Chapter 5

I followed Cyn down the hallway to the kids' room. As soon as we were both in the hallway she turned and looked at me. Better said, she caught me watching the sway in her walk. I saw the little satisfied smile on her face as she turned back.

There is something to be said about little ones, the age of Kim and Brian. They were easy, once properly worn out, to get to go down. Both Tim and Cyn had played with the two all evening and they hadn't even made it across the street without dropping.

Cyn had laid Kim on the changing table and gently, but efficiently, pulled her diaper off. The fresh one went on, and she was placed into her crib without a peep. Cyn turned around and put out her arms for Brian. I handed him to her and she once again did her magic. Once both of them were down, we walked out and into the living room.

I didn't know what to say at this point. As she hadn't said a word, I supposed she didn't either. I know it was the easy way out, but I'd always found it worked.

"I'm sorry."

"For what part?" Cyn asked.

I was a bit surprised by her come back and looked straight at her. She gave me a grin.

"Let's start with the part where I ran away, this morning. Not one of my shining moments."

"My mom said you were hurt."

"She did?"

This time I saw her look a bit apprehensive as she nodded.

"She said you thought I was moving away and you didn't want to lose me."

There was a pause, where I had to choose what to say.

'Oh, hell, ' I thought, 'just get it over with.'

"She was right," I said. "I don't."

I could tell she wasn't expecting that.

I went on, resigned to the fact that I'd gone this far with the conversation.

"Cyn. You told me ... well, emailed me, this afternoon. I had to come to terms with the fact that my online flirt was the neighbor I have adored, as well. I'm not sure I should be telling you this, though."

Cyn pulled her bottom lip in. Did she have any idea how cute that made her? I wasn't about to ask. In fact, I wasn't going to say anything until she responded. The silence lasted a moment.

"Can you tell me something?" she asked.

"I guess it depends on what it is."

"Why did you try and give me Melody's car this afternoon?"

"Ahh, going for the easy one."

"Yeah."

"It's an all over good car, and gets pretty good gas mileage. I spent a lot of time finding that car for her. Something..." I started to get choked up with emotion, so I just rushed it out, "to keep her safe."

I closed my eyes in a feeble attempt to keep the water that was forming from falling down my face. I felt Cyn's arms around me, as she pulled me into a hug.

The she whispered, "It still hurts a lot, doesn't it."

"Yeah."

"Then why give me the car?"

I pulled back from her, just enough to look into her eyes.

"Because I want to try and keep you safe."

I think she initiated it, but to tell you the truth, I have no idea. We were kissing. It was soft and sweet ... and over much too soon.

Both of us took a step back, sort of shocked at what had just happened.

"I ... ahh..." I stammered out, as I was taking another step back.

"Don't run," Cyn implored.

"Cyn..."

She groaned and then said, "Do you have any idea what that does to me?"

"What?"

"When you call me Cyn. It..."

"Yes?" I asked, wanting her to tell me, but knowing I shouldn't hear it.

"Well, ummm," she said, tumbling out the words. "It makes me feel special."

"Cyn, you are very special."

Her face lit up. I know I didn't quite get it. Didn't she know that already? Would I have offered her a car if I didn't think that? Saying those words, now, said something more? Would I ever understand a woman's way of thinking? Probably not.

She took a step forward. I know she was going to kiss me again. I knew I shouldn't. I also knew I wanted her to.

The doorbell took that decision away from us. Cyn looked disappointed. When I answered the door, I didn't need to look, I knew Cyn was mad.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her brother, rather heatedly.

"Mom sent me," he said, trying to defend his existence.

Cyn groaned, then asked, "What did she want?"

"For you to come home. She said she needed to talk with you."

"Tim," I said, "I know it might take years for you to fully understand, but when you go snooping into another person's private life you might be surprised at what you find. What would I find if I broke down your defenses and saw into your private life? Would you, could you, hold your head up and say, 'Yes, that's me. I do that?'

