So it was with relief that I hopped on the train back to Kingston and walked through the doors of my home. I walked around opening windows, grabbed something to drink from the fridge and then went out on the deck. I sat down in the chair and soaked in the view. It was good to be home.
I knew part of me should feel bad about being home with everything going on with dad, but he was insistent about me returning home.
“You’ll do no good rambling around here. We’ll get on each other’s nerves and, well, as hard as it is for me to say this, your mother won’t miss you,” he said, and I could tell it killed him to say it as much as it killed me to hear it.
“Dad,” I began, but he waved me off.
“Come out when you can. Bring Kit if you’re able. She lightens the place so much when she’s here. I swear even your mother responds better with her around,” he said. “But you have a life with her now. She needs you more than your mom does.”
“Ok dad,” I said. He was right, but I still felt terrible.
“When you first told me you were engaged to her, I thought maybe you rushed it a bit. She’s a lovely girl, but it had only been a year. But all those times she came out with you, well, she’s a special girl. You need to take good care of her.”
And so here I was, back home, waiting for my special girl. And her friends.
The time went quickly. I cleaned the house and got groceries. I worked out and took care of a few freelance things that I had let slide due to travel. I even did some work in Kitten’s room so the girls could sleep in there without having to kick her debris field around to find space.
Before I knew it, it was the long weekend. I offered to go into Kingston to get Gillian and Soo, but Meg said she could grab them from the train station along the way.
“We’ve got them. We’ll see you soon,” Kitten texted.
“The place is ready for the hordes,” I replied.
She replied with a picture of all of them in the car. They all looked happy, at least. Soo had dyed her hair again, this time with a pink streak. She also appeared to have her nose pierced. Ever since she moved to Montreal, she was eager to try everything, making up for lost time. At least Gillian looked unchanged, albeit happier.
The door banged open and Kitten called out, “Daddy! Where are you?” which signalled their arrival. She ran out onto the deck, her short green sundress distracting me with all the leg it was showing. Before I could respond she pounced on me as I was trying to get up from my chair. I had the air knocked out of me, but still managed to laugh.
“I’m guessing you missed me, Kitten?” I asked. She nodded into my shoulder.
“Come on, working on a TV show, making clothes for famous actors, sounds like a good gig,” I said. “It should make up for me not being around.”
She leaned back and looked at me like I was nuts. It always gives me a jolt when I see her after any kind of absence. Those huge green eyes, the red hair already getting a little more strawberry in the summer sun, and her smile. It was insane that someone this beautiful could love me, but the universe is deeply weird.
“They’re not that famous, Daddy. It’s a CW show,” she said.
I roared laughing, which made her giggle and squirm on my lap. She could also feel my cock getting hard, and she gave me a hungry look. Under other circumstances, this would be the prelude to her sundress vanishing. However, that was the moment when Meg, Soo, and Gillian came out onto the deck.
I sighed. They were here for less than five minutes and they were already cockblocking me.
Kitten got off my lap and I stood up. I took a second to adjust myself. Meg just nodded. Gillian gave me one of her slightly awkward handshakes because that’s who she was. She liked me, but that was affectionate as she got with men. Soo, on the other hand, gave me a big hug.
“Thanks for letting us come for the weekend, Ben,” she said. “We needed a weekend away from Montreal. Someone was getting cranky.”
“That’s her natural, charming state of being,” Kitten replied.
“Standing right here,” Gillian shot back. The three of them bantered while I walked over to Meg. We walked into the house. I suspected she needed some coffee and possibly something stronger.
“Still think this was a good idea?” I asked.
She shrugged her shoulders.
“I think so. People are good to have around, or so I’ve been told,” she said. Knowing she was coming I made an extra-large pot of coffee. She poured a cup, took a sip of her coffee and then made a quiet moan of pleasure.
“You live in Toronto. It is possible to buy good coffee there rather than the crap you drink at the office,” I said.
“I know, I know. But stealing your expensive coffee gives it extra flavor.”
I shook my head and poured my cup. We were leaving unspoken why she was even here today. When they talked about coming up for a visit, I assumed she would drive up late Friday evening after work. Yet, here it was just after lunch and she was standing in my kitchen drinking coffee. It meant she blew another day off work.
The girls came into the kitchen with Kitten telling them to fend for themselves. They looked a little sheepish about it, but there was no way they were coming here and buying their groceries. Soo and Gillian did bring their own alcohol. My relationship with alcohol was still complicated years after that drunk killed Beth. It made no logical sense, but I still hated buying it, and I certainly wasn’t going to be drinking any. But as long as they didn’t make a nuisance of themselves, having something to drink was ok.