Chapter 20

After school on Monday, Rose and I ended up walking home together. With the end of the semester three weeks away, the auditions for the spring cheerleaders were being held that day. We had wanted to stick around to give Traci our support, but Lori informed us that the auditions were closed. I could not help but think that Rose was secretly happy that they were; otherwise, Traci might have renewed her effort in recruiting her redheaded friend to try out.

It was while Rose and I were discussing Traci's chances of making the squad that instinct caused me to glance behind us. A car had slowed down and pulling up beside us. I relaxed when I saw that it was merely Marge's car that had triggered my reflexes. Rose turned to see what had caught my attention and spotted Marge. The two of us went over to the now-stationary car.

"I thought you two might like a ride home," Marge said as we climbed into the car.

We were only four blocks from the house, but never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I simply said, "Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks Mrs. Caspar. But don't you usually drive a different route home from the hospital?"

Marge put the car in motion and explained, "I do, but since I was getting off work around the same time school ended, I thought I would just make a slight detour."

When we reached home, Rose started on the household duties, and I went into the living room to watch some of the news that the DVR had recorded. Marge joined me on the sofa after she changed out of her nurse's uniform. When I patted the cushion next to me, indicating that she should move closer, she subconsciously glanced at the staircase. Rose was cleaning upstairs; I guessed Marge did not want to be caught snuggling with her daughter's boyfriend. A few seconds went buy while she debated it over in her head, but in the end, she ended up sitting closer to me.

Marge stiffened slightly when I wrapped my left arm around her shoulders, but she slowly relaxed and allowed herself to lean against me. "How are you doing?" I asked her.

A small chuckle escaped from Marge, and she replied, "Not bad, considering I got a load of cum deposited up my asshole a couple of days ago."

Marge let out a laugh when she felt me stiffen and cut me off when I started to apologize. "Chad, I was just kidding. For somebody who teases as much as you do, you need to learn to recognize when somebody teases you."

I smiled and nodded my understanding. However, I still pressed on. "Seriously, are you okay? I should have given you a heads-up before Traci and I sprung our plan on you."

"Actually, I am surprised myself how well I am handling it. Yeah, a little forewarning would have been nice; but then again, I most likely would have chickened out. At least I now know why Traci goes on about you. It was almost as good as..." Marge's voice trailed off, then after a moment's recovery, she continued, "... almost as good as when it was with John."

Marge was smiling, but I was unable to tell if it was genuine or not. She saw the concern in my eyes and immediately reassured me, "Really, I'm fine. Traci told you about how her father got sick, right?"

I nodded, so she continued, "Well, we did not tell the girls, but from the start, we knew that the cancer was terminal. Nevertheless, we still fought it aggressively. Part of the reason why I am still having to pay off medical bills is because some of the treatments we tried were not covered by our health insurance. In the end, we knew we were only kidding ourselves and finally accepted the fact that John was going to die. He made me promise him repeatedly that I would try to move on with my life. I assured him that I would, but in the end, I hadn't. I think part of the reason why I tried to keep the house for as long as I did was because of him. Same with working at the hospital; part of me wanted to work where he worked."

"But then, you came into our lives, Chad. You were the catalyst that I needed to force me to move forward. There is something about you that makes me forget that you're just fifteen years old; you seem too mature. You're the first person that I had ever flirted with since I got married, and you were able to convince me into moving my family into your home. It was the conversation that we had on Saturday that made realize that I should quit working at the hospital."

"You quit your job?" I asked in surprise.

Marge flashed a grin and said, "Oops! I guess that cat is out of the bag; I was going to mention it at supper tonight. I put in my two weeks notice today. You see, Dr. Frank Hong, who was friends with John, had asked me to come work for him right after I got my nursing license. I turned him down, partly because of what I said before, but also because I could earn more working overtime at the hospital. California has a nursing shortage, mainly from the nurse-to-patient ratios that the government passed, so overtime was always available. However, as you'd said it would, moving in here has reduced our expenses enough so that I could get by with more normal shifts and enjoy more time with my family. In fact, it not only lets us get by, it gives me a chance to get a little ahead, since I could earn more working at Dr. Hong's office than the same hours at the hospital. So, I decided to take him up on his offer. It would be eight to four on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while on Tuesday and Thursday -- the days he operates -- I only have to do a half-day, eight till noon. I'll still be doing the same kinds of stuff, like drawing blood, but my chances of exposure to any STDs would be practically nonexistent. I couldn't say the same about working at the hospital, especially when working the ER."

I sat there quietly, letting all of what Marge had said sink in. "Will that affect our trip at all?"

"Nope. I called Frank at lunch today to ask him if the job was still available. We talked a bit after he said yes, and when I mentioned the trip, he seemed delighted that I was going to be taking a trip. He said it wouldn't be a problem at all, since he was already going to be taking a vacation, as well. He has a couple of elementary-school-aged kids, and he is taking them to Disney World during spring break."

"Well, I don't know for sure how the girls will respond, but I think that your new job sounds great. I am pretty certain that they would agree with me, since they have enjoyed having you around, especially when you've all been able to actually eat as a family."

The Seven O'clock and Ten O'clock news from NHK were broadcast bilingual and, ever since I set up the DVR to record the sumo matches in English, they too were recorded in English. Marge and I lapsed into silence while we watched the news. Suddenly, Marge bolted upright and slid away from me. I looked over to see a smiling Rose coming down the staircase. The redhead did not say anything about catching Traci's mother in a precarious position; instead, she came over and sat down on the other side of me. When she snuggled up to me, my arm instinctively wrapped itself around her shoulders. Rose leaned forward to flash Marge a grin before returning her head to rest on my shoulder.

