This is a work of fiction - names and places are elements of fiction.
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A Stepbrother's Desire - Josh and Tyson 20
I did not want to get out of bed Monday morning. It was dark out at 6:30 and I just wanted to stay under my warm cover. I would be slightly behind on homework today but if I calculated correctly, I could complete the math in homeroom and have biology done during lunch. I honestly didn't get anything done last night after a big day like yesterday. Ty was floating pretty high after boxing up three sold items and getting high bids on several other's yesterday. I honestly didn't know someone our age could make some money though enterprise. I had to hand it to him. He might be my sugar daddy one day! I heard the shower go on and I knew he was up.
I climbed out of bed and with my half boner pointing out through my shorts I went into the bathroom. I slung the curtain open and yelled "morning!" He jumped and almost slipped.
"Josh, dammit! I could have fallen!" and I cracked up laughing.
"Hurry up and don't use all the hot water, please," and I exited the bathroom having relieved myself. I picked out some clothes and then I heard the water shut off. My turn.
At breakfast, Ty gave me the evil eye. Early morning pranks irked him to no end. Mom told us that a subpoena had been received by her office and it was a doozy. Almost 3000 documents were being requested for a client and while some of them were already scanned, many of them were paper in files and would have to be scanned. She said her team would be working late most of the week. She would be out of pocket. Ty said he would help with dinner since Bill was mostly useless in the kitchen.
"I make some damn fine scrambled eggs, as you are already aware," said Bill. Always ready with a comeback. You can never catch him off guard.
"Ty," said Bill, putting his paper down, "why don't you raise the topic you brought to me yesterday?" giving Ty a quick eyebrow flash. Mom and I both looked at him suspiciously.
"Do you think I should? I mean, is it the right time?" replied Ty. Bill said he thought it was.
"Well, it will be easier to show than to tell. Would you all follow me please?" and he got up out of his seat. We all did likewise. He went to a drawer in the kitchen and pulled something out. It was a key. He headed up the stairs and we followed behind. Upstairs in the center hall, he unlocked a door. I was stunned. I had only thought there was a furnace or an old closet or something. I never asked and I guess Mom hadn't either.
"Ah," mom said. "I haven't been in the attic. I just let it slip my mind," and I looked through the open door to a narrow set of steps leading up to another floor.
"Ah hell," I thought. I was not aware of the attic. No telling what deep, dark mysteries were contained up there. We ascended the narrow steps and when we got to the top, I was impressed that it was all finished with nice sheetrock and flooring and lights. It wasn't like those scary attics that you see on TV. But what faced us was shocking and terrifying indeed. My mom gasped and Ty laughed. I stood frozen in my place. Christmas decorations! Many Christmas decorations! Half of that room was packed with them! Wreaths lined the walls. I counted seventeen of them. No, really. Seventeen wreaths! There were two Christmas trees and boxes of decorations and colored balls. Just peering into some of the boxes I could see there was that garland stuff that you wrap around columns and run down banisters. There was a whole box dedicated to white window candles also stuffed with extension cords. There were statues and floral things that go on tables. There were brass candle holders. A whole box was dedicated to those long strings of Christmas lights, oh my God.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I uttered and mom turned around and told me to hush. Bill chuckled. "Why all white? Why not red or green?" I asked, feeling like a dumbass from the country.
"Long story," said Ty. "There was a time when only half the street was decorated because some of the Jewish families didn't want to decorate, didn't believe in it. The neighborhood slowly convinced them to join in and at least do a wintry display or something historical, Southern or New Englandish if they didn't want to exhibit religious items. Do a Martha Stewart theme or something. They agreed and now they are all in, almost competitive, BUT, they use multicolored lights. They insist. All the other houses use white but as a negotiation we don't use any nativity or dreadful santa clauses or reindeer," said Ty. "Did I get it right, Dad?" asked Ty.
