I Want Her To Know What Love Is C12

In this chapter, Bobbi and Belinda Burns go to an amusement park with Rooster, Sonia and Tommy. They have an engagement party in Waverly and several of old classmates attend the party, as surprised by the change in Rooster as Sonia was. Rooster and Sonia help arrange a special date for Maya for Alex, using one of Sonia's friends. This chapter contains, oral, lesbian, and interracial sex, bondage, and sex toys on a virtual date. My thanks to JohnnyGalt for his editorial assistance. This is a copyrighted work and is not to be edited, altered, changed or published anywhere, including alternative media, such as audio, without the authors written permission. © 2025

I Want Her to Know What Love Is, Ch 12

An Amusement Park, Engagement Party and Helping Maya

Once again, I had to say goodbye to Sonia until Friday. On Thursday, I called Bruce and asked him to hire my sister and let her work remotely.

"Why not just give her money?"

"She doesn't want charity. She wants to work. She can do the research, but she can't work with Greg, so let her work remotely. She still has some child care responsibilities for her youngest, so pay her by the hour when she's logged in, say $50 per hour. I'll give you her number. Call her and get whatever you need to put her on the payroll."

"You got it, boss."

"Thanks, Bruce."

During the day on Thursday, I got responses from three of the four people I'd found on social media, beginning with Sandy, who'd been on all three.

"Bobby Johnson, as I live and breathe. Are you still in the army? I heard you went right after high school."

"No, I got out a few years ago, got a degree at MIT, started my own company. I'm doing pretty well."

"You living out East then?"

"Minneapolis."

"You always were the smartest kid in class, so I'm not surprised. Why are you reaching out?"

"Sonia Anderson and I are going to get married, and I'm having an engagement party at my Mom's a week from Saturday. Sonia really wanted you to be one of those that attended, so I thought I'd make an effort to reach out to a few of the ex-cheerleaders specifically."

"Isn't Sonia married? She married right after high school."

"She did, and was, but he's deceased now."

"She's someone else who dropped right off the map. I haven't heard a peep from her in nine years."

"Yeah, she was pretty embarrassed about the whole marriage thing. It turned out her hubby was a failure and a drunk, drank himself to death leaving her with a kid she had to take care of by herself. She's had some pretty hard times."

"That's a shame."

"Are you married?"

"Divorced. Cheating bastard."

"Sorry."

"It happens. Sure, I wouldn't mind seeing a few folks. I'll show up at the party. Your mom still live at the same place?"

"She does."

"Helen. I had her in home room. What a great lady. She didn't take sass from anyone."

"Still doesn't."

"What time?"

"Five PM. Food and beverages will be catered."

"You still the skinny guy you were in high school?"

"I filled out some."

"Probably the army, right?"

"That helped. Mostly I just needed to stop growing vertically so I could grow horizontally. Just out of curiosity, do you have any contact with Drew Hampton. I couldn't find her on any social media."

"No, it's been a few years since I talked to Drew. We stayed in contact for about a year after graduation, then gone."

"If you're still in contact with any of our other classmates, invite them to the open house."

"I'll do that. It will be good to see Sonia again."

"Thanks, Sandy."

I heard from Carla and Barb the same way, had roughly the same conversation, and they both agreed to come. They hadn't heard from Drew either. Maya called around four and asked if she could come over again while Greg was at her place.

"Isn't Greg ever taking the kids out?"

"I think he hopes I'll get tired of leaving and he can talk to me. Try to butter me up or something."

"Has he said anything?"

"Every time he tries, I just say I had to get tested for venereal diseases and I still wasn't ready to talk to his cheating ass."

"Okay, supper again?"

"Better than fast food," she laughed.

"Why don't you bring your suit. I didn't get laps in this morning."

"You just want to see if I have a butt plug in my ass again?"

"You can take them out on occasion. Especially if it's going to be November before you see him."

"I guess so. He's just so big. I'm worried."

"I can pretty much promise that it won't be that painful if you're prepared, and go slow the first time. If it hurts, you can stop. He won't rape you."

"Okay, sure. Bruce called."

"Are you on the payroll now?"

"Starting tomorrow. He's paying me for hourly work. He'll give me a list of things to work on, and he'll give me another list when I get through that. Thanks, Bobby."

"Hey, if I can't help my sister, what good am I?"

"Apparently, the best. At least Sonia seems to think so."

"Talk to you later. Bring your suit."

"Will do."

******

"Hey, Benson. Thanks for feeding me again," Maya said, sitting down.

