Stormwatch - Dirty Pool

Built in 1827, the Eagle House has been serving food and drink to travelers since it opened. It was once an overnight stop for stagecoaches heading in and out of Buffalo, and in the 1840s and 1850s, it was a stop on the Underground Railroad. "This is so nice!" gushed Veronica as they entered. They could have stepped back in time 150 years. The furnishings and the ambiance were as historically accurate as possible. On one side of the room was an immense stone fireplace and a wood fire crackled and snapped inside of a glass front wood stove insert. The flames danced slowly and hypnotically on the logs of maple and oak.

"Where would you like to sit?" asked the hostess. "We have a table near the fire."

"Perfect," said Josh and soon they were sipping wine and reviewing the menu when an obviously drunk man stepped up to the table and just stood there looking down at them. "Can I help you?" said Josh, a bit perturbed.

"You're new here," the drunk slobbered. "I'm Dan."

"I'm Josh, and this is my wife Veronica," said Josh, trying to be polite.

"Ronnie?" said Dan. He thought for a moment, then said, "I know Ronnie."

Just as Josh was about to say something, another man came up and tried to get Dan to return to their table. "Come on, Dan."

"No," said the drunk. "This is Ronnie... I know her from somewhere."

"You don't know her. Come on, Dan."

Then Josh stood up and tried to reason with them and another man came up and said, "Is that Ronnie?" The four men looked at each other, then on perfect pitch in perfect four-part harmony, they started singing.

"If you knew Ronnie

Like I know Ronnie

Oh, Oh, Oh what a gal

There's none so classy

As this fair lassie

Oh, Oh, Holy Moses, what a chassis..."

The four men sang the old, funny, Eddie Cantor song that they changed just for her, and Veronica laughed and clapped as they sang. At the end, they slowed down and transitioned to the first song that Josh and his barbershop harmony buddies serenaded her with.

Let me call you sweetheart. I'm in love with you.

Let me hear you whisper that you love me too

Keep the love light glowing in your eyes so true

Let me call you sweetheart. I'm in love with you.

As they hit the last, perfect note, the harmonics of the diminished seventh chord actually generated a fifth voice, and the restaurant rang with their creation. All the diners in the restaurant applauded and Josh kneeled in front of Veronica and presented her with a perfect red rose. They kissed, then Veronica gushed, "Oh you guys," as tears formed in her perfect eyes. The other patrons of the Eagle House continued to applaud while Veronica stood and hugged Josh's friends. "What's the big occasion?"

Josh, Dan, Bill, and the tenor Westley looked at her in shock. Then the three barbershoppers walked off without saying a word, shaking their heads. "What? What's going on?" asked Veronica. Something was up. She was getting used to their sense of humor.

"Nothing," said Josh, pretending that he was holding back the disappointment. Actually, he was sure that she wouldn't remember, and he was right.

"Tell me, what is going on?" she demanded. "If you don't tell me, I'm going to order a boiled horse steak in Russian and make a big fuss..." She spoke enough Russian to do that.

"What were you doing five months ago today?" asked Josh.

"I was..." she thought back and counted the months. "We were getting married... we're celebrating our five-month anniversary?" Josh nodded happily and handed her a menu.

"I thought we were celebrating every month," he said.

"We are?" she asked.

"Well... yes. We had a nice one-month anniversary on November 30." Veronica nodded. They went to Manhattan that weekend. "And we had a really big party in December," he continued.

"That was New Year's Eve!" Veronica insisted.

"And a great party in January..."

"We were on a cruise with Andi and Paul! The entire week was a party."

"And we had a nice, quiet little celebration last month," he said.

"That was my birthday!" Then she started laughing at Josh's dizzy logic. "What do you have planned for next month?"

"I was thinking of renewing our vows."

"You're so silly," she laughed. It was so wonderful to be back together. They were only apart for a few days, but it felt like he was gone for months. It was like a huge part of her was torn away and left in Minnesota.

"I can't wait to spend some time with Little Mike," said Josh with a sigh. His tiny brother-in-law was becoming a big part of his life.

"You're going to have to wait for a few more days for that. Dad and Audrey are in Erie."

"And they took Little Mike with them? That's awful selfish of them."

