My Girls Next Door

"I moved out of the motel this afternoon," Blake said.

"And you, Brenda?"

"I... uh."

Both Sue and I waited. Blake turned toward his wife as if he would answer for them both if she couldn't.

When they left an hour later, they held hands and flirted more I'd bet than they had since the day after their wedding. As Sue's front door closed behind them, she took my hands, pulled me around in front of her, then threw her arms around my shoulders. "Thanks, Honey," she whispered before, hanging a kiss on me. "Now I owe you more than ever. God, I hope this never changes, and I'm never going to let it!"

Chapter 3

I barely heard the knock on my front door above the level of my stereo. I pried myself off the couch, set my makeshift supper on the coffee table, and stumbled to the door. Amazing how fast you stiffen up after a day of climbing around big machinery troubleshooting it.

Beyond my screen door stood demure, five year old Janette. That was a surprise. Usually she went bashful around me, but tonight she seemed to have gathered all her confidence.

"Well, hi," I said, certain my surprise showed.

"Hello, Mr. Strong."

I nodded.

"Would you...? Would you...," she said before her confidence ran out and she looked down.

"Janette? Yes. What is it?" I tried my best to sound encouraging.

She looked up, now, and I watched her confidence return.

"Momma and Grandma are taking us to Swifty's tomorrow night for Janelle's birthday. Can you come? I know Jannie wants you."

Who wanted me? Sue? Janelle? Janette? Or maybe even Grandma? I got worshiping gazes from all four of them. Oh, well. Maybe I was merely the lone functional male in their lives.

"Yes, I'd like that. How old will she be?" God, I felt like such a dunce having to ask. After all, Janelle was the daughter of my thrice a week--or more often--bed partner. Shouldn't I know her age?

"Seven."

I nodded.

"And I'm six already," she said with one of those I hope you notice me, too, looks. I remembered hearing Janette was born just eleven months after her sister. Apparently two kids that close together contributed to Sue's ex baling out on her. "I get to celebrate, too," Janette said.

I feigned ignoring Janette's inference, but of course I didn't pull it off very well because she looked so damned sweet.

"What about a present for Janelle?"

"Oh, no presents, Mr. Strong. Just have pizza with her and me--with us. Gramma works there, you know."

I knew, and suspected she would get a discount on the pizza we ate. I'm sure that household had to watch every nickel in their income stream.

"But, now. Suppose I want to get Janelle a present, just so she'll have a nicer birthday. Would you help me figure something out?"

Janette smiled up at me, and I'll admit I melted inside.

"I guess that means Yes?"

Her nod took on eagerness, to say the least.

"So? Can you go now? We don't want Janelle to find out, right? So it'll be a surprise?"

Janette nodded again.

"So here," I said, reaching for my cell. "Call your mom and ask if it's all right." Last thing I wanted was this to go south and give Sue the impression I was running off with her younger child. I handed Janette my flip, and in a few moments we had clearance from the woman in charge of Janette's life.

***

I'd never been in Swifty's Pizza, but was pleasantly surprised. Clean, cordial, and attractive. Mrs. Matheney bussed up a few tables while we waited for Janelle's celebration pizza to cook. A woman of Mrs. Matheney's generation would do that, just to help out. The place was fairly packed with some sort of sports celebration, so there was lots of noise and a crowd of junior high girls in cute shorts, wearing tees that said Mustangers on them. I wondered about that. What would most of them be riding a few short years from now? Oh, well!

"Hope you like this combination," Mrs. Matheney said. "It's our most popular."

I did, and so did Sue and the girls. You can't go far wrong with half Hawaiian and half deluxe Italian, both with extra sauce. The extra-large resulted with half a slice left over. I tried not to eat more than my share, but it was damned good pizza, not one of those factory-made things lots of places serve, someone's idea of what will still sell, even if only barely, yet cost next to nothing for the materials to make.

I sloshed the rest of my ice water down with my last bite of pizza. Sue slid that remaining pizza chunk toward me, but I waved it off.

"Thanks," I said, thinking now we get down to the celebrating part of the evening.

Mrs. Matheney excused herself, clambered up from her chair at the table's end, went again to the kitchen and came back with a small cake, covered with chocolate frosting and seven pink candles. She set it on the table in front of Janelle, and with matches from her purse, lit the candles. What followed you can easily guess.

