OND

I was shocked.

"But what about the Mercedes E class?" I asked.

"Jeffrey used to drive my car while he was running errands to the courthouse as my father's paralegal. He got into some kind of trouble recently in Dellaville and my father fired him. If you want to support Jeffrey, you're welcome to him. I'll have all of his few belongings put into a shopping bag and you can come and get him."

I hung up the phone realizing that I was in trouble.

For the past few weeks I'd been fooling myself. I'd been trapped in a fantasy where I was the star of my own little world and everyone else was merely a supporting or bit player. I had now reached the scene where the heroine was tested. The question is would I be up to the challenge? There were three paths set before me. The first and most secure would be to strike out on my own. I'm a strong woman and I could go out and get a job and be self supporting. Or I could invent something or start my own business.

The second choice was to go out and get myself another man to take care of me and see to my needs. After all I was beautiful and well dressed and had all of the charms of any big city woman, how hard could it be?

The third choice and the completely least palatable would be to admit that I was wrong and go crawling back to Dave and beg him to take me back. I was sure that I could get Dave back with the barest of effort. But the question was did I really even want him back? Of the three choices this one would be the easiest for me to accomplish. I figured that all I'd have to do is go home, put on some lingerie, give him a little bit of pussy whenever he wanted it for the first week or so, and then it would be business as usual.

I decided to use option three as my back up plan just in case the other two failed. I really liked option number one. So one night after my parents went to sleep, I got out a notebook and picked up the newspaper. I started looking at job listings and suddenly realized that I was in trouble. It was really hard to decide what type of job to try for when I really couldn't even remember what I'd gone to college for. I needed to talk to Dave. He could remember that type of useless information. Shit, why should I remember it. I'd been married for over twenty years and we'd gotten married just months after I left college. So I called the house. The phone rang and rang and no one answered it. So I called his cell phone. It was answered on the third ring.

"Dave honey, what did I do in college? Do I have a degree?" I asked.

"Dave isn't your honey, and he's busy," snapped a female voice.

"Who is this?" I asked. "Why are you answering my husband's phone?"

"Jeezus Mabel, I know you're a little bit off but don't tell me you can't recognize your on sister's voice," she said.

"Janet," I snapped. "Shouldn't you be out somewhere doing something? David is more than capable of entertaining himself."

"Goodbye Mabel," she said. "Your degree was in childhood development. But that was over twenty years ago. It's probably useless now. And to tell you the truth you'd be a shitty mother, and an even worse childcare provider."

Janet hung up the phone on me. Childhood development? Why the hell had I gone to school for that. I thought about it for a while and finally remembered. Back before I met Dave and he started the business I'd wanted to work with children. I'd even intended to have children with Dave. He'd have been a great father. Why had I given up that dream? I thought about it more and realized that it had been the money.

Once Dave's business had taken off and I started being able to have everything I wanted, looking good and being fashionable had just seemed to become more important. If I'd gotten pregnant it would have ruined my figure. I'd have become one of those corn fed country girls with child bearing hips. The seats in my E class were simply not big enough for an ass like that. And what about clothes? Most of the designers I wore didn't make their clothing in sizes that big. So I'd gone on the pill and though Dave had mentioned kids a couple of times over the years, we each had our own pursuits to keep us busy.

Okay so I couldn't find a job. I'd have to do the next best thing and start my own business. Shit, how hard could it be? Dave had done it, and if he wasn't such an easy going type, we could have been mega rich. All I had to do was figure out what type of business I wanted to start and then the sky would be the limit. So I thought long and hard about what I was good at and what I liked doing.

During the thinking, I was so quiet that it forced me to notice something. My parents were having sex only a few feet away from me in the next room. How dare they? They seemed to be enjoying themselves though they were trying to be quiet. Just the thought of my mother spreading her fat legs and grinding her gray haired vagina against my father was enough to make me gag. Then thinking about my Daddy's wrinkled old ass going up and down as he pumped away, doing my mom doggy style was the limit. I began to question my sanity.

