This is a work of fiction.
It had been a crazy week, as the owner of a software company I had to make sure the projects were on schedule fortunately this latest one was almost done just taking care of the bugs. As such I was looking forward to the weekend. Our parking space was across the street from the office and as I was waiting for the light to change I saw her.
Her name was Christy and the last time I had seen her was 10 years back before we moved to this town and despite all that time she hadnât changed much although she looked tired. With her was a little girl who appeared to be about four maybe five years old (I later learnt she was four). She was just like I remembered she always had her hair in a neat pony tail and always wore long skirts. Come to think of it I had never seen her with her hair down or wearing pants. I asked her about it once but she just changed the subject so I never asked her again.
I waited until I was a few feet then called out her name, I didnât know if she would recognize me because I had grown my hair and had a small pony tail and also had a small goatee. But she did and her face light up with a huge smile.
âJake? I donât believe it. You look different but I would recognize you anywhere,â she said then she hugged me.
At that point I turned my attention to the little girl.
âThis is my daughter Cindy,â and to my surprise she reached up so that I could lift her and when I did, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
âSheâs never done that with anyone she just met,â Christy said surprised.
âWhat can I say? Kids love me,â I replied with a laugh.
She then reached up and stroked my cheek and smiled then all of a sudden it hit me how much she resembled her mum right down to the dimples. I then turned to Christy and asked her where she was staying. At this point her expression changed to one of somberness.
âI was waiting to hail a taxi and check into a motel,â she answered after a pause. Then I noticed she had a suitcase with her. âEric and I are divorcing, he kicked us out, and in the past six months weâve been living with friends. But they all have families of their own and canât house us for long. He doesnât want anything to do with us he froze my accounts and I canât afford to fight him.â
âFirst of all, you are not checking into a motel. My mum would kill me if she found out I let you do that. You are coming home with me. Secondly, next week we are getting you a lawyer, donât worry he owes me one. And thirdly, lets get something to eat.â
And with that, I led her to my car. I still held Cindy in my arms and she had her arms around my neck and hadnât uttered a word.
âShe does talk right?â I asked Christy, to which she nodded. I lived about twenty minutes out which put me outside the city limits and as such the homes were further apart and generally bigger with huge backyards.
âWow this place is big. How much did it cost? Iâm sorry thatâs none of my business.â
âItâs okay would you believe half a million but now I understand if I sold I could make two million easy. Anyway lets go in weâll catch up as we eat.â I showed them their rooms and each one came with its own bathroom, the previous owner had several grand kids so two of the rooms were you could say customized for kids which suited Cindy just fine.
It was still light outside so I decided to show them my back yard before we ate. I had a small playground which had everything swings, seesaws and jungle Jim, a raised pool and hot tub. Naturally Cindy wanted to go and play and after reassuring Christy that the place had been child proofed she let her go which gave us some time to talk.
âThanks for doing this, I donât know what I would have done because Iâm almost out of cash and we havenât had a decent meal in a while.â
âAre you kidding, this is the least I could for what you did for me eleven years ago. I know you told me not to ask you how you did it but I still have to ask, how did you do it?â
After a pause she smiled and started, âRemember the cop who arrested you?â she asked. âI went to high school with him and during out senior year I caught him in a compromising situation with another male student.â
âYou mean he was gay?â I asked, shocked.
âYes and in the town I grew up in you didnât want something like that coming out so I promised to keep quiet.â
âWhat did you get in return?â
âAn IOU but I never got to cash it until that night you called. Actually I expected to just pay some bail or fine and take you home but when I saw him there I decided to cash it and the rest is history. One thing I donât understand though you could have called Betty why didnât you?â
At this point I blushed a little and said, âI figured since you are only four years older than me, I could talk you into keeping this quiet from my parents and Betty as you know was a gossip and that was the last thing I wanted to put my parents through. Iâm glad for that because some of the other kids ended up doing time in juvenile jail.â
âActually I did tell Victoria but talked her out of punishing you and telling your dad.â
I didnât realize this but I had a shocked look that made her laugh and for the first time in ten years I remembered why I liked her⊠actually loved her. She had a beautiful laugh that made you want to laugh too. Then Cindy came in and asked if one of us could come out and push her on the swing. We both followed her out and took turns pushing her.
After a while we decided it was time to have dinner. Cindy didnât want to come in so we had to convince her that she would have the whole of the next day to play as much as she liked. My fridge was always stocked thanks to my mum.
After my girlfriend left, she would come in every week and cook food and pack it freezer bags so all I had to do is heat it up. I tried to talk her out of it but she wouldnât hear any of it so it became a ritual with us.
Cindy seemed to enjoy the lasagna and it turned out it was one of her favorite dishes. I on the other hand was glad to have some company. Usually, I would take my food into the den and work on a project but tonight I would eat on the dinner table might as well make use of it.
After dinner I put the dishes in the washer and retreated to the living room to watch some news. I had two lazy boys and when I got to the living room she was comfortably seated on one and so I settled on the other.
After about twenty minutes of watching TV, Cindy approached me and asked if she could sit on my lap. I picked her up and we settled down to watch some cartoons.
Christy in the meanwhile, had gone to change and when she came back, my jaw dropped she wore a long body hugging night gown that accentuated her curves. This was as close to sensual as I had ever seen her because she was always covered up you couldnât even tell her boob size. Now she was standing before me and before I could say anything she raised a finger to her lips to indicate that I should not speak then she pointed to Cindy who was sound asleep in my arms.
âWe better put her to bed,â she whispered.
âGood idea,â after tucking her in we both kissed her and headed back downstairs to continue our catching up.
âI forget to ask you, how are your parents doing?â
âWell theyâve been divorced for six years now. My dad came home one day, I was in college then, and told Victoria that he was in love with his assistant. After that she just went to pieces, the interesting thing though is she didnât tell me for about two weeks then one day she shows up at my apartment and breaks down. It was the most difficult three months of our lives, she seemed to give up on everything fortunately she had a good business partner to take care of business. She practically moved in with me.â
âIâm sorry about that, how did you cope?â
âLittle by little day by day she depended on me for almost everything I was so afraid that she might be suicidal that I quit school for the remainder of the semester to take care of her. But slowly by slowly she pulled through. You see they were 16 when I was born so dad was the only man she had ever known and when they broke up she just broke down. But they both moved on dad married his new girl and we talk now and then. Though I donât tell Vicky she never forgave him and as a rule we never talk about him. But you seem to be handling your situation a little better.â
âYeah you could say that.â
âWhat happened?â
âI wish I could say he going through a midlife crisis but this is different. After Cindy was born he was the best husband a woman would want. But after her first birthday he started acting different towards us like he didnât want us around. Then six month ago he asked me to leave, I guess I should have seen it coming. I guess I was holding onto some hope that he would change and go back to being the loving guy I knew but things kept getting worse.â
At this point she was crying and I guess due to the experiences with my mum, I instinctively hugged her. She returned the hug albeit a bit tighter but the feel of her boobs on my chest felt good. After composing herself she pulled back, looked me in the eye smiled and then kissed me on the lips. This took me by surprise and before I knew it the broke off the kiss.
âYou should talk to Vicky its good to have someone whose been through the same situation to help you through this,â I said in a daze.
âWhy do you refer to your mum by her first name?â
âIâm not quite sure why but after we moved here she suggested I refer to her with her first name. At first it was a bit odd but I got used to it. Sheâll be by sometime next week, she usually drops by and cooks a weeks worth of food, I tried talking her out off it but she wouldnât listen.â