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Loving Lisa, Chapter 10

  • Posted on March 24, 2017 at 6:43 pm

By JetBoy

The doorbell chimed. 3:32 in the afternoon.

Now who on earth could that be…? I wondered, peering up from the kitchen counter in irritation.

I’d broken this exquisite piece of costume jewelry — a glass brooch of a tropical fish I’d found years ago in a secondhand store — and was about to put the three fragments back together with Krazy Glue. Not a good time to be interrupted.

Nessa was upstairs, music turned up loud… no sense in calling her down to answer the door. Leaving my work on a paper towel, I made my way to the foyer, prepared to rebuff unwanted visitors. The Jehovah’s Witnesses had been working our neighborhood, I’d been told.

Half expecting to find a smiling matron bearing copies of The Watchtower, I opened the door to discover a far more welcome guest on the top step — Lisa!

A leap across the threshold, and she was in my arms. Dazed and delighted, I spun the two of us around and around, her legs wrapped around me. Somehow, on one of our revolutions, I managed to shut the door with a nudge of the foot.

The sweet scent of her hair tickled my nose. “Mmmmmmm… oh, Lisa, I’ve missed you!”

Holding me tightly, her face buried in my neck, she whispered, “I missed you too, Ms. Johnson.”

I clucked my tongue. “It’s Roxanne, Lisa. Remember?”

She frowned, wrinkling her nose. “Y’know… I don’t really like callin’ you that. Can I still say ‘Ms. Johnson?’ It’s what I always say in my head when I think about you. That’s okay, huh?”

I had to laugh. “Of course, angel. Whatever makes you happy.” I paused to kiss the tip of that nose. “When did you get back?”

“Just,” Lisa murmured against my chin, making me throb down below. Then she raised her head, her big green eyes peering into mine. “Let’s… play!”

A whoop of delight from the top of the stairs, then… “LISA!” My daughter’s feet came thundering down to where we stood.

“NESSA!” shrieked my bundle of joy, nearly deafening me in one ear. “Sorry,” she added when I grimaced.

Vanessa darted behind her friend and hugged her tightly, making a yummy Lisa sandwich between the two of us. Suddenly she grinned and hunkered down. I couldn’t see — what was Nessa doing?

“Hey, what’re you — Owww!” Lisa twisted around to glare at my daughter. “You bit me!”

And there Vanessa was, grinning behind Lisa. “Gotcha ba-ack!”

Lisa rolled her eyes heavenward. “God, are you still freakin’ out about that? Anyhow, you already got me back, ‘member?” Lisa reached around to explore her backside as I set her down. “Jeez Louise… right on my butthole, too.”

Now, that gave me a very interesting idea. “Oh, dear,” I said, trying to look concerned. “How about we go up to my bedroom and… examine the damage? Make sure everything’s okay.”

The girls actually jumped up and down, blurting exclamations like “Yeah!” “Whoo!” and “Cool!” Then up the stairs they flew as if they’d been launched from twin cannons. Me, I took up the rear, ascending at a much more ladylike pace.

When I entered my room, Lisa and Nessa were bouncing excitedly on my bed, huge grins on their faces. I used to chide my daughter when she used my mattress as a trampoline, but right then, I felt giddy enough to jump right along with them. Instead, I stepped out of my shoes.

“Hey, no room for me?” I laughingly protested, unbuttoning my pants.

The bouncing came to a standstill as the girls watched me starting to undress. Then with a gleeful squeal, my Nessa began to shimmy out of her top.

I stepped out of my jeans and panties, then tugged off the old flannel shirt I liked to wear around the house. Vanessa wasn’t wearing much to start with, so she got naked right away — but why was Lisa just watching us undress?

Taking notice of her still-clothed friend, Nessa frowned. “What’cha just standin’ there for? C’mon, girl, get naked!” She giggled. “We gotta ex-amine your butthole!”

Lisa gave us a bashful smile. “I wanna do a show for you guys, where I take off all my clothes and dance sexy!” She blushed a bit. “Um… it’s just an idea I had…”

“You mean a striptease?” I said, shrugging out of my bra. Now I was nude, too.

She nodded gratefully, stepping down from the bed. “Yeah! That.”

“Cool!” exclaimed Vanessa approvingly. She seated herself at the foot of the bed, gazing expectantly at her friend. “Okay — show us what’cha got, honeybuns!”

Lisa smirked at my daughter. “Doofus.”

“Want some music?” I asked, padding over to my dresser, where I kept a boombox.

“Yeah,” said Lisa. “Somethin’ hot!”

