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Ghost

By: magmaman



The living room windows in my house are best described as odd. In the first place, they are huge, there are four of them, each one is four feet by four feet.

Nothing so unique about that except each one angles outward at the top at 45 degrees.

When I leave the doors and windows open in the warm Summer months, that makes a perfect fly trap, they move up to the top and can't figure out how to get out.

Then I smack them with my fly swatter, or I grab a squirt bottle of window cleaner and spray them. That makes then roll over and crash.

It's kinda fun, I guess.

You can already see how exciting my life is. I am 66 and retired.

The windows are also good at trapping birds, I catch Hummingbirds and the little brown ones, take them outside and turn them loose, much to the chagrin of my Cat. The Cat did try a few times to jump up on the windows to get the birds, but soon figured out there is not a heck of a lot of traction on glass.

Now it just sits there and yowls, which lets me know we have a bird.

The other close family member besides my Cat is Sam, my Dog. She has the rest of her life all figured out, she sleeps. Sometimes she gets up to go eat but then she goes right back to the exact same spot. I just leave the door open in the Summer months, otherwise the Dog wants in..or wants out..same with the Cat.

I thought about one of those doggie doors but Sam is around 90 pounds, so I gave up on that idea.

I was married once to a lively and fun woman named Sheila, but one day she came home from the Doc's office with bad news. That was a bit of a hard time, it was almost like she was there one day and gone the next.

All of my life before seems almost like a dream that happened to someone else. When I turned 62 I told the government to give me my stipend, that along with some savings and investments meant I could relax.

The trouble with relaxing is it gets boring. The great excitement in my life is smacking flies and catching birds.

At night when the Moon is out is the time I wash those four big windows. Smacking bugs makes a mess, I smack bugs a lot, too. But something about bright moonlight streaming in the windows makes every spot just stand out, I can get them perfect and streak free.

That was what I was doing when I saw the white flash of something down by my trees. It was just for a second or two, a brief shadow that darted between the huge Poplar trees that line my front yard, maybe 100 yards away.

I looked more closely, saw it again. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was sure as hell moving. I watched for about a half hour, nothing more moved so I went back to cleaning my windows.

The next day I was out mowing my lawn, I looked over and Kay was out there, like always. John and Kay owned the house next door, it sits back a ways from mine. Kay loved to sunbathe out there, which I wouldn't really mind except for the fact that she is about 5 feet tall and six feet around.

Well, not really that bad, her body is odd in that she doesn't have huge rolls of fat.

She is just round.

Not my thing.

She always acts surprised when I drive by close, sitting up and tugging her top back into place. Hell, I am on my riding lawnmower, so I cleverly think she knows I am coming.

That woman has a set on her that I have no idea how she holds them up. She always takes her time stuffing them back in her bikini top, too.

I waved and she waved back with one hand while she pretended to tug on one side of her top. Her giant boob hung out in space, pointed almost straight down, big black nipple the size of my palm.

I never was much into big women, though, or one that belonged to someone else. The truth is that by this point in my life I had almost forgotten what women were really like, although everyone I knew tried to help me out.

Right after Sheila passed I got introduced to every woman with white hair from fifty miles in all directions.

Hell, It was "Hey Dan, I want you to meet Martha, Geraldine, this is Dorothy.." then the big grin as they waited expectantly for me to do something.

A solid string of big'uns, a solid string of white hair. Just not my thing, I managed to stay polite but that was it. Finally everyone gave up on that.

By the time I mowed over to the other side of my yard I looked up and here came Dave. Dave lives on the other side, he likes to come up to the fence and talk to me. I can see his mouth moving so I have to shut off the damn mower to hear him.

"Hey, want a beer?" He asked.

That was different, usually he started right in complaining about his bitch ex wife. I had heard the story maybe 40 times now.

It was hot, a beer sounded good.

"Yea, thanks!" I told him, taking the can. Damn it was cold, just the way I like it.

"Say, didya see the ghost?" He asked, tipping his can back for a swig.

"Ghost?" I asked, wondering if he meant the same thing I saw.

"Yea, down by yer trees. Hadda be a ghost, it was floating and all white. Kinda spooky, huh?"

Whatever I saw didn't seem to be floating to me, it just looked like maybe somebody or something white, hard to tell in the moonlight at that distance.

Of course Dave was usually three sheets to the wind most of the time, enough so that it was a pain in the ass to talk to him.

"Well, thanks for the brew, gotta get back to mowing." I started up the machine and put it in gear. Dave's mouth was still moving as I pulled away. By the time I got over to the other side Kay had rolled over on her stomach. Her top was undone, her giant tits were pressed out each side of her upper body.

She sure as hell didn't need a pillow. I glanced at her, her behind was so big I couldn't even tell if she had on bottoms, although I knew she did.

I sighed and made the last few rounds. Kay somehow managed to be out there most of the time, I had a suspicion she was doing it deliberately.

Maybe John was getting his jollies? I looked up at his house but didn't see anybody.

Hell with it. I put the mower away, went inside to watch People's Court. Later when I woke up I caught two birds and turned them loose, then smacked a few flies.

That night I saw the Moon peek over the Poplar trees, so I got out my squeegee and started to wash them. I was just carefully buffing out the corners when I saw that motion down by my trees again.

The moon was fuller now, and a bit brighter, so I watched for a long time. It seemed to be somebody, then they stepped into view between the trees.

And started doing jumping jacks!

Honest to God.

That sure as hell was no ghost. It sure as hell wasn't floating. I turned and headed for the door, planning to go down there to see what the heck was going on. By the time I got to the porch whoever/whatever it was took off running, down into the ditch and then back up 50 feet farther away.

Hell, I am 66. No way in the world was I going to catch whoever that was.

I just went back inside.

The next day I wandered down there, to look for footprints. It had been dry and hot, even at night it was around 75 degrees. The ground was hard, there were no tracks.

But the grass was knocked down where someone had gone into the ditch, then again where they came out on the road. Not just once or twice, either, but a lot. 

I knew there was a development going in perhaps a quarter mile away, but so far only three or four houses were finished so most of the spots were vacant.

I figured it was probably just kids out playing, strange to be doing that at 11 O'clock at night but kids nowadays didn't seem to have any rules like we did when I was a kid.

I saw it again the next night. This time I was on my porch, sitting there in the dark. John and Kay's house was dark so they were in bed, Dave was gone off to some bar somewhere, like always.

I quietly got up and walked over to the fenceline, which put me out of sight. I worked my way down to the trees on Dave's side, then headed back towards whoever it was.

I peeked around just in time to see the person step out and face my house. Then she did jumping jacks, I knew now it was a she because her titties were bouncing up and down.

And she was naked as a jaybird!

I was less than ten feet away before she realized.

"Hello!" I said. She froze, turned slightly towards me. She looked left and right but I was standing in the path I knew she took to escape.

"Oh!" She said, her arms coming up and over her breasts.

"I'm sorry, mister! I was just...." Her other hand came down to hide her crotch.

"Relax, miss. I am harmless, I was just curious as to what you were doing." She started moving sideways, obviously wanting to get past me.

"Hey, it's OK. I have seen pretty girls before." I told her. I gave her my very best disarming grin, which probably was a waste of time since she couldn't really see me that well in the moonlight.

"Oh. You don't..mind?"

"Not one bit, you look like you are having fun."

"Yea, I just...like being naked outside, I only do it when it is dark." She seemed to visibly relax.

"Really? That's interesting. I have heard of things like that but I never saw it before. Is it exciting?"

"Yea. It's dangerous, I could get caught."

"I guess so, I caught you!" I laughed.

"You really aren't upset?"

"No, why should I be? You are really pretty..what I can see of you."

"Nobody ever caught me before...not really." She tipped her head, now she seemed to relax even more, like everything was..normal?

"Hey, want to come up to the house and chat?"

"No, I better not. I should go get my clothes."

"Where are they?"

"Down the street, I hide them by the culvert."

I knew the culvert was about 200 yards away.

"Wow, that really takes courage to go this far with no clothes on."

"Yea, it took me a long time to get this far. Will you let me by, please?"

"Sure." I stepped several feet off the path. She walked by me, slightly wary but I didn't move.

"Hey, can I walk with you? Do you mind?" I asked, on impulse.

She stopped and looked at me, then she grinned.

"Only if you take your clothes off, too!" Then she took off running.

I stood there for awhile, then went back to my house. That was interesting as hell. She was cute, young, well built and obviously uninhibited.

Just a kid out having fun, she looked to be around 25 or so from what I could see, way younger than me. Her hair was light, hard to say if it was brown or blonde, and she was slender, well built. Not huge in the bust but just nice. Seeing her like that was pretty amazing.

She was just doing silly risky stuff, I had heard of things like that but never really saw any of it. My wife had sometimes dressed a little bit sexy when we were on vacation, once on a beach she had even taken off her top but she spent the whole time with her front plastered to a blanket, and she could manage to put her top on without getting up.

I have no idea why she was so careful, nobody paid any attention at all. There were girls all over the beach wearing tiny patches of cloth and some string. That was as close as I ever got to getting Sheila to do anything really naughty, but even lying there with her naked back showing was kind of a turn on. We screwed like young kids that night in our hotel room.

It was several days later when I saw her again. The moon was at a different angle and it was a lot darker. I went down there half expecting her to take off but she didn't. 

"Hello again." I called out from maybe 50 feet away. Can I come over there?"

"Hi, mister. Sure, it's OK."

"I suppose you want me to get naked too?" I intended that as a wisecrack.

"Sure! Go ahead, do it." Her voice sounded like she was laughing.

I hesitated.

"Come on, it will be fun!" She giggled. I could see her face now in the moonlight, she was actually kind of pretty.

What the hell.

I peeled off my shirt, undid my belt and pulled my pants and briefs down. I got the pants legs hung up in my shoes, finally got them kicked off. Then I just stood there.

It felt funny as hell. She looked me up and down, I probably looked white, too. Some would think that would give me a huge hardon but it didn't, I was just...naked?

She was about ten feet away now, there was a tiny flash of moonlight that reflected in her eyes.

"Far out!" She giggled.

"Come on, let's go!" She took off running, I took off right behind her. She ran down into the ditch and up onto the road. The damn pavement was hard on my feet and she was gaining on me, but I gritted my teeth and sped up. Finally we were trotting along side by side. We stopped by the culvert, gasping for breath. I could see her more clearly now.

She looked to be in her early twenties, slim in the waist. Her breasts weren't large, but they were high and firm. There was no sign of any pubic hair at all. She stood there breathing heavily, then she went down over the bank, coming back with a T-shirt and pair of shorts.

Just then I saw some headlights coming.

"Oh, shit!" She darted over the bank and crouched down, I was right behind her.

Dave's car went by, easy to tell since the engine had a loud knock.

"He didn't see us." I whispered.

"Nope. Now let's go back and get your clothes." She tossed her t-shirt and shorts over her shoulder and calmly walked back down the road. Nobody else came by. We went back over under my trees, I tugged my clothes back on and so did she.

"I need to get home now." She turned to leave.

"Hey, wait! What's your name?" I asked her.

"Wendy. What's yours?"

"I'm Dan."

"Nice to meet you, Dan!" She turned and started to trot away.

"That was fun!" She called back over her shoulder, then she was out of sight. This was really crazy, I couldn't believe I had just ran up and down the street stark naked with some naked girl maybe a third my age.

Several nights went by with no sign of her. I even walked down the street to the new housing project, no sign at all of her.

I had almost forgotten about that, except a couple of times I went outside and sat on my porch, not a stitch on. Of course it was dark, nobody could see me but the feeling was really..exciting? It's hard to describe the sensation, it wasn't sexual actually, it was just...free?

Well, maybe a little sexual, once I got an erection so I stood on my porch and played with myself, finally blasting off out into the yard. That was something I had never done in my entire life, not standing up anyway, and certainly not outside. It was incredible, my knees almost gave out on me.

Then several weeks later I was washing my windows. The moon wasn't up all the way yet but I could see outside barely. Suddenly she was there, right in front of my windows. I didn't have the inside lights on since it is easier to clean the windows with just the moonlight.

Wendy was just there, naked again. She waved at me to come out, then moved over towards my porch.

I went out to say hi.

"Hey, you have your clothes on." She grinned.

"Uhh. I can fix that." I quickly stripped off naked. She looked me up and down in the dim light.

"You look pretty good for an older guy!" She giggled.

"You look pretty good for a younger gal!" I answered.

"Let's go walk, want to?"

"OK. Where to?"

"Farther. Just farther. I want to see how far I can get without getting caught..again." She giggled at that.

She reached out to take my hand, we went down to the trees, then turned and headed for town. I was totally aware of how soft her hand felt. It was a cooler evening but I wasn't uncomfortable, really. The little town was nearly 6 miles away.

I was actually hoping she wasn't serious about going all the way to town, I wasn't sure my old legs would even allow that.

"Hey, I saw you!" Her voice had that laugh in it again.

"Saw me? Saw me what?"

"I was there when you...did that outside." She giggled again.

"Oh." I was glad it was dark out, I know I must have turned bright red.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you."

"I know. It's OK, sometimes I do that too. I liked watching you do that."

Just one car went by, we hid in the grass alongside the road, then we went back out on the pavement. About a mile down the road towards town the other highway intersected, I knew there would be a lot more traffic on that one. The side road up to the subdivision and then the older homes like I lived in was still sparsely travelled.

"Do you want to cross the highway?" I asked her, not too sure of that.

"This is farther than I ever went, let's go back."

"OK." I was actually grateful for that.

We had to duck down twice as someone went by, each time she giggled hysterically. Back at my yard we crossed the grass, then sat down on my porch.

"Want a beer?" I asked her.

"No, but maybe a glass of wine would be nice if you have some." I did have some, a bottle someone had given me of some dark red stuff. I had tasted it and didn't like it. I poured her a small glass.

"This is really good!" She said after taking a sip.

"So what do you do, Dan?" Wendy asked me, leaning back looking completely relaxed. It was interesting to look at her, the way the moonlight was casting shadows across her body made it look like she had on some kind of net like outfit. I realized the chair she was in was slightly behind my Rose trellis, it had angled slats in it. The Roses had long since given up, something about water I think.

"I guess I don't do much, I am retired." I told her.

"You don't look old enough to be retired." She took another sip of the wine, made a face. I grinned to myself at that.

"Can I ask you why you like to do this?"

"I don't know, it is just..exciting? I know it's crazy but I feel so free and alive."

"Ever been caught?"

"Just by you, although once someone in a car saw me and stopped, but I hid in the brush until they left."

"That was pretty close the other night when Dave went by, wasn't it?"

"Who is Dave?"

"He lives over there." I waved my arm at the house next door.

"Oh, that guy? He was looking out the window at me a couple of weeks ago but I was too far away for him to see anything, so I kept going back and forth between the trees. Then I did some jumping jacks. Once he started down there but I took off." She giggled at that.

"He said he thought you were a ghost."

"I am a ghost! Well, I try to be anyway. Hey, the Sheriff's car parks down by the pond, I sneaked up on it and actually touched it before I ran once."

"I am curious, is it a sexual thing?"

"NO! Well...yes..oh, I don't know, it's just..exciting." Wendy stood up suddenly, set down her glass.

"I gotta go." She headed out across my lawn at a trot.

"Will you come back?" I called out.

"Maybe, look for the ghost!" Her laughter seemed to bounce off the trees back at me, then she was out of sight.

I sat there on my porch for quite a long time.

The next day I looked out, no sign of Kay or anyone, so I went and fired up my riding lawnmower. I was about halfway done when I looked over and Kay came out, this time she had on a bright yellow bikini.

Right on schedule. I did my best to ignore her, she waved at me as I went down the fenceline, I waved back. She was flopped out on her back, the color of her outfit was so bright against the green grass that it kept catching my eye.

I came back around, she sat up and waved at me again, so I stopped.

"Morning, Danny! Want a beer?" She reached in a cooler and pulled out a bottle. I took it and had a sip, as she sat there and watched me.

I was thinking that if Dave and Kay kept coming up with beer I wouldn't need to buy any of my own.

"You don't mind my sunbathing out here, do you?" She gave me a big smile.

"No, it's fine." The top of that thing she had on was maybe three inches wide, she had about eight inches of flesh hanging out both sides. She almost looked squashed.

"I normally prefer to sunbathe nude but I didn't want to upset you." She sipped her beer, then actually batted her eyes at me.


Ghost



"Oh, you won't upset me, I have seen girls before." I told her, almost instantly regretting that.

"Good! This thing is killing me!" One tug and it was gone, her huge breasts flopped down, she lay back and opened her legs enough that I could see the flash of yellow at her crotch.

