Mom Makeover?

The Christmas Party:

Attending my third office Christmas party, the second since officially starting work at my father's company though still too young to drink and not feeling much like watching the foolishness I found a table off in the corner and outside the main conference room.

Lisa is walking towards me, she's obviously drunk from her walk to her facial expression, her eyes are focused on me though and she looks determined. My crush of the office is making me more nervous as she gets closer. It started with taking quick peeks at her whenever she was busy, studying the way she moved or her dark hair as it fell across her eye as she would brush it away. Flicking quick glances at her and having her either catch me or maybe watch me when I looked so both getting caught.

Staring at her ample tits and long legs in a new outfit, she looks damn good no matter her condition.

"James, way over here staring from afar again." Lisa giggles and sits down.

"Well, I've already eaten, not allowed to drink, and was about to call it a night." Though this changes things, and I might just stay to see where this goes. I chat with her almost every day as we sit in the same area, but due to her circumstances, she was off-limits.

"Don't leave me here." Lisa looks around and then back at me.

"Why are you looking around?" Scanning the room, nobody is outwardly watching us.

Lisa lays her hand on my upper thigh and whispers. "Are you as big as your father?"

Snapping my head back from looking around to looking down at her hand while at the same time absorbing her comment.

"What?" I understood the comment, but the implications were just too bizarre.

"Come on James, I see you staring at me constantly, half the clothes I wear to the office are just for you, yet you never do what I want you; to do." Lisa squeezes my thigh causing me to push the chair back and stand up.

"I'm going to have to leave you be, for now, I have a few things I need to figure out." I turn and head for the exit, ignoring everything except getting to the elevator and getting the hell out of there. Rushing to the parking garage under the building I'm now thinking about Mom. Does she know? Should I tell her? Should I confront Dad? Is Lisa going to tell Dad how I reacted? Is she going to remember? What the hell am I going to do!

My hands are shaking in anger as I sit in the dark garage, rethinking the past few years and realizing every answer to my questions seem to make for worse scenarios and even worse questions. Everything I ignored in the office seems so obvious now.

How many times has Dad told me to go home while he finishes up with Allison in his office or the intern Rachel and business trips that could have been handled with a simple call?

My phone buzzes and Lisa is apparently freaking out now also: "Can we talk? Please don't tell anyone I said anything. Please!"

I type and retype so many different questions but keep deleting them all. "Come down to the Parking Garage C3."

As the elevator opens, I get out of the car and waive Lisa over to the passenger side. She gets in and we sit quietly for a few seconds before she turns to me.

"Please James, I fucked up, anything you want; this is so fucked." Lisa is begging. "I can't believe that was the first thing I said, you make me so nervous; shit."

I try to remain calm, at least on the outside. "How long have you, and you know."

"Not that long and it was not something I actually wanted but once it happens there's no way out." Lisa starts crying.

"I sigh, "let's try this again, you tell me everything about you and Allison and Rachel and whoever else." I turn to look her in the eyes. "If you lie to me, this is only going to get worse."

Lisa looks up at me, "Rachel? I didn't know about her. But I started about a year ago, several months ago it slowed down and then stopped as he moved on and that whore Allison is now smirking in my face when she walks past my desk into his office like it's an actual victory. I've been so pissed for months now and the way you look at me, but you're always so nice and charming and, shit, and the alcohol; I took a chance I wouldn't normally take though my God, it just came out."

We sit in silence again while I work through all of this.

"James; I'm sorry, please; if this gets out, I'm not just fired, I'm going to have to move and no references means all my experience means nothing." Lisa is holding my arm with both hands.

"Screw him," I say flatly to the steering wheel. All I can think of is Mom at home waiting for the both of us in her own little world surrounded by lies.

Calming down a bit, and I do like Lisa and did catch on to a few things said. "If you help me, I'll leave you out of it and pin this on Allison since she's the current."

"What?" she may be shocked back into sanity, but Lisa is still drunk and slow to react. "Uhh, okay? What do you mean pin it on Allison, what are you going to do?"

"I'm dropping you at your house as you can't go back upstairs like this." I start the car up and pull up to the card reader exit. "Where to?"

