Chapter 1

There were only three weeks before finals for the spring semester. Rick's group had just handed in their New Business Startup project, and he and Naomi were relaxing with a Coke in the Union. Through the entire project, Rick had had to suppress his irritation that the rest of the five-person team had mostly coat-tailed on the work that he and Naomi had done. Now that it was over, it suddenly did not matter. He knew they had done quality work, and she had been a wonderful partner.

When the arbitrary makeup of the team was first announced, Rick would certainly not have expected the close, productive way that he and Naomi had been able to work together. She was, after all, an adult woman, probably in her early thirties. From his bitter experience, that made her immediately suspect.

Looking back, he could see that Naomi must have sensed his automatic wariness and had worked very carefully to get herself past that barrier. He knew little about her, except that she had twin daughters and that she wore no wedding ring. It had taken a lot of talking to himself just to work with her. There was no way he would delve into her personal life, nor would he allow her to pry into his.

Naomi had recognized from the first team meeting that Rick was a scarred young man. She had found out only a few things. He was at the top of the class, and in fact, he was at the top of all of his classes. Also, he was a second year student taking the senior level class with her along with some other upper level classes. How he managed that was something she very much wanted to find out.

She had ways of finding out most things that had to do with the University. Her late husband had been the head football coach before she lost him in a small plane crash on a recruiting trip three years earlier.

Naomi had gotten pregnant from Jack while barely sixteen. They had been careful, but the percentages got them. At the time, Jack was about to receive his M.A. in sports administration and take an assistant coaching job. Both sets of parents had been very supportive, realizing that the love between the two was the kind that could survive such a setback. There was little concern about Naomi's age, since she had always seemed very mature for her years.

Despite Jack's brilliant football career, assistant coaches at small colleges did not make big money, so there were some lean years. Jack rapidly made a name for himself, though, and was hired as an assistant back at the university after only four years. Three years later, the head coach took an NFL job and Jack was named interim. He won the job permanently, and the lean years for the family were over.

Though devastated at the loss of Jack, Naomi was able to find strength to keep her own life on track for the sake of the twins. She had already been taking classes and the University waived any tuition through a Masters degree. Jack's life insurance policy was a big one with double indemnity, and he had mortgage insurance. Added to the settlement from the aircraft charter company, she and the girls were at least financially secure.

The twins, Celia and Delia, were fourteen and finishing the eighth grade when Naomi and Rick worked together on the project. By general agreement, they would be at least thirty at their next birthday. Not at all bad kids, they were just a double handful. Unlike Naomi, the girls favored Jack's athletic build. They were strong and quick, but already showed promise of very womanly curves. Facially, they were girl-next-door, with ready smiles hiding any hint of plainness. Like their mother, they were excellent students.

Naomi herself was a perfect example of the 'pleasingly plump' female form. A roundish but gorgeous face, fabulous skin, lustrous brunette hair, and grace of movement worthy of any dancer made her a very sexy woman. Every part of her was cushioned without unsightly rolls and bulges. She worked hard to keep the body that Jack had enjoyed so much, but she did not attempt to slim down.

This was the second year that Naomi had considered the twins old enough to be latch-key kids, and she was taking more classes than usual. Even so, she had arranged her schedule so they only had to be home alone after school two days a week, and that was only when neither volleyball nor softball was in season.

To Naomi, the fact that one or two people would determine the success of a team project seemed obvious. That she and Rick would be the two took only minutes to deduce. They had made a very effective pair, but Rick's uniformly reserved demeanor around her was puzzling and frustrating. Not that she had romantic designs on him, or anything. It was just that she was a naturally open, gregarious person, willing to talk about most anything. By the project's end, she could only conclude that the women in his life had not been good to him. There was no way she would not find out more.

Rick had been thinking for weeks that he should change the way he acted toward Naomi. He had not been able to do it, and now, he felt compelled to apologize. It had not taken long to realize that she was completely different from the women in his family.