"You certainly did. Your mother was very influential in those discussions back then. She was very thoughtful to everyone's needs but she was pretty sure all of Park Avenue would be tastefully decorated to celebrate the season, wasn't she?" and Ty nodded and I saw an emotional shadow pass over his face.
"Mom, this is the stuff that MY mom collected and it's really very beautiful but if you want to do something different, I would understand. Dad and I just wouldn't know how to start over," he said and his head bent down and he pinched the bridge of his nose. My boy was going to cry. Mom jumped in.
"Ty, as a matter of fact, we have some things from our family's past back in our storage facility that are important to us; Josh growing up and some of the things I grew up with. I would offer this, let's do the front of the house as you customarily do and for the interiors, maybe we find a happy blend of our best items. That way we celebrate this gorgeous street we are so fortunate to live on, we recognize the family as it is today, and we honor our loved ones from the past. What do you think of that?" she asked.
He just let loose and balled. He shook his head in agreement but he couldn't speak. I was almost at a loss for words seeing him so emotional but I thought to do two things. I went over and put my hand on his shoulder because I realized this "mom" thing might be hard on him at Christmas which I felt as he made reference to her the other night then I decided to buzz the moment and I exclaimed, "Sorry to be insensitive but this looks like a scene from a Hallmark Christmas movie!"
"Josh!" my mom snapped and gave me the look that I was going to Hell. I saw a ripple in Bill's lip. I know he was with me on this but he couldn't say so because of Ty. I knew he was cheering me on like he usually does.
Ty gave a slight chuckle and started a cheer up because he knew I couldn't help myself. "So predictable!" he replied.
"Honey," said Bill, "I think that is a very fair offer and Ty and I both appreciate your sensitivity. As always, you have the perfect solution, doesn't she, Ty?" he asked, putting his arm around his son. Ty nodded and was cooling down.
He pointed to me and said, "I'm going to shoot lightning at you before today is over!" which made me crack up but then mom came in with another suggestion, one that almost caused me to faint.
"Ty, I am going to be so busy but it appears we have a lot of work to do. Since you know the routine so well, I'm going to ask that you be the Executive Director of the Breck Family Christmas Display this year. Can you manage it? Help us stay on track, and get our things successfully blended?" He nodded and slowly turned to me and gave me a most evil and heinous grin.
"Damn, y'all might as well put me in prison now!" I snapped.
""Why is that?" asked mom.
"Because fifteen years of hard labor will be a light sentence compared to putting up all these decorations with HIM in charge," I barked loudly, pointing to Ty. Oh the family was eating it up but they were shooting me vicious glares despite their amusement.
"So, we have everything organized here," said Ty. "And with only two weeks to Thanksgiving, we need to get busy."
"Wow," said mom. "I am caught a little off guard. I hadn't thought what decorating the house would be like. It's amazing! Everything is so well packed and organized," she said approvingly.
"Be a shame to mess it all up," I suggested. Again, I was met with evil stares.
The school day would be a "mission accomplished" day with only one snag. When I approached my locker between 2nd and 3rd periods, I found the built in pad lock jammed with some red material that would not allow me to turn the lock. I tried as best as I could but I couldn't get a grip on the material to pull it loose. Time was ticking and I had to get back upstairs for class. Fortunately, Ginny came along and asked why I was dragging. I showed her my lock and asked if she had a nail file. She dug around in her pocketbook and found one. I was able to use it to remove the fabric and then the lock turned just fine. I held up the fabric as she and I examined it.
"Looks like you have been pranked, Josh Warner. Someone has it out for you," she said with a laugh and headed on to her class so she wouldn't be late. "Tyson Breck," I thought. I should get him for this but I realized he was "getting me." He was clever, that was for sure. I made it to Biology with seconds to spare.
After school, I was having some chips in the kitchen when he came in carrying his backpack.
"Thought you were clever, didn't you?" I asked.
"Huh?" he asked.