Veronica could barely hold back her laughter as the waiter took their orders. It was so good to have him home; it was like all her smiles were gone with him for a week. Veronica had the banana pepper chicken (chicken breast stuffed with gorgonzola spinach stuffing, breaded and topped with banana pepper sauce and a cool tomato balsamic compote) and Josh had the haddock casino (haddock topped with garlic toasted breadcrumbs, sweet pepper, onion, and bacon) "And can I get two small containers of the casino to go?"

"The casino?" asked a waiter.

"A friend has two little girls, and they love clams casino without the clams." Casino dressing is a specially flavored stuffing that when mixed with chopped clams and served on a clam shell becomes Clams Casino, another gastronomic delicacy loved in Western New York.

"I'll ask the chef," and the waiter headed back to the kitchen.

"So, how were things at work while I was gone?" asked Josh. Even though they work just a few feet from each other, they see two different worlds at Andalon. Veronica deals with the Big Picture: the contracts and the business owners. Josh deals with the hardware and the software and the customer's employees that make the system work.

"Winston Financial is finally coming together," she said. "We finally got the contract ironed out, and I got the high-speed connectivity set up. Terri started putting blade servers together for them yesterday. Kissing Bridge Emergency Hospital just got a new CT scanner and thought it would just magically connect to our system. It took me days to straighten out that contract." Poor Veronica had an enormous pile of work waiting for her when she got back from Grant Valley, Minnesota, and like always, she dove in headfirst and tried to get everything completed on her first day back.

"Nicca," said Josh softly as he took her hand, "You can't fix everything all at once. Take your time, give your assistant some of the load."

"My assistant? Who is that?" she demanded.

"Anthony."

When he named the CEO of their company, Veronica started laughing. "He wasn't here while we were gone. There was a Sci-Fi convention in Pittsburgh... you probably know the rest of the story."

Josh sure did. Their boss, Anthony, is a diehard Star Trek and Babylon 5 fan. "So, who was running the company while we were gone?"

"Terri." Josh rolled his eyes. That was a scary thought, leaving Terry in charge of the company, but Veronica was kidding. There is a skilled management team above Terri and Josh. Terri and Josh are the worker bees that get the dreams and schemes to work. Their talk continued when their food came, and they ate. Every bite, every morsel was perfect. When it was time to say goodbye, the manager arrived with two small foam containers of the casino stuffing used on the haddock casino. "Thank you very much," said Josh.

"Thank you for the serenade you provided for us," said the manager as they got their coats.

"It's just something the boys do when Veronica and I want to be alone." It was snowing outside, and the temperature started dropping. "This is an unusual place," said Josh. "The winter doesn't really seem to hit until February. The worst storms I've seen have been in March."

Veronica watched the snow spiral down and said, "my dad always told me that if you wanted snow for Christmas, give your kid a bike. If you didn't want snow, give them a sled."

Josh couldn't wait to get home. Up in the hills in Springville, they get much more snow than down here near Buffalo. Since getting a pair of snowmobiles and a couple of pairs of cross-country skis, Josh and Veronica have become real snow enthusiasts. But mostly there was a matter of a reunion with Veronica. He could not wait to get her home. With Mike and Audrey gone, they could have sex anywhere in the house. "What are you thinking?" asked Veronica.

"Truth?" said Josh as he helped her get into the truck. "A blowjob in front of the fireplace would be so nice right now."

"That is entirely possible," said Veronica, but as the heater in the truck filled the cab with warm air, her eyelids grew heavy...

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Veronica woke to the sound of children. "What the..." She looked at her watch. It was on the charging stand and said that it was 12:30 pm. She slept the entire night away? She missed the reunion sex with Josh? It was the first good night's sleep she's had in a long time, but she didn't want a good night's sleep. She wanted a full night's sex. His side of the bed was empty, and she heard the call of a seven-year-old girl calling, "Uncle Josh!" The twins were here.

Josh dressed her in her favorite flannel nightgown, so she got up, ran a quick brush through her thick locks, then pulled on a robe and went downstairs. The sounds of children's laughter were even louder and when she got downstairs, she found that her living room was filled with children. There were the seven-year-old Jarecki twins, Sandy and Madeline, and with them were their year old brother Danny and their year old cousin Katrina. The governess Yi, and Katrina's mom Macy were out for a walk in the snow and stopped by. The cause of the laughter was the twins watching Danny and Katrina trying to walk while wearing all their snow gear. Danny and Katrina could only waddle two steps before falling on their bums.

