It was pretty late on a Friday night when my doorbell rang. I had not expected anyone and looked through the peephole to see who was there. I saw no one.
I had assumed it was a kid, after all I was a jr. high teacher and my students had an unformed sense of humor. As I turned to walk away the doorbell rang again. I opened the door quickly so I could catch them and found a very drunk semi-familiar looking woman leaning on the wall to one side. It was Dad's third wife.
I was away in college when she and Dad married and I had first seen her at the wedding. She was definitely too young for Dad and her big boobs, platinum hair and silly laugh led me to place a bimbo tag on her.
She did try to be friends with me but I did not stay long at the reception so she really had no chance.
Mom had told me to treat every woman like a lady even though I had ample evidence to the contrary so I helped her in, gave her a glass of water and settled her down on my sofa. She mumbled a thanks.
That was when I noticed the scratches and bruises on her arms and face. I did not smell booze, I worried about a concussion.
I helped her to my car and drove her to the emergency clinic. They confirmed she was sober and had a mild concussion. She would not tell us who attacked her.
As I gave the nurse the information on her she asked me if Renee was my wife. I said no, step mother.
Renee said, "No, former step mother and no it wasn't your Dad that put me here."
It was three AM before all the tests were run and she was allowed to go home.
"Where do you want to go?" I asked.
"A cheap hotel, please. I'm not going back to that house."
"What happened?"
"You don't want to go there. Suffice it to say your Dad has been a major disappointment to me."
"Sorry."
"Not your fault, I know you are nothing like him."
"My place has a second bedroom and your purse is there. It has been a long night, stay with me and we can figure out what we can do tomorrow."
"You don't mind?"
"No."
I took her home and settled her into the small bedroom which had its own bathroom. I gave her one of my t-shirts to wear and she went to bed.
I heard her crying and got up to check on her but stopped before opening the door. She obviously needed a good cry. I went to bed.
It was ten in the morning before I got up and after taking a leak and brushing my teeth I went to check on her. She was sleeping soundly. I closed the door and went to fix coffee.
I was drinking my second cup in the patio when she joined me. She thanked me for rescuing her and promised to be gone by noon.
I told her she did not have a time limit and that I needed to test her for symptoms of a concussion before anything else.
"Fix yourself some coffee and sit out here. I will go get the list of things I need to do."
She nodded and I immediately saw she had a headache. I found the pills the clinic had given me and got her a small glass of orange juice. She swallowed the pill with the orange juice then brought her coffee to the patio.
I looked at the list of questions I had to ask and wondered if she knew any of the answers in the first place. She knew all of them.
Her pupils were equal in size which was when I noticed how blue her eyes were. Her ears well still ringing but her nausea was gone. Her headache had retreated to dull throb category.
I reminded her I was supposed to do the test again in eight hours and asked if she needed to have stuff from her house.
She hesitated then said, "I guess I do need to go back to that house. Your Dad will not be there, he and his new lover left for Cancun this morning."
"I will help you," I said and wondered why I would.
She seemed very different since the wedding eighteen months before. Her hair was no longer platinum blonde although still blond. Her tits were no longer outrageously large although very nice. Without make-up and with scrapes and bruises she was still very pretty. She no longer looked like a bimbo.
She said, "I would appreciate your help but I need a place to live first."
"Well, you can stay here until you do and you would not need to go back to the house when he is back if we get you completely out today."
"You don't know me, why are you helping me?"
"Because my Dad apparently did not treat you right. Because you need the help. Because you need a friend."
She began to sob so I helped her up and led her to her car.
"I will follow you. I do not know where you live."
"South end of the city, about sixty miles from here but just half a mile from the freeway."
"How did you manage to drive to Felicity with a concussion?"
"I wasn't dizzy until I was in your driveway. I dropped my car keys as I got out of the car and bent over to pick them up then the entire planet began to move without my permission. It took three tries before I manage to press the doorbell button."
I smiled and opened her door for her. She got in and led me to a very nice house in a very nice neighborhood. It took us about one hour to pack up both SUV's and we drove back home. Some of her stuff had to go in a hallway closet but we had everything put away before five.
That was when we noticed we had not eaten all day. I told her to take a shower and I would be back with dinner. I drove to Janie's and got two of everything, almost. When I got back I put everything on the kitchen table then went to take a shower.
When I returned to the kitchen she was plating the food.
She said, "There is a lot of food here. Are you expecting company?"
"No but I am hoping there is enough left over for breakfast. Why didn't choose a hot dog?"
"You never know what is in them."
"That one is kosher beef and delicious."
"Oh," she said and put it on her plate.
As expected she loved every bit of everything. She also ate every bit of everything I got for her and had her eyes on my taco which forced me to move it beyond her reach.
She giggled. I loved her giggle.
As we ate I asked her the questions on the concussion check sheet and she answered everything correctly, well except for the Regis Philbin answer to a question about a signer of the declaration of independence. She was grinning when she did and after answering the next question correctly I told her the right answer to that one was also Regis Philbin.
She giggled. I loved her giggles.
"Do you have wine?" she suddenly asked.
"Yes but you can't have any until the doctor checks you again on Monday."
"Oh, too bad. I suddenly felt like celebrating. It just crossed me mind I just started a new life today."
