Circumstances, Regret, Reunion Ch. 03

He laughed softly, "Re payment for 25 years ago?"

"Yes, initially that was my best hope. After talking with you for an hour, I knew that this is where I needed to be, this was a chance I wanted to take. Perhaps I was too forward, perhaps I went too fast.

I don't know. But I had to pursue that chance."

"I'm glad you did." He said. In his mind, he knew she had taken the same turn at her crossroads, and was now traveling the same road with him. He knew that the details, the changes both would have to make in their separate lives would have to be worked out so they could travel the road side by side. In that moment, for some reason, a very heavy load seemed to lift off his chest.

They lay there silent for a few minutes, each processing the conversation, each trying to figure out the ins and outs of bringing the physical distance of their lives and careers together. Chicago and Richmond were two vastly different places, separated by a thousand miles. She traveled frequently, he was pretty rooted where he was. Ideas began forming. Finally, she sighed, then positioned herself on top of him. He pulled her to him and kissed her.

She responded in kind. After a few minutes of tongue wrestling, and just as his hand found her mound covered in the tight yoga pants, they heard the sound of someone stomping their shoes on the front stoop.

He glanced at the clock as he broke the kiss and removed his hand away. "Hmmm, about right on time." He said. "We will get back to this later, I promise."

"The neighbor kids?" She asked.

"Oh yes. Almost every Saturday, they come over and see if I need any help with anything, hoping to get hired for a little money. Since I have coached them both for a couple of years in baseball, and they live a couple of houses down, they kind of like me I guess. I usually have a few things for them to do, pay em a few bucks, and hope they learn the value of work. Their parents are really nice people, and I suspect they use the time for a little one on one." He finished, winking at her.

She sat up on the couch as Steve stood. Just as he headed toward the door, the bell rang. He opened the door and saw the three Bolden kids heavily bundled against the frigid air, Jeremy, 13, Peyton, 10, on his front door step. Behind them, riding on a plastic, flat bottomed sled was their younger sister Amanda, 5. The boys were armed with snow shovels.

"Well, I was wondering if you boys were gonna show up, with the snow and all. I see you brought my little sweetie over too," Steve said, "and I see you came ready for work.

"Coach Briggs, we was wondering if you wanted us to shovel your driveway and stuff. Yes, dad made us bring the brat over as well. Did you get a new car? Asked the ringleader, Jeremy.

"No, I have a friend visiting that needed a place out of the storm."

Peyton looked past Steve and saw Amy sitting on the couch. "Coach Briggs," he said in a surprised tone, "your friend is a girl."

Amy stood from the couch at this, slightly embarrassed. Jeremy got a good look at her at that time, taking notice of the "Reds" baseball shirt she wore. "Hey, she's wearing last year's uniform shirt!" Being 13, and full of himself, he then asked, "Coach Briggs, you got a girlfriend?"

Steve looked back into the house at Amy, her arms folded in front of her to hide her visible nipples under the shirt. "Maybe I do Jeremy."

At this, little Amanda, more heavily bundled than the boys, and with just her eyes and nose visible under the pink toboggan hat and over the red scarf she wore, rose off of the plastic sled and marched forward, all 3 and a half feet of her coming to the door with determined strides. She stopped in front of Steve. "Mr. Briggs!" she stammered, "You're too old to have a girlfriend! And I thought I was your girlfriend!" She folded her arms in front of her with anger.

Behind him, inside the house, he heard Amy laugh.

"Now Amanda, You are my sweetie, not my girlfriend. I am too old for you to be my girlfriend, but you are my sweetie."

"She's a brat." Said Jeremy.

"Yea," chimed in Peyton, presenting a united front against their sister.

"Oh yea," Amanda shot back, "Well Dad said to take me and that I could be the boss if Mr. Briggs wanted you to clean his snow. AAAANNNND," she exclaimed with precocious authority, her arms still tightly crossed in front of her, "You know why I have to be the boss?"

The two boys said nothing, so Steve asked, "Why do you have to be the boss?"

"Because boys are stupid." She replied with adamant sincerity.

Amy laughed when she heard this, then turned and went into the bathroom to put on a bra. She was sure she was to meet these kids, and did not want her nipples poking out beneath the shirt.

Steve did not hear her walk away. "See what we have to put up with Coach." Jeremy said, leaning in to see Amy walk toward the bathroom, ogling her butt in the yoga pants. "Dang, Coach, ooh la la, fist bump!" He finished, holding his fist up for the bump.

