Chapter 33: Getting to Know Cindy

At breakfast Suzanne wanted to hear about my date with the Baldwin girl. I told her it was not a date and that it was three Baldwin girls, not just one. This caught Mr. Oldham's attention. "Which one were you with?" He asked.

"Cindy, she's the Speedwell girl," I said, hiding my wish that it had been Jessica sitting next to me in the theater and later in the back seat of their mother's car. He went back to reading his newspaper but Suzanne's appetite for the juicy details was still aroused.

"Did you kiss her?"

"Yes."

"Just once or more than once?"

"I only kissed her once but I kissed her sister too."

"Which one?"

"The younger one. She has braces on her teeth," I answered, hoping the added detail would satisfy her. It didn't.

"Did you kiss the other sister?"

"No, she wouldn't let me," I said, causing Mr. Oldham to lower his newspaper and give me a long disbelieving stare.

They invited me to accompany them to the golf course but I declined, saying that I needed to finish mowing. Ned helped me with the trimming and we finished early. He told me to have a shower and then come to his apartment for lunch.

I don't know which one of us was more surprised when I knocked and the apartment door swung open, Penelope, me or Sonya, Penelope's daughter. It was immediately clear to me that a mistake had been made. Either Ned had failed to tell Penelope that I was expected for lunch or Penelope had neglected to tell Ned that her daughter was going to be there.

Knowing Penelope's feelings regarding me meeting her daughter, I offered to leave and come back some other time. Penelope had said it jokingly, "You're never going to meet my daughter," but there was a hint of seriousness in her voice, like a warning for me to stay away from Sonya.

Except for being a shade darker, the girl was a duplicate of Penelope. She was tall and straight, with a slender face and dark laughing eyes. She was also shy. At thirteen or perhaps fourteen now, Sonya was developing a body to be noticed.

"What grade are you in?" I asked to break the ice. She shifted her eyes toward Penelope as if to ask, "Do I have to talk to him?" and back to me before saying she would be a high school freshman. Her voice even reminded me of Penelope, soft but audible.

That day was the first fried food I had eaten in a year. Penelope served chicken, "Southern fried like my mama used to make," she said. I had several pieces, while wiping the grease from my hands often and stealing glances at Sonya. I could tell that my being there was creating a strained atmosphere between Ned and Penelope and was happy to hear Ned say he had something to show me in the basement of the Oldham house. I thanked Penelope for the delicious lunch and she seemed pleased to hear me praise her cooking.

"Want to tag along Sonya?" Ned asked the girl. I was surprised to see her look at her mother, silently expressing an interest to see what Ned had to show me. Penelope surprised me again when she said it was okay for her to go with us.

We had walked down the stairs and were headed toward the Oldham house when Sonya turned to me. "What grade are you in?"

"I'll be a sophomore," I said, happy that we were talking.

"Is the ninth grade hard?"

"Yes," I said. "There's lots of homework and you don't want to get behind because you'll never catch up."

She made a face, a silent grimace and pursed her lower lip, and then she smiled, showing teeth, Penelope's teeth. "Are you trying to scare me?"

I laughed and told her she caught me. Ned was walking beside us, watching and smiling too. We went to the basement and he opened a room that I had not seen before. In it were weights, a bench and a variety of belts and gear hanging on pegs around the walls. I wondered why he had never shown me the room before.

"This was Noland's regimen," he said, removing a clipboard from one of the pegs. "I think its time for you to start your own regimen."

"What should I do?" I asked. Sonya was watching us.

"Use this as a guide," he said, handing me the clipboard. "You decide how often you want to lift and I'll be here to act as your spotter. Don't come in here by yourself or you'll have John and me both to answer to. Got it?"

We decided that I would lift three nights per week and run on alternate days, taking one day off per week. We settled on times, seven p.m. to lift and seven a.m. to run. Sonya was still watching us, taking it all in. I thanked Ned for showing me the room, assuring him that I would not go inside without him being with me. I didn't think it was necessary for me to thank him for volunteering to spot for me. He must know I appreciate him, I thought.

"Would you like to see the park?" I asked Sonya when we were back outside. She looked to Ned for guidance.

"He wants to show you his handiwork," Ned told her, giving her permission to go with me. I wondered how Penelope would receive the news that her daughter was taking a walk with Sammy Oldham, the rogue ward of Mr. Oldham.

I pointed out the storage shed where the lawn maintenance equipment was housed; the flowerbeds, the brick walks, the benches, and only mentioning in passing that the cottages were used when we had visitors. Sonya withheld her remarks until we reached the tennis courts. "Do you play?" She asked.

"Yes, I play some. Do you?"

An excitement came to her eyes that I had not seen before. "My dad and I play almost every weekend but not on courts like this. The place we go is like the blacktop they use to make streets."

