Chapter 18: My Girls Get a new friend

Every thing in our little family was going quite well. The girls and I were in school all day and I was able to do some of my design work evenings and weekends. There was plenty of 'girl talk' going on between the girls which I tried to ignore as much as I could. I figured they needed their privacy so I did not want to intrude. We did though have a lot of family time playing cards, board games and movies or just talking. By the way don't challenge those girls to a game of trivial pursuit for you will lose severely. They really are that sharp. It's even dangerous to play scrabble with them.

At first the DSS lady would call and talk with Tammy every day and chat with her to see how she was doing. It must have been satisfactory to her since she then would call about once a week and eventually not at all. Tammy and Kim had one big thing in common. They both lost their mother in a tragedy. This caused them to cling to me much more than any other kids. The fact that they both felt intense love from me and each other helped their outlook on life.

The house across the street where Tammy's had been was bought by a couple with a 16 year old daughter named Janet. They moved in from Austin for the father to start work at one of the area refineries. Janet was enrolled in the high school that Kim and Tammy attend. She also is going to try out for the cheerleader squad. While they were moving in they were being observed by a couple of girls across the street. Kim and Tammy could hardly contain their curiosity so they went across the street to introduce themselves to their new neighbor.

Janet was carrying a box into the house as Kim and Tammy approached her saying "Hi." Janet acknowledged their greeting with "Hi to you too" and set the box down. She offered her hand and shook hands with both girls as she said "My name's Janet Ridgeway. We just moved in from Austin. My dad is working for a refinery in Texas City and my mom is going to be working for the high school as a math teacher." Kim then said "My name is Kim Thomas and this is my sister Tammy. We're both juniors in high school and we're on the cheerleader squad. Our dad is the squad coach and he teaches technology class." Janet looked surprised as she mentioned "I am going into my junior year and I have signed up for cheerleading and the technology class too. I guess it's a small world." Just about that time I showed up so Kim did the introductions as I and Janet shook hands. I noted that she had the softest and smoothest hands and very warm handshake. I took notice that she was quite good looking with flaming red hair and brilliant green eyes. A guy could easily get lost in those eyes. She had the body of a well toned athlete with perfect legs and proud breasts. This girl didn't appear to have a single ounce of excess fat anywhere.

While I was standing there admiring the scenery Kim was elbowing me in the ribs expressing a bit of jealousy. Just then Janet's parents came out and introduced themselves with "I see you've already met our daughter. My name is Robert and this is my wife Grace. And I guess Janet has already told you that we are the Ridgeways formerly from Austin." I stated "You got that right and I'm pleased to meet you all. Well, I can see that you are busy moving in so why don't you come over about 6:00 this evening and we can have dinner and get better acquainted. You do like Mexican food don't you?" Robert said "Yes we do and we'll be there."

When we got back home Kim said "Dad you won't believe it but Janet is going to be taking technology and cheerleading and her mom is teaching math at the high school." I said "Wow this world is getting smaller by the day. We had to get busy since we were to have company coming at six. We made a rush trip to the grocery store to stock up on the ingredients for enchiladas and all the fixings. Of course we included soft drinks and some more coffee. When we got home there was a message on our answering machine. I played it and it said "Greg this is the law office of Smith and Jones. We have got some promising news on the matter of the house fire you contacted me about. Please give me a call as soon as you can." So I called them right away and spoke to my attorney Randy Smith. He said "Greg our investigators have determined that the fire was caused by a defective furnace in the house. We are ready to proceed with a wrongful death lawsuit against the furnace manufacturer. We need authorization from the owner of the house at the time of the fire." I answered "That would be my new daughter Tammy. Let me get her for you." I then called Tammy to the phone and she talked with Randy for about a half hour about the fire and the lawsuit. When she hung up she came to me and related the details. She said "Mister Jones wants me to come to his office to sign some papers and he wants you to come also." I said "No problem lets go down there first thing tomorrow morning."