Taing Care of Family

Chapter 10 - Worst Day of My Life

When I returned home, Kacie took off to see her parents and Mom and I got back to talking about Carrie. Mom wasn't exactly jumping up and down with joy about me dating a woman who was literally old enough to be my mother. However, despite her personal baggage, Carrie was a very good person and Mom did trust her and believed that we were in love with each other. I noticed that Mom was careful to avoid any discussion of me and Carrie sleeping with each other, and I was grateful to avoid that subject.

We ended up ordering a pizza and when I returned from picking it up, Mom was already dressed for bed in her usual loose-fitting nightgown. Somehow, she was able to wear what was quite possibly the least sexy thing any woman could put on for bed and still generate some excitement under my shorts. We ate the pizza with some wine in the living room and our conversation shifted to easier subjects. She sat up on one end the couch with her legs curled up under her sipping her wine while I sat on the other end eating from the box on the coffee table.

"So, how have you Kacie and I been getting along in the apartment?" she asked.

"Honestly, she's had been a huge help during the past week while I tried to figure out how to tell you about me and Carrie. When I really needed someone to talk to, she was there," I replied.

Mom's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? I thought you two would be bugging the shit out of each other. She's not much for picking up after herself and you're a bit of a clean freak, and I can just imagine the fight over using the bathroom in the mornings," she commented.

"Yeah, she is kinda messy," I said wryly. "I'm always up before her, though, so when she finally comes out to take a shower and get ready for class, I'm already out of the bathroom. I do wish she'd pick up her clothes, though. One of my friends came over to study the other night and when he went to use the bathroom, Kacie had a bra hanging on the bathroom doorknob and all of her make-up stuff laying around on the counter."

Mom laughed. "Good luck with that! Your Aunt DJ has been fighting and losing that battle for years."

Mom shifted her position to pick up another slice of pizza and I caught a brief glimpse of her bare pussy as her gown hiked up over her thighs. I silently caught my breath and tried not to stare before she straightened back up and smoothed her gown back over her legs. The rest of the evening, I found myself constantly angling for a view of her body through the openings in her gown as she moved around or leaned over. I knew I should have been feeling ashamed, but I couldn't deny the sexual thrill I felt each time I managed to spy a glimpse of her bare breasts or bottom under her gown.

After she went to bed, I stripped down and climbed in my bed, but couldn't fall asleep until masturbating to visions of my naked mother. When I awoke the next morning, I heard the shower running and I quickly got out of bed to tip-toe down the hall. I carefully tried the door knob and cracked the door open just enough for me to see her reflection in the vanity mirror. She was washing her body and I became mesmerized seeing her rub her breasts and then wash between her legs. Before she got out, she lifted one leg on the shower bench and carefully shaved it. When she shifted to the other leg, I got a clear view of her pussy for several seconds before her position shifted slightly and blocked my view.

I watched her breasts swaying as she leaned down and finished shaving her legs and was so intent on them, I wasn't paying attention when my mother turned off the shower and turned in my direction to get her towel. Shit! It was too late to close the door because she would certainly see the movement. I hurried back to my room as quietly as possible and got back under my sheets. A couple minutes later, Mom stuck her head in the door.

"Get up, Sleepyhead!" she called in. I opened my eyes and pretended to yawn.

"In a minute," I said. I stretched my arms over my head and made a big show of wanting to stay in bed.

"Don't be too long," she said. "DJ and Kacie are coming over for breakfast and then we're having a girl's day out. Are you and Carrie doing anything special?"

"I need to call her," I replied.

"Hurry up!" Mom repeated and then headed back to her room to get dressed.

I was just coming out of my room after showering and getting dressed when Aunt DJ and Kacie walked through the front door. DJ gave me a big hug and then Kacie came up and hugged me as well. "I want to hear all about last night," she whispered in my ear before letting me go. She gave a knowing look and followed her mother into the kitchen to get some coffee with my mom.

