What Was I Thinking? Ch. 03

Rosa went to bed at eight, and I went back into the chat room for the hour before my own bedtime. Since I was usually up before five to get ready for work, I tried to be in bed by nine. I had just signed out of chat and was about to shut down my computer when an instant message popped up from Charles. "Everything okay with your daughter?"

"She was fine by the time I got off the phone with you," I replied. "Did you make it to NJ?"

"Yes, with time to spare. Now I'm parked for the night. Was checking email and saw you online."

"I was about to sign off," I said.

"Past your bedtime? That's all right, we can talk tomorrow."

"No, it's okay. I can stay up a little later." I wanted to finish our conversation from earlier. "So if I was with you?"

"LOL. If you were with me, I wouldn't be on the computer."

"You'd be in bed with me. I want to try that bed out sometime."

"What would we be doing?"

"Kissing," I typed. Though that wasn't the only thing I had in mind. My pussy was wet thinking about what Charles and I might do on the bed in his truck.

"Is that it?"

"You would finger me."

"Yes, and lick your taste off my fingers. You taste so good!"

"I want to taste you too."

"We could do that. You want to suck me?"

"Yes, and I want you to cum in my mouth."

"Then what?"

It was a good thing I'd learned to type one-handed. I couldn't stop my other hand from stealing down to my crotch and rubbing myself through my pajama pants. I just wished it was Charles's hand, not mine. "Then I want your mouth on me," I typed slowly.

"I want that too. I love how you taste. You cum hard when I eat you."

"Yes, I do."

"Then what?"

"Then I would want you inside me."

"How?"

I thought about it. Missionary was my position of choice with Charles, but in this conversation, I wanted something different. "Standing. Me bent over the bed, you behind me."

"You like it from behind?"

If he could have felt how wet I was now, he wouldn't have had to ask that question. "It's one of my favorite positions. It hits the right spot, makes me cum so hard."

"Then we'll have to try it sometime. Are you wet now?"

"I'm touching myself," I admitted.

"Mmm, wish I could help. Are you going to cum?"

"I might. Would you like that?"

"Very much. Not as much as if I was there, though."

I slipped my hand into my pajamas and rubbed myself. "I'm playing with myself," I typed.

"Tell me how wet you are."

"Very wet. I'm pretending you're the one touching me."

"Good. But it's getting late. You have to work tomorrow, don't you?"

"Yes." But I wanted to come first. If I couldn't have a Charles-induced orgasm, I could at least have one while I was talking to him.

"Get to bed," he typed. "You can think of me and get yourself off there. I want you to have your sleep."

"I'm not that tired," I replied.

"But I am. I need to get some sleep too. Tomorrow you can tell me all about it."

"All right," I typed reluctantly.

"Good night, Sexy. Kisses."

"Kisses."

He signed out, and I shut down the computer and went to bed. I lay down and resumed touching myself, stroking my clit, thrusting fingers inside myself. Closing my eyes, I replayed in my mind the nights I'd spent with Charles. The memory of his hands, his tongue, his cock, combined with the friction of my own fingers, brought me quickly to orgasm. Without bothering to wipe my juices from my fingers, I turned onto my side and fell asleep.

* * *

Thursday afternoon, Charles called. "I have good news," he said. "My boss has a delivery that needs to be made up there, and he gave me the run. I won't be able to spend the night, but I can probably manage a few hours to see you."

"That's wonderful!" I said. "But I'll have my kids."

"No problem. I can take the three of you out to dinner or something. I don't expect you to drop your kids just to see me."

He was willing to take my daughters out with us? The men I'd dated previously barely knew I had children, and certainly hadn't expressed any interest in meeting them. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"No. I hate children. I wouldn't ever want to meet yours."

I could tell by his tone that he was kidding. "Okay, then we'll see you tomorrow."

"I'm going to be making the delivery right up the street from you, around the corner from the hotel. If you have a chance, maybe you could come over to say hi in the afternoon."

"Maybe. I'll have to pick up Anissa at some point, but I might be able to come see you."

"Okay. I have to go; I'm on the road now. I'll call you tomorrow when I get to town and we can figure out when and where we're meeting. Can't wait."

"Me neither."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and said to Rosa, "Tomorrow Charles is going to take us out to dinner."