“Leave it to me.” Rifling through the stack of CDs, I took out my James Brown best-of disc and slipped it in the player, pausing it at the start of the track I wanted. “Here, do it in front of the mirror.”

Lisa cheerfully padded over to the spot I indicated. “Okay,” she nodded, limbering up her arms and legs.

“And heeeeere we go…” I placed my finger on the PLAY button, then pushed it.

A tough funk groove kicked off the song, driven along by a choppy guitar lick and punctuated by horns. Lisa listened, moving very slightly, letting her body find the beat before she began to move. She was good, too — maybe not Soul Train material, but bold and enthusiastic, unconcerned about looking silly.

“Whoo!” cheered Vanessa. “You go, girl!”

James Brown’s voice elbowed its way in, tightly backed by another voice in a tough call-and-response:

Know we need it — SOUL POWER!
We got to have it — SOUL POWER!
Know we want it — SOUL POWER!
Huh! Got-ta have it — SOUL POWER!

Great merciful heavens, what a sight she was. Believe me, Lisa’s promise to “dance sexy,” had not been made idly. She was strutting her stuff with a vengeance, working that cute little butt.

She kicked off her sandals — firing one to the left, the other to the right — then got back into her dance.

I want to get under your skin
If I get there, I got to win
You need some soul, c’mon and get some
And then you’ll know, where I’m comin’ from

Now and then, her eyes met mine — and each time it sent a surge of white-hot lust through my very core. A glance at my daughter made it clear that Lisa’s movements were affecting her in the same way. Nessa was staring slack-mouthed at her friend, occasionally moistening her lips. I noticed that her nipples were visibly erect.

I couldn’t look away from Lisa for more than an instant, though, not while she continued to move. James Brown continued to narrate the action:

I may lay in the cut and go along
I’m still on the case, and my rap is strong
Go jump on my train, when I’m outta sight
Just check yourself, huh! and say, yeah you’re right

Lisa’s elbows swung forward and back in time as she began to unfasten the buttons of the pale orange shirt she wore. One at a time, she undid them, then slowly slid the shirt down to expose her shoulders, carefully giving us quick glimpses of her bare chest.

Suddenly Lisa all but tore the top off, like a magician sweeping away his cape. Now nude from the waist up, she threw herself back into the dance.

Lisa barely had anything in the way of breasts, but they still managed to jiggle ever so slightly. And her nipples were definitely stiff, all but begging to be sucked.

Love me tender, and love me slow
If that don’t get it, jump back for more
Love me tender, love me slow
If that don’t get it, jump back for more

Reaching down to the front of her cut-off denim shorts, she popped the top button open with the flick of a thumb, then tugged the zipper down far enough to us to see the color of her panties — buttery yellow.

Spinning around to face the mirror, her bottom thrust toward Nessa and me, Lisa shifted her hips from side to side as she shimmied out of the tight shorts, working them down to her ankles. Those yellow underpants were so tautly stretched across her bottom that I could see nearly everything she had through them.

She stepped out of her cut-offs with her right foot, then cast them aside with a flick of the left. Now down to panties, Lisa’s movements grew more explicitly sexual. This was a dance of seduction, and all three of us knew it.

We gotta get in the bracket
You know I like it!

To my left, I heard Nessa gasp. I turned to look, gasping myself when I saw my daughter lying back, legs spread wide, masturbating at the sight of her dancing friend. Hmmm… now there’s a good idea.

Back to Lisa. She was staring lustfully at Vanessa, touching her body all over, still moving in time to the Godfather’s funky beat. Then her eyes burned into mine, and it felt like someone had set off a flare in my cunt, starting a blaze that simply had to be dealt with.

Slipping a hand between my thighs, I curled two fingers inside myself, thrusting them hard and deep.

Don’t fall on the ground!
You got to get down, down, down, down, down
Don’t fall on the ground!
You got to get down, down, down, down, down

Lisa was sliding out of her panties, turning around as she did, giving us the full-on view of her nakedness. Then she was completely bare, those butter-hued underpants clutched in one hand. She tossed them to me, and I immediately pressed them to my face, breathing deeply, drinking in the heady aroma of my underage lover.

I passed them over to Nessa — and she plastered the sodden material to her nose and mouth, purring with pleasure as she sampled Lisa’s scent.

Huh! Good God!
I’ve gotta ask you, what we NEED! — SOUL POWER!
What we want — SOUL POWER!
Got to HAVE! — SOUL POWER!

Excited as I already was, I nearly swooned when Lisa presented her bottom, hips still churning to the hard beat. She dipped down to peer at us between spread legs, pulling her buttocks apart to display her holes to us. Her slit was glistening with wetness. Oh, God, I wanted to throw myself on my knees behind the child and bury my face in her rosy flesh.