I called Carrie and we made plans to head out and walk around the park before grabbing lunch somewhere. With her kids home all weekend, she couldn't spend all day with me, but we both wanted to take advantage of every moment we could be together. Ninety minutes later, I walked up to her front door and she opened it before I was halfway up the porch steps.

"Hi!" she said with a radiant smile. She was dressed in a light cotton blouse and a pair of loose shorts that showed off her shapely legs. "C'mon in," she invited with the door open. As I walked in the foyer, we shared a nice kiss and warm embrace.

"Mmmm," she said still smiling. "How did the rest of your evening go?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Not too bad, actually," I admitted. "Mom is still getting used to the idea, and has some concerns, but nothing you and I haven't already talked about."

"Speaking of that," she said as turned and took me by the arm. "I decided I needed to tell my kids about us last night before they heard about it elsewhere."

"How did that conversation go?" I asked

"It was weird. I told them I was dating a man I was in love with and they were fine with that, but then I said he was in college and my daughter asked if he was 'hot'." Carrie rolled her eyes and I laughed.

"When I told them who you were, that's when they started acting weird. My daughter asked if we were going to get married and then my son said there was no way he was calling you 'Dad'. My daughter asked if you were moving in with us and it kinda went downhill after that," she said with a sigh. "I just told them you have your own home to live in and aren't moving in with us. I also said we're still figuring things out and asked for them to be considerate."

I couldn't help but smile. "Sounds like I had an easier evening." She nodded in agreement and we sat down at the kitchen table for some coffee cake before leaving for the park. Her son stumbled in just before we left and froze when he saw me. I couldn't quite figure out what his look meant, but it didn't look welcoming. "Hi," I said. "Is it alright if I take your mom out for a walk around the park this morning?" I asked with a friendly smile.

"Whatever," he mumbled as he opened the refrigerator to get some juice. Carrie gave another eye roll and I suppressed an urge to laugh.

When we got to the park, we walked around aimlessly holding hands, talking, and enjoying the warm fall sunshine. We finally sat down on a vacant bench overlooking the pond and I turned to face Carrie.

"Look, I have something I need to tell you and you're not going to like it, but I can't keep a secret like that from you," I told her. Carrie's smile faded and her face showed the dread she started to feel.

"It's about Kacie," I began. "The first night we were in our apartment, she came into my room and we ended up sleeping together." I couldn't bring myself to say we had sex. "The next morning, I told her I couldn't have that kind of relationship with her for lots of reasons, but the biggest one was that I was in love with you and didn't want to cheat on you or betray your trust."

Carrie pulled her hands from mine and gave me a look that I'll never forget and hope I never see again. "Why would you do that to me," she asked quietly. "You know I have a hard time trusting men after my marriage and the first night you're away, you sleep with someone else. How am I supposed to respond to that?"

She waited for me to reply, but I was completely clueless on what to say.

Finally, her eyes grew hard and her voice went flat. "Before you tell me that it didn't mean anything and it won't happen again, let me just save you the trouble. It did mean something and I'm sure that at some point, when things get difficult between us, or you get drunk, or for some other reason, you will sleep with her again. I've seen the way Kacie looks at you and as you can tell, she doesn't care that you're her cousin. On top of that, I'm sure you don't feel the same kind of love for her that you say you feel for me, but you are very close to each other and always will be. Frankly, I'm a little surprised nothing happened sooner between you two." Carrie sat back and fixed me with a penetrating stare that made me feel even worse than I already did.

I got a coldness in the pit of my stomach from seeing that everything I had hoped for and was beginning to enjoy with the woman I loved was gone in an instant. I immediately regretted telling her of my indiscretion, but in my heart, I knew that trying to keep it a secret would have made things even worse.

"Carrie, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that I did something completely stupid and hurt you so badly. All I can say is that I truly love you more than anyone in the world and beg for your forgiveness."

She didn't reply for a minute, but then said, "I always knew something like this would happen. The first night we were together, I told you that you were young and still had a lot of life's experiences to enjoy, including the chance to meet other women and perhaps find someone you could settle down with. Why couldn't you have just told me beforehand that you were interested in someone else? I would have let you go and after you finished sowing your wild oats, maybe we could have tried to make it work between us." She stood up suddenly. "I need to go back home."

