Short Fuse
© 1992/2016 by K Pelle
Chapter 9
Arlene reached out and patted my knee and laughed.
"You needn't look so worried. I'm sure Noreen will like you and I think you'll like her just as much."
"Did I hear someone mention my name?" I heard a sultry voice coming from close behind me.
I turned my head, then I stared at what almost seemed to be an apparition. It was another version of Arlene, slightly taller, slightly thinner and wearing a bright green sun dress, but little else. She certainly wasn't wearing a bra and somehow I doubted if she was wearing anything under that dress, since there was no visual evidence of a pantyline.
"Dave, meet my sister, Noreen. Noreen, this is Dave," Arlene chuckled.
"Hi Dave, I'm glad to meet you," The apparition said in a tone that was so sexy it would have melted steel.
She held out her hand and I automatically lifted mine to take hers.
"Unh, Hi," I managed to mumble. "Are you two twins?"
"Unh oh, you just got yourself into trouble," Arlene chuckled. "Noreen is two years younger than I am and weighs several pounds less, even if she is an inch taller than I am."
"I'll forgive him this time, he's had a couple of rough days and he's been drinking," Noreen smiled. "Which brings to mind the fact that a man with a concussion shouldn't drink alcohol, dear sister, or so I was told."
"After what he's been through today, he needed a glass of wine," Arlene said sharply, then sighed. "Sorry if I sound a bit sharp, but today has gotten to me as well."
"I think I may have missed something," Noreen said quietly. "Maybe I should go talk to Mom and get an update."
"Oh just sit down," I said quietly. "Arlene and I have been avoiding the happenings of the day in our conversation, but that won't make them go away. The woman who clouted my head and gave me the concussion was my wife. She was found dead this morning, along with her mother, so amongst other things today, I had to go down to the morgue to identify their bodies. After that I had to go back to my house and talk to an insurance agent, because before she ran off, my wife tried to burn down the house."
"What with all the other crap that went on today, it's been a bit rough on him. I've been trying to protect him and failing miserably," Arlene added.
"Oh shit," Noreen looked upset. "To think I was going to make a smart crack about the bandage."
"Like the fact that I was carrying around the advertisement that my wife wanted a divorce?" I snapped. "Don't worry. I'd already thought of that."
"Perhaps both of you need to finish that glass of wine," Noreen said quietly. "If you want me, I'll be inside. I really do think I need to talk to Mother and Cindy."
By the time I'd decided I should apologize for being so touchy, she had already gone inside. Arlene must have seen that I was upset, her hand reached out and patted my leg gently.
"It's okay. Noreen will forgive you for being so easily upset," she whispered. "She knows that you're stressed out."
I reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "I know, but that doesn't mean I should act like an S.O.B. toward her."
"You were just reacting to the stress in your life," Arlene sighed. "I can forgive that too. Hell, even I reacted and I'm just being sympathetic to what you're going through."
I just sighed, leaning back and letting her hand slip from mine.
"I think you could have another glass of wine," she said quietly. "Or would you rather wait until we're eating?"
"Since I don't usually drink much, I think I'll wait," I sounded abrupt even to myself.
Arlene caught that and reading my mood, she sat quietly without responding in any way. Strangely, I appreciated that more than any of her earlier expressions of sympathy. We simply sat side by side for several minutes, each silently lost in thought.
"Dinner time," Noreen said quietly from behind us. "And Dave, I do apologize for . . ."
"Hey wait a minute," I interrupted. "I've been sitting here thinking of how I was going to tell you I was sorry for being such a grouch."
"You had a reason, while I was being a smart ass."
"No, I didn't have a reason, instead I had an excuse," I sighed. "There isn't a reason for being bitchy about someone else's lack of knowledge."
I turned to look at her more directly as I stood and suddenly realized that she was no longer wearing the sun dress that she'd had on before. Now she was nude and for some reason I felt that I had to acknowledge the fact that I thought she looked good. I paused for a second and then smiled.
"Okay, with you both dressed like that, I could tell you and Arlene apart, even at a distance."
