Chapter 4: Jessica, Andrew, & Toby

Present Day

“Are you boys ready to go?” called out Jessica Parnell, standing at the bottom of the steps.

“Coming, Mom!” came back a loud yell from down the hallway to the bedrooms. Jessica continued standing at the foot of the steps, waiting for her sons to come down, and was on the verge of summoning them a second time when she stopped. One of the bedroom doors opened with a crash and then came a thunder of feet as her two teenage sons rumbled down the hall and down the stairs. “We’re here!” said the older of the two.

“Toby, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times, don’t go slamming the doors!” she replied.

“Highly unlikely, Mom. No interior door would be able to take the strain of opening and closing a million times.” interjected the other boy.

“Oh, aren’t you just the smarty pants!” Jessica said as she turned towards her youngest child, Andrew. Behind her, Toby gave his brother a thumbs-up sign, grinning widely. She turned back towards Toby. “Come on, let’s go.” As soon as she turned away, Andrew gave his brother a smile and a wink as well.

Jessica led her sons to the garage, hitting the inside switch to the garage door opener as she entered the room. The garage still smelled of grass clippings - that morning both boys had mowed the lawn and trimmed the weeds. Now, Saturday afternoon, they would be taking a bike ride.

The boys pulled their bikes out of the corner and pushed them towards the door. It was then that Toby noticed their mother, standing stock still in the garage, holding her own bike upright and staring at the back wall of the garage. She was staring at a fourth bicycle. Toby cursed himself. When he and Andrew had been moving the lawnmower out of the garage, he had needed to move the bikes, and had ended up placing their mother’s near that fourth bike.

“Take this.” he whispered lowly to Andrew, who silently grabbed the handlebar. He was watching the byplay intently.

Toby walked over to his mother, smoothly slipping between her and the bike against the wall. “Here, Mom, let me help.” With one hand on her bicycle, he gently placed the other on her upper arm and moved her towards the garage door.

Jessica’s eyes naturally moved to follow Toby and the bicycle, breaking the lock they had on the fourth bike, and the moment was past. “Oh, thank you, honey, but I can do it.” She began pushing the bike out the door.

Toby glanced over at his brother and rolled his eyes. Andrew just nodded in understanding, glancing briefly at the fourth bike, and then back. They grabbed some clip-on water bottles and a few other items and followed her out the door. There wasn’t much either boy could say, the fourth bike had been their father’s. He had often ridden it with them, right up until his death, one year and a week ago today.

“Where are we going, Mom?” asked Toby.

“Well, I hadn’t really thought about it, sweetie. Did you guys have any ideas?”

Andrew repressed a grin as he looked at his brother. It would be Toby’s decision no matter what, it always was. Andrew didn’t particularly mind that, it was just the way things were, and was probably for the best.

“Uh, well, last Saturday we rode out east of town. Maybe this week we could ride west.” replied Toby.

Jessica nodded at this. “Uh, maybe take a ride around Culverin Hill and back again?”

Toby mentally figured distances and nodded. “Sure, we can do that.” He hit the switch on the door opener and scooted out as the door descended. “Lead the way, Mom.”

Jessica climbed onto her bicycle and adjusted her safety helmet, then kicked off and pedaled down the driveway. Her sons gave her a few moments then followed along behind.

Andrew followed along about ten feet behind his mother. As Toby pulled alongside, he tilted his head towards him and said lowly “We need to get rid of that bike.”

“Oh, man, it’s like brand new! It’s only been ridden once!” replied Toby, pitched low so his mother couldn’t hear. The bike had been Jessica’s birthday present to Andrew, Sr., given to him only a week before his death.

“I know that, don’t I?” commented Andrew. Toby simply shrugged and sat back on his bike seat. Taking his hands off the handlebars, he held them up in a sign of resignation. Andrew simply nodded and continued “Okay, so if we don’t get rid of it, we hide it. Next time we work in the garage, we put it in the back and cover it with a tarp.”

Toby nodded agreement. “Time to catch up.”

Their father’s death had devastated the family. Thirty-six was much too young for a husband and father of two to die, but at least it had been quick; Andrew, Sr. had been run over by a beer truck driven by a driver who had partaken of too much of what he was transporting. Since his problems were known by the company he worked for, a seven-figure settlement materialized before his body was cold. Suddenly what had been a very average middle-class family with a mortgage and maxed-out credit cards found the mortgage paid off, the credit cards paid in full, and enough cash to send both boys to any college they could ever want to go to, for as many degrees as they would ever want.