"Thanks for the beer!" I told her, firing up the engine and taking off. Kay still had the bottoms on when I came back by.

Thank God.

A couple of days later Dave came over, I was sitting on the porch enjoying the sunshine, watching my sprinklers spraying my lawn. It was always a complete pain in the ass, no matter how I set them up or what kind of sprinkler I used, I always had to move them to get it all.

I managed to stifle a giggle at him, he made it almost all the way when the sprinkler came around, so he sort of skipped faster but he was already on his way so he was a little unsteady. The sprinkler blasted his pant leg and went on by.

He came up on the porch, reached down and patted at his wet leg for a second, then he handed me a beer.

"Hey, I saw that ghost again!"

"No shit? Where?"

"It was down by the trees, It looks like a woman in a white dress." He looked at me for a reaction.

"I think I saw it once, it's probably just a reflection." I lied.

"Naw, it's real! I bet somebody has been murdered around here, I bet there is a body out in them woods."

"Could be." I took a swig off the beer, wishing he would buy the good stuff.

"Yea, it's like I see her out of the corner of my eye but when I look she ain't there."

I realized he was drunk as a skunk.

"Ghosts can't hurt you." I told him.

"Yea, I guess not. Say, did you see John's old lady?"

"Sure, what about her?"

"She was laying out there nekkid as a jaybird."

"Really? I see her sunbathing all the time but just with her top off."

"I saw her the other day, she was nekkid. I could see right up between her legs. She has it shaved as bare as a newborn babie's bottom." He snickered at himself.

Hell, it was 200 yards from Dave's fenceline to John and Kay's.

"How could you be sure?"

"I used my field glasses!" Then he started laughing, wiped his nose.

"Maybe she is what you have been seeing, she likes to run around half naked all the time?"

"Naw, Kay is maybe 250 pounds, that ghost is way smaller."

I was thinking closer to 300 pounds but I didn't say anything. Finally Dave got up and left, it took him two tries to get to his feet.

So Kay had gone to the next step, or at least that is what Dave had said. For whatever that was worth. I sat there and laughed at the idea of him peering at her with field glasses. Hell, why not just walk up to the fence, I doubted she would care.

Everything went back to normal around my house except for late in the evenings I went out and sat on my porch. If Dave was gone off somewhere and John and Kay's house was dark I would strip down and sit out there in the dark.

I was not even sure why, it just felt good. It became something of a habit. Nearly a Month went by with no sign of Wendy, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever see her again. My walks down to the housing development gained me nothing, I never saw any sign of her.

I now even washed my windows in the nude, in bright moonlight no one could see in unless they got real close. The weather began to cool, I still sat out on my porch, sometimes until way into the early morning hours, but I took a fuzzy warm comforter with me.

It actually felt good to be sitting out there, I could hear crickets and frogs, the sounds all around lulled me to sleep.

I had a tendency to sleep where and whenever I felt like it anyway, most of the time I tipped back the recliner with the TV on and dozed off.

I felt very warm, woke up to the Sun shining in my face. I blinked a couple of times, realized someone was standing there.

"Are you OK, Danny?" Kay asked. I looked over and there she was, wearing a tank top and shorts.

"Uhh...Yea, I'm fine."

"I saw you out here early this morning, then when I looked out and you hadn't moved...."

"I'm OK, I just dozed off."

"Well, you are getting sunburned, we better get you inside."

"Oh, I am all right." I protested.

"Come on, let me help you." She reached out and tugged on the comforter, suddenly there I was, stark naked.

She looked down, blinked.

"Oh!. I didn't...."

"Damn it, Kay!" I protested, grabbing the blanket.

"Oh, relax...I have seen men before. But, WOW!" She giggled, staring at my dick sticking out between my legs.

"It's all right." I said, getting up with the blanket tugged back up around me. I realized that making things even worse, I had a morning erection.

I turned and went inside, she was right behind me.

She was still there when I came out of the bedroom in my jeans and a levi shirt.

"You sure are a lot bigger than John is!" She actually batted her eyes at me. I didn't say anything, went to the fridge and got a glass of milk.

What the hell was she doing in my kitchen? I glanced over at her, she had one elbow on my table, those giant boobs were hanging there barely covered by the silly tank top she had on.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you, I didn't know...." She said, then she grinned.

"But I always wanted to know what that looked like..." She added.

"Kay..." I started to say.

"Don't you like me?" She asked, standing up.

"I like you just fine, but John...."

"John doesn't mind, in fact he told me I could."

"Could? Could what?" I got a sinking feeling.

Kay stood up, moved around the table towards me, I started to back up.

"Why don't you let me take care of that for you?"

"Kay, I like you just fine but I am not going to..."

I swear to God, she pouted.

"All right. But just so you know, if you ever get in the mood...for ANYTHING, just let me know." She stressed the "anything" part.

"Uhhh..ok, I will."

She mercifully headed for the front door, twitching her butt from side to side. Thank God she missed the door frame. She stopped and looked back at me for a moment, I felt a bit like a chunk of meat in front of a hungry Dog.

"I hope so, Danny." Then she was gone.

Lord.

I went into the bathroom and did my morning business, then I was upset at myself because I had a damn hardon. Why, I didn't have a clue, Kay didn't turn me on, at least I was pretty sure she didn't anyway.

Later, I had to put up with Dave coming over wanting to know all about it, how was she, all of that shit. It seemed that he was outside watching when Kay came out my front door.

Of course. Probably with his damned field glasses.

"Nothing happened, she just saw me asleep on the porch and got concerned."

"Man, I would do that in a New York minute!" He said, the ever present can of cheap beer in his hand.

"Why don't you just go ask her?" I told him. I was getting a little bit fed up with Dave.

"Maybe I will!" He said, then he turned and ambled back towards his yard. Halfway across, I reached over and hit the button on my sprinklers. He took a couple of hops, then managed to get out of range.

"Sorry!" I called out. "They are set on automatic." I lied. Snickering to myself, I went back inside.

My phone rang seconds later. I decided to ignore it, the answering machine clicked on. Then I heard Wendy's voice, damn near broke my leg getting to the phone.

"Hello!"

"Hi, Danny."

"What's up? Say, how did you get my number?"

"Phone book, you are listed and your last name is on your mailbox."

"OH. Well, what's up?"

"I want to go to town...tonight." I knew what she meant.

"Really?"

"Yea, really. Want to go with me?"

"OK. What time?"

"I will just come over when I am ready, OK?"

"OK. It's going to be a little bit cool."

"We will be warm enough."

"OK. See you tonight."

"You sure will!" She giggled and hung up.

I was excited all day. I now regularly went out and sat on my porch naked at night, but while that was fun and exciting, it wasn't the same as running around outside naked with Wendy. That was actually strange, I really knew almost nothing about her, not even where she lived or anything.

By midnight, I had just about given up, when suddenly there she was.

"Ready?" She asked.

"I guess so." She reached out and took my hand.

"All the way and back, let's do it this time!" Her voice was excited. Hell, I was feeling a bit excited myself.

It took us over two hours, there was almost no traffic. Twice we ducked into the bushes when someone went by, then we rounded the last turn before town. There were street lights there, and I got my first really good look at Wendy. She seemed to hold her shoulders back, her nice round breasts had dark nipples, they were hard as a rock. I felt myself getting an erection, Wendy glanced down at me and grinned.

"Me, too!" She giggled. We made it all the way to the chain link fence by the ball field, then we turned and headed back. The sheriff's car went by but we were well hidden in the brush by the time he reached where we were.

I was all but worn out by the time we got to my house, the night was just cool enough to cause goosebumps but the exertion kept us warm. I guessed it was close to 5 in the morning.

"Hungry?" I asked her.

"Yea, a little."

"Come on in, I can make some pancakes."

She smiled slyly and followed me inside. I left the lights off, not sure how she would react. She sat down on my couch as I went in and turned on the stove. I had a stack of pancakes whipped up in just a few minutes, took her a plate. It was just starting to get light outside, I glanced at the windows and realized she had opened all the curtains.

We sat there naked in the living room and ate. After we had finished, I took the plates and brought her a cup of coffee.

"That was sure fun, we actually did it!" She smiled.

"Yep, we did. I wasn't sure that we would make it but we did."

"Say, would you like to...look at me?" There was a catch in her voice.

"I can see you just fine." I told her.

"No, I mean more."

"More? Sure, I would love to."

Wendy leaned back on the couch, then she slowly opened her legs. Her outer lips parted slightly, she reached down and used her fingers to spread them even more.

"How's that?" She grinned, holding the pose. I could see she was damp, shiny.

"Beautiful!" I told her, feeling myself begin to erect at her blatant display.

"Come closer?" She asked.

"OK." I got up and moved over to in front of the couch, I was just inches away now.

"Your cock is hard, can I touch it? You can...touch me if you want to." I could tell she was completely excited now.

I reached out and stroked her bare sex with one hand, then I scooted up beside her on the couch. Her hand came down and wrapped around me, just held me. We sat there and touched each other for a long time. Then she rolled over and pressed against me.

"I shouldn't...but I want to!" She lifted up and straddled me, reached down and grasped my rock hard penis and set the end right against her opening. She looked me right in the eyes, then slid her hips down and over me. I lay back and let her work, marvelling at the way her breasts bounced up and down as she used her legs to pump at me. Then she pressed me down flat on my back and stretched out, breasts mashed against me, her hips working furiously.

Her body was tighter than I was used to with my late wife, and she was much more energetic.

I managed to hold back until I saw her eyelids flutter, her head went back with her mouth open. She opened her legs so my pubic bone pressed firmly against her, then she groaned. I just relaxed and let it go.

"God, you were really hard!" She said later, as we lay pressed against each other. Then she hopped up and went into the bathroom.

"Can I borrow a shirt?" She asked when she came back out.

"Sure, help yourself." She poked around in my dresser and found a T-shirt, tugged it over her head.

"My clothes are down by the culvert, it's daylight out." She grinned. She went to the door, looked back at me.

"I didn't plan that, you know. I just... It just seemed...right?"

"I didn't mind at all!" I grinned at her. I was still sitting there naked on the couch. Then she was gone.

Four months went by with no sign of her. I just mowed my lawn, slapped bugs. The weather cooled, I put my gear away for the Winter, got some firewood put in. 

I needed some supplies, so I headed off to town on one of my rare shopping trips. Coming out of the grocery store I looked up and there Wendy was.

There was a young man right behind her.

"Hello, Dan, nice to see you!" She smiled.

"Well, Hi, Wendy! It's been quite awhile." She reached back and tugged on the sleeve of the young man.

"Jerry, this is Dan, he lives down the road from us. Dan, this is my husband, Jerry."

I shook his hand, managing to keep a straight face. They turned and headed on into the store. Just before the door closed, Wendy looked back at me and winked.

Man. I just don't do anybody's wife. Oh, hell, what was I thinking, I actually don't normally do anybody at all anymore.

What the hell, no use crying over spilled milk and all of that.

Besides, I had to admit that it was fun.

That night I was sitting on my porch, it was pretty cool out and I was about to get up and go back inside, since I was sitting there in the dark, naked.

"Hi!" The voice startled me, I wasn't expecting it.

"Hello, Wendy." I answered, looking over her way. She was standing by my dead Rose bushes, also naked like she always was when she appeared.

"Can I come in?" She asked.

"Sure, it's a little cool out here."

Oh well, what the hell.

Inside, I had to ask her.

"What about Jerry, your husband?"

"I told him..about the...incident, I really didn't mean for that to happen."

"OH. You mean...what did he say?"

"Nothing, he just left me. Packed his bags and got in his truck and left."

"Oh, I am sorry."

"I'm not, I had had enough of him anyway. He has more girlfriends on the side than your Tomcat does!" She grinned at me, then plopped down on my couch.

"Can I stay here with you?"

"Stay? I..sure, I guess so." I told her, she beamed at me.

"What about your house?"

"Rented."

"Clothes?"

"Down by the culvert!" She laughed.

I went into the kitchen, I had a pot of tea on the stove. I poured two cups and went back into the living room. She was sitting there on my couch. She looked so beautiful sitting there naked.

What the hell. So was I. I could already feel the beginnings of an erection when I sat down beside her. She slid one hand across my chest, tipped her head over onto my shoulder.

What the hell. I didn't mind one bit. 



Ghost



The call caught everyone by surprise, but Tim seemed to have taken the news of his cousin Jacob's un-expected passing especially hard. Tim was only five or so years older than Jacob and the two had been more like brothers for much of their lives. Both had similar interests (fast cars chief among them), racing and just in general having a good time together. 

A year ago Jacob moved to New Orleans to attend a University and that's when he had begun to grow apart from Tim and the rest of their family. Mainly because of the distance and being wrapped-up with his studies but they also knew Jacob had a girlfriend there though no one had ever met her, the suspicion in the family was that she was somehow involved Jacob's disappearance. His body had washed ashore of Lake Maurepas, just outside of New Orleans. His car, a year-old Dodge Challenger was found parked several miles away at a scenic overlook on the bank of the same lake.

Jacob's car was what Tim could not get out of his mind, nor could he get it out of his life. His Aunt and Uncle knowing how close the two had been called Tim a few days after the funeral to tell him they were having Jacob's car delivered to his house, they said Jacob would have wanted him to have it and they certainly didn't want it. Money never had been much of an object for them; in fact the car had been a gift from them for Jacob when he moved to New Orleans. It was a great car, had a big Hemi V8 engine and a supercharger. Whatever had happened to Jacob obviously hadn't hurt his car since it was found without a scratch on it and it had been delivered to Tim address in much the same shape. Three weeks ago.

The car was like a scab and Tim didn't want to deal with it so it sat like an un-welcome neighbors dog at the end of his driveway right where the flatbed had dropped it off at. The keys were still on the hall table, just inside his front door. His neighbors, knowing Tim's penchant for fast cars assumed he'd bought it. Curious, one looked in the windows when he noticed it was un-locked. He told Tim who un-interestedly clicked the lock button on the car's remote from his house, the car chirped its horn obediently and flashed its lights.

Black cars get dirty fast, especially when the neighbors sprinklers hit them daily, and the nightly dew is left to dry on them. Tim could barely stand the sight of the car. His wife Kelly didn't understand it and had been trying to get Tim to drive it, or at least move it farther up the driveway. Each time Kelly tried to broach the subject Tim would tell her flatly "no" or just ignore her altogether.

Something Tim would tell no one about though was the dreams. They had been vivid since just before news of Jacob's death had reached the family. It was always the same Tim would wake in his bedroom to see Jacob sitting in a chair across from the bed just staring at him mouthing words he couldn't hear. It was the same dream every night.

The dreams were haunting Tim to the point where he barely spoke at work, or even to his friends. He just tried to figure-out what they meant. Try as he could though he couldn't get the dream out of his head. John, his boss and one of his best friends had noticed his change and suggested he take some time off. Tim told him he was fine but John wouldn't be swayed and told Tim he had the coming week off. Longer if he wanted it. It wasn't an option.

That night the dream was more real than before, this time he awoke in the dream to Jacob shaking him. Spooked to his core Tim leapt out of bed, threw some clothes in a duffle bag and charged though the house looking for the keys to the Challenger. Finally he found them on the floor under the table in the hall. The dreams had to have something to do about the car. Tim had only driven the car once or twice before his cousin left for New Orleans. He fumbled with the key fob and finally got the trunk to open he dropped the bag in than fell into the driver's seat, turned the key and the large engine came to life, his driveway now illuminated by the car's headlights.

Kelly woke-up when she heard Tim riffling through the closet mumbling something incoherent. This behavior was quite different from the way her husband normally acted. She tried to ask him what was going on, he just said he needed to clear his head then asked where the keys to the Challenger were. "Are you taking a trip?" She asked incredusliy "I don't know, I just know I need to get on the road." was his response. "I'll call when I get things sorted-out." Kelley wept openly, "Just don't do anything stupid!" She pleaded. "Tim smiled, held her face with one hand then kissed her. "You worry too much. I'll be fine." With that Tim walked out the door to the idling car in the driveway.

Tim headed east, pointing the car towards the desert. An hour later the sun was just beginning to rise as the car sped along I-10 just outside of Palm Springs, the large windmills lazily turning in the early morning breeze. Tim had no idea what he was looking for, where it was or what he would do when he found it but at least being awake and driving he could stay away from the dreams.

Tim spent a day and half on the road before coming to rest at a no-name Motel on the outskirts of Houston, TX. Tired was a day ago, he was now beyond tired. Nothing made sense anymore. He stopped for the night at a small Motel, there he showered than fell onto the hard bed. He didn't care if the dream returned anymore he needed sleep, his body was on the verge of a complete breakdown.

