Chapter 49

Several readers have asked, so I left my timeline in this chapter.

SUNDAY MORNING — SEPTEMBER 15

With everyone tired from the painting and the move, they had all been in bed by ten. Jeremy didn't know about the women, but he had slept like a log. Nice to be able to sleep without earplugs. Of course, the plugs didn't really stop the sound of the hard rock in the apartment, just quietened it a bit, he thought, as he got out of bed shortly after daylight. Man, am I going to love this quiet house.

Having showered last night and not wanting to wake Denise and Connie with water running this early in the morning, he just washed his face and hands. In the kitchen, he started coffee. They had gotten rid of all the masking tape, drop cloths and newspapers from their painting, but the kitchen floor could stand a little more cleaning. They had swept last night, but they were all tired. Finding the vacuum cleaner and deciding that the kitchen was far enough away from the bedrooms for the noise to go unnoticed, he vacuumed the floor.

After finally finding the mop and bucket on the back porch, he set about giving the kitchen floor a thorough cleaning. An hour later when Connie came walking down the hall, her hair looking like someone had given her a good scare, Jeremy was just finishing with the second coat of wax.

"Coffee's on the dining room table," he called out to her as he passed through with the mop and bucket to put them up.

When he came back in, Denise had joined them. "What time did you get up?" she asked, then added before he could respond, "Connie says that you mopped and waxed the kitchen floor."

"Yeah, it was a little on the grungy side after our work in there yesterday. I noticed some wax in the bottom of the sink cabinet, so I decided to do the floor before everyone got up."

"You didn't have to do that, Jeremy," Denise said, feeling a little guilty. "Just because we said that we were going to share, well I usually do that stuff," she wound down.

Jeremy sat with them at the table and slid his cup over for a refill. As Connie poured, Jeremy said, "My dad always helped my mom around the house, and she helped him do things. What's the difference?"

Denise and Connie looked at each other and grinned. "I guess we're not used to a man who would bother," Connie admitted. Then, "Boy, I slept too long. It's good not having that SOB in bed ... uh. Sorry," she finished, looking down at the table.

Jeremy noticed that both women were looking embarrassed. "What gives with you two? I know that you were married — both of you. And that you, Connie, were living with that ... uh..."

"Elephant," she interjected, helpfully.

Jeremy laughed, along with Denise, and said, "Yeah, the elephant. And I'm aware that both of you have probably figured out that I'm a virgin. So now that that's out in the open, you don't have to keep dancing around things every time you start to mention something in your lives."

"You're a virgin?" he heard in stereo.

Jeremy's face lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree. "Yeah," he started, then cleared his throat. "Well, when my girlfriend dumped me, and it became obvious right away that she was screwing my best friend, although we hadn't done anything, well ... It was kinda like getting hit in the gut. I didn't go looking for girls. Then a little later, there was a lot of studying to do. My high school didn't prepare me for the courses I was taking at college, and I had to study my ass off. Then this job came along. I just didn't meet anyone," he finally wound down.

Denise took his hand. "She was a bitch, Jeremy. And a fool. There'll be other girls. You're a really good-looking guy, not to say anything about being a nice person, and all the heavy work you've been doing has certainly ... filled you out," she said, trying not to look at the way his arms and shoulders swelled out the tee shirt he was wearing.

Both women got up, then pulled the table back a little to make room. Connie plopped down in his lap and kissed him, then relinquished her place to Denise, who also kissed him.

"We'll be your girl friends," Connie said, "until you find some pretty girl your age."

Jeremy couldn't quite understand why she would say that about finding a girl his age. Mentally shaking himself, knowing that he would never understand women, he said, "I'm thinking about going to see my parents today. I'll pick up my wi-fi stuff while I'm out there so that we can all have access to the internet. Would you two like to go? I would like to show you off to my mom and dad, and tell them where I'm living."

He couldn't quite read the expression on their faces.