"All right smart ass, enough." He looked back into the house and noticed Amy gone from the living room. "What's the going rate for two stupid boys and a sweetie pie boss to shovel snow?"

"Well," Jeremy said, "seeing as how this snow is pretty deep, AAAND we have to put up with the brat and her crap, I'd say 20 dollars." He finished, looking confidently at his coach.

Amy walked back into the living room, and caught Jeremy's eye again. Steve noticed this and said, "Hmmm, twenty bucks sounds pretty steep for a couple of stupid boys..."

"We ain't stupid!" exclaimed Peyton.

"Well, I know that, but your boss lady says you are, AAAAND," he emphasized, then said slightly lower, "You ogled my friends butt. I should charge you for that."

Jeremy blushed, "Sorry coach."

Steve winked at the boy, "No problem."

Amanda, growing impatient with the stupid boy talk, piped in. "I want to meet your girlfriend Mr. Briggs?" Then, without hesitation, she walked right past Steve into the foyer. She pulled the scarf down from her mouth and looked at Amy. "Hi Mr. Briggs girlfriend, I'm Amanda!"

Amy smiled at the child, "Well, hello Amanda, I'm Amy, nice to meet you."

"Wow, your name begins with the same letter as mine, 'A'" she said, reaching her mittened hand up toward Amy.

"Yes it does." Said Amy, taking the small hand into her own and shaking it.

"Are you Mr. Briggs girlfriend?" she asked.

Amy looked at Steve, who was watching the conversation amused. "Why yes, I believe I am. I am his friend, and I'm a girl, so I guess that makes me his girlfriend."

Amanda looked at Amy skeptically for a moment, then looked back at Steve and her brothers. "Well, I guess that's good. Mr. Briggs always seems to be lonely, you know living here by himself." She said, her unfiltered childish truthfulness hitting a nerve with Amy, and Steve. "But I should let you know to be careful."

"Why is that?" Amy asked, still smiling.

Amanda leaned forward, and Amy leaned down to hear the child. Amanda whispered in her ear, "Because boys are stupid."

Amy stood up and laughed aloud. Steve looked at her with a quizzical look, and she just shook her head at him and smiled big.

"Can you keep the boss lady occupied for a few minutes while I find out what Beavis and Butthead plan to do, and iron out the financials with them?" He asked Amy.

"Sure." Amy replied, then taking Amanda by the hand asked the child, "Would you like some hot chocolate?"

Steve did not hear the reply, as he closed the door to talk to the boys. He looked over at the Bolden house, and saw Pat, their father, watching from his bedroom window. Steve gave him the thumbs up sign, then saw the blinds close. He knew Pat and Donna would be going at it while their kids were occupied. Steve smiled to himself at this fact. "All right you two, here's what I want...."

He proceeded to give them instructions for shoveling the snow around the vehicles, sweeping the snow off the vehicles, then placing ice melt he had in his storage room along the area they had shoveled. After laying out the plan, with a final warning to be careful with the vehicles and not mess up the wipers by using the long soft broom in the storage shed, he asked. "Any questions?"

Jeremy piped up, "We never decided how much you were going to pay us."

"No we didn't," Steve replied. "I tell you what, you do a good job, and we will discuss it afterward. Fair enough?"

Both boys looked slightly downtrodden at this, but Jeremy finally said "OK."

"Now, you guys get to work, and I will go back inside and make sure your boss lady has not convinced my friend that I am stupid. If you need to take a break from the cold, come in and I can fix some hot chocolate for you. Sound Good?"

"OK," said Jeremy. "C'mon Pea brain, let's get started."

"Shut up Jerkemy," Peyton shot back.

"Quit fussin and get to it." Steve said, reaching for the door knob.

Two and a half hours later, the boys finished up, without taking a break the whole time. Amanda had been in and out, checking on the progress like the boss lady was supposed to do. Steve and Amy had discussed a lot of light things in the time, including favorite football teams, colleges, baseball, hobbies and the like. He had used the time to get to know a little more about Amy's surface likes and dislikes, and her interests. Amanda had interjected her child opinions on a few things, but mostly had played games on an old Xbox Steve had that belonged to his son.

The boys came to the door. Steve went out and checked the work. They had done an excellent job, the sidewalk and driveway were clear, the vehicles clear, and the ice melt was put down.

"Wow, you guys did a good job."