The cake was good, too, although I don't know whether Swifty's baked it, or Sue, or Mrs. Matheney.

Sue found a small present in her purse, as did Mrs. Matheney. A barrette and a charm bracelet. Janelle loved them both, and I thought she'd never unwind her enthusiasm. But as she did, Janette elbowed me gently in the ribs and looked up at me, cocking her forehead in Janelle's direction. I nodded, but let things simmer down more yet, hoping if I waited, Janelle's potential for surprise might grow in the meantime.

I reached into my jacket pocket, pulled out another small package, and handed it across to Janelle. "Here, birthday girl. You probably won't like this, but anyway, here's my idea of what a lovely, seven year old, young lady should have."

She nearly decimated the modest wrapping before she got it open.

"Janette helped me pick it out, so if you don't like it, blame her, too."

By now, Janelle beamed, even more than before. The tiny, cubic-Z studs sparkled as she held one and then the other to her ear.

"Hope that's all right, Sue. If you don't want her piercing her ears yet, say so and I'll take them back and get a neck chain with something sparkley hanging on it."

"No, no! They're fine, aren't they, Momma!"

I kept my eye on Sue. This decision was hers, and I didn't want to be sticking my nose in where it didn't belong.

She smiled and looked at me. "I think there's a little collusion going on here, but okay, soon as I can afford it."

"No afford it to it." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a gift certificate for Birthday Piercing. "But only your ears. Not your nose or somewhere else, right Sue?"

She nodded, so we had confirmation.

The barrette and a charm bracelet had been celebration-worthy, but nothing compared with cubic-Z ear studs and ear piercing. Here Janelle had evidence she was growing up. Janette had been right; my gift played dead-on toward pent-up womanhood. I survived the kisses I received--on my cheeks and sides of my face yes, but definitely enthusiastic! The noise generated at our table competed well with the sounds erupting every so often from the sports gathering across the room.

As our noise began to lull, I reached into my jacket's other pocket and pulled out a second package, one for which I'd returned to the costume jewelry shop last night without Janette. I'd watched carefully as she sorted through candidates for Janelle's present, so I had a pretty good idea what Janette liked.

"Here, Honey," I said softly. "Thanks for helping me out last night. You know, guys are horrible gift picker-outers. Hope you like this."

Wrapping nearly flew across the table again, this time as Janette stripped it off. Then came the magic moment, the second when what was inside became visible. She gasped, turned to me, and made me damned glad I'd decided upon that little chain and locket set. Had she learned that from her mother? Or did it run in the family?

"Oh, Daddy Matt! I love you so much!"

"I love you all. And I guess your enthusiasm means you like that thing?"

"Oh, I do, I do! But I love you best of all."

"Me, too," Janelle said, pushing herself between us so she could plant a kiss, too. When she pulled back, she said, "You're the best daddy ever."

***

Sue finally got her girls settled down once we arrived back at their house, not that it was easy! I just sat on the couch and waited, hoping there was more celebration to come once the immediate source of jocularity had been corralled and put to bed.

Sue's mother brought me a glass of ice water, then took up residence in her recliner.

"Well," she said, "you're definitely the hero of the evening."

"Hope I didn't step on Sue's toes--about ear piercing, I mean."

Mrs. Matheney shook her head. "No. That's what Janelle wanted most, but you know...."

I nodded.

"And how about Janette? How did you know?"

"I watched her choosing Janelle's present. She kept going back to that, even though she knew it wasn't what Janelle wanted most."

The girl's grandmother nodded in a way that said smart!

Sue came back into the livingroom and sat on the sofa, not close, but not far away, either.

"Matt, you sure hit the bulls-eye tonight," she said, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Hope I didn't get out of line, there."

"No, Honey. Of course not. You got good sense. But you knew, right? Janette had a birthday less than a month ago, but I had to wait and celebrate them both. So you pretty well covered that one, too."

I nodded. Maybe, maybe not. But what the hell? I suspected these girls seldom got what they really wanted, so if my second present served well as a late birthday present, so much the better.

"What about you two?" I said, looking first toward Mrs. Matheney, and then at Sue. "I suppose I should have gotten you each a not your birthday either present. Right?"

Mrs. Matheney only chuckled as she stood. "I think I'll call it good for today. See you in the morning, Sue."

Good planning, I thought.

