From the City to Simmons

As the morning gave way to the afternoon, they found themselves back in Simmons proper, looking for a place to stop and grab a bite to eat. They pulled into a little restaurant aptly named "The Simmons Diner". It was a neat little place dressed with fieldstone and smoke coming from a central chimney.

"Check it out," Tina said as they were walking up the the entrance. "This place is for sale." There was a small, hand-written sign in the corner of the window near the door.

"I don't really want to live in a diner," Carrie said. She was feeling rather down, not having any of the places that she picked to look at pan out.

They went in, seating themselves in a booth were they all could see the fireplace.

"I like the fire. Makes it feel cozy," Chris commented.

A young lady came by to take their orders, and they soon were enjoying their meals. Even though the food was good, it did little to raise their spirits. The waitress tried to get them to bite on some desert, but no one was in the mood. She dropped off the check and told them that they could pay in the front when they were done.

Chris grabbed the check and headed to the register behind the counter to pay. An old man was there, cleaning off the grill. It took a moment to get his attention, the fellow must have been getting a little hard of hearing. Chris had to reach out and tap a little bell by the register. The old man spun around and smiled at him.

"I didn't even see you there. How was everything?" he asked.

"It was pretty good. Like the place here," Chris replied.

"Yeah, me and the missus built this place from the ground up. Opened over forty years ago."

"Is that so? Why you sellin', business slowin' down?"

"Naw, we've got a steady business. Nothin' to make me a millionaire, but pays the bills. Raised four children on it, we did. No, my wife passed this last fall and without her, the place just isn't the same," the old man explained.

"Really? A shame to hear that," Chris replied.

"Oh, it happens. You're probably not from around here, are you? Don't recall seeing you before."

"No, my wife and I are taking a little trip. Just got married, lookin' for a place out in the country. Sister, too, she's part of the package." Just then the two girls joined Chris at the counter.

"What a fine looking couple of ladies. Which one's the bride and which one's the sister? Not that you could go wrong with either one, mind ya," the old man said with a wink.

They all got a chuckle out of that and introduced themselves. The old man was named Roger, they found out. "What kind of place you folks looking for, then?" he asked.

"Oh, someplace outside of town. A few acres, house big enough for a few kids, when that happens," Chris explained.

"We looked at about a dozen places between Freeport and here," Tina told him. "Just haven't been able to find one that we can call home yet.

"That so? You ought to come have a look at my old farm. I wouldn't want to get your hopes up or anything like that, but it sounds somethin' like what you might be lookin' for. Big old house, too big for me these days. Always thought that I'd live out my years there and leave it to the kids, turns out the kids don't want nothin' to do with it."

"Really? We could take a look. We still have some daylight left and it's too early to go back to the hotel," Carrie reasoned. "Before we head out there, though, why don't you tell us what you're asking? We wouldn't want to waste your time if we're not roughly on the same page as far as what we're looking to spend."

Roger gave Carrie a curious look, as if he was wondering why the sister would be involved.

"She's our financial advisor," explained Chris.

Roger said a number that Carrie didn't even blink at.

"We'll take a look, then."

"Sounds like a plan, then. Why don't you folks have a seat, have a piece of pie, I'll wrap things up here and you can follow me. I'm only about twelve miles out."

The three did what Roger suggested and each tried a slice of pie while they waited for him. They weren't all that excited about going to look at another place, but a lead was a lead. Roger seemed excited, he ran around the diner shutting things down like he lost about twenty years off his age.

They followed his Jeep Cherokee out of town and down a little lane toward his house. "Would it jinx us if I asked if anyone else has a good feeling about this?" Chris wondered aloud.

"Probably, you dork," Carrie said. She didn't want to get her hopes up, she liked Roger, but there was no telling what his place was like. They had already heard the phrase 'this is just what you're looking for' enough times that day that it was starting to sound like foul language.

Roger turned off the lane and down a dirt track that led them through a grove of maple trees on either side. They pulled around a bend and came to a stop in front of an enormous stone house. It was by far larger than anything that they had looked at. Beyond the house was an old barn and several other out-buildings. The price that Roger had quoted them didn't seem to be adding up with what they were looking at. Still, they hadn't seen the inside yet.