"Thanks Coach," Jeremy said.

"OK, come in and warm up, and we will discuss the financials."

"Financials?" Peyton asked.

"That means money Butt wipe." Jeremy said to his brother.

"At At AT," Steve said to Jeremy, "no name calling." Jeremy lowered his head, figuring that his amount just went down.

They went inside. Amy had fixed them both a mug of hot chocolate. They took off their gloves and drank.

"You boys did an excellent job, under adverse conditions, including a tough boss lady. What do you think its worth?"

"Well, I think 20 dollars." Said Jeremy, hopefully.

"Hmmm, twenty bucks. Is that for both of you, or just twenty bucks for you to split?" Steve asked. Looking at each child alternately.

"I don't know," Said Jeremy. "You usually pay each of us the same."

"True." Steve thought for a minute. "Tell you guys what, I'll make you a deal, but you have to promise me something."

"Ok, Sure," Said Jeremy.

"All right," Steve began, "Since it is bitter cold out, and I believe you guys did a super good job for this deep a snow, how about I give you both 20 dollars to spend, and give you twenty dollars to save?"

"WOW!" Peyton said, "Forty dollars total?"

"No, Forty dollars for each of us Peyton," Jeremy said to his brother, holding back a name lest the coach change his mind.

"That's correct. I want you both to take twenty dollars to spend, and save the other twenty in a piggy bank or let your dad deposit it in the bank for you, if you have an account. Save it up for something you want that is expensive, or just if you need it for an emergency. Remember, when it comes to money, always have something in reserve."

"What's that mean?" Jeremy asked.

"Always have some money saved up for a rainy day...well, you'll learn more about that as you get older. Does that sound fair?"

A short chorus of 'yes' and 'sure does' emitted from the boys.

"Now I am going to check with your dad to make sure you save that twenty dollars, and not spend it for a while. Remember that, so promise me you will save the extra twenty."

"Oh we will Coach, we will!" Jeremy exclaimed, with his brother nodding in agreement.

Steve retrieved his wallet and extracted four twenty dollar bills, dividing them between the brothers. After a chorus of thank you and such, the brothers put their mugs on the counter and strode to the door, like proud peacocks, with a little strut in their stride. "I'll send your sister out in a minute, so don't leave her." Steve called after them as they went outside.

Amy had re bundled Amanda into her coat, scarf and hat. She looked at Steve with big eyes. "What about me?" She asked.

"Amanda, you were a pretty strict boss lady, and you did a good job supervising your brothers. How about ten dollars for you?"

"Only ten. They got more I think." She exclaimed.

"Wait a minute child, I am not finished. Do your brothers have game machines?"

"Like the Xbox?"

"Yes"

"They have PlayStation. They won't let me play because all they do is kill each other with their stupid army and zombie games."

She looked at Amy, then Steve, her face a big question mark.

"Well, would you like to have that old Xbox, you were playing? You can also have the games you were playing, which are more for your age, and of course because you are a girl, and not stupid. Does that sound pretty good?"

"Yes!!" She exclaimed, running to Steve. He swept the child up in his arms, went to the door, and called out to the brothers to hold a minute.

He put her down, unhooked the machine from the TV, then gathered the six games he had for it that were age appropriate for her, bundled all the wires together, put it in a plastic bag. He instructed Jeremy to take the bag, and Peyton to pull the sled to take Amanda home. He glanced at the Bolden's house and saw the bedroom blind open, pretty much meaning it was safe for the kids to come home and not interrupt anything.

"Wait for your sister boys." He said, "She will be out in a minute."

He pulled a ten dollar bill out from his wallet, stuffed it into her coat pocket. "Now don't forget this is in here." He told her, as he opened the door again to let her out.

"I won't Mr. Briggs. Thanks. You're nice.....for a boy." She said as she hugged his neck. He sat her down at the doorstep. Amanda turned and lifted her arm to Steve. "Did you know that Amy is a Doctor Mr. Briggs? That is so cool. She's pretty too. You should keep her around. I like her. And I don't think you're stupid Mr. Briggs. My daddy is not stupid either, but my brothers sure are."

Before Steve could react to this last bit of child intelligence, Amanda looked at Amy behind Steve and said, "It was nice to meet you Dr. Amy, See you later!" And with that, she went to the end of the shoveled driveway where her brothers were, got on the sled, and they went back to their house, struggling a little in the still deep snow in the road. Steve and Amy watched them trek home. As they reached the halfway point, Steve said absently, "Pat will have them shoveling their driveway tomorrow morning."

