Family Ties

“I still think you look too thin,” Mom said.

“No,” Susan said to me. “Mostly lunchmeat, breakfast cereal, things like that. We can stop at the store, though.”

“You’re not serious, are you?” Erin asked me. “Do you really wanna eat that stuff?”

“Be nice,” Christy whispered. Louder, she said to Erin, “It’s for me.”

Susan suddenly grew concerned. “Didn’t you get enough at the restaurant? I thought you finished your plate.”

“I did. And thank you again for dinner.”

“She has a freakish metabolism,” I explained to Susan and the others.

“She eats six or seven times a day.”

“It isn’t freakish,” Christy muttered indignantly. “It’s just high.”

“She has a high metabolism,” I corrected.

Susan and Mom grinned at each other.

“So I don’t want her to get hungry if she wants a midnight snack.”

“In that case,” Susan said, “we’ll stop by Winn-Dixie on the way home.”

Back at camp, I took the groceries into the clubhouse kitchen and gave Christy the nickel tour.

“Everyone really cooks and eats all together?” she asked.

“Mmm hmm, although lately we’ve stayed in one of the bigger cabins with its own kitchen.”

“And… is that the only shower?”

“Oh, crap. I forgot about that.” The shower area was completely open to that part of the clubhouse, including the door from the road. “You want me to

see if we can move to one of the cabins?”

“No,” she said. “We’ll make it work… somehow.”

“You can shower tonight, or early in the morning. I’ll stand guard or something.”

“No, I won’t make you do that.”

Mom came into the clubhouse and joined us.

“I’m going to change into something more comfortable and then go relax with Susan,” she said. She didn’t invite us to join her, which told me all I needed to know. “Doug and Olivia are going to the drive-in to see the late movie. Erin’s going with them.”

I blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“Mmm hmm. She was going to ask if you and Christy wanted to hang out in the hot tub—”

Christy shot me a startled look.

“—but I suggested the movies instead.”

“Thanks. We’ll probably do that.”

She nodded and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Goodnight. Christy, it’s been a pleasure getting to know you better. I’m sorry it’s under the circumstances, but…”

“That’s okay. It’s been a pleasure. Even under the circumstances.”

Mom left, and Christy waited until the door closed behind her.

“Your mom is totally amazing,” she said, “but did she just encourage us to…?”

“Get up to hanky-panky?”

“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “She did.”

“For real. She knows we’re grown-ups.”

Christy stared in disbelief. “I can’t imagine…”

“My family’s a little different than yours.”

“You can say that again.”

“My family’s a little different than yours.”

“I deserved that,” she said with a rueful grin.

“Yep. Now, you wanna cut up veggies for a snack later?”

“You know me so well.”

“I do, my beautiful little bunny.”

We washed vegetables in companionable silence. While we were cutting them, we heard Doug and the girls drive out.

Christy’s head came up, and I saw her working out who was where.

“Welcome to my world,” I said. “Right now, Susan and my mom are probably relaxing in the hot tub. And they made sure you and I would have some private time too.”

“My family is a lot more open about sex than yours.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I lifted a baggie of sliced carrots and celery.

“You want anything else before we go up?”

“Maybe a bottle of wine?”

“Mmm, sorry. Probably none around. No alcohol in the public areas.

Camp rules. It’s okay for the cabins and RVs, but…” I shrugged. “I’ll have to seduce you with my charm alone.”

“How can you be so calm about it? I mean, we’re about to commit a sin.”

“No, I didn’t say that. I just said I’m nervous.”

“Nervous is fine. I’m nervous too.”

“Why? You aren’t about to betray your beliefs.”

“You aren’t either,” I said. “And even if you were, they’re a bunch of outdated rules made by celibate old men. They were cranky ’cause they weren’t having sex, and they didn’t want anyone else to have fun either.

Besides, what do they know about being a woman, especially in the eighties?

“Nothing,” she said, a touch bitterly.

“Exactly.” I picked her up and set her on the counter. Then I rested my hands midway up her thighs, safely away from the hem of her skirt. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I said softly. “Now’s the time to say so.”

“No, I… want to. I’m just scared.”

“What if we aren’t compatible? What if I do something you don’t like, or go too far? I don’t wanna mess this up, ’cause I’ve totally fallen for you. I told you, I’m in real danger with you, the till-death-do-us-part kind.