Intellectually, he had always known that his mother, sisters, and the collection of princesses on his mother's side of the family were not typical of all women. His father being the only child of two only children left only his paternal grandmother as an offsetting female example in the family. While she was a sweet lady, Rick could see where his father got what Rick considered his subservience to his mother.

Rick's mother was one of three remarkably beautiful sisters with no male siblings. She was the only one whose husband had not fled long ago. That, in Rick's opinion, was only because his father could never muster the courage to do it. It was either that, or he was so naturally submissive that he needed the complete dominance that Rick's mother provided. Then again, maybe the sex was good enough to hold him. As he became old enough to understand the significance, Rick had been first embarrassed, then surprised at the frequency and passion of his parents' ill-hidden interludes.

Of four male offspring of the three sisters, Rick was the last to flee. None had stayed at home more than a month after high school graduation. Two had gone military and one had simply dropped out of sight.

Rick had stayed only three days after his own graduation. Unfortunately, it was long enough to endure a storm of anger from his mother. She had found out via congratulations from an acquaintance that Rick had been Valedictorian and had given a very well-received speech at the graduation ceremony. Her anger was at the humiliation of not knowing about her son's achievement, not at having missed the occasion. Rick was certain of that.

He had tried to feel guilty about not informing his family of his academic standing and letting them know about graduation, but the guilt never stuck. Since he could not remember the last time they had inquired about his grades, he had seen little point in mentioning them. It was certain that his parents knew nothing of the numerous college courses he had been able to take at the local community college through a co-op program.

The administration of Rick's high school was enlightened in that the school counsellor, Mrs. Emerson, was encouraged to work with the top students, not just those with problems. Because of his flawless grades, Mrs. Emerson began meeting with him during his sophomore year. Despite the topic being his future education, she found out a lot about his home environment.

Whatever interest and support Rick had lacked from his family had been partially offset by a few teachers and Mrs. Emerson. If fact, she and one female teacher were probably all that kept him from turning into a real misogynist. To them, he was the rare student who rewarded their professional efforts, and they took extraordinary steps to help him out. The one thing none of them thought of was that without their intervention, his family might not know about his winning Valedictorian.

Rick's father had always been a problem for Rick, for a number of reasons. Big, handsome, athletic, well-spoken, intelligent - all of those things about his father, Rick should have been happy with because he inherited them. The problem was that from a young age, Rick realized that his father would never, ever intervene on his behalf against his mother. Rick was deathly afraid that he had inherited that lack of a backbone.

Part of the reason his father never stood up for Rick was that Rick was a disappointment to him as a son. Being a college-level athlete, his father saw the physical potential in Rick, but no desire to participate. Actually, as a youngster, Rick had played and done well. The problem came up when his twin sisters, a grade behind but about eighteen months younger, showed such a passion for cheerleading. If that meant he might be sharing the field with them, he wanted no part of it. Also, as he grew older, he became ever more of a loner, and team sports just did not appeal to him.

Despite his devotion to his studies and his reclusiveness, Rick did not let his good physique atrophy. His physical outlet was cycling, off-road cycling. Since he was first old enough to ride, he had loved the motion, the exertion, the degree of control, and even the risk that biking the nearby forested hills offered.

Because he had been seen as a budding sports star, Ricks had received his share of attention from his parents during his preteen years. In those days, to his mother, he was a child and the beneficiary of her mothering instincts. Nice bikes were among the normal boyhood possessions that he received. After puberty, he was viewed as a man, a massive step downward in his mother's mind. A child was to be nurtured and cared for. A man was simply a useful tool.

As he passed through puberty but showed little interest in team sports, his value in the eyes of both parents dropped. From then on, he had to scratch and claw for every possession.

Well before he was legal to hold a job, Rick was helping at a nearby bike shop, taking his pay in bikes and accessories. Thus, he always had access to good equipment.

