Riding It Out

by Jennifer Foor

  Her sister got a huge smile on her face, spread her arms out and announced, “surprise!”

  Chapter 3

  Honestly, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what my girlfriend was feeling. I buttoned my jeans and placed my hand on her back, hoping it would be enough support.

  “We were just -.” She couldn’t begin to explain.

  I reached my hand out toward her sister. “I’m Reed.” It was completely the wrong move to make, but I didn’t know how else to break the uncomfortable situation. “I apologize for you having to see that. We got a little carried away. It’s not every day that we have the house to ourselves.”

  Erica refused to look back at me, and a part of me was thankful for that.

  Her mother finally removed her hands from her face. “We should have called first.”

  “Do you have bags I can carry inside for you?” I figured that by offering I could kill two birds with one stone. I’d show them that I could be courteous, and I’d get the hell out of the room.

  “They’re in the car. I’ll help you get them,” her sister said as she pulled me out of the room quickly.

  When we got outside she grabbed ahold of the porch railing and began to laugh hysterically. “If you could have seen my sister’s face. Never in a million years could I have seen that coming.”

  I scratched my head, trying to figure this girl out. Was she really treating what just happened as a joke? “Your sister’s never going to be able to get past this.”

  “She’ll be fine. Erica’s a big girl. She can handle our mother. It’s you that needs to worry. It’s obvious that you’re banging my sister. The thing is, you living here, it bothers our mom. She doesn’t know you, well not the person you are. Obviously she knows A LOT more than she did five minutes ago.” She cackled at her own comment. “I’m sorry. I can’t help it. I get all giddy when uncomfortable things occur around me. I know it’s horrible.”

  “It’s better than trying to figure out what to say.” I obtained two large bags out of the vehicle, noticing that they were heavy for them only visiting a couple of days.

  When I turned to face her sister she was standing there with her hand out to me. “I’m Tabitha, but you can call me Tab.”

  “Reed, obviously.”

  “I wouldn’t rush back into that house. My mother is probably bleaching out her eyes.”

  I wanted to laugh, although she didn’t flash a smile. “This couldn’t be any worse. Maybe I should just go stay at a hotel until you two leave.”

  “That would only make matters worse. You had my sister bent over on the kitchen counter. You can’t just leave her to deal with the aftermath. If you do, we’ll be forced to hate your guts.”

  I picked the luggage back up and started walking toward the house. “Let’s get this show on the road then. I’ve dealt with much worse than this in my life.”

  Once we got inside I saw Erica sitting on the couch next to her mother. She was crying, and I knew it was all my fault. I never should have pushed her into having sex with me knowing they were coming. If anyone had bad luck follow them it was me. I’d been dealing with that my whole life.

  The moment Erica noticed me standing there she turned in my direction. I hated seeing pain in her eyes. “Reed, could you take everything upstairs for them?”

  I nodded and took the luggage to the rooms we’d picked out for them to stay in, while her sister joined them in the living room.

  Before heading back downstairs I stood at the banister listening to what they were saying.

  “I’m only telling you how I feel, Erica. You can’t expect me to stay the night and be around the two of you. Not only is it very uncomfortable, but I can’t begin to look at that man right now.”

  I knew from the sounds of the sniffling that Erica was still a mess. “Come on, mom. It’s not like you’ve never seen a penis before. Stop being such a prude,” Tabitha proclaimed.

  “I have every right to be offended, Tabitha.”

  “Whatever! I know for a fact that you and dad used to get it on. You were hippies for Christ sakes. They’re a young couple in love. It’s a good thing that they’re that happy with their life that they can have instant attraction. Not every relationship has those perks.”

  Silently I stood at the top of the stairs smiling at her sister’s comments. She was a real spitfire.

  “I don’t know about you, but I drove here, and I’m not about to turn around and drive back to Baltimore. Go upstairs and take a nap, read the bible or do whatever you feel you have to do. I’ll keep the fornicators company until you can chill out.”

  “Tabitha Marie, don’t you dare talk to me in that tone!”

  “Mother, we weren’t born yesterday. Erica is old enough to make her own choices.”

  “I’m still in the room you know? I can speak for myself.”

  “It’s fine. Maybe a nap would help.”

  I marched down the steps so that she wouldn’t come face to face with me upstairs alone. When our eyes met I could tell she hated me. This visit was going to be a lot more difficult than I’d first assumed. “It’s the second door on the left, ma’am.”

  She nodded as she passed, but said nothing.

  Once she was gone I rushed over to sit beside my distraught girlfriend. I placed both hands over hers as I spoke. “Babe, I’m sorry.”

  “He’s thinking about staying at a hotel until we leave. I told him it’s a stupid idea.” Tabitha added.

  That got her attention. “You can’t.”

  “I won’t go anywhere, if that’s what you want.”

  She nodded. “This is horrible. She’ll never forget this.”

  In that very moment I was reminded of how I’d not finished. It was inappropriate, but I began to think about how sexy it was to bend her over the counter.

  Her sister’s voice drug me back to reality. “So, now that the introductions have been made, who’s ready for wine?”

