Unexpected Love

Denise Hallowell was brushing her long brunette hair in the front hallway mirror. Her friend Jessie was chastising her as they looked at each other in the reflective glass.

"Denise, you are such a bitch!" Jess Crawford, Denise's best friend, shook her head disapprovingly. "You know your dad's still hurting. Why do you say things like that?"

"It wasn't so bad, Jess." In a backhanded sort of way, Denise agreed with Jess. "But just the thought of that cu... bitch! She fuckin pisses me off. What she did to us." Denise was getting tears in her eyes, and she angrily tried blinking them away. "I mean, she's been gone a year and dad still keeps her stuff. She told us she wasn't coming back. Fuck! Now I'm going to have to fix my makeup!" She really started crying now.

The tears refused to stop and Jess wrapped her arms around her friend in a hug, as Denise's sobs consumed her. Denise usually had herself under control, but once in a while her cool reserve crumbled. Even though Jill, Denise's mother and Earl's wife had been an abusive alcoholic, compulsive gambler and, as Denise later came to know the town tramp she was, deep down, still Nat's mommy.

"Sshhh. That's OK, baby. Let it out." Jess stroked her hair as Nat sobbed. Jess was the only one to ever see Denise this way. Jess was a nice girl, always something good to say about people while Denise was a tough, scrappy girl, hardened by her ordeal. Their friendship baffled many observers. "I know it hurts." Jess whispered. "Just think how much it hurts your dad, too, eh? He hurts as much you do. And he's trying to stay nice, for you." Jess's hands stroked Denise's hair and her back. She said no more, letting her few words possibly sink in.

Jess knew a little of the anguish Denise was feeling. Her parents had separated for almost a year when Jess was in middle school. The funny thing was, Jess's dad had been sleeping with Denise's mom. Her parents had reconciled, but the turmoil had given Jess an inkling of Denise's pain. Jess recognized that Earl Hallowell was a good, decent man, just as her own mother had been. While her dad had seen the stupidity of his actions, and realized what he was throwing away, Jill Hallowell hadn't, and had moved on to the next thrill. Jess felt sorry for Earl, especially since he seemed to have everything a girl could want in a man.

Denise's sobs died down to sniffles and she returned to looking in the mirror. She caught Jess's eye as she straightened her hair. "Thanks Jess. I love you."

"I know, sweetheart. I love you too." Jess kissed Denise on the cheek and started her own preening.

"Fuck! Look at me." Denise laughed. "I look like a fuckin raccoon." With her eye makeup smudged all over from her tears she did indeed look like a raccoon. "I'm going to the bathroom to fix it. Be right back." Natalie hurried off to fix herself so she and Jess could get going. They were supposed to be going out to a club to celebrate Denise's birthday. It was a bittersweet celebration since it was on Denise's eighteenth birthday, a year earlier, when her mother abandoned the family.

Jess had her short, dirty blonde hair fixed in moments and went back in the kitchen with Earl. He was still sitting there, obviously upset at Denise's callous comment, and staring out the window. Jess grazed her hand across the back of Earl's shoulder as she passed him to take a seat facing him. "Hey." She said, softly.

"Hey, back." Earl repeated. It was a thing of theirs, this greeting. Although Denise didn't realize it, Jess was helping Earl through this also.

"She didn't really mean that." Jess prodded Earl. "She's just upset, the day and all."

"Yeah," Earl sighed. "she did mean it. But she's right. I know Jill's not coming back. In fact I know exactly where she is, and it serves her right. She was in such a hurry to get a divorce so she could marry Jimmy Abbott. She must've had rocks in her head if she thought he was gonna leave his wife for her. Now she's stuck living in that dive downtown, panhandling for booze money."

"I can't believe she'd give up a guy like you." Jess stroked the back of his hand.

Earl chortled. "Huh! A guy like me. Women aren't exactly knocking down my door." He gestured towards his body. "Hell, I'm over forty, half grey, overweight." He snorted again.

"You are not overweight. You're perfect." Jess paused a second and looked down, surprised at her own outburst. "Well," Jess brushed her hair back. "you'll probably find someone in the most unlikely place."

Jess got up as Denise came bounding down the stairs. Jess quickly gave Earl a kiss on the cheek as she moved out to the front hall. A thrill ran through her, as that was the first time she'd touched him with her lips. The feeling of stubble on her lips lingered, and the faint smell of Old Spice, coffee, and cigarettes. Denise also gave her dad a kiss and apologized for her comment. She seemed to be in better spirits and the girls got caught up in their plans for the night.

