Kate and Edith Too Pt. 04

So, we ended the weekend on an up note, with a direction to go from there that I thought was manageable. Of course, I've been wrong before.

III. WELL, CRAP!

Fourth of July week was even more intense than the previous week. The girls were putting in extra hours to keep up with their regular duties and train Jen for her new position. I was pushing hard to keep up, and for the last couple weeks, I'd been hiring and training a few new workers. Friday couldn't have come too soon, and we were all looking forward to the three-day weekend.

Liz had bought filets for the grill, but tonight, we were eating Japanese bring-home - yaki soba and our favorite yellowtail and salmon Nigiri sushi.

I arrived home after the girls, and when I came in, Liz started to come kiss me, but stopped, "You need to grab a quick shower, babe. Hurry, I'm warming your favorite sake, and I'll keep the yaki soba hot."

After showering, I came out and Liz greeted me with a hug and kiss.

"Better. You were a bit ripe."

Jen came up, sniffed me, "Yeah, much better," grinned and pulled me in for a kiss.

"I don't like either of you very much, but since you have food, I'll stick around," I joked.

As we sat and ate, Liz asked, "So, how's it going hon? You getting a handle on things?"

"Yeah, starting to. I was able to wrap up two projects that were starting to get behind...and I hired four guys over the last two weeks - actually three guys and one gal; and I'm promoting Julio to foreman and he will be running a third crew for me. If all goes well, I'm considering getting a fourth crew going, eventually. We'll have to see."

"I'm very happy to hear that," Liz reached and hugged me. "I know you didn't want to, but you needed to make the move and expand. It was time."

She took a bite of food, then casually asked, "So, the 'gal', she pretty?"

Just as casually, and continuing to focus on my food, I answered, "Um hmm, she's a stunner; built like a..."

She punched my arm, "Asshole!"

I laughed, "Yeah, she's okay looking. Kinda built like you, and blonde, but short hair, and not so gifted upstairs, but she's strong and works hard. And she doesn't put up with any crap from the guys. I like her. She's going to work well. So far, everybody's working out.

Jen, grinning, playfully remarked, "Soon, you'll be riding around in your big truck, just supervising and smoking big, Cuban cigars..."

"Bite your tongue, lady!" I joked, but was serious. The picture she painted was the last thing I wanted.

"Bite it yourself," she replied coyly, and gave me a devilish smile.

I turned to Liz, giving her a look, "She's your sister, can't you control her?"

She shook her head, "Don't look at me. You created this monster."

"Me? How did I..."

They both started laughing. I just shook my head, feigning irritation. But I was happy. We were going to be okay. However, after they quit laughing, I caught Jen looking at me in a strange way, one that made me uncomfortable. She quickly looked away.

We had a relaxing evening, unwinding from another challenging week. After dinner and clean-up, we lazily made our way to the patio, donning swimwear, and bringing iced tea with us. We relaxed and discussed our plans for the Fourth. Every year, Mesa puts on a fairly spectacular fireworks, accompanied by a big car show, and other events for the holiday; but we all agreed we didn't want to deal with the crowds and noise, though I would have loved to peruse the vintage and classic cars.

Liz finally suggested, "Let's just see how tomorrow goes. If by Sunday, we want to brave the city for the fireworks, fine; if not, we'll just stay home and watch them from the roof. We can't really go anywhere that's a touristy destination. I was going to suggest taking Jen up to Sedona, but anyplace like that is going to be slammed for the holiday. I think we should lie low, or maybe, if we get bored, go to one of our out-of-the-way spots in the mountains."

It was unanimous. We agreed to 'lie low' and recharge our batteries. We had a wonderful, relaxing evening and finally, around midnight, we decided to call it a night, and headed to the patio shower to wash off the sweat and chlorine.

Liz got to the shower first, and stripped off her bra and thong, immediately getting under the water.

"Shower hog," I joked.

"Join me," she smiled, as she worked shampoo in her hair, "Both of you, we can take turns soaping and shampooing, then rinsing off."

"Uh, no, I don't think so. The last time we..."

"No. No hanky panky. But I think we can share," she smiled.

Jen, apparently not concerned, stripped and joined Liz, wetting her hair and reaching for the shampoo.

I shrugged and groused, "You gals are going to be the death of me," and pushed my trunks down.

We took turns, soaping and rinsing, and washing each other's backs, but kept it 'clean'. However, at one point, I felt a soapy hand stroke my cock. I didn't think anything of it till I noticed Liz had both hands busy on herself. I glanced at Jen, who, at least by the time I looked, was also busy. I was pretty sure I didn't grope myself. Afterwards we dried off, wrapped in towels, and headed to bed.