Finally I could tell they were done. Thank goodness! Then I imagined them lying there together in the darkness with their arms wrapped around each other like Dave and I used to do. When had we given that up? It used to make me feel so good and so loved. I remember now. It was when I started spending over three hundred dollars getting my hair done. I had to make sure my style was maintained properly so I had to wear a scarf over it at night and I couldn't snuggle up against Dave because I needed a special pillow that supported me by my neck instead of my head to protect my waves.

Somehow in retrospect maybe it wasn't such a good trade. Dave had always thought I was beautiful no matter what I wore or how I dressed. Fucking Jeffrey had been the one to always belittle my clothing or appearance unless it was perfect. Okay enough of the past. What am I good at? I obviously have a flare for fashion. Perhaps I can open my own clothing store and maybe later on move into design. That would be a great way to start. I made a list of everything I needed to start my own clothing store.

The next morning at breakfast, while my Dad scowled at me over his coffee, I asked him point blank how much money we had.

"What do you mean "We, Kemosabe?" he asked.

"I'm thinking of starting my own business and I need a lot of money Dad," I said. He almost fell over laughing at me. Then he straightened up, looked at me and started laughing again. My mother came in and asked him what was so funny. He told her about me starting a business. To Mom's credit, she didn't laugh, but she did smile and come over and feel my forehead.

"Seriously Dad, how much money do we have?" I snapped. He got serious and said, "None."

I was aghast.

"We did put some money away for the future," he said. "We wanted to be able to do some things and see some things during our old age. We also saved enough money to give you and your sister a little chunk of change in an emergency. But damn it, you can't ever foresee the future." Mom came over and hugged him.

"Mabel, your mom's medical condition costs us more than we ever imagined. When she was first diagnosed and was literally screaming her head off, I was willing to do anything I had to in order to stop her pain. Her treatments are expensive but they're worth it. Looking at her today you almost can't tell she's suffering any discomfort. But it ate up nearly all of our savings. I didn't know what I was going to do. I even thought about going back to work, so we'd have some money coming in."

"Your husband just picked up the payments and told me not to go back to work because your mom and I should be able to spend our golden years together. He said to let the young people work. We'd earned our rest. So after a few months when my pension checks started to give us a nearly comfortable bank balance again, I called him and told him that we could pay for some of the treatments ourselves. He told us to use that money to take the trips we wanted or go and see the things we wanted to see."

"So you do have some money?" I asked.

"Yeah but I'm doing what my son in law suggested. Next month your mom and I are going to see the Grand Canyon," he said.

I was pissed. How dare he even think about going to see some hole in the fucking desert when I needed that God damned money?

"Dad," I said seriously. "Isn't it true that without Dave paying for mom's treatment, you wouldn't be going to the Damned Canyon in the first place?"

"Probably," he said. "You never know what can happen."

"Well then since the money came from David and me, technically it's my money too, and I want it," I said.

"Mabel, you've never lifted a finger since you married that man. That's what's wrong with you. He's spoiled you to the point that you don't think you should even smell your own farts. You didn't give us a fucking dime, Dave did. So I'll call him and see what he thinks. If he says to give you the money we will."

I didn't see what the problem was as soon as my business took off I'd pay them back. How long could it take? A couple of weeks, a month at the very worst and they'd have the money back. Shit, the Grand Canyon was thousands of years old, almost as old as my parents. It wasn't going anywhere.

My Dad glared at me and headed for the phone. He called Dave's cell and was soon talking to him. He laughed and said some things and then told Dave to keep his chin up it would get better, then he hung up and came back to me.

"Dave said that the money for your mom's treatments wasn't dependent on your marriage. It wasn't a gift, it was simply family helping each other out. He says that he'd continue helping us whether you remain married or not. He said your mom and I should enjoy the Canyon and he offered to spring for one of those helicopter tours for us. He said that you should go to the bank for a loan to start your business like he did and like everyone else did," said my dad smirking at me.

"Why didn't I think of that?" I screamed. "For a boring guy Dave has some pretty good ideas."