Earl sat there thinking about what the evening had brought. Last year at this time he and Jill had been having a tremendous fight. He'd spent three hours at the bank trying to convince them not to take the house because Jill had once again blown their mortgage payment at the casino. Then he came home and watched his wife for twenty minutes while she fucked the Samway salesman. He let it go on that long because he had actually debated with himself as to whether she was worth keeping. He couldn't figure out why she was fucking that guy. He was fat, sweaty, and his dick was only just over four inches long. If she'd been fat, it wouldn't have been long enough to fuck her. Finally having enough, he had gone out and slashed the guys tires. Then he came back in the house, making a lot of noise, and glimpsed the tail end of the guy running out the back door. He never gave chase, but he thought he would've liked to have seen the guy drive off with four flat tires.

The worst part of the night was when Denise walked in just as Jill was walking out the door. "You and the brat can fuck off for all I care." Jill had said to both of them. "I'm fuckin done." Denise stood there in shock as Jill walked out. Earl had rushed over to hug her and console her but she just shrugged him off.

"I don't care. She's not my mother." She turned around and left, heading to a friend's house. Just like that Denise, his beautiful baby girl Denise, had turned a dark corner. Earl had gone looking for her when she never came home that night. He found her three days later, passed out in front of a hotel downtown. He never said a word as he took her home and cleaned her up. She never woke up as he bathed her, cleaning the dried cum and urine from her body, and tended the scrapes she had accumulated. He had waited to say something, but there never seemed a right time, and thankfully she never took another drink as far as he knew.

Earl had had a word with Jess about tonight, to call him if Denise needed help, but she didn't think she would. Denise's earlier comment had cut him though. He remembered it distinctly, "Dad, you got to get out there. Don't be so pathetic, she's never coming back. You gotta take care of yourself now." He thought about what she said and admitted she was right, he was pathetic. He decided on the spur of the moment to follow her advice. He showered, dressed in a clean shirt and pants, and headed to the local country bar. It wasn't really his genre, but they were so popular these days, you couldn't find a normal bar.

When Earl walked in he felt like he was in a fishbowl. Or he was a puppy in a window. Everyone looked over at him and eyed him up and down. The girls were checking out the fresh meat and the guys were checking out the competition. By the end of the night he was pigeonholed. He'd talked to the few girls that came up to him, but he couldn't seem to carry a conversation. And he wasn't a threat to the guys for the same reason. By the end of the night his only option left was a fifty-something, bleach blonde, barfly. She was forty pounds too heavy for her outfit and the stench of booze on her was so bad she reminded him of Jill. He left alone.

When he got home he sat in front of the TV drinking and waiting for the girls. He almost thought of Jess as one of his girls because she was there all the time now. In fact, he realized she'd been a godsend this past year, helping both him and Denise.

"Jess? What?" Earl looked up to see her smiling face looking down at him. He must've fallen asleep because the lights were off and he'd left them on. He smelled booze and realized he'd dropped his glass of scotch on the carpet. He sat up quickly, looking around. "Denise? Where's Deni?"

"Sshh, Earl. She's in bed, I just helped her there." She sat beside him on the couch, muting the TV with the clicker.

"Is she OK?" Earl ran his hand through his hair trying to collect his thoughts. Last thing he remembered was thinking what a wonderful wife Jess would make someone.

"Yeah, she drank. A fair bit." Jess laughed. "And she's sure gonna regret it in the morning."

"She didn't do anything... stupid did she?" Earl was still waking.

"No, Earl. She was a good girl, I made sure of that." Jess giggled. "She danced a bit. Cut loose. That was it."

Earl stood up, "You want some coffee?" He asked as he headed into the kitchen. "Or something stronger?" He stopped, waiting for her reply. Jess had followed him so she squeezed past him, letting her fingers trail around his waist as she went.

"No, you sit, Earl. I'll make coffee." She went right for the coffee maker so Earl had no choice but to sit.

Earl watched her move around the kitchen like it was hers, which it practically was since she spent most of her free time there. Jess was three years older than Natalie and living on her own which negated any needed explanation of her time at the Hallowell's.

"So what about you?" Earl asked. "What do you do for fun, when you're not taking care of us."

