by Anne Conley
She greeted his secretary on the way to his door and knocked before entering. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, Ms. Fuller, please come in.”
Alyssa went in and sat down in the chair opposite the particleboard desk, drumming her fingernails nervously.
“Ms. Fuller, I understand Nick failed your class this six weeks.”
Alyssa sighed heavily. “Yes sir, Coach Ridley and I have already spoken about this.”
“Well, good. His mother has already called the superintendent. I just wanted to make sure the situation was being handled.”
“Yes sir, I’m giving him extra time to complete an assignment, which was due two weeks ago. It was a test grade. I’m sure he will copy from somebody during athletics this afternoon and run it by my classroom on the way to the field house before the game. I’ll have the grade in the computer before I leave today sir.” She desperately tried to keep her tongue out of her cheek but wasn’t sure she was successful in her endeavor.
“Good. That’s all.” Dismissively, he turned to look at the computer on his desk.
Alyssa stomped back to her classroom, determined not to let this under her skin. It happened every six weeks, no matter how hard she tried to keep the athletes on top of their assignments. She never saw the band director in her room, or the UIL academics coach, or the choir teacher, or the One Act Play director. It was always the athletes.
When she got to her room, her children were already seated at their desks, coloring on pages she kept for them in the snack drawer. She stood in the doorway, watching them work quietly, marveling at how good they were behaving. “I’m blessed. Thank you, God.” She mumbled in a heavenward prayer.
“How was school today?” She asked them, before they noticed her and ran towards her for hugs.
“Awesome!” They chimed together. Cayden had a lot on his mind though.
“We went on a field trip today to see the fire engines!” Cayden’s eyes glittered with joy.
“Oh, really! Is that where you got this stylin’ hat?” Alyssa pointed to the red plastic fire man’s hat Cayden was wearing.
“Uh huh. And we all got to sit inside the helicopter and talk about lighters and matches, and we talked about stop, drop, and roll!” He babbled on, while Alyssa finished grading the essays.
Their usual Friday football game routine was to eat at the Chinese food buffet before the game, but after she finished grading the papers, they didn’t have time for that. Calling her mother, to let her know they didn’t have time to eat with her, she managed to talk the kids into happy meals at McDonald’s.
Alyssa had to be at the football game at six o’clock. They could go home after the halftime show was over. Alyssa had asked her principal to schedule her football game duties around her custody schedule, but he either couldn’t, or wouldn’t, so her children went with her.
Teaching high school had its advantages, though. High school girls loved kids, so Alyssa usually found a trustworthy student of hers to watch her children during the game and slipped them a ten-dollar bill afterward. That way, she could monitor the students and not worry about her children too much. The kids had way more fun that way, anyway. They were both already consummate flirts and usually had a new “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” by the end of each game.
Alyssa was monitoring the entrance nearest the field house, making sure only authorized personnel entered, although she was pretty sure she had let unauthorized people through as well. How was she supposed to know the difference? Just standing there had to be a deterrent of sorts, she told herself.
Coach Ripley passed through the entrance before he noticed her. “Hey!” He stopped and came back to talk with her.
“Hey.” Alyssa responded, wittily.
“Um...I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime. I mean...You are a Ms., right? Not married? Do you have a boyfriend?”
Alyssa blushed. “Um...No.”
He looked at her, blinked, and then looked at his shoes. “Um...okay.” He started to walk away.
“I mean. No. I’m not married. No boyfriend. Sure I would like to go out sometime.” What did I just do? Alyssa was mentally slapping herself silly. What was she thinking? She honestly didn’t have time to date.
“Great! I’ll see ya, then! Awesome!” He turned and pumped his fist in the air, before catching himself, and coolly walking away.
Alyssa stood there, watching him go. Well, at least he didn’t actually pin her down on a time. She could still just put him off until he gave up. Yeah, that’s what she’d do.