She stared at me for a second, then to my surprise, she blushed and turned quickly to go inside again.
"Well, that's quite the reaction for her," Arlene commented.
"Nice butt though," I grinned at her. "Darn near as nice as yours."
She opened her mouth to comment, then spluttered something before breaking into laughter and almost running as she dashed inside. I followed more slowly and was surprised to be met by Noreen just inside the sliding doors. She was standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at me.
"What's this about my butt being 'almost as nice' as Arlene's? What makes her ass so nice?" she asked in an obviously faked fierce tone.
I just grinned and shrugged my shoulders, lifting both hands palm up and just above elbow height.
"Don't worry about it. It's just a preference on my part," I said in a stage whisper. "I'm sure yours will be just as nice one day. Besides, there's probably some guy out there who would say the opposite and prefer the looks of your butt over hers."
Arlene chortled loudly and that drew the attention of her mother and the two girls who all wanted to know what was so funny. Suddenly I realized I was in the room with three nude women and two topless teenaged girls. I couldn't help looking at each one briefly.
Noreen did look a lot like Arlene, but her breasts were just a tad smaller, her nipples a bit less prominent, her hips a tad narrower and she might have been taller than Arlene. Indeed, she might have been all of five-foot-three-inches tall. Then too, in all honesty, I don't know if I preferred her butt or Arlene's, both of them were wonderful examples of delightful tushes which were part of very sexy figures.
Meanwhile Mrs. Banks' figure was a surprise. Her body was actually extremely well preserved for a woman that I thought had to be nearly fifty years old. She was rounder and fuller than either of her daughters, but her breasts showed only a minor droop for being as full as they were and her tummy showed hardly any paunch. In truth, she was an extremely attractive woman for someone her age.
Both Cindy and Shannon wore panties, but their young developing bodies were a wonderful sight and I had a hard time only glancing at them. They knew that I was seeing them for the first time and although they were both smiling, I could almost feel the tension in their stances. Both of their bosoms were topped by rock hard nipples and they both seemed to move stiffly, as if they wanted to be seen at their absolute best. Everyone in the room seemed to tense as my glance passed over them.
It felt extremely strange to be in a room where so much female flesh was on display. For a moment it felt like a compensation for my years spent with a woman who had hidden her body and her intentions. I'll admit, it was a really strange sensation, but even more strange was the fact that my body wasn't reacting to their nudity. As I briefly pondered that, I realized that the room's mood had changed rapidly, even in the few seconds since my comment to Noreen.
Both Cindy and Shannon were giggling loudly and even Mrs. Banks was grinning broadly as Noreen spluttered, somewhere between annoyance and laughter. The laughter won. Because of the laughter, I was able to fake a calmness about the nudity around me that I certainly didn't feel while we moved to seat ourselves at the table.
One major thing that helped me feel slightly more comfortable was that while Mrs. Banks sat at one end of the table and Arlene at the other, Noreen and Cindy sat across from Shannon and me. I'm not sure how I would have survived the meal if every time I lifted my eyes from my plate I'd have been looking at my daughter's immature breasts. As it was, I spent a lot of time talking directly to either Arlene or Mrs. Banks. However Mrs. Banks was soon insisting that I call her Emily.
By the end of the meal, I found that Emily was only in her mid-forties. That surprised me, until she admitted that Arlene wasn't the only woman in the family who had born a child early in her life. She had been married at sixteen and Arlene had been born within days of her seventeenth birthday, which explained a lot about how 'well preserved' her body was. But, over and above that, she explained to me that she had always been a self proclaimed 'health nut' who insisted that she and all of her family eat well and exercise daily. To be honest, she had a better body than my wife had ever had and Claire had been much younger.
That thought snapped me back to reality and to the fact that I was a newly widowed man. For a few minutes I was exceptionally quiet as my mind again ran over the facts of who I was and why I was sitting there at that time. I must have been thinking deeply because it took Shannon resting her hand on my arm and shaking it gently to bring me back to paying attention to what was going on around me.