"Mabel there are two other things we need to talk about," said my dad.

I just looked at him. "Yes Daddy."

"What happened between you and Dave? He seems to be too broken up about this for it not to be serious?" he asked.

"I already told you I found someone better, or I thought I had," I said.

"There's also the fact that you should probably start paying us rent to stay here," he said.

"What," I snapped. "How the hell can you even think about charging your own daughter rent to sleep on the floor in this...?" I wisely didn't complete my statement.

I just nodded my head and told him we'd talk about it when I got back from the bank. I borrowed a dress from my mom that didn't look too bad.

I went down to the bank and filled out a loan application. I had to wait for over an hour to see a loan officer. He asked me some of the dumbest questions I ever heard. Things like did I have any collateral? Did I have any experience running a business? He wanted to see my business plan and a list of expenses. Was I going to rent or buy?

Rent or buy what? I had no idea what he was talking about. I got up and excused myself and went home.

# # # # # # # # #

I'd been roughly slammed against the wall in my own workshop area. I figured that maybe someone wanted to steal some of the tools or equipment. If I stayed quiet and didn't give them a problem maybe they'd just go away. I felt the person's hands slide down my sides and reach around behind me. They were obviously checking to see if I had any weapons. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would fly out of my chest. I couldn't remember being this scared in a long time. The attacker reached around in front of me and started to unzip my pants. I reached for a light switch on the wall and looked down at Janet's smiling face.

"You scared the shit out of me," I yelled.

"Well you're not taking care of your end of our deal," she yelled back. Janet was wearing a pair of coveralls like mechanics and technicians wear. She had her long hair done up in pony tail and a baseball cap on backwards. She was wearing safety glasses too. But the zipper on the coveralls stopped at her waist and I could see two bare breasts threatening to escape at any moment.

"What do you mean, I'm not taking care of my end?" I asked.

"Last night you slept in the bed with a healthy naked woman who obviously wants you pressed up against you. And you didn't do shit," she said.

"You said that we didn't have to do anything?" I said, reminding her.

"Well I was lying," she said. "Did you like sleeping in my bed last night?"

I nodded my head. I really had. It was like when Mabel and I were younger only better. There is truly nothing like having a warm body pressed against you while you sleep. Especially when that body moves and molds itself to yours, you just feel so...loved. I think that most people miss that more than sex when a marriage is over. For the past few years since Mabel became too fashionable for me I had missed that.

"Say something doofus," said Janet.

"Yes, I enjoyed it," I said. "I really felt special and just cared for."

"The word you're trying to avoid is loved," she snapped. "I felt the same way. The problem is that during the night while you were running your hands all over my body, it causes a reaction. I'm, as you can see..." she said, turning around and slapping her own behind. "A very..." she turned back to face me, "Healthy, young woman." She cupped her breasts as if she wanted me to come over and inspect them.

"So if you intend to keep sleeping with me, it's not free. It's going to cost you," she said.

"I'll write you a check," I stammered.

"No doofus, not money," she said. "I want some of this." She rubbed the front of my pants and then stepped back and smiled.

"Forget about it," she said. "You're almost ready to pop anyway. This probably won't be a problem."

She took my hand and we went over to the computer. She had several pictures of my car scanned into it. We looked at the car from a bunch of different angles and changed things on the car. We changed the wheels and tires. We changed the front grills. We put a rear blackout panel on it. We changed the entire braking system. We changed the color. Then we started to argue.

The question that started the argument was when she asked me if I wanted to move to a supercharger or try something strange like a turbo charger. American muscle cars rarely employed turbos. Even nitrous systems were more common. Finally we just decided to do the engine mods last. We discovered that we worked well together. We both fell in love with Chrome Helo Tease wheels at the same time. Janet wanted to go with 20 inchers. I reminded her that those wheels weren't lightweight, so the extra two inches of diameter would slow the car down.

