Just Supposed to be a Summer Job

"Penny for your thoughts, Beautiful," Stevie said when he looked up from what he was doing and caught her staring at Annalise and him.

For his part, Stevie was surprised at how easily the child accepted him. He thought his coloring -- very much the same as Annalise's -- must be a comfort to the child.

When the trio got back to Jennifer's small house, Jennifer invited Stevie in for coffee and cake. At 10, she sent Annalise to bed.

"I would say that now that the adults are alone ... but I saw you this evening at the park and I'm not sure you're really an adult," Jennifer giggled. "But seriously, Stevie, if you want to have something going with me, you've got to deal directly with me, not try to get at me through my daughter."

Stevie looked up with both shock and pain on his face. Now that he thought about it, he was spending a lot of his time with Annalise.

"Whoa. Is that what you think? That I'd suck up to you by being nice to your kid? What if I was to tell you that I'm actually sucking up to the kid by being nice to her old, broken down mother. That kid's mom has to be what, 32 years old ... and God, for those wrinkles. I figure if I play my cards just right, I might someday get to hang out with the neatest 9-year-old I've ever met. That kids' grandparents must be amazing people how they've raised such a great kid!"

Jennifer was blushing deeply now, looking half-angry, half-surprised herself. Stevie knew she wasn't feeling very proud of herself at the moment, and decided to let the moment linger by not saying anything.

"All right, I'm sorry I mistook your intentions with Annalise," Jennifer finally gushed. "You are a different one, Mr. Tanner. I'll give you that."

"Actually, Miss Sorrentino, I am something of an enigma. Most people see me as some kind of biracial hippy who's looking for his next joint, when in reality I'm a math whiz with a sports addiction who also happens to be a really, really nice guy. Seriously, little kids and animals absolutely love me, and who should know better?"

Stevie then gave Jennifer his best cheesy grin. Jennifer walked over from the chair she had been sitting on to the sofa on which Stevie sat. She gave a little nudge with her hip to the arm he had draped across his leg. Stevie moved the arm and Jennifer made herself at home sitting sideways on his lap. Stevie knew she could feel his hard dick through his shorts.

Five minutes later the pair was in Jennifer's bed, trying hard to keep their moaning and laughter down to avoid waking Annalise. That plan was barely working when Stevie laid the flat of his tongue on Jennifer's opening and gave a long, slow lick upward. Jennifer gave a piercing shriek, then tried to impale herself with Stevie's face. Stevie took a big drag of air into his lungs just before Jennifer's pussy came smashing in and she locked her wonderful legs around his head, face fucking him powerfully and yelling gibberish at the same time. Stevie continued to drive forward, and the two practically melded together until Jennifer finally stopped writhing in pleasure.

With Jennifer apparently passed out or dazed, Stevie had a chance to listen to see if they had woken Annalise. He didn't hear anything, so he just laid with his head across her right thigh until she gained some semblance of composure.

"Oh my God, Stevie! What was that? Did we wake Annalise?" Jennifer rapid-fired at him.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm also pretty good with my tongue?" Stevie asked mischievously. "And, no, despite the fact that you probably woke up half the neighborhood, somehow your daughter is still asleep, I think. Actually, I'm too embarrassed to go into her room and check."

Jennifer got up, put on a robe, and went to check on the child. She was smiling warmly as she came back. Stevie was halfway dressed.

"Relax, she's out cold," Jennifer said.

Stevie continued dressing as Jennifer looked at him with concern.

"What just happened here? Did I do something wrong?" Jennifer queried haltingly.

"Nope. You did everything just right, even to the part where you got up and checked on Annalise. I hope her security always comes first in your mind," Stevie answered.

"Then why aren't you staying?"

"Because the mood is gone -- the magic, and once the spell has been broken, there's no sense trying to get it back. I've seen this before ... yes, I can make you orgasm for half the night and it will feel good physically, but it won't even be in the ballpark with what we just had, both physically and mentally. So let's just leave this experience on its high plain, and sometime in the future I promise to do this again ... and much more," Stevie related.

"But I didn't even get you ..."

"It's OK, Babe. If I have my way, there's going to be plenty more chances for a long, long time."

Stevie gave Jennifer a soft kiss on the lips. He let himself out of the house.