"Daddy, Ms. Banks was asking if you'd like to have a tea out on the back deck with her, Mrs. Banks and Noreen while Cindy and I clean up?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized. "I was just thinking and I suppose I lost myself in thought."
"So, do you want a cup of tea?" Arlene smiled as if she understood. "We need to move away from the table in order for the girls to be able to clean up and we thought the back deck would be nice."
I looked at her and it seemed that I was numb; I really didn't know what to do or what to say. Instead of answering her, I believe I simply got up and walked outside. I do remember Emily walking around the garden with me and talking about her flowers. I recall that we were discussing her roses, then I must have faded into the morass of thoughts about my life.
I came back to myself quite a while later. I was holding an almost empty mug of tea in my hand and I was sitting between Arlene and Noreen. I was even in the same seat that I'd sat in before we went inside to eat. I don't remember sitting down and I don't remember if we talked or not. It was as if a period of time had been chopped out of my life.
What awakened me was Noreen getting to her feet.
"Well, I should go," she was saying. "I'm sorry Dave is under the weather so badly, but . . ."
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I guess I haven't been very good company."
"Jeez, I didn't think you were even awake," Noreen said in surprise.
"Oh, I wasn't sleeping. I'm afraid I have a lot on my mind and for a few moments I couldn't seem to concentrate on what was going on around me."
"We decided that was the case quite a while ago," Arlene interjected. "I was thinking that perhaps it's time for the girls to go to bed anyway. Maybe we should all go inside?"
"Unh, okay I guess," I said standing slowly and looking around. "Did your Mom go inside already?"
"Over an hour ago," Noreen said as she looked at me strangely.
Even Arlene frowned.
"Oh my! I am sorry," I said quietly shaking my head. "I guess I'm suffering from a sensory overload."
"Well, you have sounded a bit distant," Arlene sighed.
"To be honest, this is the first conversation I really remember having since we came outside. I just can't seem to get a handle on . . ." I let my voice trail off.
"That's okay Dave," Noreen said, surprising me with a light one-armed hug. "I'm not sure how you can keep it together as well as you have."
As we'd been talking, we'd been standing upright, then moving toward the house. When we went inside, Shannon and Cindy were sitting on the floor in front of the couch and Shannon was crying. At that moment, nothing else mattered to me. I walked over there and sat down, wrapping Shannon in my arms.
"Easy Baby, I'm here," I said quietly.
"She just started to cry a minute ago," Cindy explained as Shannon pressed against my chest and sobbed heavily. "We were talking about going back to school and . . ."
"It's okay Cindy," I said quietly. "I don't think Shannon should go to school for a few days. In fact perhaps she and I should go stay with her aunt to get out of your family's hair."
"Oh Daddy . . . No, please . . . Can't we stay here?" Shannon protested between her sobs.
"Before you start to protest I want you to know that you are not being a problem in any way," Arlene said firmly, sinking down at my side. "Damn it Dave, I care about you two."
Then her arms were stretching around me and around Shannon. Shannon seemed to respond to her touch and I felt her shift into my lap, snuggling against me and yet against Arlene too. For a few minutes, I simply concentrated on Shannon, trying my best to comfort her.
I'm not sure if my mind went into that blank space I'd been in before or if I dozed off. I do know it was Arlene who brought me back to consciousness.
"Dave . . . Dave," she was whispering in my ear.
"Mmm, what'sa matter?" I managed to mumble.
"It's late, I think it's time everyone went to bed," she whispered again.
"Mmm, I guess so," I muttered and came a bit more wide awake.
That's when I realized I was in the midst of a pile of flesh. Arlene was on one side of me and Noreen on the other with Shannon in my lap and Cindy in Arlene's. All of us had our arms around each other.
"Holy cow!" I whispered.
"Yeah," Noreen sighed, then Arlene stretched slowly.
"I think my leg is asleep," Arlene whispered. "Do you think we can get the girls to bed without waking them?"
"I'll help," Noreen said softly as she began to move.