Because he became relatively invisible to his parents once there was no sports career ahead, they did not notice or begrudge the huge percentage of his time that he spent away from home. As far as his sisters were concerned, he was even less of a factor. He found that if he could manage to be at dinner on weeknights, his other absences went mostly unnoticed, as was the succession of new and better bikes that he carefully locked in the garage overnight.

When he was old enough to receive actual wages, Rick became almost a miser. By then, he had made good friends with Mrs. Emerson, and she showed him that a scholarship was his best ticket to the escape from home that he sought. Keying on what his cousins had done, he had anticipated enlisting right out of school, but Mrs. Emerson convinced him that his most unique advantage was his brain, and that he should use it.

Just because he could not fathom not doing his best, Rick had made perfect grades up to that point. With his new resolve, he made it his objective to win top academic honors in his class. Mrs. Emerson also arranged for him to take some college courses which would both fulfill high school requirements and jump him ahead when he enrolled in college. Thus, from December of his sophomore year when he turned sixteen, Rick became very focused.

Without the usual social distractions, there was time for studying, working, and biking. He did have one date in high school. Afterwards, it seemed that every female relative had grilled the poor girl and they all took great glee in criticizing him on every detail of the rather innocuous meal and movie outing. That ended any desire for more dating.

Lack of a car also made dating problematic. Only once did he broach the subject of his parents helping him get a car. He was shut down so hard that he vowed never to bring up the subject again. Neither would he ask to use the family car. With the help of Mrs. Emerson, once again, he was able to use a borrowed car to get his license. Otherwise, his bike provided satisfactory transportation.

One of the cruelest evidences of his warped family was the sixteenth birthday gift of a car for the twins to share. Their cheerleading and other extracurricular activities were the offhand justifications given. Since that happened after his junior year had just ended and the end of his time at home was in sight, he refused to let the anger gnaw at him.

After his graduation, his sisters joined their mother in being angry at him. Though never a significant factor in the twins' lives, as far as they were concerned, their brother did pose one problem for them. Many of their contemporaries knew Rick and thought that he was a real hunk. Other girls had often asked about him and even asked to get set up for dates with him. Knowing that their brother did not date but having no idea why, the twins had begun telling inquiring girls that he was gay.

The reason the twins were angry about missing graduation was typical of the screwed up family. Worthless as their brother was to them, they could have gained some social credit from boasting of his accomplishment. Instead, they ended up looking as uncaring as they truly were.

Thus, Rick felt no need for any sort of goodbye to any of his family. He just left. None of them knew of his scholarship, or even where he planned to attend. Naturally, they knew nothing of his early enrollment in summer classes.

Perhaps Mrs. Emerson could have been criticized for not doing more to close the gap between Rick and the rest of the family. However, she had decided, probably wisely, that the best thing she could do for him was to provide at least one considerate, supportive female presence.

His firm intention was to simply leave and never be heard from again. Mrs. Emerson, however, worked hard to turn him from that course. She grudgingly agreed that he could keep his location from his family. She got him to agree to at least send periodic email to let them know that he was OK. Together, they hammered out a list of what information would be cruel to withhold from them and what was just 'none of their damn business'.

As leery as he was of domineering females, he agreed to copy her on all emails to his family. That way, she would know if he was keeping at least minimally in touch. In exchange for him keeping her much more informed, Mrs. Emerson promised to reveal nothing from the forbidden list should the family contact her.

Like most things in his life the past couple of years, his exit from home was carefully planned. He got his luggage to the home of a nearby friend ahead of time. On departure day, he went to the friend's house and had the friend take him to the bus station.

As did a number of schools, the University required non-local freshman to live in the dorms, so life was pretty well arranged for Rick when he arrived. His scholarship covered a lot and he believed that his savings would carry him for almost two years. Since he arrived almost a week before summer classes started, he used the time to look for a job. Fortunately, an enthusiastic recommendation from the bike shop back home got him on at a similar dealership near campus.