Sue stood, too, watched her mother leave without looking back.

"Wait a minute, Matt," she said. "Let me change and I'll show you home." I wondered what she'd change into this evening. A naughty girl outfit? A nature girl outfit? Or one of her next to nothing at all outfits?

After a few minutes, she returned, engulfed in a long, threadbare coat. Could be any of those choices under that, according to the light in her eyes.

"Ready?" I said.

"Ready as ever and twice as good."

Well, I had to smile, because if she were twice as good as night before last, I might not survive. We slipped out the back door and headed for the gate I last week cut through the fence separating her mother's lot from mine. She giggled as I helped her through.

"What?"

"Just thinking...."

"Yeah, what?"

"You may never get any sleep now. Maybe this gate will make it too easy for me."

"Oh, sleep's over-rated anyway, don't you think?"

"Sure is when I think about the alternatives--when I think about you."

"When is that?"

"All the time." Yes, all the time, like me thinking about her!

I saw it in her eyes even more as we urged each other toward my bedroom.

I held back some as we passed down my bedroom hallway, not wanting to pressure her. But she said, "Stop screwing around, will you Matt? You know what kind of celebration I want."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Oh, yes! Now go get in bed and let me get ready for you. Your slutty woman wants you, to repay you for being so nice to her daughters."

"I wish you wouldn't call yourself that, Sue. You're not slutty at all."

"Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong. Not slutty enough, maybe."

"Just right."

"If so, then why are we still out here in the hall when we could be in bed with your manhood buried in me up to its hilt? Tell me that."

I just shook my head. How could an ordinary guy like me be so lucky as to have a woman like Sue at his beck and call? "Go, Honey! Please!" I said.

"I'm already juicing down my legs just thinking about you. I'll be ready in just a minute." She moved as if she were heading for the bathroom, but then just dropped her coat to one side on the floor.

"No! Now, Matt! I can't wait any longer. Do me right here, okay? I want you so bad! Please?"

A guy'd have to be daft to put this off!

"Okay, then. Bend at the hips. Fingertips on the floor. Yes, I want you, too. Point that beautiful ass at me. We'll get to the bed when we get there. Right now, here I come!" I slipped into her, then lunged against her to assure us both I was full depth inside her.

"Oh, Matt, how can you be so good to me?"

"Easy, 'cause you're good to me. Turn-about's fair play, no?"

"The bed? Honey? The bed?"

"You want me on top? Or you?"

"Please, Matt, you be on top first. I want to feel your weight on me, holding me down, making me give you everything I have. That's how I want to start. Then, after you come in me once, then I'll ride you. Okay?"

My answer was to oblige.

***

Later we re-celebrated Janette's sixth birthday--at Swifty's this time, too. Janelle handled gift advisor duty this time--quite successfully. I swear the consolation gift I gave her could have been the English Crown Jewels she'd seen on TV several days earlier, for the fuss Janelle made over it. And of course, Janette made as exuberant a birthday girl fuss over her month-ago present.

When we finally got them home, calmed down, and supposedly in bed, Mrs. Matheney settled into her recliner and Sue sat on the other end of the sofa from me. Something was up, but I couldn't tell what.

"Thanks for making Janette's late birthday so nice," Sue said in a way that sounded like a lead-up to us heading for the gate through our mutual fence. "You really know how to treat little girls so they feel grown up."

I tried. Right then I was hoping I'd get the opportunity to treat their mother right, too. But, that night was one of those scheduled alternate nights, when Sue and I slept in our respective beds--to keep up some appearance of propriety, at least--for the girls' sake, and to let me recuperate some.

Our small talk dwindled to the point I expected Mrs. Matheney to excuse herself for bed and leave Sue and me to hold our continuing celebration as best we could. But tonight Sue was the one who excused herself.

"Well, I think I'll turn in," she said. "Will you please walk Matt home, Mom?" With that she stood and headed toward their bedrooms.

I looked at her mother, wondering what next? Mrs. Matheney looked down, suddenly shy. I waited, hoping for a clue what was going on.

She looked up, then paused again. I waited, knowing she needed that.

"Mr. Strong?"

I gave her my Yes? raised eyebrow look.

"Do you find me attractive?"

"Yes." Why wouldn't I? She wore her thirty-nine years extremely well and kept herself trim. I figured it must be her ten hour shifts on her feet at Swifty's, because you don't stay that fit working out a half hour every couple days at a gym somewhere, then sitting on your ass the rest of the time watching TV.

