Chapter 3

There it is. Dad’s Dad was Richard, my Mom’s Dad was Jefferson, and all the boys in the family had a Michael ... somewhere in their name.

Caroline was Caroline Cathleen Chelsea O’Hara. Dad’s Mom was Caroline, my Mom’s Mom was Cathleen and my Mom’s sister is Chelsea. I often threatened to call her ‘ThreeC.’

“Since you’re done with the groceries, go back to whatever you were doing when I got here. I’ve got to get back to the office. We are about sold out on this cruise and your Dad and I are going to make a butt load of money off this ... Sorry, that’s not a very good example I set by saying that.”

“It’s OK, Mom, I say ‘buttload’ all the time,” I said.

Caroline added, “So do I, Mom, butt load ... boatload ... shitload ... whoops, sorry?”

This made my Mom giggle a little. It sounded just like when Caroline giggles. There go my hormones, again. I excused myself and told them both I have to change because I have a meeting in my home office in about an hour, and I have to prepare.

“OK kids, see you later.”

“Love you Mom,” Caroline and I said together.

‘Stepford children’ is what I heard as I was leaving the room.

Running behind me she asked, “After your meeting, can we talk?”

“About, what?” I asked, knowing full well what she wanted to talk about.

“About ... the pool.”

“That’ll have to wait a couple of hours, OK?”

“OK, Wichie.”

She did it again—Wichie. The countdown begins, 120 minutes till ... what?

After going to my humble abode behind the main house, I went in and dropped my towel and my Speedo and walked naked towards my closet to pick out what I was going to wear for my meeting. Just as I was pulling some boxers out of my ‘underwear’ drawer there was a quick knock at my front door.

“Rich, It’s me, Caroline.”

“Wait a second, Caroline, I’m changing.”

She breezed in the front door, closing it and locking it. She had changed into a quite lovely yellow summer dress.

“Dammit, Caroline, I said I was changing,” as I was quickly pulling up my boxers.

“Our talk can’t wait, Rich. I need to know what’s going on between us. Since our ... encounter in the pool, I can’t seem to get it, or you out of my mind.”

“Caroline, I’ve got clients that are going to be here in less than an hour.”

“I know ... I heard you the first time. Just tell me something?”

“What? What do you want to know?”

“Do you love me?

“Of course, you’re my sister. You know how much I love you.”

I’m feverishly putting on an undershirt, along with a nice pair of black slacks. I just pulled a soft blue shirt out of my closet, when Caroline dropped her bomb.

“I know that your big dummy. I’m not talking about brother/sister love, I’m talking about love — love?”

I took the dress shirt off the hanger and start to put it on as I tried to explain something to Caroline.

“I knew what you meant the first time you asked me, Caroline ... I’ve been stalling, putting on my clothes and thinking about you at the same time. Everything I said, and did, in the pool was ... just my hormones coming to the front. You’re very beautiful, Caroline. Your eyes and your hair and your amazing butt aside, any man will be lucky to have you as his girlfriend.”

“Do you love me, Richard?” she repeated.

A bit more attitude this time! Uh-oh, Richard. She’s upset now. She always calls me Rich, Richie or ‘Wichie.’

“You’ve had enough time to answer me. Would it help if I told you how I feel about you?” she said getting herself up on my desk.

“If you want to, Caroline. I don’t know for sure how to tell you how I feel ... why don’t you help me by ... Caroline. I really love it when you call me ‘Wichie.’”

“OK, my turn ... Rich, I’ve felt something for you for a terribly long time. I didn’t know what it was until recently. I didn’t think you noticed me, since I don’t have the big tits all you jocks like...”

“Just a minute, Caroline?”

“Let me finish. I’ve been working on this speech in my head for about five years now ... Sure, I love you like a brother and sister are supposed to love each other, but lately, I’ve noticed you looking at me differently. I’ve been on a few first dates but never more than one because they know who my big brother is, and they’re worried that you might decide to break one of their legs...”

“I would’ve broken them both...” I said with a big smile on my face.

“Don’t look at me like that or I’ll never finish this,” she insisted, turning her head away.

I looked away, too.

“Thank you ... now, very recently when I dream at night, I start to dream about one of my dates and suddenly, in the middle of the dream ... he turns into you, and we kiss and touch and all the stuff that goes with that. I know what I feel ... I feel ... I feel love for you. Every time I see you look at me, I hope you’ll see my face to, to see I feel the same. Her eyes were ready to release a torrent of tears.

“Are you finished?” I asked as sweetly as I could.

“Yes, for the moment,” she took a big breath.

“In answer to your original question, Yes, I love you. More than a brother should love his sister. More than I have ever loved any one, ever. There’s a problem, though. We’re brother and sister. What do we do about that?”

Her tears let go, and I know I was crying as well, so we slowly approached each other. She took my hand ... I touched her shoulder and moved in to kiss her.

Being a foot taller than her, I bent over, waiting for her to look up at me. Her lips were pursed and there was contact ... oh ... oh ... and the kiss just kept going and going. I put my hand behind her head and said, to my little sister, “I love you, Caroline.”

There was a knock at the door. We quickly detangled ourselves from each other and I said, “Who is it?”

Let me explain exactly what I do for a living. After getting my BS in Business from Stanford, I transferred to the University of Southern California to get my MRED, (Master of Real Estate Development), in two years.

With that degree, I could write my own ticket as far as what part of the Real Estate Industry I would dip my toe in. I took and passed both the California Real Estate License exam and my master’s Degree qualified me to take the Broker’s License test. I passed, with a 98%. Missed it, by that much.