It took a few minutes, but we got both of the girls into the lower bunk in Cindy's room and as we laid them down, they slipped into a mutual hug even before we could cover them with blankets.
"Would you mind if I slept on the couch?" Noreen whispered to Arlene. "I think I'm too wiped out to drive tonight,"
"Of course you can, I can make up the couch or you can just slip into the top bunk here."
"Well, where will you sleep?"
"In my bed, with Dave," Arlene said quietly, grasping my hand and pulling me toward the door. "Right now, I'm not letting him sleep alone."
"Oh," Noreen whispered in a strange tone.
"G'nite," she said a second later.
Both Arlene and I wished her goodnight as Arlene pulled me insistently toward her bedroom,
"You need rest," she murmured, almost shoving me into the bathroom. "Go get ready and then come to bed."
I didn't have the energy to argue; in fact, I wasn't sure I wanted to. I brushed my teeth and washed, then returned to her bedroom feeling exhausted, yet wide awake.
As I walked into her bedroom, Noreen was sitting on the edge of the bed and Arlene was laying partially under the covers, her upper body bare. I interrupted a question that Noreen was asking.
". . . well, what can I do to help?" she was saying quietly.
"If you're talking about Shannon and me, I don't think there's much anyone can do to help. We're going to have to sort through this mess on our own," I answered, surprising her and making her jump.
"Dammit Dave, you keep scaring me," Noreen grumbled as she got to her feet. "You walk too damn quietly for a big man. You keep catching me unaware."
"Oh sit down," I growled back softly. "I'm sorry I scared you and I certainly didn't mean to break up your conversation with Arlene."
I moved around the bed and slipped in the other side, laying there for a second and watching as Noreen dithered with the idea of leaving.
"I don't think either of us is going to sleep right away Noreen," Arlene said quietly, then turned to me. "You don't mind if she stays for a few minutes do you?"
"Unh uh," I shook my head, then I looked at her directly. "Look, I guess this is a stupid question, but do you mind if I slip off my shorts? It's just that I'm more comfortable in bed and sleep better when I'm nude."
"Asshole," Arlene laughed softly, slapping my arm.
"Arlene!" Noreen protested.
"Well, he is being an asshole," Arlene laughed softly. "You've been naked all evening, so has everyone else, but he's been wearing those stupid shorts. Now he's even under the blankets. I've never seen anyone so damn skin shy."
"It's not that I'm skin shy," I protested. "It's just that I've found I make others feel more or less uncomfortable when I'm nude."
"Oh come on," Noreen said sharply, then she looked at me with a frown. "Actually you've got me curious as to why?"
Something in me snapped. I was suddenly annoyed at her and at the whole situation. I practically leaped out of bed and whipped off my shorts, tossing them into the corner. Now totally nude, I faced the two of them, feeling my erection grow as I stood there. As I watched their faces, I saw the surprise in their eyes. Then my attention was drawn to Arlene's mouth, she looked at me and smiled an almost feral grin.
"That . . . is not something you should hide," she whispered, then she licked her lips.
"Wow!" Noreen sighed softly.
Now I was embarrassed. I slipped under the covers quickly and looked at Arlene, then at Noreen.
"Damn it," I growled. "I'm not that big."
"Bigger than anyone I've ever seen," Noreen giggled.
Arlene didn't say a word for a moment, she just bit her lip and her hand reached out to grasp mine under the covers. Then she rolled slightly to face me.
"Am I interrupting?" Noreen asked.
"No!" I said firmly, suddenly feeling that Arlene was almost predatory.
"He's afraid I'm going to rape him," Arlene giggled. "He knows I want to have sex with him and that I think sex might be what he needs."
"She's right," I said quietly, admitting my feelings. "I actually feel unsafe and yet . . ."
"And you think my being here makes you safer?" Noreen squeaked. "Boy, are you ever a poor judge of character."
