Authors: Ruth Ann Hixson
"Give her time. She's been through hell this past week. Besides that, she has some demons from her past that she needs to exorcise."
"Oh? Like what?"
"I don't know but I have a feeling it has a lot to do with her mother. She still needs to grieve for the grandmother she loved. Alison didn't tell her Violet was dying of cancer. She didn't know Violet died until she got the letter from the lawyer telling her she inherited the house."
"That's downright cruel. There's sure no love lost between Alison and me. We got in an argument today and Sherry kicked her out. She kicked me out, too, but I didn't leave. I told her she's not big enough to make me." Mark swirled the coffee around in his cup with a thoughtful frown on his face. "She said I could stay if I don't tell her what to do."
Frank grinned. "Independent."
"Hard headed," was Mark's assessment. "Let's go milk those cows so I can get back to her. I don't like leaving her alone right now."
The house was dark when Mark returned from the farm. He got the box with their supper from the passenger side seat and went through the breezeway to the kitchen. "Wake up, sleepyhead," he called as he set the box on the counter. "I brought supper. Chicken pot pie, salad and blueberry custard pie for dessert." He went back to his truck for his briefcase, the plastic grocery bag with his clean clothes and the bag of chips his mother bought.
"Mom got you some chips, too," he said as Sherry came yawning through the kitchen to the bathroom.
Her hair was combed when she came back to the kitchen. "I'm not very hungry. It hasn't been that long since we ate."
"Five hours," he told her. "We already did the milking. You really slept a while."
She sat down at the table, "I feel safe now that Elena's in jail."
She let him take the supper out of the box and set it on the table. He got out plates, tableware and glasses. "I got a quart of milk, too."
After they ate, Sherry cleared the table and prepared to do the dishes. When Mark objected she told him, "The doctor said I should move around. There's nothing heavy about doing the dishes. Since your mom made supper, there aren't even any pots and pans. I can't just lie around or I could get pneumonia. Don't you have something to do with whatever's in your briefcase?"
He grinned. "I need to correct tests and prepare for my classes tomorrow."
"So do it. I won't bother you."
When she finished with the dishes, she went to the dining room and got her guitar, sitting cross legged on the daybed, she began to play and sing. He came to the dining room with his cell phone.
"You recorded me, didn't you?" She didn't sound pleased about it.
He played it back. "My new ring signal. You have a beautiful voice."
"I used to sing in the choir back in Newark. Dawn and I had big plans about how we were going to make a lot of money singing. But she went off to college and here I am. I must write to her soon. We were best friends since we were twelve."
"I think that is the most you've said about yourself since you've been here."
She shrugged and went back to playing her guitar and he went back to his school work. When he finished he said, "I going up to take a shower."
"Don't get water all over the floor," she warned. After he went upstairs, she went to the kitchen and sat down at the table to nibble on her chips and think in a way she hadn't allowed herself to think before. What if she accepted Mark's proposal and married him? She couldn't deny she was attracted to him physically. His kisses stirred up sensations she never felt before. He was too handsome to be real. And that dimple that showed when he smiled. That stubble of beard made him look so sexy.
She stopped herself before she talked herself into love with him. But there was a feeling of loneliness in her heart; the need to love and be loved. She just wasn't ready to deal with those feelings yet so she pushed them to the back of her mind.
She needed to think about the here and now. The house was chilly because there was no oil in the tank. She hoped she felt well enough to go to work on Sunday. She needed the money. Especially if she bought heating oil. She drew a deep breath and decided to think about it later. Right then she needed another pain pill.
Mark came down looking even more sexy than before with his wet hair falling over his forehead. He went to the bathroom to comb his hair.
"Bring that bottle of peroxide with you," she called as she took her first aid kit from a pantry shelf. "I would appreciate it if you will wash that wound with peroxide and rebandage it." She took out a small bag of cotton balls and a jumbo size band-aid.
He sat down on a chair and she turned her back to him. With her right arm holding her sweat shirt down in front, she reached her left hand over her shoulder to pull up the back of her shirt. "Don't take all night. This hurts."