"I don't want to," she said. "Why do I want to go to dinner with some guy?"

"Because he's a very nice guy, and because it will be fun. Don't argue with free food, kiddo."

"I don't want to go."

"Well, we're going. So get used to the idea. And right now, you need to get ready for bed."

I'd just gotten Rosa tucked into bed when the phone rang again. This time, it was my ex-husband. "Anissa and I are spending the night at my parents'," he said.

"Why?"

"Because we got thrown out again. I don't want to talk about it. I'm so sick of that woman's bullshit. All our stuff is at her house, and we're going to have to sleep on my parents' couch."

"Just make sure you get Anissa to school in the morning." The child had already missed so much school because of her father's irresponsibility that she might have to repeat her grade. The week before Thanksgiving, he'd transferred her to school in his girlfriend's town; I'd fought the idea at first, but had finally given in on the basis that maybe that way she'd at least get there regularly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. She's all set. I just wanted to let you know where we'll be. I'll drop her off at school in the morning."

"And I'll pick her up there at the end of the day so she won't have to take the bus to your girlfriend's."

"Yeah, fine. Bye." He hung up. I put down the phone and went to bed. I was relieved that Anissa was away from her father's girlfriend, but I couldn't help feeling that things weren't going to go well.

Friday morning, I woke up with a migraine. I didn't get them often, but when I did, it was hard to concentrate on anything. I took some ibuprofen and went to work, but ended up leaving an hour and a half into the day. After a nice long nap, I felt much better, and sat down at the computer.

My phone rang. Thinking it was Charles, I lunged for it, then hesitated when I saw my ex's girlfriend's number on the caller ID. Against my better judgment, I answered. "Hello?"

"When are you coming to get Anissa?"

"Anissa's at school, isn't she?" At least that was where she was supposed to be.

"No, she's here. Her father dropped her off here this morning on his way to work. She hasn't been at school today."

That son of a bitch! I'd be giving my ex an earful the next time I talked to him. How could he do this to Anissa? "I can come get her now," I said. "I came home sick from work. Just give me a few minutes to get ready, and it takes me about half an hour to get to your house."

"You know, this isn't the first time he's done something like this," the woman said. "You need to come get your daughter and all her stuff, and she needs to be with you. Her father doesn't take care of her, and she and I've talked it over. She wants to live with you again. She needs her mother."

Obviously, since it seemed like her father wasn't doing her any good. It wouldn't be easy. A few weeks earlier, Anissa had asked to come back to live with me, but when we'd sat down to talk to her father about it, he'd yelled until she changed her mind. "She said she wanted to come back a couple weeks ago," I said. "She changed her mind then."

"I don't think she will this time. Just come get her. I've got sick kids here, and I can't handle her too."

No surprise there. It had been evident to me from things my daughters had told me that their father's girlfriend didn't like them much. "Okay. I'll be there in about forty-five minutes."

"She'll be ready."

How was I going to manage this? As I got my shoes and coat on, I tried to make plans. If things were as bad as they sounded, I might be able to get an emergency custody change, according to a friend I'd been talking to about the situation. If Anissa was with me, that wouldn't be too hard, though it would mean spending most of the afternoon at the courthouse. There wasn't anything I could do about that, though. If my daughter needed me, I would do everything I could for her.

As I drove to the girlfriend's, stressed beyond belief, I decided to call Charles. I needed to hear a friendly voice. He answered on the second ring. "Not working?" he asked.

"I came home sick. And right now, I'm on the way to get my daughter."

"What happened?"

I swallowed a sob and explained to him what had happened. "I'm going to court," I finished. "He can't keep doing this to her. I'm sorry to dump this on you; I just needed to talk to someone."

"That's okay. That's what friends are for. Listen, I have to take my truck over to make the delivery right now, but call me after you get her and let me know what's happening, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

As soon as I hung up from him, my ex called. "Anissa's at my girlfriend's," he said.

"I know," I said. "She called me. I'm on my way to get her, and then I'm going to court."

I held my breath. He had a bad temper, one I'd been on the receiving end of too many times, and the only time I'd ever stood up to him was when I told him the girls and I were leaving. But this was too important to let go. "You can't," he said finally.

"Yes, I can. She's been around a child abuser, she's missed so much school she's listed as truant at her old school, you swore to me you were taking her to school today and just dumped her on your girlfriend instead. No more. She's coming back to me."