I got up to go with her but she gave me an angry look. "I don't want to be with you now. I'm sure you can find your own way home," and she strode away.

I was near breakdown. What started out as a wonderful morning turned into the worst day of my life. I slowly made my way towards the park entrance. It was a little more than four miles to my house and I walked it in a daze. When I got home, I went back to my room and collapsed on my bed. Sometime later, I heard Mom, Aunt DJ, and Kacie come into the house chattering happily. My door opened suddenly and Kacie froze halfway through the entrance.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, rolling over to face away from her.

She closed the door behind her and came over to sit on the bed. "What happened?" she asked with real concern.

"We broke up," I said, still facing away from her.

"What!" she exclaimed in shock. "Why? Because of your mom?"

"No," I said without embellishment.

"Then why did you break-up?" she demanded. I could hear the anger already building in her voice.

I rolled over to look at her. My eyes were red and I'm sure I looked like crap. "I told her about you and me last Sunday night."

Her mouth opened, but she didn't say anything. Her face went white as she stared back at me in shock.

"Why? Why did you do that?" she asked

"I couldn't live with keeping that secret from her and I knew that at some point in the future, she would probably find out and I thought it would be better if I told her instead of trying to hide it," I answered.

"What did she say, exactly?" Kacie asked. I relayed Carrie's statements and how she left me at the park, not wanting to see me again.

"Did she say she never wanted to see you again?" Kacie pressed.

I thought for a moment. "She said she didn't want to be with me right now, and then left."

"Then, there's hope," Kacie responded a little fiercely.

"Hope for what? I screwed around on her. She didn't do anything to deserve it and I fucked her over in about the worst possible way," I replied.

"Just don't give up on her, okay? She needs some time, but you need to go back and talk to her to try and work things out," Kacie insisted. She sat on the bed for another minute or so, and then got up and left.

I heard Mom and Aunt DJ laughing somewhere in the house and when they went quiet, I assumed that Kacie had rejoined them and told them at least some of what happened with me. I kept waiting to hear my Mom's footsteps as she came to see me, but the house remained quiet for a long while. I heard a low murmur of voices in the other room, but that eventually stopped. A few seconds later, the front door opened and then closed. I strained my ears, but didn't hear anything more in the house and assumed that they all left.

I stayed in my room for the rest of the afternoon and only got up once to go to the bathroom. There was still no sign of my mother or anyone else and I went back to bed. I briefly thought about getting something to eat, but I had no appetite for anything.

It was getting dark outside when I heard a car drive up and a minute later, my Mom came inside. The front door closed and I listened to her footsteps as she moved through the house and came to my door. She knocked softly and then opened the door. "Tom? Can I come in?" she asked softly.

"I guess," I said listlessly. "I guess Kacie told you that Carrie and I broke up,"

She came over and sat on my bed in the same spot Kacie had been hours before. "She did, and I'm sorry for both of you that it happened," she said quietly. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"No," I said firmly. She didn't say anything more, but just sat there with her hand on my shoulder. After a couple minutes, she stood up slowly. "I'm going to make some dinner. You're welcome to join me," she said.

"I'm not hungry," I answered. She walked out and closed the door quietly behind her. I listened to her footsteps fade away and then the distant sounds of her fixing her dinner in the kitchen. About an hour later, my phone rang. I rolled over and pulled it from my pocket. Caller ID said it was Carrie. I thought about letting it go to voicemail, but I answered it anyway.

"Can I come over to talk to you," she asked. Her voice remained neutral and I couldn't tell her mood or what she intended to tell me, but I did want to see her again.

"Sure. When?"

"How about in five minutes?" she replied.

"Okay," I said and she hung up. I got up from my bed and tried to fix myself up before Carrie showed up, but gave up with a sigh. I left my room and found Mom sitting in the living room reading. "Mom? Carrie called and wants to come over to talk," I told her. She looked up quizzically. "She'll be here in just a couple minutes," I added.

