I looked down at the pile on the table in front of me and wondered just where the habit had come from and how I'd gotten started doing it. I always peel the labels off of my beer bottles. I had been sitting there for over an hour and a half waiting for my stepmother to show and the pile had grown. Adele had called me at work and had asked me to meet her for a drink. She said that she had something important that she needed to talk to me about and so far she had called me twice on her cell to tell me that she was running late, but that she was on the way.

Normally I won't sit around and wait for people who are late for meetings and appointments, but this time curiosity had me pinned to my chair. Adele and I did not get along - never had - and I didn't expect that we ever would. I did have to admit that I was as much to blame for the animosity as she was. After mom had died I thought dad had replaced her way too soon and so I was a little cold toward Adele when she moved in. On her part Adele was way too bossy for someone new to the household and to the two teenagers who lived there.

For some reason my sister Vickie had warmed to Adele right away, but Adele hadn't been there three days before she was telling me what to do and how to do it. That is something that you just don't do to a naturally rebellious teenager who is still grieving over the loss of his mother. And it had never gotten any better.

I went to college on a football scholarship and I had hardly ever gone back home. Spring Break, the holidays, summer vacation were all spent some place else and if my dad wanted to see me he had to come and visit me because I wouldn't go home if Adele was there. He would visit and try to mend fences, "It was just as hard for Adele to come into that situation as it was for you to have her there. She means well, and she tries hard. Try and meet her halfway." He never did understand that there were two problems - Adele, and the fact that I had never forgiven him for his obscene (to me anyway) quickness in replacing mom.

I graduated, got a job, met a girl and got married and, more to please Sandra than for any other reason, I made an effort to maintain family ties with dad and Adele. It wasn't all that hard since I didn't live with them anymore, but Adele and I never managed to get past an armed truce. And now, out of the blue, she wanted to meet me for a drink.

I saw her come in the front door of the bar and I noticed every male head in the place turn to look at her and appreciate her beauty. I didn't like her much, but I am not blind. Looking at her it was easy to see why my father had gone after her. Even at forty-three she had the nice tight look of a girl twenty years younger. She keeps that look with daily sessions on the Stairmaster down in the basement and with five mile runs three days a week. In spite of myself I felt my cock twitch as she walked toward the table. I stood up as she reached my table and she offered me her hand.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet me here and I'm sorry to be so late. There was something that I needed to get done before meeting you and the person I had to see was himself late."

She sat down and I asked her what she was drinking and she said, "Scotch on the rocks, Dewar's if they have it." I got up to get it and when I got back to the table she was taking a large envelope out of her purse and setting it on the table. She took a sip of her drink, set the glass down and cut right to the chase.

"I have a major problem and I'm trying to figure out what to do about it. Frankly, I did not realize that it was also your problem until yesterday."

"My problem too?"

"Yes. Before I go into it I need to clear the decks so to speak. First off I know you don't like me and it may surprise you to know that I completely understand it, but your father was the best thing to ever happen to me and I wasn't going to let him get away. I was not going to wait around a year or two and take the chance that he might find someone else. I am not now, nor will I ever apologize for that. Next, you need to understand that I love your father wholly and completely and regardless of what happens I have no intention of losing him to someone else or of tossing his worthless ass out on the street."

Adele saw the look that came over my face and said, "Yes, I just said in the same sentence that I love your father and that he is worthless. That brings me to our problem. Your father is having an affair."

"How is my father having an affair my problem?"