Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Justin
“I’m not folding Mom’s clothes,” Dylan says, taking his last bite of his spaghetti. “She has to do her own chores.”
“It wouldn’t be a chore if you hadn’t emptied the bags,” I say, and he just shrugs.
When the bags arrived, I knew that Zara overdid it.
I can’t say I was surprised or that I even cared.
But I was worried about what Caroline would say, and although she looked like she was going to murder me, having Dylan there protected me.
“Go wash your hands,” Caroline says when Dylan slips off the stool, bringing his plate to the sink and rinsing it, then putting it in the dishwasher.
Crooked but at least he did it. He hops and skips over to the couch that holds his pile of clothes.
When he starts to fold them, I want to get up and go help him.
“Sit down,” she says. I look over, and she tries to hide her smile behind her glass of water, but her eyes are lit up.
“I wasn’t going to do anything,” I say and lean in to kiss her lips. “Okay, fine, I was going to do yours at the same time.”
“Sit,” she says. “He made the mess, so he gets to clean it.”
“Fine.” I get off the stool and take my plate and hers to the dishwasher. “Go fold your clothes.”
“I can make piles of things you can donate,” she says, and I stop and look up to glare at her, and she laughs. Sitting on the edge of the couch, she starts to fold her mountain.
I clean up the kitchen when my phone rings, and I look and see it’s Zara on FaceTime. “What did you not understand with my instructions?” I say and look over to see Caroline look at me while Zara just laughs her head off.
“I may have gone a tad overboard,” she says when she finally stops laughing. “Hey, it’s like when you walk into a sports shop, and you come out with seven sticks.”
“Yeah,” I say, shaking my head. “I want to say I was surprised, but …”
“Do they fit?” Zara asks, and I look over at Caroline.
“She got me twelve pairs of jeans,” she whispers and then motions with her fingers the one and the two.
“She hasn’t tried anything on,” I tell Zara.
“I chose all the guy things,” Evan says, and he comes into view. “Tell Dylan I did that.”
“Thank you!” Dylan yells and then smiles. “You’re still better than him,” he whispers to me, and I laugh.
“We arrive on Friday,” Zara says. “I think Mom and Dad are coming in on Thursday.”
“Cool,” I tell them and look over to see that Caroline is looking down and folding clothes, and I can see her leg moving. “When is everyone else coming down?”
“I think Friday,” Zara says.
“Mark is actually going to arrive on Saturday,” Evan says. “In the morning.”
“We should have a big family dinner on Saturday,” Zara says.
“Can’t,” I say. “I’m taking Caroline out.” Looking over at her, I see her head come up. “I already made plans.”
“Oh, look at you, being all romantic,” Zara teases me. “We can watch Dylan.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. He can teach Evan some new tricks on the Xbox,” I joke with her, and Dylan just smirks.
“Actually, I’m going to come down on Thursday. I want to get on the ice Friday,” Evan says, then looks at Zara. “Beautiful, can we go down on Thursday?”
“I guess,” she says. “Okay, I have to go now as I have to up my planning.”
“Take care,” I tell them. “See you Thursday.”
“Family dinner Friday night!” Evan yells, and I nod my head right before they disconnect.
“Okay, are you two almost done with the mess?” I look over at them, and Dylan points at his pile of clothes.
“Can you help me carry them to my room?” he asks, and I nod my head, but I stop in front of Caroline first and give her a small kiss, then surprise her with another kiss.
“Why don’t you get changed to go to the pool, and we can head down?” I ask, and she just nods her head.
“I’m going to finish folding the clothes first,” she says and then looks at me. “I don’t know what to do with all these clothes.”
“Wear them,” Dylan says as if it’s a no-brainer.
“She bought me two cocktail dresses,” she says, picking one up that is white. “And high heels.” She picks up the white strappy heels that go with the dress. “I’ve never worn high heels.”
“Well, you can wear it Saturday,” I say, and she looks at me with her mouth open. “Let’s get these clothes put away so we can hit the pool.”
