Aidan and Katie Ch. 01

Katie had been silent as I worked through this but she sat up and looked at me, raising her eyebrow. "What are you? A rabbit?"

"What?" I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Never mind," she muttered, "just go on."

"But, in the last six to eight months we only had sex about three to four times a week, sometimes only twice. But, I guess in the last couple of weeks it was more like once or twice." I sat back in wonder. "It dropped off so gradually, I never even noticed it."

I looked at Katie, sadly. "How can you be so uninvolved in your own life that you don't notice something like that?"

Katie sprang off my lap. My head snapped back in surprise as she slapped me, hard. I looked up at her.

Her eyes were bright, shining in anger. "Don't. You. Dare." She slowly enunciated each word. "Don't you dare blame yourself Aidan Lee Cunningham! I know you; I know that you treated Jeannie like a princess. You treated her the way I want to be treated, the way any woman dreams of being treated. You. Did. Nothing. Wrong."

She grabbed my chin. "You got that, Mister?!?"

I laughed out loud. She was trying to sound like Dad and she succeeded fairly well. I stood up and picked her up in a big hug.

"Thanks, Sis," I said, "I needed that."

I leaned down, meaning to kiss her on the cheek and at the last instant she turned into my lips. The kiss started out as a brother-sister kiss, but quickly morphed into something more as her hands went to the back of my head. Somehow, suddenly her tongue was in my mouth, her legs around my waist and my hands on her ass. She was squirming against me, her crotch on the unexpected bulge in the front of my pants. I think I realized what we were doing when I thought 'Hey, she's not wearing panties'. Quickly, my dick was an iron bar in my pants as I realized what I was doing to my sister. I pulled my lips from hers and pulled her away from my body. Her eyes were still closed as I pulled her away and they flew open in surprise.

"Aidie? What's wrong?" Katie asked in a tiny voice as I set her gently on the floor.

"I, I...I," I mumbled as I ran for the door. I heard her calling as I got into my truck and spun the tires in the gravel at the edge of her street. I glanced in the rear view mirror and she was standing in the door with her face in her hands.

I was about a block away when my cell phone rang. I looked down; Katie. I can't do this, not right now. I muted the ringer. The phone beeped a moment later, she'd left a message. Then about five minutes later it rang again. Katie again. I muted it again. Again, she left a message. The pattern repeated all the way home. She called six times.

I pulled the truck in the garage and went into the house. I checked the land line. I knew why it took five minutes between cell phone calls. In between the calls, she called my house.

I punched in the code and listened on the land line. "Aidan, call me back. Please. I'm sorry. Please call me back." There were five messages on the voice mail; they were all essentially the same. I listened to the cell phone messages. Those too, were the same. The only real difference in any of the messages was the rising desperation in Katie's voice.

While I was listening to the last message on the cell, the land line rang again. I decided I'd better talk to her. I didn't look at the Caller ID, I just picked it up.

"Katie, I'm sorry, I just can't do this right now." I paused to listen to what she had to say.

"Aidan, what did you do to your sister?" I thought, 'Oh crap, she called Dad.'

"D-d-did K-K-Katie c-c-call y-y-you?" I stammered.

"Yes, she did. Now what did you do to her?" Dad was insistent.

"Not now, Dad." I said, a little shortly. "I will call her and take care of this."

"Fine!" He said, pissed. "If you're not going to tell me, then let me talk to Jeannie."

'Oh crap!' I thought again. 'Not now.' I hadn't thought to tell my parents. They loved Jeannie as though she were one of their own. I thought briefly about not telling him, but I knew that I couldn't do that.

"Dad, get Mom on the extension." He started to ask why and I cut him off. "I'm only gonna do this once Dad, if I tell you, and you tell Mom, she will have a million questions to which you won't have answers and, seriously, I'm only gonna do this ONCE!" He heard the firmness in my voice this time and I heard him tell Mom to pick up the extension.

"Aidan? Aidan what's wrong?" I heard the concern in Mom's voice. I almost started crying again.

I took a deep breath. "OK, here it is. Jeannie left me." I heard Mom start to say something and I overrode her. "She left me for Karli. No, she did not leave to just move in with Karli, she left me for Karli. They're lovers." I waited for the questions.

