Chapter 15

Dorothy wrote her sister to tell her that we would welcome her into our home, but only until she got herself a job and was able to care for herself and her son. A week later we heard back from Sonia again, this time asking Dorothy if she could borrow three hundred dollars, to offset her moving expenses. Dorothy came to me with Sonia's letter, and we ended up sending her the money through Western Union.

Jake and Sonia showed up in Garden Grove two weeks after we'd sent her the money. It was less than three hundred miles from Arizona to our house, but Sonia gave no explanation for the long delay in getting back to California.

I had to go back over to Stanton for the zoning board hearing, and was pleasantly surprised to see Melanie sitting off to the side of the planning commission members. I was granted my variance request without any questions being asked of me, a pleasant surprise, and told that I could come by the city hall and pick up my new permit in a week. I was happy, since this would give me an opportunity to see Melanie again, and, hopefully, get her to change her mind about seeing me.

During the hour that I was sitting in the hearing, my attention was pretty well fixed on Melanie the whole time. There was something about her that just drew my eyes to her face. She was gorgeous, but that wasn't the whole source of her attraction for me. Just seeing her gave me pleasure. To me, she was like a work of art, something that you could stare at forever. She fascinated me, the way no other person ever had. I'd look at her, and I'd feel a real definite sense of enjoyment. She approached me as soon as the zoning meeting was concluded. I'd remained at the meeting after my petition had been granted, hoping that she and I could exchange a few words.

"They sure didn't put you through any bother over your petition, Mr. Flanagan. They almost never approve a variance request without asking the petitioner some questions."

"I wasn't asking for anything big, just a five foot change in the front setbacks on the four lots. I needed that in order to have decent sized back yards for the houses I'm going to be building. Forty foot setbacks aren't reasonable anyway. I wish you'd call me Jim though, not Mr. Flanagan."

"How is the rest of your family, Jim?" The way she asked me that let me know that she might still be a bit angry at my earlier attempt to date her.

"They're all fine. My sister in law and her son are staying with us for a short while, so the house is pretty crowded at the moment. She's moving back here from Arizona."

"I'm still not sure that I shouldn't be offended by what you tried to get me involved with. A married man, one with three young children at home. What kind of woman did you think I was?"

"I told you when we talked at your apartment, that I never have done anything like this before. It isn't like I'm always running around trying to pick up women. You're the only one I've ever been interested in this way. I can't help it that I find you irresistibly attractive. I wish I didn't." I was getting a bit upset with her coming up to me like this. It looked like she just wanted to tell me how out of line I was before.

"I almost believe you. I am glad that you were honest enough to tell me that you were married and had a family. A lot of guys try to hide that, at least until after they get what they're after. Because you didn't try to hide any of that, I can almost believe what you're telling me now. I don't understand how you hoped to have a relationship with me, while still keeping your wife and family together?"

"That's why I suggested we go have dinner somewhere, so we could talk about how we could do that."

"I'm not a home wrecker. I wouldn't go out to dinner with a married man, especially one who has told me he finds me so irresistible. If you weren't married, I might be very interested, but you are. I wouldn't feel right letting you take me out anywhere."

"So, we're right back to where we were when you told my to go home that other time. I'm still interested, and you still aren't. I'm still glad I had a chance to see you again. I didn't think you'd be here tonight. It was a nice surprise."

"I'm at all the zoning hearings. Who do you think it is that writes up all the changes for them to either turn down or approve? When you come by city hall later, to pick up your variance, I'll be the one who wrote it all up for them sign off on."

"Speaking of that, when will the paperwork be ready for me to pick up? I'm anxious to start building on those lots."

"You can start now, if you want to. The variance has been approved already. The document is just for your records, in case there are questions asked later on. You can pick up the variance on Thursday, if you want it in your hands before you start building."

"If I come by to get it at noon on Thursday, will you let me take you out to lunch?" She laughed, not seeming to be at all offended by my offer.