"Anissa wants to be with me."

"That isn't what your girlfriend just told me. And it isn't Anissa's choice anymore. The choice is yours, actually. I'm going to ask you right now if Anissa can come back and live with me until you get your life straightened out. If you say yes, we're all set. You still get visitation and everything. If you say no, I'll pick her up and go straight to the courthouse, and you'll be lucky to even have supervised visits. Do you understand what I've just said?" I barely kept my voice at a normal level; I was so furious I wanted to scream at him. But I wasn't going to lose control. This was too important.

"Yes, I understand." He sounded defeated.

"Can Anissa come back to live with me?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to ask again, because I want to make sure I heard you and that you aren't going to lie later and say you didn't agree. Can Anissa come back to live with me?"

"Yes!" he snapped.

"Good. She'll be enrolled at school in my town first thing Monday, and you can see her next weekend when you have visitation. You can call her anytime, but she isn't going to live with you until you get your act together. Have a nice day." I hung up on him, feeling stronger than I'd ever felt when dealing with him.

At the girlfriend's, Anissa was waiting by the door. Behind her, in the living room, there was a pile of garbage bags. "That's all her stuff," the girlfriend said. "Does he know you're picking her up?"

"I just got off the phone with him." I turned to my daughter. "Daddy said you can live with me again. Next week, we'll get you signed up at school, and you'll be able to see your friends from last spring."

"Will I have to live with Daddy again?" she asked.

"Not until school lets out, at the earliest," I said. "After that, we'll talk about it."

"Good. I don't want to."

"Anissa, why don't you start taking your stuff out to your mom's car?" the girlfriend suggested.

I handed Anissa the keys so she could open the car trunk, and she picked up a bag and left the house. "Thank you for calling me," I said to the girlfriend.

"You're welcome. He really isn't doing well with her, you know. He yells at her all the time. He yells so much he scares my kids. And she's almost a teenager. She needs her mother. She should have been living with you all along."

"Apparently."

Anissa came back in for another bag. It took a little while for her to get everything out to my car, but she refused my offers of help. Finally she said, "Mom, can we go home now?"

Tears came to my eyes. I was finally bringing my daughter home where she belonged. "Yes, honey. Say goodbye."

"You'll still see us on weekends," the girlfriend said. She hugged Anissa. "See you next weekend when you come to visit your dad."

"Okay." Anissa pulled away from her. "Let's go, Mom."

Anissa and I didn't talk much on the way home. She spent most of the ride staring out the window with her thumb in her mouth. Although I wanted to find out what had happened, I chose to leave her alone. She usually needed time to process before she was willing to talk about things.

I was almost home when Charles called. "Did everything go okay?" he asked when I answered the phone.

"Yeah. I have Anissa with me, and her father said she can stay with me until he gets things straightened out. I'm pushing for her to stay until the end of the school year, at least. But I don't have to go to court, which is a good thing."

"Yes, it is. Well, I'm at the auto parts store near the hotel, so if you want to come over for a hug, I'd be happy to give one to you. I'll be here for another couple hours until they get me unloaded."

"I'd love a hug. Thank you. We're about fifteen minutes away right now."

"Okay. See you when you get here."

I hung up and said to Anissa, "Charles is at the auto parts store up the street from the house. I'd like to go see him. Are you okay with that?"

"Can't you drop me off at home first? I don't want to see anyone right now."

I didn't want to leave Anissa alone, but I definitely needed a hug from Charles. Anissa was twelve, old enough to be alone for a little while, but I was worried about how she was handling what had happened. "Would you be all right home alone for a little while while I go see him?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Mom. I can watch TV or something."

"All right. Just so you know, though, Charles is taking all of us out to dinner later."

"That's okay. I just don't want to go anywhere right now."

"All right. But I'm just going to drop you off. We can bring your stuff in when I get back. I won't be long."

"Okay."

A few minutes later, I pulled up in front of my house and handed Anissa the house keys. "You can lock the door if you want while you're alone," I said. "Just make sure you pay attention so you can let me in when I get back."

She rolled her eyes. "I will, Mom."