Seconds later, Lisa was up and dancing again. Damn it, she was driving me crazy!

But before I knew it, the song was fading. Lisa’s motions slowed, then halted.

She took a deep bow while her dazed audience cheered and clapped — with very moist fingers, needless to say. Then she jumped in between my daughter and me on the bed, exhaling noisily as she lay back.

“Wow,” said Vanessa, “that was… wicked good!”

The little imp was grinning hugely, feeling quite proud of herself. “Ya think so?”

“Oh, yes,” I said. “That might have been the single sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Cooooool,” Lisa sighed, gazing at me, then Vanessa. “So… what do we do now?”

“Well, I don’t know about you young ladies,” I murmured, “but I’m in the mood for some kissing.”

“Yeah!” Lisa cheered, and Nessa eagerly nodded her assent.

“Me first,” I announced, then drew close to Lisa. “Here’s your reward for that wonderful dance,” and I took her mouth in a tender kiss that grew hot and hungry in something like two seconds. We swapped tongues for a long, delicious while, then I turned to Vanessa. “And this is your reward for being the best daughter in the whole world.” I kissed my child with every ounce of passion I had in me, feasting on her sweet mouth, finally breaking away. “And now, I want to see you two kiss!”

Eyes shining, Lisa reached up to touch my daughter’s face. “I love you, Nessa,” she whispered.

“Aw… I love you, Lisa,” Vanessa responded, and the girls came together in a ardent embrace, their mouths crushed together, tongues flashing to and fro. Then they turned back to me, both smiling.

We shared kisses and caresses for a long while, taking our time, keeping the lovemaking going at a slow, languid pace, allowing the sexual fire to mount gradually — until we seemed to move, all three of us, to the tempo of a single racing pulse. Never before had I been so perfectly in tune with a lover.

Eventually, of course, our need for release grew too intense to bear, so we made each other come with our fingers. I masturbated my daughter while Nessa rubbed Lisa, who tweaked my clit until I saw stars.

Afterwards, we lay together in a tangle of heated flesh, occasionally exchanging deep French kisses — at least until Lisa raised her head, looking from me to Nessa. “We’re not done yet, are we?” she demanded.

I nearly rolled my eyes. Kids. Don’t they ever get enough of a good thing? Then I felt my daughter’s fingers lightly teasing my slit, and thought, Hmmm… guess I’m not quite done yet.

“Mom…?” said Vanessa, her head resting on my shoulder.

“What, hon?”

“Can you, um, put on the thing now? Pleeease?”

Lisa furrowed her brow. “The thing?”

I looked at Vanessa, arching an eyebrow. “The thing…?”

Vanessa blushed. “You know…”

I just looked at her blankly, wanting her to say the word.

Lisa looked from Vanessa to me and back, frowning. “What are you guys talkin’ about?!”

Vanessa, her cheeks flushed pink, mumbled, “The… the cock,” then put both hands over her face. Which caused her to poke Lisa with an extremely pointy elbow.

Lisa’s scowl deepened. “Hey, watch your arms, dingus!” Then to me, still puzzled, “The cock?”

“I think there’s an echo in here,” I chuckled, tousling her hair. “Hold on, Lisa — I’ll show you.” Getting to my feet, pausing for a moment for the wooziness to disperse, I padded into the closet, plucking my sex toy from a nearby shelf, still fitted with the smallest attachment. I figured it would be at least a year or two before either of the girls would be ready for the eight-incher.

As I strapped the latex prick on and fastened it about my waist, the room was eerily silent. No giggles or whispers, no creaking from the bed. I gave my borrowed appendage a tug to make certain it was secure, then emerged.

Lisa’s eyes grew wide as she saw the toy jutting from my groin. “Holy cow!” she gasped, cupping her face in both hands like a cartoon character.

Vanessa smiled gleefully, amused by her friend’s astonishment. “It’s kinda like a real man’s thing… right, Mom? Works the exact same way!”

I nodded. “More or less.”

Lisa gaped at Vanessa. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You mean — you already used it?”

Shyly nibbling her lower lip, Vanessa murmured, “Well, yeah.” She was blushing again.

“Oh, yes, Vanessa took the whole thing inside her…” I winked at my little girl, and she giggled, suddenly unable to meet my gaze.

Lisa’s mouth was open. “You really… really did it…” She looked down at Nessa’s pussy — which, I noticed, still showed a slightly irritated pinkness around the edges of her slit.