After he cleansed and bandaged the wound, he leaned forward to kiss her back just above the band-aid. He reached his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. "I love you." He kissed her face trailing kisses down to her mouth. He slid his left hand beneath her sweat shirt to stroke her bare back. His kisses became more passionate.
She put her arms around his neck as he reached his right hand under her shirt and cupped it around her breast teasing her nipple with his thumb. He slid his hand down between her legs. The warning lights went off in her head. She had let things go too far.
She pushed away from him and stumbled to the dining room archway. When she turned around he was standing up and a quick glance at the front of him told her he was aroused. He just stood there staring at her.
When he spoke his voice was low and husky. "Come on, Sherry. You know you're hot and so am I."
She turned away to the dining room but his voice followed her. "You need to get in touch with your sexuality."
That brought her around to face him. "I might as well get this over with." She pulled her black sweatshirt over her head and tossed it on the daybed. Mark stared in open-mouthed enthrallment.
She turned, took a couple of steps and pushed her pants down over her hips and let them fall around her ankles. She stepped out of them and bent over to pick them up and throw them on the daybed. She heard his footsteps behind her and he put his arms around her waist to pull her back against him. She pulled his hands away and moved to the edge of the mattress where she let herself fall forward on her knees. She crawled to the side along the wall and eased herself down on her left side before rolling onto her back. "I think you need to take your clothes off for this."
Mark stripped like his clothes were full of fire ants. He sat down on the mattress and scooted over to her side. His kisses were passionate but when he tried to pull her into his arms, she winced in pain.
"Sorry. I'll try to be gentle. I don't want to hurt you." When it was over, he rolled aside and sat up on the edge of the mattress. "Why didn't you tell me you were a virgin?"
She scooted over beside him. "You didn't ask. Help me up."
He stood up and assisted her to her feet. She crossed to the daybed and picked up her pajamas. "What's the big deal? The Victorian Age is over."
She hurried up the stairs to the bathroom. She stepped in the tub and adjusted the water temperature as hot as she could stand it. She directed the spray between her legs to wash away the last traces of her virginity.
After she turned off the water she reached for the towel that was wet from Mark using it. She dried as best she could and pulled on her sweats. She was fighting back tears. Everything that had happened lately came to the fore and she became filled with resentful rage. She marched downstairs to confront Mark. She found him in his tee shirt and boxer-briefs using a wet washcloth to swab up the blood on the blanket.
"Put your pants on," she ordered.
"This is how I sleep," he countered.
"I don't care how you sleep. It will be kind of cold going home without your pants."
"I'm not going home."
"Yes, you are. You got what you wanted so go on home."
"Sherry, it's not like that. I love you even more now."
"Well, I don't love you. You don't fit into my plans. I don't have time for love."
"I'm not going anywhere until we get this worked out."
"There's nothing to work out. Go away and stay away."
"Sherry, what's happened to you? How can you be so mean?"
"Just get out of my house or I'll call the cops and have you put out. Just go!"
"Maybe you are your mother's daughter. Is that what she taught you?"
Her lips were trembling like she was about to cry. "Get out!" she screamed and went in the bathroom locking the door behind her.
Mark pulled on his jeans and slipped his bare feet into his sneakers. He put his cell phone and charger in his briefcase. He just had to try one more time. He knocked lightly on the bathroom door. "Sherry?" She didn't answer but he was certain he heard her crying. He put on his denim jacket and picked up his briefcase. He hesitated at the door looking back at the closed, locked bathroom door. Then he went out to his truck and left.
Jan was in the kitchen cleaning up after making coleslaw for the next day when he entered and threw his bag over by the laundry room door. "What's that?" she asked.
"My dirty clothes," he responded as he walked past her.
"I thought you were staying with Sherry tonight."
"So did I," he returned. "She kicked me out."
"Why?"
He went on as if he hadn't heard her. A minute later she heard his footsteps on the stairs. Frank came to the kitchen door and asked, "What was that about?" he asked.
