It's Only Fair Ch. 02

Continuing the tale. Ok - I completely misjudged the number of pages as displayed on Literotica since my 1^st chapter was barely a page! So sorry - I hate those types of stories as well - I figured 2500 words is a good start, post that - so here I am, eating crow!

This entry is over 6500 hundred words and I promise to maintain at least this size or larger going forward.

Also, the update was a lot less than the 3-7 days that I had read it would take to be posted so I thought I'd already have this chapter finished and submitted. Like you, I hate waiting more than a few days between updates, but as I've known and I'm sure you have as well - life does happen.

Like a great writer once said: Write what you know. So that's what this is, me writing what I know.

Again, no army rangers or shotgun blasts to the crotch or cuckoldry or creampies. This is as close to reality as I could get it and still tell the story.

Enjoy! -V

*****

I awoke to the faint sounds of my daughter, Amber, calling, "Dadadadada!" from her bedroom. Glancing at the clock showing 6:42, almost 20 minutes before the alarm would have gone off on its own. I rubbed my eyes and lifted Elle's arm off my chest, my wife curling back under the blanket and sighing deeply. I rolled upright and swung my legs out, getting out of bed with an all too present ache in my calves and knees.

"Damn it," I cursed, trying to wake my legs up. I was tired, no two ways about it. And after a long day yesterday, I was suffering from negative sleep. I walked to Amber's room to see my daughter standing in her crib, smiling broadly and almost hyperventilating she was laughing so much.

"Good morning, sweety!" I said, lifting her aloft and spinning her once around to the tune of her gleeful cries. "The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the trees are awake," I sang as I plopped her onto the padded table and took care of her morning changing. "Pew!" I exclaimed, making an exaggerated stinky face as I wiped her bottom and threw out the soiled diaper. We giggled back and forth with each other and I then carried her to the kitchen, plopping her into her highchair.

Breakfast was fast, eschewing anything more complex than yogurt and a handful of strawberries for myself. Amber laughed her way through her soft cereal, making most of it actually get into her mouth for a change. "Up!" she commanded when she saw I was done; emptying the plates into the dishwasher and running the faucet back and forth across the sink to get yesterday's residue off its surface. I scooped her out of her chair and we went to the bathroom together.

Washing her face and then my own, we sang to each other wordlessly; she was fascinated at how I was brushing my teeth. I shaved swiftly and then moved my way back to Amber's room. Glancing at the hall clock, I scowled to see it was already 7:08. "We've got to move, Sunshine." With long practiced movements I had my daughter dressed in her day's clothes and then a fast brushing of her fine hair topped it all off with a yellow and white flowered clip. I velcroed her shoes in place and stood her up, holding one hand in my own. "Perfect!" I exclaimed, planting a dry kiss on her left cheek.

Bringing her into the living room, I put on channel 13, the Count coming into view as he talked about how many bats were fluttering over his head. Amber sat raptly as the muppet vampire did his spiel, allowing me enough time to race to my bedroom and strip off my sleeping shorts and tee shirt. Getting dressed, I kept glancing over at Elle's form under the blankets, wondering what was going on in her head. As I whipped my sports coat off the hanger and pushed my arms through the sleeves, I trod across the floor and bent down to my wife's face. "Honey, I'm going to work."

She groaned in response and sleepily replied, "K, hon. Have good day."

I placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly. "Elle, you ok?" I asked.

She blinked, focusing on me before giving me a tight lipped smile. "M'ok. Really. Just tired," She yawned. "See you t'night." Patting my hand with her own, she then snuggled under the blanket and closed her eyes once more.

I stood up, a strange heaviness in my heart, and walked out of the bedroom. "Ok, Amber," I called to my daughter, lifting her up from the floor and shutting the TV on Elmo's high pitched laugh. We walked out of the house and I made sure the bottom handle was locked before pulling the door closed.

The day was bright, no real clouds in the sky and whatever briskness was in the air was already boiling off from the morning sunshine. I opened the door to my Equinox and plopped the car seat into the mounted cradle. "Ok, young lady," I said good naturedly, "Let's get you ready for a ride." Amber giggled as I placed her in the seat, trying to grab at my hair as I pulled the straps between her legs and across her shoulders, buckling her in place.

"Hey, Rick!"