"OH Uhm, left, 2^nd light take a right." Lisa gives me directions until we pull into an apartment complex, and she points to a parking spot.

I put my hand on her leg, though all the up by her knee. She jerks but doesn't say anything. "I'm going to walk you to your door." I can't think of what to do tonight so I'll buy some time.

"Ohh, uhh, okay." Lisa's voice drops as she looks out her window. I realize how it sounded to her and decide to push through this as I have no intention of being like him.

"We are going to have to take care of each other for the next couple of weeks, stay put for a second." I squeeze her knee and get out of the car. Walk around the car and open her door.

Lisa takes my hand without looking at me, "Thanks."

I pull Lisa out of the car, "I'm going to figure out where you live so I can pick you up in the morning to get your car back." I put my elbow out for her to take. "Someone I've been crushing on for a while admitted that when she gets drunk, she drops her defenses and tells the truth about what she wants."

"What?" I'm sorry about tonight, James." She takes the arm offered and steers me to her apartment.

"My family is obviously a mess that I need to think about, and you are going to help me. I haven't been interested in a relationship of any kind. I saw your eyes and the outfits and of course, I looked because I'm not dead. You were the only one I thought about trying again with, but being Jack's secretary, I figured you were off-limits. He knows better than to do what he did and why."

Lisa just holds my arm. "I am so sorry about all of this."

"I know, I'll be back around 10 am to get you," I reply and Lisa turns towards the door.

"Forgetting something?" I ask Lisa and she turns around to see me with my head turned and pointing at my cheek. I get a partial smile and a kiss on the cheek.

"I understand what happened now, more than you might think; I'm not blaming you, everything will work out, see you tomorrow."

"Night James, thank you."

Walking back to the car, I get a text from Dad "Where are you?"

I text back "Taking Lisa to her apartment."

Dad: "Thumbs up emoji."

"What an asshole."

I work 3-4 days a week depending on my course load at George Mason University taking business management. The freshman year I had to live at the campus but being 30 minutes from the house I moved back home as it's bigger, nicer, and less noisy.

I arrive home basically on autopilot going over all the scenarios and the probable outcomes. Walking through the door I'm still distracted.

Mom was sitting in the living room in her chair and looked up surprised to see me back so early and the look on my face.

"James, everything okay?" she says as her eyes get bigger as I walk right to her.

My mother is 47 years old, 5'1, blonde, blue-eyed and in okay shape but has been letting herself go in her demeanor and now I know why.

I have dads 5'11 190pd build with moms' eyes and nose and dads dimpled "butt chin" is what I call it.

I pick Mom up, turn around and sit in her chair putting her back in my lap. We used to do this all the time.

"OH, hey, are you okay?" Mom grabs hold around my neck.

I pull her in for a full-on body hug and squeeze her. "Found out some disturbing news from a friend of mine. Don't want to talk about it, but it made me realize that I haven't been paying enough attention to you. Finishing high school and then caught up at the campus and the Jenna thing."

Mom squeezes me back, "Sorry about the news, but I love this."

I don't say anything and just go back over everything that happened that evening.

"How was the party?"

"Just like last year, but Lisa came over and she'd been drinking so I took her home."

"Your father's secretary Lisa?" Mom asks perking up a little, "that was nice of you."

"Yeah, she gets rather chatty when she's drunk apparently and told me all kinds of things that she was later embarrassed about. I'm going to take her back to work tomorrow to get her car."

"Hmmm, you have the look on your face that there is more than just a ride home and back to work to get her car James, does your father know about this?"

"Yeah, he knows."

"Okay, well, it's been two years since you and Jenna broke up, so I guess this could be good." Mom sounds unsure and supportive at the same time.

"You will always be my number one be all, end all mom, everyone else just has to try and measure up. And let's see if she remembers any of this in the morning." I whisper and she laughs.

"Did you eat, are you hungry?" Mom asks trying to get up.

"Get back here, I'm not done with you yet, and yes they had a ton of food and too much to drink."

Mom squints at me and sniffs and I laugh.

"Diet coke was my choice, and from what I've seen, I'll never drink at work ever."

Mom whispers "What did Lisa say to you?" and my body jerks in surprise.

"That's what I thought, I won't judge."