A little later, Denise stood in Connie's room. "You know that his mom is going to shoot us," Denise said.

"But we haven't done anything," Connie protested, while totally agreeing with Denise.

"I know that, and you know that. But her twenty-year-old virgin son is bringing home two thirty-year-old hussies that he's now living with. This ain't going to go over very well."

"Oh, shit. Don't I know it. She'll never believe that we're not screwing him," Connie said turning to her closet. Then, "I wonder what Jeremy is going to wear?"

"You've got to be kidding. He's a man. He'll wear jeans to anything other than church or a funeral."

"But I don't want to wear jeans to meet his mother," Connie whined. "But if we dress up and he wears jeans, it will be worse," she finished, turning to her closet.

Denise started to grin at her friend until it dawned on her that she was in the same boat. "Oh, shit," she whispered.

After lunch, Connie and Denise sat on Jeremy's folks' sun porch chatting about nothing in particular. Jeremy's mother made eye contact with her husband, then glanced toward the back.

Van cleared his throat, "Uh, Jeremy, I've got something I'd like to show you out back." Getting up, Van held the door open for his son, then glancing back at his wife, went on out the door.

Denise and Connie looked at each other, not fooled in the least.

"Talk to me," Adriana said when her husband and son were out of earshot.

Connie and Denise looked at each other, both realizing that they were going to get grilled about their relationship with Jeremy. Suddenly the irony of the reversal of the usual situation hit them, and both started giggling. They quickly stifled it when they saw the color rising in Mrs. Carter's face. It obviously wasn't caused by a blush of embarrassment.

Before Jeremy's mother could say anything, Denise spoke up. "No. No. We're not laughing at you. We just both realized how a young man feels when he goes to his girlfriend's house for the first time. What are your intentions toward my daughter type of thing, only reversed."

Adriana Carter wasn't amused, though. "Well, since you two think it's so funny, just what are two grown women doing with my twenty-year-old son? You've already told me that you were living together. Before you say anything, I'm quite well aware that he's an adult now, and is certainly making his own decisions. But ... he is still my son..."

Connie quickly got up and moved to sit beside Adriana on the old-fashioned glider. Putting her hand on Adriana's, Connie said, "Please, don't be mad because we laughed. It was just the irony of the situation that got us both at the same time. We have the utmost respect for your son. We've worked with him for over a year." Glancing over at Denise, Connie continued, "We both care for him, and ... we're not screwing him, if that's what is bothering you."

"Well, that wouldn't be any of my business..." Adriana started.

"No, it wouldn't," Connie agreed, somewhat less tactfully than she had intended, "but we're not going to lie to you. If he decides to make love to us, well..." Her blush wasn't from anger.

Denise pulled up a chair to sit closer. "We're not tramps, Mrs. Carter. Before you make any judgments about our intentions toward your son," she said, fighting to keep the giggle out of her voice, "we need to tell you a little about ourselves."

They spent the next fifteen minutes giving the short version of their married lives, also telling a little about their jobs. They didn't, however, mention that Denise had seen and described the size of Jeremy's dick, nor Connie's "examination" of it when she had knocked his cap off.

"All we've done is kiss him — for hours. He hasn't even touched our breasts," Denise said.

Connie picked up with, "We care an awful lot about him. We invited him to live with us because we did care for him. Plus it gets him out of that terrible neighborhood, and it will allow him to save more money toward college. Admittedly, those weren't my first thoughts. He is a good-looking guy. But he's a true gentleman, apparently without even thinking about it. Denise and I both are still stunned that a man would treat us so nicely."

Sitting quietly for a moment, Connie continued, "My ex-husband's idea of making love was to bend me over the table, grab my hair and slam into me a few times. The idiot I lived with was a thirty-second wonder. My only thought when he did it to me was trying to keep him awake so he wouldn't crush me to death after he came. Yeah, we're women, and your son is inexperienced, but who knows, maybe we'll all learn to make love. Neither Denise nor I have done that yet."