"Those two are clay and the other two are grass courts, like the professionals play on. The grass needs a lot of care," I said, hoping she would pick up on my role in keeping the grass short and thick.

"What's it like to play on these courts?"

"Would you like to play? I have a spare racket."

"I don't have the right shoes today. Maybe next time I come visit my mom," she said a tentative tone in her voice.

"When do you think that will be?" I asked, thinking that I would have to make sure I was available. I didn't want to miss the chance to see her again.

"We'll see. I should go now," she said.

Just then I saw the Baldwin sisters coming toward us. I introduced them to Sonya, saying that she needed to leave and that I was going to escort her. "Come back," Cindy and Jeanie said in unison. Jessica didn't say anything but I saw a questioning glint in her eye.

"I hope you don't get into trouble with your mother," I said as I dropped Sonya off at the steps to the upstairs apartment.

"I won't. Thanks for showing me around," she said. She ran up the stairs without giving me a clue as to when I would see her again.

I changed into clothes and shoes for tennis, grabbed my racket and was out the back door before I thought about picking up the key to one of the cottages. Thank goodness I went back into the house.

The crowd at the courts had grown in the short time I was gone. There were as many of us waiting for a turn to play as there were playing. "Let's go back to the house and take a swim," Cindy suggested, looking at her sisters and then at me.

"Are you inviting Sammy?" Jeanie asked. Cindy nodded. Jessica looked indifferent. I waited for a unanimous decision. Cindy stood, encouraging her sisters to do the same. "Are you coming, Sammy?"

"I don't have a swim-suit with me," I said, waiting for one or all of them to prompt me to go after it.

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to see if a court opens," Jessica said. This caused Jeanie to sit back down and say she would wait for a chance to play too and Cindy to fretfully stamp her foot. In two seconds I had gone from possibly having some alone time with Jessica to having all three of them bickering about changed plans versus new plans. Cindy was the most vocal of the three. She was also impatient. Not a minute passed before she took me by the hand and said to her sisters, "We're going after his swimming trunks. We'll pick you up on the way back or you can stay here. I don't care."

I looked back at Jessica for help but she didn't offer any. Jeanie got up like she was going to come with us but Jessica pulled her back down on the seat.

We went in the back door. Ned, if he happened to look out his window just then, would see us. Would he say anything to Penelope? Cindy was right behind me.

"I have to run up to my room," I said when we were inside the house.

"Where are your uncle and aunt?" She asked, looking around at the kitchen and through the door leading to the dining room and the sunroom beyond.

"They're playing golf," I said, moving toward the stairs. Cindy followed me all the way to my room.

"Do you bring girls here?" She asked as soon as we were in my room. I was trying to decide which swimming trunks to take and wondering if I should I take a towel? The question caught me by surprise.

"Yes," I said. Ellen came to my room on her own but Colleen and Alice would both qualify as having been brought to my room.

"What did you do with them?"

"That's kind of personal," I said, turning to find her next to me.

"Did you kiss them?"

"I didn't say there was more than one," I corrected her. She was right there, next to me. What the hell, I thought. Our kiss the night before had been a quick parting expression. This one lingered and became more intense. She tasted sweet and she felt soft in my arms. My tongue went probing and was soon joined by hers. I maneuvered us to my bed, stumbling, falling and landing with Cindy on her back, giggling. We rejoined our lips and I felt her right breast through her T-shirt, confirming that she was wearing a bra. Cindy froze for a few seconds and pushed her hands against my chest, just in time for me to hear Suzanne call my name.

Holy shit! Not again, I thought, jumping off the bed and pulling Cindy to her feet.

"Sammy, are you up here?" Suzanne called to me.

"Hi," I said as I exited my bedroom door, swimming trunks in one hand and leading Cindy by the other. "We were getting my trunks," I said by way of explanation. Suzanne looked at me and then at Cindy. "Cindy, I would like for you to meet my Aunt Suzanne," I managed to say, hiding my inflated cock with the swim trunks.

I introduced Cindy to Mr. Oldham and left the house by the front door, realizing later that I had failed to tell either of them that we were going to the Baldwin house to swim.

"Do they always come in when you're making out in your bedroom?" Cindy laughed when we were well away from the house.

"That's only the third time," I said, feeling very relieved that she had pushed me away. "Did you hear them come in or were you pushing me away because you don't like your tits played with?"

"I wasn't comfortable being alone with you in your room without anyone else home. What if someone had seen us going in and told my parents. I could be grounded for the rest of the summer. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't like that. Does that mean you like having your tits played with?"

"That's a personal question," she said coyly and I took it for a yes.

We were walking past the cottages. I pushed Cindy through the shrubbery, hoping Suzanne was not looking out one of the front windows. That wouldn't happen unless she was intentionally spying on us because she never hung around the front of the house. I didn't care if Mr. Oldham saw me.