John had been buoyantly cheerful as we walked to my house, and I sincerely hoped he would remain so once our subterfuge was finally revealed. I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, surprised to see Mom smiling expectantly just inside. "Hey, Mom," I greeted with a smile as she stepped up to embrace me.
"Hi, Mrs. Kirk," smiled John as he entered, and Mom smiled and embraced him as well.
"I hope you're both hungry," smiled Mom as she closed the front door. "Because we sure are."
It was at that moment that John noticed Mable who was seated casually on the sofa with her legs crossed. "Oh," he said, his eyes wide as he looked between me and Mable. "Hi," he said, acknowledging her with a look of surprise and confusion on his face.
"John," smiled Mom, taking his arm and leading him toward the sofa. "Have you met Mable?"
As John gaped wordlessly, Mable smiled and stood, holding her hand out to him. "I think I may have seen you before, but I don't think we've ever been formally introduced," she said smiling at John with a knowing wink, "Hi, I'm Mable."
John smiled tentatively and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you, Mable," he said.
"Why don't we all sit down and relax for a few minutes," said Mom as she sat down and pulled John down on the end of the sofa beside her.
I smiled at Mable as I approached, and she bit her lip with a suppressed smile as well. God, she looked good. I loved seeing her in short skirts and dresses with heels. She was the living personification of sexy.
Mable held her arms out to me and we embraced warmly. I breathed in deeply, thrilling to her intoxicating scent. "I love you," I whispered softly, my lips close to her ear. I raised my head I kissed her lips briefly and then turned to smile over at Mom and John as we sat down on the sofa.
John looked at Mable and me with a look of complete astonishment on his face.
Mom smiled, looking pointedly at me and then back at John with a raised eyebrow. "Mable and I have spent a very pleasant afternoon together, John. And she has opened up to me truthfully about their relationship." Mom smiled at me and winked, "I see that poor John here seems to be the only one that is not in the know about you two. Would you care to enlighten him?"
"Yeah, James," said John, leaning forward and looking at me with his brows raised and a sarcastic look on his face. "Please do."
I shrugged and smiled at him, "I'm...in love with Mable," I said.
"And, I'm in love with him," chimed in Mable with a broad smile as she embraced me once more.
John laughed and shook his head, "I knew it...I knew it...I fucking KNEW it." His eyes widened and he looked at Mom, "Oh...I'm sorry, Mrs. Kirk. I didn't mean to say it like that...pardon my French.
Mom laughed, "Not to worry," she said, "I believe we all speak fluent French here. Right?"
"Fuck yes," laughed Mable.
"Fuckin' A, Bubba," I said with a broad smile at John.
John laughed and nodded, turning his attention to me. "Man...you freaking lied to me when I asked you about her, and I can't believe I actually let you suck me in the way you did. I should have held you up by your ankles and shaken the truth out of you."
"Don't be too hard on him, John," smiled Mable, leaning forward and giving him a kindly smile. "If he lied to you about us, it was my fault entirely because I asked him to do it. I didn't want our relationship to become common knowledge, so I asked him to keep it a secret. Well...until this afternoon when Leslie held me up by my ankles and shook the truth out of me."
We all laughed, and the mood was calmed when it appeared John had been somewhat mollified. "Now..." said Mom as she turned to John once more and looked him in the eye. She took his hands in hers, "Did you hear her say the name of the person who shook the truth out of her?"
John looked stricken, clearly at a loss as to her meaning.
Mom turned toward Mable and me, "This guy's pretty good at being secretive too," she said with a teasing smile. "From the way he keeps politely referring to me as Mrs. Kirk, no-one would ever suspect that last night I had my tongue halfway down his throat right here on this very sofa."
John smiled sheepishly as understanding dawned on him, "Sorry...Leslie," he said, smiling at her as his cheeks reddened.
Mom returned his smile and leaned in to kiss him lightly on his lips and they smiled at one another meaningfully.
"All right, then," continued Mom. "Now that we have all of the preliminaries out of the way, what do you say we get some dinner? Mable and I are starving."
"I'm in," I smiled. "Where are you taking us?"
"I'm thinking the Outback Steak House. How's that sound?"
We all made noises of general agreement and stood up as the women took up their purses. "Let's take my car," said Mom as she fished her car keys out of her purse.
"Want me to drive, Mom?" I said, knowing she and Mable had been drinking most of the afternoon.
She frowned at me momentarily but smiled, "Nope, I'm good," she replied.
I nodded doubtfully but let her have her way as she led John by the arm toward the garage. As John rushed to open the driver's door for Mom, I opened the back door for Mable. She smiled and kissed me as she stepped into the car, pointedly allowing her dress to ride up very high on her legs as she settled inside.
Once we were out of the garage and on our way, we all chatted amiably about restaurants in general and which ones we favored. I recalled hearing about a new restaurant opening soon out in Henderson. A new barbeque place that had been given a glowing review in the newspaper. I mentioned it to everyone and said, "The place is brand new, we should all go once it's open and before the crowds discover it."
"I suppose that's just like him to want to do that though. Isn't it, Leslie?" said Mable with a playful smile on her face.
"How do you mean?" Returned Mom with an inquisitive look from the rearview mirror.