Chapter 4

The ambient light from the windows grew brighter with dawn's twilight. Hollis opened his eyes and regarded Annie. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning."

"Sleep well?"

"Mmm ... Never better." She swung her feet to the floor. "I gotta take my shower and get ready for school."

Hollis shook his head. "I just had a flash of cognitive dissonance. I spent the night with you like that and now you have to go to school."

"Help me straighten the bed."

He tugged on the covers. Annie slipped on her robe and picked up her nightgown and briefs. Hollis put on his robe and grabbed his boxers. He policed up the condom wrapper and spent tissues from the floor. Annie pulled back the drapes and secured them with cords. "There," she said, "transformed from a bedroom to a showroom."

"Right. The box of Kleenex does add an air of verisimilitude."

She accompanied him to the apartment. Hollis heard her showering. He started a pot of coffee and toasted some English muffins. Then he turned to his laptop.

Annie approached him in a white blouse and the red tartan kilt. "Another dress-up day?" he asked.

"No. It's mild and I thought I'd wear this."

"I get it -- you have nice legs and like to show them off."

"Once in a while. Do you think they're nice?"

"I think they're beautiful."

She examined her knee. "Splotch and all?" Annie spread peanut butter on her English muffins and sipped her mug of coffee. She set her empty dishes on the counter and picked up her backpack. Hollis approached her. They embraced and kissed. "See you later."

"Annie -- wait." He looked into her eyes. "It's going to be essential that we keep what goes on between us discreet."

"Hollie -- I'm legal."

"I was looking up the law. Yes, the age of consent in this state is sixteen. However, there is an exception for figures of authority. If one party is a figure of authority, then the age of consent is eighteen. I couldn't get a firm reading on what constitutes a figure of authority ... but I fear I might be considered one. I'm your employer and now I'm your erstwhile caregiver."

Annie continued to regard him.

"I'm telling you this," he continued, "because I remember what it was like when I was your age. If was sixteen and had lost my virginity -- however one defines it -- to some hot milf on whom I had a crush..."

Her jaw began to tremble and her eyes to fill. "Are you saying you think what I have for you is some schoolgirl crush?"

"Not at all, Annie. It's not what I meant." She looked into his eyes intently, her jaw still trembling. "If I had an experience anything like last night -- I wouldn't be able to contain myself. I would think it conferred on me some serious bragging rights and I would be boasting to all my friends. Annie -- the last thing we need is to have CPS crawling around here and asking difficult questions. If we want to keep what it is we have ... then it is absolutely essential to ... keep it ... quiet. Do you understand?"

Annie bit her lip and nodded. "I understand. The last thing I want is to lose you, Hollis."

"The last thing I want is to lose you."

"Do you mean that?"

"I do. In a year and a half you'll be eighteen and then we can be open about it. Until then..."

"I know. You can count on me, Hollis."

"Good. You know the stakes."

She nodded again. "I do."

He embraced her and kissed her lips. "Have a good day at school. I love you."

"I love you, too." She turned toward the door to the outside stairs and looked back at him. "Hollie -- thanks for the talk. I needed it."

Hollis watched through a window as Annie headed toward her bus stop. He showered and dressed, then he headed to the lower level to assess the damage.

Armed with measurements he headed toward the hardware store where he purchased a piece of polycarbonate glazing, cut to size, glazing points and caulk and a double-cylinder deadbolt. He headed back toward the barn, stopping first at a drug store for a supply of condoms.

Hollis sat on his stool behind the counter when Annie returned from school. He stood and approached her. They embraced and kissed long, passionate kisses. "I missed you," he said.

"I missed you, too. My mind kept wandering to last night ... and to tonight."

"I made some repairs downstairs," he said. "The place is like a fortress, now. We won't have to worry about Joey or anyone else breaking in."

"What did you do?"

He counted on his fingers. "I replaced the glass in the door with shatterproof plastic. I replaced the deadbolt with a double-cylinder one. Now we need a key to unlock it from either side. I hung a key inside the door where it's handy, but out of reach from outside. I added additional padlocks on the barn door and I used angle iron to put bars across the other windows. You should sleep easy, now."

Annie smiled. "I slept easy last night in your arms, Hollie." She headed toward the apartment. "I'll go change."

"Must you? I like seeing you in a skirt."

"Okay, if you'd prefer. Do you want me to take the register or set up displays?"