"Always a pleasure, Miss Maya."

"I like that you've started eating with the family. It feels homier."

"It's nice for me as well. It was Sonia's idea. It's especially nice since I started seeing Miss Ann."

"Speaking about seeing Ann, you should take her out on dates," I said.

"Doesn't she help look after Tommy?"

"Not on nights when Sonia isn't here. It's Sonia's job then. Ann would be free, and if Tommy is here, she'd be free those nights as well. I'm taking Sonia and Tommy to Valleyfair on Saturday. That would be a good day to do something with her."

"You don't need me for supper, sir?"

"I'm sure we can figure something out. Since we'll have a couple of guests at the amusement park, we'll probably eat out afterwards with them."

"Who else is going with you?" Maya asked.

"Bobbi and Belinda Burns. Tommy asked them."

"Tommy asked Bobbi to go?"

"He originally asked for Belinda and Jeremy, but Jeremy was going to his grandmother's this weekend, so he asked Bobbi. He said that she probably didn't get to do too many fun things with her daughter because her husband is dead and they don't have a ton of money."

"What a great kid," Maya said. "How the hell did Sonia raise such a wonderful kid?"

"She had Ann's help," I said. "She turned down being a high end escort because it would have taken her away from Tommy more often. She worked hard at being a mother despite her profession. It's one of the reasons I love her."

"I have so many ideas about hookers, and what they'd be like, and they're pretty much just ordinary people, aren't they?"

"It probably depends on the hooker. You're always making a mistake if you lump people together. Everybody is unique."

Maya and I swam laps after supper until Greg called and said he had left. She dried off and went home.

Friday morning, Mom called with the information I'd asked for. She had the information on Paula Schmidt, who still hadn't contacted me off social media, but she didn't have anything on Drew Hampton either.

"The Hampton's are still in town, but they've disowned Drew. They wouldn't say why, but they don't know where she is or what she's doing. Whatever it was happened about eight years ago."

"Drugs?"

"That's a guess, but I don't know."

"Curious. Are you still seeing Doc?"

"Going out tonight."

"Intriguing. Where to?"

"Dinner at his house, and don't ask. I still don't know what I'm going to do."

"How many times have you gone out with him now?"

"This will be the fourth."

"Well, whatever you do, you'll have my blessing." She snorted. "The caterers are coming out at two on Saturday to set up for the Engagement Party."

"I'll be there. I saw the ad in the Herald-Journal. Have you gotten any responses yet?"

"I don't know. Work is keeping track. The only ones I know are coming are Sandy, Carla and Barb. I've spoken to them after reaching them on social media. I'll try calling Paula when I hang up with you."

"Did you ever get along with Paula?"

"She was one of the shitty ones."

"Why invite her then?"

"So I can rub her face in it."

"Don't gloat too much. I raised you better than that."

"Just the appropriate amount of gloating, I promise you."

Mom laughed and said goodbye.

I called the number Mom had for Paula.

"Paula Winters," she answered. "I'm not interested in buying anything right now."

"It's Robert Johnson, Bobby, from high school."

"String Bean! What do you want?"

"Sonia Anderson and I are engaged and we're having a party at my mom's house in Waverly, a week from tomorrow. Sonia wanted to invite you to the engagement party."

"There's a blast from the past. Why does Sonia want to marry you?"

"For the usual reasons. We're in love."

"Sonia is in love with you, String Bean?"

"So she says. I believe her."

"Sure, I'll come. That should be amusing. I would like to see Sonia again. Any other cheerleaders attending?"

"Carla, Sandy, and Barb."

"All the old gang, then?"

"Your gang, not mine. The party starts at five."

"I'll be there."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Ha ha, you would, String Bean. It's the closest you ever got to any of the popular girls."

"Except I'm marrying one."

That shut her up. I hung up. Still the same old Paula. What a bitch!

******

The gang all arrived at 4:30. Benson immediately asked Ann on a date for tomorrow.

"Where do you want to go?" Ann asked.

"Wherever you do, Ann."

"They're showing a revival of Wicked at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater, or since it's supposed to be a nice day tomorrow, we could go to the Minnesota Arboretum and see the fall foliage."

"Why not both," Benson said. "Arboretum during the afternoon, the Guthrie tomorrow evening."

"It sounds lovely," Ann said.

"I got a hold of Sandy, Carla, Barb and Paula," I told Sonia. "They're all going to attend next Saturday Three of them were relatively friendly. Paula was still a bitch. She didn't call me anything but String Bean the whole time I was talking to her."

