Chapter 3

The next morning, I picked up Charlene for school. She had a nice smile going. I asked, "How was your day?"

"Don't tell secrets, but did he say anything after I left?"

I did not have the heart to tease her and make her squirm. I rarely saw her so uncertain. I touched her arm. "Yes, he did. You tempted him, but he was concerned."

"Let's see. I'm your best friend and I'm too young. Did I miss anything important?"

"You're batting two for two. When I realized that you had a little crush on him, I decided to be on your side."

"To say that what I feel is a little crush is like saying that the Titanic was an Atlantic ferry boat."

"You tempt him. There is no doubt that he lusts for you just like all the other males. If I had to bet two cents, I'd bet that he will move on you."

"Would you bet a quarter?"

"Yeah, I'd go a quarter."

"Well, Miss pinchpenny, if you'd go a quarter, it sounds like a sure thing."

"I coached him a little. Maybe I'd bet a dollar."

"I hope you're right. I haven't spent a whole day wanting someone so much in ages. Maybe never. I did all I knew how to do except take off my suit and spread my legs."

"He's concerned about me and you. We'll get him over it. He's going on a trip Wednesday, so maybe you'd better come over tonight."

She glowed. "You're serious?"

"Yes. If you strike out, we can study."

"I struck out yesterday, ruining my record. Maybe I can find the leprechaun."

We both sat with Tyler at lunch and were JoNell free. I wondered what she was planning. Apparently so did Charlene, who asked, "What is she going to do for revenge?"

I responded, "You're the bright one here. What do you think?"

"You're not running for office and aren't on any teams, so I'm at a loss."

Tyler said, "I don't like to think she'd do anything bad, but I'll speak to her. I have a few nuggets to disclose about her myself that I don't think she wants told."

Nothing bad happened. Dad was working on his computer when I came home from school. I gave him a hug and said, "I need you to help me make a grocery list when you hit a break point."

"Sure. I'm just doing some housecleaning." We went to the kitchen, took one of Mom's preprinted checklists, and started to work.

When we finished, I said, "Okay. I'm off to the market. Call me if you remember anything."

I was diligently going down the aisles filling my basket when my phone rang. "Yes, Dad?"

"They're having a special on my favorite red wine. Can you get me a few bottles?"

"You're missing Mom already. She bought the wine. I can't."

He laughed. "God, you can do everything else. I didn't even think. Okay, I'll get it. I need to inventory the bar anyway."

I put the groceries away while he was out doing errands. I noted that it took a full hour and a half to do that errand.

When he came back, he said, "I'll have to find a shopping service. I can't have you spending that much time just looking for groceries."

I hugged him. "Thanks. Better make a list of everything she did so that we don't let anything fall between the cracks."

"I'll try, but I don't remember everything."

"Put it on your computer. I'll go over it and see what I can remember. Look at your checks, too. Give me the credit card statements. I'll check them. That should be a good reminder."

I kissed his cheek and said, "She's coming over tonight because she didn't want to miss you when you were out of town. I really do need to go to the library for a while tonight. I wish you'd taken advantage of her yesterday."

I made a quick dinner with a pork loin and some steamed veggies. I learned that quickie when Mom wasn't a hundred percent functioning. He helped me load the dishwasher and then I hugged him again. I said, "This time, I'll be gone when she comes in. You guys can sort it all out. Just don't disappoint her."

"You are devious, Destiny. I'm as nervous as Tyler was the other day waiting to get his hands on you."

"Was he? I didn't know. I really didn't. Hmmm."

When I came home from the library, no one was downstairs, so I made the coffee and went in to watch TV. I must have been there for almost an hour when they came in looking kind of glazed. Charlene had obviously brushed her hair and tuned up her makeup, of which she wore little. She came over and kissed me and just said, "Thanks." Dad looked very uncomfortable. Reminded me of a teenager coming home late for curfew.