I waited until she was inside, then drove up the street to the auto parts store. Charles's truck was around the side of the building. When I parked my car and got out, I could see Charles in the cab of the truck. He waved at me and climbed down. I met him at the front of the truck. He put his arms around me and asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." I snuggled against him, relaxing into the hug. "I'm worried about Anissa, but I think she'll be okay. I'm going to get her counseling."

"Good idea. So are you and the kids going to dinner with me?"

"We'd like to," I said.

I looked up at him and he kissed me, just a brief kiss since there were people around. "I'd like to too," he said. "I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be here, but I'll call you when I'm done and we can meet at the mall. I figure we can go to the same buffet we went to last week, since you can eat there."

"Yeah, and my kids love it there. That will be nice. But I can't let you pay for their dinner. It'll be expensive."

"Then you pay for their dinner and I'll pay for yours. I'm glad things are okay with you. I was worried when you called earlier. Wish I could have talked to you longer."

"It's okay. My ex called as soon as I got off the phone with you, and I was able to get him to let Anissa stay with me, so it's good that I wasn't on the phone with you when he called."

"It is a good thing. Where is she?"

"She asked me to drop her off at the house. I'd better get back to her; all her stuff's in my car, and I know she wants to get settled in."

"Okay. See you in a few hours." He kissed me again, this time slipping his tongue between my lips for a moment. "Bye, sexy."

"Bye." Knowing he was watching me, I wiggled my ass a bit more than usual as I walked to my car.

Back at my house, I helped Anissa carry her things from the car to her room, then left her alone to arrange her room the way she wanted it. When Rosa came home from school, she asked, "When are we going to get Anissa?"

"She's already here," I replied. "And she's going to live here from now on."

"Really? That's cool. Can I have my snack?"

"Yes, but just a small one. Charles is taking us out to dinner, remember?"

Anissa ran down the stairs. "Little sister!" She threw her arms around Rosa. "Your big sister is home!"

"Yay!" Rosa's reaction was more enthusiastic this time. "Does that mean I have to stay out of your room again?"

"I'll let you in sometimes. Like now, if you want. You can help me put up my posters."

"Okay."

The girls went upstairs and I sat down at the computer to wait for Charles's call. It came about an hour later, just after Rosa and Anissa started fighting upstairs. I answered the phone on the first ring. "Hello?"

"Hi, sexy. I'm at the mall. Are you going to come meet me?"

"We sure are." If my kids didn't kill each other before we made it out of the house.

"Okay. I'll see you in the center of the mall in about, what, fifteen minutes?"

"Give me twenty; I have to round up the kids."

"All right, but hurry. I'm scared to be in the mall too long alone."

I laughed. "Don't worry, I'll protect you when I get there."

"You'd better."

I hung up and went upstairs. Rosa was sitting on the floor at the top of the stairs, glaring at the wall. Anissa was singing to herself as she folded clothes to put away in her room. "Anissa, leave that for later," I said. "You two need to get your stuff on. Charles is waiting for us."

"Where are we going?" Rosa demanded.

"The buffet at the mall," I said. "Charles is already at the mall, so we need to get going. Anissa, you can finish unpacking when we get back."

"Okay."

"I don't want to go," Rosa said.

"Don't start," I said. "We're going. Come put your stuff on. We can walk around the mall afterward, and I'll let you go to the toy store if you've been appropriate." I didn't often resort to bribery, but I wanted this evening to go well.

"Okay." Rosa followed her sister downstairs.

When we got to the mall, Charles was sitting on a bench at the center. "I'm so glad you're here!" he said. "Evil people tried to get me to buy cell phones!"

"Did the psycho nail person attack you?" Anissa asked.

"The what?"

"There's this guy here who always stops people and tries to get them to have manicures," I explained. "My kids call him the psycho nail person."

"I'm hungry," Rosa whined.

"Then let's go eat, and you can tell me more about the psycho nail person," Charles said.

We let the girls walk ahead of us on the way to the buffet. "Rosa might not talk to you much," I said. "She has Asperger's."

"She's fine," Charles said. "Don't worry about it."

It was hard not to worry at dinner when Rosa whined every time Charles made a joke, though. Hard not to worry when she and Anissa ran from the table to the dessert section. But every time I spoke to them about their behavior, Charles said, "They're fine. They're just being kids." I finally relaxed and let him joke with them. It was good for them to be around a man who didn't yell at them every few minutes like their father did.