Her face alight with wonder, Lisa reached out, extending a finger to lightly touch my daughter’s sex. “Wow,” she breathed, then looked up at Vanessa. “So, how did you…?”

“Mom, put some, um, slippery stuff on it first, to help it go inside… and she went really slow, so it wouldn’t hurt a lot.”

Did it hurt?” Lisa asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Just a little,” Nessa replied. “But it felt really great, too!” She took Lisa’s hand, gave it a squeeze. “I asked her to, Lise. It was important to me. I wanted Mom to be the one to do it.”

Lisa slowly lit up like a Christmas tree, a gleam of excitement appearing in her eyes. “Me too!” Turning to me, she clasped her hands together in supplication, begging, “I want you to be the one to… do that to me!” She jumped up from the bed and raced over to where I stood, clutching at my arm. “Please, Ms. Johnson?” She nuzzled her face into my breasts. “Pretty please?”

I glanced at Nessa, who smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Fuck her, Mom!”

Enveloping Lisa in my arms, I whispered into her hair, “Okay, sweetie.”

She hugged me hard, blurted, “Thank you!” then broke away. “But first, I wanna watch you guys doin’ it. So I get to see, y’know, what it’s like. Okay?”

Nessa grinned. “Oh, I’m good with that!” She immediately lay down on the bed and raised her legs up and out. Grabbing her ankles, she spread herself, opening her sweet cunt for me. “C’mon, Mom — I’m so ready!”

My brave little soldier. I reached for the lubricant, still resting on the nightstand where I’d left it, then knelt on the bed before Nessa, pausing to admire the loveliness of her bare slit… pink, glistening with wetness and ready to be loved.

I smeared a dollop of Astroglide on the end of the shaft, then leaned in to transfer a dab of the slippery stuff onto Nessa’s waiting slit. She spread her legs even wider, if that was possible.

Climbing onto the bed, Lisa approached me from behind and pressed herself against my back, resting her chin on my shoulder to get a good view of the proceedings. I felt her swollen nipples brushing against my skin as she nuzzled my neck.

It was arousing, but something of a distraction. “That feels good, Lisa… but you’ve got to move back just a little. I need room to do this.”

“Oops. Sorry ‘bout that.”

As Lisa dutifully stationed herself a bit further away, I glanced back at her, a knowing smile on my lips. “You want to see it… going in, huh?”

Her eyes were dancing. “Yeah,” she sighed happily.

“Sit right here, Lisa!” Vanessa said, patting the bed next to her. “You can watch Mom put her thing in… and while she fucks me, we can make out!”

“Great idea,” Lisa giggles as she parks her cute little bottom at Nessa’s side. She bends down, peering between my daughter’s spread thighs. “Wow, Nessa, I can see all of you!”

“Mmmmm, yeah, I guess so.” Nessa’s eyes widened as I gently stroked her opening with the tip of the dildo, occasionally brushing her clit.

“You ready, hon?”

Nessa nodded. “Fuck me now, Mom.”

I moved slowly, carefully, watching the head slip about two inches deep into my daughter’s pussy.

“Ow. Ow. Ooohh… ouch!” winced Vanessa. Lisa winced right along with her.

I halted myself. “You sure you want to do this, hon?”

“Yeah, I… do, I want to. Just… I’m still kinda sore.”

“Okay. I’ll stay still for right now. You tell me when you’re ready.”

Lisa took my daughter’s hand, pressed it to her lips, then cradled it in her lap. “You look so pretty like that, Nessa.”

Vanessa gave her friend a shaky smile. “Thanks.” Drawing in, then releasing a deep breath, she looked up at me. “Okay, you c-can go in a little more now.”

I eased the cock a bit deeper, a quarter-inch at a time.

“Oooh… oh, oh, geez, Mom!”

Pausing again, “Does it still hurt?”

“A little… but, but not that much… oh, man, I’m feelin’ so full.” She lifted her hips a bit, taking me in even more. “Mmmm yeah! It’s gettin’ better, Mom, just like last time.”

“Good job, sweetie.” By then, the shaft was almost completely inside my precious child.

“Ohhhh, yeah, that’s it, oh yeah…!”

Lisa stared at my daughter in awe. “You’re really doin’ it, Nessa! You really are!”

My daughter turned to her friend, tugging at her arm. “Kiss me, Lisa…”

And Lisa fell into Vanessa’s embrace — their mouths meeting, tongues emerging to dance. Lisa’s hand was on my little girl’s chest, gliding over her nipples.

Now I was fucking her for real — pulling out, pushing back, my movements smooth and steady. Nessa was humming as she and Lisa kissed, a tuneless moan to accompany her rising pleasure.

