-
When I opened my front door, my lover and oldest niece Stormi dropped a cigarette butt at the top of the painted wood steps. She crushed it out with her shoe, then turned her head away from me and exhaled a long stream of smoke. “It’s great to see you again, Uncle Pete! Mom said she would call you?”
I nodded and answered, “I just talked to her. She says I can’t let you drink or smoke anymore.” I was happy to see her, and even happier that she wore a short and sleeveless red top. It clung to her chest and left most of her abdomen exposed.
“She said I’d be healthier if I don’t smoke, but nothing about me quitting. Can I get a beer? I noticed my period cramps aren’t as bad when I drink.”
“Stormi, I love you, but no. She’ll pay for your college expenses, but only if you quit smoking and drinking.”
“That’s not what she said! Don’t you trust me? GAWD!”
“Sorry, but this is important.” I took my cell from my pocket and tapped ‘callback’. “Hey, Helen, Stormi and I were wondering…”
My niece loudly objected, “You don’t trust me! You don’t love me! Then FUCK YOU!” She stomped down the stairs. Her parents’ house was southwest of mine, but she jogged north along the sidewalk.
I moved the phone away from my face and called out, “Wait! Whoa! Where are you going?”
It hurt intensely when she held up her middle finger and yelled, “ASSHOLE! I’ll be at my friend Jackie’s, if you decide you give a SHIT!”
“Stormi, I’m sorry! Wait!” She turned right at the end of the block and ran out of sight. I felt tears welling up at the corners of my eyes and tried to stop them. On my phone, her mother repeatedly asked, “Hello? Hello?”
I moved it back to my ear. “Yeah, Helen?”
“If that’s all it took to split you up, you two had no business being together.”
I became suspicious and angry. I asked, “Did you tell her something different than you told me?”
“If a sentence or two from another person is all it takes to blow up your relationship, it’s not real love, not even close.”
I was suddenly furious. “You manipulative CUNT!” I hung up on her and tried calling Stormi.
I tried five more times over the next few hours, but she didn’t answer me. I typed up a long text message apology, changed my mind, and deleted it. I immediately changed my mind again, wrote another, and deleted that too.
Eventually, I sent her, “Stormi, I’m so very sorry. I love you! I love you more than words can say! Please come back, or at least call and let me know you’re okay? If your mom won’t help you pay for college, I will. It’s okay if you drink here sometimes. I don’t like smoking, but I’ll keep buying you cigarettes and you can smoke here if you want. Please at least call me? I’m so sorry! I love you so very much, Sweetness.”
At ten o’clock I decided I should go to bed, since I had to work in the morning. On the way, I heard the microwave beeping. My TV dinner was room temperature and didn’t look appealing at all. I tossed it out and ate a quick sandwich.
I walked upstairs and noticed Stormi’s jacket on the chair in the guest room. Maybe it makes me a wimp, but I missed her intensely. I picked up the jacket and hugged it to my face. I fell asleep cuddling and sniffing it, remembering the love and happy times we shared.
-
I woke from a bad dream and heard glass breaking. I was too hot and suffocating! I rolled around and eventually got the jacket off my head. I took a few deep breaths, then looked around. Stormi’s phone was lying on the floor next to my bed, and there was a big crack in the plastic. I flipped it over and cringed. The screen was badly broken, too. It had been in a jacket pocket. It must have broken when I rolled over on it, or when it fell to the floor.
I realized she would be even more pissed off at me, then noticed the time, 6:40 am. I was supposed to be at work in only twenty minutes! I hurried to get dressed, then grabbed my phone and keys. I thought while I ran to my truck and unlocked the driver’s door. I ran back into the house and grabbed the broken phone. Hopefully, I could get it repaired after work.
I didn’t know her friend Jackie or where she lived. Calling Helen to find out was obviously a terrible idea. At the office, my brother Frank, Stormi’s father, said, “You better get a move on. They start pouring the foundation for the Jackson Street house in half an hour.” I was annoyed he felt the need to remind me.
I agreed, “Yeah. I’ll get right over there. Listen. Stormi left her keys and phone at my place. She said she was going to stay with her friend Jackie. Any idea where she lives?”
“I dunno. I’ll ask Helen. Just a minute.” I sighed silently while he called his snobby bitch of a wife. After a short talk, he told me, “1702 Pine Street, by the corner of Pine and Seventeenth.”
