The Glamorous Passenger Ch. 04

Author's note: I started this chapter in September 2022 and was hoping to have it completed and published sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas because most of it concerns a workplace holiday party. Alas, it was not to be. But I hope everyone reading this had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, nonetheless.

In previous chapters, I had been deliberately vague about how old Kay is and what year this story is set in. But as I continue to write this, I realize I'm going to have to be more specific. Also, sticklers for consistency will notice that although I had Melissa say she was 37 in the first two chapters, she is now 36 in this chapter. Again, I had to change this to make the story end the way I want it to.

There is a character from my previous story "An Unexpected Friendship" and references to the things that happened in that story. It's not necessary to have read that story first, but I'd recommend it. I would also like to say that you need to read the first two chapters of this story before reading this one. Chapter 3 is optional as it is a flashback and contains a major spoiler, but there are also characters from and references to the events of chapter 3 in this chapter.

Standard disclaimer: All explicit sexual activity described in this story is between consenting adults 18 and over.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 4

December 2018

Melissa and I had been dating for about 10 weeks. Since we'd had sex within a half-hour of meeting each other, we decided that subsequent dates would be dedicated to getting to know each other and not necessarily ending up in bed together. And as far as the latter was concerned, all our overnight dates were at my apartment. Melissa was insistent that she wasn't going to introduce me to her daughter until she was sure of her feelings. Angelina was still traumatized from losing her dad—even though he was abusive towards them both—and Melissa didn't want to introduce someone new into her life only to have them leave. I was already catching feelings for Melissa and wanted to be closer to her, so I was disappointed. But as a mother myself, I understood.

Tonight, we were going to meet a couple of my friends to introduce them to Melissa. We had decided to meet at a neighborhood bar with decidedly casual vibes. I was dressed in a light peach knit pullover, a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. Melissa, however, didn't do casual except when filming her commercials, for which she wore lighter than normal makeup, a polo shirt with the logo of her dealership, and khakis to give herself a wholesome all-American girl-next-door look. Tonight, she was wearing a green satin dress with a black leather jacket on top, black silk stockings with lines running up the back, and black high-heeled pumps that made her stand two inches taller than me. I found Betsy and Dave and I directed Melissa to the table where they were sitting.

"Melissa, these are my two best friends, Betsy Garcia who I've known since we were roommates in our freshman year of college, and her boyfriend Dave Edwards."

Betsy was a Latina woman who was 5'4" and a bit on the heavy side with a slight pot belly and a big pear-shaped bottom, but still attractive. Dave was 6'1" and looked somewhere between what George Clooney and Peter Gallagher looked like in their forties, but with a paunchy gut and his salt-and-pepper hair trimmed down to stubble as it was thinning on top.

As we were taking our seats, Melissa took off her jacket and draped it on the back of the chair, exposing that her dress for the evening was sleeveless, as was usual for her since we first got together. Even though it was cold outside (at least by the standards of the Southwest), she still wanted to show off her tanned, toned arms, which she'd had to keep covered for four years while she was with her ex-husband, who would give her bruises while beating her.

She stared at Dave and said, "Dave Edwards. That name sounds so familiar. And I swear you remind me of someone I know."

I helped her out some. "Maybe it's because you've already met William Edwards and Justin Edwards, his two sons who live with me."

Her eyes went wide. "Oh, my God! You're Kay's ex-husband! And you're dating her best friend! Isn't that some kind of violation of the girl code?"

"Not when it was my idea that they get together," I said.

"What the hell?"

Betsy started speaking. "It's kind of a long story, but it's worth telling. Do you want to hear it?"

"Maybe after we order."

We hailed a server, and I ordered a pint of Dos Equis lager while Melissa asked for a glass of their finest pinot noir.

"Well, okay," said Betsy. "I have to ask you first. Do you remember that woman Karen Wright who was running for Congress earlier this year as a homophobic anti-immigrant culture-warrior Republican, only to be outed as having a lesbian affair with her undocumented housekeeper?"