The very next weekend Jennifer got her parents to babysit Annalise for all of Saturday night, and Stevie rewarded her with the best night to sex she'd ever had. Stevie counted 17 orgasms over the three hours they played. At one point, Stevie was gently inhaling her clit with his tongue when Jennifer went from a low growl to a sharp shriek, followed by a lot of out of control spasming. Stevie quickly looked up, then saw Jennifer's eyes roll back into her head, and she came to an abrupt halt -- passed out completely. Stevie chuckled to himself, because this wasn't the first time he had ever made a partner pass out. He listened carefully to hear she was breathing, then he laid with his head on her thigh until she woke up groggy.

"Welcome back, Beautiful," Stevie said.

"Seriously, Stevie? Seriously?" was all she could mumble.

Stevie was completely hooked by both Jennifer and Annalise by the time Christmas rolled around, but one incident in particular sealed the deal in his mind. Annalise was in her school's Christmas play, with both Jennifer and Stevie in attendance. After the play, as the parents were greeting the children and eating Christmas cookies and drinking milk in the school cafeteria, Annalise was talking to several other little girls, when one of them asked Annalise who Stevie was. Stevie was close enough to hear the exchange, although at that moment he knew Annalise couldn't see him.

"That's my dad," she said casually. "At least I'm hoping he'll take the job."

A lump formed in Stevie's throat and he was surprised when a tear rolled down his left cheek.

"Dad," Stevie whispered to himself. "Dad. Dad. Daddy. D-a-a-a-d-d-d. Oh yeah. Dad."

Christmas Eve was spent at Mario and Marianne's house. Christmas morning was spent at Stevie's. Jennifer and Annalise had decorated the house for Stevie, because he was Jewish, and the only time the house had ever been decorated was when Traci had done it while the two were married. Stevie left the girls instructions that he wanted the house festive, and had given them a good budget.

The morning was spent with much happiness and laughter as everyone opened their gifts slowly so the others could see. When everyone had finished opening their presents, Stevie asked everyone to remain in the living room while he went into his bedroom and came out with one final wrapped gift for Annalise. The child grabbed it and smiling brightly, tore into the gold and red wrapping paper. It turned out to be a bright Christmas-type sweater, with the words "Daddy's girl" written in script across the front.

The child at first looked shocked, then started to openly weep as she threw herself across the room and into Stevie's waiting arms.

"I knew you were the one the first time I saw you in the diner," she cried.

"Wait. We have to make this official first," Stevie said as he pulled something out from behind his back. He handed a ring box to Jennifer. "You'd make me the happiest man on the planet if you would be my wife and let me be Annalise's father."

Annalise inherited two more grandmothers and a grandfather when Jennifer said yes. Stevie's mother, of course, was a given, but he hadn't realized until plans were being made that he was the closest thing Charlie and Angela had to a son, and they were about as thrilled over the upcoming wedding as his mother. Of course Stevie made sure that they were given a special place in the wedding, and neither Jennifer nor Annalise objected.

Stevie noticed, however, that in all of this euphoria, one thing seemed a little off between Jennifer and himself, and after letting it sit for a couple of weeks, he decided he needed to find out what was going on. Stevie wanted no secrets and nothing held back going into this union.

One Sunday afternoon when Annalise was outside of the house playing with some of the kids in Stevie's neighborhood, Stevie asked the question that no man really ever wants to ask his woman.

"Do we need to talk?" he said huskily as his throat seemed to dry up in an instant. "Something's been bothering you for a bit, and nothing is ever going to get resolved if we don't communicate with each other. Nothing gets left on the table, Babe, nothing. And I mean that forever. Nothing ever gets left on the table between us."

Jennifer blushed deeply, and Stevie sensed his world could unravel in a heartbeat. Jennifer stammered, started, stopped.

"This might seem totally stupid to you," she said, "but I sense that there's something between you and Angela. Sometimes when she watches you, she gets a look in her eyes that more than a mother figure should have, and sometimes when she talks to you she puts her hands on you in kind of a familiar way. I haven't said anything to anybody else yet, but I have to know, did you two ever have something going, and am I going to have to watch over you for the rest of my life?"

Stevie looked up in shock. He thought he and Angela had done a great job of leaving their past together in the past.