They got out of the vehicle as Roger did his.

"Well, here she is!" he exclaimed. "Years ago, this used to be a turnip farm. Still a lot of them around, but I never grew a turnip. Had a garden lots of summers, but I spend too much time at the diner to ever go wild growin'. Had two brothers that were masons that put the stone on the house. Did it back in '78 I think it was, got all the stone out of the creek that runs out back there."

"It's beautiful, Roger. Can we look inside?" Tina asked.

"Sure, sure, let's go." Roger led them into the house and showed them around. The front door opened into a large living area dominated by a huge fireplace. The kitchen was dated but functional, same with the bathrooms. There was one upstairs and one down, a total of five bedrooms. "You'll have to excuse the mess. I'd fire the maid but I never had one."

They continued on with the tour for some time. Roger even lent Chris a pair of boots and took him out to show him some of the other buildings and the rest of the property. They girls were left alone to look at whatever they felt like inside.

"This place is amazing, Carrie," Tina told her. She was bubbling with joy.

"It sure is. It makes me wonder why he's not asking more. I mean, is it built on an Indian burial ground or something? About to fall into a sink hole? Got to be something."

"You think so? Doesn't seem like he's trying to hide anything. I mean, we just saw a pile of his dirty underwear in the bedroom."

"Yeah, that's true," Carrie agreed with a giggle.

The girls continued poking around the house until Roger and Chris eventually came back in, shaking the snow off their feet.

"Well, what do you folks think?"

Tina and Carrie borrowed Chris for a moment and they had a short discussion in the kitchen while Roger built a fire in the living room. The main source of heat was a coal furnace in the basement, but the fireplace saved on coal and put out a good amount of warmth.

"I think we should make an offer," advised Chris.

"I do too, but I wonder why he's not asking more," Carrie said.

"Why don't you ask him?" Tina asked.

"All right, I will." Carrie went out to meet with Roger, the other two following close behind. Roger looked up at her from his kneeling position by the fireplace. "Roger, we have to admit, we love the place. I've got to ask, though, how come you're not asking for more? It kind of makes me think that there's something we don't know about here."

Roger laughed. "Well, young lady, what you see is what you get. In case you haven't noticed, we're not in the middle of what you would call a real estate boom. How many places have you looked at just around these parts today? Simmons isn't exactly a thriving metropolis, you know. Some of these places around here have been on the market for a long time. I'm an old man. I want to sell out and move to Colorado with my daughter and enjoy some time with my grandkids before I end up in the ground. I don't want to wait around here forever hopin' somebody like you folks come along. I can tell you one thing, though, I ain't comin' down any lower."

"Just out of curiosity," Chris began to ask, "How much are you asking for the diner?"

*****

The ride back to the hotel was a hopeful one. The girls chatted incessantly about things that they could do to the house while Chris mainly kept his mouth shut and stuck to driving. He was thinking about the diner. They would be able to afford it, though it would make things kind of tight. They would have to use all of the money that they had saved in addition to a healthy chunk of what his parents had left them. He and Carrie had always considered that part of their retirement savings, but this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

"I think we ought to make an offer on the diner, too."

"You were serious about that?" asked Carrie.

"Well, yeah. I have to do something for work, it would be perfect. Tina and I could run the place, I don't want to go back to an office."

"Boy, I don't know, Chris. It would be kind of risky, especially if the place doesn't make money," Carrie replied.

"I think it would be awesome to have our own diner, but it's your money. You're the ones that have been slaving away to save up for something like this. I know that if it's what Chris wants then I'll do all I can to make it work for us," Tina added.

"If we can convince Roger to show us some of his financials and it looks like the place will stay afloat, what do you think, Carrie?"

"I think it would be worth looking into. Maybe it would be a good place to go have breakfast tomorrow. We have to set up a meeting with him and his lawyer, anyway."

"Yeah, I know that we've got a heck of a lot to think about, even just about the house. It kind of feels like we're rushing right into all of this," Chris said, doing his best to navigate the treacherous roads. If they were like this all the time during the winter, he would have to make sure to update his life insurance policy.

