Masculine and Beautiful

"And what about you! Did you think of me as a sex object?! Were you telling me the truth the past few days?! Did you..." He suddenly realized he was shouting at her. He was surprised she wasn't sobbing again or shouting back at him. His anger instantly vanished. "I'm..." He took a slow breath. "I'm sorry, Mom. I-I didn't mean that last thing... whatever the hell it was I just said. I'm sorry. And... I know what a jerk I am. I'm sorry for... for everything."

Mara closed her eyes for a few seconds, then looked at Tommy's face. She patted the cushion next to her. "Come sit, Tommy."

He walked over to the couch and sat down. Mom took his hand, holding it tightly, he returned pressure but not as much.

"I'm sorry too, Tommy. I... It may seem..." Mara sighed. "We both made horrendous mistakes this past week. And I haven't forgotten it's mostly if not ALL my fault than it is yours. No, I should say, I know ALL of it was my fault. I was just..."

Tom interrupted, his voice sounded tired, "Let's not go over that again, we settled on 50-50 responsibility, let's just leave that part of it alone. Okay?"

Mara's eyes finally started tearing. Her free hand wiped her eyes. "Okay."

"I don't know what I was thinking, Mom. I wanted you and thought I could make you feel good, and... maybe I thought you wanted me too, and acting drunk, I thought... well... I thought it would give us both an excuse maybe. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry, and you may not believe this, but I really do respect girls... women. I don't look at girls as things to use for my pleasure. I mean, yeah, I get sexual feelings for girls and might want to hook up with some girl and I don't wonder about how nice or intelligent she is when I get those feelings. I don't think that's bad, I think it's normal, and I would never force some girl to do something she didn't want to do. I don't think I did that with you. And..."

Mara broke in, "You didn't force me to do anything, and I know you respect women, but I guess... I was a little shocked about you... pretending that night, and... and I wanted to make a point about it, that... that manipulation isn't fair, just like I did upstairs modeling the new underthings. That night I was the one who had too much to drink and I wasn't thinking clearly, but that's no excuse for what I let happen and did with you. I guess you really didn't manipulate me that night. I just wanted to be sure you didn't think it was the way to deal with girls." She took a slow breath. "I don't believe you're like that. I... I think maybe I just got angry at myself... maybe at both of us, and... and I took it out on you now. I'm sorry, Tommy."

"I'm sorry for losing my temper. I'm sorry for lying. I'm sorry for playing you, but... I didn't think of it that way, but now it seems I did, and... that's the only time, Mom. I've never done that with any girl, and don't plan to either."

"I know you won't, Tommy."

He watched his hand caress hers. He took a slow breath. "This is... it's going to take a while to get things right again, back to normal again, isn't it?" He guessed in the back of his mind he knew things had gone too well the past 24 hours.

Mara sighed. "Yes. It'll... take some time." She wondered how she could have possibly thought it would be easier and quicker. Maybe she had just been wishing it.

"I think... you should relax, Mom. You... we have four days before Dad gets back to... to get our sh... ahh... heads t..."

Mara softly smile and interrupted, "To get our shit together?"

He half smiled. He was still staring at their hands. "Mom?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I don't ever want you to be ashamed of me. From now on I'll do my best so you never are."

"I'm not, sweetheart, and I doubt I ever will be. I hope you'll never be ashamed of me either." She was probably ashamed of herself enough for both of them.

"Never, Mom."

* * *

CHAPTER 8

Tom was sitting at the umbrella table. A new heat wave had hit the area. He took a sip of the fruit smoothie Mom had just made him. Dad had been home now for four days. He went into the office only for a few hours on Thursday morning, getting the rest of the week off and a few days this coming week to make up for working something like seventeen days straight.

So far everything seemed okay. He knew his parents had stayed up really late, maybe all night, not the first night, but the second one, and last night too. He had tried to be out of the house as much as possible so they'd have more chances to talk. He truly hoped Mom was getting through to him, and also dealing with her guilt and regret.

Before Dad returned home, she said she wasn't going to tell him how things were going with Dad. She said she wouldn't have a few weeks ago, and she wanted things back to normal, but had then asked that if she wanted an opinion on something could she talk to him, if that would be all right. He had immediately said yes. He told her he wanted to help in any way that he could. So far, she hadn't needed his opinion or advice, which now that he thought about it, would probably have been totally worthless to her anyway.

Regarding himself, he had tried his best not to think about Mom in any sexual way, especially to keep himself from thinking about that night with her, how she looked, how the sleek walls of her pussy had felt so freakin' perfect around his cock, how he had given her like three orgasms, how she had swallowed his spunk, how she had gotten so into having his cock in her hot ass, how he loved the feel and taste of h...