Dad was Dad. "Gosh, that's terrible son. I'll let you talk to Mom." He hung up and was gone. I had to smile, in matters of the heart; Dad was pretty close to worthless.

Mom truly stunned me. "Aidan, I know you're hurting, but I'm surprised it took this long."

"Huh?" Eloquent, I know.

"You probably hadn't put any thought into it, but do you realize that Karli has been at every family function since you guys got married?" Mom spoke gently, but firmly.

"Uhhh, no, I uhhh..." I was speechless.

"Karli hardly let Jeannie out of her sight." Mom said. "She always had her hands on Jeannie somewhere. For the last five years I have watched this and in the last year knew you were headed for heartbreak. Karli has always looked at Jeannie with such love and tenderness that I knew that eventually Jeannie would be worn down. In the last year; the looks Jeannie exchanged with Karli were so intense that I knew they were no longer just friends."

I was suddenly as pissed at Mom as I had been with Jeannie. I exploded, "You knew? You knew and you said nothing?!?!? How dare you?"

I could hear Mom start crying and I immediately calmed down and apologized. "Mom, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have screamed at you."

I heard Mom take a deep breath as she said, "It's OK Aidan. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life."

"Why, Mom?" I mumbled. I listened as the phone beeped; stopped beeping and then my cell phone started ringing again.

"Because when you looked at Jeannie and she looked at you, I saw the same things that I saw between Jeannie and Karli." Mom said. "I thought you might choose Jeannie over us if I said anything and she denied it. I took a calculated risk. I also hoped that Jeannie might choose you over Karli and then I might have ruined your lives over nothing. I was in an impossible spot."

I was quiet for a minute as I thought about what she had said, and then I answered, "I am truly sorry, Mom. I should've known that you were trying to protect my happiness. Thank you for that."

"That's OK, honey." Mom said gently, before her voice hardened. "Now, what did you do to your sister?"

I sighed. "It was a misunderstanding; I'll fix it, Mom."

"You'd better." Mom said fiercely, and then chuckled softly. "You can't afford to piss off another woman who loves you."

"Nice Mom, really nice." I laughed back at her.

"OK, honey." She said softly, "Now call your sister."

I laughed again, "Yes Ma'am. Bye Mom."

"Bye Sweetie." Mom said before she hung up.

What a fuckin' day. I went and got a beer and threw myself down in the recliner. I looked at the land line phone and realized there was something else I needed to do tomorrow, change the phone number. I didn't want to keep dealing with Jeannie's friends and family.

I picked up my cell phone and pressed the picture of Katie sticking her tongue out at the camera. Her number was on seven of the last eight calls. I took a deep breath and waited for her to answer.

"Aidan?" Katie's voice was tiny and scared. It broke my heart.

"Katie, I'm sorry." I wanted to apologize first thing. "It was my fault and I shouldn't have run out on you."

"You did nothing wrong, Little Bro'," Katie said softly. "I should have realized how vulnerable you were feeling and I took advantage of you."

That made me laugh out loud, harshly. "You took advantage of me? That's funny, because if you knew what was in my head, you'd kill me."

She giggled, "That probably makes us even, then..."

I was shocked, "What!?!?"

She giggled again, "How 'bout we call it mutual loneliness, despair, whatever and ignore what happened. OK?"

"Fine by me." I mumbled.

"Alrighty, then." She giggled again. "Are you coming back tonight?"

I sighed. "I don't think so, Sissie. My nerves are shot and I'm gonna go crash. Could we have lunch or dinner this week sometime?"

"I'll tell you what Baby Brother," Katie said brightly, "Come over Wednesday night and I'll make Mom's beef stroganoff, OK?"

I smiled; Katie knew how to get me. "That sounds great, Katie, Thanks. I love you and I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, be happy. I love you, too." She answered.

"Who're you? Bobby McFerrin?" I said and heard her laughing as I ended the call.

I went into the bedroom and moved all of my clothes from the bed onto the floor. Then I crawled in bed and closed my eyes. I immediately opened them as Jeannie's scent overwhelmed me. 'OK, this has got to go.' I thought.

I got up and looked in the linen closet. She had left me one complete change of sheets. I smelled them and they smelled like fabric softener, not Jeannie. I put the old linens in the washer and started the machine. Then I went in, put the new linens on the bed and crawled back in. I think I passed out, because the next thing I knew, the alarm on my phone was going off.