"The locker thing. That was a nice touch," I said.
"Sorry, I have something in my ear. I can't hear you!" he said as he stormed up the stairs to drop off his things and change clothes. When he came back down, he said he had seen Caleb at school today and it was an odd conversation and I asked how so.
"Well, he cornered me in the library hall because it was quiet and asked if we could talk this evening."
"What did you say?"
"I said well ok. Sure. He seemed like he really had something on his mind."
"He's going to apologize to you," I told him, "for being such a jerk for all those snarky comments."
"How do you know? Did you put him up to it?" Ty asked suspiciously.
"Nope, he came across Ginny and me at the movies yesterday and said he felt like shit after what you said to him at the game. He thought it was time he stopped treating you like that. He asked me to do it for him but I told him he needed to do it himself."
"Oh, that's interesting," said Ty.
"Give him a chance Ty. See if he does it up right to suit you. I'm not saying you have to be best friends but let him close the loop on why he's been bugging you and maybe everyone will feel better," I suggested.
"Oh I'm going to. I never wanted a rift with him. As I told you, Tristan and I loved him to death. I wouldn't mind him making amends," he said matter of factly then he stuck his hand in my bag of chips and grabbed a handful.
"You know it just seems that I have a destiny." Ty raised an eyebrow. "I was sent here to straighten all you rich kid's asses out!" I exclaimed. "Y'all are a hot mess, worse than one of those shows on the CW!" I said grinning at him as he chomped on cheddar and sour cream potato chips.
With a mouthful, he said, "So you think you know how to straighten some ass out do you? You have what it takes to straighten this out," and he turned and bent to emphasize his smooth buns in nicely fitting sweatpants.
I grabbed them and ran my hands down into his sweats and whispered in his ear, "oh I think I straightened this out perfectly, Saturday night, or have you forgotten?"
He finished the last chip and turned to me and said, "I haven't forgotten anything, babe. I thought about it in school and got a nasty boner in English" and I laughed and felt down his sweats to a fresh boner that had quickly come to life.
"I would have liked to have seen that. Do you think anyone else saw it?"
"Wouldn't doubt it. It was full up hard," he said giggling.
I dragged him upstairs and into his room. I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his lower waist. I slipped the sweats down so that his cock revealed itself.
"Let me make up for this morning," I said and I dropped to my knees and pulled his cock down toward my mouth. I sucked him in and heard him moan. I kept sucking and his hips gyrated in rhythm to his cock slipping in and out of my mouth. I pressed my tongue to the underside of his dick and he shivered. God this was good today. I am truly not what you would call a cocksucker. I will do it to get bigger things underway, but just occasionally I get inspired. Today, his hardness with the sweaty and salty taste was inspiring me. He was really turning me on. Yeah, I finished him off with the taste of his load filling my mouth, gliding over my tongue and into my throat. Fuck it was so hot, it only took me a few strokes to shoot my own load on his bare leg as I kissed him, mixing the taste of chips in his mouth and the taste of cum in mine.
Ok, so enough of the fun. He had me go upstairs and bring down the wreaths. Little punk was going to take full advantage of his authority today. And, without argument, I let him.
I brought down the wreaths. Apparently, there was to be one attached to each window on the front of the house including the front door, the two front windows on Bill's study which extends to the right of the house and the two windows and the second story guest room above Bill's study.. He would show me how to install them later. I came down the attic stairs with wreaths wrapped around both of my arms and one around my neck. Ty was standing there with his phone camera ready to take the pic of how stupid I looked. Yep, that landed on his facebook page. It took two trips to get them all down.
"And remember where you get everything because it has to go back there!" Ty reminded me and as I was bringing down the box of window candles, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" shouted Ty. I was sure he would since I was doing all the heavy lifting. A few minutes later, Ty shouted up the stairs, "Hey Josh, look who's here!"
I peered down the stairs wrapped in cords and it was Caleb Shaw, who was peering back up the stairs at me.