I looked at her then and I was astounded. Her whole upper body was flushed and her nipples had grown and tightened until the skin on them was so tight that they literally shone. Her eyes were the strangest thing, it seemed as if they were boring into mine and the pupils seemed huge. I switched my glance to Arlene and she seemed to have the same look in her eyes. It actually excited me even more than I had been and I found I couldn't even speak.
Suddenly I was thoroughly confused. I sat up slowly and sighed deeply.
"Please, can we just talk?" I whispered. "Right now you two have me feeling like a hunk of meat on display in a butcher shop."
To my surprise, the two of them looked at each other and blushed, then looked at me again.
"I am sorry," Arlene said quietly. "Both of us should be ashamed of that. It's usually the two of us who are looked at that way by the men around us."
"Unh huh, I'm sorry too. I think it's just that I've been wondering all evening what you had for a 'package,'" Noreen sounded truly embarrassed. "It's stupid, but it was almost like you were teasing me."
"That's right," Arlene agreed. " I think perhaps . . ."
"Dammit, could you talk about something else," I snapped.
Then I had to go somewhere else. I just wanted to be away from both of them, as well as away from the bedroom. I slid my feet out of bed, stood and walked out. Before I'd even slowed down, I was out in the back yard, standing completely naked in the middle of the lawn.
That's when I noticed that the full moon was shining in the sky above the roof of a neighbour's house. I found myself staring at that round, dead face, wondering if there was any truth in the tale of people acting strangely during a full moon and questioning if that theory might be a viable reason for the strange happenings in my life. Rational thought soon discouraged that superstition, but it did remind me of the beliefs of past societies as I tried to recall where that superstition had arisen, but no matter where my mind wandered, the solution alluded me. Strangely I came to the conclusion that tracing back superstitions might be a worthwhile venture and might well be worth my time. In fact I decided that it might be worth enough study to develop into another book, one that just might sell well and at the same time be another rung on my 'publish or perish' ladder at the University. It was definitely an idea worth consideration even though I knew it was a subject that had been covered previously. The question was could I do a better job than previous writers had done? Over and above that could I create a story which would interest the common man and still be informative enough to be worthy of inclusion as a reference work? That would be quite a challenge.
I don't know how long I stood there before I sensed someone near me and suddenly I was back in the muddle that my life had become, but somehow that brief interlude had given me a stronger grip on reality.
"Dave, we're sorry, really we are. We'll talk about anything you want. Just tell us what you want to talk about?" Arlene whispered and I could hear a shiver in her voice.
I turned and found that both of them were standing there, only inches from each other but about ten feet away from me. Both of them were holding their arms tightly around their chests and both of them were shivering in the cool air. In the bright moonlight, they were stunningly beautiful as well as astoundingly arousing.
Right at that moment I knew that if there had been only one of them standing there, either one of them, I would have allowed the rush of sudden lust that I felt trying to take over my body succeed. Whichever pair of us had been there would have been physically intimate. As it was, I hesitated and that hesitation was enough that a more sane and less aroused segment of my brain had a chance to express a somewhat rational thought. That portion of my brain realised that it was not the time for me to be involved with either of them. I managed a ragged breath and stepped toward them.
"We need to get inside," I said quietly. "Then we can talk."
"All of us?" Noreen implored.
"Yes!" Arlene and I both answered instantly.
Arlene grabbed my hand and I grabbed Noreen's. We followed as Arlene led us back inside and back to the bedroom.
"Dave, we talked and we agreed, cuddles but no sex. Okay?"
"Unh, you mean in bed?"
"Yes, damn it! In bed," she snorted. "If both of us are in bed, you're relatively safe from either one of us."
"And since when did safety in numbers matter?" I sighed, but I rolled into bed and at her insistence I moved to the middle and lay on my back.
"No touching anyone below the waist with your hands," Arlene ordered and grinned at me as she slid in on one side.
"And no kissing," Noreen added as she slid in on the other side.
I did manage to get my arms out and underneath them before they lay down, that way I could hold them both. Holding an arm around each of them was a wonderful sensation, but at the same time it was frustrating as hell because part of me wanted to do so much more.