It’s not that he wasn’t bad looking. He was hot, actually. It’s just with the kids, she really didn’t need to complicate her life anymore than necessary. At all. She had no business dating this guy. And they worked together. She groaned out loud.
The football game passed at an astonishingly slow pace. She managed to pass some of the time by ogling Coach Ripley standing on the sidelines. Wearing the uniform khakis and white polo, his physique stood out through the pliable material stretched over his frame. His athleticism shone through his movements, which were graceful for a man of his size. Alyssa daydreamed about him a little, although she was unable to reconcile Coach Ripley with the man she had been dreaming about for a week. Would Coach Ripley be able to do any of the things her dream man could do to his women? Would Alyssa want him to do them to her?
That night, after the kids were in bed, Alyssa went into her room and sat on the bed. She opened her nightstand drawer and pulled out the bag of goodies from the sex toy party. There was a book, a pair of naughty dice, the passion powder, massage lotion, some kind of clampy things, and holy Mary, Mother of God...A giant purple, glittery vibrator with horns sticking out of it. What was she supposed to do with this?
She had no idea what to do with any of it, but the vibrator captured her attention, so she shoved everything else back into the bag and put it in the drawer. She focused her attention solely on the vibrator. She took it out of the plastic. Eewww... The rubber exterior had an oily residue on it Alyssa found unpleasant, so she took it into the bathroom and washed it in really hot soapy water. Then she got back into bed with it.
She turned it over in her hands, looking at it. For one thing, it was huge. There was no way that would fit inside her and actually be enjoyable. For another thing, those horns sticking out of the base of it were really off-putting. What were those for? Another thing was the entire appendage was covered in knobby spines that didn’t look the least bit comfortable, much less pleasurable.
“So, you’re supposed to be the bee’s knees, huh? Well, I’m not buying it.” Alyssa said aloud to her vibrator.
She reached down and flipped the switch, sending it into undulating flip-flops on her bedspread, which drove Alyssa into a fit of giggles.
“I can’t believe this. I’m gonna kill whoever’s idea it was to buy you for me.” She turned it off and stroked it thoughtfully, feeling the bumpy ridges and spines on her hand, imagining for a second what they might feel like inside of her.
“Hmmm...” Her thoughts turned to dream man and his recent exploits. She knew he would be familiar with all of the gadgets in the bag. He could probably bring her to impossible heights of pleasure with them. She knew he had his yoo hoo pierced. She remembered thinking at first it must have been a religious thing, or something. But when she had seen some of his women’s reaction to it, she knew it was for pleasure and had absolutely no religious significance whatsoever. She wondered what it would feel like, to have that giant yoo hoo with a silver bar sticking out either side of the end of it, inside her own va jay jay.
She was overcome by the warm feeling in her insides again. She looked at the vibrator sitting on the bed.
It seemed to be looking back at her.
“No.”
It continued to stare at her.
“Well, not tonight anyway. I think I have to have some tequila first.”
The vibrator continued to sit there, staring at her.
She grabbed the offending device and shoved it in the drawer before slamming it shut.
Chapter 5
Dalton spent the weekend with his family He helped move his dad back home from the hospital with strict orders to take it easy for a couple of weeks and to see if he would be strong enough to undergo bypass surgery. He enjoyed his mama’s food, his sister’s banter, his niece’s pestering, and his dad’s belly-aching. Dalton actually found he missed all of it. Especially Kelly. She was growing up so fast. She was already driving.
As he was packing up on Sunday, Renae walked him out to the car.
“Thank you for coming, Dalton.” She hugged him tightly around the waist.
“It’s no problem, ‘Nae. I would have come sooner if I had realized…” He bit back what he was about to say. She had tried to tell him their dad was sick, and he hadn’t taken her seriously enough.
“Well, I would like nothing better than to bring up the whole prodigal son thing again, but I know there’s nothing that’s going to change. You’re going back to your life, and I’m staying here in this one.” She shrugged.