Vanessa broke away from Lisa to whisper something in her ear — and Lisa peered up at me, a positively devilish expression on her face. She got to her feet, then disappeared. What is that girl up to now?

Then I felt her behind me — her hands, her breath, then her soft lips caressing my ass.

Down below, my daughter was speedily approaching meltdown. She clutched at fistfuls of the blanket, her head twisting from side to side, eyes squeezed tightly shut. At one point, Nessa reached down to touch the slippery latex cock, perhaps marveling at how wonderful it made her feel. All the while, she exhorted me on. “Ohhhhh Mom, s-so good, mmm yes, ohhh, don’t stop, keep fuckin’ me, oooooohhh yeah, f-feels so… so…”

Lisa was feasting on my backside. I felt her lips, her tongue, her eager mouth on my bottom, my anus, my cunt. She licked me, adorned me with kisses and nibbled my clit as Nessa writhed beneath me, lost in her mounting rapture.

I wanted to lie skin to skin with my little girl, so I carefully lowered myself onto her. She seized me in her arms, hugging me tightly, burying her face in my shoulder, her voice reduced to ragged whimpers and the occasional gasp of, “Ohhhhh, Mom!”

I continued to fuck her — in the meantime, Lisa was probing my vagina with what felt like all four fingers. I longed for her to get her thumb into the act and work her entire hand inside me, but my hips were probably moving too briskly for that.

Suddenly my daughter threw her head back against the pillow, a joyful cry of ecstasy breaking free as she began to come. Her nails bit painfully into my back — but I kept going, carrying Vanessa through the crazy carnival ride of her orgasm, her cries and moans music to my soul.

Seconds later, Lisa’s fingers touched something inside me, and I froze in mid-stroke as my own climax hit like a thunderclap. I was rocked to my foundation, quivering all over and trying not to jerk around while still inside Nessa.

Finally, we both lay spent, my sweaty frame atop hers. Somehow I managed to heave myself up and draw my slippery cock out of her body, sitting back on my heels in a post-orgasmic daze.

Kneeling once more beside her friend, Lisa shook her head, open-mouthed. “Nessa, gosh… that was so awesome!” she breathed. She tenderly brushed Nessa’s damp bangs to one side. “You are like… I can’t believe it. You’re like… a woman, and everything!”

Smiling weakly, Nessa patted Lisa’s hand, then gazed up at me. “Love you, Mom,” she mumbled. Her legs lay open, her pussy oozing warm honey into the sheets.

I murmured, “I love you too, angel,” and laid down next to her. Nessa turned her face to mine, and our lips met in a tender kiss.

Continue on to Chapter 11

 

A Young Desert Rose, Chapter 6

  • Posted on March 24, 2017 at 9:55 am

By Sunnybunny

Six AM sharp found Heather groggy and irritable despite having retired at an early hour the evening before. She had masturbated herself into a stupor, until she was a sweaty mess mewling on the disheveled bed spread like a bitch in heat. Each new climax becoming more intense than the last, as if the force peeled away a new layer of pent up frustration until she was totally exposed to the pleasure like a raw nerve.

She had begun sitting on the edge of the mattress, pants and underwear drawn down to her knees while she massaged the vibrator into her under-stimulated flesh, thinking the urge more a bothersome nuisance and masturbation simply a means to an end. Scratching an itch, she reasoned once she began. How long had it been since she had taken a lover? How long had it been since she enjoyed it? The questions were distracting, hindering the irritatingly slow-to-build orgasm so she set them aside, trying to focus her mind and coaxed out fresh images of Angie into her imagination without realizing what she was doing. Her mind simply drifted there, as if carried there on a summer breeze, and settled down happily into place on her brain, refusing to budge.

She pictured Angie as she was in the car beside her, wearing the flimsy dress only now she was lifting it up by the ends, daintily with two fingers each, to show off the fact she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. From behind the curtain of fabric, she wore her all too familiar knowing grin that was rapidly becoming her trademark look.

The first orgasm sent her reeling back on the bed, turtling up her limbs and holding herself while she moaned in the throes of beautiful agony.

But the images of Angie refused to abandon her and grew more intense, lewder in nature. Soon, she was stark naked beside Heather as they roared down the freeway, one leg cocked on the dash and both hands spreading her hairless labia apart while she cheekily sang, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of an Angie-pop?”

Heather rolled onto her belly, hiking up her shirt and bra and grasped desperately at her chest. It must have looked a pathetic sight, she recounted. A grown woman, bare ass in the air, thighs apart and massaging the buzzing contraption against her swollen clit, anxious to cum again.