"There, now tell us about your life," Arlene said quietly.
So I began to talk.
"I suppose everything interesting about me really started when my folks bought the house I live in now. Mom and Dad bought that old house from an older uncle when I was only eleven and Michelle was only ten. It was an old house then and had been a rental for a few years, so it was a bit run down, but the four of us worked together to fix it up. We repaired and replaced any weak, damaged or rotten wood, replastered and painted most of the walls, repaired the plumbing and wiring, and reshingled the roof. The whole family pitched in and we did a job that impressed the uncle who had sold it to us.
"In fact it impressed my uncle so much that he bankrolled my father to start a business rebuilding and restoring old houses. So Dad was soon restoring old houses while Mom ran the house and the business office, with Michelle and I working after school and on weekends. Unlike Michelle, who found that creating buildings became her life's passion, I found that while I enjoyed construction work, it wasn't what I wanted to do for my whole life. Instead I became interested in the history of the old houses we restored and eventually that led to an interest in the history of the whole area. Eventually that interest devolved into a desire to study the archeological remnants and history of the local native population.
"So when I finished high school, I went on to University, studying history and archeology, but as well as that I was given a small scholarship to play on the University's football team. Michelle graduated from highschool the next year, but didn't attend University, instead she took business management and construction related courses at a local trade school. Michelle and I still worked with Mom and Dad when we could, but our being away did affect the business. For one thing, Dad had to hire workers to take our places and as a result the jobs he took on weren't as profitable and that affected the bottom line. As well as that the quality of the restoration work suffered because the workmen didn't have as much pride in the finish of each job as Michelle and I did, but that's not surprising because the two of us are very fussy about our work.
"Then one summer I had the chance to go on an archeological dig in South America and my family thought it was the chance of a lifetime, so they talked me into accepting the offer. Then shortly before I was due to leave, Dad found that he had cancer and the doctors told him that he only had a year to live. I wanted to cancel the trip, but Dad insisted that I go since I would only be away for six weeks or so. Unfortunately the doctors were wrong about the seriousness of the disease. Dad took a turn for the worse while I was away and since the archeological dig was in an extremely remote area, I barely made it back home in time for his funeral. As a result my last memories of my father were our talks in the hospital before I left to participate in that stupid dig down in Peru.
"That was the year when my life changed drastically. Suddenly Mom, Michelle, and I found ourselves the owners of a failing construction business, but to counter that we were the recipients of Dad's life insurance. About the same time I had become involved with Claire and before the year was out, we found that she was pregnant. Even though Mom and Michelle didn't really like Claire, they backed me up when I wanted to 'do the right thing' and marry her.
"Meanwhile Mom and Michelle had found that living in the house without Dad being there was unbearable, so Michelle had bought a small older house to live in with her share of Dad's life insurance. Since I was virtually a fifth wheel around the business at that point, I offered to buy the house from Mom and suggested that we trade it for my share of the life insurance and my portion of the business. After all I could still work for Mom and Michelle, I just wouldn't be a business partner. Besides it would mean that Claire and I would have a house of our own, yet Mom and Michelle could get on with their lives.
"They thought that was a great idea, but the only way they would agree was if Claire signed a prenuptial agreement that she would have no involvement in the ownership of the house or it's contents. Claire and her mother went ballistic at that idea, so the marriage ceremony was almost called off at that point. In fact Claire blew up and told me that she wouldn't marry me if we had to live in 'that house', then she stalked out, followed by her mother. I remember feeling hurt and angry, but inside of a day, Claire called me back, crying her eyes out and agreeing to sign the prenup.
"The wedding was held in a tiny church and Claire's mother was her only relative there. We hadn't planned on having a real reception because Claire said her Mom couldn't afford much and I didn't really want to go into debt myself. Instead I invited everyone back to the house. I knew the house was going to be fairly empty because Mom and Michelle had moved out and taken their furniture, but I still wanted to give everyone in the family a chance to have a bit of a party.
