Henry: This chapter goes so well with the previous one that it makes sense to post them on the same day.
That being said, I haven't even started on Chap. 24, so it will be a while before you get more.
*****
I sat there for several more minutes, thinking it all over. My first reaction was panic, realizing that my daughter was a lot more savvy than I'd given her credit for. She seemed to know every nuance except the sex part, and she might even be suspicious of that.
Once I got past the anxiety, it was easy to say that Paige is just a kid herself, so she is no more qualified to speak about this topic than Randi. They are both young, naive and idealistic in a world that isn't always forgiving of such dreamers.
But, I was pretty impressed. My kid is smart, and surprisingly wise. Maybe she's got a point about waiting five weeks until graduation, then seeing if there is still something there.
What about the other part, though? Randi did as I asked and went to the prom with a boy. Do I owe it to her to do what she asked, too? Or would refusing to follow through still be the right move? Maybe somewhere down the road she would realize that she couldn't have handled the thought of me banging someone else.
Perhaps I let Randi's arguments sway me, or maybe it was a hard-up libido at work, but the next afternoon I called Gina to see if she would like to go out for dinner.
It's just dinner, I reasoned. Doesn't mean I'm actually going to sleep with her. We kissed in my kitchen and I didn't rip her clothes off. Granted it was touch and go for a minute ...
After some initial surprise at my call, Gina sounded pleased on the phone.
"That's a generous offer, Henry, but as a bachelor I bet you eat out a lot. How about you come over and see what it's like to have a home-cooked meal for a change?"
"Hey, it's still home-cooked if I throw a frozen pizza in the oven."
"You see, that's exactly why you need this. Now, since basketball is over with, we don't have to hold off all the way 'til next weekend. Why don't you come around on Tuesday, say 6 or 6:30?"
"I can do six o'clock. What can I bring?"
"Just yourself. I'm taking care of the rest."
I guess that takes care of that. Of course, I had no idea what THAT was.
When Tuesday came around, I kept checking the clock every few minutes all afternoon. A dozen times I thought about picking up the phone and canceling, but I didn't know how much preparation Gina already had put into the evening, so it didn't seem fair to ditch at the last minute.
Eventually I showered, dressed and showed up at the address - a ranch-style brick home so common in this area in the 1970s.
I knocked at the front door, trying out some different opening lines in my head. It was too warm for a jacket, but I had brought one just in case it turned cooler or it rained. And so I stood there shifting the jacket from one hand to the other as I was thinking.
When the door opened, it wasn't Gina standing there, but Autumn, and none of my lines fit anymore.
"Oh, uh, hi!" I said, a little too enthusiastically while trying to figure out what to say next.
"Hey, coach," said Autumn with a warm smile. "About time I got you to my place." She gave me a grin, enjoying my stammering. She slid to the side and waved me in.
"Have a seat. Mom's busy in the kitchen." She motioned toward the couch, so that's where I sat.
The easy chair across from me was deep, but rather than sink back in that spot, Autumn perched on right arm and swung her left foot up into the seat. That's when I took notice of her clothing. She was wearing a blue tank top with white bra straps peeking out around the edges. She was wearing white shorts, and the dad in me thought, "I'd never buy Paige shorts that color. They'd be ruined on the first day."
That thought floated away, however, as Autumn made small talk while fidgeting. Maybe she was a little nervous, too, but I didn't notice because her squirming on the arm of the chair was causing her shorts to billow outward and collapse inward, back and forth. I was afforded glimpses of her inner thigh right up to her torso.
I didn't see the edge of any panties. Was she wearing panties? Was she sitting here "commando" and giving me quick flashes? Is that why she's doing the nervous babbling?
Gina called out from the other room, "Autumn, does our guest need a drink?"
Autumn turned toward the doorway as her mom spoke, and I caught sight of a bit of blue. Ah, she was wearing underwear, and the panties appear to match her top. I simultaneously thought that it was too bad she wasn't naked under the shorts, but also thought that the matching colors might be because she was hoping to show me her panties at some point.
Damn, I had to stop thinking about this, or I would embarrass myself when it came time to stand up and enter the dining area. Then they could say, "Here's coach. And here's coach's erection!"
"So how about it, coach?" Autumn asked, looking at me expectantly.
"What?" I didn't know exactly what she was proposing to me. The mind boggled at the possibilities.
"To drink. What would you like? We have iced tea and some diet drinks and other stuff."
"Oh, right. Um, water is fine for now."
She popped up from the chair and stepped over to me. She bent forward, showing cleavage and reminding me of what it was like to see her topless in the hotel room.
"Here, let me get that while I'm up," she said, reaching for my crotch. My eyes widened until I saw that she was grabbing the jacket out of my lap.
I hoped my sudden blush would die down before she came back.
She returned with a tall glass, and I chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
"At my house, glasses never lasted very long, so we stopped using them years ago. We drink out of aluminum soda cans, plastic cups with logos of sports teams and the occasional red Solo cup. It already feels like a fancy dinner."
