Frank and Cookie

I felt a little guilty the first time I took one of my dates to bed. It was like I was cheating on Pauline, but it didn't take me long to reason it out. Pauline had no doubt started within a month of getting to school so I really wasn't being unfaithful to her but still, the first couple of times I didn't feel right about it.

When I did start dating I would occasionally run across Cookie and her date of the evening and I noticed that she was never with the same guy twice. I chalked it up to her still pining away for Jason and not being able to come up with a guy who gave her the same feelings he did.

I did hook up with a couple of girls that I had short term relationships with, but no one who even came close enough for me to consider a long term relationship with.

Pauline did come home for the holidays and she called me the day she got home and I guess you could say that we picked up where we left off. Our first evening together was supposed to be dinner and a movie, but as soon as she got in the car she slid over next to me and reached for my zipper as she said:

"To hell with dinner baby. Take me somewhere and fuck my socks off."

That set the pattern for the next week, but even though I was loving all the sex something didn't feel right. Something was different. I'm not the swiftest guy in the world, but I finally figured it out. The day after Christmas as we were showering after a sex filled five hours in room 127 of the Marlowe Ave Motel 6 I said:

"You found someone at school didn't you? Someone special?"

She looked away from me and said, "Yes."

"Then why aren't you with him right now instead of being here with me?"

She was silent for a few seconds and then she said, "Because I promised you that if you were unattached when I came home we would get together and I know how you feel about promises. Besides, I always keep my promises."

"That's dumb Pauline. You didn't promise me anything. As I remember it all you said was that if I didn't have anything going we could get together. That wasn't a promise. If you have strong feelings for the guy you need to get the hell out of here and spend the rest of the holidays with him."

"You don't want me any more?"

"Of course I want you, but the important thing here is that you don't really want me. You want him. You need to understand that I stopped thinking of us having a life together when you told me what you would be doing while you were away. All we are now Pauline is friends with benefits. I'll take it as long as you want to give it to me, but if you have found a guy that you feel strongly about you need to be with him."

She called me that evening and told me she had called him and he had invited her to come and stay with him.

"I'm going honey, but I'm always going to have a place in my heart for you."

I wished her well and then I thought about how I had managed to screw myself up. Pauline was gone and so was my date for the New Year's Eve party at Jeff's.

+++++++++++++++++++

I was having lunch at Denny's when Cookie walked in. The place was full so I waved her over to join me. We chatted while we ate and Jeff's party came up in the conversation. I mentioned that since Pauline and I had broken up I wouldn't be going.

"Why not?"

"Because those kinds of parties are couples affairs and singles don't really fit in."

"What you are saying is that you would be going if you had a date."

"Pretty much, but this close to the party finding a date would be near impossible. I have what? Seven hours to come up with a date?"

"No problem. What time do you want to pick me up?"

"Pick you up?"

"I don't have a date and I was going to go to the party and I was going to go single. You said you would go if you had a date so what time do you want me ready?"

It was the first time I had ever danced with Cookie and I was surprised at how well she fit into my arms and how easy we moved together. We had a good time, but the biggest surprise came when the count down to midnight began. I expected a quick peck on the lips to honor the tradition, but on the stroke of midnight Cookie grabbed the back of my head and gave me a kiss that left me weak in the knees. When we broke the kiss I looked at her in astonishment and she said:

"We'll talk later on the way home."

The party broke up at three and as I pulled away from the curb Cookie said:

"You have always been my best friend Frankie. We have always been close. Close enough that I can ask you for a big favor. A really, really big favor."

"What?"

"Will you make love to me tonight?"

I couldn't have been anymore stunned if she asked me to help her rob a bank. I sat there with both hands on the wheel staring forward at the road we were travelling. I couldn't think of a thing to say.

"What's wrong Frankie? Why won't you talk to me?"

"You caught me by surprise Cook. I don't know what to say."

"Just say yes Frankie. Please?"

"What is going on here Cook?"

"I like sex Frankie. Actually I love it, but I haven't been laid since Jason left. I've dated a lot, but I never liked any of them enough to do more than some heavy make out sessions. You're my best friend Frankie. Help me out please?"

It was unreal. For years I had thought of her as 'my girl' only to find out that she didn't have the same feelings for me. Now, after I'd adjusted to being just her friend in a big brotherly sort of way, she was offering me her body. Part of me wanted to say no just out of spite, but even as I had that thought the larger part of me was saying, "You have always wanted her so you damned well better say yes."

I had a few bucks in my pocket so hung a left on Mayhew and headed for motel row on the outskirts of town. Cookie was taking off her clothes before I even had the door closed. I thought Pauline was hot, but Cookie made Pauline look like a total beginner. Cookie had said that she loved sex and she spent all night proving it. She did it all. She even wanted anal which was something that I had never done before. She had my cock in her mouth trying in vain to get me up again when I drifted off to sleep.

And that was the start of it.

As we drove away from the motel in the morning Cook said, "I have a family thing to do tonight, but I'm free tomorrow. From then on it was sex two or three times a week. We had making love for over a month before we went out on an actual date. By the middle of the year we were considered a couple and by the time the next New Year's Eve party I was thinking of buying a ring and proposing. As it turned out I never did get to actually propose.

