The Swim Team Ch. 08

"Yes, Daddy. I'm just upset. That's all. Can we talk about this when you get home from work tomorrow? It's getting late." I looked at the phone and realized it was after midnight already.

"Sure sweetie. I'll see you tomorrow." I closed the call and didn't correct her about work. I still hadn't told her I retired. I never had the chance, what with everything that's happened. "She's spending the night there," I told Kelly as I handed the phone back to Linda. "Austin isn't there, so whoever's in the web show with her, it's not Brenda."

"Well, you have to feel better about that much at least."

"I don't know. Look, it's getting late..."

"We're staying here," Kelly announced, and Linda's face lit up.

"Really?" Linda smiled as she looked at me.

"Kelly, that's really not necessary."

"Nonsense. You're distraught and I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone. Besides, it's more than a half-hour to my house and Linda needs her sleep, so she can sleep here. I know she still has plenty of outfits here."

"I do."

"It's settled then. Linda will sleep in Brenda's room, and I will take the couch."

"No," I said as I stood up. Fighting about it would just make matters worse. And besides, having Linda back under my roof made me feel better. "I'll take the couch. You can sleep in my bed."

I slept surprisingly well on the couch after I made it up. The entire day played out in my mind as I tried to drift off, and eventually, I relented to sleep. A noise, however, drew me out of my slumber sometime in the early morning, long before I wanted to be awake. Anytime I sleep anywhere other than my bed, I am cued into house noises and anything unusual wakes me. I glanced at the clock and realized I had only been asleep for an hour.

I lay still for a while trying to discern the noise, but I couldn't detect anything. Eventually, with my ears straining, I heard a hinge squeaking. Someone was moving around in the house. Well, I did have two house guests, so I dismissed it, but I couldn't drift back off. A pressing urge told me that, since I was awake, I might as well relieve some pressure on my bladder. I rolled off the couch and made my way to the hallway, but I stopped when I saw Linda at my doorway peering into my room. She was wearing my Def Leppard shirt again, and I figured I might not ever get that shirt back. It only covered half of her ample ass, and since I could clearly see her muscular cheeks, either she was wearing a t-back or nothing. She was so focused on what she was watching in my room that she didn't hear me come up behind her. My curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know what she was doing there. Inside my room was mostly dark, but the bed was illuminated by the glow from my computer monitor. The monitor was actually a 36-inch HDTV, so it provided a good amount of light.

There, on my bed, Kelly was laying atop the covers, her eyes focused on the computer screen, and her fingers disappearing into the open gash between her widespread thighs. It had been more than eighteen years since I had seen Kelly naked, let alone in a sexual situation, but she still looked good. She was naked as a newborn, her breasts rising and falling with her breathing. Her nipples were darker than I remembered, and larger as well, the areole was almost as big as a silver dollar, and her nipples perched atop them like gumdrops.. Her belly was still firm, and while she wasn't the pinnacle of fitness she may have been the last time I saw her naked, she was still hot. I could hear the squelching of her fingers plying in and out of her slit as she rubbed herself.

On the computer screen was Austin's site. Evidently, Kelly clicked on the link. The window was open to Austin's private room, and there was Austin wearing a Marti Gras mask playing with huge swaying breasts that could only be Bethany's. Tina was there as well, pushing a strap-on dildo into Austin from behind while Karen watched and jacked off her enormous clit like it was a small cock. They all wore masks or wigs, but I recognized their bodies easily enough, which is probably why Austin disabled my account. The numbers on the token counter were changing like a gas pump filling a big rig tank, and the chat window was scrolling so many messages it looked like the end credits to a blockbuster movie. She had to have hundreds of views, if not more, since the show had been going on for quite a while.

I stood there behind Linda, both of us watching her mother masturbate. I could almost smell her arousal, but then I realized, I wasn't smelling that far. Linda's breathing was labored as she watched, and her arms were in front of her, her hand busy doing something I couldn't see from my angle. Never, in a million years, would I have expected to find myself in that situation. I didn't know what to do. Should I send Linda to bed? Should I close the door? Either of those options would probably mortify both women. I felt I was in a no-win scenario.

In the end, I just backed up to the living room and resumed my position on the couch, my urge to pee having vanished. Watching Kelly had an effect on my cock, but with everything else that happened today, I was not in the mood to do anything about it. As sleep was just about to take me, I heard one of the two of them moan, but I had no idea which.

#

I woke the next morning to the aroma of coffee wafting out of my kitchen. I found Linda adding sugar to a cup of the brown lifeblood. "Good morning," I said as I walked up behind her. "I thought you didn't like coffee."