"Rushing into this?" Carrie asked. "We've been working on this for years. And I'm not just talking about the money part. Do you know how many places that I've looked at online? How many phone calls that I've made? More than I can friggin' count is how many. I don't feel like we're rushing into anything. I feel like we're finally getting something done after running in place forever."

Tina glanced at Carrie, a little alarmed at the ferocity of her comment. "Like I said, you guys are the ones putting up the money, I don't think that my vote should count as much as yours. I have to say that Roger's house is totally what I think we're looking for. I mean what else could we want?"

"Thank you, Tina," Carrie told her.

"God, calm down. I'm just a little nervous, alright? It's like all our money. I know you've worked your ass off on this, I'm not trying to say that you haven't. I love the house, too. What I'm not loving is driving around on these roads. Can we keep the conversation kind of light until we get back to the hotel? The only ice that I'm used to comes in my tea," Chris said.

In reality, the roads weren't all that bad, he was just being overly paranoid. His speech was enough to keep them all from arguing about anything for the rest of the trip back to the hotel, however. He sighed with relief once safely in the parking lot.

"Made it," he declared. "I might have to consider trading in the old Toyota for something with four wheel drive."

"I'd consider trading it in for anything that doesn't smell like old feet and french fries," Tina said.

"What? He picked out that air freshener himself. I think it's named after him," Carrie added.

"You two are so hilarious," he said with a smile. They didn't appear to be thankful at all that he had just saved all of their lives, braving the elements and bringing them back to their place of shelter.

"Isn't it supposed to be spring time?" Tina asked, once they were back in their room and had shed their coats.

"It is, but I guess the weather doesn't really get more friendly 'til April or so. It would be nice to see what everything is like once there's leaves on the trees and things, but we'll just have to wait," Carrie replied.

"Yeah, I don't think there's normally this much snow on the ground this time of year. I heard some guys talking in the diner about some big storm that came through that no one was expecting," Chris added. "Are you worried that your hot body won't be able to take the cold?"

Carrie snickered, Tina raised her eyebrows. "Did you really just say that? I used to think that you were so smart."

Chris wrapped an arm around Tina's waist. "Mmm, yes my dear, I did just say that. You may jest, but I am clever enough to have the two most beautiful women in all of Ohio staying in the motel room with me."

"Well, that certainly sounds a little better," Tina conceded.

"How do you know that this isn't just some elaborate plan for us to lure you out of town and drain your bank account?" Carrie asked, playing along.

"I saw a pig farm on the way here. They eat bodies, right? I saw it in a movie once. It would be a good place to get rid of him," Tina suggested.

"Oh man. Is there going to be any romance involved before I get fed to the pigs? 'Cause really if there's not, I'd like to have a chance to run away."

"I 'spose we could work in a little romance first," Carrie said.

"Oh good. It's all worth it then. Go ahead, have your way with me."

Tina giggled her sexy, playful giggle and kissed her husband on the underside of his neck. They hadn't done anything sexually the first night that they had stayed, both she and Chris were more than a little worn from their wedding night. She thought that one night off was enough, though. It was hard to ever get enough of Chris.

Carrie felt the same way, she didn't think that she would ever get tired of her brother. She had dreamed so often of moving out to the country with him, it was a bit hard to believe that it was really going to happen. Everything that she had dreamed about was coming true. Tina hadn't always been a part of her dreams, she was a new addition. Having Chris marry a younger, beautiful woman wasn't something that she fantasized about, but now it would be difficult to picture life without her. Things were actually working out better than she could have ever hoped. It was funny how things happened sometimes, she reflected.

She was starting to zone out in her happy daydream of life in Ohio when she realized that Tina was saying something to her. "What? I wasn't paying attention."

Tina gave her a funny, pouting kind of look. "I said take your clothes off and get on the bed, I'm going to eat you like a Carrie sandwich," She told the other girl slowly and clearly. It wasn't at all what she had actually said the first time, but it seemed to get her attention.

"Oh my," Chris said with a chuckle. God, he loved his girls.