"You know, you had no right to look. I can tell that you knew just how to hack into my private files. That tells me you have done it before. What does that say about you?"

Then a bit softer I added, "Tim, before you go looking and then judging another person, you need to understand who you are. I don't think you do. I know I sure didn't when I was your age.

"What I'm trying to say is that I don't think my writing is any worse than your spying into the private lives of others. I somehow think that is how you feel. Let me ask you this, though. If everyone knew that I wrote these stories, and everyone knew when you came over to baby-sit their kids you hacked into their computers, who would be looked on worse?

"Tim, I'm not trying to make myself into a saint, here. There's a reason I write with a pen name, and encrypt those files. It was to protect my privacy."

"Come on," Cyn said to Tim.

I think she could tell that he didn't know what to say to me. She did though.

"Bye, Brad. Oh, did you email me back?"

She didn't wait for an answer. The two of them were out the door.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she wanted. She wanted an email from me.

The kids were down, so I could go off to my office and look at what fan email I had. Ok, and send something to Cyn.

"Tim said you wanted to talk?" Cynthia asked her mother.

"He did? Oh, well I just said I wanted to start reading that story, and he said he'd go get you," Terry answered. Then she got and inquisitive look on her face and asked, "Was there a problem with him showing up?"

"He's just ... what?" Cynthia realized what her mother was asking and blushed.

"Mmm, sort of what I thought."

"Mom!"

"Well..."

"We were in the living room," Cynthia pointed out.

Terry looked rather amused and then said, "I believe the living room is where you were conceived."

"Oh, please! Way too much information. Besides there is no way I want my..." Cynthia turned bright red at that point and exclaimed, "Never mind!"

Terry was chuckling. Cynthia wasn't so amused.

"Do you want it printed, or on disk?" Cynthia asked.

"Didn't you say he posted chapter 12? That would be a lot of paper. I thought you said he did this online, wouldn't it be easier..."

"Fine," Cynthia said, but wasn't going to give up that easy. "I'll get you a log in name and password. What would you like?"

"I thought..."

"There is no way you are using mine. It's free, but I can only read so many stories a month."

"Fine, then," Terry said exaggeratedly. "Set it up and tell me where to find his story."

Terry followed her daughter to the main 'house' computer. She watched in amazement at how fast her daughter could type.

"Ok, Mom, where do you want the activation code emailed to?"

"They're going to know my email?"

"Yes, Mom. Those dirty old men who do nothing but prey on pretty women and write smut will know your email address. Before long you will be getting emails about pills that will lengthen your ... well you know ... and grow bigger breasts!"

Terry was taken back at the forwardness of her daughter. That was until she couldn't even say dick, or worse cock! She tried not to chuckle, knowing that her daughter's attempt to shock her had backfired.

"What email address did you use?" Terry asked.

"One I made on gmail," she said. Then she glanced at her mother and added, "The heck if I was going to give those letches my real address."

Terry shook her head. She wondered how much she didn't know about her kids.

"How hard is it to set one up for me, then?"

"Not hard, takes just a minute. You will need to remember it though. Otherwise you'll lose out on specials."

"Specials?"

"Yeah, like online prescriptions for drastically reduced prices. Did you know I could get Viagra generic pills from India for a third of the price? Not that I would have any use for it!"

"You do know you're scaring me half to death."

"Mom," Cynthia said in a voice that suggested she didn't believe her. "I know better than that."

"Why would you say that?"

"Is there a reason you walked into my room this morning and told me I had feelings for my neighbor?"

"Well, I could see it."

"Yeah, but you not only said you saw it, but then said you were going over there. With or without me. What was all that about? Talk about scaring the daylights out of someone!"

"So this is fair play? Get back at me time?"

Cynthia grinned, and said, "Something like that. Now, here's your gmail account. I signed you up as a 'cougar', so you should be getting mail from guys who just turned eighteen. Hope you don't mind."