Penny felt emotionally drained, as she left the hospital and walked to her car. The doctor was satisfied with her father's improving condition. On Monday, a medical transport would move him to Mercy General, near her home. She'd be able to visit him everyday.
A gust of cold mountain air sent a shiver through her, while she leaned against the car fender and phoned home.
"Hello?" said a timid voice on the other end.
Automatically, mother-mode kicked in. Penny smiled. "Hi, Linda. How are you doing?"
"Mom!" Linda's excited voice turned away from the receiver and yelled. "Hey, Guys! Mom's on the phone!"
The connection rattled as multiple extensions picked up. Questions were fired at her from three directions. After answering them all, Penny asked an important question of her own. "Where's Dad?"
"He's not here."
"He's not?" She fought to keep suspicion out of her tone. "Did he say where he was going?"
"He went to get a part to fix the kitchen faucet."
She looked at her watch and doubted. "Okay. He should be home soon."
Oldest son, Brian said, "Yeah, right."
"I'll be home tomorrow. You call me if you need anything."
They said their goodbyes and hung up.
Immediately, Penny called her husband's cell phone and it went directly to voice mail. She sat in the parking lot for several minutes, fighting for composure. She could choose to be angry and hurt, or she could choose to live in the moment and enjoy life as it comes. Long ago, she'd learned how not to be a victim. She'd learned to control her emotions and make the best of the situation.
Peter was out doing whatever made Peter happy, and now she was going to do whatever made her happy. First, she had one more errand to run.
At night, the Midway motel still made her uneasy. Tom wasn't in his cabin, so she wandered around the grounds, looking for him. The 'No Vacancy' sign was turned on, although there were only two cabins that appeared occupied.
A faint guitar gave her direction and she followed it to the barn. The big door was open. Tom sat silhouetted in the yellow light, strumming bluesy chords. His long hair was loose and disheveled. Beer bottles sat in a bucket of ice at his side. Empties lay scattered in the dirt.
"Hey! How's it going?"
Startled, Tom straightened up. He was bare-chested and acted a little embarrassed. Nervously, he combed a hand through his hair, and mumbled, "It's all good. How's Mr. Wentworth?"
"He's doing better. Dad would like to see you before he leaves on Monday." As she explained her father's transfer to another hospital, Penny admired his chiseled physique. He was a handsome young man, full of life. She wondered how his muscular chest would feel pressed against her. The vision of his potent virility focused on her body made her flesh warm, but she couldn't take advantage of him like that. Not like they took advantage of Hannah. "Aren't you cold?"
He held up his beer, and said, "Antifreeze. Would you like one?"
"No thanks." Penny walked into the barn and flicked off the lights. "Tom, come with me. I have a proposition for you."
After he closed the barn door and put on his shirt, Tom followed Penny back to the motel office.
She led him into the living room before speaking. "Dad isn't coming back. He's too old to take care of this place. We talked it over and, if you're interested, we'd like you to run the place. Dad's attorney will check in with you, periodically. The motel is paid for, so the only thing it needs is some management and maintenance. Whatever profit you make after expenses you can keep, for now. Everything happened so fast we're kind of winging it. Because you saved Dad's life, he's giving you this opportunity if you want it. If not, we'll just close the motel and put it on the market. I'm sure it would sell quickly."
Tom looked a little wobbly and she wondered if he was sober enough to make a rational decision. "You can sleep on it, and let me know what you want to do tomorrow. I've packed up most of Dad's personal stuff. You can move in here tomorrow night, after I'm gone. We'll work on getting the rest packed later." Reaching into her pocket, she said, "One more thing," and pulled out a slip of paper. "Here's Hannah's email address, at least she said it was. I'm leaving the computer here. We can keep in touch over the Internet. Dad's username and password are taped to the bottom of the keyboard. You can use them to log on, until you get your own account." She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly. "Good night. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Thanks, thanks a lot, Mrs. Skinner." Tom followed her out and waited until she was safely away.
Penny relaxed behind the wheel, satisfied every detail was complete. The rest of the night was for her personal gratification only. She didn't think it would be too difficult to get what she wanted. What she wanted was sex -- hardcore, sweaty, recreational sex. She deserved it, and she wanted to have it with Willie.
'Twenty years ago, he should've been my first lover. Life brought me back for a second chance.' Instead, he would be her first adulterous lover. The only hiccup in the plan was Annie, his wife. The gossip from Hannah was that Annie wanted to swing with another woman, before settling into motherhood. Well, if that's what it took to get into bed with Big Willie, then so be it. A ménage à trios and lesbian sex would just be two more firsts.
Getting naked with Annie would be strange indeed, thought Penny, but the earlier disguised fondling felt very nice. In fact, the cute little redhead's touch was quite exhilarating. Also, if Annie were involved, Penny wouldn't feel guilty about screwing her husband. Consensual sex would make everyone happy.
Penny pressed a little harder on the accelerator.
Little Freddie was awake and fussy when she walked in the front door of the Morris residence. Annie was sitting on the living room sofa, trying to get him to drink from a baby bottle.
"Hi, how's it going?"
Annie smiled weakly. "Not so good. I think he wants the real thing."
Penny unbuttoned her blouse. "Okay little man, calm down. Mommy's here." She plopped down next to Annie, grabbed Freddie, and stuck her left nipple into his eager mouth. "Ouch! Take it easy."