The dream was back. This time Jacob was more animated than ever pointing and waving his arms like he was trying to describe something Tim awoke in a cold sweat yelling at no one and strangling a pillow. He looked around the dark room. He was alone, awake, alone and more confused than ever.

Tim got-up, walked around the dark room and stared out the window at the car and the highway beyond it. He lit a cigarette, one in a pack he'd found earlier in the center console of the car and took a drag looking down at the parking lot and at the lights gliding past on the highway beyond it. This trip was stupid, he didn't know what he had been hoping to find but he doubted that it would show-up. The dreams were getting worse. Was he going insane? What was Jacob trying to tell him. Tim finally returned to bed and fell asleep. The dream with Jacob also re-appeared, this time with his cousin sitting in a chair across the room looking cross. Tim didn't care. Whatever he wanted he couldn't help him. First thing in the morning he was heading back west, back to his life. Therapy and drugs would be the tools he'd use to rid his dreams of his cousin.

Dodge cars have never been known as the great harbingers of reliability, and this year-old Challenger was proving no different. The dome lights had stayed on all night at the Motel and run the battery dead, requiring a jump. Than a few miles out of town Tim picked-up a nail and got a flat tire, loosing two hours at a tire store having it fixed. "Fine, we'll go east" he said to no one as he slammed the door and drove out the parking lot for the tire store.

The next night found him in Beaumont, Texas. The dream was more vivid than ever this night. He could hear a muffled voice which sounded like his cousin's "New Orleans" was all he could make out. Easy enough, he'd be there in another four hours of driving. The next day the car idled down Bourbon Street. Despite the fact that Mardi Gras wasn't for months the street was packed with people, just a sea of humanity he had to steer the car through barely able to make out the one in front of his. He looked for a place to sleep but now he could hear his cousin's voice clearly in his head, he was calling-out street names and directions, Tim was following them out of frustration, convinced that he was sliding deeper into insanity wondering where he'd end-up.

He was on the outskirts of the city now the streets were dead, the bright headlights illuminating the dark night when all of a sudden the car stalled, Tim steered the dead car to the shoulder. This was too much for Tim he threw the door open and got out of the dead car, roughly kicking it closed behind him which knocked the key fob out of the ignition and for some reason, set the alarm, locking the doors and his cell phone, wallet and jacket inside. And of course now it was raining. Tim stood on the side of the road getting soaked by the rain then walked around under a picnic shelter. He'd wait for the rain to stop than he'd begin the long walk to try and find someone to tow the car.

He sat on a picnic bench, listening to the rain pound the aluminum roof above him. Now he saw another figure, a girl about his age, obviously another ghost, this one was silent and looked very forlorn. She was dressed plainly in jeans and a pink top. She just sat there on an adjacent bench looking out over the water. Now Jacob's ghost walked into view, instantly the girl jumped-up and the two embraced. Jacob rubbed his eyes to be sure of what he was seeing. Just then the wind picked-up a little and Tim looked-down to see a scrap of newspaper wrapped around his leg. It was almost a month old and his eyes scanned the article. It was about a local girl whose body had been found at the same overlook Tim was at. Robbed, beaten, raped and later found there, dead. 

Tim, confused looked at the apparitions in front of him. They looked happy, like two lovers who had been separated for too long. "So this is your girlfriend?" Tim asked. Jacob nodded. Jacob pretended to be fighting-off people then pointed towards the water. "So you were down here with" Tim quickly scanned the article again "with Anne" The girl apparition waved meekly "when you two got attacked, they pushed you into the water?" The ghost of Jacob nodded than hugged a crying apparition of Anne. It made sense but Tim still had one more question, "Why were you down here to begin with?" Jacob's ghost motioned towards the water, the rain had stopped, the setting sun breaking through the clouds illuminating the lake below; it was breathtaking.

Tim looked back to the two smiling ghosts who had embraced and stared happily at the scene. They were at peace. The truth was out there now. They turned to walk away then stopped, Jacob shook his left-front pocket Tim shook his head "My pockets are empty, all my stuff is locked in the car". Jacob shook his pocket again so Tim reached into his own pants pocket and pulled-out the key fob from the Challenger. In shock Tim looked back-up in time to see the pair of ghosts disappeared into the gathering darkness Tim knew there would be no more ghostly visitors in his dreams.

The Challenger returned home with Tim, though not before he related the story of what had actually happened to his and Anne's families. The car no longer represented a painful scab and it was no longer cast away to the end of the driveway, it now lived in the garage. The dreams were gone, Tim returned to work the happy and driven person everyone had grown to rely on. It seemed Tim and Jacob needed closure and through a round-about way they both got it.



Ghost



I am a ghost.

I linger around your life. Sometimes you see me. Usually when you need me. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you touch me. 

I died several weeks ago. The death was painful. I underestimated the hunger, you see. It was bigger than me. Bigger than what I can hold onto.

I was near you, and the hunger -- it wouldn't leave me alone. It taunted me. Tortured me.

I tried to control it. I couldn't it. I drank to dull it. It didn't work. I drank more, but all it did was dull my control of it instead. And the hunger took over. 

I'd fought it for so long. I was tired of fighting. I let it win. I didn't know, even as I surrendered, how very big it was. And the things I dreamed of, the things that in my mind were perfect, were clouded, muddled and messy. If I could fall on my knees and beg for it to be taken back, I would. The kiss I wanted, I dreamed of, should have been left in my mind. I couldn't handle it. Somehow, I always knew I wouldn't be able to.

The days that followed were a bloody mess of humiliation and self-loathing, my death pangs. By the end of the dying process, I was wrung out of tears and the moment before my heart burst, the pain was agonizing. But then, blessed peace. Blessed quiet. I never knew how loud my beating heart was until it was gone.

And yet I live. I live on. The hunger, though it slept, still stirs. But now I respect it, and know how to handle it. I am a ghost. The hunger keeps my body, my lifeless body, in motion like a puppet master.

I float through the night, the chilly air. I don't feel cold. I feel the breeze pass me by as I fly, I float. The moon lights my way. The night is clear. I am a ghost. 

I haunt you.

You sleep. You don't know I am here. I float in the air above you. I look at your sleeping face. I am jealous of your peace. I look at your mouth. Your mouth that has kept me awake for hours, denying me the peace you sleep in blissfully. For my crimes, I need only to show your lips, your mouth, as evidence, and certainly any jury would acquit me for my temporary insanity.

I float closer, closer. I see your face move a bit. Your eyelids twitch. You sense my haunting now. I can see it. You breathe in my perfume. My nightgown is pale silk. It feels weightless, like me, floating. I can touch you, because it is just your dream. It is just my haunting.

I barely touch your hair, gently, and a faint smile touches your sleeping mouth. I smile too. This is a good dream, my love. Just a dream.

I am closer now, my body touches yours, though I am still suspended in air. I touch your face, my mouth near your ear. I whisper to you. I tell you what I want, and you stir. You turn, you let me nearer to your mouth. 

"Will you let me?" I whisper.

You lean your head back, as my hands touch you, touch your body, my mouth nuzzles your ear, your neck, and you turn to look at me now. I see a faint question in your eyes.

"It's just a dream...see....see how I float?" 

I show you my ghost-like weightlessness.

The questions in your eyes disappear and you close your eyes again, and I see, much like me before my death, that you've surrendered. Surrendered to me.

My hands explore your body as I pull the bed sheets from you, and you turn on your back. I see your mouth, I want it. But after what I've done, I can't bring myself to kiss you. The thought terrifies me. So instead, my mouth again moves to your neck.

Your hands find me. Tonight you can see me. You can touch me. 

"Let me give you what you need," I whisper.

"Will you let me?" I whisper. There's really no reason to ask. You already are letting me.

You nod in your sleepiness, and your hands stroke my back through my silky nightgown. It is cool to the touch but you feel my warmth, my heat just under it, like the ocean sun on your cool skin after a swim.

The silk makes it hard to stop touching me, doesn't it? So soft, so addictive. But don't go too far. This is about what you need. And giving you what you need, that's all I need. All I want.

I pull at your clothes. Pull them all away. Your fingers move up to my hair now as my mouth traces your naked skin, and my eyes flutter in pure ecstasy. The purest I have ever known. I feel your fingers coaxing my face to yours. But I can't kiss you, love. I am not worthy. I pull face from your hands. My mouth moves lower. Lower.

Your back arches in anticipation. My ghost heart feels joy. It feels reanimated. I shudder with it. My mouth, my hands find you. Find you hard and waiting for me. I hear a soft sigh and know you barely realize you made it. Your hands find my hair again, fingers twisted in it tightly.

I slide you into my mouth. This is all I want. All I ever wanted. We can't see it, but our eyes are fluttering in the same way with each of our sensations overwhelming us. My tongue works you, tasting you, my fingers stroking you, my hands holding you, as I slide you in and out of my mouth. The pace, so slow and excruciating, and you don't want this dream to end. You don't want it to stop. 

Don't worry love, I am here. I am here to give you everything you want. Everything you need.

Your hardness on my tongue drives me insane. I give into the hunger and use it for what I want. I control it and give it to you. Slowly, in and out of my hot, wet mouth. Can you feel it? Feel I want this more than you do? 

Almost.

My hips writhe in heat as I slide my mouth up and down, faster, you feel my tongue swirling around you, teasing you, and the pressure of my lips around you, all the way down. As far as you can go inside my mouth. And then all the way back up again. My tongue teasing you, licking you, before I slide you deep inside my mouth again. Just a little faster. You sigh again. It drives me harder. Hotter.

I pull my mouth away, and with my body, I press against you, and you are so hard. Starting from my neck, I shimmy my silk-covered body over you, stroking you with it, between my warm breasts, pushing you there, and your hands make fists in your bed sheets.

I move up, stroking you, warm and silky, and then take the bottom of my nightgown, wrapping you in it with my hand, and stroke you with my hand, up and down, through the slippery silk. Faster than my mouth. The sensation drives your back up, head back, and my hand, hot and fast, through the silk, almost getting you there. I can see it, and your eyes open now, and you watch me. 

I love your eyes. I want to see your explosion in them.

I pull my hand away now, and your fingers move to the straps of my nightgown, pushing it down as my mouth finds you again. You push it off, lifting me from you so it falls entirely and moves down my body, so you can see me, see my hard nipples as my mouth works you now in a hungry frenzy. Your eyes don't leave me, now half-naked, watching you slide in and out of my mouth, faster, your hands pull my hair, and you're almost there. I feel you tremble on my tongue.

"Give it to me," I whisper to you. And with your head back one last time, I feel you shudder from deep within, and you come for me, come inside my mouth, and as you do, I swallow you more deeply than I have, my tongue working you deep and fast.

My hunger is greedy. It knows no bounds. I want more.

I finally let you go, and wrap my arms around your waist, my cheek on your belly. We lay there quietly for a few minutes. 

"Come here," you whisper. I realize this is the first time you've said anything at all.

I float to you, to your side. I am warm and next to you, and you push me onto my back, and pull away my nightgown. 

"You want me," I say.

"Yes," you whisper.

I close my eyes, as your hands touch me, touch my body, and I lick my lips as I look at your mouth. It is so close. The hunger groans within me.

You see it in my eyes. You've seen it before but denied it.

Your fingers touch my face. I see your hunger. It makes me tremble. I shake.

You're going to have to kiss me, but you won't. You wait. 

My hips move. My mouth is slightly open. Your fingers tighten in my hair. I see your eyes have moved from mine, and are focused on my mouth.

This moment is more erotic than any fucking could me. My breathing is faster. You lick your lips. I can't bear it. I bite my lower lip to not whimper for mercy from my hunger. And yours.

But I'm not saying a word. I won't beg you. I won't kiss you. I can't.

But your mouth. Your lips. So full. So soft. So warm. My hunger is simmering close to the surface and is about to boil over.

Your fingers leave my hair to find my lips, and your eyes haven't left them. No. I can't take it.

"No. Don't. My lips. My lips are ticklish. I can't..," I whisper.

"I know," you say, smiling.

To add to my insanity, my lips are so ticklish that I can't take them being touched. Especially by you.

I try to block your hand, but you are quicker than me, and roll me on my back, my fighting you only urging you on. Holding my hands over my head now, your fingers find my lips and the sensation makes my heart race. Makes me turn my head back and forth to get away.

"Stop, stop," I whisper.

My mouth opens and my tongue finds your fingers, I bite you and suck your finger into my mouth, and the feeling of my tongue breaks you.

You pull your fingers from my mouth, let my hands go, and with your arm under my neck, you take my mouth with yours. And oh God, the hunger.

I can't let go. Your tongue finds mine. I shake. I try so hard to be quiet. But it is nearly impossible. Your hands dig into my back. Mine are in your hair. I lose my breath. I'd suffocate if I wasn't dead already.

You move over me, above me, and then. Then you are inside of me.

Now it is my back that arches, my eyes that close, and you that goes slowly. So slowly. For both of us. Your hands on my hips, slowly, slowly, we move together, and I float lighter than when I am suspended in the air above you.

I fly higher than my ghostly wings carry me. We fly together. There is no gravity. Nothing holding us to anything but each other. I open my eyes and yours are on me. You move faster now, and I remember that I want to give you what you need, so I move.

I move to push you to your back, never losing you inside me, and I move over you, riding, rocking, running my fingernails down your chest, gently, faster, not hard, not wild, steady. Steady. Rhythmic, on my knees, hips in a circle, hips back and forth. I watch your face. It is hypnotic, watching what is washing over it.

We float higher. Higher, I am carrying you now, lifting you higher, rocking faster, now harder, moving to feeling you in, and out, in and out. We are almost there.

You take me now, you want to be over me. Have that control. You know that's what I need. You want to give me what I need. 

And you do. My back arches more. My fingers twist in your bed, dig into your arms, and I can't look in your eyes, but I can't not either. 

Now, love. Now. 

I drive my fist into my mouth and break the skin with my teeth as my body bursts with life -- the life I've lost. The life I've not missed until now. You've shocked my heart back into beating. And I know you feel it too.

You pull me too you and wrap your arms around me, but I can already feel the air lifting me and taking me from you.

I give you one last kiss. I no longer fear your mouth. 

"Stay," you whisper. 

"I can't," I say, and touch your face, your mouth softly in a goodbye, as I lower you to your bed in sleep.

I leave you in your peace, and float back into the air, and my silky nightgown clings to me, warm and soft.

Your dreams are sweet.

In your peace, I find mine. In your eyes, my heart beats.

But you don't always see me, unless you need me.

You sometimes don't feel me, and you almost never touch me. I linger around your life. I have no place in it. 

I am a ghost. My hunger is stronger than death.

In our dreams, in your arms, I love.

And live.

The end.



Ghost



He isn't there anymore.

Sometimes I'm not sure if he ever existed or was a creation of my over wild imagination that wanted something special, something unique. Sometimes I wonder of I dream about him long enough, think about him often enough, he would become back. And yet at other times I hope that he never returns so that moment we shared would be kept special. Half way up this two hundred block stretch of dirt road is a fork, where the left side goes to another town and the other side goes to a cemetery.

This was his ground.

This is where I saw him and saw him no place else. He always was on the outbound side going away from the bright city lights with their glittering dreams of whatever they may be. The older part of the cemetery with its large marvelous headstones and crypts was on the outbound side. He stood almost motionless on the side of the road as if he was waiting for a bus or a ride that never came. I don't know how long he was there before I noticed him. It couldn't have been long.

It is hard to miss a man with shoulder length dirty blond hair and white face that glowed always wearing a long black trench coat billowing in the wind, black pants and a black shirt standing on the edge of a highway. I'm not even sure how many times I passed this man with my interest growing each day till one night I pulled into the parking lot of the mausoleum, parking my car behind bushes.

I got out and walked to him. The whole time I felt he was watching me and yet not watching me a paradox unto itself. When I reached him and looked into his eyes I shuddered and knew I had to have him. His eyes was the purest blue I ever seen. They weren't empty nor full, they weren't warm nor cold, they were simply nothing, as if they were there just to be there. I have spent many hours thinking of a better way to describe them but the only words I could see.

We stared at each other for long time oblivious to the traffic rushing by us. If he was a ghost and only I could have seen him I must have been a lunatic gazing so stupidly out into space along the side of the highway and the cemetery as if I was caught between two worlds. He held up a small porcelain hand showing me a small silver band with a small heart shaped gem set into it. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two largest bills I had. He barely looked at the bills and gave a faint nod. he took my free hand in his and led me into the cemetery. I was hypnotized by him at this point so I could not say any of my senses were working correctly but the skin of him hand felt so smooth.