"I go out, sometimes. Dates." Jess sounded noncommittal.

"Oh, so there's a guy?"

"Not really. No other guys I like around here."

"Other?" Earl asked.

Jess turned and looked at Earl, leaning back against the counter. "So, did you think of any ways to move on from Jill?" she asked.

Earl assumed she hadn't heard his question. "Oh yeah," he countered, "I got right on that. I headed on down to TJs and studied up on the local talent."

"Aannd?" Jess prompted.

"Well, I'd rather be celibate than fall in with one of those, umm, ladies. I suppose some of them are OK. But I'm just not ready for dating. Never was the type, really."

"So you haven't been with a woman in a year?"

Earl laughed, "Well over a year. Jill and I hadn't been intimate for at least a year before we broke up. She'd rather fuck anyone else but me, I guess."

"Two years? How did you cope?" Jess's astonishment overcame her good manners.

Earl looked a little uncomfortable at that. "Uhh, well at first it was a case of being in a relationship. I couldn't cheat on her, although she was a tramp. Then well, circumstance. I became very close with my right hand."

It was Jess' turn to be embarrassed as she visualized Earl stroking what she imagined as a very large cock. Her face flushed with the realization that her panties were now fit for swimming in. She turned around busying herself with the coffee fixings, until she thought of Earl possibly looking at her ass. Again she flushed, and when she turned around with the tray she turned too fast and dropped a mug.

"Fuck!" Flustered she turned back to set the tray on the counter. When she turned back around Earl was right there, kneeling at her feet. He was picking up the larger broken shards of ceramic.

"Don't move." Earl said, putting a restraining hand on Jess' foot. "I'll clean this up." Earl swept with a whisk to get the smaller pieces, and when Jess made to move again, Earl stopped her. He wet a paper towel and wiped it across the floor. "This'll get the smallest pieces." He assured her. "Wouldn't want a sliver marring those pretty feet of yours."

Jess laughed at that, "These ugly things?" She lifted a foot and cocked it in each direction, examining it. "They're ugly. Ugly, ugly."

Earl stood up with the paper towel and patted her head in a patronizing fashion. "Well OK. But if you care to walk around here with bare feet all the time, I'll be a happy man." Earl didn't see her blush as he discarded the refuse. He grabbed another cup from the cupboard as Jess took the tray to the table.

Jess had regained her composure. She couldn't believe she was acting so girlish around Earl. "So you like my feet, Earl?' She asked. She was sitting there with her legs crossed, swinging her top foot back and forth.

"I do, Jess." Earl leaned forward and took Jess' foot in his hands. She squealed in surprise but allowed Earl to continue. He placed her foot on top of his knees and caressed the tops, just firm enough not to tickle.

Earl talked to her foot as he spoke. "Jess, most women don't appreciate the beauty of their feet. Your curves and your face get all the glory, but the feet. Mmm, the feet set it all up." Earl cupped her heel in one hand and slowly caressed her ankle, going up to her calf, then winding down with a swirling motion. "Your feet, Jess, are so elegant and graceful. When you walk... it's like poetry in motion. The way your tendons and muscles move as the weight shifts, then your foot glides through the air."

If Earl had looked up right then he would've seen that Jess looked near orgasm. Her eyes were half shut with her mouth open a little in gasping breaths. Her face was once again flushed, this time the flush extending down to her chest, disappearing under her heaving camisole. One hand was clenching the table top and the other hand was subconsciously stroking her nipple.

Earls hand dipped down under her foot and stroked her arch. "Your foot may as well be carried by angels as they glide through the air." Earl was really lost in his description now. "And when you step down again, the way your calf muscles move," Again, one hand softly worked her calf muscles while the other worked her sole. "creates such an amazing vision of beauty," Earl didn't realize what Jes' reaction was until her leg suddenly tensed up. "that mere words can't begin too..." Earl finally looked up thinking she was cramping and saw Jess's entire body shaking. He then thought she was having a seizure and he quickly sat forward, when it registered that the paroxysm of agony that had taken over her face was pleasure, not distress. Her eyes were closed, her right hand was clenched tight on the edge of her chair and her left was clawing at her breast. He hadn't looked before but he realized he could see up her short skirt and the tell-tale patch of darker material on her panties attested to the extent of her arousal.