  I waited for her to disappear before addressing Erica. First I kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry. I never should have pushed.”

  “If I didn’t love you so much I’d be more pissed.”

  In that moment nothing else existed around us. Erica and I didn’t talk about love. Sure, we said we made love, but we’d never said those words to each other. In all honesty I never saw myself finding someone to share my fucked up life with. Being with her, experiencing bliss firsthand, I knew this was what it felt like.

  “You love me?” Never in a million years could I have imagined how hearing that would make me feel. She loved me; the broken man that showed up on the porch in the middle of that storm. If she only knew the truth she wouldn’t be saying it. Dwelling on that would only bring me down. Instead I decided to relish in the overwhelming happiness it brought me.

  “I do.” Her eyes were burning into mine, and I knew she was waiting for my reply.

  I reached over and moved the loose hair from her face. “I love you, too.”

  Our moment was short-lived when we heard someone making fun of us. “Aww, listen to you two. Are you professing your love for each other for the first time?” She sat down with three empty wine glasses and a bottle in her grasp. Once she’d started filling each one she added, “Don’t stop on my account.”

  Erica sipped her wine first. “Pay her no mind. She thinks she’s funny.”

  Tabitha handed me a filled glass before sticking hers out. “Here’s to a good weekend of catching up.”

  For the next hour I watched Erica relax. Tabitha made it easy to forget about the awkwardness we’d experienced when they’d arrived. Once I’d gotten the meat on the smoker, and returned to the girls, I realized my girlfriend was becoming intoxicated quickly. Two bottles of wine were gone, and if their mother was on edge before she’d have a stroke finding them three sheets to the wind when she woke up.

  Since everything was probably going to be my fault I decided it was best if Erica went to rest for a bit. Once I’d convinced them to both go upstairs I fi
nished up dinner in the quiet kitchen where everything had started hours before.

  The ringing of the doorbell caught me off guard. I dried my hands and headed in the direction of the front door, seeing Erica’s mother standing there with a woman I recognized from the road. I watched the old woman pulling out the guest book and taking all of her information. Deciding that it was best that I pretend nothing had happened earlier, I walked up to get the guests situated.

  “Need some help out here?” I asked.

  “I’ve got them all signed in for the night. Do you think you can manage showing them a room?”

  “Certainly.” I picked up the small bag they’d brought. “Follow me.”

  We were halfway up the steps before she spoke. “I’m glad I found this place. We’ve been driving forever, and this little guy is antsy.”

  “Where are you coming from?” I asked as we walked into the guest room.

  “Oklahoma.”

  “Wow, that’s a long way to drive. Do you have family here?”

  “If it’s okay with you I’d like to get him to sleep.”

  Since she wasn’t interested in small friendly talk I decided to see myself out. “We’re having a nice dinner tonight. If you don’t feel like going out there’s plenty of food. It’s supposed to get cold. My girlfriend has plenty of kid friendly movies I can bring up if he needs something to occupy him.”

  She started coughing uncontrollably. I watched her grab a tissue and place it over her mouth. She wiped away a tiny bit of blood and gave me a weird look.

  “Are you okay?”

  When she didn’t answer I simply closed the door and ambled back down the stairs. It was time that I made nice with Erica’s mother to clear the air.

  I found the woman standing in the laundry room with her head in the dryer. She was pulling out a blanket and proceeding to fold it. “Excuse me, but you don’t have to do that. Erica wanted to have everything done before you arrived.”

  “She was a little too preoccupied to get her chores done don’t you think?”

  This wasn’t as easy as it should have been. “Forgive me for saying this, but your daughter owns this house now. She’s fully capable of making her own decisions, and I’d say she’s done a pretty damn good job making this place run smoothly again. We work our asses off to insure that our boarders are well cared for. Erica loves this place. She’d never do anything to hurt it.”

  “She was allowing you to screw her in the kitchen, where you cook meals. It’s disgusting, and unprofessional,” she retorted.

  “You know what, yes, she was letting me bend her over the countertop. We’re together, and sometimes we still get carried away. With all due respect, we were in the privacy of our house, and at the time there were no guests here. As much as your daughter likes a good surprise, I’m sure she would have appreciated a heads up when it came to your arrival time. We’d been up since the break of dawn preparing the house for your visit. Your daughter wanted everything perfect, and now I can see why. It’s clear that you’re very opinionated.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  Did she really want to go to head with me? I had manners and knew when to respect my elders, but she was overstepping. I was a grown man in my thirties, fully capable of making my own decisions. This woman was hell-bent on assuming her daughter wasn’t able to run this place, and she was using me as an example. “Look, I’m not trying to make you angry. I’m simply stating that Erica and I are in love with each other. We invested a lot of time and energy into making this place even better than it was before. Please give her credit where it’s due. She deserves that much. Now, I’m sorry for what happened earlier. If we could take it back we would, but I’m not going to apologize for wanting Erica. I’d be lying to your face if I said that. She makes me a better person, and I hope that she feels the same about me. You’re welcome here any time, albeit I won’t allow you to treat her without respect. Erica’s made a huge career change and probably doubted herself more than anyone would expect. She’s finally in a good place, doing what she loves. Isn’t that what matters? Don’t you want your children to be happy?”

