Billy's First Date With Rachel Nicholson
As I was walking down Broad Street I remembered I needed to go by the florist shop to pick up Rachel's corsage. I turned on Wright Avenue and made my way down to Main Street where I turned west and walked another three blocks before entering Marybeth's Flower Shop.
A sales lady approached and asked me if she could help me. I told her my name was Billy Williams and I was here to pick up a corsage. She smiles and said, "The corsage is in our cooler. I'll go get it for you." She came back and opened the box to show me the corsage.
"Do you like it?"
"Yes, the two pink rosebuds look lovely together."
I paid her for it and the sales lady said, "Thank you for shopping at Marybeth's Flowers. I hope your date enjoys the corsage you bought for her."
"Thank you. I hope so too! I do know she will be surprised."
I left the shop and took a short cut toward home.
When I got home, Ginny was not there. I found a note on the kitchen table telling me that Colonel Weaver came over to pick her up, and he promised to have her back home before 1 a.m. Sunday morning. She told me she had washed the car, filled the tank with gas, and cleaned out the inside of the car. She wrote, "The forty dollars is for your dinners and she reminded me not to forget to tip the server. Then after you have sex with her in the morning I will have pancakes, bacon, and a fruit salad ready for you and Rachel. Have fun dancing at the club. I put clean sheets on the guest room bed and I hung clean towels in the guest bathroom. Have a good time together. I'm sure you will be successful in getting into her panties. Ginny"
I put her corsage in the refrigerator to keep it cool. It was getting late so I went into Ginny's bathroom and took a shower. I didn't want to mess up the guest bathroom since she spent so much time cleaning it. I shampooed my hair, cleaned my nails, and shaved the whiskers from my face. Then I began to dress for my date. Thank goodness my dancing shoes were polished.
I wanted to get to Rachel's early because I wanted to chat with her mom. She was very friendly and nice the other day. If Rachel acts like other girls she won't want me to be spend too much time talking with either one of her parents before leaving the house. That's why I wanted to get to Rachel's house early so I would have plenty of time to talk with her mom, Charlene.
I walked up and knocked on Rachel's front door. Her mother, Sandy Nicholson, opened the front door, smiling broadly, and inviting me to come into her house. She said, "Rachel is running a little late Billly."
"I'm in no hurry Mrs. Nicholson. I came early so I could spend some time talking with you." I placed the corsage on the edge of the coffee table.
"Oh, that's sweet of you. None of Rachel's other boyfriends have ever done that; they are usually a few minutes late so they can snatch Rachel up and scoot off to wherever they had planned to go. I'm sorry my husband, Jeff, isn't home at the moment, but I am delighted that you wanted to spend some time talking with me before going on your dinner date with Rachel. She reached out and took my hand and led me into her kitchen. She turned toward me and asked, "Can I get you something to drink Billy? I have some soft drinks in the refrigerator."
"No, I don't need anything to drink Mrs. Nicholson."
"Please Billy, don't call me Mrs. Nicholson. I prefer that you call me Sandy. Mrs. Nicholson is way to formal for a girl like me"
"Ok, I would prefer to use Sandy too."
"Rachel tells me you are a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School, and plan on attending the university here in our town after you graduate."
"That's the game plan." Sandy was still holding onto my hand as we stood there facing each other in the kitchen. Maybe in the her excitement she forgot she was holding my hand. I made no effort to remove my hand from hers. It felt good to feel the softness of her hands and they felt warm and inviting to me.
Sandy's eyes were a marine-blue and very beautiful. She seemed very pleased that I had arrived early. She smiled and said, "Your dad must be connected with the Air Force if you are taking my daughter to the Officer's Club for dinner and dancing."
"Yes, my dad's name is Colonel Joseph Williams and he is a career pilot who is deployed from time to time on secret missions somewhere in the world. My stepmom and I have no idea where he time of deployment. He's usually gone three months during the year, but sometime it can be a lot longer than that."
"Oh, that must be tough on your stepmom? I know I wouldn't like to be left alone for three months, not knowing where my husband was. I'm left home far too many days as it is. I hate it. How does your stepmother handle it?"
She took her free hand and grabbed my other hand. She was standing directly in front of me holding both of my hands and her gaze never left my face. "Ginny doesn't handle it very well Sandy. In fact she hates it too. If she had know that she would have never married my dad."
"I've had that same feeling myself. My husband goes on business trips far to often and for too many days. I feel like a slave sometimes."
She paused, I thought, trying to keep from crying,
"What happened to your birth mom, Billy?"
She died in an automobile accident when I was young. My dad married Ginny who was even younger than my mom."
"How old is your stepmother."
"She's twenty-five years old."
"Oh! ... Well, it hard enough running a household, but adding the care of a stepson when you are only in your early 20s can be very stressing?
You must be a great support for your stepmom since she doesn't have her husband around to help her ... and ... to provide for her needs."
"My dad made sure I understood my role before he left for deployment. He told me "Billy, you're the head of this house now. He continued, "It's your responsibility to take care of Ginny and do things that will help her manage the house, but you also need to provide her with any physical or emotional support she needs." Sandy, I have tried to do a good job in that regard."
"That must be the reason I think you act and talk more maturely than other boys Rachel's age. You have been raised to assume some responsibility. I know your stepmom must be grateful to have a young, strong, mature teenager around to help her with all her needs. Thia must be a very lonely period of time for her ... my goodness three months, or maybe longer ... I don't think I could handle what your stepmother has to deal with. That's a long time for any young women to be left on her own. I know she must be delighted to have you around to lean on from time to time. I certainly would if I was your stepmom. "
"Mom, who are you talking with?"
"It's Billy, Rachel. Don't be in a hurry dear. Billy and I are having a wonderful time talking together."
"Sandy, leaned forward and whispered, "I know Rachel is pissed that we are talking to each other, and enjoying it. Rachel never brings her boyfriends to the house because she thinks we will either say something embarrassing about her, or we will try to interrogate her date." She smiled at me and squeezed my hands."