“Hey. Come here.” He pulled his big sister into a hug. “I’ll come back in a couple of weeks and work the herd. I’ll start coming back more regularly and help you out. I know things have been hard on you, and I’m sorry I’m not around more. I’ll try to change that.” Dalton knew her life hadn’t been easy, and he had been ignoring that for too long. He really did need to change it. There was no need for his sister to be the only one responsible for taking care of his parents in their twilight years.
He managed to make it back to Dallas, and went ahead and got ready to go to The Church. He wore his standard attire of faded jeans, riding boots, and white tee shirt, with his leather vest. It was extremely tame by The Church’s standards, but he was comfortable in it, and it didn’t seem to hinder his ability to take women home.
Although, he tonight found that he didn’t really see anybody he wanted to take home. He kept thinking back to Alyssa Fuller, the name of his dream lady. He kept finding himself looking for her in the crowd of faces in the bar. Dalton thought for sure she must be somebody he knew, and his subconscious had assigned her to his dreams.
Ever since that night she had stood naked in front of her mirror, her image had been emblazoned in his brain. He had never seen her face before then. He wondered how the woman never seemed to use a mirror. He had only seen her that one time, but he would never forget her. Her long legs needed to be wrapped around his waist, while his hands kneaded her breasts, as he buried his face in her hair. He imagined holding her and kissing her. He woke in the mornings wishing he could bring her the pleasure she could not seem to bring to herself.
Back in the present, he drank his drink down and tried to find a pleasant face. He felt like talking tonight.
Two hours later he was at Denny’s with Deanna, trying to talk to her.
“What do you do?”
“What do you want me to do?” She eyed him suggestively, playing with the button on his vest.
“Talk to me. That’s what I want you to do.” He took a bite of his hamburger.
“Well, I’m a waitress. And I live in an apartment with a friend of mine.” She had stopped playing with the button and was looking at him. She stole one of his fries.
“Do you want me to order you something?”
“No, I’m not hungry.”
“What do you want to be doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, do you want to waitress your whole life?”
Deanna shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you do?”
“I’m a bartender, but I know I’m not going to do that my whole life. I have an agricultural sciences degree. I just didn’t want to do that right out of college. I wanted to live a little first.”
“How do you know when you’re done living and you’re ready to be a ...agricultural sciences person?” She struggled with the words, and then stole another one of Dalton’s French fries.
Dalton finished chewing his last bite of burger while he thought about that. “That’s the million dollar question, right there, honey.”
“Can we go fuck now?”
He looked at her squarely. “Not tonight.”
That night, he lay in bed thinking. He didn’t know what had come over him. Deanna was pretty enough. Certainly prettier than other women he’d been with. She turned him on, too. That wasn’t it. He couldn’t figure out why he didn’t take her home and fuck her brains out, like he usually did. What possessed him to take her to Denny’s? Was he trying to date somebody? He didn’t date.
He thought back to what his dad had said about his subconscious telling him to settle down. Was that what this was? Dream lady was settled, but she didn’t seem any happier than he was. She lay in bed every night, unable to get herself off, sighing herself to sleep. Did he want that? No. He didn’t.
He thought about Alyssa Fuller’s life. Her kids were great. He had laughed aloud at the memory of her son wanting to have a “passenger hunt.” It wasn’t until Alyssa had corrected him that Dalton realized the boy meant “scavenger hunt.” Every time he said something with “th," it came out “f," like something would be somefing. It was damn cute. And the daughter was really struggling with her reading. Dalton felt a pang of empathy for her frustrations. He recalled the stories Alyssa told the youngsters before bed. They had a fascination with cockroaches, so she would tell the story of Goldilocks and the three Cockroaches, and instead of the Three Little Pigs, she told the Three Little Cockroaches. She also had a song about Scooby Doo, which she sang to the tune of the Brahm’s Lullaby.
Dalton reminisced to times when his own mother had sung to him, while rocking him. He had insisted on it until he was old enough to not need it, but his mother never refused. Something about that creaky old chair soothed both of them, it seemed. Now his mother just seemed angry at him all of the time. Dalton knew it was probably because he didn’t come home more often, but lately it didn’t even seem like she was glad to see him anymore.