Earl kept softly stroking her foot and leg as Jess' passion waned. When she finally opened her eyes Earl blushed, whispering softly. "I'm so sorry, Jess. I didn't mean to get carried away."

Jess daintily lifted her foot out of Earl's hands. "How the fuck did you learn to do that?" she asked breathlessly. She extended her foot and briefly touched it to Earl's crotch, testing his hardness.

Earl flinched at the contact, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have." He tried to get up but Jess wouldn't move her foot and Earl was loathe to touch her again for fear he'd really lose control.

Jess sat up, quickly. "No, no. You definitely should've." She grinned lasciviously as she put her left foot in his lap before removing her right. "You have another foot to do here, mister."

"No Jess." Earl whined, resisting the urge to stroke her other foot. "It's not right. You're Deni's best friend. You're so young."

"You're right Earl. Deni, who said you should get out more and find someone. Well, here's someone." She stroked her foot against his penis, feeling it's length. "And you're not exactly feeling old, theree."

Earl's desire was overwhelming. He gave Jess' left foot similar treatment, only this time he was aware of her response and watching her as her arousal grew again. She didn't cum this time, but she was squirming and moaning by the time he was done. When he finished he set her foot down and debated whether he should really take the next step.

Jess answered for him when she gazed at him with unabashed lust and got up from her chair. She hiked her skirt and dropped her panties right in front of him before she dropped to her knees and fished in his lap for his cock. She thrilled Earl to no end with her whimpering her frustration at the time it was taking. When she finally fished it out of his pants, her loud groan coincided with his as she dropped her lips down over his cock. Earl had to struggle to not to cum as she slathered his cock with saliva. The sight down her back of the top of her ass cheeks, with the skirt around her waist, added to his struggle.

"Oh, fuck." Jess whimpered. "So fucking good." His cock wasn't as big as she'd dreamed, but somehow she thought it would be just what she needed. She jacked her hand up and down as she sucked on the head. Somehow she could feel it stiffen even more as he got ready to cum. She had to fight off Earl's hands and she shook her head as he tried to pull her off him.

"Jess! I'm cumming!" She just nodded as he exploded into her mouth. He felt this orgasm coming from every cell of his body, easily the most powerful orgasm of his life, as his thick seed burst forth. Even his slut wife, Jill, hadn't taken him in her mouth. She said she didn't like the taste. But Jess was enthusiastically jacking every drop he had into her hollowed cheeks. Finally she pulled her mouth off him and let his softening member slip out. She opened her mouth wide to show him her treasure before she swallowed and grinned at him.

"Oh, Jess. Thank you." Earl sighed. "No-one's ever done that for me before." A shiver ran through him as the sight of her cum filled mouth came back to him.

"Don't thank me yet, old man." Jess grinned as she took his hand and pulled him out of his chair, "You have to return the favour." She left her skirt over her ass as she lead him down the hall to his bedroom.

Earl was mesmerized as he followed her into his bedroom. The twin globes of her ass tantalized him and he couldn't wait to explore them with his hands, and his mouth. More focused now, as they walked up to his bed he pushed her face down with her legs hanging over the side. He pulled her back and lowered her knees to the floor and got on his knees behind her. In the dim light from the hall he could just see her wrinkled sphincter beckoning him closer. He pulled her cheeks farther apart and nipped at the soft flesh he revealed. His tongue stuck out, he slowly drew it up from the tip of her pussy, across her anus, and up to her lower back.

Jess's moans let Earl know he was on the right track. Using the tip of his tongue he stuck it in her pussy and fucked her with it as much as he could. He moved back to her anus and shoved his tongue as far as he could into it, too.

"Oh, God, Earl." Jess was clawing at the sheets. "That feels so fucking good. No one's ever..., it's so dirty." She pushed her ass back at his face, trying to feel his tongue more.

Earl continued his onslaught. His tongue was delving deep into her ass and he periodically pulled it our and kissed her cheeks. He loved running his tongue over the taught, smooth skin on the inside of her cheeks. He nipped at her bum, little love bites, then shoved his tongue back inside her. She was gasping his name as he held her cheeks wide apart, his tongue exploring. Finally Earl released one side and slid two fingers into her pussy.

"Oh Earl!" Jess screamed. "Oh fuck! Cumming! I'm cumming! Oh!" Earl was concerned that Denise might wake up and hear them, or worse, see them. He looked up and saw they'd left the door open but he had too much invested in Jess' pleasure to stop now.