Good Neighbor Ch. 06

The girls had not mentioned to Jack that Maddy was sometimes at the store that she had once made such a fuss over. That was interesting. "We have plenty of room. You are welcome to come back- you always have been."

She did not look up and was quiet for a while- long enough to make Jack uncomfortable. "That's not all." She was quiet again and Jack bit his tongue to give her room to gather her thoughts. "I'm lonely."

"Oh, the girls would love to have you around! I'm sure they..."

"Not like that." She interrupted. "This is hard for me to say, so please bear with me. I miss having male companionship in my life." Jack was not sure what to say and slowly, hesitatingly, Mrs. Murphy filled in the space. She told Jack that she and the long-departed Mr. Murphy enjoyed a 'vigorous' relationship. Her blushes told Jack exactly what she meant by that. She then related that she had actively dated for quite some time after his passing.

"I've met several handsome and interesting men lately, but none of them really did anything for me, Jack." He nodded his head, beginning to understand her dilemma. "But you do." She almost whispered.

Jack nodded his head some more until whatever switches finally clicked into place and he processed what she just said. "Uh..."

"I know, you are some thirty years younger than I am, and surrounded by a bevy of... ahem... 'active' young women, and that I don't look like your Angel anymore... but I think something is still lingering in me from that time. I sometimes... dream... about you, about us, doing... things together."

Jack had not been this stunned since the long ago night Angel came to his door late at night in a skimpy nightie asking for some sperm. The hamster was off the wheel, the chain was off the sprockets, the warp core had been ejected.

"Jack?" She asked, nudging him gently. "Jack? Are you OK? Please say something" She was getting a slightly panicky tone in her voice. That nudged the machinery back into action.

"Uh... how about you come stay with us for the weekend to see how things go and... uh, we'll take it a step at a time?" He wished he did not sound so wishy-washy with that last bit but Maddy just smiled and patted his arm.

"That sounds fair. How about if I come over about fivish on Friday and stay until Sunday night?" Jack agreed and she left with a smile and a brief hug.

Come Friday, the girls welcomed Maddy warmly and showed her to her room that she was going to share with Penny. They all had a festive meal and dessert, played some parlour games, and watched a scary movie with popcorn. It was a great night! One of the unspoken 'house rules' had always been that every time someone gets up, everyone shifted a little so Jack got to sit next to everyone roughly equally. When it was Maddy's time to be rotated next to Jack, she was obviously concerned at first, but after a while, she was leaning against him a little. If he closed his eyes, Jack could almost imagine Angel at his side. It tore him up that Angel was so close and yet so far.

Maddy spent much of Saturday in her garden, tsking over its state after being cared for mostly by the girls and a couple of 'volunteer' handymen. She also helped the girls with their Etsy-like projects get caught up on orders, pitched in with meal prep, and generally kept busy and helpful. Penny found Jack watching Maddy out the window at one point.

"She's avoiding me, isn't she? Jack asked the cute blonde.

"That's funny. She thinks you are avoiding her!" Penny laughed as she walked away.

A few minutes later, Jack was in shorts and a T-shirt, asking Maddy how he could help in the garden. They toiled together in the warm sun, chatting about whatever came to their mind but neither mentioned anything about the elephant in the garden with them.

When they were done, Jack gallantly helped Mrs. Murphy up from her knees, and impulsively gave her a big hug.

"Mr. Allen! I'm a sweaty mess." She objected.

"Hmmm, yeah, you rather are, aren't you? You should probably clean up before we go out tonight."

"Pardon me?"

"Well, it's your turn, isn't it.? You ARE a woman living in the house, right? I believe tradition calls for you to choose the location, as long as it is not too expensive, and has something I will eat."

Mrs. Murphy shook her head. "You don't need to do that, Jack. I am not really 'one of the girls'."

"I bet if you took a poll, you would find that the others think you are, and I don't have the guts to go against them, so get cleaned up and think about where we are going. I'll clean up here." He grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow and began to put away the tools as Mrs. Murphy walked to the Fun House, shaking her head.

"Are you sure this is where you want to go?" Jack asked again for like the twelfth time. They were outside 'Giggles', the local 'breastaurant' that Lily, Bunny, and Kiki worked at full-time, and some of the others pitched in at.

"Again, yes Jack." Maddy sighed. "Lily talks about it all the time and she has me intrigued. She says the chicken and desserts are actually pretty good. Besides, Bunny is working tonight and I sort of want to see her in action."

Like so many places now, Giggles had a theme and a lot of stuff up on the walls. Here, the theme was having fun and the knick knacks stuck all over the walls were circus props, magician and comedian posters, and the like. The waitstaff wore shiny pink shorts (very tight and very short), white skimpy tops, shiny nude stockings, and whatever shoes they wanted as long as they were cute or fun. Most of the girls managed to distort the 'Giggles' logo on their chest significantly.