"I hadn't counted on my relatives though and I have a lot of those. Mom and Michelle had kept me away from the house for two days prior to the wedding and when I opened the door, I discovered that Claire and I had a fully furnished and decorated home. My uncles, aunts, and cousins had gone through their attics and storage rooms looking for things that were old and somewhat worn, but too good to throw away. They'd sneaked over while I was away and had furnished every room in the house. I learned that that it's a family tradition to help out newlyweds and my uncle took Claire and me aside for a few minutes that day to explain it to us. Since this was a family home, the family had furnished it, but the furniture was almost all antiques and in our possession as a 'semipermanent' loan, so if we replaced anything, we were to return the original item to the family.
"Claire's mother had only stayed at our party for a short time, but the day we got back from our abbreviated honeymoon, she showed up with an antique appraiser. As I stood there in astonishment, they walked around the rooms discussing where they could sell everything and how much money each item would bring in at different auctions. Claire and her mother were literally bouncing off the walls in excitement.
"I tried to explain the situation about the furniture quietly, but Claire kept shushing me. I took that for about five minutes, then I lost my temper for the first time in years and I bellowed. Now I'm fairly big and I have good lungs, so I can bellow quite loudly when I really want to and it shocked them.
"In short order I mentioned the original prenuptual agreement, then explained to them that not one damn stick of that furniture was leaving the house because it wasn't really ours. It belonged to my family and it was going to stay in my family's possession, so it wasn't for sale. If we wanted to replace any item of furniture, anything we replaced would be returned to the family member who had provided it in the first place. I even reminded them that my uncle had explained that to both Claire and me on the day of the wedding, but it seemed quite obvious that she hadn't listened.
"The antique dealer and Claire's mother left in a huff at that point, then Claire and I had our first real argument. Claire left in tears and didn't come back for three days. We did manage to patch things up – well, to a certain extent. At least she moved back in, but I don't think she ever forgave me for 'raising my voice to her' when someone else was around. I suppose I should have called the marriage quits then, but I didn't.
"Mrs Leech never did forgive me though and wouldn't stay in the house if I was there. She wouldn't talk to Mom or Michelle either and even Claire didn't treat my family very well. In fact the way Claire treated them started our next real argument a few years later. That's when Claire first told me that Shannon might not be my kid. Of all the things that she could have said, that hurt the worst. I told her that if that was the case, she might as well pack up and leave, but she didn't and I didn't throw her out. How could I? By then I had been acting as a father to a child that I loved dearly and I couldn't very well throw my three-year-old daughter out on the street.
"I was working my butt off by then anyway, trying to establish myself at the University as an assistant prof, so I buried myself in work, doing my best to forget what a shitty home life I had. Claire and I were hardly talking at that time, so the only friendly face I saw at home was Shannon's. She was growing like a weed and developing into a great kid, so I'd come home and Claire happily let me look after Shannon until bedtime, almost as if she felt it was a relief. Meanwhile Claire spent all evening staring at that damn television set. If I even spoke to her she'd growl and swear at me, telling me that I was interrupting her show. So as soon as Shannon was asleep, I got into the habit of going to my office to write on one of my books until I was tired enough to go to bed and fall asleep. That went on for several years and during that time sex was a rare happening, maybe once a month - if I was lucky. Hell, Claire would come to bed wearing almost as much clothing as she did during the day. In fact most of the time she wore floppy pyjamas, but if she was wearing a nightgown of any sort, she'd wear a pair of granny panties under it.
"Not only that, but Claire seemed to hate my family, so birthdays or holidays with my Mom or my sister and her two kids were a battle royal. Mom or my sister would buy Shannon those silly Barbie dolls - Shannon loves them and Claire hated them. I suppose it didn't help that I spent most of one fall building Shannon a doll house that is scaled to fit her Barbies and gave it to her one Christmas. I worked hard on that and built it all to scale, so it's huge, but I made sure it was portable by making sure the whole thing could be dismantled and packed easily. I even made miniature furniture and appliances for it and Mom found some scale dishes for the kitchen, along with other details to decorate the other rooms, but once more it was a case of Shannon loving something and Claire hating it.