"I don't but you and mom do, so I thought I'd make you some. It's no big deal. How difficult is it to plug a cup in and push a button?" She smiled that 1000-Watt smile at me, and my heart jumped. "But I have to run to get to school on time. I'm catching the bus this morning, and I'll ride back with Brenda."

"Okay. Have a good day at school, sweetie." I moved to kiss her cheek, but she turned, and I caught the corner of her mouth. The feeling of the edge of her lips on mine was electric.

"Oh..." I said pulling back. "Sorry."

"No problem." She pulled my face down and kissed me fully on the lips before giving me a hug.

"Bye," she said as she grabbed her books and headed for the door. I was left touching my lips with my fingers as the warmth of her kiss lingered.

I shook my head to clear it, picked up both cups, and went back to my room. The door was still open, and Kelly was still in bed, but now she was wearing my Asia concert tee and was under the covers. She managed to turn the monitor off when she finished playing last night. I set her cup down on the nightstand and took a sip of mine as I sat on the edge of the bed. She turned with a groan and peeked at me through one half-open eye.

"God. Is it morning already?" She stretched her arms to her sides, and I couldn't help but notice the shirt stretch across her breasts, her nipples clearly discernable.

"Indeed, it is, sleepy head. Time to rise and shine. Your daughter made you coffee."

"Well, there you go," she said with a grunt as she forced herself to a seated position, "missing a golden opportunity."

"What?"

"You could have told me you made it for me and impressed me."

"Why would I lie to impress you, Kelly?"

She looked at me like I was the village idiot for a moment before sipping her coffee. "That's the million-dollar question," she said after a moment. "Why does any man lie to impress a woman?" She cast her eyes at me under an arched eyebrow. "Did you sleep well on the couch?"

"Surprisingly so. I don't know that I've ever spent the entire night on that sofa. I never knew it was that comfortable."

"God!" She threw her head back and sent her eyes in orbit around her. "You are so clueless sometimes! I wasn't asking you if the couch was comfortable, Barry."

"You weren't?"

"Did it ever occur to you to maybe, I dunno, try to sleep in your bed?"

I blinked.

"With me?"

I blinked again.

"Together?"

"Kelly, you...I...but....Linda..."

"Barry, Linda was in bed herself. You could have come to bed. With me."

"No, Kelly, I couldn't."

"Why not? Because of Carrie? She's dead, Barry. She wouldn't mind."

"Maybe. Maybe not. But Dennis is not dead, and you two are still married. And he is still my friend. I couldn't do that to him."

"I doubt he'd care," she harrumphed. "Remember, he used to get off on me being with other people."

"Yeah, but that was when you played together. He tells me you two haven't had sex in ages. He might take exception to your sleeping with me," I said. Then a thought struck me. "Besides, I thought sex outside of marriage was a sin. What happened to that?"

Kelly shrugged. "We can talk about that in a minute. My point is you probably didn't even think about it. You are too wrapped up in your memories of Carrie to even appreciate what you have right under your nose. Did it even occur to you," she paused and cast a long glance at my crotch, "or can't you even function that way anymore?"

That stung, and I didn't like the turn this conversation was taking. "Kelly, I'm not impotent. I have had sex in the past six years, you know."

"I'm not talking about just sex, Barry. I'm talking about being with someone you really care about. Someone with a deeper connection than just physical."

As she said that, I couldn't help myself. Only one face popped into my mind. The same face I'd been thinking about so often lately. It wasn't Kelly's face.

"Barry," she continued when I didn't answer her, "did you enjoy that party Saturday night?"

"I had a blast."

"Did you, really? Was it really satisfying on a deeper level? Think back to the sex you had with Carrie. Was it even close?"

I opened my mouth to immediately rebut her assertion, but no words would come out. Sex with Austin and Diane was fantastic. They both did things to me that I'd never felt before, but if I was being honest with myself, at the end of the day, I wasn't as fulfilled as I had always been each and every time with Carrie.

"Those girls showed me things that I never experienced before," I offered in a lame attempt to disprove Kelly's claim.

"I'm sure," she said with a smirk. "From what I've heard, Diane is a professional. But did it satisfy you the way sex with Carrie did?"

My silence answered for me again.

"Barry, you need to find someone to share your life. You're too young to be alone for the rest of your life, or just hooking up with random women. Besides, what are you going to do with yourself after Brenda leaves for college next year?"

"Kelly," it was taking great effort to keep my voice level as rage turned from a simmer to a boil, "I don't understand why you're so concerned about this. Carrie's been gone for more than six years, but now you're worried about my sex life?"

