Baumgartners Empty Nest (The Baumgartners)

by Selena Kitt

  Definitely couldn’t do this with kids around, she thought, admiring Jody topless, sunglasses tilted up on top of her head, swiping pages on the iPad. Carrie’s mouth watered, not just because of the margarita. The thought of sucking Jody’s cock on the back patio to the sound of the surf made her pussy pulse in response.

  Her iPhone rang and Carrie grabbed it, thinking it would be Doc, asking if she wanted him to pick anything up on the way home, but the number was local.

  “Hello?” Carrie licked margarita mix off her finger, putting the empty blender in the sink.

  “Great news!” Elise exclaimed. “We have an offer!”

  “We do?” Carrie turned, leaning against the sink, looking out at the ocean view through the sliding door. They’d only had three showings, as far as she knew. She’d told Elise to call before she dropped over, of course, just for privacy purposes.

  “It’s at your asking price, plus they’ll pay your closing costs.”

  “Fantastic!” Carrie’s heart fluttered at this news.

  “I can bring over all the details tomorrow afternoon. Are you free?”

  “Uhh...” She glanced around the kitchen, looking for some excuse, but couldn’t find any. “Sure. What time?”

  They arranged to meet at the house at two. Carrie didn’t want to do it any earlier, because they all had a tendency to lay in bed in the morning. Or, get laid, more to the point, not that she was going to tell Elise that. She was just hanging up the phone when Doc came in the front door.

  “In the kitchen!” Carrie called. He appeared around the corner, whistling some tune, stopping when he saw his wife standing with three margaritas on the counter beside her.

  “We’re starting early?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

  “Well, I guess we’re celebrating.” Carrie picked up a glass and handed it to him. “I have news.”

  “Hey, me too.” He took a sip, blinking. “Whoa, strong.”

  “Mine first.” Carrie grabbed her glass, taking a gulp. We have an offer.”

  “Really?” He frowned, glancing out the sliding glass door, seeing Jody on the lounge chair. “Already?”

  “I guess Elise wasn’t kidding.” She sighed, taking another sweet-and-sour gulp of her drink. “She’s bringing the offer over tomorrow around two.”

  “Well...” Doc sighed. “I guess we’re really going to have to make a decision.”

  “What do you mean?” She cocked her head at him.

  “Well, I didn’t just go out to the Hunt Club this afternoon.” Doc finished his drink in a gulp, setting the glass on the counter. “I went in to talk to Dr. Timbor.”

  “Lola’s doctor?” She blinked at him, surprised. “Why?”

  “I had his card in my pocket and I had a few questions.” Doc shrugged. “I just wanted to find out a little more, I guess, so I called him. Anyway, we got to talking, and he invited me to lunch.”

  “Oh.” Carrie sipped her drink. “He does the transition surgery?”

  Doc nodded. “Yeah, he does—he’s got more work down here than he can handle.”

  “Well, it is Key West.” She smiled.

  “He’s a great guy. Had a lot to say.” Doc paused, looking out the sliding door. Jody was still on the tablet, frowning at the screen. “He made me an interesting proposition, actually.”

  “What kind of proposition?” She raised her eyebrows.

  “I’m not transitioning,” Doc said with a little laugh. “But he needs help, and he’s been looking for a partner.”

  “Partner?” She shook her head. “But you’re not a surgeon.”

  “That’s the thing—he needs someone to take over all the other stuff,” he said. “Writing scripts, doing pre-and-post-op visits. I wouldn’t have to do the surgery. Although, I could learn. It’s been a long time since my surgery rotation, but I don’t see why I couldn’t do it.”

  “Are you seriously considering this?” Her heart fluttered in her chest at the thought. They’d come down here with a clear purpose—sell the time-share, so they could go home and Doc could buy half of Brady’s practice and take it over.

  Then Jody had happened, and everything had changed. They’d talked a little bit about the idea Lola had suggested—buying the time-share themselves and moving down there. But they were both stuck at the job situation. Carrie could certainly get a Florida real estate license, but that wouldn’t pay all of the bills, especially when she first started out. Doc could practice medicine, of course, but again, it would take time to build the practice.