"Well, she told me she's basically caught me for the last few years staring at her constantly and started dressing to get my attention, but I wasn't taking the bait for so long and you know why, she decided to act, and a few other things that shocked even her afterward were said, she asked me to forget about them and start over again in the morning."

"Hmmm, okay, the alcohol removed her filter and she poured out the things we ladies never talk about?" Mom doesn't give me a look but that she doesn't believe me; but the vibe feels like she doesn't. I used to say she knew everything about everything, and I'm not 100% sure from her comments that she is completely clueless about this. She pats my leg, "if you don't want to embarrass her, keep them a secret and she will appreciate you more."

"I don't kiss and tell." I smiled back

"You kissed her?"

"No! she was drunk, it's just a saying."

"Good." Mom grabs the remote, and we watch iZombie on Netflix sitting just as we are until I went to bed.

I spent the entire time thinking about how to help Mom. A few years ago, she probably would have thrown him out on his ass. But she stopped dressing up and her bouncy attitude has been diminishing since he has obviously been spending most of his time with other women. I see the differences now but with school and work. I lost Jenna because we were focused on the future and lost part of my Mom also. All that changes now, I'll start paying more attention to what is right in front of me. I set my alarm to 6 am and go to sleep.

I'm up an hour early for a workday and 3hours early for a Saturday to get downstairs before mom, I start the coffee machine, take one of the Keurig cups and start rooting around for various foods to make breakfast. I hear Mom coming down the steps and she stops to look at me.

"Wow! What are you doing up so early?" Mom comes into the kitchen and starts to survey the mess I am making. Turning around I give her a full-body hug; the top of her head comes up to my chin.

"Good morning sunshine, have a seat and I'll fetch you some coffee." Pushing her towards the kitchen table.

"Good morning yourself, 3 hazelnut creamers and 3 sugars." Mom replies and sits down in my seat so she can watch.

"Would you like some coffee with all of that?" I chuckle and get her cup.

"Shhh, nobody but us knows about this." Mom whispers.

Moms wearing print pajama pants and light blue sleeping shirt... I'm going to have to fix that first.

"This Lisa thing has you too excited to sleep?" Mom asks while I start making breakfast. Mom gets up and fixes the temperature of the burner. "Two scrambled, please. We can start your father's in about 30 minutes. He's going golfing this morning."

"Sure." I doubt now that he's ever gone golfing now. Every Saturday for how long now, how long has he been doing this?

"Put the toast on 3 for me honey, you and your father like it on 5 for charcoal burnt." She laughs "You two are a lot alike."

"No, we are not," I say a bit too forcefully and wince, shit, I'm stupid. I turn and face the sink and wash a few dishes to calm down. I am going to have to play nice this morning when he gets up to buy enough time to get Mom back into game shape.

I gather the toast and eggs and bacon and turn to give Mom her plate. She is giving me a concerned look that I saw often from the Jenna breakup but turns up a giant smile as I bring her food to the table.

"Last time you made me food was when you were twelve and tried to make hotdogs on a cookie sheet in the oven." She laughs as I hand her the tub of butter and get a butter knife from the drawer. "This smells nice."

As we finish eating Mom whispers "Let's not say anything about Lisa drinking or what she said to you. It could cause problems."

"Those are things I only share with you," I whisper back and Mom nods back.

We clear the dishes and Mom looks at the clock and gets up: "My turn, you go take a shower and get ready for the day."

Walking up behind Mom crouch down and reach around her waist and pull her into me. Leaning down and kiss her shoulder. "Mmmmmm, thanks Mom, you are amazing."

Mom leans back into me, "Thank you, honey, it was a wonderful surprise."

Shower, shave, teeth, and clothes and I'm back down in the kitchen as dad is finishing up his breakfast.

"Mom says you're going out with Lisa today," Dad says staring at me.

"Yeah, figure we'd go downtown for a little while," I reply and sit in my spot.

"Was she okay last night? You drove her home." He is staring right into my eyes, probably worried that she knows things he doesn't want revealed.

"She was great!" I say with a big smile," Dad relaxes at the implication. We are going to go shopping and then pick her car up on the way back."