"Josh, you look like a mess. Am I interrupting something?" he asked with a big grin.
"Yep, just in time," I said.
"No, don't let me keep you. I'm just here to talk to Ty. Ok? Later man," he said and he turned and Ty led him out into the back yard. "Well damn," I thought. I could have used his help. In fact, I will use him to help me get those blasted trees down these stairs. Ty probably won't be much assistance.
I stacked half the wreaths in the guest room and the other half downstairs in the living room. I brought down the box of Christmas lights and stretched out all the kinks in the family room. I could see Ty and Caleb kicking around outside in the yard. They sat in lawn chairs with the breeze blowing their hair. Caleb was a good looking guy for sure. In one part of the conversation he looked upset, even a little angry then his mood lightened. They laughed from time to time and it seems they were getting along fine when I noticed Caleb look at his watch and stand from his chair. Looked like he was leaving.
When they entered the family room through the screen porch, Caleb said, "hey Josh, you need some help there? I'm just on my way home."
"Actually, Caleb, I do need a bit of help," and I grinned. He helped me bring down the Christmas trees. It was fortunate they were already put together but it was a task getting them down two flights of stairs without bending them. We sat them in the living room as well. Ty had suggested this would be the best staging area until we got things sorted out. Mom had asked Ty and me to go out to the storage facility one afternoon this week and bring back our Christmas boxes. It was another chance for me to drive the silky smooth wagon which just turned me on. I didn't think those boxes would fit in the back of my car.
We walked Caleb out front and I thanked him for the help. He turned to me and said, "No Josh, it was the least I could do. Thank you!" he said and headed down the sidewalk.
Tristan had just pulled up to the curb as Caleb was walking out.
"Hey Caleb, what are you doing here?" he asked as Caleb headed toward the jeep cherokee he was driving.
"Uh, just a talk with Ty and you're next," he said, hopping into his vehicle. "See you tomorrow," he said.
Tristan joined us on the front porch.
"What was that all about?" Tristan asked.
"Well it was a very unexpected conversation. I haven't even had a chance to tell Josh about it," said Ty. We went into the house.
"Yeah! Christmas decorations!" shouted Tristan. "I love Christmas!" he barked.
"I guess you have your hands full at your own house. Does your mom do a lot?" I asked.
"Mom, huh? Do a lot? Sorry, what?" he asked with a funny grin. "My mom has people who do that," he said, laughing so hard. "Ty, did you hear that? Can you picture my mom stringing up the lights?" and he laughed again and Ty joined him. "Yeah right, good one Josh," and they headed into the kitchen to get something to drink. Well how was I supposed to know? I don't know how these things work around here. They have people to do it for you? Seriously? Hmmm, I would have too much to do around here before Christmas but maybe there was a gig in taking down all this stuff for people in the neighborhood. We had older folks on this street. Perhaps a flyer saying I will take down your things and pack them away. Hmm, at least some spending money to start the next semester off. Get Tristan and Ty to design the flyer. They love things like that.
I went into the kitchen, "hey guys, I have an idea that would help me a lot. Want to hear what I'm thinking?" They both said sure. After I ran my idea by them, they agreed that a decoration take down flyer would be an easy thing then Ty launched into his parle with Caleb Shaw. We went into the family room and you could tell Tristan was dying with curiosity.
So the long and short of it was, Caleb really liked them when they were younger and growing up but as things became apparent, things meaning Ty and Tristan liking boys, he became terrified. His dad would give him all sorts of crap about his friends. He said his dad was really mean but Ty had never met him so he didn't know him personally. He's a vice president for a large data storage company that does government and corporate data storage like Box but with much higher security walls. Ty said he asked Caleb if his dad was abusive and Caleb said verbally sometimes but nothing worse than that. Everybody Caleb was friends with had to pass his dad's approval and in his younger days, he had run off a lot of people he liked so he wouldn't have to listen to his dad. He said it was a lonely life because he only had a couple of friends and there were not consistent. But he was missing people and missing out on fun things. Ty said he told him he thought he didn't have many friends because he was a jerk. I considered it an honest statement but I bet it hurt the guy.