  They had the money they’d just come into thanks to Viralon—yay for boner pills, Carrie liked to say. But Gordon didn’t want them to spend too much of that. Investing it would be the smartest thing to do, and living on that money would deplete it far too quickly.

  So they’d come to the decision that, even if they wanted to stay down there in paradise, in spite of Elise’s dire warnings about Florida weather and culture, it just wasn’t the smart, responsible thing to do. This was a vacation home, not a forever home, and as much as she didn’t want to give it up, she had come to a sort of acceptance about it over the past week. It was the end of an era. They were moving on.

  Now this!

  “I don’t know.” Doc sighed, looking as conflicted as she felt. “Things are in such flux right now. It would mean moving down here. But his offer is actually far better than Brady’s.”

  “Really? That much better?” Her heart was beating too fast. “Maybe... maybe we really could move in here?”

  “It’s a thought...” He met her eyes and she saw the excitement in them. She knew what the smart, sensible thing would be, but she also knew her husband had been resisting it since Brady had made the offer. Maybe it was a time in their lives not to do the smart, sensible thing? “I mean, we don’t really have anything tying us down, aside from the practice. Why couldn’t we sell the house in Michigan and move in here, as long as I had a job lined up?”

  “Do you mean it?” She barely got the words out in a whisper.

  “Well... maybe...” His gaze moved back out to the patio, a smile playing on his lips. “I think Jody would be far happier here than she would if we took her back to Michigan.”

  “Oh, Doc...” Carrie put her arms around him, her cheek against his chest.

  There was plenty he wasn’t telling her, she realized, feeling tears stinging her eyes. He’d called Dr. Timbor, had taken that initiative, and maybe it had happened like he said, but she thought Doc had done more than a little pushing and selling for his part. And he’d done it because he loved her, because he was already more than half-way in love with Jody, and he had wanted to make them both happy.

  And they would all be happy here.

  “This is such amazing news.” She turned her face up, going on tiptoe to kiss his lips.

  “Oh, I do have something else to tell you.” His face darkened. “Actually, both of you. And... it’s not such great news.”

  “What is it?” Carrie frowned, her belly clenching at the look in his eyes.

  “Carrie!” Jody slid the screen door open, rushing into the house, holding the tablet. She’d thrown her cover-up on and she sat at the kitchen table, looking at the two of them with wide, blinking eyes.

  “What is it?” Carrie asked, disengaging from husband’s arms and going over to her.

  Jody looked down at the tablet, whispering, “Oh my God, oh my God, it’s real...”

  “Is that...” Carrie looked at the photo filling her iPad screen. “Your ex?”

  “That’s Jackie...” Jody pointed her finger at the man on screen. “And that... is not me.”

  “She looks kind of like you...” Doc frowned at the photo as he approached.

  “They all do.” Jody flipped through, showing them. “Look.”

  Doc and Carrie stood, staring over her shoulder.

  “These are the women he was paying for?” Doc asked. “All the surgeries?”

  “They all look like Barbie dolls,” Carrie mused.

&nb
sp; “He wanted me to get my nose done...” Jody sighed. “And my lips...”

  “Not to mention your cock.” Carrie’s hand fell onto her shoulder.

  “I have this same dress!” Jody exclaimed, pointing a finger at a photograph of a woman on the iPad who looked far too much like her to be a coincidence. “It’s in my closet at home... well... back in Georgia... it’s not home anymore...”

  “This is awful.” Carrie sighed. “Is he still seeing all these woman?”

  “Megan sent these.” Jody pushed the iPad away, shaking her head. “I told her... I just... I guess, I didn’t want to believe. She hired a P.I. to tail him and he took these pictures.”

  “Now you know it’s true.” Carrie put her arms around her from behind, kissing the top of her head. “I’m so sorry...”

  “At least I know.” Jody sniffed. “These pictures don’t lie.”

  “No, pictures don’t lie,” Doc agreed, sliding into the chair beside her. “Jody, I have something to tell you...”

  “What is it?” Jody’s head came up and she frowned, watching Doc pull a folded manila envelope out of his back pocket.

  “I hate to add insult to injury, but I’ve got some news about your Jackie Benton.” He slid the envelope across the table.