"I sold a set of dinnerware today," Hollis replied. "The dining room display looks a bit bare."

Her eyes popped. "You sold that lustre-ware set? All of it?"

"Yep, and for a good price. If you watch the register I'll go downstairs and see if we have anything we can put out as a replacement."

Annie stood by the dumbwaiter. "Here it comes," Hollis called from the lower level. He began hauling on a rope and the dumbwaiter car began its ascent to the main level.

"Okay," Annie shouted. Hollis secured the rope and climbed the stairs. She began taking stacks of dinnerware from the dumbwaiter and carrying them to a dining table set to display flatware, serving dishes and candlesticks. He joined her with a dustrag. "These are so dusty," she remarked as she set them on the table. "These are pretty, though."

"They're English stoneware," he replied, "from the thirties. Not as nice as that lustreware but nice."

"I like them."

"What in this shop DON'T you like?" he asked.

"I guess our tastes run in the same channel."

"I guess they do. I'll figure out pricing later. At least the table doesn't look bare anymore." He took the dust rags and placed them in the dumbwaiter. "Ready for dinner?"

"I'm hungry," Annie replied.

"China Buffet again?"

She shook her head. "I'm in the mood for something else. Something like ... a quarter-pound cheeseburger with lots of lettuce, tomato and onion, and with fries and a thick, chocolate shake."

"Hmm ... Sounds like a trip to The Palace is in order. I can't believe how you can pack it in and stay so slender."

"I'm blessed with a fast metabolism," she replied.

"Yeah? Don't count on it being fast forever. I have a cousin who was like you -- bean-pole skinny and he could pack in in, too. He was like that until his late twenties. Then, his metabolism hit the brakes and now he's three hundred pounds."

Annie began pulling the jewelry trays from the glass cases near the counter and placing them in the safe. She pressed a button on the register to open it and removed the cash drawer. This she set in its place in the safe, closed the door and scrambled the knob.

Hollis bolted the front door and tested the lock. "I think we're ready."

Hollis sat on his sofa in the apartment reading a Biochem journal. Annie sat at the kitchen table with a book and a sheet of paper before her. She looked up. "Hollie -- why do you read those journals if you're not working in that field anymore?"

"I like to keep current."

Annie picked up a pen. "Hollie?"

"What?"

"What does hoist with his own petar mean?"

"You must be reading Hamlet."

"Yes, we are."

"A petard is a small bomb. The word comes from the French word to fart."

Annie giggled. "I thought it meant some sort of rope thing you use to lift something."

"Hoist in this sense means to be..." He made a gesture of a bomb exploding. " ... thrown."

"Oh, I get it." She began writing on the paper. "Blown up with his own bomb."

"Precisely." He regarded her writing a paragraph, longhand. "Why don't you do that on the computer?" he asked.

"We're not permitted to. This keeps us from using copy-paste. Mr Clark says this way, even if we use Google or Wikipedia it still has to go in our eyes and out our hands and maybe it'll make a detour through our brains." She folded the paper, slipped it into her book and stuffed the book in her backpack. "Homework's done."

"Ready for bed?"

Annie bit her lip and widened her eyes. "I'll go put my nightie on."

"Must you? It's been years since I undressed a schoolgirl."

"I think you like this arrangement, Hollie."

"I think I do."

"Then, I'll brush and floss and wash my face."

Hollis carried his robe and Annie carried hers as they headed up to the alcove containing the sleigh bed. He reached into his pocket and placed several wrapped condoms on the stand by the bed. "I see you stopped somewhere other than the hardware store," Annie remarked.

"I wanted to be prepared." He faced her and they embraced and kissed. Hollis led her to a loveseat incorporated into the furniture display. He sat on it and she sat on his lap.

He ran his hand along her knee and under her kilt. She kissed his lips. He held her and they kissed again, this time with wide open mouths, tongues touching and breathing each other's air. Hollis covered her lips, chin and neck with kisses.

Through the fabric of her blouse he could see the outline of the bra she wore. He traced the shape with his finger and then began stroking her breast with the backs of his knuckles. He could feel her nipple firming through the layers of fabric.

Annie licked her lips. She put her hand on the back of his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. Her eyelids drooped and Hollis could see her breasts move as her breathing slowed and deepened. "Feels good," she whispered.

Hollis began unbuttoning her blouse. He eased the sleeves off her arms and set it on the arm of the loveseat. Again he traced the outline of her bra and fondled her breasts through the fabric.