Yi was a beautiful Korean/American woman who was their neighbor's executive chef and the governess for their children. She's also 'sort of married' to Kenny, the owner of the local feed and farm supply store.

Katrina's mother, Macy, was a beautiful French Canadian black woman and was probably the most accomplished woman Veronica had ever met. She had two doctorates (theology and psychology) and she saved Josh's life. In the depths of his despair, she introduced him to Doctor Helen Lennox, a specialist who was successfully treating him for his PTSD.

"You shouldn't laugh," said Veronica to the laughing twins. "Your mother told me that you didn't walk until you were two and a half years old."

Sandy turned to Madeline, and they spoke for a moment in their own private language that their parents called "TwinBabble" and then Sandy answered Veronica, "It's because we didn't have anywhere to go."

"That's awesome. I have to write that one down," said Josh, trying not to laugh. "Oh! I have a treat for you two." He handed Yi a plastic bag with two Styrofoam containers.

Yi opened a container and saw the dressing and tasted it. "That's interesting... what is it?"

The twins stealthily snagged a pinch each and tasted it. "Crams!" they cried and tried to grab the container from Yi.

"It's the dressing from clams casino without the clams. The twins will eat it all day long."

"Good to know. Don't! You'll spoil your lunch!"

"Awww..." huffed the twins in unison.

"We need to go," said Yi as she scooped up Danny.

"Glad to see you back," said Macy, who lunged to capture Katrina. The little imp had scooted away on hands and knees.

"It's good to be back where it's relatively warm," said Josh. "The high Wednesday in Minnesota was forty degrees below zero."

Yi was shocked at the sound of a temperature that low, but Macy grew up in Quebec and spent quite a few cold winters up there. Forty below happened often for Macy in her youth. She scooped up her daughter Katrina, and they headed out the door. "Thanks for stopping by!" said Josh as he stood on the porch in the blowing snow, the steam rising from his coffee. After arranging the kids on two plastic sleds, Yi and Macy waved goodbye and headed up the street. Their house was only two blocks away.

"Well," said Josh as he and Veronica settled down together on the couch. "What would you like to do?"

"I was kind of hoping to go to the cabin and fire up the snowmobile," said Veronica, "but I don't know if the road is going to be open. What would you like to do?"

"That sounds like fun, but I've had enough cold right now. Wanna play pool?"

"We haven't shot pool in a while," said Veronica. "I was thinking about something more intimate."

"Lesbian rules," said Josh with a twitch of his eyebrows.

Veronica smiled. Josh called them lesbian rules because, at one point, Veronica was involved in a relationship with a woman who taught her to play pool. Rhiannon was a skilled teacher, she used sex as a reward or a penalty. She would lick Veronica to ecstasy if Veronica won, but if Veronica lost, Veronica would have to serve whatever sexy purpose Rhiannon could dream up. Veronica was at a place in her life where she wanted the companionship and sex, and having sex with a woman wasn't exactly what she wanted but there was no chance of pregnancy and Rhiannon never failed to get her off.

Veronica kissed Josh and said, "you know the rules, right?"

The rules were simple; it was APA rules eight ball. You played the best of seven games and to keep score; you wore four articles of clothing. Every time you lost a game, you took off one article of clothing and handed it to the winner. During play, you could do all you wanted to distract the other player, but you couldn't physically touch the other player or their stick after they leaned over to line up their shot, and then until their ball hit another ball or a rail. The first player naked became the willing sex slave of the winner.

"I'm going to go get dressed," said Veronica, and she dashed upstairs. Ever since she and Rhiannon tied up Josh and played a set of games for him to watch (Veronica ended up with Josh's cock in her mouth and Rhiannon's strap-on dildo in her pussy) Veronica wanted to play "Lesbian Pool" with Josh.

When they got married, she felt secure enough in their relationship to ask him to play, but they ended up with Mike, Audrey, and Little Mike in the house. They lived in the in-law suite in the basement, but Josh and Veronica kept their sex lives up on the second floor. Veronica was sure that Audrey wouldn't mind walking into a room and seeing her and Josh having sex. Audrey was just that kinky, but Mike wouldn't find it funny.