“Smooth,” she says, putting the dress and the heels aside. “How did she know my size?”
“She’s a magician when it comes to this stuff.” I wink at her and take a pile of clothes to the spare bedroom. “Let’s put this in the drawers,” I say, opening the first two and then Caroline walks in the room with her clothes.
“What are you doing?” she asks me and Dylan, confused.
“I’m putting away my clothes so I can go in the pool,” Dylan answers her. I want to laugh, but I try not to.
“But why here?” She looks at me.
“You can put your stuff with mine.” I motion with my head. “There are some empty drawers.”
“But that’s …” she starts to say.
“Mom, can we go to the pool?” Dylan asks, and I have to say I owe him one.
“Yeah, go get changed so we can go to the pool,” I say, and she puts the clothes on the bed and turns to walk out of the room.
I finish with Dylan and hand him his blue swimming trunks, and he runs to change.
I grab her clothes from the bed, trying to scoop them all up in my arms but dropping a couple of pieces on the way to my bedroom.
I walk in and dump them all on the bed, knowing they all have to be fixed now.
I’m picking up one when the door opens, and she walks out and I have to sit down.
“I think she got this one right,” Caroline says. I look at her, and there are no words coming out of my mouth.
She stands there in a bikini. “That’s going back,” I say, and she laughs. It’s a green color, and the top molds her breasts, and I see the string holding up the two triangles that look a bit too small for her tits. “Or maybe it’s perfect for later, but it’s not okay to go to the pool.”
“What?” she asks, looking down at herself. “It’s perfect.” She adjusts one of the triangles, but there isn’t that much more material.
“I’m ready.” Dylan comes running into the room showing off his blue shorts. “Do we have to bring towels?”
“Um, no,” I say, putting my hand on my knee. “Why don’t we watch a movie?” Caroline laughs.
“Go get changed,” she says, and I look at the bikini bottom, and I swear it’s too small. If she goes into the water, it might ride up. Her long legs look even longer. She turns around, and I jump off the bed, taking off my shirt and wrapping it around her. “What are you doing?” she asks, confused.
“You’re naked,” I say, turning to see if Dylan saw her.
“I’m not naked. It’s cheeky.” She laughs. “At least that is what was written on the tag.”
“It’s called not in this fucking lifetime,” I say. “Put on shorts.”
“I’m not putting on shorts, Justin,” she says, trying to push me away laughing. “Go get changed. Dylan is waiting, and I think he looks like he is going to cry.” I drop my hands in fear that he’s crying and turn to look at him as he stands there unamused by whatever is going on with us.
“Can we go?” he says. “Please.”
“Go change,” she says and then she spots the clothes on the bed. “What are those doing here?”
“I’m helping you put away your stuff,” I say.
“I have to go change,” I say, walking into the closet and grabbing my blue shorts.
I walk to the bathroom to change, and when I come out, the clothes are gone.
“Caroline,” I call her name, and I see them both on the couch waiting for me, but she at least put on a cover-up.
Her hair is almost now braided on the side.
“Finally,” Dylan says, getting up, and I see he’s wearing a new pair of flip-flops.
“Let’s go,” I say to him and then grab Caroline’s hand while we walk out. “Where are your clothes?”
“Away,” she says, teasing me. “I put them away.”
“I’m just going to move them,” I say, and I swear I sound like a child throwing a tantrum.
We walk all the way to the end of the hall, and I press the button leading us outside to the pool. I guess no one is here; it’s a community pool, but no one actually uses it.
“Look at how big the pool is, Mom,” Dylan says, going to one of the five cabanas and taking off his flip-flops.
“You need sunscreen,” I say. Walking into the cabana, I open one of the cupboards and take out a basket of sunscreen. I walk back to him and spray some on him and then rub it in. “Now you can go,” I say, and he runs all the way to the pool, I’m about to tell him not to run when he yells.
“Cannonball!” Holding his legs up, he jumps in.
“You think he’s excited?” Caroline says from beside me as she slips off her cover-up. “I don’t think we’ve ever just sat near the pool. We used to go to the public pool every day when he was five.”
