Oh, by now you know the drill, the story really can't stand on its own, the previous chapters are key.
*****
Next morning I showed up early. Desperately early almost. Desperate because I had tried everything I could think of to get this thing of off me. Cold shower, lots of shampoo, sheer force (No, that hurt way too much) and was just hoping to catch Karen before they would leave, leave on whatever trip they had planned.
I pulled into the driveway. Early. Earlier than I was supposed to. Both cars were still there. I sighed of relief. I rang the doorbell, like I did when I was a teenager, when I was hoping to ask my first flame out. I surely hoped I was going to do better this time! Karen opened the door. "Good. The size is perfect I see."
On the way over, I was starting to become confident I begun to get a handle on how she thinks. But after that kind of -way out of left field- comment, I realized that she was a step ahead of me, as she has been most of the time so far.
"And the answer is: No!" she said, before I could even utter my first word. She giggled. I must have looked beyond surprised because she asked: "Or is that not what you wanted to ask?" "You know there is a one day penalty for each time you ask," she stated matter of factly.
I almost choked, stammered and tried to compose myself. "Uhh, Oh, Noo, I just wanted to make sure that uhh, you were, uhh..."
She cut me off. "Listen," she said, "I am almost finished packing and just to make you feel better, I haven't lost the key" as she leaned forward and tugged her neckline just a little to expose the key.
Oh crap, I thought, what in the world, what if she does lose the key? What if there is no spare? I almost started to panic. She must have a spare. She must. I told myself.
She must have noticed the look on my face. She added: "And there is no spare, only the cheap Chinese knock offs come with a spare." "Now, come in and have some coffee. After all, it is too early to start working on the deck, you'll wake the neighbors."
Karen disappeared upstairs. I hesitantly walked into the kitchen, and made a pot of coffee.
"Oh, that smells good, someone made coffee already." Came a sleepy voice from the basement stairs. It was Laura, wearing little more than a completely washed out oversize T-shirt. "Oh, Hi," she said with the sound of a smile in her voice. I didn't expect you here this early, but thanks for making coffee" as I poured her a cup. As she sat down on one of the bar stools in the kitchen, her shirt rode up some more, making me acutely aware of my predicament.
She was all smiles as she caught me glancing at her thighs. "While my parents are out of town, we are going to have soo much fun!" she exclaimed.
"I'm not so sure" I replied. Yes, under normal circumstances, I would have paid for that comment, but now, it sounded like this was going to be a tough rest of the week.
The expression on my face must have been obvious. She said: "Hey, look at it this way, they are gone and I get to do whatever I want!"
Yeah, she could, I am not even sure if she really even knew exactly what that implied. But then, she was pretty, and before this week, I would have counted myself lucky to be able to see her in this oversized, washed out, slightly ridden up T-shirt. The saying 'beggars can't be choosers' came to mind and I smiled to myself.
"See, I can make you smile still," she said sheepishly.
Pete walked in. "Coffee?" Laura offered. She reached for a cup while I got a hold of the pot. "You OK?" Pete asked. Mr. Direct, like he always was. "No pinching?" he asked.
"No, as long as I think about work." I answered.
"Yes." he said, nodding his head understandingly. "Laura, go put on something presentable" he said sternly. Quietly, she grabbed her coffee and with a quick smiley glance my way, headed downstairs.
Pete was Mr. Direct, and Mr. Practical. 'Use lots of baby powder. It helps."
Then, he smiled, suddenly his mood changed. And he added cheerily: "You don't like it now, but I know you will like it later!"
I didn't know if that was just a comment to cheer me up, or if that was something that was a real comment. I didn't have time to think about it much, but the thought ended up coming back to me time after time over the next few days.
Karen called from the top of the stairs: "Pete, I don't want to take advantage of the situation and ask him, so can you get up here and help me with my bag?"
I almost pounced to rush up the stairs, but Pete stopped me with a simple hand gesture. "Let me" he said.
A few seconds later both of them were at the bottom of the stairs, with bags, and Pete offered Karen a coffee. She accepted greedily and bent forward gracefully, exposing more than just the silver necklace and tiny key to me. Maybe I imagined it, but did she feign clumsiness with the cream until she was sure I looked? After all, Mrs. Conservative never before wore this low of a neckline.
After some typical parental instructions to Laura, and some not quite so typical instructions to the carpenter -after all, who says 'Call me if you are not fine.' = Pete or 'You stay out of trouble now, you hear?' = Karen, while bending forward as if there was a winning lottery ticket was just laying on the floor- they tossed the bags in the trunk and drove off.
It left Laura and me in kind of a funky atmosphere. I am not much of a talker, and would have preferred to just go to work, but Laura, well...
Laura..., well, she started. "OK, they are gone." she said. An air of victory barely hidden in her voice. Next, she proved to be Pete's daughter, and as straight as it comes, she asks: "Do you know why you are wearing that thing?"
I almost choked on my coffee. I wasn't sure what to say to that! I reached for the kitchen towel to wipe up the mess.
With a slight sound of disdain she said: "because she isn't sure about me." "And also, because she really likes you."
"I did notice she likes looking at me," I replied, "but didn't I think much of it."
"You cocky ass!" she exclaimed, and lifted up her shirt until it was only around her arms. "There, for being cocky like that, I get to let nature punish you!"
Oh, it wasn't comfortable, but I laughed, and all of a sudden, the honking pickup trucks that passed me by with drivers making gestures at me, it all seemed like such child's play. After all, they all would be green of envy to be sitting on This bar stool. We both laughed.
The rest of the week just seemed to fly by. I made all sorts of progress with the deck, learned to deal with the fact that Laura just naturally liked to be naked and the simple hugs and comfort of telling unpretentious stories was very nice. Mark didn't even seem to be an issue. I suddenly had a - super hot - but simple and natural, great little friend.
Suddenly, it seemed, it was Friday. I had been looking forward to this day, been counting down the minutes ever since Pete and Karen left. They were going to be home soon. I had made great progress and was happy to show it off. Also, I worried about not being too obvious about the key coming back nearby.
