Mr. Billings asked.

“Yes, we’re leaving right after lunch.”

“I’m curious, Jodie, why is Steve here so late?” Mrs. Billings asked.

“Mom, he has eight kids with him! He had to get everyone into bed!”

I worked hard to stifle a laugh and keep my face passive and Jodie’s second innuendo.

Mrs. Billings laughed, “It was difficult enough to get you and your brother into your beds when you were little! I can’t imagine eight!”

“That’s not a problem anymore!” Jodie giggled.

“Mom, Dad, I’m going to run Ellen home,” Bill Junior, said. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

He shook hands with me and they headed out of the house.

“We’re going to go up to bed,” Mr. Billings said. “Jodie, were you and Steve done talking?”

“It’ll only take a few minutes to finish,” she said. “If that’s OK.”

“OK. Good night, then,” he said.

I shook hands with Mr. Billings and said ‘good night’ to his wife. They headed up the stairs, leaving Jodie and me on the couch. She waited until she heard the door close upstairs, then giggled.

“You’re bad,” I said quietly.

“You liked the ‘get everyone into bed’ comment?” she giggled quietly.

“Yes. I had to fight to keep from laughing.”

“I bet I could finish you in a few minutes, too!” she giggled.

“You do NOT want to take that risk,” I said. “Let’s walk out to the car.”

I took her hand and we walked out of the house. She closed the door behind us and then melted into my arms for a sweet, sexy kiss.

“Jodie,” I gasped breaking the kiss.

“They can’t see us here! Just kiss me!”

We exchanged a deep, sexy, French kiss, and then she walked me over to my car.

“Thanks again,” she said. “I’ll let you know when I’m going to be in Chicago.”

“OK. Remember, next summer I probably won’t be here because of my trip to Japan.”

“Steve, you were a wonderful lover and Elyse was right. You did fuck me silly!”

June 27, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Welcome home!” Bethany said. “Where’s my little tyke?”

“He went into the coach house with Jesse,” I said.

She went out the back door and I continued on into the house.

“Hi Abbie, how was your week off?”

“Quiet! There were no calls for you during the week. There’s some mail for you, but I think it’s all bills.”

“And you managed to entertain yourself?”

“Do you know how frustrated I am right now?” she whispered.

“That’s one issue I can’t help you with. Is Michelle here?”

“I think she’s in your study. Let me go help your wives and Elyse with the kids!”

I went to my study and found Michelle reading For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy by Father Alexander Schmemann.

“You’ll get kicked out of church if you keep reading that stuff,” I chuckled.

Michelle jumped up from the chair and sprang to where I was standing. She gave me a tight hug and kissed my cheek, then let me go, but stood close.

“I missed you!” she said.

“I missed you, too,” I said out of politeness, more than truth. “You’re reading my Orthodox books?”

“You don’t have much Roman Catholic stuff in your shelves. And I thought Hindu, Buddhist, and Protestant stuff was really beyond the pale. This isn’t so far off, though there are some very stark differences in Christology and the understanding of the Holy Trinity.”