I was embarrassed to admit it was true. I’d probably put on 10 pounds in the last few months, and my pants were getting tight.
Debbie chuckled. “I like a solid man. Skinny boys don’t do it for me.”
“I think Beth’s right,” I admitted. “Maybe I’ll start skipping lunch and see if I can’t fit a workout in, instead.”
Debbie blushed and left it alone.
Beth wouldn’t. “If you’d roll out of bed, sleepyhead, you could always join me for a little swim.”
I laughed out loud at that one. “I don’t think your two hour workouts would qualify as a little swim.”
“You wouldn’t have to stay the whole time. You could even join me for just the end. We could play a game. Catch me and you can have me.” She was certainly in a teasing mood.
“Like I could catch you in the water.”
“I can pretty much guarantee you could. Even dog-paddling.”
“I don’t think the other swimmers would appreciate our antics,” I reminded her.
“The showers have curtains,” she said grinning evilly.
“You are so bad,” I told her. “No, I think you’re right. I should start running again. That’s a little more up my alley.”
“Spoilsport.”
Amie cut in. “I run. We could play your game.”
I almost spit out my drink, “God, you two are so bad!”
“I’ll be up tomorrow, running around 6:00, if you feel up to it,” she told me.
“I’ll think about it,” I told her. Six AM? That was awfully early.
She must have been reading my mind. “Of course, once we open here and I don’t have to go to the other place, I can run a little later. Maybe sevenish. We’ll see how it goes.”
“I might just take you up on that,” I told her.
“Think you can catch me?” she teased. “If so, we might have to start a little earlier.” The big grin plastered across her face had me going. I couldn’t believe she was saying that, with her father sitting at the table with us.
“Just the run, wild thing.”
“That’s Ok too.”
—
After dinner we relaxed a bit, hanging out and talking about a lot of nothing. It was nice. There wasn’t as much sexual tension as I thought there might have been, and even though Robin was sticking close to Ron, she wasn’t climbing in his lap.
Amie excused herself early, it was barely 9 pm. “I want to put away a few things, and get settled in,” she explained, giving Ron and me kisses. She stopped in front of Debbie, and gave her a kiss as well. “Thanks for letting me in your home, Debbie. I know it’s not the ideal situation but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.” Another soft kiss and a hug for my love, and she jogged up the stairs. So much energy.
We hung out for a while longer, finishing the last of the wine and enjoying each other’s company. At last the conversation died down and Robin stood, taking Ron by the hand. “Can you stay long?” she asked, guiding him to the stairs.
“As long as you want,” he told her, his voice cracking with desire.
She giggled. “Debbie, I think we’ll have one more for breakfast. I hope you don’t mind.”
Debbie nodded. “Never a problem. Have fun you guys.”
And that left the three of us. We locked up and retreated to the bedroom, where Debbie took her evening bath, and Beth spent a few minutes rearranging some of her things that had migrated downstairs.
“I had almost forgotten how much stuff I still had up there,” she confessed.
Our new platform bed had more than one surprise to it. The side facing the bathroom had two sets of stacked drawers, the equivalent of a whole new chest, and Beth had laid claim to three of them, storing her belongings from upstairs there. Our closet was large, but it was already full from the three of us. We had a tall chest of drawers, and a longer, lower one with a large mirror above it. Even with all that storage, it was tight. The room was large, but we wanted to keep the space open on the far side for the slide out bed to come out, and for the chairs under the bay window.
I was looking around trying to figure out how we could fit some more storage in. I must have had Beth worried.
“It’s not a problem. Really. I just need to get rid of some of this old stuff. We have plenty of room.” She was cramming some sweaters into the back of one of the bed drawers, stuffing it full.
“Of course it’s not a problem. I was just thinking that I bet the space under the bay window could fit a built in, with cushions on top and storage for our sheets underneath. It would open up a shelf.”
“But where would the chairs go?” she asked.
“I don’t think we need them,” I told her.
She ran over to the heavy duty wicker chair which had played a role in much of our play of late. “You love this chair. I love this chair,” she said, sitting back in it, and raising her knees, exposing her little pink panties.
I did love that chair. “Ok, we keep that one, leave it in the corner and get rid of the other one. It’s seen better days anyway.”
The mismatched chairs were a bit of an eyesore.
Debbie spoke up from the bathroom door. “I can re-stain the fun chair and recover the cushions. It’ll look nice.”
Beth still looked distraught. “I know I have too much stuff. I’ll go through it this weekend.”
I went to my worried little girl and took her in my arms. “It’s not a problem. Trust me.”
She hugged me tight, then pulled away. “Who wants a water?”
We all enjoyed having a bottle of water by the bed. Frugal Debbie would reuse a bottle several times before discarding it, insisting that the filtered tap water was just as good as the bottled. At under $4. 00 a case, it didn’t seem worth the bother, but we did go through a lot of water in that house.
Beth returned with more than just water. “Look who I found wandering around.”
Amie was with her, dressed in a delightful little teddy. “I didn’t want to bother anyone. I was just checking to see if anybody was still up. From the noise upstairs I guess Dad didn’t go straight home.”
Beth laughed. “Nope. Robin’s entertaining him for the evening. I think he’s in for the night.”
Amie was still hesitating at our doorway. “Well, I’ll just say goodnight then.”
Beth was tugging at her arm. “Come visit for a bit. Tell us how your date went.”
Amie resisted, still watching for Debbie’s approval.
Debbie patted the bed at her side, “It’s early, c’mon.”