  “He’s not my Jackie anymore.” Jody leaned back against Carrie, looking at the envelope, but not moving to touch it.

  “I was at Dr. Timbor’s office today,” Doc explained. “He was showing me some of his case files. We were looking at some before and after photos. And I came across this.”

  Doc picked up the envelope and pulled a bent file folder out of it. Carrie gasped when he opened it.

  “Is that...?” she whispered.

  But Jody had already confirmed it, eyes wide. “That’s Jackie.”

  “He transitioned back in 1999.” Doc cleared his throat, sliding the file closer.

  “He transitioned… into a man?” Carrie looked from the file to Doc and back again, incredulous.

  “This explains so much...” Jody closed her eyes and Carrie felt her trembling. “I’m in trouble. I’ve put you both in danger. I’m so sorry. I have to go.”

  Doc grabbed her arm when she jumped up, reacting far more quickly than he had back at the bar when she’d run the first time.

  “You’re not going anywhere.” Carrie got her arms around Jody’s waist, pressing her cheek against her back.

  “You don’t understand!” Jody wailed, Doc’s arms going around her, too. They held her close between them and Carrie felt her whole body quivering. Jody choked out, “He’s coming for me. Megan says he hired a P.I. of his own and he knows where I am now. He’s on his way down here.”

  That thought made Carrie’s whole body go cold.

  “I have to get out of here.” Jody lifted her face from Doc’s chest, a panicked look in her eyes. “Right now.”

  “Jody, no...” Carrie pleaded with her, meeting Doc’s dark gaze. She knew he just wanted to protect them both.

  “What am I going to do?” Jody whispered, her voice choked with fear.

  “Shhh.” Doc stroked Jody’s hair, meeting his wife’s tear-filled eyes. Carrie was scared. If Jody was this terrified of the man, she was afraid to imagine what he was capable of. “Listen, I did a little Googling. Is it true that Jackie Benton made his billions in sporting firearms?”

  “Yes.” Jody sniffed, nodding. “He’s ex-army and was a pro shooter on the circuit before he went into the manufacturing end of the game—that’s how I met him.”

  “Good.” Doc pulled Carrie into his embrace, too, trying to calm them both. “It’s going to be okay. I have an idea.”

  * * * *

  They watched the sun rise on the beach before they headed to Captain Tony’s. Jody had called Jackie from a still-working payphone downtown the day before, making arrangements to meet him. Carrie held her hand on the way over. They drove the Mustang—it was far too early for the streets to be crowded. Captain Tony’s was dead, still closed to the public.

  “Are you scared?” Carrie whispered as they knocked on the door.

  “I’m as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs,” Jody admitted. Her hand was clammy in Carrie’s and she squeezed it, trying to reassure her.

  “It’s too fucking early.” Lola opened the door, wearing no make-up, looking still sleepy. “Come on in.”

  “Hey, Doc,” Captain Tony called from his stool at the bar. He was drinking already, even though it wasn’t quite eight a.m. “If there’s gonna be trouble, I can have a dozen Merchant Marines with horrible hangovers here in a heartbeat.”

  “Thanks, Cap’n,” Doc said, smiling. “But I’m pretty sure there won’t be any trouble.”

  “Hey, Tony,” Lola called, slipping into a chair. “Why don’t you call those Merchant Marines and have them drop by after these folks are gone? I might have some trouble for them to handle.”

  “It’s almost time.” Jody’s voice was barely a whisper. Carrie looked at the clock on the wall. Almost eight.

  “I want you to wait in the back,” Doc told his wife, ushering her toward Lola and Tony. “I’ll stay out front with Jody.”

  “But...” Carrie protested, not wanting to let go of Jody’s hand.

  “I got this.” Lola crooked her finger at Carrie. “Follow me.”

  Carrie kissed Jody, cupping her face in her hands, seeing the fear in the other woman’s eyes.

  “Doc’s here,” she reminded her. “It’ll be okay.”

  She felt tears stinging her eyes as she followed Lola and Tony into the back. It smelled strongly of beer in the back room, where they stored all the kegs. Tony opened a small door and waved the two women through.