I did feel any of the usual lines or creases of his hand. He led me deep into the cemetery until the road had faded except for the stream of lights and an occasional diesel engine rumbling by. Beyond those it was so still and so dark that everything appeared to glow in it's own aura, especially him. He came to a stop and listened for a moment. I'm not quite sure what he was listening for but finally, as if he had received some sort of sign, he turned with a effortlessly graceful motionless spin to me. He pressed himself up against me and though I felt his form against me, and yet I felt very little weight.

He kissed me fully on the lips and I felt the heat of him surge into me. His tongue slipped into my mouth and I felt myself open up to him. He eased me back as if I was gradually stepping back with no force being applied. In the matter of moments I felt myself leaning against the back of a smooth tombstone monument. I felt him every part against me. he kissed me fully, entirely and then slowly inched down my lips, sucking on the lower one before going down to my chin, down the center of my neck, resting at the hollow between my clavicles.

Until his descent to me, his eyes had hypnotized me by focusing on mine blanking all other sensations beyond his lips, his tongue, and his penetrating gaze. I had not realized he had unbuttoned my blouse and pulled my bra underneath my breasts. With his pointed tongue serving as an artist's brush against the canvas of my skin he made figure eights around the base of my breasts and with agonizing slowness made the assent of my breasts making them perk up, the nipples becoming hard and pointed like cherries on top of a chocolate drizzled sundae. My back arched wanting him to take all of my breast in his mouth. But he refused. He took his own sweet time. His hands gently and slowly caressed down my naked sides tickling me, him finger swam to my belly button bringing me into laughter and breaking the overwhelming seriousness of the moment. A hand slipped into my pants, past my panties and went between my legs.

He felt my shaved pubic mound that was slick with wetness. One finger slipped into me easily and set me on fire, suddenly a second one entered, no sooner then they entered they began to dance together inside me. My body rubbed against the cold headstone as my head slams in against it in aching desire. His other hand undoes my pants and one climatic thrust pulls them and my panties down.

A brief wondering thought of if death is as icy cold as the headstone is. I answer my own thought thinking both it can't be and it makes the perfect balance to all the heated emotions life brings. He was on his knees. His hands on my rounded hips. His eyes staring at my pubic mound that glittered with my juices in the full moonlight. His tongue perfectly traced my engorged lower lips. My whole body was bucking against his face. I needed him inside me. I didn't care what part of him entered me as long he entered me. His tongue entered me with one full thrust. The wet sandpaper texture, almost like a cat's tongue, of his tongue reached into me farther than I believed any tongue could reach. I screamed at the suddenness of the entry, the deepness of the entry. He drank from my heated core and I felt myself pour into him. He released me into the stars with an explosion of warmth, and pleasure. He released me into the heavens. My whole body shook.

The shaking went on for a long time but slowly I came back to earth and my body slowed down but the warmth remained.

I suddenly shook my head trying to push back the daze I was in and realized I was in my car and barely made the turn onto my block.



Ghost



Thanks are due as always to my editors, PapaKilo14 and Hal for the good work they do. My beta readers are Pixel the Cat, GeorgeAnderson and Olddave1951. I have an awesome team of kind and gracious gentlemen that keep me from looking stupid (any more than I do). Thanks guys, I love you. For those of you who know how regulated aircraft maintenance is, please allow me to take liberties with the facts. I know it isn't really like this.




It's easy to disappear when you have money. It's very difficult to find someone who doesn't want to be found, especially if you don't have money and they do. I know because I'm a ghost. I leave an electronic track every now and again, just to keep things interesting. I've been a ghost for five years. I'm not the spirit kind of ghost, I'm the kind that's flesh and blood, all right, you just can't find me unless I want you to. The ghost's name is Caine Brockman.

I'm an aircraft engine mechanic. Once I was the owner of a multi-million dollar business that repaired and maintained helicopter engines for the US military. When I disappeared, all the assets and cash were gone and the business was belly up.

A good mechanic can get a job at nearly any small airport in the country. I had to learn piston engines, but I had plenty of time. You show up at an airport and there's always a plane or two that's grounded. If you talk to the owner and find out how much it was going to cost to repair it, they are usually happy to talk price and pay cash for something good and cheap. Word spreads and I have all the work I want. I don't spend my money I've got stashed away, I just spend what I earn. That keeps me from making splashes that might be noticed. I don't pay taxes, don't have a bank account, Facebook or Twitter and my cell phones are pre-paid throwaways.

I can't rent a car because I don't have a credit card but I don't bother anyway. I own a motor home. It's in the name of a guy that died 20 years ago. I rent it from his wife. She'll never talk; I put her two kids through college after her husband died while he was working for me. She keeps up the license and taxes and I live in it. I also have a little scooter. It's classified as a bicycle so it doesn't require a license. When I get to where I want to be, I park the motor home in a park and ride the scooter. I stay in warm places so I don't have to worry about weather.

You may wonder why I'm a ghost. The answer is simple. I used to have a family. They might still be looking for me. I don't want them to find me.

Back when I had a family and a company, I took a chance. I was offered a contract to work overseas. My wife, Gwen, my two daughters, Allicent and Marisol who were sixteen and thirteen at the time, and I sat around the kitchen table and talked it over. It meant a lot of money. I figured that by the time I had been working the contract 18 months, we'd have enough to retire. Hell, I already had enough to retire. This was fuck you money. I'd be gone three months at a time and then home for a month. Everyone agreed that they could live without me for 18 months and then we'd be together all the time, permanently. It took eight months for the events to transpire that led to my ghosthood.

Gwen got lonely. There was no one there at night for her to snuggle up to. Her bed felt empty. She was emotionally unfulfilled. Apparently, the girls felt it, too. Not the empty bed, but all the rest of the bullshit I heard when I found out, and I found out. Fortunately for them, there was a football coach at the school where she worked as a secretary who also felt emotionally unfulfilled. He knew it was only a fling. His wife didn't know he was unfulfilled. She didn't understand him. He was a high school hero and he needed more than she could provide. They were very careful. They took all sorts of precautions because she loved and respected me. I just wasn't there and she had needs. There would be no repercussions; she respected me too much for that. Gwen didn't love him, she loved only me, but I wasn't there. They always used condoms, so there was no danger of pregnancy or STDs. Apparently, my daughters needed help with strength and conditioning. Gwen needed a cock and the two just happened to be wrapped up in one neat package.

It was also utter bullshit. I found out almost as soon as it started. One of my friends just happened to mention that he saw Gwen and the dickwad having dinner at an out of the way restaurant in a neighboring town. Of course, the first thing I did was get evidence. The PI had an easy job. He caught them at the local Holiday Inn. I authorized him to bug the house and our phones. Nothing ever happened at the house but the Holiday Inn was a different story. I had pictures and video evidence and I was ready. He did tell me that Gwen had ended the relationship, but at that point, I didn't give a damn. I made all my financial arrangements and flew home. She wept and vowed her eternal love and devotion. The girls cried and told me how much they loved me. I was their father, but their mother had explained it all to them. She had needs and it didn't mean anything. That was what hurt me more than anything. My daughters were my pride and joy. I had been the center of their universe and my little princesses were on the highest pedestals in that universe. We had been inseparable. We did everything together. If I went to the grocery store, they wanted to go. They had been so proud of me that they showed me off to their girlfriends and they were never too big to hug Daddy or embarrassed for me to put my arm around them in public. For them to justify their mother's actions in any way was inconceivable to me. I couldn't get my mind around it. I knew Gwen had twisted them up, but this pain was almost more than I could stand. Of course it was just sex, Gwen assured me. She loved only me and we would spend the rest of our lives together. I agreed that it was only sex, it didn't mean anything, that I was glad she had been so discreet and congratulated the girls on having such a mature attitude. I told them I would just take a little walk and clear my head.

I walked around the block and called a cab. It took me to the bank and I completed everything I had set up. I then caught another cab to the hangar and took the Bell Ranger. I headed southwest and my phone started ringing. I let it go to voicemail. I must have received more than a hundred calls and texts in the next eight hours. I saved them all to investigate later. By the time I landed in Texarkana I had a buyer set up for the chopper and Lilly met me with the motor home. The next time I stopped was in El Paso. I listened to all the voice mails and read all the texts.

They were curious at first, wondering where I was and what was taking so long. They wanted to go out to eat with me and celebrate my return. They grew concerned and then angry. The anger gave way to sorrow, then desperation and, finally, panic. They pleaded for me to call and just talk. They knew I must be upset. They would come and get me, wherever I was. It didn't matter what it took, they were going to make it up to me.

Then my parents and Gwen's got involved. I found out the depths of their complicity, too. They had known all along and they understood. I needed to just swallow my pride and accept that Gwen loved only me. I couldn't expect her to just sit around and wait for me. My girls needed me and I was just throwing away a wonderful life.

Well, it had been nice, but that was then. This was now and I knew just how big a castle in the sky I had built in my own mind. I cried like a baby, I cursed like a sailor. I decided to drink myself into oblivion. That lasted until the first time I woke up feeling like a dried cow turd. It wasn't the first time I'd woken up with a hangover after a drunken night, but it was definitely a new low. I decided this couldn't continue so instead of getting up to crawl to the bar for a little 'hair of the dog' I went back to sleep. I slept for 16 hours; when I woke it felt like a big, dark thing that had been weighing on my mind had vanished and left me strangely calm and more rested than I'd been in 20 years.

It felt good and I went to the diner and got breakfast. When I got back to the motor home, I went to the store and got a ream of paper. I had my laptop and I wrote letters to my former family. I laid out for them what I'd done. I told them I wished them luck with their new life. They couldn't keep the house. I'd taken out a home equity loan and on Gwen's salary; they could never make the payments. They would have no insurance unless she could get the girls on her policy at school. The leases on the cars wouldn't be paid, and unless Gwen could keep up, they'd soon be in default. They had ten days to get the utilities into Gwen's name and then they'd be turned off. I was gone and I wasn't coming back. Her lover's wife would be receiving a copy of all the evidence I had collected before the day was over, as would the school board members and parents at school. I never wanted to see them again.

My loving parents received their own set of letters. I wished them luck in their declining years and hoped they could console themselves with the fact that they still had a slut daughter and two faithless granddaughters they could commiserate with. I also included letters detailing their involvement to their pastor, Dad's brothers and Mom's sister. They were all religious folks and I knew some fancy dancing wouldn't get them out of that hot water.

I put the letters in boxes and dropped them at FedEx for overnight delivery. That brought on a fresh set of calls and texts. At first I was a cold, unfeeling bastard that deserved everything that had happened. As the reality of their situation set in, the tone changed again to pleading and protestations of undying love and devotion. Everything would be okay if only I could forgive them and give them a chance to make it up to me. I kept track for a week and then dropped the phone in an irrigation canal in southern New Mexico.

That was five years ago and I was working on a plane in Mesa, Arizona. I heard a car pull up outside the hangar and after a bit the door opened. I was laying half inside the engine compartment and I felt a tug on my pants leg. I wiggled out and there was a young couple standing and looking up at me. The young lady looked vaguely familiar.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

The young lady cleared her throat. "Dad," she said. "Don't you know who I am?"

It was Allicent! I didn't say anything; I just climbed down the ladder and went to wash my hands. They stood outside the restroom and waited. When I was done I walked past them and outside to my bike. She came running out as I was pulling away and she was calling something but I never caught it. I was taking down the awning on the motor home when a black BMW pulled up. She got out of the passenger door and the young man got out of the driver's side.

He started this time. "Mr. Brockman, you don't know me. My name is Andrew Waters. I'm Allicent's fiancé. We've been looking for you for a long time. Your family has been looking for you for five years."

I stopped rolling up the awning. "Why?" I asked. "I thought I made myself clear."

"You did, sir," he said, "quite clear. The problem is, I want very much to marry your daughter. When I learned the story of what happened I broke up with her. I felt like my heart had been torn out. I couldn't believe she had been a part of something so despicable and I wanted nothing to do with her. She didn't give up. She's really a very remarkable girl, sir. I think you'd like her if you got to know her. She asked me what it would take for her to get back to the place where we were before. I realized that what she had done to you was what kept me from accepting her back. She told me that she had been wishing for years that she could go back and change what had happened. That's impossible sir, but I told her she could straighten out what was going to happen in the future. I want to marry her and I want your blessing. I want to have children with her and I want them to have a grandfather. I want their grandfather to love our children and for them to love him. So, Allie is here to make that happen. If I leave her here, will you promise me that you'll give her a chance?"

I looked over at her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was wringing her hands. She looked like she was about to pass out.

"How long were you planning to leave her?" I asked.

"At least a week," he said. "I was hoping for more like a month. I have business to attend to in South America. Can I leave her with you?"

I looked at her. She was beautiful. She reminded me so much of her mother. I felt the ground open under my feet and all those feelings of pain and anger came bubbling to the surface. I had put a bandage on that wound and now it was being torn off, leaving me raw and bleeding again. Her mother, she looked like her mother. God, how I hated that woman. Please, God, how I loved her. I didn't want to love her and everything about Allison just exposed me to the world as a fraud and a liar. Worst of all, I lied to myself every day for five years. I couldn't go through this again! I opened my mouth to say no and she took two steps toward me and fell on her knees at my feet. Her arms wrapped around my legs and she pressed her cheek against my thigh.

"Please, Daddy, I'm begging you," she sobbed. "Don't throw me away. I was sixteen years old. I was stupid and I'm so sorry. I've been living in hell ever since you left. Please don't punish me anymore. I've never stopped loving you. I'm so sorry and so sad and so full of remorse. Please, don't destroy me. You're the only one that can help me. I know what kind of man you are. I'm sorry I didn't know that all along. If you let me, I'll spend the rest of your life loving you and showing you how much I love you."

She clung to me, weeping softly and I looked at Andrew. He raised one eyebrow in question and I nodded. I reached down and pulled Allie up. "Give your fiancé something to remember for a month," I told her, pushing her toward him.

She threw herself into his arms, sobbing and laughing at the same time, giving him a kiss that made my toes curl. He held her tightly for a long moment and then disengaged. He took two suitcases and a bag out of the trunk, put them down and turned to me. "Take good care of her, sir," he said. "I'll be in touch."

She ran back to me and threw her arms around me. We watched together as the BMW drove away and she looked up at me hopefully. "Come on," I told her. "We need to get this awning back up."

We worked together and having something to do kind of kept the awkwardness at bay. By the time we got the utilities hooked back up and everything squared away, it was dinnertime.

That gave us something else to do and we talked about dinner and cooking. I had a pork tenderloin in the refrigerator and we sliced it up, breaded it and fried it. Allie peeled potatoes and mashed them and I made gravy in the skillet where I fried the tenderloin. We had corn on the cob to go with it and I gave her a beer. She said she didn't like beer, but I thought we could use the tension relief. We sat together on the sofa while we ate and talked about her life.

She was going to college. She had done a program in high school that paid for her first two years at a community college. She was getting ready to graduate and transfer her next semester. I asked her where she wanted to go and she told me she was going to one of the state board of regents' schools. She wanted to go to a small private school but even with scholarships and grants, she couldn't swing it.

I felt very guilty about that, but we'd see how it went. We had ice cream with chocolate syrup for dessert and she was just like the little girl I remembered except a little pensive. She had the same cute little giggle and she had grown up to be a gorgeous young woman. I asked her if she wanted to watch something on TV but she said she just wanted to talk to me.

"I have so many things I want to tell you," she said. "I've been wanting to tell you for years. I'm so sorry, Dad. I know it's my fault but I've needed you so bad."

She cried a little bit and I pulled her over against me. She leaned against me and curled her legs up like she did when she was little. I knew none of this had been her fault, she was just caught up in the explosion. I had my princess back and it felt really, really good. I had to ask about Marisol.

"She's okay," Allie said. "She misses you as much as I do. We were wrong, Dad. We know that now. I wish I had just thrown a fit when Mom started hanging out around that asshole. I should have tried to stop her. I should have told you. I know that now, but I was confused and stupid and she made it all sound so reasonable. It would just be while you were gone and then everything would be happy again, except it wasn't. I think Mari would come and stay with you in a minute if you would let her. She kind of hates Mom. She feels like... we both feel like she manipulated us. I know we should have done better, but we weren't thinking right. Do you think you'll ever want to talk to Mari, Dad?"

"Maybe," I said. "We'll see. Let's just figure you and me out and then we'll worry about other stuff. How did you find me, Allie?"

"I didn't," she said. "Andrew did. He's kind of rich, Dad. His uncle is some kind of government spook. He hired lots of detectives. He would hire some and then fire them when they couldn't find you. It took us two years. The last company had men hanging out around airfields, hoping to get some word about you. We found some people you'd worked for and they gave us other people until, here I am."

