The barbecue sizzled and made the kind of smells that only his father-in-law was able to produce from the thing. Jeff was one of the few men he knew, himself included, that was actually able to cook food on the things without the usual drama, and with the added benefit of the food actually tasting excellent.
His children frolicked in the garden with his in-laws' Labradors while he sat nursing a chilled Coke. His relationship with his in-laws had always been good. As she lay slowly dying he had promised his wife countless times that he would maintain her parents access to their grandchildren at all costs – not that his children would have had it any other way of course!
Jen's father, a softly spoken and recently retired schoolteacher, gave the impression of a kind and gentle, home loving man. Chris was one of the few people, his daughters not included, who knew of his military background, first as an Infantry Officer who had seen active service in Borneo, Northern Ireland and the battle to retake the Falkland Islands who had then stepped across into special forces. He had completed his military service with a stint as a training officer with the part-time reserve wing of the elite Special Air Service that Chris had joined while at college. Jeff had spotted the young architecture student because of his almost instinctive response to much of the training and his quiet self-effacing good humour.
For this reason Chris had known Jeff longer than he had known his daughter Jenny and still carried the utmost respect for the man. As Jeff flipped a burger and chatted with his beloved granddaughter, Chris thought back to the hours and days and weeks of training, the self-discipline and self-belief this man had instilled into him.
He had met Jenny while at the local gym training for a three peaks challenge that he and some mates from the squadron were planning. Before the end of the session they had agreed to meet at a local restaurant prior to the cinema. The attraction was mutual and instantaneous; they had a like sense of humour and values, she was training to be a doctor while he was completing his degree course – the nature of his military service meant that he had yet to discuss that with her, simply saying that he 'worked weekends for a security firm' to keep him at college, and she was satisfied with that. They made love after their second date, and it was fantastic for both of them.
In the months that followed she finally suggested that he should meet her parents, he was fine with that and he already knew her father taught – as she opened the front door to the same house he now stood in, she had explained that her Dad taught at the local comprehensive, Highfield School – a familiar name; as she hung her outdoor coat over a familiar looking camouflage jacket he stopped and smiled.
"DAD!!" she called into the kitchen, "This is Chris," she said to the slightly surprised looking face that peaked around the door.
"Oh shit," he sighed to himself, "Good evening sir," he said to his Squadron commander...
"What!?!" Her beautiful, if rather surprised, face stared from him to her father and back again...
"Anyone home?" Dragged from his still painful memories, he looked over his shoulder and saw Jen's sister Cathy and her children walking through the kitchen, the lanky form of Daniel following on behind with shrugged shoulders and hands in pockets while his younger sister Colleen ran forward and hugged her Grandfather.
"Cathy!" said Jeff hugging his daughter, "You look fantastic!" Chris smiled and raised his glass.
"Hi Chris," she walked across and pecked him on the cheek the ways she had always done.
"Hi Cathy, how are you?"
"What, since you saw me yesterday?"
"An awful lot can happen in a day Cathy!"
She blushed and turned her face from him to look at Colleen.
"I'm fine Christopher, absolutely fine," she looked around and seeing no one watching them ran a hand down his arm, "Fucking marvellous," she whispered, "Slept like a log, whatever it was you were touching yesterday is still throbbing."
"I told you, I'm a professional."
"I even brought myself off last night just thinking about it, AND I needed the tissues."
"Bloody hell."
"You got that right, well I suppose I wasn't JUST thinking about it." She giggled coyly
"Batteries?"
"Ok I know I shouldn't nick them but I was desp..."
"What can I get you to drink Catherine?"
"Oh, err... I'll have a Coke too please Dad." With a quick look at the still cooking meat her Father stepped boldly towards the kitchen chatting amiably to the monosyllabic teenager therein. She flapped a hand in front of her face, "Close one," she said. Her mother arrived, being pulled along by both of her Granddaughters and the more intimate conversation ceased.
There was something different about Cathy that he just couldn't put his finger on. He'd known Cathy for almost 12 years, since he'd first started going out with her younger sister. He'd thought she was much older than he was, as her manner suggested a woman in her forties. He was amazed to discover she was a week younger than he was. The reason became evident when he met Brian; a grumpy man in his late forties who acted like someone in his seventies. Jenny told him the marriage was the result of a crush that the headstrong Cathy had insisted was more. She was married in her nineteenth year, pregnant in her twentieth and already acting the older woman to his older man four years later when the second child arrived.
Knees! He could see her knees. He realised that the only time he'd seen her legs was... well the time when he'd seen all of the rest of her. She wore a short summer skirt that stopped inches above her knees. She also had on a low-cut tailored vest top that clung to every curve and he guessed, looking at the visible strap, the same shape-emphasising balcony bra she'd worn the day before giving him a splendid cleavage to look at in the V-neck the top afforded.
She wore make-up, her hair looked good and she exuded more confidence than he'd ever seen from her before. It seemed that overnight she had shed the extra 20 years she had carried all the time he'd known her. She saw him and his appraisal, and pinching some of the stretchy fabric pulled the front of the top down just the tiniest bit to improve his view. He nodded and smiled again.
"It is possible sometimes to improve on perfection."
Innocently she turned her body to him and stretched, forcing her fantastic breasts up and out further than before; she relaxed, licked a fingertip and touched her round pert bottom with a hissing sound.
"Still got it," she said quietly.
"I know," he said brushing past her whispering, "Yesterday I had some of it." A slight tremor coursed through her, part him touching her, but mostly the erotic imagery of their passion and the option that they could do it all over again.
She reappeared with a glass full of ice and poured Coke over it. The barbecue was being served and they slipped easily back into their former relationship.
"Have you thought anymore about the house idea?" he said.
"Yes, I'd certainly like to see it; Mum thinks it's a great idea and I certainly don't want to live on that bloody estate for the rest of my life that's for sure. Can we look at it at some stage? I can come down if necessary?"
He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and jingled them, "You got half an hour?"