“You need sunscreen,” I say as I look at her pale skin, and my hands itch to rub it on her.
“Do I?” she says, and I pull her into my arms and turn her around so Dylan doesn’t see my hands going straight to her ass. “I definitely need sunscreen on my ass.”
My cock springs to action and is ready to go, and she feels it, so I bend and kiss her.
Her hands wrap around my neck, and I swear I wish I could pick her up and carry her over to one of the chairs and lay her down and get lost in her.
“Justin,” she whispers my name when I leave her lips and make my way down to her neck.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish. ”
“Oh, I can finish,” I say, looking at her, “but you are going to have to walk out before me.” Looking down at my cock, I say, “Give me a minute.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “I’ll give you a minute,” she says and walks away on her tippy toes, her perfect ass on display, and I know that after she takes that bikini off, its disappearance will be a mystery.
She walks to the steps of the pool and slowly walks in as Dylan gets out and then jumps back in.
I walk to the pool, using the stairs, too, but I sit on one of the steps, and she walks over to me in the waist-high water.
“You still need a minute?” she jokes with me.
“Very funny.” I reach out and pull her to me. She sits on my lap, and we spend the time laughing while we watch Dylan jump into the pool over and over again. The only time my arms aren’t around her is when Dylan and I both do cannonballs, but then I swing to her and bring her with me.
“I’m being an old man,” Dylan says, lifting his hand out of the water.
“You’ve been in the water for three hours,” I say from the side.
For the past three hours, the three of us have gotten to know each other better.
I found out that Caroline is two years and two days older than me.
I found out that Dylan hates math in school, which I can get.
I found out that Caroline loves to read and has read everything the library has to offer.
I found out that her eyes sparkle when she’s really not thinking about anything and is in the moment.
They tease me when I tell them I’m afraid of spiders.
I kiss Caroline and then look back at Dylan.
“Let’s get going.” I get out of the water and walk over to the cabana and grab two towels.
Caroline comes out first, and if I didn’t hate the bikini before, I hate it now.
Her nipples are hard and almost poking out.
“Cover yourself.” I wrap her in a towel, locking her arms inside.
I hold her towel up while I hand Dylan his, and she laughs.
“I can’t move,” she says, and I loosen my grip just enough for her to reach out of the towel and hold it up herself.
“Okay, let’s go,” I say. “Bring the towels. I’ll return them later.”
“What’s for supper?” Dylan asks, and I shrug. “Can we have the rest of the pizza?”
“Works for me,” I say, thinking of the leftovers I was going to throw out.
“I want three slices,” he says when we walk back into the apartment. I put the pizza in the oven to warm up and then look at Dylan.
“Go grab a shower,” I say, and he nods, stopping to get an apple on his way to the shower.
“Do you want to shower before or after me?” Caroline asks me.
“Truthfully,” I say, and she looks at me. “I want to shower with you.”
She looks down and then shyly looks back up. “But I can go after you.”
She walks to me and gets on her tippy toes.
Her hands go on my waist. “I want to shower with you, too.” She kisses the side of my lips and then walks away from me to my bedroom and then the shower.
I make sure everything is set, and when Dylan comes out, I see he’s wearing some of the new clothes I bought him.
“It’ll be ready by the time I get out of the shower,” I say, and he nods.
“Okay, I’m going to go watch television.” He smiles at me. “I had fun today.”
“Me, too, buddy,” I say, and he stops.
“Mom never has fun,” he says softly and then makes sure that his mom is not around. “She cries a lot at night.” I want to tell him to stop, but he doesn’t. “And I know that my dad took my stuff and sold it.”
“You don’t know that,” I say to him, trying to defend his father.
“He takes anything that we have, which is why we don’t have anything,” he says. “He says he’s going to get better.”
“One day,” I say. He just shrugs and walks away, and my heart breaks for the kid who wants his father, who knows his mother cries, and who just shared with me a secret that I won’t be able to tell his mother.