It was on New Year's Day – one year to the day since our first time – when she hit me with it.

"We have a problem Frankie."

"What?"

"I'm pregnant."

"How? I mean I know how, but I thought you were on the pill."

"I am, but remember that cold I had back in November? The antibiotics I took messed up my system and apparently negated the birth control pills. What are we going to do?"

"We have to get married."

"How can we do that? We can't afford it."

"I'll have to quit school and go full time at Uncle Mike's. We can make it. Others have done it on less."

"God Frankie, what am I going to tell my parents?"

"The truth Cook. It isn't something you can hide, at least not for more than a couple of months."

"I didn't want this Frankie. God knows I didn't want this."

"But we got it Cook and now we have to live with it."

Our parents took it surprisingly well. My parents surprised me with something that I had never known. They had gotten married for the same reason I was marrying Cookie. My dad did say:

"This is one case where I wish it wasn't a "like father, like son" situation, but what is is."

According to Cookie her dad just shrugged when he got the news and her mother told her that she felt guilty over not warning Cookie about the effects that some medications had on birth control pills.

The ceremony was a civil one with just a few friends and family in attendance. Our parents got together and for a wedding present they paid for a one year lease on an apartment and gave us enough furniture for it. I went full time for Uncle Mike and we settled into married life.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Being pregnant seemed to make Cookie horny all the time and since we now lived together instead of just dating our sex life moved up from two or three times a week to five and six and that frequency held right up to two weeks before Frank junior arrived on the scene. When JR, which is what we called Franklin Michael Malone junior, was six months old Cookie's mom took over as babysitter and Cookie found a job as a secretary at a real estate office and we started saving money for a down payment on a house.

A couple of years went by and we were finally able to come up with the down payment on a house we could afford and we moved in. The only other thing of note (as related to my life anyway) was that we were invited to Pauline's wedding and then I got to be her wingman/babysitter when she went out and got drunk following her divorce when she caught him cheating. We stayed good friends and surprisingly Cookie showed no jealousy over the fact that I was so close to an ex-girlfriend.

Pauline had gotten a real estate license and was working for the same agency that Cookie worked for and Pauline was helping Cookie study for taking the licensing exam so Cook could get her license.

Cook and I had been married a little over five years when life got complicated. Uncle Mike bought a Jiffy Lube franchise and since it was taking up a lot of his time he made me the manager of the brake franchise. After six months he decided that he really couldn't handle them both so he made me an offer. He would lease the brake franchise to me with an option to buy and the lease payments would go toward the purchase. For me it was a no brainer and I jumped at it.

The thing that I hadn't noticed while working for Uncle Mike was the amount of time he had to spend on the business and my hours became longer. I had to get there early to open, stay late to close and then take care of the paperwork generated during the day. Some nights I was there two or three hours after closing just taking care of the payroll, filing tax reports for city, county, state and the federal government. Just making sure payroll taxes got paid on time and were accurate took a chunk of time.

About the same time I noticed a change in Cookie. She would go through periods of being happy and then sad. She would get 'snappish' with me and then a day later she would apologize. I put it down to the pressure of being a fulltime secretary and trying to be more than a part time mom with out me being there to help as much as I had before I took over the brake shop. It went on for over three months before I found out what was happening.

Pauline had brought her car in for some brake work and while she was waiting we decided to go to lunch. We talked as we ate and we were almost finished when Pauline asked how things were going with me and Cookie.

"Great. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I know how hung up she used to be on Jason. I just wondered if it had any effect on your marriage."

"Why should it?"

I saw a funny look come over her face and she said, "No reason. No reason at all."

"Don't give me that sweetie; I know you too well. You have something that you just decided to keep from me. What is it?"

"I just wondered how the two of you were getting along now that she is seeing Jason."

"Cookie is seeing Jason? I didn't even know he was back in town."

"He isn't. The company he works for has an office here and he comes to town for a couple of days every two or three weeks. When he is here he calls her and they have lunch."

"That's it? They have lunch together?"

"I don't know what she does when she is gone, but some of those lunches are pretty long ones. You really didn't know she was seeing him?"

"Didn't have a clue."

"I hope I didn't just make problems for you."

"I hope you didn't either, but things aren't sounding too good. How long has it been going on?"

"Two or three months."

"Two or three months and Cookie has never mentioned him at all during that time? No sweetie; things are definitely not sounding good."

I asked Pauline to call me the next time Jason was going to be in town and she said that she would.

That afternoon as I sat in the office reviewing the time sheets it occurred to me that Cookie's mood swings could be because she was seeing Jason. Her 'happy' periods were when he was in town and her 'down' periods and irritable times were between his visits. I never would have thought that Cookie would cheat on me, but what else could her failure to tell me about Jason's visits mean? If they were just innocent lunch dates with an old friend why would she hide them from me? And of course the big question – what was I going to do about it?

It was two weeks before I got the call from Pauline, but I really didn't need it. I got home from work to find a very happy Cookie and I guessed that it meant she had either seen Jason that day or had at least gotten a call from him telling her that he was coming to town.