He shook his head. His mind was filled with those images again and his freakin' dick was turning into a bone as usual. He was doing fairly well not remembering, not thinking about her in that way anymore. "Fairly well" meaning only about half his waking hours, the rest of the time his prick was rock hard. The best way to stop those thoughts and shrink his cock was to remember how Mom looked sobbing and what an emotional mess she was the days following that night.

He had gone out yesterday evening, returning home about 1:00AM. Mom and Dad were in their bedroom, both said goodnight to him from behind the closed door as he passed by. He had fallen asleep finally at 2:00AM, about the time he heard, or imagined he heard, sex-like sounds coming from the master bedroom. It made him feel both jealous and glad at the same time. They must have gone at it pretty long too. On Sundays, they both were usually up by 8:30AM at the latest, Dad having coffee while Mom would be trying to get him up to go with them to the ten o'clock Mass. Dad usually went with her. This morning he had been up first at 9:00AM, they hadn't shown their faces until 10:30AM. A half hour ago.

Tom heard the patio door opening. He turned to look. It was Dad coming out. He was wearing a golf shirt, baggy shorts, and his sneakers without socks, one hand was holding his coffee mug, the other the folded newspaper which he was reading as he approached the table. "Mom, coming out too?"

"Huh? Yeah, in a bit. She's making up a grocery list. I'm going to take her shopping." Phil set his mug down, then pulled out one of the wrought iron chairs, glad again that Mara had gotten seat cushions for the set. He sat down and kept reading.

Dad going grocery shopping with her? "You guys slept pretty late."

Phil put down the paper and looked at his son. "Yeah, late night... we... we were uh... talking, you know, still catching up on things while I was away." He looked at his son for a few moments. "Listen, Mom said not to mention this to you, but she told me about you getting drunk a week ago. Puking. She said she grounded you for two days. You're damn lucky I wasn't here, I would have grounded you for two months." He exhaled. "I hope you learned your lesson."

"Yeah, I think I... I mean, I did learn my lesson, Dad."

"Good." Phil took a slow breath. "She... she also told me about you... ahh... being depressed about breaking up with Marcia. I know it's tough, I got dumped a couple times, but just hang in there, someone new will come along. I did, and I ended up being extremely fortunate meeting your mom. So, don't get too sad about Marcia. I think you'll eventually be as lucky as me. College is where to look for a girl anyway."

"I hope I'm half as lucky as you, Dad. Mom is... well, awesome. Jeez... you really are lucky. I hope if I get married, the girl is half as smart and nice and... all that stuff, and looks half as hot as Mom. You know, a lot of my friends think you're one hell of a lucky guy too. I got into a fight with a guy once when I heard him call Mom a MILF."

"A wha..." Phil blinked. "Oh, a mother I'd li... ahh... Who the hell said that?"

Tom saw anger brewing in Dad's eyes. "A guy I know, it was a while back. I don't want to say who. He took it back, you know, apologized after I nailed him, but I know he still thought it."

"Who the hell was it?" Phil's jaw tensed.

"Dad chill. It was a while ago. Hell, all my friends think Mom's hot. I hope if I ever get married my wife exercises like that for me. Mom sweats a lot for you. She's as pretty as any girl at school. She's prettier than Marcia. I hope you really do know how lucky you are."

"Yeah, I do. I-I guess I should realize it more often though."

Tom picked up his glass and finished off the smoothie. He thought he had done really well with the little hints. And he didn't even lie. When he set the glass down his gut tensed. Dad was still looking at him. Did I overplay it? Did I say Mom was hot too many times? Shit! Is he thinking I might have... "Ahhh... What, Dad?"

"Your mom does exercise a lot. You know, I used to pump some iron when I was in high school and college, just like you. Even after Mom and I were married, the first couple years or so."

Tom relaxed. "Yeah, I think you mentioned that when I got my weights."

"Listen, I was wondering if I could use your set in the basement. And... maybe you'd spot me for bench presses."

Tom felt a poke of jealousy. Mom's talk must have really worked. "Yeah, sure, Dad. I'll even... well, you probably know what kind of routine you want to do."

"I'm open to suggestions. I want to get back into shape, lose some weight, trim down, tone up, get rid of the burgeoning gut and handles, and try to raise my damn ass a little."

Tom grinned. "Okay, sure. Start today?"

"Ahh... how about..." He saw his son's left eyebrow rise. "Yeah... okay... today."

"So... I'll sort of be your personal trainer?" Tom grinned again.