"Yes, here you are," I looked down at her all curled up against me. "I've missed you, Allie. I feel cheated. I feel like all the best years of my life got cut out with a dull knife and I'm just left with only the bleeding pieces."

She began to cry again. "I know, Daddy. I feel the same way. The difference is I was helping hold the knife. I just feel so good being with you like this. I'm a Christian, Daddy. I became one when I was seventeen and I've been praying for four years that I'd find you someday and you'd let me be your daughter again. I promise that if you do, you'll never regret it. Will you?"

I squeezed her tight. "Yes, baby. We just need to get connected again. I always figured you just hated me and had no respect for me. I never thought you'd want me again."

She looked horrified. "My God, Daddy, no! That's not true at all. I always loved you. You were always my hero." She sobbed a little. "I can't imagine how hurt you must have been. It wasn't until I met Andrew that I realized what Mom had done to you. I started thinking about what I would feel like if he did to me what Mom did to you, what we all did to you."

"Okay, baby, I get it," I told her.

"No, Dad, I need to say this. I have literally been living in hell for five years. After you left, I knew it was partially my fault. It was mostly Mom's but it was partly mine. I felt so bad about myself and I hated her. We had nothing. We barely ate, we got our clothes at the thrift store, we lived in crappy, dump apartments and we cried every day. The worst part was knowing we were getting exactly what we deserved."

I was feeling awful now. All that rage and anger and pain that had driven me was gone. I began to realize what a huge mistake I had made. I never gave my girls a chance. They had just been children and I'd treated them like they were as guilty as Gwen was. It still rankled that they had taken her side and supported her, but they were just kids. I still felt like I was justified in what I did, but it all now seemed futile and hollow. "I'm sorry, Allie, I just didn't feel like the three of you left me many options," I told her.




Ghost



"I understand," she said. "My only hope was that someday I would find you and you would forgive me. Can you forgive me, Daddy?"

"Yes, Allicent, I know this wasn't your fault. You just got caught up in the explosion. I don't know if I could have a few years ago, but now I can." I sat for a minute and we said nothing while thoughts whirled through my mind. "Allie, I need for you to forgive me, too. I had no right to do what I did to you and Mari. I completely failed you as a man and a father. No matter what you did, you were my babies and I should have taken care of you. I should have kept track of you and made sure you had the things you needed. I was just so angry and so hurt that I couldn't get over it. Will you forgive me, sweetheart?"

"Oh, yes, Daddy!" she said. "I would probably have done the same thing or worse if I had been in your place. Where do we go from here?"

"Let's just take baby steps. I like your fiancé a lot," I told her. "He seems like a great guy. How did you meet him?"

She spent a long time telling me that story and by the time she finished it was getting late. There's not much space in an RV, but I did have two good beds. There's a third, but it isn't so good. There's not enough room in the bathroom for two people, so I went off to the facilities at the RV Park and she used the one in the RV. By the time I got back, she was ready for bed and she kissed me goodnight.

"I'm so happy, Daddy," she said as she hugged me. "It feels like a big black cloud has been lifted off me. I love you and thank you for giving me a chance."

I squeezed her tight. "Thank you for not giving up," I said. "We're going to make it, baby."

That was one of the best weeks of my life. I don't ever remember spending a week alone with Allicent, just her and me. She was an amazing young woman. We got comfortable around each other and by the end of the first week, we were pals. We didn't spend a single minute apart and we fell in love all over again. She made me feel like the king of the world. Andrew called her every couple of days and he talked to me twice. I liked him more than I ever believed I would like one of my daughters' boyfriends. On Monday, she told me she needed to call Marisol and her mother to let them know that she was okay.

"Daddy, can I tell Mari I found you?" she asked.

"How is that going to work?" I asked. "How are you going to do that without your mother finding out?"

"I was thinking about telling her, too," she said.

I stiffened up immediately and she jumped up and came to sit on my lap. She wound her arms around my neck and I relaxed.

"Dad, aren't you tired of hiding and running? How is it going to work when Andrew and I get married? I want you to give me away. I want you in my life. How can that happen if you don't face things and just get it over? Are you afraid of Mom?"

"Terrified," I admitted. "Do you think she'll try to go after me? I pretty much stripped everything I could get my hands on. I expect she could cause some legal problems for me if she wanted to."

"I don't think that's going to happen," she said. "If it does, you can just disappear again. This time, you can't disappear from me though. I'll even help you. I'll test the water and find out what Mom is thinking. Will you trust me?"

"I do trust you, Allie," I told her. "I don't trust your mother. I need to think about this."

"Can I at least tell Mari that you'll talk to her, that she can see you?" she asked.

"Yes, but it won't be right away. Jesus, Allie, I'm just getting used to you; let me go slow. Give me a chance to get back into Dad mode, okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm so sorry that I ever let you get out of it."

"I believe you, honey," I said. "Stop apologizing. It's over and we're building something else. I'm falling in love with the amazing woman you've become."

She just melted against me and we held each other, talking and whispering for hours. It was time for her to call and she let me listen. She called Marisol's phone and they talked for a few minutes. Finally, Mari couldn't wait any longer.

"Did you find him?" she asked.

"Yes, Mari," Allie said. "He's just as awesome as we remembered."

"What did he say?" Mari asked. "When he saw you, was he still mad? Did he ask about me?"

"Yeah, I found him and he didn't say a word," Allie said. "He just walked out and left us standing there. We followed him to where he was staying and Drew talked to him. I think he was just going to disappear but I literally crawled over, held him by the legs and begged him not to throw me away. He let me stay, Mari, and it's been the best week of my life."

"Did he say anything about me?" Mari asked. "Is he going to let me talk to him?"

"Yes, but not right now," Allie said. "I'm trying to figure out some way we can get you together with him without Mom finding out."

"I have no idea how to do that," Mari said. "What, are we going to sneak around? That's what started all this to begin with. Are we going to become Mom?"

"No, of course not," Allie said. "I don't know what to do either. Let me talk to Dad and we'll figure something out."

They talked for a while longer and Gwen got on the line. She insisted that she wanted to know where Allicent was and what she was doing.

"Mom, I'm an adult," Allie said. "I don't have to account to you for my whereabouts. I'm doing something personal and it's none of your business. I'm just calling you to let you know that I'm fine, I'm busy and I'll probably be here for a while. Andrew brought me here and he knows where I am."

"I'm going to make Mari tell me," Gwen said.

"Well, good luck with that," Allie said. "If she tells me that you've been bullying her I won't call you again. Mother, I love you, but this is something I have to do and I expect you to respect me and trust me enough to let me do it."

"Allicent, are you looking for your father again?" Gwen asked. "Have you found him; is that what you're doing? If you have, baby, please tell me. I won't ask where he is. Just tell me he's alive and ask him to please, please talk to me. Tell him I'm so sorry and I've changed. You know I have, Allie. Please tell him. Please, Allie, I'm begging you. If you have a shred of love for me, ask him to talk to me."

Allie looked at me and raised one eyebrow. I nodded and she mouthed a thank you to me.

"Okay, Mom. Yes, I've found him. He's alive and well and I'm with him. If you let Mari come and see him, maybe he'll talk to you. I'll ask him, okay?"

There was the sound of wracking sobs and incoherent attempts to speak for a while. Finally, she got control of herself enough to speak. "Thank you, God," she breathed. "Thank you, Allicent. Yes, of course I'll let Marisol come and see him. I won't ask any questions, just please, please find some way for me to talk to him. I'll do anything. I won't cause any problems, I swear to God I won't."

"Okay, Mom, I'll ask him," Allie said. "Love you, and tell Mari I love her. I'll let you know." She ended the call and looked at me for a minute.

I could tell she was looking for approval but I was kind of frozen. I couldn't move or speak and my mind was whirling. I was almost in a panic. I felt as if I should jump up, push Allie out the door and drive away as fast as I could. I think she saw it in my eyes and she ran over and sat on my lap, holding onto me like I was a life preserver and she was drowning. I felt like I was the one that was drowning.

"Just give me a minute to catch my breath," I told her.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," she apologized. "I know this is such a shock to you. It must feel like your whole life is being turned upside down again. Just tell me this: have you been happy for the last five years?"

"I've been okay," I said. "Well, no, that's a lie. No, of course I haven't been happy. I live in a freaking RV; I was cut off from everyone and everything I loved. I've been living like a fugitive. The only relationships I've had are short term and I felt like I was just filling time until I died. Hell no, Allicent, I haven't been happy. What did you think?"

I was nearly yelling by the time I finished and she cringed down a little, but she just took it. "It's okay, Dad," she said. "I understand and I know it's partly my fault. I know I deserve anything you say to me," she was crying again.

Damn, every time I opened my mouth I was making her cry. I guess all that bottled up anger and hurt was bubbling up. I had thought I didn't have those feelings any more. I guess I was wrong. I had to get a grip on that because I was hurting Allie and that's the last thing I wanted to do. I hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry, baby; I didn't mean to yell at you. What were you saying?"

"I've been so worried about you. You're fifty-two years old. You're not getting any younger and I need you around close to me so I can take care of you."

I laughed. "You make it seem like I'm ready for the nursing home! I don't need to be taken care of; I need to take care of you, not the other way around."

"Yes, but I want to be able to see you all the time," she said. "Mari is dying without you. I'm worried about her, Dad. She's been getting more and more depressed and wild ever since you left. Mom is just a mess, did you know that?"

"No, I didn't know that. I don't keep track of her, Allie. It's not my fault, whatever happens to her. We sat down and talked about what was going to happen before I ever left on that job. You know that; you were there. If anyone had been unhappy with it, I wouldn't have done it. You all agreed. Gwen agreed. It was going to be 18 months, I was going to retire and we were all going to be together for good. Jesus Christ, Allie, it was 18 months! If she was so unhappy, why didn't she just tell me and I'd have never done it?"

"I don't know," she said. "I think she believed you would never know, things would just go back to normal and we'd all just ride off into the sunset. I know she didn't love the creep. He was just a warm body, Dad. Do you know that she hasn't been with anyone since you left?"

"No, I didn't know that. I told you I don't keep track of her, Allie. Why are you telling me this?"

"I know you don't want to hear it, Dad, but she has changed. She's worked like a dog to keep everything together. She lost her job at the school and so did the creep. She worked 3 to 11 at the hospital and then got up and went to college every day for four years. She's an RN now and she makes good money. She's made Mari and me her life. She hasn't been on a date, she doesn't socialize, nothing. She works and works out and comes home, that's it. She still loves you, you know."

"No, I don't know," I said. "I don't know that she ever did. Why would I think that?"

"Because of what she's done since you left. She pulled herself together and did what she needed to do to keep food on the table. She never went on a single date. She never tried to divorce you, even though she could have when you abandoned us. I think for the first couple of years she thought you would be coming back every day. She kept her hopes up, but she's been getting more and more desperate. She tried everything she could think of to find you. She would get her tax refund and spend every dime on detectives. Money was very tight for a long time, but she would save and pinch pennies so she could try to find you. She cries every night when she's alone in her room or when she thinks Mari and I can't see her. She works out obsessively. I asked her why once and she said that when you came back she didn't want it to be to a fat, saggy old woman. I'm afraid that she'd almost given up hope. I've been afraid she was going to take her own life. I think she was just holding on until Mari and I were on our own. I've been scared to death, Daddy."

That didn't really answer my question, but it gave me something to think about. Would a woman who didn't love me have gone through all that? Why hadn't she divorced me or found someone to replace me? Plainly, Allie thought this was information I needed to have, but the question was still hanging there.

I have to admit that I was a little shocked. I just figured Gwen was a slut and she'd be hooked up with the next guy with a hard on before I was out of town. She couldn't wait 18 months and now Allie was telling me she hadn't been with a man in five years? It just didn't make sense. Gwen had always been a magnet for men. They swirled around her like a swarm of bees and she was the honey. Now she had no social life and didn't date? Either I was wrong about her or she just got better at hiding her affairs.

"Baby, are you sure you know what's going on with your mother?" I asked. "I was gone for just a few months and she was... sleeping with that asshole. Now you're telling me that she hasn't been with a single man for five years?"

"Well, for the first few years she didn't have time," Allie explained. "She was working full time in the afternoons and going to school during the day. I expect she was exhausted. She was also dealing with two very angry daughters and the knowledge that she'd thrown away her marriage and her life just so she could fuck the asshole."

"Allie!" I exclaimed. "I don't like you to use words like that!"

"Sorry, Daddy, but that's what it was," she laughed. "I don't use words like that, but that's the only thing that fits. She didn't love him; she claims that she's never loved anyone but you. She was just horny and you weren't there. He was just a walking dildo."

"Well, I'd just as soon she had used one that didn't have legs and a chrome dome attached to it," I said.

Allie howled with laughter. "Yeah, me too. You can't imagine how it griped my soul to have to be civil with that jerk at school. Do you think you can talk to her, Daddy?"

I could feel my stomach churning. I knew this was coming but I had been refusing to face it. Could I talk to her? Would I be calm and dispassionate or would all that rage take over and just try to destroy her? What would I say? Sorry, you're a slut and I can never forgive you? I'm still desperately in love with you? Fuck you, Gwen, I never want to see you again? Can you forgive me for never giving you a chance to fix anything? I had it to do, but my ambivalence was overwhelming.

"I have no idea what I'd say," I told her. "I have no idea what she'd say either. What is there to say? We agreed that I should go. If she'd given me the slightest indication that it wouldn't be okay, I would never have gone. Somehow, 'I'm sorry,' just doesn't seem adequate."

"I understand," she said. "I don't know what she wants to say. Maybe she wants to unsay some things. That line we handed you sounds a lot lamer to a twenty-one-year-old than it did to a sixteen-year-old. Maybe she wants to take that back. You'll never know until you hear it. At the very least, you'll fix things so you can be a part of my life and Mari's life again. I need that so badly, Daddy. Mari does too. I worry about her."

"Anything I need to be concerned about?" I asked.

"Of course you need to be concerned," she said. "She's your daughter."

She felt me stiffen at that remark and she was instantly contrite. "Oh, my God, I can't believe I just said that. I'm so sorry, Daddy. I know we don't have any right to expect you to feel like that."

I relaxed. "No, it's okay, baby. You're right. I've been a terrible father. If I'm going to be around, I need to be concerned. It just felt for a long time like none of you were concerned about me."

"No, that's not true," she protested. "There was that short time when I was so stupid and I know that I just didn't think about you. Before, and after, you were the most important person in the world to me. Mari feels like that too. So does Mom. God, Daddy, you're all I've thought about for five years. Well, for the last four years, I've thought about Drew too, but I'm very concerned about you. Don't ever think I'm not. I swear I'll never give you a reason to feel like that again."

She snuggled up against me and I squeezed my princess. "It's a lot to get used to again," I said. "What's Mari doing that I should be concerned about?"

"You'll have to get her to tell you," she said. "I think once she gets a chance to see you and to know you still love her she'll be fine. You do still love us, don't you Dad?"

I kissed the top of her head. "Yes, I do, Angel. I never stopped loving you. I fell in love with you the first time I felt you moving around inside your mother. The first time I held you at the hospital I cried like a baby. I didn't ever want to let you go. I was ready to fight the nurses when they tried to take you back to the nursery. I felt the same way when Mari was born. Look what you've become, too." I looked down at my beautiful daughter. "You're just a gorgeous woman. Andrew is a lucky man. You have a beautiful personality and you're as smart as your mother."

"She can be pretty dumb sometimes," she giggled. "Daddy, what are we going to do? We need a plan."

We hashed one out. I still had a couple of months of work to do before I would be free. It was late spring and Allie was already out of college. Mari would be out in two weeks, just about the time Andrew was expecting to come back. We decided that Allie would fly out to meet him and Mari would come and stay with me until I had my obligations cleared up. When I was free to leave, she would drive back with me and I'd see about arranging to see them on a regular basis.

I had trouble sleeping that night. I tossed and turned for a couple of hours, my brain spinning a million miles an hour but unable to get any traction. I got up and got a bottle of water. Allie was asleep and I watched her for a minute, thoughts swirling through my head. Her lips were slightly parted and the covers rose and fell with her breathing. God, she was perfect! I marveled at her. How could such flawed people as her mother and me produce that? I went back to bed and worried.