********************

I called my boss and explained the situation and took a couple of days off. I could take care of a lot of business on my smart phone and laptop, so he told me to take my time. I took care of all the things on my list on Monday. A locksmith and the garage door guys were done by noon and then I went to the bank. Jeannie had been there and taken half, down to the penny. I opened new accounts and transferred the money. I called the broker and explained that we wanted to liquidate. I gave him my email address as well as Jeannie's and told him to do the best he could and to let us know the results.

The real estate broker came by about six and I explained the situation to her. She said we were probably in pretty good shape to sell. The neighborhood was stable and desirable so we ought to be able to move the house fairly quickly. I told her I wasn't in a big hurry and didn't want to take a bath on the sale and she understood. By eight there was a sign out front. Before she left she told me I ought to start looking for someplace to live, a fellow broker from her office knew that she was coming to this neighborhood and told her that he had a couple that might be interested, they wanted to move into this neighborhood.

She called about ten minutes after she left and asked if the couple could come by first thing in the morning. They wanted to see the house before anyone else. I said I didn't have a problem with that, but my clothes were going to be on the bed.

She laughed and said "Just don't leave your underwear out, OK?"

"No problem," I said, "I'll just put them in the truck. But I hope I don't get stopped by a cop. 'No officer, I'm not a pervert, my mom always told me to have new underwear on, in case of an accident. I wanted to be prepared, just in case.'"

"You're nuts, you know that?" The agent laughed.

"Yeah, probably." I muttered and said goodnight.

I set the alarm for six, mostly because I wasn't sure what 'First thing in the morning' meant to other people. As soon as I got up, I picked up and put away anything and everything that was out of place and vacuumed. The house looked pretty good. I took a shower and by seven was sitting in my office drinking a cup of coffee and checking my email. I took care of a couple of minor things that had cropped up yesterday and completely forgot that people were coming. I was focused on a letter that I was writing and the doorbell scared the shit out of me. I looked at the clock and I had been working for about an hour and a half.

I let them in and asked if it was OK to stay in my office working while they looked. The couple said that was OK with them, but the agent didn't look happy and made a couple of snide comments. I really didn't pay attention to them and when they came into the office, I grabbed my coffee and laptop and went out onto the patio. The agent looked surprised but I didn't care what he thought.

My agent called while I was on the patio and asked how it was going. I told her honestly that I had been working and wasn't paying attention, so I couldn't tell her anything. We hung up and shortly thereafter they came out to look at the backyard. I moved back into the office. They came in a few minutes later and said they were leaving. I heard the front door close and got another cup of coffee and went back to work.

The doorbell rang again and I figured there was something that they had forgotten to check out. It was just the agent.

"I owe you an apology for my behavior earlier." He said. "It's been my experience that when a homeowner stays during a showing, they want to interject themselves into the tour. Not only did you not do that, you went out of your way to stay out of the way. I appreciate that and I am truly sorry."

"It's no problem." I smiled. "I don't know shit about selling a house, so I figured I would just be in the way. You're the expert, not me."

"OK," He said. "Thank you for being understanding."

I called a divorce attorney a little later in the morning. One of his paralegals explained what would happen from here. I made an appointment for later in the week.

My agent called later in the morning and said we had a full price offer. It made me nervous that we may have underpriced the house. She assured me that wasn't the case; the buyers loved the house and didn't want to risk losing it. She emailed me the latest sales in the neighborhood. Our house was actually about ten percent higher than the highest price of any of the homes that had sold in the last year.

Then she said she had good news and bad news. The good news was that the lady had a good sized inheritance and this was going to be a cash sale. The bad news was that they wanted to move in starting this coming weekend, even if we hadn't closed. They were willing to pay me two hundred dollars a day from the time that they moved in until we closed on the sale. I would need to get an apartment really fast or stay in a hotel.

I told her that it was fine, bring me the papers and I would sign them. She would have to get Jeannie's signature on her own. I emailed Jeannie and told her the whole thing, giving her the agent's email address and telling her that the agent would be contacting her. I copied the agent.

About ten minutes later my phone rang, it was Jeannie. "Wow! That was fast." Jeannie said. "Are you sure it wasn't underpriced?"