  “Well of course I do, but-.”

  I cut her off. “My name is Shawn Reed. It’s great to finally meet you in person. I’ve heard a lot of nice things.” I held my hand out and waited for her to react knowing she was either going to shake it and accept that we had to move forward, or decline and proceed to make life miserable until they left.

  Chapter 4

  Erica’s mother put on a straight face with her head held up high. “Erica tells us that you were a Marine. Did she mention that her grandfather fought in World War II?”

  “No, she didn’t.”

  She seemed sad for a moment. “He was never the same when he came back. It messed with his head, seeing all that death. I can’t even imagine what it’s like.”

  “Every tour I did in Afghanistan was trying. It’s not just what you witness, but the experience of it all. It stays with you, no matter how far you try to get away from it.”

  For the next hour we talked about war and some of my experiences in my fifteen-year military career. She wanted to know all about my tours and the tragedy I’d witnessed firsthand. I think one of the reasons was because she was desperately trying to form some sort of emotional bond with me, even though our first meeting had been like a bomb going off prematurely.

  When Erica finally came downstairs she seemed calmer. The look on her face proved her shock that I was carrying on a conversation with her mother as if we were old friends catching up.

  “Erica, did your rest make you feel better? Reed and I got a new guest settled in while you were sleeping. He invited her and her son to have dinner with us, but we don’t know if they will. They haven’t come out of the room for a while now. He says the woman might be sick.”

  I took a sip of my beer before responding. “She said they’d been driving all night from Oklahoma. I tried to ask where she was headed, but got the impression she wanted to be alone. She was coughing up a storm.”

  Erica leaned against the counter, forcing me to picture her bent over. I almost formed a smile, but thankfully hid my reaction with another sip of beer. I had enough sense not to put my foot in my mouth and open a new can of worms. “Maybe they’ll smell the food and come down when it’s ready.”

  “Or they might just think you’re crazy people,” Tabitha said as she came prancing into the kitchen. “Are we drinking again?”

  “Not yet,” Erica answered quickly.

  “Maybe we should focus on the food before opening another bottle,” I suggested.

  The girls laughed while their mom seemed to appreciate my idea. She smirked while obtaining the large bag of potatoes off the counter. “Do you still keep the strainer in the same place?” She asked.

  “Yeah, it’s above the dishwasher.” Erica’s gaze caught mine and I gave her a wink, hoping she was really feeling better after seeing that her mother and I had somewhat made amends.

  “Don’t go in the far left cabinet, mom. That’s where they keep the sex lube,” Tabitha taunted with a lingering cackle.

  “Just to be clear, there are no sex toys in this kitchen, mom. She’s just trying to get you worked up again, and I don’t know why, because we all saw how upset you were earlier.” When Erica spoke she made sure to give her sister dirty looks. Tabitha was stirring the pot, making sure she got under her sister’s skin. It’s when I began to realize that this was how the two girls acted around each other. Since Erica was known for being a prude, Tabitha found it comical that she could now use our sexcapade as warfare.

  At the very moment when I desperately searched for a good clean comeback we heard the sound of someone walking into the room. Once I’d turned I saw two faces staring back at us. The little boy looked to be around four. His hair was disheveled and he covered his face by shoving it against his mother’s leg.

  “Sorry to interrupt. I was wondering if we could fetch something to drink. He’s alrea
dy drank the two waters that were in the mini refrigerator in our room.”

  Erica was already on it. She leaned down to speak directly to the small child. “What would you like to drink, little guy? We’ve got water, milk, and juice.”

  He never looked at Erica as he answered while still hiding his face. “Chocolate milk.”

  His mom began to argue that he couldn’t have it. “Shawn, they don’t have -.”

  “It’s fine. I’ve got chocolate syrup. We keep it around for when we have ice cream.”

  The mere mention of the dessert caught the kid’s attention. His bright smile filled the room. “I like ice cream.”

  “Maybe after dinner you can have some,” I suggested.

  His mother seemed pleased that we didn’t offer it right away. “Thanks for this. I know you didn’t expect two extra guests tonight.”

  “It’s fine. Our doors are always open, isn’t that right, Erica?”

  She was already making the boy some chocolate milk. “Of course it is. The more the merrier.” When she turned to hand him the cup she finished. “You just happened to visit us on a good weekend. We’re having a feast every day. How long will you be staying with us? We’re having pancakes in the morning.”

  “We’ll just be a couple of days. If I can’t find what I’m looking for we’ll have to look for another lead.”

  “Is there something we can help with?” I asked.

  “It’s not your burden. I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s a family matter. I’m looking for my husband, well ex-husband. It’s a long story, and I’m sure you don’t want to hear about it.”

  Since I could tell she felt uncomfortable with my question, I decided to change the subject by getting down on one knee and speaking to the boy. “How about we find you some cartoons?”

  “Cool!” He took my hand and let me lead him into the living room. His mother joined us on the couch while I searched the channels for something he’d like. Once he seemed content I got up to go back into the kitchen.