"A gentleman doesn't talk about such things under normal circumstances, but I guess these aren't normal circumstances," Stevie answered. "Yes, with Charlie's knowledge and permission, Angela and I engaged in a physical affair for two weeks for each of the four years I worked at the resort in the Catskills, back in the summers when I was in college. It was strictly a physical relationship, and none of us has ever brought it up again. It ended completely after my last summer there, as was the plan. Not a living soul outside of this room knows a thing about it, and I just violated my agreement by telling you, so unless you want to have a short, quick marriage to a dead man walking, this never gets brought up again. Got it?"

"That probably explains some of your skill in the bedroom, doesn't it? She was a good teacher, wasn't she?" Jennifer kidded with a little sing-song to her voice.

"I'd like to think she was an excellent teacher and I tried to be an excellent student. But that's as far as this conversation ever goes. DO NOT SEND HER ANY KIND OF A THANK YOU!"

"Even Gary doesn't know about this. I'm serious, Jennifer."

"Well then considering how much I owe that woman, I won't do anything that might get either of you in trouble."

++++++++++

A few weeks later, Stevie got the phone call he was expecting. Jimmy Burke invited Stevie to a midday walk in Central Park. The pair had a few things to discuss, Jimmy said. It had been almost a year since Sal Costa was found murdered. The police still had no idea who was involved. But Stevie knew Jimmy was smart enough to collect on what was at least partially a huge favor, albeit one that had never been asked.

Although the two men had never met, they greeted each other like old friends with a big hug. It was a sign of respect for both of them.

"I like the way you do things," Jimmy told the younger man. "You set that up really sweet, and let me make the decision. You knew I probably wasn't going to trust that mope, Costa, to get his nose into my business, but if nothing happened it was still no harm, no foul. But Charlie Figs had nothing but good things to say about you, so ..."

Stevie looked sideways at the older man. This man was probably every bit the IQ equal of Stevie, he thought.

"Thank you," was all he said, sticking out his hand for a firm handshake.

"Now let's discuss some personal business," Burke said. "Like I said, Figs says you're aces, and he's been telling me about your investment company, so to speak. Well, I've got a friend in Canada who owes me some money, and I think I'd like you to handle that for me. He'll send you a certified check each month, and you do what you do, minus your 'commission' of course. Just set me up like you've got yourself and everybody else set up ... nice and legit, so Uncle Sam can get his cut and everything will always be good."

By this time, Stevie was managing money for about three dozen associates, in addition to his other duties.

"How about we dispense with the 'commission'? Call it a wash for 'other considerations?'"

Jimmy stuck out his big paw. Stevie put his hand firmly into Jimmy's.

As it turned out, Jimmy's friend from Canada, Izzy Rodriguez, sent a certified check for $34,321 to Stevie at the construction company every month. Although first puzzled by the odd amount, Stevie set things up right for Jimmy, and those checks continued to come in until Jimmy Burke died in prison in 1996.

++++++++++

The Tanner household grew by one on March 2, 1987, with the birth of Mickey Charles Tanner. Babies are named after dead relatives by Jewish tradition, and Stevie always knew that someday he would honor his father. But since the baby wasn't Jewish, Stevie felt he could also honor the other person in his life that he had turned to for advice and wisdom on many occasions after his father died -- Charlie Bonafiglio. Charlie cried when Stevie told him the baby was going to be named partially after him.

Annalise looked pensive when Stevie dropped her off at his in-laws on the way to taking Jennifer to the hospital to give birth to the baby. Just before he knocked on the door, the child, now 12 and starting to bud into young womanhood, looked deeply into Stevie's eyes and spoke.

"I'll understand if you don't have as much time for me with a baby around -- your real child -- as you used to have. It's OK, Dad, I get it," she said.

"No, Baby, you apparently don't get it," Stevie answered as he swept her into a big hug. "You are every bit my real child as your brother's going to be. I will rearrange my time a bit, but you are always going to be 'Daddy's girl,' whether or not you want to be ... and I'm guessing in just a few years, you might be regretting this conversation."

Annalise blushed, knowing full well that Stevie was talking about her getting a boyfriend some day.

"Oh, Daddy!" she said as she hugged Stevie back hard. "You'd better get going. You don't want to have the baby in the car."