Denise leaned over and squeezed the older woman's hand. "None of us have any idea where this relationship is going — if anywhere. But whatever happens, Connie and I are on the pill. We have no intention of trying to trap him into marriage. We've even made comments about us being too old for him, and that we would be his girlfriends until he meets someone his age. He doesn't even seem to understand why we would say that. In the mean time, we're going to help him save his money for college. We all make a decent wage. Together, we have a better chance than any of us alone."

Jeremy's fourteen-year-old sister came out on the porch to join them. Jeremy's mother looked up at her and frowned. Paulette said, "Oops," did an about face that would have made a drill sergeant proud, and disappeared back into the house.

Mrs. Carter looked through the glass of the sun porch at something only she could see in the distance. "I guess that I always dreamed that my son would get his degree, meet some nice girl from around here, get a good job, and make me a bunch of grandkids."

"You're too young to be thinking about grandkids," Connie said, smiling.

"I'm forty, and that's plenty old enough. It's time for me to be holding a baby in my arms again. I just hope he doesn't try to marry both of you and get into trouble."

After the stammering was over, Adriana continued, "Oh, it's obvious that you two are madly in love with him. You can't even say his name without it showing in your voices. Sorry I came across like a clucking mother hen protecting her chick. He's the only son I have, and I want him to have a good life. If he had brought two eighteen-year-old girls in here, I would have worried about them, instead. I guess I came down on you two because you're older than he is. Heck, his father is going to be proud of him. I'll bet he's out there slapping him on the back right now," she finished, chuckling.

Standing, Mrs. Carter motioned for them to follow. "Come on. Let's go find Paulette. I was rude to her. She's as curious about you as the rest of us. She thinks Jeremy is absolutely wonderful. It will be all over the school that her brother has two girlfriends."

Connie and Denise hugged each other and followed Mrs. Carter into the house.

Diana walked out of the second floor onto the balcony overlooking the pool. After busying herself watering the plants, she pulled a recliner over so that she could see, and sat down. She knew that everyone had seen her. Lighting a cigarette, she relaxed, watching the people below her — watching her people below her.

Evie, Dave and Linda were at one end of the long room near the glass wall. All three had guitars and were singing little jingles as the Hensons taught Linda to play.

Kathy and Bill, Margaret and Frank were in recliners near the big pool laughing and cutting up with Jeff and six of his wives as they cavorted in the pool nearby.

Evie looked up at Diana and winked. Diana smiled back at her.

A few minutes later, Jeff exited the pool, pulling over a chaise to sit with Margaret, Frank, Kathy and Bill. Jeff's six wives swam back toward the deep end in the direction of the board when Arlene looked back at her sister-wives and suddenly turned left toward the side of the pool, putting on a burst of speed. Abruptly diving, she angled toward the side as she neared the bottom, then putting on a phenomenal amount of speed she surfaced at the edge of the pool to stand for a second.

"That's what Helen did," Bill hissed to Kathy as Ann suddenly swam toward the edge and dived. Arlene began jogging in a big arc toward the diving board. Just before she reached the steps to the six-foot board, Ann rocketed up out of the water and immediately broke into a jog following Arlene's arc. A few seconds later as Arlene split the water with hardly a ripple, Ann took the steps to the diving board behind her.

Soon all six were part of the procession of beauty, but their jog through the arc around part of the room was so smooth that their breasts hardly bounced in their modest bikinis. When Arlene dived for the fourth time, she turned toward the opposite side of the pool. When Ann dived, she turned in the original direction, each wife alternating, yet coming back together at the board in the same order and the same spacing.

By then, everyone was standing in order to see better, but Diana on the balcony had the best seat. Bill looked over at Jeff. "They're good," he said, inanely, then realizing how inadequate the statement was, he tried again. "They're superb. I've never seen anything like it. They're perfectly spaced to the second; they even hit the first step on the board with the same foot. How do they shoot out of the water like that?"