"No, I mean attractive--like desirable?"

"Attractive, yes, Mrs. Matheney. And desirable, yes."

She shook her head. "No. If desirable were the right word, you wouldn't call me Mrs. Matheney, would you? Sue's not Mrs. Bradley."

"Sue's three years younger than me. I'd really feel strange calling her Mrs. Bradley. But you're older than me--twelve years. I think that deserves the respect of being called Mrs. Matheney."

Sue's mother looked away, and I think I heard her whisper, "Too old," mixed with a sigh of defeat.

It took me a moment to pick up on that, but eventually I did. When she looked up once more, tears had started in her eyes, and I sure didn't want that!

"Look, Misses--what the hell is your first name, anyway?"

"Martha. Martha Louise."

"Oh, I like that, particularly the Louise part."

She wiped away those tears and looked into my eyes.

"Is it okay if I call you Marti when I'm in my looking at an attractive woman mode?"

She smiled, and as she did so, she stood and held out her hand to me. Yes, the what's up for tonight was suddenly clear. The cue had been: Will you see Matt home, and whichever woman it applied to certainly did.

Out their back door, through the gate in our mutual fence, through my back door, through my mostly unused kitchen, my combined dining and living room, down the hall, and into my bedroom.

I closed the door behind us, I don't know why. Still out of respect for her, I suppose. I slid her wrap off her shoulders. She shivered.

"Cold?"

"Scared."

"What's a sexy woman like you got to be scared of?"

"Oh, Matt! I'm so scared. I haven't had a man touch me since Jerry died. Fifteen years, it's been. Wouldn't you be scared?"

"I am. I'm about to undress a beautiful woman twelve years older than me. I'm scared shitless--pardon my language. A woman who probably knows more about making love than I ever will. I'm the one who should be scared, not you."

"You really want to?"

"Make love to you? Certainly, and not just because you're sexy as hell. I want to make love to you because you're worth making love to: You raised Sue real good, you've been a good influence on your granddaughters, you take care of yourself, and you work. I saw how those people at Swifty's look up to you. That was esteem I saw on their faces."

"But...."

"Marti? Shush, now."

I waited a moment, just trying my best to not be shy myself. "May I unbutton your blouse? Or you gonna spend all night with your hands protecting your chest?"

She jerked her hands away, then looked up.

"That's better. Okay, now?"

She nodded, so I started with the top button.

Yes--I could see from the third button--she had beautiful breasts, and her chest curved in nicely below to meet her slim waist. "Very nice." She shuddered when I bumped one of those breasts--somewhat on purpose, I'll admit.

"Still scared?"

"Not so much."

"Good. May I take your blouse off now?"

Her approval was a silent nod that allowed her eyes to remain staring into mine.

I figured a kiss would fit now. Why not? She stood there with her blouse off, wearing a lace bra that pointed those breasts at me like some sort of gift. I knew throughout my body she wanted me, I wanted her, and before long, we would have each other in all the best possible ways.

"May I have your bra, Marti?"

She moved to remove it, but I held up my hand and stopped her.

"Let me. I'm going to enjoy making you naked, and this is the first step, right?"

She nodded. I reached around her and released the clasp at the middle of her back. The bra went slack, and I looked down to see those two beauties shed their restraint and offer themselves to me even more.

"Beautiful. May I touch?"

"Of course. Anytime you want."

I reached between us, lifted my palms under them. "Nice. Very nice." She shuddered again.

"Getting cold now?"

"No! Getting... hot, because of you."

"Good. But if so, we better get you undressed and into bed. Okay?"

Her answer was to turn, sit on the edge of the bed, and tip the heel off one foot.

"Nice leg," I said.

Marti giggled.

"What?"

"I know I'm being slutty, but this sure is fun."

"Not slutty. Only sexy." Her response was to turn slightly, tip off her other shoe, and hand them both to me.

"Four down," she whispered.

"Huh?"

"Blouse, bra, and two shoes. That's four, right?" she said.

"So?"

"Jerry used to play this little game with me. Count how much stuff I wore when he took my clothes off. If it was more than six, I had to... you know...uh, suck uh... him first before he'd be inside me. I loved doing that to him, so I always wore too much."