A nice game, she thought as Heather wiggled out of the rest of her clothes. A challenge by Angie to see how mercilessly she could tease while she has to keep both hands on the wheel until she can’t take it any longer and pulls over against the side of the road and attacks the young girl’s body.

Another incredible orgasm dissolved her into a quivering mess but the fire between her legs would not be sated. Worse, the stimulation seemed to be stoking the flames until it threatened to consume her!

She growled in frustration and pressed her forehead into the cool sheets, realizing all at once just how sweaty she had become. Heather used the comforter to wipe at the sodden flesh of her vagina and pressed the vibrator to her clit again, coming almost at once while the fourth and fifth (sixth?) times were longer in length.

By morning, she stank of sweat and sex and decided a shower would be the best option before daring to go near anyone with a keen nose. She couldn’t bear the thought of catching someone’s eye on the first day of her new job and finding a wide smile there, perhaps followed by a knowing wink from some old farm hand. Gag!

She lathered up with the room’s complimentary soap and shampoo and emerged later wrapped in two terrycloth towels smelling of fresh lemons.

“Great,” she intoned to the empty room. “I smell like a dining room floor…”

She dressed rather casually for her first day. Based on Mama Maven’s garb, Heather doubted there was a code of business casual and opted for a pair of dark blue jeans, her best pair of sneakers and a black t-shirt featuring the logo of a band long since broken up from the 1980’s. It felt appropriate, since everything else in the town seemed stuck in the past. When in Rome…

From her toiletry bag, she smeared a bit of gel through her hair after brushing it out and blew it dry. At the last moment, she opted to tuck the shirt in, a last ditch act of formality before spritzing on body mist and heading for the door.

It was still dark outside and the street lights (the ones still working, anyway) cast ghoulish images along the barren road. The wind was stronger than it had been in the afternoon, lashing the road with whips made of coarse sand. A glass bottle clattered noisily through the parking lot before coming to an abrupt rest at the foot of a fresh dune.

It was strangely serene, certainly a dramatic shift from the hustle and bustle of the life she had left behind. Despite the hour, there was no chance some lowlife would leap out of one of the dark corners with a gun, demanding money or something more unpleasant. There were no vagabonds lining the road with cardboard signs decrying their plight. No piles of garbage bags spilling out from the bins. There was a rustic charm to Oasis that just would not be denied.

The diner loomed ahead, light fanning from every window like a lighthouse on the coast, a great beacon in the still night air. Heather stole a glance in the direction of the garage just across the way, barely able to spy the outline of the building in the gloom. No surprise since based on what Angie had shared so far about her father, she would be greatly surprised if he were a morning person.

Mama Maven emerged from the kitchens at the sound of the door chime. “Bless your heart!” She cooed, wiping her wrinkled old hands down the front of her withered apron. “Right on time!” The old woman came forward and took Heather’s hands in hers, beaming in delight. “This way, follow me and I’ll give you a basic idea of what you’ll be doing today! Quickly, now! The first few customers are probably on their way right now!”

The tour did not take long. Even with the hurried nature of the grand excursion, there was little to see. The cooking equipment consisted of massive beasts of metal and rivets, looking more like World War II fighting machines than kitchen appliances. The pots and pans, too, seemed as if they had been plucked free from a time capsule and hung on delicate iron hooks over the massive stove.

“You needn’t worry about too much of this here though!” Maven explained, directing her attention to an open window between the kitchen and dining area. “Orders come in and orders go out.” She slapped her hand against the polished wood. “You just worry about seein’ they get where they need to go. Under the register there,” she pointed through the window into the other room and Heather had to stand on tiptoe in order to see where she was pointing. “Got a spare apron for ya and there yonder is a pen and pad. You set ’em up and I’ll knock it out as the young people like to say!”

Did they really say that? She doubted it but Maven’s enthusiasm was proving infectious and she found herself grinning.

“You got it, chief!” She saluted with two fingers like a good scout.

Mama Maven beamed right back and made a shooing motion with a flick of her wrist. “Go on now, get ready! We got our first customers comin’ in now!”

Her premonition proved eerily true as not a moment later, just as Heather was about to ask how she knew, the sound of car tires crunching along gravel echoed in from the front of the store.

Heather hurried to the counter and snatched up the white apron and tied it around her middle, looping a tight bow just below her navel.

“Show time!” Mama Maven cried out from the back of the house.