Amy laced her arms around his lower chest, as she stood behind him. "You were amazing with those kids."

"Not really, I had three of my own, and I think they might say I treated them the same way. At least I hope." He replied

"Well, I don't have any experience with them, but that little Amanda was funny. She sure thinks boys are stupid."

"We pretty much are I guess." Steve replied, turning in her arms to face her. "It's after three pm. Sorry for the interruption. They're good kids, and they saved me the hassle of doing all that myself, or letting the sun do it. And the sun is not so strong today."

"It will be dark in about three hours. I took the liberty of prepping some chicken you have in the freezer and am using your crock pot to fix dinner."

"What kind of dish? I have not used that thing in a long time."

"Amanda helped me prepare a crock pot chicken stew. Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, when will it be ready?"

"Well, if your crock pot is as good as mine, in about two and a half hours."

He reached down and kissed her suddenly. "Would you be interested in having dessert first?" He asked, after a long minute of kissing her.

"Why yes, I believe I would be." She said, opening her eyes after the kiss.

She took her arms from around his back, let her right hand stray across the front of his jeans before grasping his hand. She led him down the hallway to the bedroom.

He began by nuzzling and kissing her neck, letting his hands roam up and down her legs and butt.

The yoga pants she wore built up static electricity in his fingers as his hands roamed, and after shocking her a couple of times, he told her to take them off. She sat on the bed and complied.

"Is it my turn now?" She asked.

"I'd say we were through with turns. Let's just go where it goes this time." He replied.

She sat on the bed in her panties, then took off the baseball shirt and slid out of her bra, her ample breasts free, her nipples hardening. "Shouldn't you remove some clothes as well?" She asked.

"Perhaps, but maybe I'd best close those blinds first." He said, pointing at the window.

She looked over her shoulder as he went to the window, closed the blinds, and made his way back. Standing in front of her, he removed the sweatshirt he was wearing.

"Pants too," she said.

"Ok, but don't laugh." He said.

"Here, let me help," she said, as she slid from the bed onto her knees in front of him. She deftly released the buckle on his belt, then the button of his jeans, sliding the zipper down slowly. Half way down, she saw the red Lycra of the thong he was wearing. "Was this what you did not want me to laugh at?" She asked, smiling up at him.

"Yea. I put it on this morning. Had it a long time. Bought it when I was slightly slimmer." He smiled back at her. "Honestly, that strap between my ass cheeks is annoying."

She giggled at this, as she pulled his jeans from his hips. He stepped out of them once she had them to the floor, and kicked them behind him. "You fill it out nicely." She said.

"Thanks, but..." His words were cut to a slight gasp as she placed her mouth at the top of his member, straining against the Lycra. She mouthed the top of his shaft as he stood there, increasing the tension of his cock against the material as he hardened. His breathing changed, and he let out low moans of pleasure as she worked him.

After a few moments of this, she un did the side clasps of the thong, freeing his manhood. It sprang straight out, hard, erect and pulsing. She dropped the thong to the floor, then voraciously took him into her mouth. His gasping moan of pleasure brought about a stifled moan from her as she took all of him in. She placed one hand on his butt cheek, and with the other, she began caressing his hanging testicles.

Back and forth her head bobbed as she took him in to the hilt, then slid back almost to the end of the head, all the while her hand caressing and gently pulling on his balls. His moans and gasps began mixing with her gagged ones, as she moaned along with him, taking great joy in bringing him pleasure.

Steve steeled his will again, trying not to get to close to the point of no return. As much as he enjoyed her oral delights, and wanted to feel her swallow his cum, he did not want to spend himself too quickly. After a few more minutes of sucking and pleasuring him, he felt the point of no return coming on strong. He pulled back from her as she had retreated to the head, and his cock came out of her mouth with an audible plop.

"Everything ok?" she asked, wiping the saliva from her lips and chin with her hand.

"Oh, yes," he gasped, trying to think of anything to bring down the pleasure he was feeling to make it last longer.

"I want you to cum for me, cum in me." She pleaded, looking up at him.

"Oh, I will, but I want to do it together this way."

She looked at him quizzically, then realizing what he meant. "69? Oh Steve, I have not done that in a long time."

"We are about to break that string." He said, then helped her stand.

"Not sure I can handle that at this point." She stammered.