Kelly's eyes watered and her chin tightened. "Because I know how it feels to deny yourself passion." Her voice broke and she cleared her throat. "I haven't allowed myself to feel anything for a long time and it," a tear broke free and made its escape only to be wiped away by her hand, "uh, it cost me my marriage."

My anger vanished in that moment. Kelly had never bared herself to me like this before. As she sat in my bed, wearing nothing but a long t-shirt, sniffling and wiping the tears from her eyes, she was so vulnerable, like she would fall into a million pieces if I said the wrong word. I kept my mouth shut.

"I went to talk to my pastor after you left my house last week, but he was in the hospital. The youth pastor and I had a long talk." I handed her a tissue and she dabbed her eyes. "I have been so foolish thinking God was punishing me for my past. Pastor Mark showed me that I don't have to worry about my past. I had a difficult weekend reliving my mistakes. I know I can't go back to the way I was in school, but I can't keep living like a nun. I have to find a happy medium. Even if I have no future with Dennis, I can't live like I was."

"You should tell Dennis."

She laughed a sad chuckle as she waved the tissue. "If he answered my call, I would."

I reached over and grabbed my cell from the nightstand and tapped a few icons. "Dennis? Hey, I need you to come by my house as soon as you can get here. It's urgent. No, I'm not bleeding to death. I just need your help with something that can't wait. You'll see when you get here. Stop asking me questions and get over here. Right. See you in a few." I closed the phone and caught Kelly's disbelieving eyes staring at me, her jaw slack. "The ball's in your court. If I were you, I'd clean up and get in that outfit you wore last night. I definitely noticed you in that skirt, by the way."

Kelly blushed as she smiled. "You should have seen me later, then. After you went to sleep."

"You mean when you were moaning?" I waggled my eyebrows.

Her eyes popped. "You saw?"

"Well," I shrugged, "you're not that quiet when you get excited, Kelly." I still didn't know whose moan I heard last night, hers or Linda's, so I took a gamble.

Her blush deepened. "I guess not."

"Thinking about anything in particular?" I asked as a harmless flirt, not anticipating the reaction I got. Sometimes I ask a question not wanting the answer I get. This was one of those times. She looked hard at me, the smile fading. "I watched the girls on Austin's site, and it made me think about the night I conceived Linda."

I blinked. "Oh. I see. I was kind of hoping maybe you were thinking about me."

"Well, I was, too. You and Carrie and Dennis and me. At your housewarming party. With your friend, Freddy."

"I don't understand." That sinking feeling was returning.

"Carrie had set up Freddy with that woman from your office."

"Sybil."

"Right. Well, they didn't click, so Dennis and I took pity on him and tried to make him feel included, you know. Turns out he was funny, and considerate, and he knew just what to say to make me want him. Dennis and I had not played with anyone since Carrie ran off, and I had an itch. Dennis was the one that suggested we have a little fun, so he told me to give Freddy a tour of the house. I guess he knew it was a ruse, because when he got me alone in the spare bedroom, he had me up against the wall and his face in my neck before I knew what was happening.

"His lips on my skin lit a fire I hadn't felt in a while. Maybe it was because he was not Dennis, maybe it was because I hadn't played with anyone else in such a long time. I don't know, but I was so ready for him that when his fingers slipped under my dress and into me, I nearly came right then. He caught me when my legs almost gave out and he picked me up and put me on the bed, his lips never leaving my skin. Man, was he a good kisser. Dennis came into the room and sat in the seat in the corner, just content to watch me.

"Anyway, before I knew it, Freddy had my dress up over my waist and he was licking my little puss like he was born to do it. He made his tongue do things that I wish Dennis knew how to do. I came so quickly, and I guess I got loud, because Carrie opened the door. Barry, I know you don't want to hear this part, but once she saw what was going on, she looked like she wanted to join us. I know the look she gets when she's turned on, and she was turned on watching me and Freddy, with Dennis sitting naked in the corner jerking his cock.

"'Sorry,' she said after she swallowed loud. 'I thought you hurt yourself.'

"Freddy started to get up, but I grabbed his head and pulled him back to my pussy. 'Don't you dare stop,' I said. 'She won't mind, would you Carrie?'

"'No. Knock yourself out. Dennis, why don't you help him out. You know how Kelly gets. She's going to want both of you.'

"And Dennis got up and joined us on the bed, feeding me his cock while Freddy ate me to another quick orgasm. After I came down from that one, I got up to get his cock out. Carrie had taken the chair Dennis left, just watching us. We shared a smile, just like old times.