"Shopping already? That sounds horrible." Dad gets up and grabs his keys. "Okay, I should be back around three. Dad nods at Mom and heads out. Now that I'm paying attention, I can see the face she makes when he turns away, though she is quick to fix it and then turn her attention to me. She might know quite a bit more than I thought.

"Shopping? That's what you came up with?" Mom smiles and shakes her head.

"I am taking her shopping; she just doesn't know it yet. I have a few things I want to pick up."

I text Lisa: "Heading your way now, put on your comfortable shoes, we're going shopping."

Lisa: "Okay, visitor parking spots are a little further down."

I go over all the different conversations I think we are going to have when I get there to try and keep from stumbling over my words. Finding the visitor parking is easy and I get nervous knocking on her door.

Lisa looks just as nervous opening the door.

"So, shopping?" she asks as I pass by her and sit on the couch.

I point at the chair. "Depends, sit for a minute."

"Okay, first things first, do you remember everything from last night?" I ask to make sure I'm not starting over again from scratch.

"Unfortunately, yes." Lisa looks at the floor while answering me.

"Good, that makes this easier. Psst, look at me." Lisa looks up at my face.

"I get that what was done in the past is serious, but I also know how my father is with his manipulating ways. I am not my father." I pause and Lisa nods.

"Are you scared of me?"

"What, no." Lisa replies, and I figure I'll wait for more than that, so I just look at her.

"Well, I thought after telling you I'd do anything last night you were going to take that to mean anything and well you know when you insisted on walking me here, I figured you were going to stay." Lisa starts speaking faster, "but you said all the right things, and all of this is much worse for you than me and yet you are taking it much better than I am and, and I am so sorry."

I nod and try to maintain eye contact but keep glancing down at her body and berating myself to stay on target. "You also woke me up to what he is doing, I am seeing things in an entirely different light now and I hope to fix a few things. Last night you said to put everything behind us and start fresh today."

Lisa nods "That would be nice."

I lean back and turn a little more to face her directly. "You have two choices, we can go get your car, you drive home and that's it, you go back to work on Monday, and I'll do this on my own.

"What's option two?"

"We go shopping, get lunch, start over, and we figure this out together.

"I want the second choice, I've been thinking about that all morning, but how do I ever look your mother in the face." Lisa gets up and starts pacing. "That has haunted me from the first day and that was just in the office. This, this would be going into her house."

"How Jack treated his wife and you is on him, he probably didn't start with you, and he sure hasn't stopped. She is being neglected and I never saw it until yesterday. We are going to fix her back to the vibrant woman she was, get her back into fighting shape so she can put her foot up his ass." I say getting more resolute near the end. Pausing for breath. "I am going to do this with or without you, but it would make my year if it was with."

"With." Lisa replies.

"Great!" I smile a big smile. "We'll also work on you, so you don't burst into tears and have snot bubbles coming out of your nose the first time you see her." I tease her but she looks right at me.

"You think you're a funny man, but I can totally see that happening and then her foot going up my ass."

"See, we have work to do, and as far as I'm concerned, that ass is mine now so let's keep it foot free." I stand up from the couch. "Come on, let's go to the Mall."

Lisa stops me as we get to the door and gives me a hug and a kiss that isn't innocent but no tongue. "I thought this was just another of the hundred things I've messed up, you are something else."

"Don't get too knight in shining armor on me. I still have the "James, I'll do ANYTHING for you coupon burning a hole in my pocket." I pull her back in for a proper kiss.

"Mmmhmmm, let's go shopping." Lisa grabs a jacket, and we head out.

"So, I need to get her some silk pajamas that are enough to make her feel sexy as opposed to what she's wearing now. Would also like to get some shampoo and conditioner that smells like your hair. And then a proper dress for a date and dancing."

Lisa is watching me while I talk and drive. "Like my hair, you smelled my hair already?"

"You gave me the hug at the door, and it smells delicious. But when I gave Mom a hug this morning, she smells good but... hmm, I can't tell her she smells like Pert shampoo. I'm going to need to figure this out."

"We can get her some coconut milk shampoo and conditioner." Lisa offers. "I love it and it's not just for the smell."

At the Mall, we find some pink and white silk shirt and shorts. "What are her sizes?" Lisa asks going through the options.