Will
My neighbor, Terri, is a real knockout. She's about 5'3", shoulder length golden hair, beautiful green eyes, luscious lips and a body to die for. She has a thirteen year old daughter, Bess, and has been widowed for the past eight of her thirty-three years.
At eighteen she was working the perfume counter in a department store when she met her husband Cal. They married six months later. He was forty-seven, ten years divorced with two sons in college. He ran his own internet-based business and was a multi-millionaire. Neither member of the happy couple could believe their good fortune, but his two sons would have nothing to do with Terri. Sadly, Cal died of a stroke at age fifty-four. He left his business and fortune to his sons, but a generous insurance policy provided Terri and Bess with a comfortable lifestyle. Terri wasn't much of a housekeeper; a cleaning service came in once a week, a lawn service took care of the grass, shrubs and trees. Terri enjoyed puttering in her gardens, painting in watercolor, and sometimes lounging by her pool. Terri in a bikini was a sight to behold!
My wife Melinda and I moved in next door two years after Terri bought her house. Four years later Melinda confessed to multiple affairs and moved out; we hired shared a lawyer and achieved an amicable divorce. That left Terri and I as unmarried neighbors, but I was always shy around women and never dared ask her for a date. Melinda, in fact, had been the one to ask me out, and was the only girlfriend I'd ever had. I was short (5'7"), rather near-sighted and never thought I was anything special in the looks department. But I sure enjoyed looking at Terri!
We did chat, however, and one day Terri rushed over as I was getting out of my car. "Will, I'm at my wit's end! Bess is impossible! She curses me, blows up at anything, storms off to her room or out of the house. Her report card was all D's and F's this time and I've just learned she's been skipping classes. And two of the group she hangs out with got caught selling weed!"
"Oh my, Terri! You have my sympathy. I haven't a clue how to deal with a teenager."
"Apparently, neither do I." Terri sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye. "She used to be such a sweet girl." I squeezed Terri's hand; she squeezed back, said "Thanks for listening, Will," and returned to her house.
A couple of evenings later Bess knocked on my door. "Mind if I come in, Mr. Bridges?"
"Not at all, Bess. Can I get you a lemonade?"
"Yes, please."
"Come into the kitchen, then." She took a seat while I poured her glass. She took a few sips and just stared at the floor. I felt like she wanted to talk but she didn't say anything.
"Would you like to play a video game, Bess?"
"OK, I guess."
"Competitive or cooperative?"
Her head lifted. "What's cooperative?"
"You and me take on the bad guys and try to save the world."
"Sounds cool! Let's do it!"
Bess loved the game. We played for more than an hour, then I paused it and said "Bess, I'd better let your mom know where you are."
"That's OK, I probably need to get home anyway. Thanks, Mr. Bridges, can we do this again sometime?"
"Sure thing, Bess."
I phoned Terri from work the next day to fill her in; "Is it OK for her to come over like that?"
"Yes, thanks, Will. She came home in a good mood, told me where she'd been and we didn't fight for the first time in weeks that I can remember."
"Glad I could help, then."
After that Bess was over at my place almost anytime we both were home. I kept Terri posted on what we did, which was mostly video games but sometimes a TV show or movie. A few weeks later I took a day off work; I ran some errands and returned home around noon.
Terri dashed over as I got out of my car; "Will! I can't thank you enough! She's like a different person! She's doing her schoolwork, she's quit being rude and disobedient at home, she's even started to cook! I never did much in the kitchen besides use the microwave but she's been fixing breakfast for more than a week now!"
"That's great, Terri, not sure I deserve the credit but I'm glad to hear it."
Bess opened up to me one day about how she knew her former friends were bad news but she felt lonely without them. I asked about her interests; she was really quite bright and mathematically inclined. I suggested looking for some 'geeky' friends. The next Saturday afternoon she brought a short guy with thick glasses over to join our video game. After that she often had one or two friends over on the weekends. She had friends over to her own house as well, but the guys had trouble concentrating if her mom was around!
Bess's grades went from D's and F's to A's and B's. One afternoon she came by; I invited her in but she said "I need to get back, I'm cooking supper. Would you like to join us? Chicken and rice, fruit salad."
"I'd be delighted! Sounds great."
"I hope so! 6:30?"
"I'll be there!"
It was a simple but tasty meal. Conversation was limited until, remembering that Terri loved to read, I asked "Anything interesting from the library?"
"Oh, yes, I'm reading a book about the great extinction..."
Bess perked up: "The dinosaurs?"
"No, the end-Permian extinction, before the dinosaurs. More than 80% of species in the seas and 70% on land were wiped out. That actually paved the way for the dinosaurs. Before that, it was relatives of our ancestors that ruled the land -- the Therapsids."
"Wow! I'd never heard of that!"
I wondered: "So did an asteroid cause that one, too?"
"I haven't gotten that far in the book, yet."
From there we talked about the dinosaurs and whether we were in the middle of another great extinction. Terri and I batted ideas back and forth while Bess, typical of her generation, fact-checked with her iPhone.
After desert -- cheesecake! -- Bess asked "Want to join us for a game, Mom?"
Terri, a good sport, said "OK" and we fired up a game and tried to explain it to her. After a few minutes she put down her controller. "I'll leave this to you two. Thanks again for the dinner, Bess, I'll take care of the dishes." I watched her leave the room and then, to my embarrassment, realized Bess had been watching me ogle her mom!
Bess smirked and said "Let's get back to the game." I smiled sheepishly at the girl I was beginning to think of as the daughter I wish I'd had. A daughter with one heck of a sexy mom!
After that, Bess invited me over at least twice a week, her cooking consistently excellent as was the conversation and, need I say, the scenery? I took to ordering pizza or taking the two of them out on Friday or Saturday nights.
Spending time around Terri, however, I found myself enjoying more than just her beautiful face, mesmerizing eyes, gorgeous hair and spectacular figure. She read voraciously and conversation flowed easily between the three of us. She showed off her garden and, shyly, allowed me to see one of her completed paintings, which, to my untrained eye, looked very good. I was falling fast but was terrified of asking her out without Bess along -- she was way out of my league and if she shot me down it could wreck our sort-of 'family'. I couldn't risk doing that to Bess.
One afternoon when I took a day off work another neighbor, Wanda Simmons, dropped by with half a cherry pie. I invited her in and we sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, eating the desert and chatting; she mentioned her divorce would soon be final. She was pleasantly plump with a sweet face; I began to wonder if I should ask her for a date. The thought brought me up short; I couldn't really imagine dating anyone but Terri, however impossible that pipe-dream was.
Bess let herself in (Terri and I had exchanged keys awhile back), said "Hello Mr. Bridges, hello Mrs. Simmons, sorry, didn't know you had company, I'll come back later," turned around and left.
Wanda was taken aback; "Does she often just pop in like that?"
"Well, yes, I'm sure she misses her father so Terri lets her spend time with me."
"Ah, well, look at the time, I'd better be going."
"Thanks again for the desert, Wanda."
Bess
When I saw that woman in Will's kitchen, I knew I needed to talk to Mom! I found her in the backyard painting, a nice rendition of the creek and woods bordering our property. Usually I wouldn't interrupt her but this was important!
"Mom, you need to go on a date or something with Will! That Mrs Simmons was at his house, you can't let her get her hooks into him! No way she'd let me stay friends with him!" I was angry and scared.