"I knew we didn't have a lot of time, so I focused on Freddy, trying my best to fuck his cock off while sucking on Dennis. After a while, I looked over and Carrie was naked and playing with her puss, trying her best to get off. I returned my attention to the men. Barry, it was so hot, and I hadn't felt that alive since college.

"The next thing I knew, Dennis was inside me and fucking me harder than he'd ever done it. When he grunted his seed into me, I came again. After I caught my breath, I saw Carrie leaving the room. Freddy was next to the chair pulling his pants up. I cleaned up and left Dennis to clean the room. That's when I bumped into you in the hallway."

I remembered that night. I remember Carrie coming out of the house right before Freddy. I remember her dress was on inside out. That would explain it. My breath left my lungs and no amount of breathing seemed to draw it back in. Only one thought was bouncing around my brain as I struggled to catch my breath.

"Did she fuck Freddy?" I finally drew a deep breath. "Did Carrie fuck him?" The anger tinged my words and Carrie recoiled.

"I...I...I don't know. I don't think so."

"Did she fuck Dennis?"

"No!" She didn't pause to think about that. "I had Dennis with me on the bed the whole time."

"But while Dennis was fucking you, Freddy could have been fucking my wife, couldn't he?"

She looked at me, her eyes mirroring the pain in my heart. "I don't know, Barry."

I felt I might throw up, so I downed the rest of my coffee as I stood up. I loved Kelly and Dennis like family, but they seemed hell bent on ruining my memory of Carrie. I paced to the door and back. Kelly just sat on the bed; the covers still pulled up to her waist. "You said the night Linda was conceived. Are you saying that Freddy is Linda's father?"

"No," she said without hesitation. "Dennis is her father, but Freddy impregnated me. When Linda got sick five years ago, the doctor told me that Dennis' blood was not a genetic match for her, so it had to be Freddy."

"And Carrie might have gotten pregnant that night, too," I said as I did the math in my head.

Kelly looked stricken, like the thought had never occurred to her. "Maybe not. I mean Linda is two weeks older than Brenda. You could have gotten Carrie pregnant anytime in that two weeks."

"Maybe," I breathed. My world was tilting. "Maybe not. I guess I'll never know."

"If you have doubts, you can have her DNA tested."

"No!" I surprised myself at the force I used with that word. "I don't need to. Brenda is my baby. Now and forever." I fought to keep my world from spinning again. "Carrie did not have sex with Freddy that day, and she didn't have sex with anyone else either. She was faithful to me. She loved me." I was yelling at myself more than Kelly. I was mad that I could ever doubt her. I started blubbering.

Kelly came over to me and put her arms around me. She was only a few inches taller than Linda, but not as tall as Brenda. I let her hold me. "She loved you, Barry. Never doubt that. I'm sorry if I made you question that."

"No one could make me doubt Carrie. No one but me. She deserved so much more than me." I couldn't help the tears erupting like water from a fissure in a damn. I dropped to my knees and Kelly followed me to the floor. "Now I've failed her twice!"

"Barry stop it. You and Carrie belonged together. You know that and she knew that. She loved you every minute she knew you right up until the day she died. Even after. I'm sure of it."

We sat in silence for a while. "You never did this when Carrie died did you? You never cried over her?"

"I couldn't. I had to be there for Brenda. She'd just lost her mother. She needed me to be strong."

"And you'd just lost your wife. The first woman you ever loved. You need to mourn that loss."

And I did. Kelly held me as I cried.

#

It was the summer of 2012, and the sun was beating down and drawing beads of sweat that took turns burning my eyes as I watched Brenda and Linda play in the pool. We had all weathered Linda's mysterious medical scare, and life was slowly returning to some semblance of normal. I did my best to relax into the chaise under the shade of the umbrella but there was no respite from the heat. Eleven-year-olds don't seem to appreciate how hot a dog day in August was as they took turns dunking each other in the shallow end. Dennis and Kelly were neck-deep in the other end of the pool sensibly staying cool, or at least cooler. It was Linda's birthday, and the first time we had a pool day since Linda got out of the hospital. Kelly had become withdrawn after the scare, which I figured was normal for a mother in fear of losing her child. As far as I know, the doctors were at a loss to understand what had happened, but evidently the treatments worked, because little Linda was just as playful and vibrant as ever. I heard the patio door open and said a silent prayer of thanks as Carrie handed me a cold beer before sliding into the chaise next to me. I took a long pull from my long-neck bottle and cast a side glance as my beautiful wife of twelve years settled into her seat. Then she shivered.