"Yeah, all right." Phil raised his eyebrow too, then took a sip of coffee. "A trainer, not a slave driver, Tommy. Lighter weights then increasing as I tone up. I don't want to strain something."

"Exactly, Dad." Tom looked at his father's arms. They weren't total flab. Man, they were white though. Tom blinked, then glanced at the house. "Hey, Dad? I think I got something for your training already. I think you should get some leg exercise and mow the lawn."

Phil laughed. "Yeah, right, buster, that's your job. I was talking weight training, not lawn maintenance."

"No, listen, you won't be mowing more than a couple minutes."

"Wha'd'ya mean?"

Mara was in the kitchen standing on a chair, checking the cabinets again for that container of sea salt. She was sure she had it somewhere, if not, she'd put it on the list. It really was a tastier salt, and they'd all probably use less of it on food than regular table salt, especially Phil who seemed to salt everything, actually, he was the only one who regularly used salt. She heard the patio door open, the sound of the mower running got louder. She didn't turn around. She heard her husband walking up. "Phil? Have you seen that container of sea salt we had?"

"It's me, Mom, and like I said, I don't know where it is." He couldn't stop himself from glancing at her ass, remembering how his cock had slid between those luscious buns into her hot, tight, little hole. He again told himself not to think about it as he met Mom's eyes.

She looked at her son then towards the patio doors. "Who's mowing the grass?"

"I was going to start, but then Dad said he'd do it. He said something about wanting to start losing a little weight and getting back into shape. He said he thought mowing the lawn would be a minor first step in being more active." Tom smiled. "I was glad to cooperate with him. Mannnn... he took his shirt off, and I couldn't believe how white he is under that chest hair. His back really looked pale."

"He put on block didn't he?"

"No. I told him to, but he said he wouldn't be in the sun very long."

Mara frowned. "That idiot. He'll burn." She stepped off the chair and headed to the patio. "Is that bottle still on the table?"

"Yeah, I think it is." Tom rinsed his smoothie glass in the sink then followed his mother's path outside. The mower went silent. When he stepped onto the patio, he saw Dad near the mower, backstepping away from Mom, her palm cupped in front of her, already with a dollop of block in it, her other hand holding the bottle.

"Phil, what's wrong with you? Let me put this on your back."

"No! I don't want that on me. I won't be in the sun that long."

"Phil, stop right there. You'll burn, you idiot."

"No. I don't want it." He glanced behind himself, then looked at his wife, his feet moved faster.

"Phil!" She dropped the bottle then lunged at him, her free hand reaching for his arm. He quickly turned and started jogging away from her.

"Come back here, you idiot!" She chased after him, he dodged to the left, then ran towards the patio again. What's gotten into him?! He's acting just like... Mara saw Tommy standing by the umbrella table grinning. She abruptly stopped. Tommy had played her again!

"Get him, Mom!"

She smiled at her son then took off after Phil once more, who had also stopped and was breathing pretty hard, catching his breath. When she got close he dodged to his right and started running again, she in close pursuit. They shouted at each other just as she would have with Tommy. A couple minutes later Phil stopped again, breathing heavily but when she caught up to him, he took her in his arms in a tight hug, then his hands slid under her arms and started to lift her up as he had when they were in college and those first couple years in their marriage. As in the past, she jumped up to help and then wrapped her legs around his waist and her left arm moved behind his neck to hold on while her right hand coursed around his back smearing the block on his sweaty, pale skin, before that arm joined her other corralling his neck.

Phil's hands cupped her surprisingly firm ass. How hadn't he noticed that before? "You got me, honey."

"I better have you." She gazed at Tommy starting the mower. He looked over at them and smiled. She mouthed, "I love you. Thank you." Mara's eyes welled. Everything was going to be all right... in time. She recalled telling Tommy time healed a broken heart. She hoped it healed sins too. She kissed Phil's ear. "I love you so much, Phil, so you better not have a heart attack from this little running around stunt."

Phil chuckled. "I love you too, sweetheart." He added another line, although it sounded as if he was speaking to himself, "It was... fun, wasn't it?" He huffed a few breaths. "Listen, I think I need another shower. Want to join me? I'll try my best to make it an interesting and enjoyable experience for you."

She hugged him a little tighter as tears finally ran down her face. "That sounds a little naughty, Phil."

"I've always said I married a smart chick. Yeah, it might be very naughty."

"Well... then I think I really need a shower too." Her fingers quickly wiped her tears away in case he looked at her face.

Phil laughed, then kissed her neck. "Hold on, honey." He started towards the house. "God... you have a nice ass." He gave her buns a squeeze. He grinned when Mara giggled.

***************

A sequel is planned.

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A_Satori

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