The ‘breakfast rush’ turned out to be a handful of ranch hands and landowners, showing up in gigantic-tired pickup trucks and bounding back dozens of cups of coffee and plates of pancakes before heading out to the fields. They were loading up on a few thousand calories before toiling the day away in the Arizona heat. To say Heather’s presence caused a bit of stir would have been an understatement. The crowd of cowboy hats and boots halted in the doorway, mouths agape as she offered to show them a seat in the smoking section. (A bad joke since the entire restaurant was a smoking area, somehow abstaining from more progressive ideas of public health.) Then, as they continued to stare as if she had sprouted a second head, one by one they removed their hats and held them over their hearts.

They took seats quietly, like a pack of freshly scolded school boys, stealing glances over at Heather while she busily took orders and filled coffee mugs. It was eerily quiet, too quiet, she thought. So silent they were that she could hear Maven banging around with pans in the back in preparation and got the distinct feeling that this was a rarity. She saw these men as a rowdier bunch, all loud gas and tasteless jokes about minorities.

At last, one of them spoke up…well sort of. He was middle-aged and sporting a thin, waxy mustache, raising his hand, again like a nervous child, unsure if he really knew the answer to the question on the blackboard. “Excuse me but,” he said, “but… who are you?”

That unleashed an eruption of questions, each louder than the last as they struggled to be heard.

“Are you a friend of Mama’s?”

“What’s your name?”

“Do you live around here?”

“Are you new in town?”

“When did you get to Oasis?”

“Where did you-?”

“What about-?”

Heather backed away dumbstruck, overwhelmed and a little intimidated. These guys were acting as if they hadn’t been in the presence of a woman their entire lives! “Boys, boys, boys!” she shouted until they settled down. “My name is Heather! I’ll be your waitress today! I’m very new in town, no I’m not an old friend of Mama Maven, I’m–!”

She was interrupted by another eruption of questions before she could finish answering the first. It became such a racket that after a time, Mama shuffled out of the back, hands pressed to her hips, asking what all the commotion was.

“You boys ought to be ashamed of yourselves,” Maven scolded, giving each of them a hard stare that they of course averted. “Heather is my newest employee, newest member of our fine community, and you all need to behave! Sakes alive, not a single manner among the bunch of you!” An awkward pause followed, the men shuffling nervously in their seats until Mama Maven gave the room a satisfied nod and shuffled back to the kitchen.

She touched Heather on the arm before departing, “They’re all yours now. Any one of them gets out of line, give ‘em a hard punch in the You-Know-What!” Before Heather could say anything in reply, Mama winked and hurried off.

“You’re going to be the talk of the town for a spell,” Maven later warned her, jovially. They stood out on the back patio of the restaurant, facing away from Oasis and the miles and miles of open field before them and the mountains rising up in the distance. In the early morning light, they were painted a gorgeous violet splash of color. A stark contrast to the light tan dunes at their feet.

After just an hour into her first shift, the rush was over or as Mama explained, the ‘first rush’ was done. They would be due for another in a half hour then a third. After that, it would be dead until lunch.

Maven produced an honest-to-God cigar, half-smoked, and chomped down on it like a cartoon villain. “Would you mind?” she asked, holding out a matchstick. “My hands shake too bad to easily light the damn thing anymore. Thanks, you’re a peach.”

It was during the prolonged silence that followed, Mama Maven puffing away on her cigar and watching the sunrise, that Heather asked something that had been niggling at her all morning.

“Was this a… more of a light morning here?”

“You mean that rush wasn’t what you expected,” Mama grinned and tapped a finger to her hearing aide. “This doesn’t always work but this old noggin’ can be pretty perceptive when it wants to be. Just takes a few cranks to get it started.” She chuckled at her own joke, making Heather grin too. “The God’s honest truth is that I could run the front as well as the back, been doin’ it for years but old Doc Phillips keeps warning me to slow down and like a blessing from on High, you stroll into the house! Do you believe in miracles, Heather? Divine intervention? Don’t matter. God uses us all, in time, whether we realize it or not.”

Heather didn’t bother answering, instead quieting and thinking on what sort of person she was. If there was a God (and to her, that was a pretty big IF) would he really have use for someone that cuts out on an entire life in the middle of the night with a small fortune of money that didn’t technically belong to her? What about one that feels up little girls in the desert? What is God’s plan for THAT woman? she wondered.

Mama Maven continued, “He calls on all of us eventually. The big question is, will you be willing to answer?”

Heather shook her head and changed the subject as quickly as was polite. “So you usually run the whole place yourself, huh? That’s pretty impressive though I imagine it gets pretty lonely.”

Mama nodded, smiling, “That it does, but I suppose that was a bit of a fib on my part. I get help sometimes, here and there.”

“From who?”

