First Year After Ch. 06

"I'm not going to have Drew's child, though," Mom said.

"Mona didn't intend to get pregnant either, Tina," Toni said, sniffling. It was still hard for her to talk about her sister. "She just didn't have a backup plan for when it happened anyway. No birth control is perfect, short of a tubal ligation or vasectomy, and I know Drew and Patti want kids, so that rules out him getting a vasectomy to protect you, and it would look suspicious for you to get a tubal electively at your age. All I'm saying is that if a pregnancy does happen, you would need an explanation, so it might make sense to plan one, whether it's going to a sperm bank or having a lover on the side often enough to name him as the baby's father."

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December 6, 2013

First week back to school and Matt and Sophia seemed much better, although there still tended to be some sharpness in their tones early in the week.

Foursome Friday was rather brief, as we all had to work on papers prior to finals. Patti rode my face, while Sophia gave me a blowjob and Matt fucked her from behind. It didn't go unnoticed by me that Matt wanted the position that kept him from having intimate contact with Patti. But whether this was his choice, or perhaps Sophia's, I didn't know. They were still not talking about their conflicts, so I could only guess.

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December 14, 2013

Matt and Sophia broke up yet again the week before finals, the big blowup being when she accused him, apparently not for the first time, of being more attracted to Patti than her, which he apparently did a monumentally bad job of denying and then counter-accused Sophia of being more attracted to me. I could sympathize with both of them, and told him straight out when Sophia moved herself back to the dorm that he needed to determine what his true feelings were for both women, and then be honest with all concerned, even if the answer was that he loved them both equally or, perhaps harder, that he loved Sophia less. But trying to evade that, with Patti or particularly with Sophia, wasn't going to work

Patti and I stopped having sex with him after Sophia left, especially with the pressure of finals coming up, telling him we should all reevaluate what we wanted over holiday break, and check in with each other when we got back. I didn't know how it was all going to turn out, especially if the result was that he wanted me to share Patti with him long-term, and where that would fit in with Mom. She had never met Matt, and Patti and I might get pushed into committing to him as a co-husband? I could not use my relationship with Mom to push Matt away without revealing it first, and it was too late to use my relationship with Patti to do so, and I wasn't completely sure how Patti felt about Matt. I couldn't ask her, "Do you love him now?" every week. It was crazy. I had to focus on finals, though, so had no choice but to set it aside for later.

Mom had broken up with Steve Jensen earlier in the week, too. She said that he had blurted out his ex-wife's name during their second time having sex, and she simply used it as an excuse to fake an argument with him to break up. I felt a little sorry for him, but understood Mom's decision to keep their relationship short.

Aunt Toni was still dating Jason, who I had yet to meet. They were spending more and more time together, and Mom said he was frequently sleeping with her at my house, leaving Mom alone some nights. It was Toni's right to decide her life's path, and I was happy for her. I was just going to miss her if she ultimately moved out. How I felt about Toni in many ways mirrored how I thought Matt felt about Patti, not that I could tell him that. Even though she wasn't related by blood, the mere fact that I called her my aunt put her into the 'taboo' category, and explaining yet another threesome, so close to my Mom, wouldn't do much to protect our secret.

Mom also let us know that the 'For Sale' sign next door had come down, but without a 'SOLD' sign taking its place. Mom called Carmen, who could only say that the owners had taken the house off the market. She "wasn't at liberty" to say more, which I know meant the info was covered by confidentiality clauses in her contract with them.

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December 20, 2013

I woke up to my alarm on the morning one year to the day after Dad died. Patti was cuddled next to me, but I needed to get up and get ready for a Systems Analysis final that morning, then we were driving home. Finals were for some reason a full six days later on the 2013 calendar than they had been in 2012, which is why I was still on campus instead of home like I had been a year before. Patti's last final was the afternoon before, but she was waiting for me, so we could caravan our two cars together. She would be headed to her parents' house, and me to Mom's.

I took a few moments while I was getting ready to look back at the past year. Dad's death, the memorial. Mom and Patti and then Mom and me and all three of us together. Toni, Jean and ABC. Matt, Sophia and Steve. So much was different, and most of it wouldn't have happened with Dad still alive.

I didn't know if my Dad was smiling down on me from Heaven. I'm not sure I even believe in it as a place, but I do believe that there is more to existence than just what we can see, and that some kind of afterlife is possible, even if unproven. But if my Dad was watching me, I hoped he was happy with me, for at least most of the choices I had made over the past 365 days.

On to a second year without him. I wondered what new changes it had in store for us.

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Author's Note: Yes, the Steve Jensen in this chapter is the same one as in my 'Dad, Do I Turn You On?' series. Although it's not explicitly stated in 'Dad', that story is set in the summer of 2015, meaning Steve's appearance here actually predates that story by 18 months, so don't worry if you haven't read 'Dad' yet (but please do - shameless plug!). Once I decided during the plotting stage that Tina would need to date again, I thought it would be a fun touch to have Steve be the first of those guys, as one of the dating relationships Steve mentions as not working out in his story, and altered the setting and timing of this story be Dallas in 2013 to make the crossover work.

Preliminary plotting for 'Second Year After' and 'Third Year After' has been done, along with some scenes being written, because they popped into my head fully formed and I wanted to get them typed up before I forgot them, although they could still change drastically before publication. Look for both series later this year. And sometime after 2016 is over, I'll be able to start 'Fourth Year After', too. However, I am probably going to work on some other story ideas before I delve back into these characters.

As always, your feedback is appreciated.

Leenysman