In the confines of the car, I jerked about, startled. Looking over my left shoulder I saw my neighbor and friend from across the street standing there, a cup of coffee in his hand. "Hey, Stan," I answered. "Scared the shi...crap out of me," I corrected myself, glancing at Amber before I dropped the "S"-bomb. I stepped out from the back seat and shook his hand.

He laughed, shaking his head at my antics. Stan was in his late 40's, almost 50. A bit over 6' tall, his balding head was a mix of black and grey. Today he was wearing a bandana which meant he was expecting to work. His beard and moustache were closely cropped and he had the quiet strength that one got from 25 years of manual labor as opposed to a gym. "She's not going to be able to understand you," he indicated towards Amber, cooing happily in the back seat.

I grinned, "Yeah, I know. But if I don't start now, I'll end up sounding like my mother." We both laughed at this, knowing the penchant my mother had for her colorful language. "What are you doing home? Late start?"

He grimaced, eyes flicking over my shoulders for some reason. "Supposed to. My brother's on an estimate. Called a little while ago, said I had some free time until 11 or so." He took a sip of his coffee.

I glanced at his wrists as he took a sip, noticing they were pretty red and scratched up looking. "Must have been working his ass off yesterday," I thought.

Nodding, Stan lowered his cup and wiggled his arm, his sleeve sliding down to the back of his hands. He gestured to the west with his cup, "So how was LA?"

"Good. Went well." I cocked my head. "How'd you know I went to LA?"

"Elle told me yesterday," he answered, then waving his cup behind me towards the house. "I was wondering where you were."

"Oh," I nodded. "No problem." I glanced at my watch: 7:33. "Crap, I gotta go. Say, Stan, can I ask you something?"

"What's up, Rick?"

"Elle seem a bit off to you lately?"

"What d'you mean?"

"I don't know, just...off? Not quite herself. Short of temper, maybe a bit bitchy?"

Stan smirked, "She got her period?"

"Dude, that's not the answer to everything."

He shrugged, "Why not? My ex-wife had her period for 15 years or so, from my last count."

I smiled, sliding into the driver's seat. Slamming the door closed, I started the engine and rolled the window down. "Blah blah blah, whatever. No seriously though, you're home a bunch. She seem off to you?"

It was odd, but at that moment I thought I saw a bit of sadness in Stan's eyes. Maybe it was the angle of the sun, maybe it was something else; whatever it was, he just seemed both sad and bothered for some reason. "I dunno, Rick. Maybe. Maybe she's just not herself."

"If I can ask a favor?"

"What is it, bud?"

"Just keep me posted if you see anything odd about her, ok?"

He nodded, looking down. "Will do." Blinking twice, he lifted his gaze and then patted the hood of my vehicle, "Have a good day, Rick."

"Thanks, you too." I drove away with a smile, watching Stan in my rear view mirror standing on the apron of my driveway until he was lost as I made the turn off my block. I flipped on the radio, shooting right to 1010 WINS, hoping to get a heads up on the traffic before I got stuck in it. Luck was with me for a change as I heard only delay reports on roadways closer to the city as well as various bridgework and detours. "Smooth sailing, Amber," I said to my kid, looking at her reflection in the corner of my eye. She grinned toothlessly in response.

I arrived at the daycare just after 8, pulling carefully into the spot since the place was already crowded with parents and kids moving chaotically about the place. I grabbed Amber's day bag, pulled a fresh nuuk from the center console, and popped it into my daughter's mouth, getting a happy smile as she began gnawing on it. I unbuckled her from the car seat and hoisted her up, resting her so her head was over my shoulder. I nudged the door closed and made my way to the entrance.

"Hey, Mr. Masters!" "How ya doing, Mr. Masters?" "Hey, it Amber! And she brought her daddy with her."

The day care center was bustling today, typical for a Friday, and I nodded my hellos and greetings back at the other teachers and parents as I wove through the crowd to the receptionist desk. "Hi, Shelly," I said to the woman at the counter, "Busy morning, huh?" I grabbed the mouse and swiftly checked my daughter in to the electronic system.

Shelly nodded, making googly eyes at Amber who shrieked in my ear and buried her face in my neck, only to look out again for another glance at Shelly. "Always," she answered, shifting her gaze to me and beaming. "You ok, Mr. Masters? You look tired today?" She grinned broader. "Did you have a 'good' night last night?" She made air quotes as she questioned me.