"Goodnight. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Jen said over her shoulder as she headed down the hall to her room.

We said our goodnights and closed our door. As soon as we were in our room, Liz whipped her towel off, pulled mine off and grabbed me. She didn't have to say a word. I scooped her up and marched to the bed, threw her down and crawled on. We hastily prepped each other, then went at it like we hadn't had sex all week. Um, yeah, we hadn't.

After a brief but savage rut, we rolled apart, huffing, "Wow, that was overdue," Liz chuckled. Then grabbing my spent weapon, she asked, "You got anything left for a second go?"

"Well, if you think you can inspire me..."

"What about if you imagine Jen..."

"Hey, we've been there. I don't need or want to imagine that. Let's just..." I started to protest.

She abruptly sat up, "Okay, what if we didn't imagine? What if I said, I think you should consider...um, doing for Jen what you do for me..."

It was my turn to sit up. I propped up on my elbows, "I would say, 'That's a bad idea.' I mean, if you're being serious."

"I am. I'm being serious. But, why bad? Wait! Let me say something. Honey, you know how Jen feels, and it's one thing for you to be affectionate, and try to treat her with some...loving interest, but...and she won't say anything, but she has the best and the worst of both worlds right now. She has you in her life, but she doesn't. And I know it's very hard for her. She tries to hide it, but I see it when she lets her guard down..."

I interrupted, "Honey. Stop. I get it. But you're not talking about 'playing around' here. You're not talking about 'being affectionate' or 'loving'. You're talking about me having sex with your sister, intercourse, um, consummating. That's a whole different level of...involvement. I think we would just be inviting trouble. I thought our 'comparison' sex games episode was a mistake..."

"Hey, I'm sorry about that. I didn't understand how strongly Jen felt about you at the time..."

"Honey, I'm not chastising you. I'm just pointing out, doing what you're suggesting, could have consequences I'm afraid to even think about."

She sat silent for a moment, "Potentially, yes...if we weren't who we are, Jack. But we are who we are. I mean, if it wasn't Jen I was talking about, I would agree. Jack, I'm not asking you to have sex with some stranger. I don't want you to cheat on me. I couldn't handle that. It would kill me if you did. But I know you wouldn't do that to me. And I'm very confident I can handle this. I'm not afraid that if you have sex with my sister, that you're going to want her over me..."

"Well, no, I can't imagine that. And yeah, my 'guy brain', the one in the end of my dick, says, 'Yeah, let me bang the sister!', but my big brain and every bit of the rest of me says, 'bad fucking idea', and I don't know that I could handle it."

"God, I love you. You are the most decent guy I've ever known. If I presented this same scenario to 90% of the guys out there, I would have ended up finishing my sentence to a slamming door as they dashed out of room and down the hall."

I laughed, and she urged me into a sitting position and took my hands, "That's why I'm comfortable suggesting this. And it's the right thing to do for Jen. Honey, it's going to be months before Jen can afford to go out on her own...I mean, yeah, she could get some drab, little studio, in some crappy part of town, and scrape by; and we could loan her money...but both of those things would make her feel far worse than she does now; and she would be spending much of her time alone, and still be longing for you. And trust me, she feels worse than she lets on.

In time, she will get her own place, find someone of her own, and have her own life, again. But in the meantime, she's here, and we are her family, and...you are her man, and I don't think you fully appreciate what that's like for her. She loves you, Jack. She's 'in love' with you. You know, like you're 'in love' with me. Imagine if you had to be with me like we are now, day in and day out, but couldn't 'have' me, couldn't make love to me, share your love with me that way...for months on end."

She stopped; sat silent; waited for me.

I heard everything she said. Some of it I hadn't thought about the way she explained it, but I still 'felt' in my heart of hearts that it was that one step over the line, that 'final straw', that no matter how 'intellectually' sound it might seem, it could be disastrous.

I didn't know what to say, "Baby, I...hell, I don't know...And, yes, I know - Jen. Hey, I want Jen to be happy. And I don't want to be responsible for her unhappiness. I just...can we sleep on this?"

"I guess that means we're not going to play anymore, tonight?"

"Kind of not in the mood."

"Okay, sweetie, sorry. I love you. Goodnight," Liz said, obviously disappointed. She turned off the bedside lamp, and scooted under the covers.

I said, "Goodnight," and rolled over.