"Oh, yeah! In fact, when the news broke, my cousin Kelly reminded me that she and her best friend Cameron told me all about her when I was just a freshman in college. They'd caught me making out with my girlfriend and told me about Karen to convince me to come out of the closet. I've never met her, but Cameron says she's awful and she got what was coming to her."

"She's not wrong about that. I had to see her quite a bit in my professional capacity when she was the mayor of the town I live in, and we couldn't stand each other. Anyway, the reason she got outed was because her daughter Christi and my daughter Maria had been friends since the start of senior year. And eventually it got to the point where they came out to each other and admitted that they were both secretly in love with each other and they decided to start dating. Here's some pictures of them at prom. Don't they look cute together?"

Betsy took out her phone and showed off pictures of a tall girl with a face and body like a Barbie doll with platinum blond hair down to the nape of her neck and wearing a white sequined strapless evening gown. Except for Melissa, I'd never seen anyone prettier. In every picture she was standing next to a girl about four or five inches shorter who was basically a younger version of Betsy but wearing glasses and with too much gel in her short hair, looking decidedly uncomfortable in a lavender satin dress with puffy sleeves that reached just short of her elbows. In one picture they were cheek to cheek. In another one, Maria was handing Christi a bouquet. And in the one Betsy said was her favorite because it looked almost like a wedding photo, Christi was wearing the prom queen's crown and sash and they were kissing each other on the mouth with their arms wrapped around each other.

"Being with Christi has really helped Maria's self-esteem. I mean, can you imagine spending most of your life thinking you were nothing special, and then finding out that the prettiest, most popular girl you know is crazy about you?"

I looked next to me at the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life, and I swear I could see little pink hearts in the pupils of Melissa's dazzling aquamarine eyes as she smiled and stared back at me. "I think I can relate," I said.

"Well, anyway," Betsy continued, "Karen was ashamed of her own lesbianism, and she couldn't take that her daughter was gay too, so she threw Christi out. And three days later, an explicit video of Karen and the housekeeper was mysteriously sent to all the local news outlets, which forced her to drop out of the race, so now our district is going to be represented by a Democrat for the first time in forty years."

"How did Christi get away with that?" Melissa asked.

"Who said it was Christi?"

"Who else could it have been?"

"All I'm saying is that whoever released the video was very good at covering their tracks. And I'll leave it at that."

"In case you haven't guessed," I said, "Betsy's a lawyer."

"Anyhow," Betsy continued, "when Christi's mom threw her out, she came to live with us. And it turns out that not only was she dating my daughter, but when Christi was little, my sister was her live-in nanny and her mom's secret lover. So it felt natural that she could call us family."

"What?!?!" Melissa's jaw hit the floor. "This is starting to sound like a soap opera!"

"Yeah. My sister told me about 7 years ago that she was getting out of a toxic relationship right at the same time she got fired as Christi's nanny, and she said she mostly stayed because her ex had a kid that she'd grown attached to. But I never put two and two together until the video was released.

"Anyhow, back to how I got together with Dave. Back in June, we had a graduation party for Maria and Christi. My sister Angela and her wife were there, and so were Kay and her boys."

"Your sister's name is Angela? My daughter's name is Angelina because she's my sweet angel!"

"Oh, wow! What a coincidence! Anyway, I was feeling sorry for myself because once the girls set off for college, I would be living all by myself. I hadn't had a date since my divorce, so I made a joke that since my sister was gay and my daughter was gay and my best friend was gay, maybe I should become gay too. Angela, Kay and Maria all laughed, but Christi got offended, and she told me that if sexuality was a choice, then her mom would have become straight, because being outed had ended her marriage, her political career, and access to the family trust fund. And Christi said that before she met Maria, she would have also chosen to be straight, because since coming out, she had lost her home and family and even some friends at school, including the guy she had pretended to date and one of her drill squad teammates—I think her name was Charlotte—who she had known since kindergarten. And I said, 'but there aren't any good, single guys out there.'"

I finished the rest of the story for her. "So, that's when I reminded her that the greatest guy that I've ever known was still single and I told her to give him a call because I wanted my two best friends to be happy together."