Jan shrugged. "He said Sherry kicked him out."
"Why?"
"He didn't say." She looked toward the ceiling as a loud thunk sounded upstairs. "That wasn't a sneaker."
"Briefcase," Frank guessed.
"He better not break the laptop I got him for Christmas."
"I'll go up and find out what the problem is. Call Sherry to find out if she's okay. Don't ask if she's all right. She'll tell you she's half left." Frank headed for the stairs. He walked into Mark's room without knocking. The only light in the room came from the hall light and through the slats of the venetian blinds from the dusk to dawn light out by the garage. Frank switched on the overhead light.
The sudden bright light made Mark squint as he looked at his father. "What do you want?"
"I want to know why you're here instead of over at Sherry's."
"Awful nosy, aren't you?" Mark drew a deep breath. "She kicked me out. I don't understand why? I didn't force her to go to bed with me."
"You deflowered her?"
"I didn't know she was a virgin. She was smokin' hot. She did a strip tease that would tempt a pious monk. I thought she knew what she was doing. She went upstairs to take a shower and when she came back down she was mad as a wet hen and told me to get out. She said she doesn't love me and I don't fit into her plans."
Frank needed a minute to absorb what his son told him and to think. He went around the bed and picked up Mark's briefcase from along the wall. "You need to buy another sheet of paneling. I think I'll build that wall out of brick." He sat down at the desk and opened the briefcase to take out the laptop. "Mom paid a lot of bucks for this. It's not a ball. Why don't you just buy a tennis racket and beat up your bed when you're mad?"
"I don't know what to do. One time Sherry seems happy; other times, she's all frowns. I do know that she feels safe now that Elena is back in jail."
"Darryl will soon have her out." Frank turned on the laptop. "Still works. Maybe Mom won't kill you after all."
"Speaking of angels," Mark said as Jan walked into the room.
"I called Sherry. She said she's okay but I could tell she was crying." She looked at Mark. "She said it wasn't your fault. It was hers. She said she was just mad at everybody: the men that stood around this morning when Elena attacked her, Elena, you but mostly herself. She said she took it all out on you and I don't even know what she was talking about."
Frank responded, "Mark went to bed with her."
"Did she say if I can go back over?" Mark wondered.
"She said she wants you to stay away until she gets her mind untangled. I told you to back off."
"I'm only a man. If you want to know more talk to Dad. I already told him and I'm not going to repeat myself. If you two will leave, I'll go to bed."
"The laptop still works," Frank informed his wife as they went out the door.
Mark sighed deeply. So Sherry didn't blame him for what happened. That didn't help since he was still banished from her domain.
Chapter 12
"Hello, Sherry," Jan said as Sherry opened the door for her. She handed Sherry the garage door opener. "Mark said to bring this back to you. You look like you had a bad night."
She shrugged and turned away. "I spent a night of soul searching and I'm no better off than I was before." She went back to the kitchen ahead of Jan to set out the peroxide and bandages. "If you sit down there I can stand in front of you so you can see."
"When I spoke to you last night I didn't understand what you were talking about," Jan said as she gently pulled off the old band-aid. "It wasn't until I talked to Frank later that he told me Mark had gone to bed with you."
"Why didn't he just put it on the front page of the newspaper?" Sherry sounded hurt and angry.
"I'm certainly not going to tell anybody and I know Frank won't. I can't speak for Mark other than to say I don't believe he will tell anyone."
"He told you and Frank," Sherry snapped.
"He told his father," Jan admitted. "Frank told me. We aren't trying to embarrass you."
"I made a mistake last night," Sherry admitted. "One I'm not likely to repeat. Sometimes when I'm really angry I get reckless. That is what happened last night. It in no way means that I'm in love with Mark. I'm not."
"There. That's done. Sit down, Sherry. I'd like to talk to you. As a mother to a daughter."
"You're not my mother. All you want to do is make a pitch for Mark. You don't care about me. My own mother doesn't care about me."