"She won't even recognize you." Sonia laughed.

"Probably not."

"I'm sorry she's still so nasty."

"Paula always had a high and mighty opinion of herself," Ann said, "just because her family had a little bit of money."

We had a nice meal, then Tommy entertained himself with a video game, while Sonia and I entertained ourselves.

"I just need a taste of your special sauce," I said when I got her in bed. "I like it so much more than what's on a Big Mac."

She laughed and spread her legs. I had several helping of her special sauce, then she had one of mine. We got up long enough to make sure that Tosmmy got tucked into bed, then went to town one more time, Peg A going into Slot A, repeatedly.

******

We had to get up early to get to Bobbi and Belinda's place by eight. Benson got our breakfast for us, although he looked a little rough around the edges when he did. Ann didn't have breakfast with us this morning, apparently still sleeping. Benson didn't give the reason for her absence, but if his lack of sleep was any indication, I could guess.

I gave Tommy a hundred dollars in twenties.

"Okay, bud, this is another one of those life lessons I like to give you. Are you listening?"

"Yes, Dad."

"I want you to have this money with you. If you see something you want to buy for your guests, you won't need to come to me for it. This is all you get, so pay attention to what things cost, and how much you're spending. You can buy them food, plush toys, whatever you want, but a hundred is your limit.

"Number two, you don't flash your whole wad out in public. If I were you, I'd put a twenty in your wallet, a twenty in your right pocket, and the rest in your left. Take the money out of your wallet first, then the right pocket if you need more. Maybe replace the money in your wallet in the rest room, or someplace like that, so nobody knows how much you're carrying. We'll be close by in case there's any trouble, but the best way to avoid trouble, is not to be a target. Eight year old boys carrying a hundred is a target for older boys and bad men, so don't show it to them. So I'm teaching you prudence and safety. Are we good?"

"We're good."

I patted his shoulder and got another wicked smile from my honey. It's a wonder I didn't melt in the wattage.

Arriving at eight on the nose, Tommy got out and held the door for Belinda and Bobbi, like a true gentleman. I gave him another pat on the back when he climbed in behind me.

"I just knew an army wife would be on time," I said.

"What was it my husband always said, 'If you're five minutes early, you're late,'" Bobbi said. "That got drilled into me early and often."

"What was your husband's rank and specialty?" I asked.

"Staff Sergeant, Infantry."

"Are you still going through your mourning period, or are you ready to move on yet?"

"Still mourning."

"He was a good man, Sergeant Burns?" I asked.

"The best."

"Sorry again for your loss. Out of curiosity, would you consider another soldier, or would you like to consider someone in a safer profession?"

"Depends upon the man, I imagine," Bobbi said. "I wouldn't rule anyone out if they were a good man who could love my kids."

Sonia turned in her seat to look at Bobbi. "I know exactly what you mean. If Rooster didn't care for Tommy, I couldn't give him the time of day."

"It's a good thing that Tommy and I are compadres then," I said. "Heaven knows I need you to give me the time if I forget my watch."

Sonia's smile lit up the car. She took out her purse and handed something to Bobbi. "I really want to thank you for agreeing to be a bridesmaid," Sonia said. "This is the dress I picked out, in lilac. We picked it out at Annika's Bridal Boutique. Would it be possible for you to get measured and fitted next week? Don't worry about the cost, Rooster will take care of it. If you need someone to look after Jeremy so you can have some time to go. I'm available most days, or my mother, Ann, is if I'm not."

"I work on weekdays," Bobbi said. "It would probably need to be on a Saturday."

"What time do we need to leave for your mother's next week?" Sonia asked.

"Around three-thirty. Would you like to attend an engagement party at my mother's? You'll meet some of the other bridal party. We're still looking for one more bridesmaid."

"If it's no trouble."

"No trouble at all. Leave your kids with us. Go to the bridal shop. Rejoin us and we'll all leave together for my mother's."

"When's the wedding?" Bobbi asked.

"We can't be absolutely sure yet, because we haven't picked a venue, but tentatively, February 15 of next year," Sonia said. "The day after Valentine's Day."

"Hopefully, that makes it easy for Rooster to remember your anniversary, if he already hasn't mucked up Valentine's Day," Bobbi said. "Has he forgotten any big days yet?"

"We haven't had any big days yet," Sonia said. "We knew each other in high school and reconnected a few weeks ago."

"And you're already getting married? Brave girl."

