Summer Sunshine

"Not when it's killing him," she said. "Mother as usual you only see what you want to see. You for some reason can't see what's right in front of you. Daddy has lost weight and become almost withdrawn over the past few weeks. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear he was depressed." She looked at me then and mumbled something. I'm not sure but it sounded like, "...He dies, I'll be in jail during your funeral so I won't have to go."

I walked out of her office thinking that the pressure of working had gotten to her. Perhaps women just weren't meant to work like that.

I guess the second incident was the party itself. Blake stood dutifully at my side the whole time. We danced together and that should have told me something. I pressed myself against Blake suggestively, knowing that no one would pay us any attention since we were married. As I've mentioned before, Blake as far as his wife was concerned had always been kind of a horn dog. Before this summer, he had never cheated on me, but he figured it was his God given right to fuck me whenever and wherever there was time and space.

The last time we'd had sex had been a quickie in a stairwell at last year's gala. I was sure that by pressing my tits and my pussy against him as we danced, that I was playing with fire, especially since both of us had done without for months.

I was playing with fire alright, and the flames were fueled by my disappointment. Not only did he not grab me by the arm and lead me to the nearest quiet place, he didn't even get an erection. He just continued to move lifelessly around the floor with a dead expression on his face.

Sometime later, I was standing at the buffet, looking over all of the guests and making sure everything was running smoothly. Lisa came over to me. "Clara Livingston," she said acting as if she hadn't seen me at the meeting just the day before. "I see things are still fine with your marriage. How's Blake? Has he been sick or something? He's not looking as scrumptious as he usually does. He looks like a blowup doll with half of the air let out of him." I looked across the room and seriously looked at my husband. Lisa's words brought back to me what my daughter had said that very afternoon.

It also made me think about something else Selena had been telling me for a long time. She always told me that she loved her father, so whatever made him happy was fine with her. I realized then that I loved him too and in that moment I knew what I had to do.

The next afternoon, I made the arrangements. I needed Selena's help but after finding out what I intended to do; she was on board in a heartbeat.

As soon as Blake got home from work, I called him into the living room. Selena was there as well.

"Hi, Kitten," he said. I noticed that seeing our daughter even though he'd seen her the previous day lifted his spirits a bit. And as my heart lurched I went ahead with my plan.

"Blake, I can't take this shit anymore," I snapped at him. "I want you out of my house immediately and don't ever come back until you can conduct yourself like you have some sense." My delivery was flat and emotionless. I really believe that Selena understood how hard it was for me.

"You can't throw me out of my own house," he said. I noticed that his voice was flat and emotionless still.

"Yes I can," I said and I smiled. "I got someone to help me drag you out physically if need be."

"Let him try," said Blake. "He'll just get shot in the attempt."

"It's not a HE," I said.

"I don't care what it is," he said. "Where is this person? When my lawyer gets a hold of..."

"Just open the door to the office," I said pointing at the small door to the left of the living room. My voice almost broke and I hoped that he'd miss the tears forming in my eyes. He got up angrily and walked over to the door I'd indicated.

Most men, when in trouble, follow the same behavior patterns as some animals. They stick out their chest and flex their arms to make themselves appear thicker and more substantial. They walk on the balls of their feet so they can move quicker and also to make themselves appear taller. Blake did all of that as he approached the door. He violently twisted the handle ready to throw himself or a fist at whatever stood behind the door. As soon as the door opened he visibly shrank and let out a gasp.

I wished that I'd arranged it so he was facing me at the time but I swear I could see the light in his eyes from behind him. It was probably because the way her eyes lit up reflected it back.

"Hello, Cello," she said.

In an instant he had grabbed her the way he used to grab me. She didn't bother trying to fight him off, she just warned him. "Be careful, dummy there's two of us in here," she laughed. I guess in her seated position, Blake hadn't noticed that Athena was very pregnant.

It was like watching one of those killer plants movies. Her arms snaked out around him and his did the same around her until they were holding onto each other protectively.

Blake turned around to look at me and I crossed to room to him.

"I didn't know," he said. "Why...What do you want?"

"I want you to be happy, Honey," I said. "And that means we can't be together anymore. I messed us up. So we need to just move on. That means that you need to take this little pregnant girl and move out of my house. I need to move on and find the next step for me. But Blake, we need to do this to save ourselves. Being without you will hurt me, but I'll be stronger for it and I won't make the same mistakes next time. Someone very wise told me I needed to grow up and do something with my life, right Selena? Anyway, you don't feel the same way you used to about me. And Honey, you tried to do something that you weren't capable of doing. You tried to do what I did and fell."

He looked at me confused. I smiled though my heart was tearing in two. "Blake, you're just not the kind of person who can have a summer fling. You wear your heart on your sleeve. Now for God's sake tell this girl that you love her and take her out of here. Oh, yeah, I'm keeping MY house. You can keep your daughter and all of those useless noisy cars. We can work the rest of the divorce settlement out in a few days.