I laughed with humor I didn't feel. "A gentleman never tells, Shelly." I nodded to the next parent behind me as I finished with the system. "And for the umpteenth time, call me Rick please. All you young people calling me Mr. Masters does absolutely for the old ego, you know."

Shelly snorted and waved her hand down the hall, "Whatever. You're not even close to old. Have a good day!"

"You too." I walked down to the second door on the right and pressed my hand on the reader outside. It buzzed once and the light switched from red to green, allowing me to enter. This was the Zebra room, but it only meant that it housed children from 9 to 18 months. There were 15 cribs in here and a variety of toys, mats, and other activity building items neatly strewn about the place. I walked to Amber's spot, festively colored in her outlined in pink and purple, dropping her bag into the open locker by the base of the crib.

"Hey, Mr. Rick," a voice addressed me from behind.

I turned, already steeling myself to maintain eye contact. "Hey Kerri," I said, looking down at Amber's daycare teacher. Kerri was short, maybe 5'2", and would never be considered thin, pushing 150 lbs easily. However, even with the extra weight and her faintly roundish face, she had to be one of the prettiest young women I had seen personally in some time. Her eyes were made up today in a splash of orange and her nut-brown hair was pulled to the side with a white daisy shaped clip. She was wearing some sort of glittery pink lip gloss on her plush and pouty lips. But it was her shirt that caught my attention and that I fought against glancing at.

Kerri was voluptuous. Yes she had a wide waist and her legs were thick as well, but under all the extra weight, her 23 year old form was muscled and curvy. She had a huge chest and took to cutting the necks out of her uniform shirts, turning them into v-necks; opening up her cleavage to a state just shy of pornographic.

Sensing the struggle behind my eyes she took a deep breath...held it... and reached out, taking Amber from me. "So, we missed you yesterday," she said looking at both Amber and I with a knowing grin seeing the resolve still firm in my eye, "did you have a nice time playing hooky?"

I shook my head, "No, had to go to California for a day. Business trip I didn't want to take."

"Aww," she pouted with her pink plush lips, eyes catching mine. "That's no fun." She tickled Amber's nose with her own. "Did Pumpkin here like the plane ride?"

"No. She stayed home with Elle."

A faint wrinkling around Kerri's eyes was all I noticed. "Why didn't Elle bring her in?"

"It's out of her way to come here. This is right around the corner from my job, so it makes sense for me. It's a good half hour or so from home."

"Well, we missed her...and you too!" She replied, her mood changing from fierce to friendly at the end of her exclamation.

"Thanks, Kerri." I gave Amber a pat on the head and leaned in, kissing her cheek. I caught a whiff of her teacher's perfume. Backing away I noticed Kerri's gaze playfully locked on mine. "See you all later!" I said, waving to the two other teachers in the room as well.

"Bye, Daddy! Have a good day!" The three of them called in unison, laughing and giggling afterwards. I chuckled as I left the room, breathing a sigh of relief. Looking around it was no surprise; this was a female industry with mostly post-high school to mid 20's women as teachers. Coupled with the fact that usually it was the mothers that came in and out every day; most of the fathers had to put up with good natured ribbing and flirting from the staff. But with Kerri it was something else, I was sure of it.

"Rick, my man," I said to myself, "You need to get laid real soon." I made my way to my Equinox and pulled out of the lot. A short trip composed of two lights and a left hand turn and I was at my job. I grabbed my briefcase and entered the double glass doors, "Good morning, Linda."

"Good morning, Rick," came the reply as I walked past the receptionist, giving her a friendly nod as I made my way towards my office. Linda was wearing her green and purple blouse today, which let me know that she was most likely at the end of her clean laundry. She wasn't the nicest person to look at and her hygiene was often in question, but she was dedicated and had a terrific phone voice - the type that made you imagine someone entirely different from the way they actually looked.

I unlocked my office door and flipped my lights on. Giving the mouse a shake I was happy to see the screen come up just the way I had left it. I plunked down my briefcase and pulled my chair out, settling in just as a larger presence filled the door frame. "Welcome back, Rick," came the raspy voice. "I heard good things from Barry."

My boss, Andy Carly, stood there beaming. Just under 5' 8", he was around 280 lbs. and had a polished bald head, making his silhouette appear to be a large ball on an even larger one.

"Thanks, Andy. Glad he thought so."