I took his advice from past conversations and put my issue on the table. "I hope you guys did what it looks like you did. If so, I'm happy for you. Next time, I'll be here with or without Tyler, so we have to accommodate. I hope Charlene will stay over when she can."

The room was silent. Charlene said, "I would love to stay over. That way, I have two chances to be happy."

My dear Dad said, "I would like that, too. I'm sure we can accommodate Tyler." I assume that he meant that Tyler could stay over, too. What would his mother think?

I kissed them both and went upstairs. Charlene came up with me and rolled her eyes. "Wonderful. Better than that. I'll tell you tomorrow." She returned to Dad.

I still had some time to surf for food services and found one that fixed ready meals, according to the dietary preferences of the client. The other did the shopping and kept your house full of the necessary groceries. I didn't bother asking permission; I just ordered the services and set up an appointment for the next evening so that they could learn about us. Both services received high scores on the local consumer rating service. I scheduled the ready meals people first and the shopping service an hour later. How did people function before the Internet?

As I lay waiting to sleep, I had deep thoughts about what had happened to me in the past two weeks. I almost wanted to run the house for Dad. That would be good practice, but it would take time away from school programs. Since Mom wasn't permitted to have phone calls for the first month, I didn't need to worry about calling. She couldn't be having a good time. What will it be like to sleep with Tyler all night? I needed to talk to Mavis about my life and get her advice. Many important thoughts competed with each other for my attention, but I had to focus on getting to sleep.

Dad read the papers diligently and also surfed the net for news affecting his business. He was there when I went to breakfast. I said, "Well, if it isn't my teeny-bopper Dad."

"That's me. I think I missed being a teenager the first time around, so I'll have to be one now."

I put my arms around him and kissed him as sweetly as I could. "How are you feeling?"

"Charlene is wonderful to spend time with. She is as mature as you are. My issues remain and I hope I'll get over them. It occurs to me that I can't take her on dates." He squeezed me. "How do you like it when I take over your best friend?"


"Well, I don't know. I hadn't thought of all the implications involved in hooking you up with her. I guess we have to figure out how to share her."

I then told him about the arrangements for food that I made. He was pleased and agreed to be at home for the appointments. When I finished, he said, "I'm very proud of you, stepping in for your mother. It will take us a few days to fill all the gaps. I'll work on my to-do list today."

When Charlene sat in the car and fastened her belt, she said, "I'm scared. That man is amazing. I have thought of nothing else since Sunday when we had our conversation by the pool. I've been infatuated for two years, but nothing like now."

"If it makes you feel any better, he's scared too. I think you hit him pretty hard on Sunday and even more last night."

Charlene sighed. "Glad to hear it, but it doesn't make me feel any better."

"I'm coming to your house after school and we're going to talk this through. He's home and I wouldn't risk letting you come to my house."

"Trying to keep my hand out of the cookie jar?"

"No, trying to keep your mouth off the popsicle."

She laughed. "You're going to die when I tell you the whole story."

Charlene and Tyler were already at the table when I went in for lunch. I smiled inside to think that he felt he could trust me to get through the line on my own. He'd escorted me every day. I went to sit with them and we were joined by Bill Budd, a junior one of his football teammates. I think Bill wanted to get friendly with Charlene. I thought about it. That might make life easier to take the public focus away from Dad.

Tyler whispered, "I think Bill is trying to attract Charlene."

I laughed. "Tyler, you are so bright."

He whispered, "I had dreams about you. I even thought about you while I took my shower."

"If you don't stop that soft stuff, you'll never live to do that again in the shower. It takes my attention away from school."

Budd was actually able to hold up his part of the conversation. What a refreshing change. Two guys who could talk about something but football and themselves. What a relief. Maybe he'd fit in.

After school, we arrived at Charlene's house and went to her room with our sodas. She had me sit on the bed and lean back. She opened, "Let's get this straight. I'm going to be your stepmother and whip you into shape."