I could almost picture a life like that. Look how Ty and I were living, keeping people at bay, making sure those that were close had passed the mustard. Caleb had said that his dad had just relocated to their Connecticut office because of a large system migration and would be up there through the first half of the new year. He said he and his mom were practically rejoicing! Ty thought that was funny. He said she was undecided if she wanted to separate from him permanently because Caleb was in school but Caleb had told her to do what she needed to because he wouldn't mind having a life again. The father was just oppressive and Caleb said he was afraid if he exerted any independence, the dad might get rough on him.
"Ty, makes you thankful, having a dad like Bill, don't you agree?" I asked.
"Hell yes, I, we rather, have it good," said Ty.
"I do too," said Tristan. "I mean my dad works a lot and he and mom aren't always around but they let me live my life and only give me crap when I push them too far."
"So what's your assessment, Ty?" I asked. "Will he be an ally?"
"He said that I was the first he had talked to like this and when you told him I didn't hate him, he said it made him so happy. He also said he's going to give you the same talk soon, Tristan. I think he wants to be a part of things. But," he said, with emphasis, "I told him that we are living a quiet existence, especially after what happened in October and we weren't into the gossips and `tell-alls' and that sort of thing. What happens in our group tends to stay there. He said that was understandable."
"Good Ty, that was a good point. I'm glad you set him straight on that. Tristan? He says he's talking to you next. Are you ok with that?" I asked.
"Oh yes. I would love it and I appreciate him coming in person and doing it like a man," he said with a pleased smirk.
"Oh you just like anything that's done "Like a man," Ty joked. "You think he's got some manhood for you, I bet!" he said thrusting his hips in a fucking motion. A pillow flew across the room smacking Ty in the head. "Woe be unto you!" shouted Ty and the next thing I knew the two of them had flattened each other out onto the floor. I could have easily gotten into this scene with them and I mean into it but Bill walked in and the look on his face was hysterical!
"Just when you think your boys have grown up, you walk in on something like this and you are, hence...proven wrong!" he said taking his computer case into his study. I had dropped my hand into my face to laugh and not be heard. Loved IT when he drawled out his observations.
Bill came back into the kitchen indicating he was pleased to see we had made some progress getting things out of the attic. Said he would be glad to help this evening. He came home early knowing mom would not. Ty's eyes got really big and he knew what he had forgotten. Dinner!
Ty explained how he had an unexpected guest and time got away from him but it was a really good cause. Bill said "I could treat you gentlemen to burgers, but I think we just had them recently, so, I'm thinking....hmmmm...Sushi, anyone?" Ty and Tristan responded together, "Oh please!"
We piled up into Bill's Range Rover leaving the Christmas stuff where it was and headed over to the Plaza to one of the best Sushi places. Ty continued the discussion about Caleb and his father. Ty asked Bill if he knew him and Bill said he may have met him once or twice when they used to belong to Forest Hills. They didn't belong to the club anymore or had moved their membership to another club. Bill said he was dismayed at the variance in parenting styles where many kids had it too easy and others had it too hard.
"Not that any of you would be interested," said Bill, "but "one size fits all" is not a proper approach to how to parent teenagers. I believe, based on my experiences in dealing with so many people, that parenting is best when it resides on a tiered platform," and he snatched up one of his sushi pieces and took a sip of his wine. We waiting and it appeared he had finished his thought.
"Sorry Mr. Breck, uh, you sort of left us hanging there," said Tristan with acute curiosity.
"I agree," said Ty. "Please tell us about this tiered parenting platform," with a chuckle.
"You do have us on the fishhook, sir," I said.
