Page 54 of Whatever Will Be

Liam Cassini doesn’t play by the rules. And there’s no low that’s beneath him.

When Liam’s car is out of sight I return to the house. The girls are sitting on stools at the breakfast bar and eating cookies.

“You don’t have any milk,” Caitlin complains. There’s pink icing on her cheek.

“Sorry.” I flip the lock on the front door. Today I’m calling about those security cameras. And while I’m at it, I’m going to talk Gretch into letting me arrange for some to be installed at her house.

“What’s that stuff?” Mara points to the mess of salami and cheese that Liam left on the counter.

“Garbage.” I scoop up the leftovers and toss them into a trash can. Anything he’s touched is contaminated.

Gretchen gently wipes Caitlin’s face with a napkin and Caitlin gets impatient, scrambling off the stool and looking through the curtainless windows lining the back wall.

“You have a big backyard,” Caitlin observes.

“Yup.” I don’t think I’ve stepped into the backyard since I moved back in but there haven’t been any changes since I was a kid.

There’s an elaborate stone fireplace, a built in grill and half a dozen box gardens. They are all empty but my mother used to fill them with pink and purple petunias every summer. My folks enjoyed sitting out there in a pair of cushioned chaise lounges, bottles of Cassini Beer in hand, while they enjoyed the sunset. There was a twenty year age gap between them but they never had any trouble finding things to talk about. They enjoyed each other’s company. They were happy.

Both girls are now pleading to go explore the backyard. There’s no pool out there, nothing that could harm them. Gretchen inspects them to make sure their jackets are still zipped to guard against the chilly air and gives out instructions to stay in sight and be careful.

The girls are fascinated with everything they see. They peer into the box gardens. They check out a stump where a weeping willow once stood.

Gretchen watches at the window. Her hair is in a single long ponytail and I sweep it aside to kiss her neck before sliding my arms around her waist from behind. She’s soft and warm and melts right into me with a sweet sigh.

I hold her closer. “Danny knows.”

She twists around to look at me. “What did he say?”

“That he’d beat the shit out of me if I fuck this up.”

She laughs and then tenses. “What was Liam doing here?”

“He just stopped by to remind me that he’s a prick.”

“You looked angry.”

“He’s not one of my favorite people.” I don’t want to talk about Liam anymore. I’m enjoying the feel of her body. So is my cock.

She knows it. She presses back and I grind my hips to let her know how much she turns me on. Gretchen breathes out a soft moan and I’m now having a tough time behaving. I wouldn’t be behaving at all if not for the fact that the twins are just outside.

“Will you stay the night?” she asks.

I glance hastily at the girls, who appear to have invented some kind of game that involves tossing dead leaves into the empty fireplace.

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yes.” She turns around and hooks her arms around my shoulders. “Their rooms are upstairs and they go to bed early.”

I stare at her lips while she talks. I’m making plans for how they can best be used. “Good.”

She smirks, aware that I’m in the middle of dirty thoughts and probably having a few of her own.

We’ll get to that later.

The girls run in to excitedly show off an object they insist is an acorn but is really a rock. We don’t correct them.

My head’s not in the mood to deal with business now so I fire off a handful of emails and blow off the rest in favor of spending the day with Gretch and the twins. Despite the chill, the girls beg to go look at the lake. The boardwalk and Mill Street aren’t crowded at all and it’s hard to believe the area will be teeming with visitors and summer people in a few short months. Some of the seasonal shops are closed but Mara becomes obsessed with the crystal figurines in one of the windows and luckily that store is open. She points to one in particular and says elephants were her mother’s favorite. I run in and quickly purchase a pair of the elephants.

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