“Is it all right for me to show Aaron my room, Grandpa?” I asked.
He thought for a moment and shrugged. “Sure. Before he leaves, you might bring him to my office. I think he would enjoy some of the photographs and plaques. He can tell his dad about them,” he added with his impish smile.
“Oh, absolutely, sir. Thank you,” Aaron said.
I walked ahead of him to the stairway. He paused to look at the stair lift when we reached the top.
“Never saw one of these,” he said. “My father was talking about getting one for my grandmother or else selling her house and getting her a single-level house.”
I didn’t say anything until we were in my room. We both looked at the door. Would I close it? “You can close it,” I said.
He hesitated. “Maybe your grandfather wouldn’t like that.”
“Oh, give me a break, Aaron Podwell!” I cried, and shut the door myself. “You don’t have to worry about what you’ll be, Aaron. You’ll be governor or something.”
He smiled weakly. “Why do you say that?”
“You’re a natural politician, as smooth as sleet on a country road,” I added, which was one of Myra’s expressions.
He lost his smile, now either feigning that he was hurt or really feeling hurt. I couldn’t tell. “I was only trying to do my best for you, for us,” he protested. “I thought you would be pleased. You think I like wearing this suit? Even my mother was shocked when she saw me leaving the house. It’s my family straitjacket. Jeez, Clara Sue. I spent twenty minutes getting this tie knot perfect. I figured your grandfather would notice.” He flopped into a chair as if I had pounded him with a sledgehammer. However, the fog of suspicion didn’t lift from my eyes.
“You never told me you were interested in sports medicine and that sort of thing. Where did that come from?”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.” He rose and walked around my room, looking at my pictures and posters, and then sat on my bed and loosened his tie. “I like the nurse. She’s not bad-looking, either. Maybe I can get her to come over to my house to give me a bath,” he added, smiling licentiously. That was more like the Aaron Podwell I knew.
“Be careful what you wish for,” I said.
He reached out for me. “I’m wishing only for you,” he said. “C’mon. Loosen up. I’m going to get those chains off you.”
I sat next to him, and he kissed me quickly.
“The first step to make my dream come true,” he said. “Nice bed.” He ran his right hand over my top sheet with his eyes closed and that smile still blooming on his face. “Now I can better picture you dreaming about me.”
“You’re not just conceited, you’re convinced,” I said.
He laughed. He continued to run his fingers along the bed and to my skirt, lifting it a little above my knee. “You look more delicious than any of the food tonight.”
“I look better than food? Thanks.”
“Hey, I’m trying to be romantic. I could live on a deserted island for weeks on just bread and water and you.”
“Boy, do you know how to get yourself out of trouble,” I said.
“If you’re trouble, I don’t want to ever get out.”
He surprised me by leaning down and kissing the inside of my thigh. No other boy had ever done that. I hadn’t even imagined it, but the sensation it sent up my thighs was so fast and hot that it took my breath away. He looked up at me, smiled, and kissed me again, only higher up, moving my skirt as he did. I had been bracing myself with my hands flat against the bed. My arms weakened when he kissed me a third time, again higher, and when I fell back on the bed, he moved to kiss me between my thighs. I couldn’t smother the moan. He sat up and leaned over to kiss me on the lips. The fingers of his left hand slipped under my panties. If there was any protest in me, he drove it back with another, longer, more demanding kiss. I felt my whole body soften.
“We can’t,” I managed, the words reluctant to be spoken.
“I know,” he whispered, kissing my ear softly and then my cheek before finding my lips.
His fingers were touching me. I didn’t pull away. I lifted myself toward them. He took a deep breath when we heard footsteps in the hallway. I turned sharply and quickly away from him.
“I know what I’ll dream about tonight,” he said with a moan, and lay on his back.
I quickly straightened out my skirt and sat up. The footsteps stopped. It was either Myra or Grandpa going to Willie’s room.
“Sorry,” I said.