Chapter 2

In late January, Connecticut experienced another one of those Canadian cold fronts. One that came on us suddenly, got stalled in the air above us, only to then stay to linger unabated, seemingly for weeks this time.

I suffered through a week of it. My threshold of tolerance for living in cold weather had already been reduced by the previous two and a half months of a milder than normal cold season. Having the weather suddenly turn brutally cold this late in the cold season was more than I wanted to continue enduring. I started thinking about another trip to Florida.

It had been more than a week since the trip to New York I'd taken with Tina and Sherry. I'd gone over the following morning and paid her for my new painting, and that had been the last time I'd seen them. When I started planning my escape from the cold weather, naturally, I thought of the girls, and of our last discussion about the three of us taking a cruise together. When I did, it was as if I'd opened up a whole host of lewd thoughts in my mind.

They had planted the seeds for this, and I now found myself given over to that reverie. The paranoid part of me started trying to resist the lure of imagining myself on a warm tropical beach with these two lovely sisters. My first thought was to make a single reservation to fly to Miami and remove myself from the temptation I suddenly felt. I even got on the internet, looking for flight and hotel deals.

My mind wasn't as cooperative as I might have wanted though, and I was powerfully tempted to call the girls, to at least give into the idea of inviting them over to discuss some possible ideas for us taking a joint vacation. I could go into all the rationalizations for this I made to myself, but rather than do that, I'll just tell you that I did make the call in the end.

I'd purchased a cell phone and some anytime minutes for Tina shortly after we'd gotten back together the last time. I did it for my convenience mostly, so we could better coordinate our schedules. I had kept paying for the plan even after we broke up.

"It's me. I can't stand anymore of this cold, so I'm going to go somewhere nice tomorrow. If you want to, you can come by and take a shot at trying to convince me I should take you along with me."

"What about Sherry? She's still here with me."

"I thought she was moving back with your folks?"

"No. My dad. He says she can't move back, so she's still here with me."

"Well, it was just an idea. I'll send you a postcard from wherever I finally end up."

"Jimmy, that was really sweet of you to call me this way. I was really beginning to think you didn't care anymore."

"Me feeling sorry for you isn't the same as what you're saying. I like you as a friend, and I know you hate the Winter's here as much as I do."

"I do, but not as much as Sherry does. Cold goes right through her. Last night she started crying, and we were both wearing six layers of clothing."

"You guys can come over here to house sit for me if you want to. I'll be gone for at least a week. I'm sure it is a lot more comfortable here than over at your place."

"You aren't leaving until tomorrow? Can we come over now? I don't think Sherry can take too much more of this."

"Sure, I guess. You want me to swing by there and get you? You'll probably want to pack some things too, and it'd be a big hassle to backpack it through the woods in all this cold."

"We'll be ready. Give us thirty minutes, okay? And, Jimmy, I really appreciate you doing this for us."

Right after I hung up the phone, I started laughing. I knew I was going to have a lot of fun for the rest of the time before I left. I knew the temptation I'd felt was mild compared to what they'd be feeling when I brought them up to date on all the places I was looking at possibly going to on this little trip of mine. I'd already checked Miami, and they had their own cold spell. Some of their orange groves had frost damage, and high temperatures during the day were only in the forties and low fifties.

California was one possibility, since they were currently enjoying most days in the seventies and the eighties. Too bad I'd already sold both my houses there. Hawaii was another possibility, as was either Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico. There were also tons of cruises leaving from Florida too.

When I finally went over to drive them back to my place, they were both all bundled up, like Eskimos, and Tina had two shopping bags filled with all her extra things, while Sherry had all her stuff in two pieces of matched leather luggage. They were both excited at the prospect of soon being in front of my fireplace. I had the heat turned way up in the Navigator, plus I'd set the thermostat in my house for eighty degrees before I'd left to pick them up.

"Did you decide where you're going yet?" Tina had put her two bags in the back seat with her sister, not wanting to put them back where I normally stowed luggage for some unspecified reason. She climbed into the front with me, which answered my question about why she'd put her bags on the back seat.

"Too cold in Florida right now. I'm thinking maybe Hawaii, or down on the Baja peninsula. I might try to go see my brother and his family first, then go down to Mexico, or else fly to Hawaii from there. It depends on what deals I can find."

