Author's note: I had intended to take the first chapter down and re-post the story in it's entirety when I finished it, but due to surprisingly high readership, I've decided to post each chapter as they are ready. Please enjoy the first 5 chapters, and have a little patience while I write more.
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When Chloe arrived arrived on Monday afternoon, my son Jonathan was at a friend's house down the street and Gerald was at the museum. Instead of using a moving van, she got out of a taxi carrying only a backpack and one suitcase. I felt sorry for her. I'd hate to be poor and have so little.
"Hi, Mrs. Anderson."
I said, "Hello again, Chloe. Follow me to the guest house and I'll show you around."
I led her in and pointed out the rooms. "The kitchen is over there. The living room has an electric fireplace. There's a tub in the downstairs bathroom, but the upstairs one only has a shower. I'd suggest you use one of the bedrooms to sleep in most of the time and keep the other nice for when Gerald is here."
"Holy cow! This is nearly as big as my mom's whole house! I don't have to share it with anybody?"
I felt slightly jealous and started to reconsider my plan as I said, "Just my husband sometimes." If I needed to let him sleep with her so he would stay, I'd do it, but that didn't mean I'd enjoy it.
She set her suitcase and backpack down.
I said, "You can use the pool in the back yard and the hot tub and rec room in the main house basement. There are pool and ping pong tables over there. You can do your laundry over there too."
She asked, "Where can I have a cigarette?"
She followed me outside as I said, "I don't want you smoking indoors or around my son. I guess if the weather's bad you can smoke in the garage, but not in the house or guest house."
"Okay. Since we're way across town, I think I'll miss my family. Can I get time off to go see them?"
"Sure. If the house is clean, you only need to be here when Jonathan is home. You can go visit when he's in school. You'll still need to watch him, but they can come over here on the weekends too."
"That's nice. They would have a blast swimming in your pool."
"I think one of your sisters is in the same grade, right?"