The family dynamic had changed dramatically. Jessica had been devoted to her husband and children. She had met her husband in high school, had married him upon graduation, and had quickly had two children. Only the need for a second income had taken her out of the house; she would have been very happy to have stayed at home and been the most perfect housewife and mother possible.

Her husband’s death had almost destroyed her. The days after the accident had gone by in a daze. It hadn’t improved after the funeral. Jessica had shut down, barely able to even maintain basic personal hygiene. After a second week of leftover casseroles and takeout, the two boys had talked it over in whispers and revolted. It was Toby, the more outspoken leader of the pair, who had taken charge, calling their mother down from her room and sitting her on the couch. Andrew had stood next to him as Toby had explained that she had to get on with life, they all had to, and that she was going to have to make some changes.

It had been sufficient for Jessica to break out of her funk. She was a naturally submissive sort, perfectly content to let her husband lead the family, and in that moment, Toby had stepped into the role. In retrospect, it was something she should have predicted - he was a natural leader! Toby wasn’t stupid, but he wasn’t an intellectual either. He was a well-built and muscular boy, almost six-foot-tall, and was already the captain of his high school junior varsity basketball team. When she thought about it, Jessica would smile, as she considered he would probably end up in sales or politics.

Andrew, his brother, was a different sort of young man. A year younger, he was smaller, but she knew he would never be the athlete his brother was. It was obvious to anybody who looked at their faces that they were related. They had the same dark brown eyes, the same aquiline nose, even the same dark brown hair, but while Toby’s smile was always wide and inviting, Andrew’s was often sardonic and wry. His sense of humor was much dryer than his brother. His build was slimmer, with a wiry strength, and the entire family knew he would be going to a much tougher college than his brother. Toby didn’t mind; he often joked that after he got out of Springwater State, he’d be happy to employ his egghead brother.

The two boys pedaled a touch faster, to keep up with their mother. While neither one would dare to say it, they both thought that the sight of her pedaling a bike was very pleasant. Neither one of them gave it much thought, other than the curiosity all boys have about their mother, but they both knew objectively that Jessica Parnell was an above average specimen of the female species. For one thing, most of their male friends at school had described her as a MILF - a mother they’d like to fuck - and she was also anywhere from five to ten years younger than the average mother of teenagers. She was of average height, but with a well-toned body from frequent exercise, with a narrow waist, a tight and hard rear, toned thighs and calves, and a rather impressive bust. At 36, she was in the prime of her life and looked it. Riding behind her and watching her pedal was not a hardship.

Jessica glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at her sons and pointed left as they neared a crossroad. She barely glanced for traffic before turning to the side and pedaling on. Culverin Hill would be no more than another ten minutes. The boys kept pumping easily and followed in her path. Part of their plan to get her back to normal had been the need to get her active again. Their father had frequently taken them all biking and hiking and had been active in sports.

As she approached the hill, Jessica thought she saw a man watching them from the side of the road. What was unusual was that he was wearing odd, very old-fashioned clothing, like something out of a movie about colonial times. She turned her head to check for traffic, but when she turned back, he was gone. Or was he? As they got to the base of the hill, she felt like somebody was watching them.

Jessica Parnell felt her pulse climbing even more that the norm for this stage of a bike ride. She began to feel warmer than usual as well and pulled at her tank top to let some air get to her. Maybe it was time for a breather. There appeared to be a nice glen up ahead a few hundred feet. That would be a nice spot to rest for a few minutes. Why did she keep thinking about the young man in the odd clothing? Was it that he seemed so ... masculine? It had been so long since she had been with a man, been taken by a man, been used by a man!

Jessica groaned, loudly enough for her sons to notice. She seemed to stagger slightly on her bicycle, and Toby loudly asked “Mom? You alright?” Maybe the ride was too much for her. It felt like it had gotten awfully warm in the last few minutes.

Jessica gasped. “No, maybe just a rest. It almost felt like I was starting to cramp or something.”

They pushed on for another minute before pulling off the roadway. A small path led down to the base of Culverin Hill, and Jessica felt quite flushed by the time they made it there. She drank heavily from her clip-on bottle, but she still felt overheated. Laying the bike down, she sat on the grassy sward and lay back. Her sons quickly followed, flanking her.