Dalton wondered if she blamed him for Dad getting sick. He sure as hell felt guilty enough, blaming himself, without her blaming him, too. It was his fault, he knew. If he had come back when Renae called and asked him to, he would have been helping Richard out with the cows, and he probably wouldn’t have over-exerted himself.
Dalton punched his pillow, as he rolled over and tried to find a comfortable position.
He looked forward to sweet dreams that night, as he went to sleep.
“Say goodbye to Mommy! Tell her you’ll see her next week.” Steven had Cayden in one arm and Sierra in the other. He was marching down the driveway, without really giving them a chance to say anything.
“Bye Mommy!” Sierra said. “I’ll miss you!”
“I’ll miss you too, baby!” Alyssa called after her.
“I love you Mommy!” Cayden shouted as Steven shut the car door.
Alyssa blew a kiss and willed the tears not to fall. She did this ever other week, it really should be easier by now. For some reason though, it wasn’t, and she suspected it would always be hard to see her kids handed off to Steven.
He was a good dad, just a terrible husband. Their custody situation was a good one, they each got equal time with the children, and they split holidays. It was a win-win situation. Except the kids never got to be with two parents at the same time. So, while it was a win-win for the parents, the kids lost out every time.
As per her usual Sunday night, passing the kids off to Steve routine, she grabbed a bottle of red wine and drew a bubble bath. As she sank down into the tub, she felt the tensions of her body dissipate, but the tensions of her mind were still there. Alyssa knew they would go away with enough wine, but she hated Monday mornings at school hung-over. She had had enough of those. So she limited her wine intake to a couple of glasses.
She forced her thoughts to the weekend. The birthday party at the pizza place, watching the kids play video games, was a rare treat
for them. Afterwards they had gone to the new water feature at the public park. There were colorful fountains that shot water into the air, as well as poured it down on the children. Since the weather hadn’t turned cold yet, it was still fun for the kids. And parents didn’t have to worry about sudden chills.
Alyssa tried her best to make the weekends fun for the kids. She told herself it wasn’t because of Steven, but she couldn’t lie. She knew that part of it had to be because he had gobs of money and bought the kids everything they asked for, whether they needed it or not. And he never consulted with Alyssa about what she thought might be appropriate for them. Her opinion about the kids didn’t matter to him at all. He didn’t seem to see the hypocrisy of his uber-Christian values and how they related to the expensive toys he bought the kids.
When she didn’t have the kids, Monday evenings were laundry . Tuesday evenings were floors. Wednesday evenings were for Alyssa and the girls.
This particular Wednesday, they were going to the Gin, for karaoke night. Alyssa typically didn’t participate, but she had been known to entertain the fifteen or sixteen Wednesday-night-bar patrons, when she was drunk enough. She and her friends had discovered tequila let her do anything.
When she got there, Summer and Jessie were already at the table, waiting for her with three shots of tequila, dressed with a lime and a salted rim. Alyssa giggled inwardly, as always when she looked at her friends. They were polar opposites on the physical spectrum.
Summer was a tiny pixie, barely five foot three, with short, spiky hair, which was currently died platinum blonde. She ran a bookstore here in town called A Summer Place, but her main claim to fame was she saw dead people. Not really, but she did have a self-proclaimed "sixth sense" that her friends tried not to make fun of her for. She was in a committed long-distance relationship with her partner, Bo, who lived in Dallas and ran a paranormal investigation service.
In contrast, Jessie was almost Amazonian in stature. She was five foot ten, with long, wavy brunette hair, and a muscular, toned body from working on her ranch. Jessie raised goats, and made cheese. She had struggled a lot to make her business profitable and wasn’t always successful with it. But she came to girls’ night, whether she could afford it or not. More often than not, she went home with some guy she ran into. Casual sex was her forte, as long as there were no strings attached.