++++++++++

"The greatest legs to ever stride the earth," Stevie said as Jennifer came into the kitchen after getting back from her Saturday morning exercise class.

Jennifer was wearing a workout outfit that was maybe just a touch too tight, with the shorts being a touch too short as well, Stevie thought to himself.

"God, those legs are still fantastic. I'll be she turns the heads of those 20-something guys," Stevie thought to himself.

A year younger than Stevie, Jennifer was now 58. She and Stevie were just a few months shy of hitting their 25th anniversary, and Stevie had to admit she was still a gorgeous woman. And because of that, Stevie made sure he was a regular in the gym, too. Not that he was overly worried, but Stevie didn't see the need to give Jennifer any reasons to look elsewhere. And he still bore some scars from his first marriage, the way she still bore scars from the relationship that gave her Annalise.

Jennifer smiled at Stevie and reached into the refrigerator for a cold bottle of water. She took a sip after twisting the cap off and looked sideways at Stevie, who was reading the morning newspaper.

"You wouldn't mind if I did a little girls' night out thing with several of the girls from the gym, would you?" she asked Stevie.

Stevie was a little nonplussed by the request. Since the kids had left home, the weekends were for doing things together, particularly the evenings. The pair usually went out to a restaurant and sometimes a show or a movie, or just entertained at home. But since this was the first time she had made this request, Stevie acquiesced, and tried not to show he was hurt.

Jennifer got home at about 10 in the evening to find Stevie watching a movie in his recliner. He watched her carefully but couldn't discern that anything out of the ordinary had occurred, except for the fact the felt guilty for even thinking that something might happen. When Jennifer came up to him for a quick hello kiss, Stevie took a deep breath before giving his wife a gentle peck on the lips. She didn't smell from another man's cologne or cigarettes, he noted to himself.

Two weeks later Jennifer again asked to do a girls' night out, and this time Stevie let on that he was a little annoyed by what he thought was a lack of consideration. Jennifer noted the consternation on his face as he told her she could go.

Jennifer came home at about 11 this time, but Stevie wasn't in his chair. He had gone out to one of his favorite quiet spots, The Aurora, and was downing shots of rye with Gary.

"I'm not sure, but I think I've got a problem, Gar," Stevie told Gary soon after they met at the bar. "I think she might be running around on me, but I haven't caught her with any foreign smells on her or anything like that. But all of a sudden she's doing 'girls' nights out'. I don't like this."

"Why don't you talk to her first, before you do anything," Gary said. "Maybe there's something going on that you two can talk through. You have been married a long time, you know."

"I was kind of hoping you'd say that. I was hoping that there wasn't something going on that Melody might have known about and mentioned to you."

Melody and Gary had been married for 30 years, and they talked about everything. So if she had mentioned something to Gary, Stevie was sure his longtime friend would have said something to him.

Stevie went home at about midnight. Jennifer was already in bed asleep when Stevie got there. This night marked the second Saturday night in the last three that they didn't have sex, a gap that had not happened in about two years, Stevie noted. Although were pair were in their late 50s, they had been having a sexual renaissance of sorts for the last couple of years since they became empty-nesters. An everyday pill for Stevie and some lube for Jennifer, and they could be good for at least an hour of bed-rocking sex at least twice a week. But now it had been over a week, and the only time in recent years that had happened was when one or both of the kids had been home with their families.

A subcontractor not showing up ready to work on Wednesday morning had Gary in a snit, and in the process of calming Gary, Stevie knocked over his full mug of coffee, putting 16 ounces of java on the cherry wood desk and a nice blotch on his dress pants. Once Gary was calm, Stevie jumped in his car for the 15-minute ride home to change into a dry pair of pants.

Stevie didn't recognize the car in his driveway this time, but the feeling of déjà vu was nonetheless strong. Jennifer should have been at her job in the local hospital's administrative services, not home in the middle of the day. He had seen this movie before, and it didn't have a happy ending. Stevie started to breathe heavy as he got out of the car, pulled his pistol and entered through the garage door. He didn't hear anything as he walked through the kitchen, then he heard voices coming from the living room.

Jennifer's visitor screamed when she saw Stevie with his pistol out as he entered the living room. Up until that point, Stevie thought the visitor was a man.