A cute hostess on roller skates met them and asked if they had a reservation. Maddy said it was under 'Mr. Allen' and she led them to their seats. Jack was fascinated by the effects of roller skates and the tight shorts on her well-formed derriere and almost missed that Bunny was waiting at their table.

"Jack! Maddy!" Bunny was a natural cheerleader type and greeted them enthusiastically. Jack's attention was easily diverted from the departing host's fanny to the spectacle of Bunny's generous chest bouncing with her. The bouncing only stopped when she gave Maddy a huge and warm hug, then engulfed jack in her fragrant and very comfortable embrace. "So, do you want to start with drinks? Jack, they have your favorite beer? Jack nodded and she turned to Maddy. "And for you? I know, how about a mango margarita?" Maddy admitted that sounded good and Bunny flounced off.

Their dinner together went amazingly well, in Jack's opinion. Bunny was great as their server- friendly, there when they needed her and giving them privacy otherwise. Jack enjoyed his steak and they shared a chocolate pile of something or other that was delicious. They mostly spoke about pleasant things- Maddy's memories of the old neighborhood, some of Jack's old jobs, and the like. Jack was laughing freely and the two were sharing slightly risque things that made them both blush like teenagers.

As Jack helped Maddy back in the car, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and a big hug. She turned her head and gave him an actual kiss back. It lingered for a moment. It lingered for a moment longer. Jack felt himself stir in ways that were not 100% appropriate for the situation and Maddy obviously felt it. The next thing Jack knew, Maddy's tongue was in his mouth and her groin was mashed against his even as his hand slipped under her blouse to caress her warm, soft skin on her side. When they finally broke apart, Maddy just said 'Whew' and touched up her hair before sliding into the car.

They drove home in an odd silence. Jack felt embarrassed, aroused, and feeling just a little guilty or conflicted, or something. Confused would probably describe it nicely. Maddy seemed to be perfectly content to just sit there with a small smile on her face. She even held his hand a couple times. When they were back home, she gave him a more demure kiss and hug and went off to her room. Jack caught up with Kiki and Sammy and took them to bed to work out his own feelings.

Jack woke up in the morning with his face buried in thick brunette hair and his arm draped over a warm shape. he was not awake enough to know for sure which girl it was, probably Lily or Candy. He breathed in her personal scents and recognized it intimately but could not quite put his finger on it. The girl turned in her sleep and Jack saw that it was Angel. He smiled his pleasure in seeing her in the morning and went back to sleep.

Uh?

"Holy crap!" Jack was out of bed so fast that he pulled most of the blankets off with him and a startled Angel fell off the other side. "Angel?!?"

"Ouch! Is that any way to greet a girl, Jack?" He could hear other girls in the house repeating the word 'Angel?'

"Oh my god, you're back!" Jack struggled in the blankets to reach his beloved Angel and she just stood there, smirking at him. He finally swam out of the pile and fell on her, hugging her fiercely.

By now, some of the other girls were at the door and knocking, asking about Angel. Jack opened the door and all the girls fell into a group hug with plenty of squealing and hopping.

"OK, house meeting in 30 minutes! Get dressed and we'll meet in the dining hall!" Angel called out. The girls left, each apparently needing to touch her before they left. Penny had shown up late and was hugging her mom as if she was not going to let her go, but went off to get ready with the others.

Jack could not leave Angel either and he just held and caressed her without speaking for several minutes until Angel gently reminded him to get dressed.

By the time the two got to the dining room, there was a simple breakfast laid out and everyone was eager to hear all about it.

"There is not much to tell." Angel started as she sat on Jack's lap. "Jack and I went out last night and enjoyed a nice meal- thanks Bunny! Then... well, we kissed. Something happened when we did, it was like it unlocked something in Maddy's brain. Memories began to return and she... I?... began to feel something stirring in us. When I woke up early this morning, I was me again so I went to sleep with Jack. I have to admit that I planned on waking him up in his favorite way but he looked like he needed to sleep so I just crawled in beside him and fell back to sleep myself."

"Do you remember the last few months?" Ginger asked.

"I remember everything as far as I know, and I apologize for putting you all through that. I know that you know it was not my fault, but I am happy that the company made me the '50 year old' Maddy instead of the older and more crotchety '70 year old' version. I think she would have made things a lot more uncomfortable- for all of us."

There was a lot of general conversation and catching up for a while and Jack just sat there, drinking it all in. Things felt so right now, and a part of his mind was already thinking about how to make up for lost time later.

"Oh, before I forget, I have a question." Angel announced. "Why didn't we just go to the bank and take out a loan or loans to pay The Debt and just owe the bank back at a more reasonable rate?"

The girls all looked at Jack.

"Uh?"