22
Travis
After everything that happened Sunday – meeting Stephanie Winters, bringing Sophie back to the house, accepting Mom’s offer of a job and business, and Abby and Sophie hitting it off – I was glad to just relax for the rest of the day. After the four of us spent the better of the morning together, laughing and enjoying the nice weather outside, Mom announced she needed to leave to get to the restaurant and wanted to know who was going with her.
“I guess I should go,” I said to her, “so I can start getting used to things around here. Are you coming, Abby?” I asked as she and Sophie were whispering back and forth to each other on the porch.
“Heck yeah I’m coming,” she said, feeling excited. “I’ve made good money in tips the last two days. I’ll be able to get that new computer in no time,” she said happily.
“Or, you can start putting money away in a bank account, like a responsible young lady,”
I added.
Her smile disappeared as I said it. “Really?” she asked me.
“Really,” I told her. “We’ll work on it.”
Sophie got up from sitting on the porch and dusted her shorts off.
“I should get back home and let you three get to work,” she said with a smile. I walked over and took her hand and walked her to the end of the driveway.
“Will I get to see you later?” she asked me, looking into my eyes.
“We’ll probably get done around eleven or so,” I told her. “Can I come by to see you that late, or will the neighbors talk about you?” I said with a grin.
She stood on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear. “Let them talk,” she said, grinning back an even bigger smile. I kissed her gently, holding the kiss for a bit as I pulled her close by her waist. When we broke the kiss, she seemed a little out of breath.
“Oh my, Mr. Stone,” she said wryly. “You took my breath away.”
Sophie separated from me and started to walk down the street back toward her home.
“You do the same to me, Ms. Ingram,” I shouted after her. Sophie turned to me and smiled as I watched her walk away. I turned back to face the house and saw Mom and Abby there, standing there watching me. They were both smiling at me as if they were trying to hold in laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked as I walked toward them both.
“Nothing at all Travis,” Mom said to me as she nudged Abby with her elbow.
“Nope, nothing,” Abby added. “Except I never knew you were such a big marshmallow,” she said, and she and my mother burst out laughing.
“What are you talking about?” I said in my defense. “ I was saying goodbye to her.”
“It didn’t look like a lot of talking,” Abby said with a giggle.
“Alright, enough already,” I said, shooing her inside. “ Let’s go get changed for work.”
I went upstairs and took a quick shower, washing off the last day’s activities, and decided I had better shave since I wanted to look decent if I was going to be working at the restaurant regularly.
I guess I’ll have to figure out a way to get our stuff from Ridgefield to here, I thought to myself as I finished shaving off the last of the growth on my face.
I went down to my room to change, putting on another pair of jeans and the last decent-looking shirt I had packed with me, and got myself downstairs, where Abby and Mom were waiting for me. Abby was already dressed in a white shirt and black slacks, the outfit for the restaurant.
“You’re wearing that to work?” Abby commented, looking me up and down.
“It’s all I have with me,” I answered, realizing I didn’t have to explain myself to my twelve-year-old.
“Grandma got me work clothes; I am sure she can get some for you,” Abby said with a laugh.
“I can get some stuff for you if you like Travis,” Mom said as we walked out the door.
“Thanks,” I said feeling embarrassed now. “At least until I can make arrangements to get our stuff moved from Ridgefield to here.”
We walked the quick walk to the Homestead easily, and by the time we arrived, most of the staff for the day was already there, waiting for Mom to unlock the place. She let everyone in, calling a quick staff meeting first to let them know about the changes she had planned, how I was coming on as a partner and taking over the bar, and that some responsibilities would be shifted around. Everyone seemed to be okay with the move, and then we all set to work.
I tried to familiarize myself a bit more with the bar and where everything was, and when Mom wasn’t doing her regular routines, she sat with me to talk about bar deliveries, invoices and showed me where everything was on the computer in the office. It was going to take some time for me to get used to everything, but thankfully Mom seemed willing to have a learning curve so I could get my feet wet and understand the business gradually.