"I guess you'll want some privacy," she said as she got up and took her book and glass of iced tea to her room. I heard Mom's bedroom door close just before the doorbell rang. Opening the door, I saw Carrie standing there wearing the same clothes she had on earlier that morning and looking unhappy.

"Come on in," I said, making room for her to enter. I closed the door and guided her to the living room. "What did you want to talk about?" I asked as I motioned for her to have a seat. She looked around and then sat on the sofa. I moved around to sit on the chair nearest to where she was and waited.

"First, I'm still very angry and upset with you," she started. "I also love you and really do believe that you love me, otherwise I wouldn't be here." She took a breath and looked at me to gauge me reaction. My heart started to rise in hope, but I knew that there was still a lot to cover, so I kept my growing excitement and desire to touch her in check. I nodded in understanding.

"I'm guessing you don't know about the visit I got this afternoon from your mother and cousin," she continued. The look of surprise on my face gave her that answer before I even managed to say, "No."

"I may have over-reacted a little bit this morning, or at least rushed to a judgement that was not completely fair to you. Kacie is a pretty remarkable young woman," she said suddenly. "I was right about her love for you, but she made it very clear to me that you loved me perhaps more than I was willing to accept. She told me about your encounter and tried to take full responsibility, but we all know that you were a willing participant. She also described how upset you were with her afterwards and threatened to move out rather than risk further 'incidents'." Carrie paused and continued to watch my face for reaction. "By the way, that was the first your mother heard about you and Kacie together and shocked doesn't come close to describing her reaction. Kacie wanted to say more, but your mom sent her out to wait in the car. After Kacie left, your mother and I had a very frank discussion of things, but she also reminded me that I was guilty of similar behavior in the past with my first husband. The circumstances were much different, but I still went outside my marriage to find the love and attention I wanted so badly inside my marriage. She also pointed out that even though I still loved my husband, I never considered telling him about my infidelities. On the other hand, she thought you respected me and our relationship too much to hide your indiscretion and I wasn't giving you enough credit for that. She was right and I do want you to know that I find some solace in the fact you did want to be honest and not keep any secrets from me."

She looked down at the floor and took another breath before continuing. "None of that takes away the pain I still feel from your actions last week. I know it will eventually subside and go away, but while I can forgive you, I can't ever forget what you did to me." Carrie looked back up into my eyes almost defiantly, but found no responding challenge in my eyes. "The last thing your mother reminded me is that I also have some secrets I have kept from you, and to be honest, I don't know that I ever will share them fully with you or anyone else. If you can accept not knowing them and still want to be with me, I want to be with you."

I stared at her for several seconds trying to process everything she had said. I didn't give a shit about her secrets; I thought I knew some of them already and if she wanted to tell me about them later, that was fine, but I wasn't going to bug her about them. Of course I wanted her back! I realized I hadn't actually opened my mouth to tell her that and blurted out, "Of course I want to be with you. I still love you more than anything!"

Carrie gave me a feeble smile. "That's good, because I really, really missed you today, even though I was furious at you." We moved together and hugged for several seconds as we both dealt with the rush of emotions pouring through us. I sat down next to her on the sofa and tentatively leaned over to kiss her. Carrie was equally hesitant, but once our lips touched, everything became right again.

We remained on the couch for almost half an hour holding each other, kissing, and whispering our love, our apologies, and promises to remain true to one another. Carrie finally stood up. "I have to go home now. My kids have probably wrecked the place and I just want to soak in a nice, hot bath. Can we get together tomorrow before you leave to go back to school?" she asked while wiping some tears from her eyes

"Absolutely!" I agreed. "I want to spend as much time as I can, so just let me know when you're free." She nodded and I escorted her to the front door. She turned to face me and we shared another long, deep kiss before she finally pushed away. "If I don't leave now, I'll end up spending the night with you," she said half-jokingly.