In time, Marge found herself back to where she was before Rose had made her appearance. When I had both ladies snuggled up next to me, I let out a loud sigh of content. This drew chuckles from the girls that I had my arms around. "Hey, can we go ahead and watch the sumo now?" Rose asked.

The household's interest in sumo had increased (perhaps because I had mentioned that I wanted to see the Osaka tournament in person during our trip), and ever since the January basho (tournament) started, we had been watching it all together. Cautiously, I asked, "Why?"

Rose was silent for a moment before replying, "Because."

I had my suspicions. "Because you want to find out who won so you could wager with Traci when we watch it this evening?"

"Now really, Chad. Does that sound like me?" Rose asked, almost too innocently.

"No, that sounds like me, but I could also see you doing it, as well."

Rose did not have to look to see me grinning at her; she could hear the smile in my voice. "Party pooper," was the only answer I received from her.

When the news got to the sports section of the show, I started to remove my right arm from around Rose so I could grab the remote control and skip over the bout summary. Only problem was that Rose figured out what I was going to do, leaned back, and trapped my arm between her and the back of the sofa. Marge caught on to this, apparently, as I discovered my left arm was equally immobile. Both women were pressing back, mostly their heads and shoulders, preventing me from lifting my arms up.

I decided another route was in order and quickly slid my arms down. Once my fingers got to their ribcages, I started tickling with my fingers. It turned out that, while both girls were ticklish, Marge was extremely so. Soon, I forgot about Rose and concentrated all of my efforts on Mrs. Caspar. Rose got up, freeing me to use both hands, and moved to the other side of Marge. Rose then assisted me with my onslaught of poor Marge. She was giggling and shrieking so hard that it was only a short while later that we had to stop to let the poor woman breathe properly.

I do not think I had ever seen Marge as red as she was then. She was practically crimson from head to toe. Once she had got her labored breathing under control and wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, she confessed, "I don't remember the last time I laughed like that. Shit, I think I laughed so hard that I pissed my pants!"

"Like daughter, like mother," Rose quickly said.

That brought chuckles from both girls. Apparently, not only did my love confide her fear of 'peeing' when she had an orgasm to her friends, but to her mother, as well. I wondered to myself if, after last Saturday, it was going to become a two-way street: Marge telling (and showing) her daughter some sexual experiences.

While I did not end up with the remote until the news of the tournament was over, the tickling was distracting enough that neither girl saw the results of the basho. Not only did I have the small victory of preventing them from finding out who won and lost, but also I learned one of Marge's weaknesses. I vowed to myself to utilize that knowledge in the near future.

We had a three-day weekend because of Martin Luther King's Day in the middle of January, so I decided to begin my training of Lori then. The Wednesday before that weekend, I decided to inform the girls that our usual Saturday lunch would have to be cancelled.

"How about we have lunch at my house?" suggested Michelle.

"Hey, that's a great idea. Your mom is a great cook," Pollyanna said. However, she quickly added, "But not as good as my Rose!"

We all agreed with Pollyanna, even though I had not sampled any of Jean's cooking. From the playful way that Rose had elbowed her girlfriend, I knew Rose was not that offended by the comment.

"I won't be able to attend, but is it okay if my mom stayed there after she brings Rose?" Traci asked.

Michelle gave us a suspicious grin but said, "Sure, I don't see why not. Sounds like you guys just want to have the house to yourselves."

"Baka, we're not going to be doing anything Hindu."

"My love, the word is hentai. You'll need to learn the correct term, especially with our upcoming trip," I said to my girlfriend.

Pollyanna said, "That's right! We can do some planning when we have lunch."

"I'll give Rose my Lonely Planet travel guide to Japan, and she can take it with her on Saturday," I said.

The rest of the lunchtime conversation revolved around that Saturday's lunch and our impending trip. Marge had talked about doing some shopping on that day, since she did not have to work. She had felt confident that I would treat her eldest daughter properly, but she did not think it was wise for her to be in the house for the actual event. I was glad that Traci had thought to ask if her mom could have lunch with the other girls on that day.

"Mom and Rose just left!" Traci said with enthusiasm as she entered the bedroom.

I turned my chair away from the computer, where I had been selecting different anime torrents to download, and faced my excited girlfriend. I gave her a small smile and asked, "You do know that it is doubtful anything sexual will happen this afternoon, right?"

"Yeah, I know, but Lori is going to be so happy."

When I was slow at getting out of my chair, Traci came over and grabbed my arm. I quickly grabbed the bag of stuff that I would need with my free hand from off the desk. She practically dragged me down the hall to the living room. Once we reached there, she asked, "Can I go get Lori?"

I was amused by the actions of my girlfriend. She had been very reluctant in allowing me to help Lori explore her sexuality, but now that Traci had made up her mind to allow me to proceed, she could not wait for me to start. Traci shifted weight from foot to foot while she waited for my answer.

"Yes, BUT," I quickly added as Traci spun to head up the stairs, "try to act nonchalant about it."

Traci paused a nanosecond to flash me a grin before she bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When she returned with her older sister in tow, though, she came down at a leisurely pace.

Traci moved to sit beside me on the couch, while Lori went to one of the chairs. When she sat down she asked, "What's up Chad? Traci said you wanted to see me."