"Oh, thank god you're here," I breathed, opening the door to let in my son and daughter.
Randy grabbed me and held me, moving me out of the way so that Joannie could shut the door behind them. I started to cry again.
"Mom, I don't get it," Joannie said, shaking her head, looking between me and Randy. "What the hell happened?"
"I just - I made such a terrible mistake," I said. The last thing I wanted to do was tell my own children what a fool I'd been, but they deserved an explanation and frankly, I needed their support right now.
Randy kept a firm arm around me as the three of us moved from the entry way into the great room of my home. Joannie stopped and stared while Randy lowered me to the couch and sat beside me.
"What the hell happened in here?" Joannie demanded. Hands on her shapely hips, her chest out, my lovely daughter's eyes flashed as she took in the scene.
"Did someone break in?" Randy asked me, gently. While Joannie was a hothead, he kept cool and calm. He seemed to sense that I needed a steadying presence right now.
The couch, because of its size and weight, was just about the only piece of furniture that hadn't been toppled or broken. My glass-topped tables and their fine art pieces lay in shards on the carpet. Armchairs splayed their legs in the air like dead animals. The shattered television hung by a cord from its former perch on the wall.
"Aw fuck," Randy said in a low voice, holding me at arm's length. He looked into my eyes. At this moment, I felt so, so ashamed that I had seduced him a few months ago. What must he think of me? I swear he'd avoided me since then. I'd traumatized my own son. What kind of monster was I?
"It was Allen, wasn't it," he said, phrasing it as more of a statement than a question.
I hung my head, nodding.
"Allen?" Joannie turned sharply toward us. "You mean Mister Wonderful that you've been afraid to introduce to us?"
"Joannieβ" Randy began in a warning voice.
"What?" she cut him off. "Well, now I know why. Did he beat you up? Mom? We'll get the bastard in jail before the night's over!"
I shook my head vigorously. "No, no, he never hit me."
They didn't believe me, I could tell.
"So what happened tonight?" Randy asked me.
"I'm getting some wine," Joannie said before I could begin. She tromped out of the room and we heard her in the kitchen, slinging things around in her indignation.
"We had an argument," I said with a sigh, relaxing a little in my son's arms. His young face was intent on me. "I've been having doubts about him. The more I get to know him, the more convinced I am that he's been taking things from around the house."
"Stealing from you?"
I nodded.
"Jesus, Mom, do you have all your credit cards? What about your bank passwords?"
"I hide my purse before he comes over," I told him. "And my passwords are in my phone, which he can't get into without my fingerprint."
"Not good enough," he said sternly.
"Well, he's not coming back here," I said just as sternly.
"The fuck he won't. Tell me what happened."
I took a deep breath. "We argued about sex. And then he just got furious and started breaking everything in here."
Randy smiled just a little. "Well, I'm gonna need more details than that."
Joannie returned, juggling three wine glasses in her hands. "You call the cops yet?" she asked us, handing each of us a glass.
I took a grateful glug, but Randy set his glass down on a book lying on the floor. "Mom's telling me what happened."
Joannie grunted, and parked herself on the carpet in front of the couch, lotus style, her legs spread wide and her short skirt not covering anything.
"Cute panties," Randy said, pointing.
"They're edible," she quipped.
"No shit?"
"Hey, you two," I scolded them.
"Oh, sorry, Mom," he apologized. "Are yours edible, too?"
I stared at him. I guessed I had only myself to blame. But Jesus, couldn't he keep his mind on matters at hand? After all, we were in the midst of the result of a man's rage. And I'd thought Randy was so mature.
"We argued about sex!" I shouted, getting to my feet, spilling a little wine on the couch. "Shit!"
"Who?" Joannie asked, confused.
"Allen and me! He always wanted to do the same thing and I told him I was sick of it. I wanted something else."
"Mom, you sly little vixen," Randy gave me a sidelong smile.
"Oh Jesus, I know the two of you fucked," Joannie said, rolling her eyes. "And I heardβ" she turned directly to her brother - "how great it was."
"Yes it was," I assured her. "I don't know what I thought I was doing with Allen. He seemed so nice and safe -"
Joannie erupted into laughter. "That was the problem! You don't need nice and safe, Mom. Dad sure as hell wasn't. You need a real man. Someone with a sense of adventure, creativity, daring!"
"Yeah," Randy agreed, looking up at me.
I drank wine.
"Oh I suppose you think that's you?" Joannie challenged her brother.
"Well, I'm pretty goddamned good. You didn't have any complaints."
She actually reddened just a little. "No," was all she said.
"Listen, you two," I kept them on track. "So I told Allen I wanted to do something besides missionary all the time, and I started throwing out ideas. He just flipped out. Went completely berserk. Called me a whore. Said that only whores wanted to be fucked doggy, or wanted their pussies eaten out."
"Christ, how did you two ever hook up?" Randy asked, laughing.
I shook my head. "I don't know. I've just - you know I've been lonely since your Dad died."
"You have us," Joannie reminded me. She ran her tongue over her lips lasciviously, and pulled down the front of her blouse to reveal her succulent, milky cleavage.
"Keep going," Randy urged her, pointing at her finger.
"Shut up, you," she pulled the blouse back up. "Mom and I have something special and beautiful."
"Yeah, well she and I have something special and beautiful, too," he retorted.
I stood there in the carnage of my destroyed home, watching my adult children try to one-up each other over who'd had the better sexual experience with me.
The two of them had locked eyes. I stood there, exasperated, knowing that anything I said would go unheard.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Joannie asked him.
"Probably," he grinned.
"What about me?" I interrupted them.
"You?" they both looked up at me.
"It's about you," Randy told me, gently. "We love you, Mom. That's why we're here."
Joannie snorted and giggled.
"Okay," he became serious, and got to his feet in front of me. "Here's what we're gonna do. We'll get someone over here in the morning to clean up this mess, we'll call the insurance company, and get Harry to file a restraining order against Allen."
Harry was our family attorney.
"We'll change all your passwords and have the security company over here to reset all the alarm codes."
"What about having that bastard arrested?" Joannie asked him.
Randy nodded. "We'll call the police. But not right now, not yet."
"Why not?" she persisted.
"I think Mom needs some . . . attention from her loving children." He grinned at me.
"I'm just grateful that you're here," I said.
"Mom, he means we're all gonna fuck." Leave it to Joannie to be blunt.
"Right now?" I looked between them.
Randy nodded, smiling. "Sorry, but I've had a hard on since she sat there with her legs open," he waved a hand at his sister.
"Have you, now?" she said, and got on her knees, moving toward us. "Let me see."
Randy turned toward her. Still on her knees, she reached up to his crotch and touched him. "Ooh, you are hard! Mom, feel this!"
I hesitated. This was a ridiculous situation. But the memory of my son's masterful lovemaking emboldened me. He put an arm around me, pulling me close, and I touched his cock. I flinched a little.
Joannie and Randy both laughed.
"Sorry," I apologized, but Randy tightened his grip around my waist.
Next thing I knew, his mouth was on mine, open, exploring me with his tongue.
"Woooo!" Joannie keened, and did a sexy little turnaround, wiggling her hips. "You go, Randy!"
He grabbed her with his other arm, and kissed her hard. When he let her go, there was fire in her eyes. She reached her arms up to him and made him kiss her again.
"Think you can handle both of us?" I asked him, now just as into it as my kids.
"Oh you two think you're hot shit, don't you," he grinned.