We ordered the wheels with Hankook racing tires. Then we searched for and found cross drilled and slotted rotors and pure white brake calipers to match the color of the paint we'd chosen. We ordered Chrome billet upper and lower grills and were on our way. Then we went over to the car and started stripping it. After getting the wheels off we realized that we'd have to redo the suspension as well. We put in a total of four hours on the car and then Janet called a halt.

We went back to her house and she had me change clothes. The funniest thing about it was that though we both were supposed to sleep in Janet's room she'd had all of, or most of my clothes put in the closet in the guest room. Apparently women would share anything with a man except for a closet. We showered, together of course, to get rid of the oil and grime from the car then Janet headed for her room.

I quickly changed into a pair of casual slacks and a shirt. I was sitting on the bed in the room bounce testing it when Janet walked in. I was spellbound. First, that it had taken her only a few minutes to change. It normally took Mabel two hours to get ready to go to the grocery store. And secondly how she looked, Janet was beautiful. I mean I'd always known that she was pretty but I guess since she was fifteen years younger than Mabel, I'd always seen her as a kid.

But at nearly thirty years old, the kid had filled out. She had a nice sweeping ass that was really filling her jeans out nicely. It wasn't a fashion model's barely there booty. This was a full-fledged country girl's ass. Her waist nipped in to a frighteningly small diameter and then expanded again to fit those enticing breasts of hers. They seemed to have minds of their own the way they jiggle and moved under her shirt. Even with a bra restraining them there was enough movement to know that they were the real thing.

"Where are we going?" I asked her.

"To the movies," she said. "Don't worry we're not going to the drive in. But we need to get you out and back in the public eye so people can see that this thing with my stupid sister hasn't beaten you."

So we did. We went to see that new Nicholas Cage movie. Janet loved Nicholas Cage. When we came out of the theater we walked down the street and I couldn't help taking her hand as we talked about what we liked and didn't like about the film. That was another thing about her. I just never seemed to run out of things to talk about with Janet. Mabel and I rarely ever talked. I'd always bring up the business or things that were going on in town. She had no interest in them. She would bring up the newest clothes or places to go for our vacation, and I truly had no interest in those things. So I guess we'd just stopped talking after a while.

We had dinner in the diner, and laughed the whole time. Then we went home to sit on the porch and talk some more. Janet could be so open about things but at the same time there were some things that she just refused to take seriously. Like when I thanked her for spending so much time with me and helping me get over what Mabel had done to me, she just rolled her eyes and said, "Men."

She was also very unpredictable. While we were having our dinner in the restaurant a couple of people had come over to say how sorry they were for what had happened between Mabel and me. I was amazed at how much the people of the town cared. Any way with a couple of people the subject turned to how Janet and I were getting along and Janet got very antsy.

"Well, I should be the one to help him feel better. We're family," said Janet. "He ain't ready to date yet, Sally, so don't start pulling your giant ass panties off too soon."

The next morning when we got back to the house after our after breakfast run, Millie Tyler was waiting for us on Janet's porch.

"Good Morning, Janet," she said sharply. And then in a voice like maple syrup running slowly down the side of a tree in the early fall crooned, "Morning Dave."

Janet went into attack mode. "Millie Tyler it's way too early in the morning for polite people to come to visit anyone. Besides we don't have time for visitors, Dave has to do his morning exercises."

"He looks perfectly healthy to me," said Millie smiling at me. I just came by to tell him that I personally feel really bad about the way that damned Mabel treated him. And I wanted to invite him to come over to my place for supper and to help comfort him in his time of sorrow."

She looked at me and I noticed how big Millie's rack was for the first time and the fact that she obviously wasn't wearing a bra. "Dave you have to be careful when you pick the person to help you get over Mabel. I'm sure you don't want to be back in the same position in say fifteen years."

She was so subtle that I didn't get her point for a few seconds but Janet did and that was when it started. Janet went from the sweet and caring woman I'd always known into something completely different that morning. "Millie, get your ass off of my porch and don't ever come back to my house. If Dave decides to move back into the house he shares with Mabel you can visit him there, or he can visit you at your house if he wants to. But don't come over here ever again, if you know what's good for you."