Chapter 1

My name is James Peterson and the story I’m about to tell you is something that happened to me a couple of years back now. It was the summer of 2008 – the summer Tommy and I both graduated from Arcadia High School.

Tommy Cooper and I were best friends and had been for years, ever since he and his mother moved here from Indianapolis. Tommy’s parents had just finalized their divorce and Tommy and Mrs. – I mean Ms. – Cooper moved here to Phoenix.

We hit it right off almost from the first day we met. We just seemed to click together and before anyone knew it, we were inseparable. People in our neighborhood used to think Tommy and I were joined at the hip and both our mothers used to look for us by finding the other one because they knew we shared the same shadow most of the time. They kidded around about it, but I think our mothers both liked the arrangement – we were at each other’s houses so much that our mothers could take turns cooking dinner for us!

Our mothers got along very well too, which helped since my Dad was in the military and was gone a lot. Our families just kind of meshed and we all knew we could count on each other if we needed to. It was a very nice, very comfortable mutual friendship for everyone.

Growing up I had always thought of Ms. Cooper as a very nice lady and a good friend of my mom’s. I mean she was my best friend’s mom and my mother’s best friend as well. And I had always thought she was pretty too, in a best friend’s mom kind of way.

But all that changed when we got to junior high school. Like all teenage boys, my hormones began to kick in and I started noticing changes in my own body as well as changes in my view of the girls in school. I started seeing them less as dumb chatty things that can’t run fast or throw a ball right to something I should probably be paying more attention to!

There were plenty of attention-worthy girls in my school too. And while I probably could have found several of them willing to help me with my growing sexual urges, there was one person in particular that I wanted for that pursuit.

I guess I’d had something of a crush on Tommy’s mom for a while. That crush got a lot more serious and intense once I reached high school. For four long frustrating years, I suffered in silence, having to be sociable and friendly but keeping my desires and feelings to myself. I couldn’t let anyone know how I felt about her or how long I had felt that way.

It all came to a head one hot summer day. Tommy had gotten summer work with the Department of Transportation as a highway flagger, one of those people that stands on the road with a stop sign and stops traffic when road construction is going on. He had been called out of town for some road construction work. He’d been gone for a couple of days when Ms. Cooper called my house one morning.

“Hello?” I said answering the phone.

“Hi, James, I was wondering if you could come over. I can’t seem to get this lawnmower started. Tommy was supposed to cut the grass before he left but I guess he never got around to it and now it’s getting really tall,” she said.

“No problem. I’ll be right over,” I said and I slipped my sneakers on and went over. Actually, I was more than happy to go over to see her. Any chance I had to be around her was welcome, and especially if I knew no one else was around.

I rang the doorbell and she answered the door. “Hi, James, thanks for coming over. Let me show you the lawnmower, and hopefully, you can get it started for me,” she said. We walked to the garage on the side of the house and she pushed the garage door opener. Sure enough, the lawnmower sat right in the middle of the garage floor ready to go to work.

“Ms. Cooper, you go on back inside, I’ll take care of the grass for you,” I said.

“Really James? You don’t have to you know,” she said.

“I know, but I’d be happy to help out. I wasn’t doing anything today anyway. And not to be all macho or anything, but cutting the grass is man’s work!” I said trying to act all “manly” for her.

She smiled at me “Well thank you, James, and when you are done, come on inside for a glass of tea,” she said. Then she went back into the house and I fired up the lawnmower. It started on the second pull although I could see why she had trouble – it was hard to pull the starting cord. But I got it going and once I did cutting the grass wasn’t too terribly hard.

Within an hour’s time, I had her grass cut and the clippings all bagged up. I even swept her sidewalk so she wouldn’t track grass clippings into the house! When I was done, I went and knocked on the front door. “Okay Ms. Cooper, your grass is all cut,” I said. “I put the bags of clippings by the trash cans ready to be hauled away on trash day.”

“Thank you so much, James, you are sweet to help me like this. Now how about that glass of tea?” she said. She took my hand and led me to the living room. “You sit right here, honey, and I’ll bring your tea.”

I sat down on the sofa where she wanted me and she went off to pour a couple of glasses of iced tea. She returned and sat down on the sofa next to me turning to face me.

Ms. Cooper wore her regular “comfy, around the house clothes” as she called them – a white stretch tank top over her black sweatpants with fuzzy slippers for her feet. Not exactly what one would consider as sexy, but on her, it worked. In addition to looking hot, she smelled wonderful too. I don’t know what she was wearing, but for me it was intoxicating.

“I sure appreciate your helping me with the lawn, James. I tried several times to get that mower started but I just didn’t have it in me! My ex-husband used to take care of the yard work before the divorce and since then Tommy has taken over that job. I putter around in the garden with the flowers but the heavy equipment is Tommy’s job,” she said.

