She looked at me and I thought she was going to cry as she said "You're a sweetheart. That's why I love you so much." And she threw her arms around me to give me a hug that I thought would last forever and part of me wanted it to.
What was I doing? Was I creating a situation which would be impossible to extract myself from later, at least without being disowned by the rest of the family? She just told me she loved me and I think she really meant it. We still don't know if she's pregnant.
I was beginning to feel a panic attack come on. You know a "coyote ugly attack" you wake up with a strange woman in bed with you and she's so ugly you don't want to wake her so you chew off your own arm rather than try to slid it out from under her. Just as quickly it passed as I felt her arms around me and I felt the glow growing in me I decided that for now I didn't care. I'll worry about that later. For now she would have to go home too soon but she'd be back next week.
*
The weeks went on, Melissa found a fulltime job as a secretary at a construction company but still kept coming over on Saturday and was even able to get over one or two nights a week during the work week and our illicit affair continued. We found that she was not pregnant, yet, and got her on the pill. I had gotten used to having her around and had pretty much stopped drinking and carousing, being content to have my cousin take care of my needs. Take care of me she did too. In those weeks she had gone from cleaning my house on Saturdays to cleaning out my plumbing and advanced to doing my laundry and making sure I had a stock of reasonable groceries in the kitchen. She got rid of all the furry things that bachelors seem to accumulate in their refrigerators and in general was taking care of me. I was loving it. I could not remember a time when I had been so content. I did anything she asked, hell, I even started putting the toilet seat down. That was a major accomplishment, something that neither my mother or ex-wife had been able to do with all the threats and nagging, Melissa accomplished it by just plain asking me if I would do it for her.
Then things started to get interesting. I was at work one Saturday morning, anticipating my time with my cousin later in the day, when my phone rang. It was Melissa, she had had to go into work for a bit in the morning but was to come over before lunch and wait for me but there was a problem. My heart sank, I was expecting her to next tell me that she would have to cancel but she continued. One of the girls she worked with had been getting friendly. Mel felt sorry for her because she seemed to be shy and the other women at the office didn't treat her very well. She had told me about the girl and how she tried to be nice to her. Apparently nobody had ever been nice to the girl before and she was so starved for friendship that once Mel started she latched right on to her. Now both of them were putting in a little OT on Saturday and Janet wanted to spend the day with Mel, she was wheedling and begging and Melissa, being the sweet kid she is was having a hard time saying no.
Melissa explained that she had to go clean her cousin's house after work, Janet wanted to come along and help. Melissa told her I was grouchy and might get upset, Janet begged her to call and ask. Melissa told her she usually made dinner for me and stayed to eat with me, Janet offered to buy steaks. Mel wanted to know what to do. I sighed and told her she might as well bring her along, so things didn't look fishy and we would just have to behave ourselves. Maybe she would get bored with cleaning a stranger's house and leave, at worst Mel could tell her on Monday that I had been annoyed and told her not to bring friends along any more. At least then it wouldn't happen again.
So I resigned myself to staying a little longer at work, there was little point in rushing home to see Mel if she was going to have someone there with her. I normally stayed till noon on a Saturday but today hung around the office till 2 PM before going home. When I got there I found Mel cleaning away and Janet working right beside her. Now I admit I was a little annoyed. I am a little touchy about my privacy and to have a stranger in my house disturbed me a bit, besides this girl was interfering with me getting laid. I tried to ignore the feelings and be polite. I offered both girls a soda and made small talk for a few minutes. Then I asked "Mel, are you finished with my room I was going to lay down for a bit."
She looked at me surprised "No, I'm sorry I didn't even start there yet or the bathroom."
I frowned "Ok then don't worry about it. Catch it next time."
"No I can do the bed quick now while you finish your drink, then do the bathroom while you rest. I'll just be super quiet. Maybe Janet could start the other bathroom for me."
Now for the first time Janet opened her mouth and addressed me "I'm sorry it's my fault. If I hadn't been here I would have not interpreted Mel's routine and she would have it done. I'll help her do the bed then I'll go, I guess I got a little pushy."
Now I gave the girl a good look. Up until now I had ignored her. She hung her head in the way a dejected and rejected child will. I suddenly felt sorry for her and regretted ignoring her and brushing her off. Before I knew what I was doing I found myself telling her, "No, it's not a big deal. Don't worry about it, any friend of Mel's is welcome." And on and on trying to make her feel better. Shit, I was as soft hearted as Melissa was and I was doing exactly the opposite of what I had intended. Instead of driving her away I was inviting her to stay. She just looked so damn pathetic. Then as she looked up at me and gave me a shy smile and an "are you sure it's OK" I looked at her as a person.
Janet was a cutie, a year older then Mel at 19. Long dark curls hanging down framing a round face. Pale skin with a scattering of freckles. She was a bit taller than Melissa, about 5'4" and thin. She had next to nothing in the bust department, at least from what I could tell, from the clothes she was wearing. Overall a pretty girl, not unattractive.
I assured her that there was no problem and shooed both girls back to the bedroom to strip the bed before I went and laid down. As they headed back Mel glanced at me over her shoulder and I just shrugged. She answered me with a smile. Then as the moved down the hall I could hear Janet talking to Melissa. "You didn't tell me your cousin was such a hunk. Does he have a girlfriend? Do you think maybe he might be interested in somebody like me. Maybe you could help me get to know him so he might ask me out."