When I laughed, she couldn't hold it back and we had a good one. She went on. "I spiffed myself up and went to your house. Thanks for not being there. When he opened the door, I wanted to clear the confusion about why I was there and kissed him before he could react. It took him only a couple of seconds to get with it. When he finished kissing me, I could barely stand."

"He's that good? Wow."

"You have no idea. If he wasn't your father, I'd suggest that you try him. Anyway, he led me to the den and we kissed for half an hour. I was in heaven. For two damn years, I'd wanted him to kiss me like that and I don't even know why. I was shy and coy, so I said, "Daniel, could we go to your bed?"

"He laughed. I think he was as nervous as a high school boy." Then he said, "'Come right along.'"

"I would have gone anywhere. Anyway, we kissed for a while standing up. I unbuttoned his shirt and stepped back to let him reach my buttons. He went slowly as did I, but we were finally stripped for action."


I asked, "Were you nervous?"

"Yeah, but I summoned my courage and rubbed myself against him. When we stretched out he kissed me all over. He's really good at that foreplay stuff. When he reached my wet pussy, he feasted on it forever. I don't know how long because when he came up for air, I was barely aware. I must have had six or eight big ones in a row."

"I take it that you were ready for him?"

"That's when it got interesting. He had to go to his suitcase in the closet to get a condom. I didn't protest because I knew he was being responsible, but I didn't want him to leave the bed. Not then. Anyway, he found what he was looking for and put two of them on the night stand. I'm wanting him in me bad."

I giggled. "That feeling of an itchy empty pussy can be changed only by having it filled to capacity."

"That's itch is exactly what I had, but by then, he'd lost it."

"My God. What did you do?"

"I remembered your advice and sucked him in, of course. I tried for easily thirty minutes to revive the dead and it wouldn't get hard. By then, he was miserable. When he tried to apologize, I shushed him and asked him to get the lube."

"Why?"

"I had one more trick. I lubed him up and played with it for a while. He used his finger and stroked me. I felt just a little life in it as I got more excited. He said, 'Charlene, I'm about to come.' When he did, I did, and I felt greatly relieved."

"After all the time you wanted him and he just fizzled out? I'll bet that put out your fire. I remember how bad John was when you started."

"Unfortunately, I didn't just want him for a fuck toy. I like that man and I like being with him. He makes me feel wonderful when he kisses me and I died when he went south on me."

"You're going back for more? Doesn't sound like you."

"We talked about it. I told him that if he didn't shut up about it, I would bite him next time. Then I told him that he had to agree to give me six more chances and if I failed, then he would be free to dump me."

"Did he agree?"

"He talked around it and tried to wiggle out, but I kissed and stroked him and he finally said we could try again. I really wanted to curl up and sleep with him."

"Okay. That's why he was so embarrassed when he came down to breakfast. He knew you'd tell me and then I would know all about it. I can't imagine how he must have felt."

"Oh, I can. I read about it on the Internet when I returned home. Impotence happens much more than people think and not only to really old guys. Sometimes they call it 'performance anxiety' and other names. When a guy wants it real bad, sometimes he comes too quickly and sometimes he can't get it up. So, Dr. Charlene prescribed some erectile dysfunction pills and we'll fix that problem in a hurry."

I laughed. "So, he has to go to the doctor to get ready to fuck you?"

"It isn't funny for either of us. I know we'll work it out. He can call for a prescription. I also read that men have a lot of trouble admitting that they can't get an erection, even to their physician. He said that it was the first time for him. I just know he's worried about my age or that I'm your best friend." She paused in her chatter, and then asked uncertainly, "Am I still your best friend?"

I leaned over and kissed her with a big hug. "Sure, Mom. I always wanted my mother to be my best friend."

She slapped my butt. "You'll get a real spanking for that." She went on. "I see those ads on TV for all the erectile dysfunction drugs. They always show the guys being successful and the women looking loving. They never show the times when he tries and fails." She sniffled. "I loved on him the best I could."