The next morning I woke up as the sunshine entered my window. I'd been up late, and I was groggy, but it was a rare day that dawn didn't wake me up. I could have gone back to sleep, but I had things to do, even though it was summer vacation.
Of course, above all I had to serve Derek. So I checked my phone for messages before I got out of bed. Nada. Well, I didn't need direction to serve.
I got my clothes on. My bras were still too tight, since I'd gained a cup size. Maybe I could get new ones. For today, though, I'd just go without. The problem was that my larger breasts, now a C cup, were harder to disguise. I put on a really loose T-shirt. I normally would have worn it with jeans, but the fantasy of Derek coming over made me put on a skirt. He might like to find me with no panties, so I left them out too.
Then I went downstairs for breakfast with my Mom.
The Danielle Steel book was on the stack of read books to go back to the library. I needed to teach my Mom about e-books again; I'd tried, and she said she was just a traditionalist. The woman is only forty-two, and sometimes she acts sixty. Then again, sometimes she looks about thirty-three, thanks to the way her artificial DD's fill out anything she wears with unnatural perkiness.
Today, that was a sweater and tight jeans.
I picked up the book, and flipped through the pages idly. I found the paper I'd put in there easily enough, but it wasn't where I left it. I'd put it toward the end, where my mom would come across it, as she'd already been halfway through and I knew she wouldn't go to sleep without finishing it unless the sherry overcame her. She'd moved it to between pages forty-two and forty-three. So, she'd noticed it. Maybe she'd used it as a bookmark instead of her usual dog-earing.
You couldn't dog-ear an ebook. You didn't have to. I'd take another run at it, soon, but it wasn't high on the agenda today. I put the paper back, but not before she spotted me. She had a plate with eggs and veggie sausage for me, and one with eggs and bacon for her. I don't know how I stayed skinny. Some would say I was blessed. Most of them had bigger breasts, and so I didn't see it that way.
"You want to read that book?" Mom put the plates on the table. "I was going to return them tonight and get more, but it's not due for a week and a half yet."
Work, and read, that's pretty much what Mom did. And offer unsolicited advice, because, well, she's a mom. I think it's required. Nowadays, I suppose I offered some sometimes myself. "No thanks, Mom. I was just curious. This paper fell out."
"Oh," Mom said. "That. Funny thing, huh? We were just talking about purpose, and here there's a paper someone left in my book saying if I don't have enough of one, I should read some silly words."
"Well, did you read the words?"
She hesitated for just a split second. "Of course not. It's ridiculous."
I'd lay 5-1 odds that she had at that point, but 5-1 is different than certainty. "Of course it is. I'll toss this." I made like I was going to crumple it up.
"No, honey." She quickly crossed the kitchen and grabbed the paper from me. "Someone left it there, they might be looking for it. Best to leave it in the book where I found it."
And she put it back, but near the beginning of the book. Not where she found it.
We sat down to eat, and I of course wanted to probe the mystery further.
"How would you feel if Derek came over today?" I asked.
"Derek? He's a really sweet boy," she said. "That would be lovely."
"Up in my room?"
"Well, there's no need to go up in your room."
"But if we did?"
"Well, whatever you two want, I suppose. Of course you'd leave the door open. I mean, yesterday it was okay because Claire was with you, but..."
"Oh." So maybe the spell on the piece of paper hadn't worked. If she'd read it, and if she had, she'd want to serve Derek, and from what I knew of service, that meant being happy to have Derek served by other people, too. Including her daughter.
"And there's nothing you can't do with him with the door open."
I raised my eyebrows. "But what if he's all shy, and wants the door closed?" I was stepping on dangerous ground here.
"Well, he's a nice boy. He should have what he wants, I imagine," Mom said. "How's the 'sausage'?"
"It's great, Mom." I knew she'd never believe that fake meat could be delicious, but I was still processing what she had to say. "What if Blake came over, should I keep the door open then?"
"Well, of course," she said.
"Even if Blake wants it closed?"
"Especially if Blake wants it closed. The sort of man who wants the door closed when he's alone with a woman isn't worth even being friends with, Annie. I brought you up better than that."
She'd read the paper. And it worked. Reconnaissance accomplished, now for the main mission. "You want the best for Derek, don't you, Mom?"
She gave me a look. "Well, yes, I suppose I do. He's such a nice boy."
"I do too, Mom. Whatever he wants."
She smiled. "That's a smart girl," she said, and helped herself to some more eggs.
"The thing is, he gets kind of nervous when people just want his best interests, you know? I mean, if you say that, 'I'll do anything you want,' that sort of thing, he gets all worried. So even if it's true, you kind of have to soft-pedal it. Act natural, you know? Conform to expectations, but just bend things a little in his favor."
"Huh. Is that how he is? Well, that's a shame, he shouldn't be ashamed of wanting what he wants or be afraid to get it."
"I do sometimes think about how that would make serving him easier, but it's not about what's easiest for us, is it, Mom? It's about what's easiest for him."
"Easiest, or best?"
"Best, I guess, but sometimes that means easiest. Anyway, if he knew you thought he was such a nice boy that he should have anything he wanted - and that is how you feel, isn't it, Mom?"
"Yes. Yes, I don't know why, but I feel quite strongly about that."
"Well, he might freak out."
"Hmm." She ate in silence for a bit. "Well, I'll keep that in mind."
"He probably likes parental figures to be, well, parental," I said. It wasn't that I didn't want him to get a blowjob from my Mom. I wanted him to have anything he wanted. But I didn't want him to know my Mom, like me, was under his spell, because he'd wonder how it happened, and then he'd probably stop me from continuing to serve him by using the spells in the book for his benefit."
"Oh. Right. I'll be like a mom to him, then," she said. "Shame, really." She smiled. "Not that I had any other ideas. Well, don't worry. Just do anything he wants, and I'll support you."
I grinned. "You're the best Mom. And you're the best for Derek, too." I finished the last of my eggs and kissed her. "I've got studying to do, I'll be in my room."
"Well, I've meetings this morning so I'll be in my office." Ever since COVID, Mom worked from home. She took trips sometimes, but she'd cleared her schedule for the summer, because I, her only child, would be home. I'd told her it was okay, but no. I was the priority. Or maybe she didn't trust me home alone, which was silly because I'd been off at college all year.
I went upstairs, got the book out of my safe, and started working through it. I put my translations on my laptop, in password protected files. My phone was next to my mouse, just in case Derek summoned me.
Derek texted at eleven, asking if he could come over. Of course I said yes. I let Mom know he was coming.
"I'm glad he's coming. Help him with that if you can, dear. Are you sure he wants me to be parental?" she texted back.
"For now, Mom, it's the safest thing," I texted. "I hope he'll be okay with more at some point." And the strange thing was, I really did. I wanted Derek to embrace every deep secret in the book. I wanted him to have everything he wanted. But I'd have to bring him along slowly.
Springvale isn't a big town. Derek walked, but he was still there in twenty minutes. I let him in.
"We need to talk, privately."