Dave told his part of the story. "At first it was kind of awkward, because I always thought of Betsy as my wife's friend, and she had always thought of me as her friend's husband. But the same things that attracted me to Kay eventually attracted me to Betsy as well and things are just as good between the two of us as they ever were between me and Kay. Honestly, it's even better because Betsy actually likes having sex with me."

Betsy put on an expression of false shock and gave him a playful slap and then everyone at the table laughed.

Betsy continued. "It's great having someone in my bed again, but I still miss having the girls at home. They're coming back for the holidays, but it's not the same as having them live with me. I miss everything about our time together as a family except for the noise they made at night when they were fucking each other's brains out." Betsy paused and shook her head. "I allowed it because they were both already eighteen when they started dating and they're so good for each other and I thought I would be cool with it. But I learned really quickly that no parent wants to listen to their baby having sex."

Melissa and I gave each other a knowing look and I'm sure my face was just about as red as hers. Then we both started sputtering and laughing. Betsy and Dave looked at us confused.

"Ha, ha . . . It's just that . . . that . . . hee-hee . . . when Melissa stays over at my place, we try to be quiet, but we usually have some really passionate sex. And the next morning we get death stares from the boys at the breakfast table because as William likes to say, 'Hearing your mom getting laid is enough to make anyone puke!' Of course, I lecture him about using that kind of disrespectful language. Especially in front of his brother."

Dave looked confused. "Funny. They never reacted to the two of us having sex."

"That's because we hardly ever had sex. I was in denial at the time, but I never liked sex with you because you have the wrong hardware. I only did just enough to conceive the boys and keep the marriage going. There was never any passion or pleasure in it. But with Melissa, there's lots of both."

We talked, laughed and drank for several more minutes until Melissa got up and said, "Excuse me. I need to powder my nose."

She left and I was alone with Betsy and Dave. "So what do you think?" I asked.

"Wow!" Dave said. "Just . . . wow! She's beautiful! I mean if I wasn't dating Betsy and if Melissa were into men . . ."

"She's bi, but she's dating me, not you. And you are dating Betsy, so watch it!" Betsy and I both glowered at him.

"Sorry. It's just that I wasn't expecting you to date someone like that."

"Like what?"

"You know . . . so glamorous. And feminine. And young. When you said you'd found someone, I was picturing a woman in her forties with short hair whose idea of formalwear is a polo shirt and new jeans instead of a wife-beater and ripped jeans."

I laughed. "Honestly, that's the sort of person I thought I'd end up with, too." Dave was aware that most of my previous girlfriends had been butch and closer to my age. "But we found each other and had an instant connection, and . . . well . . . the heart wants what it wants. I mean, we haven't said those three words to each other yet, but I think I'm in love with her. And the weird thing is I think she likes me more than I like her, if such a thing is possible."

Betsy spoke up. "I'm a bit concerned about the age difference. She's what? 23? 24? My God! You're old enough to be her mother!"

Melissa had finished with the restroom and had walked up behind Betsy just as she said that last part. "Wow! Really? I didn't know 7-year-olds could give birth."

Dave was shocked and Betsy was mortified. Betsy said, "I'm sorry. It's just that. . . that. . ."

Melissa continued giving her a stern look. "I'm 36. Kay's 43. How is that old enough to be my mother?"

At this point, Betsy was silent, red-faced and squirming in her chair. Melissa broke down laughing and said, "Relax! I'm just messing with you. I know I look young. I swear I need to start smoking or doing drugs or something else unhealthy to make me look my real age. But I really am tired of hearing about how I'm out of Kay's league because I'm richer than she is, or because I'm younger or that I'm sexier."

Dave said, "I'll have to disagree with you on that last one. When I met Kay, she was the sexiest woman I'd ever seen, and that remained true even after told me she was gay and we got divorced."

I was starting to feel uncomfortable about where Dave was taking this conversation. "Stop it, Dave! First off, your new girlfriend is sitting right next to you and she can hear everything. And second, I stopped being sexy when my first pregnancy started to show."

Now all three of my tablemates looked at me like I was crazy. Betsy said, "Kay, honey, I know that looks-wise we've sort of evened up, but I still remember when you were having to fight off guys and had your pick of women, while I still couldn't get anyone to notice me when the two of us were out together. And you haven't changed that much."