Blake let go of her hand for just a moment and even as he did it she reached out to hold onto him somewhere else. It was disgusting, but I knew I'd made the right decision. Blake hugged me then with a degree of ferocity that he hadn't shown me in a year and probably would never have done again. Perhaps by my actions I'd ended my marriage, but saved my family. Selena came over and hugged not only her father, but me as well.

* * * * * *

Blake

I helped Athena into my car. I wasn't driving my normal 2013 Mustang GT. Since we'd broken up I was driving a car that fit my mood. I had an 04 flat black Mustang. It was painted like the stealth bombers are to avoid being seen. I was very careful putting the seat belt across her tummy.

"Cello, I won't break you know," she smirked. "For God's sake, you didn't treat me like I was fragile while you were pounding me into the bed and shooting your stuff into me."

"Shit, I don't even have a house," he said.

"Relax, Cello, we'll buy a different house," she said. "Your wife asked me about that one when she brought me there. I told her it was too big for us. That place is a fucking museum. The four of us don't need anywhere near that much room."

"Four!" I gushed.

"You, me, your baby and my cello," she smirked.

"But...why didn't...?" I began.

"We'll talk when we get to the apartment," she said. "Just hold my hand and never let me go. Oh and look out for a pizza joint. Ever since I got this way all I do is eat and pee and cry."

"I remember the eating and peeing," I said. "But Clara didn't cry when she was pregnant with Selena."

"I've cried every day since you left me," she said. "Never do that again."

Before I could answer her, she started screaming and I slammed on the brakes.

"Right there," she screamed. "Right there...Burger King!"

I looked at her like she was crazy. I was actually convinced that she was. "I thought you said pizza!"

She then gave me that look that pregnant women have been giving their mates since the beginning of time. Not being an idiot, I simply shut up and pulled into the drive-thru.

Thirty minutes later we were sitting on the couch in her apartment together with me staring at her as she wolfed down fries like there was no tomorrow. If a person could die from happiness, at that moment, I'd have been terminal.

"So," she said, after stuffing more fries in her mouth and taking a long slurp of her soda. "Isn't there something you want to say to me?"

"Like...?" I asked cautiously.

"Like an apology," she said, staring at me wide eyed. "For leaving me..."

"As I recall it," I said. "You and your fat friend made it seem like you had everything planned out from the beginning and I wasn't needed any more. Remember her saying that you were never going to find your true love if you couldn't get rid of me. Remember her saying that we were a summer fling and it was fall?"

Before I made my next point, I heard a noise from one of the rooms in the back. Athena had a two bedroom apartment and she had been using one of the rooms as a music room/office and the other as her bedroom.

Brenda walked out. "I smell food," she said loudly. "And I think I heard someone talking about me."

The bruises were gone from her face but her once friendly face now seemed to have a permanent scowl on it.

"Hello Blake," she said. "...Here to finish fucking up her life?"

Athena looked from Brenda to me. "We were just talking about you Bren," she said.

"The last time the three of us were together we all made mistakes," she said. "I can't be held accountable for my actions because I was already pregnant. You..." she said, pointing at me. "You should have known that. You've been through this before. You were the one who pointed out that my titties were bigger. You should have had some inkling." Then she turned to Brenda.

"You, on the other hand, were so pissed off at all men because of the way David K treated you, that you wanted to hurt any man you saw. Brenda, you knew that from the beginning, this idiot was not a summer fling. When you asked me why I called him Cello, what did I tell you?"

"You said you loved him," said Brenda in a dead flat voice. She turned back to me.

"See," she said triumphantly.

"So you told Brenda, you love me," I said. "How was I supposed to know? You never told me."

"And you never told me either," she snapped. "I didn't want to scare you off since you WERE married at the time. Besides you had agreed to a summer fling. And as everyone knows all guys want is pussy, and better yet, without complications. I was afraid. What if I told you and you'd disappeared, like Brenda's boyfriends do?"

"Athena, I never told you because, this whole time I've been trying so hard to figure out why someone as beautiful as you, would want to be with some stodgy old accountant," I said.

"Oh my God he's smooth," said Brenda.

"He's also taken," said Athena. Then she looked at me. "Okay, I forgive you, come here," she said opening her arms.

"Uhm wait a minute," I said. "What about me forgiving you?"

"For what?" she asked.

"I was the one who got tossed aside and thrown away so you could find your true love," I said. "I was the one who got hurt."

"You're right," she said. Then she turned to look at Brenda. "I understand your pain at what David K did to you," she said. "But I warned you. So in the end what happened to you is your fault. I still want us to be friends but you need to find another place to live, tonight." Brenda's mouth dropped open.

"What?" she screamed.

"Part of it is because if you hadn't been there that night shooting your mouth off to hurt Blake, he and I wouldn't have spent these last few weeks apart," she said. "The rest of it is really for your own good. I have a feeling that any second now two of the people in this apartment are going to start having full contact, pregnant girl sex ant it's going to last for a long time."