"The agent showed me the sales for the last year, so I don't think it was." I said. "I just emailed you the comparative sales, so you can see we didn't get screwed. In fact, I think we did well."

I heard her email chime and she agreed that we had done OK when she looked at the other prices. "Aidan?" She said quietly.

I knew that tone. "What?!?"

"Are we OK?" She whimpered a little.

"No, we are not." I said shortly. "But, maybe we can be, OK?" I softened my response. I didn't want her to refuse to sign out of spite.

"OK." She whispered. "I'll sign this thing... Aidan?"

"Yes, Jeannie." I said; a little exasperated.

"Where are you going to live?" She asked with a question that surprised me.

"I'm not sure." I answered truthfully. "I'll probably do a hotel until I decide what I want to do."

"Oh." She said. "Isn't that going to be expensive?"

"Yes, but I thought I'd use the two hundred dollars a day that the buyers are providing until closing." I explained my thoughts. "Unless you have a problem with that and want half of that money."

"No, no, no, that's OK. I just wondered if you had anywhere to go." Her voice kept getting quieter and quieter.

"I'll be fine, Jeannie. Don't worry about me." I said resignedly.

"But I am worried about you, Aidan." I could barely hear her at this point.

"Jeannie, I don't mean to be harsh, but I ceased being your concern about five o'clock on Friday night. Although I suspect it was much longer ago than that." I said. "Don't worry about me, Jeannie; I'll be fine, if there's nothing else, goodbye."

I heard her sniffle as she said goodbye. She was driving me crazier now than she ever did while she had been here.

I called Katie's cell phone and got her voice mail. She was probably in class. I don't call her much during school days and I occasionally forget that she can't answer the phone. I left her a message to call me.

Then I called my boss and filled him in. I asked if I could take the rest of the week because I needed to get packed up.

He laughed. "I'll give you one thing Cunningham, when your life changes and you need to adjust; you don't fuck around. Take whatever time you need. Did you get a chance to look at that Frank Evans thing?"

I thanked him for being understanding. I also told him that I took care of Frank Evans in an emailed letter this morning. We should have a resolution on the contract by weeks end.

"Now you're just showin' off." He laughed and hung up.

I went down to a pack and ship store and bought a bunch of boxes. Then I went to a storage facility and rented a storage space. The terms were month to month so that when I found a place, I wouldn't be on the hook for a long term lease. The monthly rental was higher than if I signed a one-year lease, but the total would be less than if I had to pay for an entire year. I figured at worst I would need it for a couple of months.

When I got home I changed into basketball shorts and a tee shirt and started packing my office up. I had been at it for a while when my phone rang.

It was Katie. "Hey, Little Bro', how you doin'?"

I laughed, "Who are you, Joey Tribbiani?"

She giggled, "At least you got it!"

"You're nuts, you know that?" I said happily.

"You called?" She asked.

"Yeah," I answered, "I sold my house."

"You did what?" Katie gasped.

"I sold my house." I smiled, "I listed it last night. There was another agent in my agent's office that had a couple who want to live in this neighborhood. They looked at it this morning, made a full-price offer and I accepted it. I talked to Jeannie and she's on-board, too."

"Uhhh, Aidan, uhhh, did you, uhhh..." Katie was being surprisingly inarticulate.

"Katie," I said with a little exasperation, "I know what you're so delicately attempting to ask. The agent showed me the sales for the last year, in this neighborhood. We were about ten percent more than a house that sold a couple of streets over a couple of weeks ago, and that was the highest in the last year."

"Oh, OK," Katie sighed. "I was afraid that you were uhhh..."

A light blinked on in my head, I thought I knew what she was worried about. "Jesus Katie!" I blew up. "Do you think that little of me that I would take less money on the house to screw Jeannie?!?!"

"N-n-no, Aidan." Katie whispered. "I was concerned that you were moving too quickly just to get out of that place that now has mixed memories for you. Do you think that little of me that I would think that little of you?"

I felt horrible. "Geez, Katie, I'm sorry. I guess I thought I was handling this OK. Maybe there is some residual emotion in this for me and you seem to be the recipient when I need to pop off."

She giggled a suggestive giggle. "I'll say..."

It took a moment to catch up to her thinking. "Oh Katie, you're bad... you're very bad..."