Was it possible that I'd been horribly, tragically wrong five years ago? Should I have stayed and fought, tried to make things work? I realized what a coward I was. I'd tucked my tail and run. I sure as hell didn't deserve what they'd done. I knew that. I'm as stupid and mistake prone as the next guy, but I didn't deserve that! I knew I was sort of an inflexible bastard about some things but was I really that bad? Could Allison be right? Did Gwen really love me and this had just been some sort of weird aberration? How the hell would I ever know? Did I even want to know? I never wanted to feel the kind of pain I felt then again. I knew that for sure. If I got friendly with Gwen again, I was just opening myself up to all that angst and heartache all over again. Allison said she had changed, but could I really trust that? Had I changed? I'm not usually that introspective but I realized that I had changed and most of it wasn't change I liked. I had become morose and sullen. Allie was changing that and I liked myself better. Mari might make that change even more pronounced. If I could open up enough to have that talk with Gwen, would I change again and would it be something I wanted? I had no idea about the answers to any of those questions. When sleep took me, I had decided that there was no way to answer those questions without actually living through the events that would answer them. I was just going to have to bite the bullet and see what happened.

In the morning, we got the RV ready to travel. We had become best buds and I hated to see her go at the airport. She was still that beautiful little girl that stole my heart the first fifteen years of her life. We were comfortable talking about anything or nothing. Ghosthood isn't all it's cracked up to be, and I was realizing how much I'd missed. I spent a lonely night in the RV and drove it back to pick Marisol up at the airport. Allie had set everything up and I hadn't yet spoken to Mari. I didn't know what to expect.




Ghost



I didn't expect the vision that came strolling through the gate. Allicent had her mother's looks, long blonde hair, blue eyes and a dark tan. Mari's hair was a very dark brown; she had fair skin and grey eyes that changed color with her moods. She looked a little Gothic to suit me, but you could tell that she was a beautiful woman. She had a carryon bag over her shoulder and she was tall and willowy. I could see all the men checking her out as she looked around for me. She looked very cool and sophisticated. All that went away in a second when she saw me. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree, she dropped her bag and flew across the carpet into my arms like a little girl.

"Daddy," she squealed and launched herself at me. That's the way she had always greeted me and I had never failed to catch her. This wasn't the thirteen-year-old slip of a girl that I had last caught. This was a long, solid woman and she nearly knocked me down. When I recovered, she buried her face in my chest and just sobbed.

"God, Daddy, I've missed you so much. I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me. I've needed you so bad. Thank you for letting me come. I love you, Daddy and I'm so, so sorry."

I petted that long, shiny hair and held my baby girl as close as I could. "It's okay, baby," I consoled her. "I don't hate you. I love you. We're going to be okay. Now stop crying and let's go and get your bag before someone steals it."

She giggled wetly and I gave her my handkerchief. She used it to pat her face dry and blew her nose before handing it back to me. I took the crumpled ball gingerly and put it back in my pocket. "I should have known to bring tissues," I said.

She giggled again and dragged me off by the hand to retrieve the bag she had dropped. I carried it and she held my other hand as we walked down to the luggage carousel. "I have so many things to tell you and so many questions," she said. "I can't believe we finally found you. I've needed you so much, Daddy. Promise me you won't leave me again."

"No, baby, I won't I promise," I squeezed her hand. "We can talk as long as you want to. It's a bit of a drive back to where we're staying." We got her stuff put away in the RV, and I gave her the tour. She loved everything and said I had a "cool little house." "Are you hungry?" I asked her.

She was and we stopped at a good burger place I knew. She chattered like a magpie between bites and I couldn't believe how good it felt just watching her. She had too much makeup on her eyes and I didn't like the dark purple lipstick she had on, but she was very much the baby I remembered. She had a quick smile and very good teeth. She just dazzled me and I realized how much I'd missed her.

It was a beautiful day and I took her down to the park. We sat on a bench and watched the kids play on the playground. She snuggled up into my side and I wrapped one arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder and I could feel her starting to shake a little bit. When I looked down at her tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying, Marisol?" I asked her.

"I'm sorry," she choked out. "I just thought... I wondered if I'd ever get to do this again. Do you remember when you used to take Allie and me down to that ice cream stand and then we'd take our cones to the park? Allie would always finish hers first and run off to play. I'd just sit by you like this and you'd put your arm around me. I felt so happy I would never want to move. I've been so afraid that I'd never see you again. I drove you away and I'd never..." she broke down.

"No, baby, don't cry," I squeezed her. "It's all over now. You didn't drive me away; I ran like a coward. I'm so sorry, Mari."

"No!" she sat up and took my face in her hands. "You never apologize to me! I had a chance to be there for you and I blew it. You don't ever get to apologize to me again. I'm going to spend the rest of your life making it up to you."

I hugged her close. "It can't work like that," I said. "How about we just forget about anyone making anything up to anyone else and just love each other the way we should have been doing all along?"

She buried her face in my chest. "I want that more than anything in the world," I heard her muffled voice.

I pulled her to her feet and we walked back toward the RV park. She walked pressed into my side with her arm around my waist and mine over her shoulders. "Tell me about my baby," I said. "What's going on in your life?"

Mari was an athlete. She had just graduated from high school. I felt really bad that I had missed her graduation. She had a volleyball scholarship to SMU and she badly wanted to go there. She didn't know how she was going to afford it. The scholarship only paid about half of her tuition. The school was trying to talk her into getting student loans to cover the rest but she was very skeptical about graduating owing nearly $100,000. Once again, that made me feel like a rotten father. I was going to have to make some moves. I had a while, so I didn't say anything yet. It was easy to tell by the way she moved that she was athletic. That long, slender body just moved like a cat. She liked music and played in the school band. She played sax and flute. She loved dogs and didn't have a boyfriend.

She looked up at me with doubtful eyes. "I've been kind of bad this year, Dad. My grades weren't that good and I've been... doing some stuff. Are you mad at me?"

"No, baby," I told her. "What kind of stuff?"

"I don't want to tell you," she said. "I'm afraid."

"I think it's important that we start being honest with each other," I told her. "You tell me something you think I won't like and I'll tell you something you will like. Deal?"

She stopped walking and looked in my eyes for a long moment. She nodded. "I've been smoking weed," she half whispered. She searched my face, looking for some sign.

"Is that legal?" I asked.

"No, I'm too young and it hasn't been legalized yet in Louisiana," she said. "Allie hates it. I do too, really, but I've just been feeling so rotten and so sad. I haven't done it since Allie told me she found you and that you would let me come and be with you. I won't do it anymore. Will you let me stay with you, Dad? I won't feel like that if you let me stay with you." She was clinging to me now. "I hate Mom, Dad. I can't stand to be around her. She's the one that caused all of this. I know she's sorry and she's tried really hard to make it up to Allie and me, but I hate what she did. She nearly cost us the chance for you to love us and I don't want to live with her. I'll do anything if you let me stay with you. I'll work and take care of you. I won't go to school."

"No, Marisol," I told her. "You don't need to do that. You're an adult. You can live anywhere you want to. You can stay with me as long as you want to, but I'm going back. I made a terrible mistake when I left. I'm going to fix that as much as I can. I want my girls to have a father in their lives. If you decide to go and play volleyball, I'll move to Dallas to be with you. Is that where you want to go?"

"No, I don't give a damn about that," she said. "I would rather have a life than play volleyball. I want to go to LSU with Allie but they didn't offer me a scholarship. I'm not sure either one of us can afford to go there."

"You can afford to go to Harvard if you want to," I told her. "I'll pay for both of you to go anywhere you want to."

She looked up at me, her eyes shining. "Really, Daddy? Thank you! Is that the thing you were going to tell me?"

"No, I was going to tell you that I love you and I'm sorry for not being at your graduation," I said.

We arrived at the RV and she pulled me inside. She kissed me on both cheeks and hugged me until I couldn't breathe. "It's okay," she whispered. "You'll be at everything else for the rest of your life."

We got to know each other over the next two months and by the time I got my work obligations wrapped up it was as if the last five years had never happened. Andrew was in Europe and Allie came to stay with us again as we got ready to go back east. She decided she wanted to go along for the road trip. Mari was a changed girl. The dark, weird makeup was gone and she was just the most gorgeous girl under that Goth look. She discarded the weird pants and wore shorts like a normal girl. Allie was very pleased with the transformation and they got along just like I remembered. They fought like hornets, but it didn't last five minutes. They never had a cross word for me.

We had long talks and they were ruthless in exploring my feelings. I laughed and cried more in three months than I had in the last five years. We talked out our problems and I think we completely understood each other. I loved them without reserve and they showed me every day that they felt the same way about me.

They probed me relentlessly about Gwen and my mother. I didn't want to talk about it but they were like water rushing downhill and they held me while I poured out my anguish, fear and anger. It was like going to a therapist that had this bottomless love for the client, a boundless sympathy and care. They told me about the changes in their mother and grandmother: how they were devastated and the smoldering wreckage I had left behind. They talked for hours and it was healing and cathartic. I came to terms with my anger and pain, realizing that it hurt me as much as the objects of my wrath. I actually began to let go of all that rage and began feeling hopeful about the future.

I began to realize how lucky I was to have those amazing girls, how hard they'd worked to rescue me from my self-imposed exile and how lonely I'd been. There was a determination building within me to go back, face my demons and try to build a future for myself and the people I loved. I knew I was still in love with my wife, helplessly, and I had thought, hopelessly. My girls gave me hope. If I could mend things with them, was it not possible to mend the same fences with Gwen and my mother? Mom would be a bitter pill to swallow, but she was my mother. Until that final betrayal, she had never been anything but the most amazing woman I'd ever known. She made a horrible mistake. It was worse than that, but I had feet of clay myself. How could I continue to hold her in contempt? Life became brighter and I felt like I had shed a crippling burden that had been resting on my shoulders like Atlas, bearing the weight of the world.

Unfortunately, I got the bed where the table folded up and my old bones complained every morning. The sight of two beautiful, sleepy girls stretching like kittens and looking for a cup of coffee was worth it. As we got farther east, I got more tense. The girls sensed my growing unease and they reassured me constantly. It was impossible to be tense with one of them sitting on my lap. They refused to sit down and buckle their seat belts while we were traveling. One of them was always standing behind my seat, arms around my neck and whispering in my ear. By the time we got to Baton Rouge, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack at any moment.

We pulled into the RV park and got set up. The girls had been feeling out their mother and they were confident that she didn't have any nasty surprises in store for us. I wasn't so sure. The girls set up a meeting. They would go inside, check the situation out and I would scout around outside. The place they chose was a Starbucks. It had a large parking lot and was somewhat isolated from the nearby buildings. The girls went in and I checked out the parking lot. There was a police car in the parking lot behind the building. There was no one in it and I assumed they must be waiting for me inside. I went across the way to a bookstore in the strip mall and texted Mari.

"It's a setup," I told her. "The police are here. She's going to have me arrested."

After a few minutes she texted me back. "It's just a coincidence. I confronted Mom and she went into a panic. The police officer was just getting a cup of coffee and a muffin. She's gone now."

I checked and, sure enough, I saw the patrol car pull out onto the street. I felt foolish, but very frightened nonetheless. I couldn't bring myself to cross that parking lot. After a bit, my phone vibrated. It was Allie. "Where are you?"

I couldn't get my fingers to press the buttons of my phone. Mari came outside and looked around. I couldn't just let my baby girl stand there looking for me. My feet felt embedded in the concrete but I managed to make them carry me across the lot. Mari saw me coming and ran to me. I was shaking like a leaf and my knees felt like they were going to give way. I could see the concern in her eyes when she got close. I suppose she must have felt like I was either going to collapse or back out and walk away.

She hugged me and held my hand. "It's okay, Daddy. Mom is crying but it's okay. She knew you saw the police officer and thought she brought them. She was afraid you'd left. Come on, we won't let anything happen to you."

We went in with her pulling at my hand and I saw Gwen and Allicent sitting at a tall table. I froze. She was still as breathtaking as the first time I saw her. I was a senior and she was a sophomore. She was friends with my A&P lab partner. We were comparing notes at the ice cream shop when I looked up and saw this vision crossing the floor toward us. Dark tan, flashing white teeth in a gorgeous smile, long very light blonde hair, almost white, swinging just below her butt, and a body to die for. She was tall and slender and curved in all the right places. Her breasts were just jaw-dropping, high, firm and just right for her frame. I would have guessed a large c-cup, but who knows about that without checking? I would have happily checked.

Marlie, my lab partner, noticed me staring and giggled. "Close your mouth, Caine. You're embarrassing yourself and me. I'll introduce you." I don't remember what I said during the fifteen minutes Gwen sat with us but I wound up with her phone number somehow. I was useless as a study partner after that and Marlie sent me off to my apartment with her mockery burning in my ears.

It took me a week to call her. It wasn't that I was shy or backward, I was just busy. I was doing an internship and trying to make grades and I was just busy. I hit a lull and gave her a call. I asked her to go out and she agreed. I'd been in relationships before. I had dated the same girl all through high school. I was popular, all-state defensive end on the football team, state champion twice at discus and a second string power forward on the basketball team. I was basketball homecoming king and prom king too, my senior year. My girlfriend and I had a misunderstanding about halfway through our senior year and it didn't improve with time. She wrecked my car while driving drunk one night and that was it. I loved that car and despised people that drove drunk.

I fixed the car but that relationship couldn't be fixed. I dated other girls, slept with a few of them and then off to college. There was nothing serious until Gwen. I did the usual college thing and there were always willing girls around. That all came to a screeching halt after my first date with her. In a month, we were exclusive. We dated for six months before I managed to get her in my bed. The first time I made her cum, she was mine.

We had taken in a movie early and went out to Buffalo Wild Wings for a late dinner. I asked her if she wanted to go to a club for a little bit. She did and we went to one some guys had been telling me about. The dance floor was pretty busy and we had a couple of drinks. She didn't drink much and I could tell she was getting a buzz on. They started up a song she loved and she pulled me to my feet and out on the dance floor. I sort of have two left feet but she was spectacular. That lithe body bent and swayed in ways that were unbelievable and she was very much a creature of the night. Every man in eyesight was checking her out and a lot of the women, too. The song ended and they struck up a slow number.

This was more my game and I pulled her in. She was all over me, that tight, amazing body melted into me and the scent of her was intoxicating. Some dipshit tried to cut in and she killed him with a look. "I'm with him," was all she said before burying her face in my chest. I was starting to get aroused and she obviously felt it. One leg moved between mine and she rubbed herself against my growing excitement, her face flushed and her beautiful blue eyes shining. She shook that curtain of hair back, white in the blue lights and rubbed herself on my thigh. She raised her face to mine and I claimed her luscious lips. We kissed deeply and her tongue was a live thing, flicking my lips and wrestling with my own.

"Take me home," she whispered.

"Home," turned out to be my apartment. When I turned onto the way back to her dorm, she shook her head. "Your place," she said. Her seatbelt came open and she leaned over the console, kissing my cheek and her hand running down my chest, opening my pants and slipping inside. She leaned down and took me in the incredible heat of her mouth, nearly causing me to hit a fireplug.

"Jesus, Gwen," I moaned. "You're going to kill us both."

She didn't answer, just exerted an incredible suction as she bobbed her head, bringing me to the edge of an explosion. I pulled over just in time as cum exploded into her hungry mouth. My fingers tangled in the curtain of hair covering us and I groaned as the agonizing pleasure swept through my body. She kept going until the pleasure began to turn to pain and I pulled her up. She looked at me, a glob of cum on her cheek; just a messy angel and she caught it on her finger. She sucked it off and audibly swallowed. It was the most erotic thing I had ever seen.

I pulled her face to mine as she resisted. "No, Caine, I need to rinse my mouth out before you kiss me," she protested.

"I'll kiss that mouth any time I want to," I told her. "It's my mouth, those are my lips and I want to kiss them." I pulled her in and showed her how much I loved her. When we got to my place, I buttoned my pants and we got out. She was unzipping and unbuttoning while I fumbled with the key before we ever got to the door.

She just attacked me once we got inside. "Whoa, tiger," I scooped her up in my arms and carried her into the bedroom. "Let's make this comfortable." I dumped her on the bed and she bounced giggling to the middle. She was pulling that little dress over her head and working on her bra by the time I was down to my briefs. The yellow lace fell away and my breath caught in my throat. The most perfect tits I had ever seen in the flesh pushed their way out and she gave the little scrap of cloth a twirl and flung it away. There lay my goddess, clad in the tiniest of panties that matched the discarded bra, driving my heart rate over the moon. God she was gorgeous and sexy.