Carrie snapped back to reality after momentarily forgetting that they were about to have sex. She turned toward Tina and grinned. "I agree. Oh my."

As they all began to undress, Carrie realized how thrilling it was, the anticipation, Tina's beauty, her brother's gorgeous body ready to please her. She hoped that sex never got so routine to where she didn't appreciate those things. She laid back on the bed and spread her legs for Tina while Chris laid down beside her. Two sets of lips converged on her body at once, one set belonging to her brother on her left breast while Tina's began nibbling upward on her inner thigh. When the younger girl's tongue began to swirl around the entrance to her vagina, she started to squirm with pleasure, then even more when she added a couple of fingers. Whatever Tina was doing to her felt good, but it was also tickling the hell out of her. She was about to say something when her brother kept her in silence with a deep kiss on the lips.

"You might have to hold her down, Chris. She's getting a little squirrelly," Tina advised.

Chris leaned heavily on his sister and held both of her wrists to the bed above her head. "Sounds kind of like you might be in trouble," he said, breaking the kiss momentarily.

Carrie thought that if she had to be in trouble, then that was the kind to be in. Chris had never really used his fingers on her much before, so what Tina was doing was an entirely new sensation. That and what she was doing with her tongue.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked in a whisper in her ear. He didn't want her to be uncomfortable.

"Mmm...Hmm," came the muted response as she leaned her head in for another hungry kiss.

Eventually, Tina ended her licking and tickling onslaught, leaving Carrie bucking her hips in the air, craving to be finished off. She switched places with Chris who quickly penetrated his sister, much to her hissing delight. He lifted her legs together and held them against his chest and over his shoulder while he drove into her. Tina tried to keep her cries to a minimum by keeping her lips locked on Carrie's. She knew how loud Carrie could get and didn't see any reason to alert the entire hotel as to what they were up to. Besides, kissing Carrie was fun and she liked to see the sexy expressions on her face while Chris was fucking her up close.

As Carrie's orgasm gripped her, she dug her nails into Tina's back and pulled the girl tight to her chest. Chris didn't last much longer than his sister, and whimpered with pleasure as he released inside of her. He knelt on the bed and kissed her ankles as he recovered.

"Fuck," Carrie uttered.

Tina giggled as she slowly licked one of Carrie's nipples.

Chris smiled down at his sister. "We love you, babe."

*****

The three lay about the room in various states of recovery after what turned out to be a fairly lengthy sex session. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. What do you want to do for dinner?" Chris asked.

"I guess I could eat, I don't really care what we do," Tina said.

"There's a bar right across that street that has a big 'RIBS' sign out front. Want to try that? Then Chris won't have to worry about crashing the rental car," Carrie suggested.

They all thought that was as good as place as any. After cleaning up enough to make themselves presentable to the rest of the world, they threw on their coats and made their way across the street. Carrie stopped them before they entered the bar.

"Suddenly, I'm not in the mood for ribs," she declared.

"Why not?" Tina asked.

Carrie nodded at a smaller sign hanging below the one that said 'RIBS'. This one said 'Karaoke Tonight'. Chris followed her gaze.

"Yeah baby! We're havin' some ribs!" he shouted, holding the door open for the girls.

"Sure you don't just wanna go back to the room and order a pizza?" Carrie wondered.

"Oh come on. You love it, you know you do. Besides, Tina hasn't had a chance to experience the sound."

They wandered over to an empty table and took a seat. The place wasn't crowded, but there were a fair amount of people present.

"What the heck are you two talking about?" Tina asked.

"Chris has some sort of mental problem that makes him want to sing Karaoke and dance around like a monkey," Carrie explained. "You'd think he'd be all tired out, but apparently that's not the case."

They placed their order with the waitress that came around and Tina resumed her questioning. "So, you're a singer, then?"

"I prefer the term 'artist'. You probably noticed when you signed the wedding papers that my middle name is Elvis."

"Yeah, I was gonna ask about that..." Tina began. Chris cut her off.

"Even though I was just born, my parents could see the talent inside me. I was in a band, you know. We were pretty famous around town. 'The Stiff Six', you probably heard of us."