Audrey's sexual upbringing was quite advanced, and she was into a lot of kinky things thanks to her dad. The minute Audrey turned 18, her father and mother added her to their marriage bed. The sex was great, but the whole thing was very confusing to her. She definitely didn't like being paraded around and handed out as a party favor at swinger parties, but she developed a taste for older men, which probably explained how she fell in love with Mike. It definitely has to be love, thanks to his ex and his oldest daughter, Mike has nothing. "That's why I feel so secure with her love," laughed Mike. "I got nothing left for her to take but my love."

"You have your rowboat," kidded Josh once.

"That's your rowboat," said Mike. "But don't worry. I'm leaving it to you in my will."

Veronica came down the stairs in a low cut burgundy blouse and a pair of gray sweatpants. Like Josh, she was wearing warm, fluffy socks. The natural wood floor of the billiards room is quite cold on snowy, blustery days. Josh opened the curtains in the billiards room to let in the light, but all that could be seen outside was the swirling snow. "It reminds me of the day that we..." he let the statement "first made love" hang in the air.

"That was incredible," said Veronica as she looked out the window with Josh. "Why did we wait so long?"

"The weather was too nice. Ain't nothing better than sitting on your boss's desk, getting a blowjob during a blizzard," he grinned, and they kissed.

"I prefer getting fucked senseless on my boss's office furniture," said Veronica. They made love the first dozen times on Anthony's couch. Anthony actually gave them the couch from his office as a wedding present. It's now sitting in front of the fireplace in the cabin.

"Blizzard sex is the best."

"I wonder if Terri has fucked Mateo unconscious yet," speculated Josh as he racked the balls.

"She's been trying pretty hard to do just that," said Veronica. "Call it!" she said as she flipped a quarter in the air.

"Heads," called Josh. The coin hit the table and bounced once.

"It's heads," said Veronica. "You get to break."

Josh selected his favorite cue stick from the rack and placed the cue ball on the far left side of the "Kitchen Line" then lined up his shot. Veronica was standing on the other side of the pool table pretending to lick her cue stick like a cock, but Josh was in the zone. Nothing else existed except him, the cue ball and "the pocket." The pocket was just like in bowling, that spot between the head pin and the pin behind it. This was between the one ball and the striped ball behind it.

Josh unleashed a lightning strike that slammed into the pocket with an ear-splitting Crack! and scattered balls in all directions, but the eight ball was the one he watched. Done perfectly, this shot will sink the eight ball on the break. The eight ball was driven back. It hit the back rail with enough force that it caromed off and headed straight for a side pocket.

Veronica saw what he was watching and groaned. If he sank the eight ball on the break, he would win the game. It rolled straight as an arrow toward the side pocket, but at the last minute a lazily rolling two ball wandered in front of the eight ball and the eight ball knocked the two ball into the pocket. The eight ball came to a rest in front of the side pocket, effectively taking the side pocket out of play. "You almost got it that time," said Veronica. "You've been practicing."

"That's what we did in the evening in Minnesota. Don and I would shoot pool against his dad and his father-in-law at the American Legion. Those old guys were hustlers."

The game progressed with Josh shooting low balls, and Veronica shooting stripes. It had been a while since she played, so she was warming up. Lately, the pool table has only been used for folding laundry and changing Little Mike. "Why are you hitting your shots so hard?" asked Veronica. "Use a little finesse."

"Nah, power good!" growled Josh, and he unleashed a thunderbolt that drove the four ball into the pocket so hard it hopped back out.

"HA!" cried Veronica. They both know that a ball that comes out of the pocket remains on the table. "Power BAD, finesse good!" she said as she took a very careful shot down the full length of the table and gently pocketed the fifteen ball.

The game went on, Veronica and Josh trading points until Veronica cleared her seven balls and gently tapped the eight ball into the side pocket. "Pay up!" The loser chose which article of clothing to remove, so Josh took off his pants and was now wearing his boxer shorts.

He racked the balls while Veronica chuckled. "You know, a Genny Cream would go down so nice right now," he said as he racked up the balls. She sighed and walked out to the kitchen to get their beers, and as she left, Josh swapped out the cue ball for one he brought home with him from Minnesota. He finished racking the balls and took the cold Genesee Cream Ale from Veronica when she returned to the billiards room. "Thank you."