Well, crap!

IV. UP IN SMOKE

Saturday, we were up early, showered and dressed and went to the kitchen to start breakfast. Liz went to check on Jen and returned saying she didn't answer.

"Check the patio. The coffeemaker's been used," I replied.

"Oh, of course."

She went to the patio and found Jen sitting and watching the sun rise.

"Hey, sis, good morning."

"Good morning, Liz. You're up earlier than I thought you would be. Thought you guys might have a 'late' night."

"Mmm, nope, not last night. Anyway, we're fixing breakfast."

"Oh, okay, I'll join you," she said, rising from her chair.

As they entered the house, Jen asked, "No late night? So, what happened? Or none of my business?"

"Mmm, oh, nothing. We were tired; it was a long week. If you must know, we got a quickie in," Liz explained.

Behind her, Jen, under her breath quipped, "Quickie's better than nothing."

Liz pretended she didn't hear.

After a quiet breakfast, we cleaned up the kitchen, and Liz said she wanted to run a couple errands and asked Jen to join her, who agreed, but not enthusiastically. I decided to clean out my truck, which had become quite a mess this week. Great start to a holiday weekend, huh?

Things were off with everyone. It was pretty obvious. After my disagreement with Liz last night, she was a bit distant, preoccupied, and Jen was quiet, withdrawn. I was certain this was going to get worse before it got better.

And I was now in a shitty mood, too. Happy F-ing Fourth!

To take my mind off things, after I cleaned my truck up, I straightened up the garage.

Liz and Jen were gone almost two hours. When they returned, Liz came looking for me. I was taking some yard equipment to the tool shed.

Liz came out to the patio, "Hey, honey, we're back. Sorry we were gone so long, but we made a couple extra stops. We picked up some cheap champagne and extra orange juice for Mimosas, and brought home deli sandwiches for lunch."

"Sounds good," I answered as I headed to the shed.

Liz followed me, so I continued, "After lunch, we could mix up Mimosas and do a little sunbathing, take a dip. We haven't worked on our tans in a while."

"Sounds like a plan, sweetheart," she replied, coming up and putting a hand on my neck, rubbing it. She rarely uses 'sweetheart' as a term of endearment, and I noticed.

"Jack," she said, getting my attention. I closed the tool shed and turned.

"I'm sorry I was pissy this morning."

"Honey, I'm sorry, too, "I answered," We don't know how to do this, you know - disagree. When's the last time we had a real disagreement?"

"When you wanted to get a dog," she grinned.

"Yeah, I remember that. I still want to get a dog. But right now, I think we have our hands full with one addition to the family."

"Yeah, about that. Can we table that for now."

"Of course. I'd love to hug you right now, and kiss and make up, but..."

"Yeah, you're sweaty and dirty. Get your shower and join us for lunch."

"Will do," I smiled, and headed in.

After cleaning up, I headed to the kitchen, Liz and Jen were wearing their thongs with cover-ups on, and sitting at the nook. They were chatting and both sounded more upbeat than this morning.

After a pleasant lunch, we headed out to sunbathe. I grudgingly changed out of my shorts into the damn thong. We sunbathed for quite a while with intermittent trips to the pool to cool off. It was a classic, very hot, July day. After one of our dips in the pool, Liz suggested that we sit on the patio in the shade and have Mimosas. I went in the house and got the drinks and the girls gathered at the table.

When I walked out with the drinks, my eyes were drawn to my wife's and Jen's upper bodies as they sat at the table. They were both rubbing sunscreen lotion on their arms and torsos. When I set the drinks down, I noticed that Liz, and almost simultaneously, Jen, began to slowly, sensuously spread the lotion over her breasts, spending an inordinate amount of time massaging their nipples.

I sat and pretended not to notice - for several seconds.

"Alright. Knock it off, you two."

Liz in a saucy, pouty voice, asked, "Stop what, honey? Massaging this slippery, warm lotion all over our supple, womanly breasts? You wouldn't want us to get nasty burns on our sweet, suckable, little nipples, would you?" Then they both cracked up.

Coolly, I replied, "Oh, I don't object to you protecting your breasts, or your sweet, suckable nipples. I'm just surprised that you didn't enlist me to apply that warm, slippery lotion to your supple, womanly breasts with my big, strong, masculine hands."

"Well, shit! You win!" Liz laughed.

Jen busted up, then lightly punched her sister's arm, "Yeah, sis, why didn't you think of that?"

"Yup, missed opportunity on your part," I said.