As the day wore on and business picked up, I saw Irv Rogers come in and walk over to the bar. He sat himself down on a stool, barely, and ordered a beer.
“How are you Mr. Rogers,” I asked as I brought his beer down to him.
“Call me Irv, please,” he said as he wiped his sweaty brow with his handkerchief and took a long draw of his beer.
“Okay, Irv,” I said to him. “Call me Travis.”
“Thanks, Travis,” he said as he took another sip. “Actually your mother had called me asked to stop by with some papers. Something about putting the business in a partnership. I just wanted to come down and go over the particulars with both of you.”
Wow, she didn’t waste any time, I thought.
Before I went to go get Mom, I paused a minute with Irv Rogers.
“Irv, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to talk to you about my father’s paperwork.” I watched him empty his mug of beer and hand the empty mug to me. I walked over to pour him another.
“Oh, everything is done on my end,” he told me. “I sent death certificates to the appropriate parties, and the house and the bank account is in your name now. I filed everything with the insurance company too, so you should see that in the bank account shortly, maybe even as soon as tomorrow.”
“Great,” I said to him as I set my mind working as to what to do with almost $300,000.
Mom then joined us at the bar as we talked about setting up the partnership, and Irv had some paperwork we needed to sign and send he would draw up the rest of the papers tomorrow and have them for us as soon as possible. He polished off his second beer, shook our hands, and waddled out the door and into the dusk.
The rest of the day and night was pretty uneventful. The place wasn’t nearly as busy as Friday or what I assumed Saturday was like, and by 10 PM the place had pretty much cleared out, and Mom called the last call. When all the patrons were gone, I worked at getting all the glassware in the dishwashers, straightened up and cleaned the bar, and helped everyone put the chairs up to clear the floor. Everything was done a bit after eleven, and Mom, Abby and I walked out the door. We slowly moved along the very quiet street, with Abby looking pretty tired.
“The hard work is taking a lot of you, huh?” I asked her.
“It is, but I like it,” she said to me. “It’s nice to have some friends… and money in my pocket,” she told me. I put my arm around her as we walked and reached the Mom’s house.
I took a step back as Mom and Abby walked down the driveway.
“I think I am going over to Sophie’s,” I said casually.
Mom and Abby smiled at me. Abby made smooching noises at me.
“Go to bed,” I said to her in mock anger.
“I’m going,” she yelled as she hustled down the driveway, singing “Dad and Sophie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…” before she got inside.
“Have a good night, Travis,” Mom said to me. I walked back down the driveway and tapped her on the shoulder, so she turned to face me. I gave her a hug, holding her tight.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said to her. “I know I haven’t said it to you enough over the years, but thanks for everything.”
We broke the hug, and I could see her eyes were cloudy.
“You’re welcome,” she said to me. “And thank you, for bringing you and Abby… and Sophie… closer to my life. Don’t let her get away from you again,” she said to me with a smirk.
“I don’t intend to,” I said to Mom. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I watched Mom walk down the driveway and into the house, and then I headed over to Sophie’s. I walked past my house, smiling at it as I went by, and imagined what life was going to be like living there, this close to Mom and to Sophie. I had everything I could want in life.
I walked up to Sophie’s door at about 11:30, not knowing if she would still be awake. I lightly tapped on the screen door and peered inside.
“Come on in, Travis,” I heard Sophie say from the living room. I walked in and saw her sitting in her rocking chair, reading a book. She put the book down and stood up, walking over to me. She was just wearing an oversized shirt as she came over and kissed me. We walked over to the couch and sat together.
“How was the restaurant tonight?” she asked me.
“Tiring,” I told her. “It’s going to take me a while to get used to everything, but I think it will be fine. But after not doing any work for a couple of months, it’s taking a lot out of me.”
“Maybe you should just go to bed,” Sophie said to me, as she knelt next to me, kissing my neck. I looked over, and she smiled at me.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said to her. I got up from the couch and tripped a little as I went passed the rocking chair.