She smiled at me and crooked her finger in my direction. I slowly walked over to her. When I was in range she grabbed my shirt and pulled me down to her. She grabbed the sides of my head and kissed me. She sucked my tongue hungrily and stood up to press her body against mine. I was overwhelmed and went with the flow. I pulled my mouth away from hers temporarily.

"I love you Athena," I said seriously. "As soon as my divorce is final, will you marry me?"

"Let's see," she smiled. "Even though I had a summer fling with a married man, I'm still a good girl, right?" I nodded. "You're a good guy, right?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, let's assume that you are," she smirked. "I'll vouch for you. Anyway, good guys marry girls when they get them pregnant, so if you do the math, I see a wedding in the spring. But for now, winter is coming and I need to stay warm so get on top of me." I happily obliged.

"Brenda," Athena called. "On your way out, can you hand me those fries?"

* * * * * *

Epilogue

Clara

Giving up my husband was the hardest thing I'd ever done, but also the most rewarding. For the first few days after it, I felt awful. It felt like the pain in my heart wouldn't go away. But Blake called me every day, so did Selena which was a surprise. Even more surprising was the fact that Athena called me. At first, I felt really strange talking to her. After all, she was the woman, who had in effect taken my husband from me. But she seemed to genuinely care about how I was feeling and it really helped. Over time, our conversations switched to her asking me all kinds of questions about her pregnancy and I hope that I was able to help some.

I think it raised a lot of eyebrows when I showed up at her baby shower armed with a gift and a hug. But that was mild when people found out that I was, with Blake's blessing, chosen by Athena as the Godmother.

The divorce itself was concluded quickly and easily. I only wanted enough money to live on in comfort and keep the house. Blake split the cash and our investments with me fifty/fifty. He even set up my new accounts and investments so that as long as I didn't go crazy, I would never have to work. I would also be independent. I wouldn't have to depend on him for alimony or anything else.

I felt like a grown up for the first time in my life. We gathered at each other's homes more often than not, but after a while, even though I felt like part of a family, I wanted to do something on my own. My daughter's words about how my charities didn't actually help people kept coming back to me.

With Blake's help, I bought a foreclosed on building that had once been a fire station. I and I do mean I, renovated the interior. I did have help. Blake, Athena, Selena and everyone else who could swing a hammer or lift a paint brush helped over the summer. The most surprising person of all was Lisa, who ended up as my partner in the project. My daughter, Selena, volunteered to keep the books for us and manage our finances, but we didn't do galas or parties. The only thing the fire house did was to open its doors every day and provide a hot meal twice a day for as many people as we could feed.

The second year, we renovated the upper floor and turned it into living space for up to eight people who needed a place to stay. For the first two years, I took my Goddaughter Hera, there with me for a couple of hours a day while her mom rehearsed. But after two years, Athena gave up performing and came to work with me. She really wanted to be there while her daughter was growing up. I noted that and thought it was great. There would never be the type of divide between them that it took so long for Selena and me to overcome.

During the fourth year that the firehouse was open, we had a man, Edward Thomas, stay there for a few weeks while he got back on his feet after a rough divorce. It only took three months for him to get a job and a better place to stay, and I was sad to see him move on.

He didn't actually move on though. He started coming by after work to help out. He seemed to not mind doing all of the dirty jobs that had to be done. Athena invited him to help out at Hera's fifth birthday party, which was an all-day spectacular. Any hope of Blake's younger daughter not being spoiled evaporated with that one party.

After all of the kids had left, I noticed Edward was still there and he was sitting around the pool with the rest of the family. Blake had invited him to stay. Selena was walking around in a really tiny swim suit and Athena, despite the fact that she was a mother, had one on too.

I called Selena over and asked her what was on her and Athena's minds wearing suits like that in public. I told her that they, especially Athena should be wearing suits that were more like mine. Athena was married and a mother after all.

Selena laughed at me and told me that Athena was doing it for me. "Just watch this mother," she said. Athena stood up and walked across the pool area right in front of Edward and went over and sat in Blake's lap where they started to make out like teenagers. We were all used to it by then.

"So Athena is throwing in my face the fact that she and Blake are still crazy about each other after all of these years?" I asked.

"Mom, you don't get it," said Selena. "Watch." She got up and walked past Edward too swinging her hips. She turned and came back to me. "Mom, go do what I did," she said. I stood up and walked my fifty three year old body around the pool.

"I knew it," she said. She gave the thumbs up sign and Athena started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"When Athena went by Edward he didn't even notice," she said. "I went by him and it didn't register. But when you got up that man got a hard on like you wouldn't believe. He really likes you Mother. The ball is in your court.

And it was. I played it and scored points. Edward and I did get together. We aren't hot and heavy like Blake and Athena, but we're happy. This time around, I'm older and more understanding. We both have our own responsibilities and jobs, but we make time for each other. We make it a point to spend some time together every day. I've learned that love has to be protected. It can't grow in a vacuum. It needs to be fed and nurtured or it dies. The enemy of love isn't hot bodies or flattery. It's time away from each other and boredom. There are still no excuses for cheating on your spouse even if he does work too much. This time I think we're going to do just fine.

The end.