"Baby," Melissa said. "Remember that I started hitting on you as soon as I got in your van for the first time? Don't sell yourself short. Just because you have a few gray hairs and a pooch-belly from two pregnancies doesn't mean you're not super-hot."

"Oh, my God, Melissa. You should have seen her before those things happened. She looked like a damn movie star."

"Really?"

Dave pulled out his phone and swiped until he found our wedding picture. "Here. Judge for yourself." In the picture were the two of us in Vegas with an Elvis impersonator between us holding a Bible. It was on New Year's Eve as 2003 was just about to become 2004. We were both 28, so neither one of us had any gray in our hair, and Dave's was thick, brown-black, curly, grown long, and slicked back. Back then I didn't need glasses, and I routinely trimmed my eyebrows down to a thin line, which I stopped doing after William was born, so my face looked different then than it does now. I had my head turned toward the camera, but the rest of my body was facing away as I was already six months pregnant with William and I was trying to hide my baby bump.

"Oh, my God!" Melissa said. "I remember her." She turned towards me and said, "I remember you. From back then!"

"What are you talking about?"

"On my 21^st birthday. I was out at the club and this woman here," she pointed at the picture on Dave's phone, "was giving me the eye, even though she was dancing with a guy who I'm guessing was Dave. Dave went to the bathroom, and I tried hitting on you, but you turned me down because you thought I was a high schooler with a fake ID trying to get free drinks out of you. I've had fantasies about you for the last 15 years!"

Dave piped up, "I remember that night. I was convinced you were about to friend-zone me even though I was really into you, but you didn't seem to like me that way. Then when I got back from the bathroom, you said, 'Take me home. I almost let that underage blonde seduce me.' And that's the night we first made love. That's the night we made William!"

The memories started rushing back. "Oh, my God! That's the only time I've ever had an orgasm with a guy. Back then, I thought it meant I'd finally found love with a man. But of course, really, it was because I was having such erotic fantasies about that teenager."

Melissa cleared her throat. "I was 21, not a teenager. But this is so crazy. This means it's been twice that I tried to have a random hook-up with you and it led to something greater.

"But wait. Kay, you told me on our first night together that you didn't come out until after you turned 40. But Betsy said you were dating girls in college and you told Dave point blank on your first night together that you were lusting after me. How is that not out?"

"I didn't say I wasn't out before I was 40, I said I was pretending to not be exclusively gay. My first kiss was with a girl. My first serious relationship was with a girl. I lost my virginity at prom to a girl. I wasn't afraid of people knowing I liked women, I was afraid of being labeled. I wasn't about to fit some stereotype of an angry, man-hating, combat-boot-wearing woman with a bad haircut, too many visible tattoos and hairy armpits." Melissa winced at that last one. It would be months before I learned why. "So I refused to identify my sexuality and made it a point starting in my freshman year of college to also date men, even though I really didn't want to."

Suddenly, Betsy let out a big yawn that she must have been holding in for a long time. "I'm sorry. I've been having a great time, but I think I need to go home. Dave?"

"Sure, I'll take you home, honey. Will you ladies be okay by yourselves?"

Melissa was getting up and putting on her jacket while she said, "Actually, I was about to head home myself. I don't know if Kay told you or if you've seen the ads on TV, but I run a car dealership. We open at 7:00 tomorrow morning, so I have to be there early. But Kay, remember that we're having the company holiday party in the evening and you're my plus one. I'll pick you up then."

"Okay. Can I walk out with you?"

"Of course, baby. You never have to ask me something like that."

The four of us exited the bar together. Dave escorted Betsy to his car, while Melissa and I said our goodbyes. "Good night, Sunflower," I said.

Melissa gave me the lopsided smirk and arched eyebrow that by now I'd learned meant she was aroused. "Honey, you know I can't resist it when you call me that. You're making me want to follow you home, and you know I can't do that tonight. Tomorrow, though."

"Tomorrow."

We embraced each other and gave each other several little goodbye pecks before we went to our separate cars and drove to our separate homes.