Chapter 116

I went upstairs with Jill to find Wanda sitting on the couch, looking almost like she was embarrassed. Jill said she was going to go in the kitchen to get something for us to drink.

Wanda and I had never gotten close to one another. I reached down and took both her hands in mine, urging her up off the couch. I pulled her close and put my arms around her, pulling her into my body. She was stiff, her hands at her side as I pulled tight.

"Thanks for doing this, Wanda. You obviously did a good job; Jill's really excited about what you two picked out."

I don't know what demons had been in her mind, what she had been afraid of. When it became evident I was just thanking her, her arms came up around me and she pulled closer. I could feel her relax as she held tight, her head on my shoulder next to mine. I let her enjoy it for a minute or so.

Jill came out of the kitchen with three cans of Coke while I was hugging Wanda.

"Hey! That's my guy!"

Wanda backed up, a tentative smile on her face, not quite sure about serious Jill was. She wiped a tear out of the corner of each eye and sniffed, then sat back on the couch. Jill handed each of us a Coke.

Wanda sniffed again. "I got tied up in it. Nobody ever just held me like that. Usually they want something and it's like they think they have to put up with holding me to get it."

I sat down next to her and put my Coke on the floor. Jill sat on the other side of me. I put my hand on Wanda's thigh.

"Well, if you stick around here, you're going to have to get used to it. I do a lot of hugging. Sometimes you just need a good hug."

She put her hand on mine and squeezed it, giving me that half smile.

"It's OK to smile at me, you know. I'm not going to take advantage of you."

"I know that. But you don't even want me here."

"Where did you get that idea?"

"Jill told me when we went shopping."

"Well, one of you got the wrong idea. I never said I don't want you here. What I did say is I don't want you here tomorrow. That's a special day for Jill and me and I want us to be alone in our apartment. I already talked to Mom and you can sleep on her couch tomorrow. She even said she'll feed you but she may make you help out in making it."

"That's fine, but I don't know how to make a whole lot."

"She's aware of that. She said she'll make sure you know what you're doing. Knowing them, you may be peeling potatoes while Mary and Sara do the actual cooking. Or they may peel the potatoes and put you to work."

"That's OK for tomorrow. But Jill said you wanted me to move out."

"I do. Eventually. Are you planning on sleeping on that couch until you die?"

"No."

"Till you're 25? 30? 35?"

"I didn't think about it."

"That's all I'm saying. This is a temporary thing. I have no problem with you getting back on your feet. I do have a problem with you becoming a permanent boarder."

"Well, I wasn't planning on being a permanent boarder."

"So, what plans have you made about going someplace else?"

"I hadn't thought about it."

"That's what I mean. You need to start thinking about it. Otherwise, we'll all be in college and you'll still be sleeping on the couch."

"That won't happen."

"You'd be how surprised how long things can go on if you don't make some effort to change them."

"I guess you're right. I'd appreciate being able to stay here for a while, though."

"OK. Tell you what. You come up with a plan on what you're going to do and you can stay here as long as you need to. But it has to be a good plan — not wait till your mother's dead so you can move in her house."

She laughed at that. "OK. You've got a deal."

"All right. You'll have three pretty smart women you can use for ideas tomorrow. My mom's real smart, and the other two aren't slouches, either. And one more thing. You need to contribute around here. I'm the only freeloader allowed."

She smiled at that and squeezed my hand, which was still on her leg.

"You know, you have a really pretty smile, Wanda."

Her face reddened at that. Jill just leaned into me and hugged my arm.

I sat and enjoyed these two women for a minute or so, then clapped my hands three times.

"OK, you wenches. I need food. And then I need sex. Lot's of sex."

Jill leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Does that mean Wanda's sleeping in our bed tonight?"

I turned around and answered, "Give me a week or two to get tired of you, then we'll talk about it."

Jill smiled at me, backed up a bit, then punched me in the arm. "Come along, Wanda. We need to prepare dinner for our lord and master."

They made their way to the hallway, holding hands, both looking over their shoulders and smiling as they wiggled their asses in synchronization, almost as if rehearsed. I sat on the couch and rubbed my arm, reminding myself not to get Jill really mad at me.

It couldn't have been ten minutes before I smelled something wonderful wafting down the hall to the living room where I was checking my email messages. I was surprised to see that I had one from my sister, thanking me for being there for her. Pretty simple, yet I felt a lump in my throat as I read it.

Wanda tapped me on the shoulder. "Dinner's ready, oh Master."

I decided not to say anything one way or the other to see how far they were going to take. I got up and followed her down the hall as she attempted to rub her butt cheeks together while walking.

Dinner was very good. The main course was pork chops. Jill had breaded them, but it was a from scratch recipe, not the stuff you put with the meat in a baggy and shake. I don't know where she got them, but the chops were at least an inch and a half thick. I don't think I've ever had juicier, more tender pork. There were also egg noodles and cut green beans, topped with brown gravy. Each of us had a small bowl of cinnamon flavored applesauce next to our plates. Our glasses were filled with Cranapple and crushed ice.

When I asked, Jill told me they'd both worked on it. She had a method of cooking the pork chops in a frying pan on low heat with a lid on the pan. Her secret was to turn the burner on high, sear both sides, then let them slowly cook.

"Jill, what's going to happen when we run out of our moving in food?"

"It's all taken care of."

"What do you mean?"

She glanced over at Wanda, seemed to make up her mind and said, "Daddy gave me a credit card for groceries. I can spend up to $1000 a month on food. The bills are going to him and he said he'd pull it if we used it for anything else."

"How's he going to know that?"

"I guess he won't, as long as you get it at Safeway. But I don't think I'll be able to convince him I got hamburger from Nordstrom's."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Anyway, I don't want to abuse it. I think it was pretty nice of him to do that for us."

"Yeah, it was."

Wanda got up, pulled a pan out of the oven and started cutting pieces of pastry and putting them on plates. She wasn't quite slamming things around, but she wasn't handling things delicately, either. I looked over at Jill and she shook her head slightly. Wanda sprayed some imitation artificial whipped topping on each serving.

Dessert was out of this world. The bottom layer of pastry was similar to toll house cookies without the chocolate chips, chewy and sweet. Next was sliced apple in its own juices, then more of the chewy pastry, a layer of some deadly concoction made of molasses and brown sugar and who knows what else, then a top layer covered in little balls of dough similar to those on a crumb cake, with confectioners sugar to top the whole thing off. I asked Jill what it was called and was told it was apple gunk. As good a name as any, I suppose. I had two servings.