‘That’s okay Ms. Cooper, glad to help out. Anytime you need a hand just let me know,” I told her. And I meant it, any chance to help out my best friend’s beautiful mother was more time I could spend in her presence. I didn’t care if it was work or not, I was that enthralled with her.

Today would turn out to be so much more than I first thought when I got her call though. We sat drinking our tea and talking about my plans for after high school and what Tommy was going to do. “I am hoping that this summer job of Tommy’s will work into a regular job with the State,” she said. “So what are your plans now that you have graduated?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. I was thinking of going to the Technical College here in town to learn either carpentry or diesel mechanics,” I said.

“I see. Those both sound like good jobs. You have a birthday coming up soon, don’t you?” she asked.

“Yes, this coming Friday,” I said.

“How old will you be this year?”

“I’ll be nineteen this year,” I told her.

“Nineteen. My, my, I remember when you and Tommy were still running around here playing cops and robbers! Sure makes me feel old!” she sighed.

“No way! You aren’t the least bit old Ms. Cooper! You are still a very attractive woman!” I blurted out without even thinking about what I was saying.

“Well, thank you, James. I’m glad you think so. But I’m afraid my body would disagree with you,” she said.

It was then that I noticed that she seemed to be favoring one shoulder a bit.

“Are you all right, Ms. Cooper?” I asked.

“I guess tugging on that mower must have given me a sore shoulder. I’m not used to that kind of thing,” she said rubbing her shoulder.

“Turn around and I’ll rub your shoulders,” I suggested. It was an audacious move, I admit, but I was hoping that I said it with enough authority and off-handedness that she would just go with it.

She looked at me for a moment and I thought at first she would just tell me that I needed to leave. But I held her eyes and didn’t show any sign of nervousness or anxiety and I saw her smile and she turned her back to me.

I reached up and began to massage her shoulders using medium pressure ... not too hard that it would be uncomfortable, but hard enough to make it effective. She dropped her head down and began to relax. “Mmmm, that feels good...” she said.

I worked her shoulders and she began to get into it, moving her head to one side then the other as I kneaded her tight shoulder muscles. She must have been jerking on that pull rope for some time to get so bound up. I worked the tops of her shoulders and her neck then moved down to the rounded parts of her shoulders and upper arms.

“Why don’t you lay down and I can work on your back?” I suggested.

“Okay ... but do you mind if I take off my top? It would be easier for you to work if I did,” she said.

MIND? Hell no, I didn’t mind! But I didn’t want to sound like some kid who had just found his first nudie magazine! So I tried to play it cool. “Sure, no problem,” I said, trying very hard to keep my voice from quivering.

With her back to me, she pulled her top up over her head and lay face down on the sofa. My hands trembled as I reached for her this time, but once I had put them on her I was able to massage her without indicating my excitement.

“Mmmm boy, James, you sure know how to relax a girl. Do you do this for your mother too?” she purred.

“Sometimes, when she has had a hard day at the bank,” I said.

“Well, she is a lucky woman, to have someone to give her massages like this when she needs them. You know you ought to take up being a masseur – you are good at this!” she said.

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know if I would feel comfortable giving massages to strangers. I only give them to people I like a lot,” I said.

Those words would be the turning point in my relationship with Ms. Cooper.

“You like me, James?” she said.

Oh shit! I thought I put my foot in my mouth this time!

“I-I ... um...” I tried to come up with something, anything, to say. But I was too panicked to think.

She rolled over and looked up at me. “Relax sweetheart, it’s okay. Tell me. Be honest and tell me,” she said, smiling.

I could feel my cheeks burning and I could see in her eyes that I must be beet red. I took a deep breath and went for broke. I figured I hadn’t done anything wrong, so just telling her I was smitten with her wouldn’t do anything but embarrass the hell out of me and I was already there!

“Actually Ms. Cooper, to tell you the truth, I have had a kind of a crush on you for a long time. I mean you are so beautiful and so sweet ... I just ... well I like coming over and being around you no matter the reason. I dunno – I guess it’s dumb – or creepy!” I said, looking down at the floor.

She reached under my chin with her fingers and lifted my face to look at hers. “It’s neither dumb nor creepy, James. I think it is very sweet. Being honest and telling someone you like them is never dumb. And I am glad that you like me and flattered that you think I’m beautiful,” she said. “I had an idea you liked me more than just as Tommy’s mom ... I’ve seen you watching me several times. I never wanted to say anything because I didn’t want to embarrass you. But it made me feel good that I could still turn a young man’s head – you are a good ego boost, honey!”