"I really shouldn't. If I did go with you, it would only be to see how scandalized all the old biddies would be because of it. I know I'm probably going to regret saying yes to you, but, I will, if you first promise to behave yourself if I do?"

"Not a problem. For right now, all I expect us to do is talk, to try to get to know each other."

I'm pretty sure we both knew that there was going to be a lot more between us in the future. Melanie had approached me after the meeting. She must have known that she would accept an invitation if one was made to her. I was relieved, knowing that the biggest hurdle had been overcome with her. I still had an even larger hurdle, Dorothy. I had no ideas about how I might make her understand and accept my doing anything with Melanie.

On the face of it, what I was contemplating was entirely inexcusable. This was certainly going to put a tremendous strain on my marriage. Dorothy would be hurt by this. There was no way to avoid that. Not if I was actually going through with my plans for Melanie. Driving home that night, no longer in Melanie's presence, I started feeling the weight of what I was putting in motion. Was it worth it? I believed it was.

Sonia was looking good. She had gotten her black hair cut short, with bangs in the front. Before, when she still lived at home with her family, she'd dressed very conservatively. No more. Now, she wore short skirts that ended above her knees, and tight blouses that put her nice full chest on display. She was the most Americanized of all the sisters, much more so than Dorothy, who was, in turn, more Americanized than her older sisters.

Sonia also liked to drink beer and wine, and smoke, although Dorothy allowed her to smoke only on the back patio, not inside the house. Another bad habit Sonia had was to come out to the kitchen in the mornings wearing only a nightshirt. The way her boobs bounced around inside the nightshirt was a real distraction to me. She'd be fixing Jake's school lunch or making him some breakfast, and I'd be forced to see her nice butt cheeks jiggling around, as well as her boobs bouncing back and forth. She had a very hairy pussy too, and this was evident in the mornings, since she never wore panties to bed. I said something to Dorothy about Sonia prancing around the house in the mornings, but her only comment was that I should turn my eyes away if I didn't want to look.

On Thursday I came by the Stanton city hall and picked up my variance papers. Melanie and I went out to a nice Mexican restaurant about a mile from her work and had a long (2 hour) lunch. We talked about a lot of things, including her life and my own.

She told me that she had never been married, but she admitted to having been engaged twice before, and also admitted living with her second fiance for six months before breaking things off with him. She told me that both relationships had been ended by her. The first because she decided she really didn't love him, and the second, after she found out that he was just too much of a mama's boy for her liking.

I told her about moving to California, and about Cheryl, my first girlfriend. I tried telling her about my early relationship with Dorothy, so she'd understand how we'd gotten together, but she said she didn't want to talk about that with me. I got the impression that she had decided to pretend that I wasn't married. After thinking about her doing that, I decided that it would be a fine thing, at least as far as I was concerned.

"If we start going out together, Jim, where do you see any relationship we might form going?"

"I haven't given that much thought."

"Obviously, since you're already married, it couldn't lead to our marriage. I'm just wondering if it would be worthwhile for the two of us to start something we both knew wasn't ever going to lead to anything?"

"Right now, we're enjoying a nice lunch together. That's something."

"You know what I mean. You aren't going to be satisfied with just lunches and dinners. Sooner or later, you're going to try to get me to go to bed with you."

"We don't ever have to do that, not if it would be a problem for you. I can't explain to you why, but just being with you, like this, would be enough."

"You have your wife to take care of your needs, but what about my needs? You can see how something like this would never work well for me? I ought to have my head examined, thinking that I could go out with you without messing up all our lives. Please take me back to work, Jim."

I paid the bill at the restaurant and drove Melanie back to city hall. I'd had a good time, being with her, until she had directed the conversation around to worrying about the future. When I pulled up inside the parking lot, Melanie had opened the truck door quickly and started walking away from me. She hadn't said anything during the short ride back to her workplace. She didn't even say goodbye. I was a bit put off by her sudden change in attitude.