Liz countered, "Mm hmm, but um, you know our smooth, muscular legs and firm, round buttocks are dry and..."

"Drink your damn Mimosas. I'm not rubbing lotion on your asses. And stop poking the grizzly bear. He has a short fuse."

"That's not what I heard," Jen mused, "I heard it was a really long fuse."

"Well, I'm glad we're all in a better mood," I saluted with my glass and took a drink.

Liz grinned, nodded, and lifted her glass, "Here's to a Happy Fourth of July, and to my two favorite people in the world...and for whom I would do anything."

Jen joined us, "Ditto..." she paused and turned her gaze to me, "Jack, I'm sorry about, earlier. Liz and I were talking. We both acknowledged we were upset this morning, and I know you guys had a disagreement, and that it was about me..."

I started to deny it, but she stopped me, "No, I know, and we talked. And I understand. Liz assured me, and I believe her, that you both are adamant that I stay here, and that one way or the other, we work through this."

She downed the rest of her drink, "I have really been in turmoil about this, and last night, I hardly slept. This morning, I was seriously thinking we couldn't make this work and was trying very hard to figure out how I could manage to go it on my own. But I want you to know, that I realized, even if I could leave now, I would just be running away. And after Liz and I talked, I decided I'm not going to do that. You're stuck with me, for the duration, for better or worse."

"I'm pleased and relieved to hear that, Jen. I really am," I exclaimed.

Liz stood and moved around the table, "Group hug."

We stood and I pulled both women to me in a big hug...and got slimed.

"Geez, did you guys get enough lotion on your tits?" I complained.

"Well, here, help us get some of it off," Liz purred, "we'll just rub our slippery, supple breasts up and down your massive, hairy chest."

"Oh, yes, that will work," Jen giggled and joined Liz, rubbing her body up and down mine.

"You girls are bad," I laughed, but just hugged them to me, in response.

"Speaking of bad," Liz remarked as she continued to slowly rub against me, "I was a bad girl, this morning. I stopped and bought a little surprise - a naughty surprise. Interested?" she asked, looking at me with a playful smile.

"I'm afraid to ask, but what?"

"Lemme' go and I'll show you," she grinned. "Pour us some ice water. I'll be right back."

While she breezed into the house, I turned to pour ice waters. Jen released me and sat back down to wait for Liz.

I returned to my chair and took a big swallow of the cold water. Jen was looking at me.

"Jack..."

"Yeah?"

"I want you to know that I do love you; and to be clear, it's not just sexual, not just an infatuation, and I would do anything for you..." she said softly, holding eye contact with me, and reaching for my hand.

"I love you, too, Jen, and I would do anything for you that I possibly could." I replied, slightly hedging my answer.

Liz came back out with a small, plastic bag, like from a gift shop. She set it on the table, and I started to reach for it. She lightly slapped my hand away.

"You know, we couldn't decide what to do for the Fourth of July. Well, Jen and I came up with something. And before we open the bag, I'm going to insist that we all agree that we are going to do this. You have to trust me. Okay?"

I looked at the small bag. Couldn't figure out what she was up to, but decided that after recent events, I would go with what she had planned. I didn't want another disagreement.

"Okay, fine. I'm in."

Liz turned the bag upside down, dumping the contents out, then produced a lighter and a small ceramic bowl from behind her back.

"Grass? You bought grass?" I exclaimed.

"Yep! We're going to make our own fireworks!" she replied, gleefully.

Jen clapped, "Great idea, huh?"

I shook my head. "I haven't smoked pot since Liz and I first dated. And there's a good reason. You know what this stuff does to me," I groused.

She grinned.

Jen asked, "What does it do to him?"

"Makes him horny as hell! On our third date, we went to a party hosted by some of my friends. They brought out some weed and started passing it around. Within 20 minutes, Jack and I were in their bathroom screwing our brains out. He fucked me senseless! Everyone heard us!" she giggled.

"Heard you!" I corrected, then mumbled, "I can't believe you bought grass."

I started to protest, "Liz, I really don't think..."

"Right. Don't think! And you agreed, you committed. So, trust Mamma Bear, sit back and enjoy the high!" she quipped.

"I am sooo screwed," I lamented.

"Mmm, we'll see," she mused, grinning, and without further conversation, took a pre-rolled joint and lit it.

After taking a hit, she passed it to me. I took a small hit and passed it to Jen, who took a big hit, and passed it back to Liz, who was already chastising me for taking too small a hit and not holding it in long enough. I waved her off.