Pauline verified it the next day when she called me at work.

"I was out showing a house and I didn't know Jason was here until I got back to the office. I got there just as Jason dropped her off. Then I had a couple come in about a house and I forgot to call you until this morning."

"What time does Cook usually leave for lunch?"

"Between eleven-thirty and twelve."

"Thanks for the call sweetie. I owe you one."

"Careful lover; I just might call in the debt."

I laughed and said goodbye. I couldn't afford a private detective so it was going to have to be a 'do it yourself' thing. I called Harry into the office and told him he was in charge until I got back and then I headed for the real estate office. At eleven-fifteen I was parked just up the street where I could see the front and side door and parking lot and I settled in to wait.

At eleven-thirty Cookie came out the front door, looked both ways and then moved up to the curb and stood there. A minute or so later a Ford Focus pulled up and Cookie got in. She slid over and kissed the driver and the car pulled away. I followed along behind them and pulled to the curb and parked when they pulled into the parking lot at Antonio's. It was Jason who got out on the driver's side and he and Cookie entered the restaurant hand in hand. Forty minutes later they came out, got in the car and then sat and necked for about twenty minutes and then he drove her back to work.

That night Cookie was in a great mood which of course did not put me in a good mood. One of the things about Cookie's good moods was that she never – NEVER – wanted to make love when she was in one. She always had an excuse why she couldn't on that night, but she always did promise to make it up to me and she usually did. I guess she thought she would be cheating on Jason if she had sex with me when he was in town. Either that or she couldn't stand to have me touch her after she'd spent time with him.

I slept fitfully that night as I spent some time wondering about the situation and what I ought to do. My restless night was apparently noticeable as Cookie mentioned it in the morning.

"You didn't seem to sleep well last night. Something bothering you?"

"Yeah, I guess there is."

"Any thing I can help you with?"

I couldn't have asked for a better opening, but I didn't take it. I wanted to know more about her meetings with Jason before I confronted her. At eleven-twenty I was again parked where I could watch the real estate office. Cook came out at eleven-thirty on the dot and less than a minute later Jason pulled up and she got in the car and she leaned over and kissed him. I followed them to a Denny's and the entire thing was a repeat of the day before only this time they necked for over a half hour before Jason drove her back to work.

I went back to work and again spent the afternoon thinking about what was going on. They didn't appear to be having sex, but they could have been. I'd only followed them for two days and they had been meeting for three months and who knows what they did on all the times I never knew about. She was always home when I got there so unless it was on nights I stayed late to do paperwork they weren't meeting after Cook got off work. I remembered what Pauline said about the fact that some of their lunch meetings being long ones. I needed to know more before I got on her about it.

I loved the dumb bitch and I was happy with my marriage and my family and if I didn't handle it right I could screw things up pretty bad. If things weren't all ready too bad. I mean why was she seeing him? What did they talk about? Was she thinking of leaving me for him? Was my marriage all ready in the toilet and I just didn't know it yet? I'd just about made up my mind to let things ride and wait and see what she did the next day or maybe on Jason's next trip when Cookie brought things to a head.

She was in another of her happy moods and over dinner she told me that she would be late the next evening.

"I'm stopping after work with the girls from the office for a girl's night out. I won't be too late, but you will have to handle dinner for you and JR."

A little bell rang in the back of my head. Cookie had never before stopped after work with the girls from the office. While Cookie was doing the dishes I went into the bedroom that I had turned into a home office and den and I called Pauline and asked her about the planned girl's night out.

"What girl's night out? I don't know anything about it."

I told her about what Cookie had told me and Pauline said, "The girls have never stopped for drinks after work and if they were going to start I'd be one of the fist ones to know. In fact I tried to arrange one a couple of months ago and no one was interested."

There was a slight pause and then "Oh shit! Jason's in town."

"Exactly."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet, but I could very well end up divorced."

"Oh goodie!"

"Oh goodie?"

"Divorced puts you back in circulation. I fucked up once and let you get away and I've regretted it ever since. I'd love another shot."

As I hung up the phone I was already thinking of how I was going to handle it.

When we went to bed Cookie wanted to play and I had to wonder about that. She usually wouldn't have anything to do with me on the days she spent with Jason, but she was going to fuck me and then go to him the next day? I didn't understand it, but understand it or not Cookie was offering and it could very well be the last time for us so I was going to take it. It was an exhausting night as we made love three times and as I drifted off to sleep I wondered if we would be sharing the same bed after the next day.

Over breakfast the next day Cookie reminded me of her girl's night out and that she would be late.

"Just make sure in your mind that your night out is worth the price you will have to pay for it."

"What on earth do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that your husband is not the dumb clueless doofus you apparently think he is. I know a lot more about things than you think I do so like I just said, make sure that your girls night out is worth the price that you will pay for it."

"I don't have a clue as to what you are talking about."

"You have all day to think about it. Maybe by quitting time you will have figured it out. Then again maybe you have all ready figured it out and you are willing to pay the price." I got up as I said, "Got to get going or I'll be late in opening the shop. See you tonight. Or not."

I left the house to Cookie's "Come back here Frank! You can't just..." and the closing door cut off the rest.