"He hasn't done a single thing to make me question whether I've made the right choice," Sonia said. "I can't think of anyone I haven't questioned at least once if I've known them for a few weeks."

"I have to admit he does check a lot of my boxes," Bobbi laughed.

"I know," Sonia said, winking at Bobbi. "My former girlfriends are going to be so jealous when they see him. They all made fun of him in high school. They don't know what they were making fun of."

"Why did they make fun of him? At my high school, he would have been at the top of the pecking order. Homecoming King, Class President, probably any girl he wanted."

"I've changed a lot since high school," I said. "I'll show you my Senior Yearbook at mom's next Saturday."

"I can hardly wait. Belinda, did you say thank you to Tommy and Mr. Johnson?"

"Thank you, Tommy. Thank you, Mr. Johnson."

"You're welcome, Belinda. I was kind of hoping Tommy would ask you," I said. "It was his choice who to invite."

"Why did you hope he invited us?" Belinda asked.

"Because I respect what your father did in service to his country, and I know it's tough growing up without a dad. My father died when I was ten. Tommy doesn't even remember his dad. Sonia's dad died just after Tommy was born. It's something we all have in common, so it makes sense, doesn't it? We all need to stick together because we all lost the same thing. I think Tommy recognized that, that we were all peas in the same pod."

Belinda nodded and a tear rolled down Bobbi's cheek. Just one, then she pulled it together again.

I'd have to say that we had a wonderful time at Valleyfair. We rode lots of rollercoasters and other rides, ate junk food, I rode about fifty percent of the rides with Sonia, with the rest evenly distributed between Bobbi, Belinda and Tommy.

There's just something about doing something like this with kids. It's never the same, nor as fun, when you don't go with a child. Tommy won Belinda a stuffed Moose knocking down the bottles with a baseball. Darn good arm on that kid. I won Sonia a teddy bear at a shooting gallery, shooting the star out of a target with a BB machine gun, and Tommy purchased Bobbi a soldier teddy bear. What a great kid he was. I was going to be so proud calling him my son.

We went out to eat at a Perkins afterwards, the three adults having salads because of all the junk food, but the kids having pancakes. I don't know where they stuffed everything. It was one of the few days I didn't feel bad for missing my normal workout. I'd ended up walking five miles before we finished. When we dropped them off at nine, Sonia and I both gave Bobbi a hug. Tommy shook Belinda's hand and thanked her for coming.

"Thank you all, for inviting us to join your family. It's the best day I've had in several months," Bobbi said. "It meant the world to us. And a big, special thank you to Tommy for buying me this." She held up her soldier teddy bear. "This is a very special gift, from a very special young man."

Sonia was beaming, and so was Tommy.

As soon as we were in the car going home, I said, "Tommy, I've never been so proud of you as when you gave Bobbi that teddy bear soldier. That was better than learning to light fires, drive a boat, track someone, or jump off a cliff. Being kind to people is more important than all of those other things. You are such a fine young man. You're going to make some woman very happy some day."

"Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome, Tommy."

Ann and Benson weren't back yet. It might be another couple hours. I wrote on the breakfast notepad - Sleep in Benson. We've got breakfast.

Tommy went straight to bed. Sonia and I went upstairs and got naked, but we didn't have sex. Well, not real sex. We just held each other and kissed, enjoying the solitude, the quiet, the softness of the night, the feeling of love.

Sonia whispered, "We have to get Bobbi a man."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"One of your unit buddies?"

"I don't think she needs another soldier. She lost one already. The kids lost a dad once. It's a damn hard life being married to special forces unit soldiers; worse than being married to a guy in the infantry. She needs something different, but not too soon. She already said she was still in mourning. We can't ignore that."

"Who then?"

"I don't know yet, but you know who popped into my head right then?"

"Who?"

"Greg."

"You're shitting me!"

"No, even though I'm amazed the thought made it past my stupidity filter."

"Then why would it?"

"Because I think his marriage is over, and deservedly so, but all of the girls I talked to about Greg, not a one had a bad thing to say about him, and I thought that was odd. Most people think about pimps the same way people think about whores - disgusting low lifes that prey on women and their misfortunes, and he did, but the one I talked to the other day said she wished Greg was still her pimp. Not a ringing endorsement, but not an all out attack either. Obviously, he still has to give up the business and he can't be fucking other women, but if he did that, would he be a bad guy? His kids still like him. Maya cared enough about him she's considered giving him another chance if he straightens up, despite what he did. I have to wonder if there isn't a seed of a decent guy in there somewhere.