For all practical purposes, Rick's first two years were about like high school years, only live-in. With his time a bit more skewed toward study, the rest was still mostly split between work and biking. With no need to spend any time with family for appearances, and no time required to bike to school, he actually came out ahead on discretionary time. Not having a better alternative and finding at least some social contact in the dorm, he continued there his second year.

Actually, biking was not as rewarding as it had been at home, since there were no forested hills nearby. There was, however, a network of off-road trails and dedicated road lanes that allowed him to ride hard for an hour or more without covering the same ground. He was able to get great aerobic work, but without the true off road challenge, he was concerned that he would lose upper body muscle tone.

The city bus system provided bike racks. He was nervous because they were so exposed to damage, but he finally gave it a try because he could reach some more satisfying terrain. Since weekends were the heaviest business days for the bike shop, he had less time to ride then. Fortunately, he had days when his classes ended early in the afternoon and that is when he took the bus to the off road areas. After the bus rides, it meant that he would arrive back at the dorm well after dark and would miss dinner on his meal plan, but he considered it worthwhile. With some weight work at the school health club, he felt like he was keeping up all of his conditioning.

Not naturally shy and having grown up with a lot of women around, Rick had no problem interacting with coeds that he encountered. However, because of his limited time and money and because of his mistrust of females in general, he did not date and he did not attend parties. His only concession to any kind of social activity was joining his dorm's intramural teams in various sports and attending University games with his dorm mates.

When he joined Naomi for their minimal celebration of the project completion, he had realized for some time how narrow his life had become. However, he had not thought about it enough to have any ideas for correcting his situation.

As Rick was still trying to think of how best to apologize for not being friendlier during the project, Naomi asked "Are you busy this weekend?" when conversation about the project lagged.

"I have to work all day Saturday, but I have Sunday free, except for studying," he answered. He knew what was coming next, and he was not sure if he liked the idea.

Naomi read his face well and almost gave up her idea. The problem was, she really liked the young man and it bothered her that he seemed to be living with some demons. "Why don't you bring your books and come out to our house Sunday morning. I'll promise to give you time to study. We're having the pool opened tomorrow, so bring your suit. It has been a while since a man has used our grill. You any good at it?"

Rick had a naturally humorous bent, although he was too seldom in situations that warranted joking. Something about Naomi just made him feel relaxed. He quipped "Hey, it's genetic. All men are good at burning dead animals."

"Oh. So I better have a backup, just in case, huh?" she retorted with a grin. "I assume that means you've never done it."

At that, his light mood darkened. Grilling was another of those duties that he was just expected to do. He was actually pretty good at it, but it had not been something that brought any pleasure. Again, she decided to ignore what she saw on his face.

"Say, where do you work on Saturdays?"

"Wheelsports. I put in fifteen to twenty hours a week there."

"I'll bet you worked at a bike shop at home, then. Competition for jobs there must be pretty fierce. You must ride a lot, too," she observed.

"Yeah, I worked at the shop back home before I was legal. And yes, I ride whenever I can. I don't have a car, so it's how I get around."

"Oh. I'd better come pick you up, then."

"How far is your house from campus?" he asked.

"About seven miles. It's the closest decent neighborhood we could find." This time, he saw the sadness in her face and he wondered about her husband. Her last name, Brown, was common, so he never connected it with the former coach, although he had heard the story numerous times.

"That's an easy ride for me. What's the address? I'll look up a map online."

After they parted, Rick went for a very strenuous ride, working off his frustration at his inability to say 'no' to the invitation. She had twin girls, for God's sake! What was he thinking? He could picture himself in a situation very much like what he had fled from. At the same time, he had to admit that Naomi was more like Mrs. Emerson than like any woman in his family. It was a quandary that the ride did not resolve, and it did not make Friday evening's studying very productive.