“Some of the kids ‘round town come in every now and again and help out where’s needed. I put a few bills in their hands or a free breakfast in their tummy in exchange. You met Angie yet? Little angel. If you haven’t met her yet, you’re going to soon enough. Just the sweetest little thing Oasis has to offer. Outside of my apple pie, of course.”

Heather crossed her legs, the name conjuring up the girls face in her mind. “Yea, we’ve met and you’re definitely right about that. She’s really… something.”

The conversation would have continued but the sound of a new set of tires crunching over gravel signaled the end to their break. Maven motioned toward the door with her cigar, “You head on in and seat whoever that is. I’m going to finish my smoke.”

Heather nodded and stood up, stretching her arms high over her head before heading inside. “Sorry, welcome!” she called, plucking free the pencil she had stashed behind her ear. “What can I get… you…?”

She rounded the corner and froze in her tracks, gawking at the tall figure filling the door frame.

It seemed all the men in town wore a hat and his was a tall, white one with a badge fixed in the middle of the band. A matching badge was fixed on the breast of his jacket, identifying him as the law enforcement of Oasis. One and only, Heather recalled, the one getting hammered with Angie’s father at his garage. He was broad in his shoulders and narrow at the hips, all upper body strength, and even through his collared jacket she could tell his forearms would be impressive. His hair was beginning to gray beneath his hat but the trim beard lining his jaw still bore some color.

He sauntered forward, close enough to her that she could at last read the name on the badge: Rick Glazer, Sheriff. “I heard there was a new city gal in town,” he thundered, the boom of his voice making Heather jump. His expression was unreadable behind his sunglasses. “You must be the one I’m looking for!”

She wanted to collapse into a sobbing wreck. Angie had told, had gone running to Sheriff Rick at the one place she knew he’d be and confessed the whole affair after she refused the kiss. This was her punishment. Mama Maven would call this divine justice. Had they gone to her room first and gone through her things? Did they know who she really was?

Heather backed away instinctively, nearly dropping her pencil and pad as the sheriff’s hands raised up to meet her…only instead of finding a pair of handcuffs hanging there or a loaded firearm, his palm was empty. It was extended in a friendly handshake and his face had cracked into a warm smile. She looked from the offered hand to his grinning face as if the gesture was completely alien to her.

Dumbly, she lifted her hand to his and he snatched it up in a crushing grip. “I heard you were a real beauty but those farm boys don’t nearly do the real thing justice!”

Mama Maven appeared behind Heather, making her jump again. “Sheriff you be nice! Don’t go scaring her. Look! She’s shakin’ like a leaf! Now you let go of her hand and have your seat, I’ll fetch a pot of coffee. Go on, git!”

Maven hustled him away leaving Heather to collect herself and seek refuge in the kitchen. For a long time, she didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry. Her legs wobbled beneath her until she had to lean back against the wall, but the trembling only got worse. Her back was slick with a fresh cold sweat. She slapped both palms against her knees, doubling over as though she would vomit until the worst of it passed.

When she did not emerge again right away, Mama came looking for her, a look of concern etched in her wrinkled eyes. “Darlin’, what’s the matter?”

Motherly instincts took over and she hurried to Heather, cupping the tender flesh around lymph nodes to see if they were swollen. “You look peaked! Just white as a sheet! Do you need to go home for the day?”

Heather waved her off, forcing a smile. “No, no! I’m okay, really I am! Just need to get my second wind is… is all.”

It took some convincing, but Mama agreed to allow her to stay and finish out the shift but, “If I feel a smidge of fever on you later, you’re going to get it!”

She couldn’t keep living like this, Heather reasoned. Always looking over her shoulder, wondering if Angie had tattled on her, about what she had done. No, she needed to address the issue head-on. . . . Unfortunately, that meant collecting the courage to actually talk to the girl. She wondered which she was more afraid of: Angie telling someone their secret or being left alone with the child. Could she trust herself to do what needed to be done and put the matter to rest? Worse, she was no closer to finding out what had become of her stolen money. The various patrons had revealed little about themselves to her, and all had seemed genuinely surprised to find a new face about town. So, who did that leave as suspects?

To her dismay, she had not eliminated a single individual. She was far from meeting the entire town, and if they had indeed fled Oasis with her cash in hand…

Heather sighed beneath the weight of so many variables. Angie seemed like the most manageable task at the moment, but even that was a pretty daunting one. After work, she decided with an affirming nod. After work she would seek the girl out and have a sit down, lay out the ground rules like a responsible adult. She would apologize again for her behavior, try to make amends in some way and hopefully walk away friends. It was better than the shaking ground she found herself on now!

Continue on to Chapter 7