"Well, ok, I will explain but I'm not giving away any trade secrets here. I will maintain one or two parenting tricks to myself," and he laughed as if he had said something clever. "One, live and let live. Youths have to be allowed to venture out, not too far, and make decisions which will alert observant parents to the level of maturity their children demonstrate. That will indicate where they should maintain focus. Two, trust but verify meaning once your kids are out there in the world, continue observation but try to connect the dots. Were they where they said they were? Are they repeatedly late on curfews? You may even verify with other parents whether our kids were with your kids, that sort of thing. That's all fair game in my book." We all remained deathly silent as we ate our sushi and allowed Bill to "reveal" his playbook. "Third, provide guidance and stress consequence and accountability when there are missteps and breaches in trust and finally, if all that has failed, in the past two weeks," and he laughed again, "that's when you give them the "my way or no way" of the "because I said so" directive," and he took another bite and another sip. "It was rather how the law was originally to be monitored but society lost its focus. Now we have a mess, in more ways than one," he concluded.
"So you're saying if you pressure teens too hard, you will suffocate them which leads to worse problems," said Ty.
"That's one element, son. Suffocation is one problem, the other is that your kids don't learn and grow from successes and failures. Success all the time is not sustainable and parents who expect that are usually the most led down. With teens, as with most people in general, it has to be progress over perfection. To expect anything greater is going to be a failure, and for everyone," he said quietly, "which to your story, Ty, sounds like your friend Caleb is working himself out of." He thought for a moment and said, "I have to hand it to the boy if he's willing to make amends and rebuild his bridges minus the overarching cloud of his father, then good for him. That is the road to maturity," said Bill.
"My parents don't offer much guidance," said Tristan. "I guess they don't think I need it," he said.
"I think you do," said Ty. "Go ahead dad, give Tristan some guidance. He was bad today which is why I had to fight him to the floor," Ty said, keeping a straight face.
"You started that, Ty. You need some guidance in the form of a heavy hand, I would say," and I had to laugh at this.
"Hey," barked Ty, as they pointed their chopsticks at each other.
"Can we regain some composure at the table, both of you?" Bill said. "The fact is, I am so lucky. Ty, your mom was outstanding at managing the parental flow and I dare say you are who you are today because of it. I wish Karen were here because I believe she and I are wholly aligned on this and we sleep very comfortably at night. We really do, thank the lord," he said. "Tristan, you have always been such a well mannered boy, an absolute pleasure to have at our house. I doubt your parents have ever felt severe worry in your case."
"Thank you Mr. Breck but I have spent so much time at your house, I pretty much thought of you all as my parents and that I had to follow Ty's rules," he said, widening his eyes, realizing the landmine he had just stepped on.
"That's thoughtful son, I appreciate you saying that."
"Yeah, you knew you better follow my rules. My way or no way, you know!" said Ty with a little strut as he was eating another bite of sushi roll.
"Um, Mr. Breck, may I amend my previous statement. It didn't come out right!" Ty barked.
"Absolutely, and I suggest you do so, otherwise, you will never hear the end of it," and we laughed at the blank stare on Ty's face.
When we got home, we said good night to Tristan because he had homework. Then, Ty and Bill demonstrated how to let the top part of the window down to put the wreath through then close the window, allowing the ribbon to catch in the window seal. It was brilliant. I pictured going up and down a ladder for all of those windows. This was really well thought out. Fortunately, I wasn't on the hook to get them up tonight. He also showed me where there were discreetly placed nailheads to start and stop the garland on the staircase bannisters, both front and back and on the columns out front. He told me how his mother had thought of everything. If something was a train wreck one year, the next year the problem had a solution. She wasn't unlike my mom when it came to that except we didn't have a very big house to decorate. So I tell you all of this about the Christmas decorations and it probably isn't very fascinating but it was for me to go through it with Tristan. A very "brotherly" project for sure.