“Travis, are you okay?” Sophie said as she sprung up off the couch.
“I’m fine, I just tripped,” I told her as I looked to see what I tripped on. I looked down and saw the brown backpack. I picked it up and held it in my hands, looking at it in wonder.
“You still have it,” I whispered, looking at the worn gold initials on the bag.
Sophie came over and took the bag from me. “I use it every day,” she told me. “I never stopped carrying it with me, from the day you bought it for me at the school bookstore. It’s always been special to me, and lets me think of you.”
I turned to her and kissed her deeply, holding her tightly as I did. I could feel the curves of her body under her shirt as I held her. I swiftly bent down and lifted her up, taking her in my arms, and carried her up the stairs, She gasped when I picked her up so easily, and then giggled the whole time as we went up the steps.
I placed her down on the bed and kissed her again, I hovered over her body, my arms on either side of her, as I leaned into her and kissed her some more. Before I knew it, she had put her hands on my sides and rolled me over, so that she was on top of me. Her hands quickly were unbuttoning my shirt, and she pulled it off me. She then went right to my belt and jeans, getting those off me as quickly as possible as well, making sure to get my boots off along the way. Sophie leaned back on top of me, now that I was just dressed in my black boxer briefs. I scooted myself back further onto the bed as she knelt between my legs. I felt her fingers running over my growing erection in my briefs as she felt everything.
Sophie hooked her fingers into the waistband of my briefs and stripped them down my legs. She stood twirling them on her finger before she tossed them across the room with a laugh.
“What are you doing?” I said to her, watching her in amazement.
“I just wanted to try a few things,” she said mischievously. She was back on the bed with me, kneeling between my legs. I felt her index finger glide from the base of my shaft right up to the tip. Edging her fingertip around the tip. I tried watching her, but the feeling was so good I soon found myself putting my head back on the bed. She swirled her finger around and around, exciting me with each touch before she took me in her hand and with a slow, deliberate motion, stroked up and down. The feeling was amazing, and I wasn’t sure how long I could hold out.
“Sophie,” I whispered.
“Did you want something, Travis?” she asked me coyly as she kept stroking.
“Yes,” I growled. “ I want you.”
“Hmmm,” she purred. “ I guessed that much.”
She released her grip on me and slowly, tease me, lifted her shirt over her head, revealing her body beneath it. I felt her inch closer to me, and she was then lowering herself on top of me, enveloping me deep inside her. She was just as worked up as I was right away and moaned lightly as I slipped inside her. She began rocking her hips gently back and forth on me as she guided my hands up to her breasts. I caressed and kneaded her breasts in my hands as I moved in rhythm with her. Sophie steadily increased the pace, and I tried to match her, doing my best to hold on without completely losing it too soon.
I felt her grinding deeper on me until she was hitting just the right spot for both of us. My hands moved down from her breasts to her hips as I held on to her. Sophie was running her hands up and down my body, over my chest and down my stomach, over and over again as I held on to her. I could feel myself sliding easily and deeply in her now, and I couldn’t take anymore. My body began to tense as I had her hips tightly as I groaned. I thrust up, causing her to gasp, as I had my intense orgasm. I was throbbing in her when I felt her tighten on me moments later as her orgasm washed over her and me.
Sophie collapsed against my chest, holding me inside her as she kissed my neck. We were both covered in a quick sweat, and her slick body rolled off me to my right. I held her close to me as we both caught our breath.
“Well that was a nice surprise,” I rasped.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Sophie said in between heavy breaths. “I know I sure did. I’ve been thinking about doing that to you all day.”
“I can’t think of a better way to end the day,” I told her.
We both worked our way up to the pillows at the top of the bed. Sophie lay on my shoulder as I held her close to me. She seemed to drift off to sleep quickly, with a cute smile on her lips as she sighed.
Life can’t get much better, I thought as I closed my eyes and held her tightly against me.