I looked in her eyes and she crinkled her cute little nose with that sprinkling of freckles at me. My eyes were irresistibly drawn to those breasts. They were incredibly beautiful. She obviously tanned topless because they were the same golden color as the rest of her. She had brownish areolae and they were small and puffed up a little. Her nipples were hard little bullets, just a shade pinker and I couldn't wait another second. I jumped up beside her and took that smoldering hotness into my arms. Our lips locked together and her little pointed tongue came out to play. I nibbled on her earlobes and tickled the little hollow behind them with my tongue. She shivered and moaned.

As I nibbled and kissed my way down her long, graceful neck she began a slow, writhing motion under me, sliding against the sheets. She gasped when I reached her breasts and when I took her nipple into my mouth she went wild, pulling my head toward the firm mound and crying out her passion. Incredibly, she was having an orgasm from me sucking on that delicious little nipple. I found the other and she continued to pulse for a moment before pushing my head up and holding my face in her palms.




Ghost



"Caine Brockman, do you love me?" Her eyes were locked to mine, searching my soul.

"Gwen Davis, with all my heart," I told her.

She seemed satisfied and she pulled my head back down to the little rubbery nipple. I never wanted to leave them. I don't know how long I spent, just reveling in those amazing tits, squeezing them and testing their resilience with my fingers, stretching her nipples between my lips and letting them pop back. She grew impatient after a while.

"Caine, you can play with my boobs as much as you want to as long as you want to, but I'm burning up here," she giggled.

I reluctantly left them behind and found more treasures below. Tiny, fine white hairs on her smooth golden belly were like a dusting of starlight over ridged muscle. Her navel was a small, deep indention that I teased with my tongue. Her writhing motion became more pronounced when I slid down and parted her thighs, nibbling on the soft skin over iron muscles. I let her feel my teeth and she gave a little moan. When I grasped the waistband of her panties she raised her hips and let me slide them down and off over her cute little feet.

There it was, the most maddening sight I'd ever seen. She just had this wispy, fine, white blonde patch in the shape of an arrowhead pointing down to the treasure below. Her pussy was as bare as a baby and just as soft when I caressed it with my fingertips. She jerked when I made contact with the outer lips and her movement never stopped. I blew hot breath over them and she shivered and moaned. As I nibbled upward toward nirvana, I could feel a slight trembling in her thighs that grew more pronounced as I teased the pink inner lips with my tongue. There was a flood of moisture as I opened up her lips and plunged my tongue into her. Her hips began coital motions and she was moaning and twisting her head from side to side.

Her clitoris was a little pink button that expanded and grew as I teased its protective hood. Its head emerged and I tickled it. Gwen cried out sharply and her hips bucked upward. The trembling grew very strong and she arched upward seeking more contact. I sucked the little nub into my lips and tormented it with the stiff tip of my tongue. She exploded into motion, all her trembling and tension draining as she came with a frightening intensity. She groaned and shook and moved until I couldn't keep her in my mouth. I rubbed her with my fingers and she continued to spasm for what seemed like minutes before her motions turned to efforts to escape my stimulation.

I slid back up and her lips were all over my face, heedless of her juices covering much of it. "Jesus Christ, Caine, I never knew... I can't believe... God, I'm so in love with you!" She cried a little and laughed a little. When she felt my erection against her moistness, she stiffened and then thrust against me.

"Do I need a condom?" I asked her.

"No, I've been getting ready for a month," she said. "Promise me you love me, Caine. Promise me you aren't going to fuck me and then leave me. Promise me that you'll never leave me."

"I won't leave you, baby," I told her. "I'm yours as long as you'll have me. I do love you and I promise you I'm not going to love you and leave you. I'm not that kind of guy. You should know that by now."

"I do," she whispered. "That's why I'm giving myself to you. I just have to be sure."

I nodded and she pressed herself against me with her whole body, those dramatic breasts hard and so soft under my chest. My cock slid between lips that clasped me in volcanic heat and she hissed and struggled to stop me.

"Wait, Caine!" she exclaimed. "Slow, baby, I've never had anything inside me before. You're stuck on something and it hurts!"

My God, the beautiful thing under me was really untouched! I eased back and forth between her lips and she grew ever wetter. That barrier was there and I pushed gently against it, just knocking softly on the door. She winced each time and there were tears in her eyes. The barrier weakened under my assault and I don't know if it pushed aside or tore but there was a sensation of popping and my head was inside. She gasped and her hands fluttered against my chest.

"Just stay there for a minute," she breathed. "God that hurt, Caine, let me rest a minute."

I leaned down and claimed her lips. We kissed passionately for minutes and when she broke the kiss, she arched her back up at me. "Suck my nipples," she said.

I was happy to take those puffy little bullets between my lips and she moaned. After a few minutes of that, I felt her hips move and I slid deeper inside her. She winced again and we rested. The whole process must have taken ten minutes but finally I was fully inside her. I had wondered if she would be able to take me. We moved together, me fully embedded inside her incredible tightness and heat, rolling our hips against each other until she was moaning in need.

"Take me now, Caine," she whispered. "I'm ready."

She came explosively in about three minutes and again about two minutes later. After that, it was a continuous chain until she wept and pleaded with me to stop. I let her rest and compose herself and when her breathing slowed, I flipped her over and mounted her from behind, straddling her legs and slipping deeply into her. She groaned at this new intrusion and I began to grind against her.

She raised her head and groaned again, her neck corded with tendons standing out as she went off.

"Fuck, Caine!" came her guttural groan. "Oh, my God, oh my God, oh my God, baby! It's so deep, so hard! Oh, my God!" her voice rose to a scream. I continued to pound into her and she sobbed out her ecstasy, thrashing her head, screaming as her orgasms washed over her again and again. The sound of this woman I loved lost in a primal daze of pleasure, giving tongue to the passion sweeping her, sent me over the edge, and I came into that incredible pussy, my own body spasming in climax until I was drained.



I withdrew and rolled her to face me, collapsing down on her and kissing all over that beautiful face. I wrapped my arms around her and rolled us to our sides, holding her tightly. She was sobbing and nearly hysterical.

"It's okay, baby," I stroked her hair and pressed my lips to her forehead. "It's okay."

"No, Caine, it's not," she sobbed. "I lost myself and I'll never be the same. You took me and I never... I don't... I can't believe you did that to me. I'm so in love with you and I'm so afraid. I'll never be able to live without you now. Please don't leave me, Caine. You've made me..." her voice trailed off into sobs.

"I'll never leave you, Gwen," I told her. "I'm just in awe of you and I'll keep you as long as you'll have me. I love you with all my heart."

She clung to me and we whispered and stroked each other until we drifted off, that curtain of white blonde hair covering us like a blanket.

I stood inside the door of that Starbucks. She was jaw dropping, cock hardening, gorgeous. Her eyes locked with mine and she burst into tears. Mari tugged on my arm and I walked over to the table and sat down. Mari sat beside me with her arm around me and Allie held an identical position with her mother.

"Mom, stop crying and talk to Dad," Allie told her.

"I... I'm sorry," Gwen managed to choke out. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'll stop. I just never thought I'd have the chance... never thought..." she began to cry harder.

"This isn't going to work," Mari declared. "We need to get out of here before they kick us out. Mom, come with us." She pulled me toward the door and Allie and Gwen followed us. We crossed the parking lot to the RV and went inside. Allie put her mother in the bathroom and pressed a cold washcloth over her face. After wringing it out several times and reapplying it, she led Gwen back to the table where Mari and I were sitting.

"Mom, don't you have something to say to Dad?" Marisol asked her.

"Yes, I'm so glad to see you, Caine. I have been so worried that something bad had happened to you," she began.

"Well, something bad did happen," I said. "I don't know what your definition of bad is. I'm alive and reasonably healthy, there hasn't been a nuclear war and the economy hasn't collapsed. Other than the odd finding out that my wife is a slut and that my family thought that was okay, I guess things have been just peachy."

All three of them burst into tears. "Dad, this isn't helping anything," Mari said. "I know how you must feel and that you're hurting, but do you have to say things like that? Let's try to be a little less negative here, okay?"

They had to make another trip to the bathroom to get Gwen composed again. When they came back she was still crying, but she could talk.

"Caine, I'm so sorry for everything I did and said. It was inexcusable," she managed to get out. "I know I fucked everything up. I didn't mean to do it, but I did. Nothing that happened was your fault. I'm so, so sorry and I'll do anything to make it right."

"Yes, I understand you're sorry," I said. "So am I. So are Allicent and Marisol. Everyone is sorry. So we just wave the magic sorry wand and everything goes away?"

"Daddy, of course not," Allie said. "What happened in the last hour? Did the Daddy that loved us go away and this ogre move into your body? Do you hate Mari and me again all of a sudden?"

"No, I never hated you, Allie," I told her. "I'm just nervous as hell, pissed off beyond belief and having the second shittiest day of my life. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do, at least," Mari said. She climbed up onto my lap and hugged my head to her chest. "Allie?" her eyebrow went up.

Allie scooted around the table and hugged me from the side. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she said. "I know how you must feel. Just let Mom talk, okay?"

It was impossible for me to maintain my anger with my two babies loving on me like that. "Okay," I said, "If you two stay just like this I'll be calm."

"Thank you, Caine," Gwen sniffed. "I need to tell you some things. When we talked, just before you left, everything seemed okay. I know I felt okay. We missed you like hell, Caine. I never knew it would be so hard. You know I worship the ground you walk on. The girls do, too. You've always been the center of our lives. Everything revolved around you. Then you were gone and everything just went to hell. Do you remember that we'd never spent more than one night away from each other the whole time we'd been married? We never went more than three nights without making love since the first time we slept together. We made love five or six times a week. I was addicted to you, Caine."

"Yeah, so much so that in three months..." I trailed off. "Sorry, I wasn't supposed to... It isn't my turn."

"It didn't take three days," Gwen said. "I was like a cat in heat. I was going nuts. I wore out so many batteries on the toy you gave me I got rechargeable ones. Then my car broke down. The garbage disposal broke. Mari got pneumonia. We couldn't even call you, Caine. We had no idea where you were or how to get in touch with you. I'm not making excuses I'm just telling you what happened. Coach Ramsey helped us. I know now he was just a pussy hound, but then I thought he was a super nice guy."

"Yeah, he's a real charmer," I said. "Sorry, go on."

"You aren't going to like this," Gwen said.

"Well, I pretty much haven't liked anything for the last five years, so let me have it," I growled.

Gwen sobbed for a few minutes. "I went to talk to your mom," she said. "I was desperate. She helped me. She stayed in the hospital with Mari, she picked up Allie for her music lessons and she told me I should go out to dinner with Ramsey. Just enjoy myself for one night. I did. On Friday for three weeks, we went out to dinner. I... I'm so ashamed, Caine. I don't want to tell you. I... had too much to drink. I was stupid. I got drunk as hell and the next thing I knew I was waking up Saturday morning at the Holiday Inn, naked with him in bed. I don't even remember what we did, but I knew we had sex. I even know why I did it. I felt awful. I was miserable and I locked myself in the bathroom until he left. I cried for three days. Then... then your mom came over again. She told me that I hadn't hurt you. You would never know. You weren't there and I wasn't taking anything away from you. I rationalized it in my mind that she was right. I knew she wasn't and that I was really a piece of shit for doing what I did, but I did it again the next Friday night. I did it for three times and then I couldn't live with myself any longer. I still can't believe you caught me during those three weeks. By the time you came home it had been over for months." She was crying hysterically again.

Allie took her off and got her cleaned up again. When they came back this time, she didn't sit down. Allie took up her place at my side and Gwen knelt on the floor at my feet with her hands on my knees.

"I never was with him again, Caine, I swear to God. I told Allie and Mari. I told them the lies your mother told me. I made them feel sorry for me and for themselves. I was despicable and wretched and I've paid. God, how I've paid, Caine. I can't stand any more of this tonight. I need to go home and take a pill and rest. I just have one more thing to say. Please don't punish me anymore, Caine. I don't think I can stand anymore. I'd love to talk to you again, but if you're going to punish me, just let me go. Tell me and I'll... I'll just go away."

"So what was your plan?" I asked her. "Were you going to tell me or just cover it up and let me go on believing I had a faithful, loving wife?"

"I wasn't going to tell you," she said. "I knew I'd lose you if I did. I knew you would be so hurt that you wouldn't ever forgive me so I was just going to be the most loving wife, the best mother in the history of the world and spend the rest of my life making it up to you." Her voice was just a whisper. "Then I gave you that line of bullshit when I found out you knew. I was desperate, Caine. I knew how badly I'd fucked up and I just tried to bluff my way through. I'll go now."

She rose to her feet and we followed her to the door and outside. The girls stayed, pressed hard against my side and we watched her walk away. She looked so little and broken and alone and my heart was breaking. "Dad," Mari hissed at me.

I was startled out of my trance. "Gwendolyn," I called. She stopped and looked back. Her eyes were red and puffy and that hair swung around her in the way that had always just taken my breath away. I held out my arms to her. A look of disbelief crossed her gorgeous features and then hope sprang up in dead eyes. She hesitated, then flew back across the lot toward us, throwing herself into my arms and sobbing out the anguish of her soul. "I love you, Caine, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," the words and sobbing poured out of her like water and those amazing breasts were pressed into my chest. I held her tightly and I felt the tears and heartache ebbing from my own overwrought emotions.

When I looked up, Allicent and Marisol were gone and I led Gwen up the steps and into the back of the RV. We tore off our clothes and I took my wife, again and again through the night we turned to each other and claimed what was ours.

I woke up the next morning with her luscious lips wrapped around my cock and when she saw I was awake she mounted me, wincing in pain as my sore cock sank into her sore, wet pussy. We slept again and I woke up to afternoon sun streaming in. Gwen was getting up, groaning at sore, atrophied muscles and other things.

"God, Caine, I feel like I'm a hundred years old," she told me.

I laughed. "Well, you look like you're thirty," I told her. "Help me up, baby."

Her laughter was like diamonds sprinkling down as she pulled me to my feet. "Do you think we can both fit into that shower?" she speculated.

"How about you go first and I'll make coffee," I chuckled.

She pressed that glorious naked body against me and scorched me with a kiss. She took my face between her long, slender fingers and pressed her cute little nose to my big beak. "Thank you, Caine," she whispered. "I know everything isn't fixed, but thank you."

I nodded and she went off to the shower. After we were both human, we sat around and drank coffee. She had put on one of my old button-up shirts and she was about the sexiest thing I had ever seen. She was lying in my lap when the door opened and Allie and Mari climbed in, carrying Subway bags and a carton of cream ale.

They laughed with delight when they saw the state of their mother's undress and we ate together, all my girls touching me and loving on me. After lunch, the girls drove their mother's car and we followed them to their duplex. I parked the RV in the driveway and we got the utilities hooked up. I cooked dinner and we sat under the awning, drinking wine and talking.

At the time, I had no idea in the world where this was all going to wind up, but I was willing to play it by ear. Andrew came by after a while and he and Allie went off somewhere. Some girls came and got Mari and they went to see a movie, leaving Gwen and me in a comfortable vacuum. She took me inside the house and we lounged on her sofa.

She looked up at me with those impossibly blue pools of her eyes. "What are we going to do, Caine?" she asked. "Where do we go from here?"

"I have absolutely no idea," I said. "Are we learning to be friends? What do you want, Gwen?"

"I'd like to be friends," she said. "Maybe we could be those friends with benefits everyone talks about. What do you want, Caine?"

"I want to be a part of my girls' life again," I said. "I've almost forgotten how to be a father." I could feel pain and bitterness swelling up inside me. She looked at me with the most horrified expression imaginable. She burst out crying and jumped up, running into her bedroom and closing the door behind her. I was stunned. I really didn't know what to do. I could hear water running and after a while, I got up and went outside. I got a beer out of the refrigerator in the RV and sat on the sofa. I put my feet up on the table and just mulled my thoughts over in my mind. I felt numb, like my brain had molasses in the gears. After about twenty minutes, there was a timid knock at the door. When I opened it, Gwen was standing there. She looked up at me and wrung her hands. She looked pitiful and scared.

"Can I come in?" her voice trembled.

I stood aside and she climbed the steps. She looked around nervously. "Can I have one of those?"

I got her one and pried off the cap. I went back and sat down and she came and sat by me. We didn't say anything and after a bit she put her legs up on the table on top of mine. I patted her thigh and she sighed.

"I'm sorry, Caine. When you said that I just realized that there was one more thing I had fucked up. Our girls worship the ground you walk on. They always did and I just twisted them. I cost them five years of the most important time they had with the man they loved and needed more than anything on earth. I've known that, intellectually, for a long time. I guess when you said that, it just came home to me that I'd cost you that, too. I realized that with all the changes I've made and everything I can ever do, I can never make that up to you or them. I think Mari hates me, Caine."

