Family Bonds

Chapter 12, Episode 3

Chet knocked on the door.

"It's open!" Bert called out.

"Hello, Bert." Chet grinned at the old man, who sat in his favorite chair in the corner of the living room. "No need to get up. Jane says you aren't feeling well."

"I've had better days. But I'm not so old I can't come to the table on my own. Don't need help." He brushed away Chet's hand.

"I brought pizza, but Jane says you're eating something else. I hope you don't mind the smell."

Bert's smile lit up his face. "She told me, right before she skipped outta here to get something special for dessert. Didn't tell me what it was, only that I was to let you in if she wasn't back before you got here, and not to open the pizza box."

"I hear you." Chet looked around at the little house. Everything was neat and clean, even if the furniture was showing its age and the carpet had wear spots.

When Jane arrived, she put the groceries into the kitchen. "Go ahead and dish up the pizza, will you, Chet? I have Bert's soup all ready, and some salad, too."

The three of them ate while Chet peppered Bert with questions about work at the mill and made him laugh with quips about the antics of one of his political science professors.

"What about that dessert, girl? What you said you had to get?" Bert asked, before swallowing his pills.

"Right here. We'll have it in a few minutes, so you'll have time to digest dinner first. Remember what the nurse said about not eating too much at a time."

"You're babying me in front of company."

"Since when am I company?" Chet asked him. "I thought we were friends."

The old man smiled. "Friends. I guess you're that. How's your old man these days?"

Chet leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head. "Wouldn't know. Haven't talked to him in weeks. Why?"

"Just thought you might know how he feels about being told to take a hike by a slip of a pretty girl." Bert chuckled. "Or didn't you hear what Jane did?"

Chet grinned broadly. "I heard, but not from him. He'd never admit it. Serves him right for lowballing her. What do you think?"

"Glad you and I agree. I just wish Jane didn't think she had to sell the place. I told her there's no reason." But he looked away from Chet, as if wishing he hadn't brought up the subject.

Jane brought three dishes of ice cream to the table. "No more business talk, you two. And I did what I had to do. Besides, we don't have to wait until the house sells. I got my check from Alice's and I called the doctor this afternoon to tell him to schedule you. I've got the money now, the first part of it, anyway."

"No!" Bert pushed away from the table. "I don't want you wasting your college money on that."

She walked around the table and hugged him. "I'm not using my college money. Besides, it's too late for you to argue. It's a done deal. You've taken care of me all my life, especially after Mom died. I used the money you gave me to go back to school, just like you wanted me to." She stood up, her hands on her hips. "Now it's time for me to take care of you. And I got your favorite ice cream, vanilla. Eat slowly. Like the nurse said."

She wiped her eyes before looking at Chet. "And your favorite, too. What kind of sauce do you want on it, caramel or chocolate?"

Chet looked at the bowl she set in front of him. One scoop was chocolate, the other, cherry. He laughed. "I think the chocolate sauce would work best for mine. What are you going to have?"

"I think I'll stick with the vanilla with caramel sauce." She blushed.

"Good call," he said under his breath, certain she remembered how they had shared their ice cream months before.

An hour later, Bert shuffled in the direction of his bedroom. "Don't study too late tonight, you two." He grinned briefly and shut the door.

"What do you suppose he thinks we might be studying?" Chet asked, putting his arm around her.

"Books, of course." But the color in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes told him she was thinking of something else. He took it as permission to kiss her. When she responded with enthusiasm, he led her to the couch where he hugged her and stroked her face.

"I've missed you so much, Jane."

"I missed you, too." She twined her fingers into his dark wavy hair. "I've wanted to do this since the first time I met you." She kissed him back and when his kiss became more insistent, she sighed. She worked her hands under his shirt and stroked his chest.

"Jane, you're getting me going." Chet's pulse thrummed in his ears. "Do you want that?"

She smiled. "I love to feel your skin." She trailed one finger down and around the muscles of his upper arm. "You are so strong, and so gentle, too."

He couldn't stifle a groan as he brought a hand over her breast. When she didn't pull away, he slowly unbuttoned her blouse, and gazed at her body, its curves more pronounced in the slanting light from the kitchen, trying to control his thoughts, the demands his body was making.

Jane's hands stroked his skin. Wherever her fingers touched him, he felt a lick of flame urging him on. But Bert was in the next room.

If only. Not here, not now. It had to be where they were totally alone. Reluctantly, he pulled away, unable to take his eyes off her face, her glowing skin, and her lips, swollen from their kisses.

"We can't keep doing this. Not now, not here," he whispered.

"Don't you want us to?"

"What do you think? I'm aching I want you so much. But I want it where we have time to savor every minute." He grinned. "And I don't want Bert interrupting. Do you?"

At that, she grinned, and pulled her blouse closed. "I guess not." She sat up. "Do you have to leave right away?"

He shook his head. "If you promise not to tease me with your hands, we can hold each other. How about that?"

"Okay." She snuggled next to him and reached for a book. "I have a chapter to read—for tomorrow."

"Me, too." He leaned down next to the couch and pulled one of his textbooks from his backpack.

Chet couldn't deny it any longer to himself or to her. Not that he wanted to. He had to tell her. "I love you, Jane. For real."

Tears filled her eyes when she hugged him. "I love you, too. And after Bert's surgery, we'll—"

He kissed her quiet. "Don't say it. You don't need to." He hugged her again. "Want me to go with you when you take him to the hospital?"

She shook her head. "I'll ask him, but I'm not sure he'll want you there. It was hard enough for him to agree to go. I'll tell you about the appointment. Maybe we can meet afterwards."

He squeezed her hands, and sometime later, he reluctantly drove home to an apartment that felt empty.

Author's Note: Jane decides to ask Chet's father if he would buy the duplex she has inherited on her mother's death. What does her encounter with Mr. Barton reveal about her? About him?

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