"Hawaii? You're going to Hawaii? That really sucks. Remember I told you that I wanted to go there on my honeymoon? You told me you already went there on vacation before. You should go somewhere new, not there."

"If it was me, I'd want to go to Hawaii. The water is warm all year long, and the temperature always stays the same." Sherry was actually leaning forward in her seat to tell us that. For her, that was a sure sign of interest and excitement. She wasn't usually very animated.

"I checked on cruises leaving from Miami too. Further South, the weather warms up in a hurry. Anything South of Cuba is nice right now. Jamaica looks good, or even the Virgin Islands, if I was just going to fly in and out."

"You said Mexico and Baja, aren't they the same?" Tina was turned in her seat, facing towards me.

"Baja is this long peninsula on the West coast side of Mexico. I forgot, they have cruises that leave from Los Angeles and San Diego that go down to all the tourist ports along Baja. That might even be better for me. You need a passport to go on cruises that stop outside the US though."

"You don't have one?" Tina seemed concerned.

"No, I have one. I was just saying that the law changed, and now you need one. Before, you didn't need one. After 9/11, they changed all that."

"We both have passports, if that was what you were wondering." This was Tina again.

"That will be good if you ever get to go on one of those cruises you were asking about before. I'm leaning towards flying out to California to see Danny tomorrow. I can get a direct flight at a cheap fare. Once I'm warm again, then I'll decide where else I might want to go."

I set the girls up in my two guest bedrooms. Tina was already very familiar with where everything was in my house, but I wanted Sherry to know everything too. I had a suspicion that Tina and I might be going away on this trip together, and I wanted Sherry comfortable with staying at my house alone.

I cooked a nice pot roast dinner in my crock pot. I liked more carrots with my pot roast than potatoes, but I put in plenty of each, because I already knew that Tina didn't eat carrots at all. I made my special horse radish and ketchup sauce to flavor the pot roast with. Everyone seemed to enjoy the dinner.

Tina had been trying to find out if I wanted to sleep with her or not. She wasn't being very subtle with her inquiries either.

"You know you want my body, Jimmy. All you have to do is ask me. I wouldn't say no."

"It isn't your body I have problems with, Tina, it's all the rest of it. You want a different relationship than I'm ready for. You need to go out and find someone who wants the same things you want."

We had been skirting around the issue of sleeping together. I already knew that I'd probably end up with Tina in my bed, sometime that night. She might wait until I was asleep and sneak in to attack my body, but all the telltale signs were present that she was horny. I had my own telltale sign prominently on display, for anyone who was the least bit observant.

"Keep throwing yourself at him, Tina. You never learn, do you? You keep playing right into his hands. Try using some self control. Remember what we agreed on, about waiting for him to make the first move?"

"He called me. Doesn't that count as him making the first move? He invited us over to stay here. The last time I asked him, he said no. As far as I'm concerned, he made the first and the second moves both. Now, its my turn to make a move too."

"So pathetic. No wonder he leads you around by your twat. You make it so easy for him to take advantage."

I'd been listening to them both. I thought Tina had much the stronger argument going. There was no question in my mind about my having been the first to make a move. I didn't like Sherry's twat comment though. I knew how much influence she had with Tina.

"Please explain your last comment, Sherry. How am I leading her around like you say?"

"You always end up getting what you want. In this case, you were horny, and you wanted to get laid before you went off to visit your family. You knew how easy it would be to call Tina and get her to come over here to take care of your needs."

"An interesting theory, but it happens to be completely wrong. Tina is my friend, and when I called her, she was very worried about you, with how you're managing in this extreme cold. She came here to help you as much as anything else. She already knew she was welcome to come over herself, whenever she wanted to. As far as her wanting to have sex with me, that has never been a secret. We both enjoy sex together. Believe me, sex was never any part of our relationship problem."

"How about you dangling the trip in front of her? What's that a part of?"

"I'm sorry you think that's what I've been doing. When I spoke with Tina about that possibility, earlier, she told me she wasn't free to leave. She gave me her reasons, and I agreed with her. There is no dangling going on. If it offends you to listen to my dithering around about where I'm going, then I'll stop doing it. I want you to be comfortable Sherry. I also know you have Tina's welfare as your primary concern, just as she worries about you."