Her voice caught in a sob and I felt awful for her. "No, she doesn't," I said. "She loves you. She was very angry and hurt, but she's getting better every day. It may take a while, but they have both told me how much you've changed."

"She wants to live with you," she choked out. "I've lost her, Caine, just like I lost you."




Ghost



"That's not true," I protested. "Just give her some space. She isn't going to live with me in here." I waved my hands around. "I do need to get a place. If I'm going to hang around, I can't live in a motor home and have a family. Likely the girls will want to stay with me some." I looked at her. "Maybe you'll want to stay with me some."

Her eyes shot to mine. "Caine, what are you doing? If you're just playing with me, don't you see that I can't... I..." she couldn't go on.

"I'm not a monster," I stroked the legs on top of mine. "I'm not playing with you, Gwen."

"Don't get my hopes up and then hurt me," she pleaded. "I can't stand that, Caine. I'm weak and broken. It will kill me. If you just want to be friends, we can do that. You can have me any time you want me. I'll always be available to you. I can't take any more pain. Don't make me love you and then hurt me. I think it will make me lose my mind. I know it's all my fault, but just seeing you and knowing what I threw away will drive me mad, if you aren't going to love me back."

"I understand," I told her. "Let's just sit here, talk about our kids, your job; you know, things friends talk about."

"I'd like that," she smiled up at me. "Caine, let's go fishing Saturday."

"You hate fishing," I laughed. "It always bugged the hell out of you that I went."

"I did hate fishing," she grinned at me. "I needed something to do. I remembered how much you liked it, and I decided to give it a try. Do you remember Mitchell Thomas? He has a big spring on his place. It runs out into a little creek. I started stocking it with trout about a year after... after..." her voice trailed away.

"Go on," I said "a year after you fucked the dipshit and I bailed on my family."

Her voice had a little tremble. "Yes, a year after that. I wanted... I wanted to do something special for you for when... for when you came back. They're cutthroats, Caine. They don't have them anywhere else in the state."

I was touched. She'd gone to a lot of trouble to do something nice for me. Especially considering she was broke. "Thanks, Gwen, that's amazing that you'd do that."

"I learned to fly fish," she looked up at me shyly. "I've spent a lot of time out there. I can think, and I think about where I am in my life and where I want to be. Some of the older fish are getting pretty big."

"I don't have any tackle," I told her.

"I got you a split bamboo rod and a Nautilus reel," she said. "It's a five weight. I've been waiting to give it to you for three years."

I could feel my eyes getting moist. "I'd love to go fishing with you," I told her. "Thank you Gwen. I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," she smiled. "They bite best at sunup. I'll fix us a lunch and we can stay as long as we want to."

She finished her beer and got up. I walked her to the door and she kissed my cheek. She started to say something, but changed her mind and went in the house.

My emotions were in turmoil and it took me a while to get to sleep. I heard the girls come in and finally drifted off. Someone was knocking on the door when I woke up. It opened and Gwen stuck her head in. It was still dark outside.

"Wake up, lazy," she said. "The fishies await."

I groaned and crawled out of bed. It took me a bit to become human. I finally dragged my ass outside and got in her car. I don't know what time she got up but she had made homemade biscuits. There was scrambled egg, sausage and cheese on them and it was way better than anything you can get at any fast food place. She had two thermoses of coffee, too. One was for her with some kind of those awful creamers she likes and one was black for me. I poured us cups and we drove the twenty miles or so out to Mitchell's place.

I couldn't believe what I saw. Gwen had gone to a tremendous amount of work. She had created pools in the creek and done a bunch of dirt work. Three cross ties stacked up to form little dams and the water ran over them. Long, dark shapes swam in the pools and it was beautiful.

"The biggest ones are in the spring hole," she said. "I don't fish for them very often. Let's start there. You can only catch one of them, Caine. They're kind of my babies and I've been saving them for you. I feed them and they're big and fat. I'll catch one too and then we'll save the rest of them for other times. We can catch as many of the smaller ones as we want to. They're reproducing, Caine. There are little bitty guys too."

I could tell she was proud of what she'd done. It was impressive. She had almost built a monument to me. "How long have you been working on this?" I asked.

"Four years," she said. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," I told her.

She walked up the creek toward the source and the sun burst over the treetops. I watched her, stunned again at how beautiful she was. Her hair floated behind her, a white gold mane in the morning sun. She had on a white t-shirt and khaki shorts, short leather lace up hiking boots. She stopped and looked back at me quizzically. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, I had just forgotten how beautiful you are," I said.

She smiled and gave her butt a sexy little wiggle. "The fish won't catch themselves," she said.

I walked to her and took her hand. We ambled through the deep grass to the spring pool and took our rods out of the tubes, attaching the reels and threading the line. She was fishing a dry fly and I put on a streamer. "You go first," I said.

She kept a low profile as she approached the water and made a few false casts before landing her fly near an overhanging bush. It drifted for a moment and she stripped a little line, making a small twitch on the placid surface. It erupted and a long, heavy bodied fish leaped two feet into the air, shaking and flipping in midair in an attempt to shake the pesky hook in its mouth. She played it expertly and it made several long runs and deep dives before she subdued it. She removed the hook and held it up. "Isn't it beautiful?" she asked.

It was, and she was. "It's a beautiful fish," I said.

She crinkled that cute little nose. "Your turn," she said.

I was a little rusty, but I got the swing back after a bit. I had made three casts before it felt like a bulldog hit my streamer. The big fish jumped a half dozen times before I got it landed. We admired it and it slipped back into the cold water. We fished the pools and caught fish all morning, all the way from three or four pounds down to little eight inchers. She went back to the car and came back with a basket and a couple of blankets.

We sat in the shade under a tree and she unpacked lunch. While we were getting ready to eat, Mitchell's old truck came rumbling up and we talked for a while. After he left, I leaned back against the tree trunk and Gwen came and sat between my legs, leaning back against me while we ate. She had bottles of iced tea and we relaxed for a while. She leaned back and looked up at me with a shy smile. I wrapped my arms around her and just held her. The scent of her hair, so familiar, and the feel of her warm body against me caused stirrings. 

I slid my hand up under her shirt and stroked the silky skin of her belly. It was as flat as ever and even more muscles ridged it. She shifted against me. "Would you like to fuck me, Caine?" she whispered.

"Oh, yeah," I growled. "You think Mitchell will come back?"

"I don't care, I want you," she said. She pulled her shirt over her head and her breasts were beautifully and gloriously bare underneath. She lay on her back and opened her shorts, pushing them and her panties down over her boots. I was frantically stripping and I moved over her. She grabbed my cock and pulled me into her dripping pussy. "We can play later," she whispered. "I need this big cock in me now!"

We didn't last ten minutes and we lay naked, boots still on, and caught our breath. "God, I needed that," she gasped.

I petted her, running my hands over those spectacular breasts and down over her golden body. She was so beautiful she made my brain ache. She rolled over on top of me and rested her cheek on my chest. I toyed with a few wisps of her hair.

"Why, Gwen?" I asked her. "I'm not trying to upset you. I'm not mad anymore, I just want to understand. Why did you do it?"

She didn't say anything for a while, then she kissed my nipples and propped herself up on my chest so she could look in my face. "That's what I asked myself for a long time," she said. "I finally figured it out. I was selfish and willful and childish, Caine. I was angry with you. I know I agreed to you going, but I wasn't happy about it. I didn't feel like I could object. I didn't have any good reason to object, but I didn't want you to go. I knew, I thought I knew, that you would be upset with me if I said anything. I just felt powerless and angry that you left me alone like that. Everything that happened just made me angrier. It all just built up until that night at dinner. I got as drunk as hell and just lashed out. I wanted to hurt you because I was hurting. It wasn't your fault. I should have just told you, but I was childish and stupid. I just did it."

"Was it that good?" I asked her. "Was he some kind of super stud with a foot long dick?"

Her face looked stricken. "No, God no! It wasn't like that at all. To tell you the truth, he was a good bit smaller than you are. I had to get drunk every time. I don't even remember very much about it except that it didn't last long, I never even got a chance to cum and he was done. Caine, you're a dream lover. It had nothing to do with that. You were always more than enough for me; you know that. You've always made me cum like a bomb. It wasn't about the sex; it was about power and me hurting you even if you never found out. I'm so sorry. I was so stupid and such an idiot. I've tried very hard to make sure I never, ever find myself like that again. It's been five years, Caine. I'm a healthy girl, but I've never even thought about another man. Ask the girls."

"They told me," I said. "Whatever happened to Dickwad?"

"I have no idea," she said. "The school fired us both. We had morals clauses in our contracts. His wife divorced him; I know that. He went away somewhere. I doubt he could ever get another job teaching with something like that on his record. Do you want to find him and fuck him up or something?"

I laughed. "No, if I saw him on the street, maybe. I don't give a damn about him. I was just curious."

"He called me a couple of times," she said. "I hung up when I heard his voice and he quit trying."

"Any men you're interested in?" I asked.

"There's a guy at work that's been asking me out for a year," she said. "I've told him that I'm not interested. Actually, there are a lot of guys that ask me out, but I'm not interested. I've been too sad lately, and before that, I hoped you'd come... I hoped you'd come back to me," she cried a little.

"Is the guy bothering you?" I asked her.

"Yeah, kinda," she said. "Will you kick his ass for me, Caine?"

I laughed again. "That's my job, kicking ass and taking names."

She laughed. "I was just kidding. I know how to handle that sort of thing. I'm quite a kick boxer, did you know that?"

"No, the girls told me you work out a lot," I said. "Is that what you do?"

"Sometimes," she said. "Mostly I lift and do cardio. You've stayed in shape."

"Just hard work," I told her.

"We should get dressed," she said but she didn't move.

"No, I want you again," I told her. I slid down and kissed my way down her glorious body to the juncture of her thighs. She protested and tried to pull me back up. 

"Nooo, Caine, I'm messy!" I didn't care. I had to have that beautiful pussy in my mouth, tease that little pink nub with my tongue. She was nearly cumming by the time I touched her clit and she exploded in minutes.

"Get me hard," I said.

She slid down and engulfed me and we made love, slow and sweet, for an hour. Her cry of completion rang again and again in the still afternoon air and we lay on the blanket for a while.

"What are we going to do, Caine," she asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Start over, I guess. Gwen, will you go out with me Friday night?"

A tear trickled down her cheek. "Yes, Caine, I will. Friday night, Saturday night, every night you want to be with me for the rest of our lives."

We packed up our stuff and walked back to her car. I took a look at it. It was at least ten years old and it wasn't nice when it was new. It was just one of those box shaped imports. It had a little body damage and a little rust going on.

"Why are you driving a car like this?" I asked her.

She looked daggers at me. "Who the hell do you think you are? I'm driving it because it's reliable and it's what I can afford. I'm not rich, Caine. Jesus Christ, you just don't get it."

I was a little taken aback. I just stared at her and a slow grin built on her face. "It is kind of a piece of shit, isn't it?" she chuckled. "It runs good though. I'm trying to save money to buy the girls a car."

Now I felt like a piece of shit. "Sorry, Gwen," I apologized. "I wasn't thinking. I was mean as hell, wasn't I? We'll work something out about money. I know I owe you big time."

"You don't owe me anything," she said. "I'm the one that screwed everything up."

We drove back and there was a strange car in her driveway. "Who's that?" I asked.

"It's your Dad's car," she said.

Well shit, this sucked. "What's he doing here?" I asked her.

"He comes to visit his grandchildren," she said. "Life didn't just end when you left, Caine. Your parents have been very good to us."

"Yeah, really good," I said. "Damn it, Gwen, I think they're responsible for a lot of what happened! What the hell was Mom thinking, filling your ear with the kind of shit she told you?"

"I'm not responsible for them," she said. "If you have a problem with them, I don't want to be in the middle of it."

"Fine," I growled. "I won't get you involved."

She went inside with our gear. I got out, walked around the side of the house and unplugged the electricity. I put the chairs up, rolled up the awning and got ready to leave. Allie came out and climbed in. "What are you doing, Dad?" she asked.

"Going somewhere else," I told her. "You heard what your mother said, Allie. My own mother wanted my wife to hang the horns on me. She actually advised her to do it. How am I supposed to feel about that?"

"Angry, I guess," she said. "How do you feel about it?"

"Angry," I grinned at her. "I'm not mad at you, baby. I'm not going to hang around and make nice with them. Unless you're coming with me, you better get out."

She slid into the passenger seat. "I'm going with you," she said. "Where are we going?"

"We're going apartment hunting," I said. "Do you know any decent ones around?"

"Yeah, there's a nice building about two miles north," she said. "I think I saw a sign."

Just as we were backing out Mari came running out. She opened the side door, came up, and wrapped her arms around me from behind. "You're not getting away from me," she said. "Where are we going, Daddy?"

"Apartment hunting," Allie told her.

I saw my father come out of the house while Mari was getting in and he came around to my window. I sighed and rolled it down.

"Good to see you, Son," he said. "Why don't you come inside? Your mother would like to see you."

"Well, yeah, that does sound like fun," I told him. "Unfortunately, I wouldn't like to see her. Don't much care for seeing you either, by the way."

He swelled up like a toad. "That's quite a way to talk to the people that raised you and gave you everything," he said.

"Yeah, they even gave my wife the advice that she should fuck some asshole behind my back," I said. "How many times has Mom hung the horns on you, Dad? You enjoy watching or something?"

He tried to reach in the window and grab me. Instead, I grabbed his wrist and jerked him up against the door. "Don't ever touch me," I growled in his face.

Mom came running down the sidewalk with Gwen behind her. She gave a choked cry and ran around the RV, pulling Dad's arm out of the window.

"Caine, please," she begged. "I'm so sorry. Just give me a chance to talk to you. I'll tell you everything. You're my only child. Please don't hate me. Give me a chance and I'll do anything. Remember when you had that motorcycle accident? You were in traction and I never once left the hospital the whole two weeks. I love you with all my heart and I don't want to die unforgiven with this on my conscience. I'm an old, stupid woman, Caine, but I love you and I need you to love me. I was so afraid I would never see you again and I'd die with this on my conscience." She was crying hysterically and I couldn't stand it.

I looked at Gwen and she mouthed "Please," at me. I looked at my girls and they nodded. Sighing, I put the RV back in park.

"Okay, Mom, you win," I said. "Come around and we'll talk."

They trooped around and Gwen and Mom got in. Dad tried to climb the steps and I gave him a stiff arm. He stumbled back and glared at me. "I didn't invite you," I said.

"You... how come they get to come in?" he gobbled furiously.

"They apologized and you didn't." I said. "I don't like your attitude."

"It will be a cold day in hell..." he started. I shut the door, cutting off whatever he had been planning to say. I locked it and we all sat around the table. I looked at Mom. Tears were dripping off her cheeks in a steady rain and she just stared at me with hungry eyes.

The girls were petting her and Gwen looked at me disapprovingly. "What?" I said. "I didn't cause any of this. Quit looking at me like that or you can join Dad." I could tell that pissed her off, but she looked away.

"We all know you're pissed off, you don't have to keep showing us." Mari said. She gave me a mischievous grin.

I sighed and leaned back. "I can see this is a conspiracy," I said. "Did you all plan this?"

Mom gave a watery chuckle. "We've been planning it for five years. Caine, I'm a very stupid woman. I can't tell you how sorry I am. This is all my fault and I've just been wretched for all this time, knowing I drove my son away with my stupidity and just ruined everything. I need to tell you some things and maybe then you'll forgive me and I can have some peace."

"I have to tell you, Mom, I don't see a lot of hope for that," I told her. "What you did is just about the worst thing you could possibly have done to me. For God's sake, you were supposed to have my back! You're my mother. Instead, you just shoved the knife in and you've been twisting it ever since."

That brought about a fresh round of crying. I was surrounded by crying women. I'd never been so uncomfortable in my life.

"You need to understand some things. Do you remember when your Dad was overseas? I think you were seven or eight. He was gone for two years. He came home twice during that time. I found out that he cheated the whole time he was gone. It drove me nearly crazy and I decided that two could play that game. I cheated on him too. I guess I just came to think that's what people did when they were separated for that long. I just figured you were doing that too. I know you had plenty of opportunities and I just figured you would take them. Gwen was going crazy and I just thought she should get some relief. I should have known you weren't that kind of man. She obviously wasn't that kind of woman either. After she was with that man, she was worse. Now she had all that guilt and shame on top of missing you. Your father and I just got over the affairs and went on with our lives. Once he came home, everything was fine between us. I thought that would be the case with you and Gwen. I was so wrong and I'm so sorry. I screwed up and I'll always be ashamed and regretful about that. Can you ever forgive me, Caine?"