  “What’s this?” Carrie asked, glancing at the computer and monitor setup. There were four monitors, with every vantage point covered, inside and out.

  “Surveillance,” Lola said, taking a seat in a folding chair and nodding to the one next to her for Carrie. “Tony’s got cameras all over the bar.”

  “Mostly for liability,” he explained, taking a seat in his own folding chair. “And to keep the bartenders honest.”

  Carrie looked at the screen, seeing a short man in a three-piece suit, flanked by four others, approaching the bar. She remembered when Lola tricked Brian, Janie’s boyfriend at the time. He’d been cheating on her, and Lola, who hadn’t transitioned yet and still had a penis, was happy to play the role. Tony had put it all on display on the television screens out there in the main bar, letting everyone witness Brian’s humiliation. Now she realized how he’d done it.

  “Can we hear them?” Carrie asked, seeing Jody letting the man in.

  “Sure can.” Tony flipped a switch and the sound of Jackie and Jody talking filled the little room.

  The four other big guys stood by the front door as Jody and Jackie sat at a table together.

  “Are you all right?” Jackie asked. His voice was soft, not deep like Carrie had expected.

  “No thanks to you.” Jody sniffed, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest. She had refused to dress up for him, wearing just jeans and a t-shirt, no make-up, hair pulled back from her face into a ponytail. Not that she wasn’t beautiful anyway, Carrie noted. She was, actually, still stunning, even now. But Jody said Jackie liked her all glammed up, and she wasn’t about to do that for him anymore.

  “I was the one left handcuffed naked to the headboard.” Jackie leaned forward, elbows on the table, eyes narrowing.

  “I was the one you’ve been lying to for years.” Jody’s voice was hard, and Carrie was glad. She couldn’t see Doc, and that worried her. Where was he? Had he left Jody all alone with this man and his four bodyguards? What if he just decided he was going to take her? Then what?

  “Justine—” Jackie sighed, sitting back.

  “It’s Jody.”

  “Okay. Jody.” Jackie nodded, conceding. “Listen to me. I miss you. I want you to come home.”

  “I am home.” Jody shook her hea
d, glancing to her right, and Carrie saw Doc appear in camera view.

  “Who’s this guy?” Jackie jerked his thumb at Doc, giving him a dark look.

  The four guys at the door took several steps forward, surprised by Doc’s appearance, too.

  “Just a friend of the lady,” Doc said.

  Jackie sneered. “You been fucking this guy?”

  “Jackie, you need to listen to me, for once,” Jody told him. “Really listen.”

  The man sat up fully in his seat, glaring at Doc.

  “Are you listening?” Jody asked. Jackie gave a slow nod, his gaze finally coming back to settle on her. “I’m not going back with you. It’s over between us.”

  “If you think—”

  “Jackie, stop.” Jody held up a hand with a short shake of her head. “I’m grateful for your help, I really am, but I don’t need it anymore—and I don’t want it anymore.”

  “You think you get to choose? You already made that choice, sweetheart.”

  “I do get to choose.” Jody’s voice shook, not from fear, but in anger. Her dark eyes flashed and Carrie could feel the rage in her, even just watching on camera. “And this is my choice.”

  “What? This guy?” Jackie jerked his thumb at Doc again. “I could buy and sell this asshole a hundred times over.”

  “I can’t be with you anymore.” Jody crossed her arms. “It costs me too much to be with you, Jackie. And no part of me is for sale anymore, never again.”

  “You think it costs you?” Jackie scoffed. “Now you listen to me, sweetheart. I’ve already invested too much in you to walk away.”

  “You’ll be just fine, Jackie.” A small, slow smile spread across Jody’s face, pained, cynical. “You’ve clearly diversified to recession-proof your investments.”

  “What?” Jackie’s eyes skipped over her, frowning.

  Jody looked at Doc, then she opened her purse, pulling out an envelope. She slid it across the table and Carrie saw Jackie pick it up. He opened it, peering inside, and his face fell. Carrie saw something dark pass through him, his eyes revealing his panic, but just for a moment.

  “How many more are there?” Jody asked softly. This time there was hurt in her voice. She clearly couldn’t keep it from him, as much as she was trying.