He walked in, punching the air with a stubby fist as he did so. "Knocked 'em dead. Knocked 'em dead." He thrust his thumb towards the back of the building where Operations was situated. "That's what they get on trying to tell us how to do our job."

I was the accounting manager for D&H Industries and Andy was the CFO and my direct boss. The VP of operations had been complaining that they needed someone to analyze their production numbers and he had a nephew that he wanted to hire to do the job, some 2 year college student on the 5 year plan. I had heard of this and offered to do the job since for the most part, my week was fairly light except for those few days I had to prepare the financial statements.

The VP fought against it and eventually Andy was asked by Barry Dunwright, the primary owner of D&H, to send me out to LA to meet with him and pitch my skills and capabilities. Obviously, my trip had gone well and Andy was happy to once again butt heads with his Operations counterpart.

"75 big ones," Andy said with a grin, slapping me on the back. "You're worth every penny, Rick."

"Thanks, Andy. That means a lot." As I had been doing the last day and a half, I broke the new salary down in my head. "An extra ten thousand dollars a year is roughly an extra 200 a week in my check which translates to maybe a hundred thirty after taxes take home." I smiled to myself as the calculations ran through my thoughts.

Andy clapped me one more time and then turned away. "Ok, enough of this. Don't want you getting a swelled head at how wonderful you are, or you think you are." He motioned at my 'in' box. "There's a study I need on the paper vendors when you get a chance. Information's in there. And by get a chance, I mean by three today."

I groaned good naturedly, "Got it. Damn, you're harsh. I'm working on no sleep. With this kind of abuse, I think I'll ask for a raise."

"A raise!" Andy barked aloud. "Ha! A raise! Ha ha!"

Throughout the rest of the day I could occasionally hear Andy in his office chuckle and mutter, "A raise! Ha!" The hours flew by and even though I was tired, the work was fairly light. I powered my system down just before 5:00 and threw the last of the work I would need for Monday morning into my briefcase. I turned off the light, bid my farewells to the half of the office still here, and made my way out to the lot. It was only a few minutes back to the day care where I once more cautiously pulled in and grabbed a spot, this time almost at the end of the lot.

I entered the daycare amidst the bedlam of yelling kids, frantic parents, and tired staff. "Hey Shelly," I called out as I went up to the system to log my daughter out. This time Shelly did not have the same perkiness as this morning; she gave a desultory wave and weak grin in my direction. I zigged and zagged to the Zebra room door and used the scanner to unlock the biometric lock, entering and closing it firmly behind me. "Hey everyone," I nodded to the teachers and the two mothers here to get their own child. Spotting Amber playing on the mat with a squishy red puppet of some sort, I hunched low and approached arms held out, saying, "How was my Amber ray of sunshine today?" scooping her from the ground and giving her a low spin.

The women in the room all beamed at me and I pretended to not notice their slightly too long glances in my direction. "Good afternoon, Mr. Rick," Kerri said, already bundling up the last of Amber's things and handing it to me. I looped it over my other shoulder as she added, "I stripped her sheets off for you and put them in the bag. Just bring a fresh spare for me to keep in her cubby on Monday, ok?"

"Thanks Kerri," I hoisted my daughter a little higher in my arm. "You're a life saver. What would I do without you?"

Her eyes twinkled and I realized I stepped into another landmine of young-20's flirting. Apparently there had to be a manual out there on how to not keep putting my foot in the wrong place and I just needed to get a hold of it and soon.

"I can't imagine what you would do Mr. Rick without me...or with me either." This brought a chorus of laughter from the associated women which only made my face blush and Amber and the other children present to join in giggling as well. "We'll see, Mr. Rick," she stopped it there, letting me off the hook. "Have a great weekend."

"You too. Take care everyone."

The drive home was slower than the one in, everyone clogging the Southern State Parkway in time for the Friday rush so Amber and I didn't get into the driveway until after 6:00. She was getting cranky and I knew she was hungry so I hoped like hell that Elle had the presence of mind to get dinner finished; or at least started.

I glanced across the street, seeing Stan's work truck was in the driveway. "Half day," I thought, "Poor bastard." I know he needed the work and with the light building season so far this year, he had been hoping to not dip into his savings. That's the problem when people hear you're an accounting manager or a controller; they assume you are a CPA or a financial planner and they come to you for help with their taxes or for advice on how to set up their retirement.