Ty and I spent some time over the next few days discussing the parenting platform described by Bill. What were our sins exactly? Sleeping in the same bed sometimes? Having sex? Ok that might push a parent but "they're all doing it." Very lightweight drinking? Again, everyone does it and we are one hundred percent care about not drinking and driving. Had I lied about loving Ty? Nope. Ty had not had any real discussion with anyone so was had not made an statements or assertions. In the end, we agreed that the "lying by omission" thing would probably be our downfall if it ever comes to it. I was fairly confident, and Ty suggested I run it by Ginny because she was very intellectual, that there were dozens of reasons why not telling the whole truth or omitting bits and pieces served the greater good. Not everyone has to know everything and no one person is entitled to know everything. That was my opinion. And not to scare my audience, but the only reason this stuff is on my mind was because of the parenting discussion Bill held. It was interesting but his approach might not be perfect either, at some point.
We had barely seen mom for a couple of days but she made some breakfast for us all Wednesday morning. She was in a good mood and was already dressed. She first checked off on the Christmas decorations which she thought had been organized nicely. The Christmas trees were in place but not decorated and items had been sorted by room. She then checked off on our homework. With finals coming up, she said that neither Bill nor herself wanted any surprises. We said there were none and that's when she said the funniest thing.
"Bill, I might fire off an email to the class administrator just to be sure we aren't missing anything. With Josh's college applications out, it might be best to keep a close eye on things. What do you think?"
Ty said, "Trust but verify, huh. Notice how I picked up on your parenting platform?" and mom looked at him like he was crazy.
"Sorry, Ty, what's that? Trust but verify?" and she looked at Bill.
"Sorry dear, the boys and I had an engaging conversation a few nights ago about parenting styles. Ty is just showing off."
"Well, I happened to notice, and I'm not passing judgement, but there is a pair of ladies shoes sitting there by the family room door. Just wanted to maintain consistency on the shoes rule. That's all," he said with a chuckle and leaned into mom's side, hoping she didn't chew him up.
"Ok, so I'm busted this time and I may ask for some grace because I came home really tired?"
"Sure thing, and I will take them up for you when I go up to get my things," he said. "Where does that fall on the parenting platform dad?" he asked jokingly.
"That's what we call a near miss...with death, Ty. Don't get to comfy with the platform. Karen and I can alter it at any time," he said with a satisfactory smile. I punched him in the arm for being a wiseass. Mom would have dragged out into the backyard and beaten me if I had pulled that. But he did as he suggested and took mom's shoes upstairs for her, smoothing over the whole thing.
"Bill, I like how the boys enjoy that time with you. From the yardwork, to the parent/son dinner, you taking stock in Ty's store finances, they always seem to appreciate your involvement. I love that."
"Karen, when I hear some of the scenarios their friends live with, I think we got it good," and he leaned forward and kissed her cheek and the ache and concern that filtered through my veins was so huge. No ibuprofen would correct that. Best I ponder some new things and get that stuff out of my head because Christmas was coming and there was a lot to do. I updated mom and Bill on the fact that Diesel and my Chatham County friends had bailed on the fried turkey Bill had offered them this weekend because Diesel was going on the road with his dad for the week of Thanksgiving to help with some unloading and would make some really good money. They said they were really appreciative of the offer and I told Bill that I was too. Welcoming my old friends was really cool of him to do. Also, I was having Ginny over for dinner the night before Thanksgiving when we turn on all the lights and decorations. She said she would love to be around for that. They didn't have much ceremony at her house. I asked, "Are there any questions?" as if I was running the meeting. My mom smiled and thanked me for the update. I got my things and headed for school.
I would get a text from Jason Perrow who said he might stop by that afternoon if I was going to be home. He and Jack might have to go to the mall after school and I lived close by. I texted him back and told him it was cool. This was going to be a visit that would bring about several crazy things. More to come.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and feedback! More exciting things to come!!