"Then too the family thing came into the picture when Shannon started tagging along with me to the football and rugby games that I coach or referee. That might be because my sister and her girls come to those games though, which made them another bone of contention since Claire felt that Michelle was a bad influence on Shannon. Of course that would lead to Claire screaming at me, but I learned to ignore her rants, which somehow seemed to annoy her even more. So at times she'd run off to visit her mom, usually not coming back until both Shannon and I were sound asleep. Then the house would be a lot quieter for a few days, because Claire would try to ignore both Shannon and me, refusing to talk and stomping around like an idiot. If she did acknowledge either of us during those times it was usually with a raised voice and a deep scowl as she bitched about one thing or another.
"About five years though I decided we had to do something about our relationship, because the whole situation was driving me nuts to the point where I threatened Claire with divorce. I think that's how I managed to convince Claire to go with me to visit a marriage counsellor. Actually, that session of counselling seemed to work quite well and for a few years things seemed to improve. Most nights she'd sleep with me in the nude, but even then she'd undress with the lights out and we'd still only have sex about once a week or maybe longer. I definitely enjoyed that period, but don't ask me why, because I couldn't give you a reasonable explanation. All I know is that I prefer to sleep in the nude and found that I sleep much better when I can feel the skin of my bed partner.
"However during the last few months things went to hell again and out came Claire's long night gowns and flannel pyjammas, as well as the scowls, screeches and bitchiness during daylight hours. I don't know what caused that either, maybe it's just the fact that Shannon blossoming into a very attractive young woman who has a mind of her own. Whatever set Claire off isn't all that important now though, but she and her mother have sure managed to screw up both Shannon's and my life this time," I said with a heavy sigh.
I paused and listened then, but neither Arlene nor Noreen said anything. As I'd been talking, I'd been getting more and more tired and I guess my voice had been getting quieter, so I thought that they had simply fallen asleep. When they didn't say anything, I closed my eyes. Just feeling them lying on either side of me was enough to relax me though and I don't think sleep was long in coming.
I laid there quietly after Dave stopped speaking and waited. When I heard his breathing change and then heard the soft purr in his throat that I took to be his version of a snore, I slowly sat up, then reached for a tissue.
"Can I have one too, please?" Noreen whispered quietly.
"It got to you too, huh? I think his wife was a total bitch," I said as I handed her a tissue and wiped my own cheeks, then my nose. "He told me part of that before, but not all of it."
"Are you going to marry him?"
"What?" I whipped my head around to stare at her.
"Oh come on," she sat up and smiled as she pinched her nose with the tissue. "Anyone who could put up with that witch for as long as he did and not wring her damn neck has to be the most patient man in the world. On top of that, he's kind and intelligent. Heck, he's even solvent. If you don't want him, I'll gladly consol him."
"Keep your paws to yourself. He's got enough to worry about right now, besides, I saw him first," I couldn't help grinning.
"So, I guess I'd better go find another bed then," she sighed.
"Oh don't be an ass," I growled. "It's not like he's going to be in the mood for sex anyway. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to stay and snuggle. After that story I think he deserves both of us for company, just to make him realize how swell he really is."
"You've really got it bad haven't you?" she whispered as she lay back down and adjusted the covers.
"I guess," I sighed as I lay down and fussed with the covers a bit myself.
Then I snuggled over close to Dave and relaxed. When I slid my hand onto his chest, I found Noreen's there already. She giggled and moved hers.
"Sorry if I'm intruding, but touching him was just too tempting," she whispered.
"I know," I whispered back, then chuckled. "He does have a big chest though, big enough for both our hands, so I'll share that much."
"Are you willing to share more than that?" she giggled slightly.
"Actually that's not my decision to make," I sighed softly.
Our whispers must have been loud enough that they disturbed Dave a bit because he mumbled softly, so both Noreen and I fell completely silent.
It was late and I was comfortable, very comfortable and very relaxed, so I fell asleep quite easily.