That was obvious just from the address. I was getting sick of him treating me like a moron, but politely said, “Thanks. If you hear from Stormi, tell her I’ll be there after work.”
“Sure. The concrete trucks are on the way. You better get going.” I bit my tongue and clenched my fists as I walked to the parking lot. The sooner I could start my own company and get away from my brother's, the better!
-
At lunchtime, my other brother Rodney called and added to my frustrations. “Hey Pete, could Wynter and Sunny stay with you tonight? I’m taking my wife to dinner and a hotel for our anniversary.”
If it weren’t for my situation with Stormi, I would have been happy to. Even if I got her to forgive me, there would be no way we could do anything romantic or intimate with her cousins in the house. I gave the excuse, “Stormi’s been having some trouble lately, and I’m trying to help her out.”
Rod said, “You know they like you and Stormi. They won’t be any trouble. I’ll owe you one.”
I sighed and gave in. “Well, I guess. Okay.”
"Pick them up before we leave at six. Thanks."
-
I had a lot to do after work, and it was a hard second half of the day. The worst part was unloading supplies for the Maple Street house, which would have a brick wall façade in front. We got everything ready, but had to wait half an hour for the masonry truck. I told Luis to unload it with the forklift.
He got distracted and ran over a big rock. The pallet of bricks shifted and the forklift tipped on its side, sending a cascade of six hundred bricks tumbling down the steep hill. Picking them up took all five of us a tedious extra hour! Thankfully, only twenty or so were broken and nobody got hurt. We laid all but the top two courses of the wall before stopping for the day. The next day I'd send somebody to finish it, while the rest of us set up for the slab pour at the Brighton job.
As I drove to a cell phone store, I thought of the word “laid” and chuckled to myself. I wondered why the bricks were luckier than I was. All of them got laid, other than the broken ones. With all the trouble I’d gone through for Stormi, I’d only gotten two blowjobs and a few seconds of penetration. Still, I loved her, though, intensely and deeply. I imagined how being deep inside her butt would feel, and noticed a growth in my boxers. I missed the turn for the phone store and had to drive around the block.
The tech at the store couldn't fix Stormi's phone, but sold me a replacement and moved the data to it. My brother Rod called as I walked outside. "It's six o'clock, Pete. Where are you?"
I replied, "Sorry, I had to get a new phone. Be there as soon as I can."
“Hurry up! Wendy’s in the mood, and we can’t do much with the kids here.”
I chuckled to myself and agreed. “Hahaha! She’s a loud one. My first time, she screamed as I finished. I worried that I was killing her! Hahaha! Good thing we did it out in the barn!”
He sounded annoyed and jealous. “Yeah. I know. I was there.”
I wondered about his older daughter and asked, “I think Wynter’s birthday is coming up?”
“No. She turns eighteen in November. Sunny is twelve on Saturday. How far away are you?”
I started my truck and replied, “Gimme twenty minutes.”
“See you then. Bye.”
-
I parked in Rod’s driveway. His daughters waved, then climbed in the truck beside me. “Hi.” “Hi, Uncle Pete.”
"Hi, girls. What would you like for your birthday, Sunny?”
She requested, “Can I get a phone? Mom and Dad won’t buy me one ‘til I’m fourteen.”
Wynter chimed in. “You don’t need one. The only person you’d call is Summer, and she lives next door. You’re already with her, like, fifty-seven hours a day.”
“Well, but what if I have an emergency? Or if we need to talk in the middle of the night? Hey, there she is!” She pointed to the house next door. My niece who was already twelve ran across the yard, and I rolled my window down.
I greeted her, “Hi, Summer.”
“Can I come, too, Uncle Pete? Please?”
Sunny pleaded, “Please? Please, Uncle Pete?”
I sighed. “Sure. Why not? Sit in Wynter’s lap.”
She climbed onto her older cousin’s lap, then slid over and sat on Sunny, who hugged her from behind. Summer rested her hands on Sunny’s and smiled. They told each other, “I missed you.” “I missed you, too.”
Like their parents, I thought it was great they got along so well. Wynter sighed. “Really? You saw each at lunch.”
“But we’re best friends.” “Yeah, she’s my BFF!”
I backed out of the driveway and said, “This is gonna be extra-crowded. We need to pick up Stormi, too.”
Winter complained, “Awh, great.”
-
At Stormi’s friend’s house on Pine, I parked and knocked on the door. A girl a little older than Stormi opened it with a smoldering cigarette in her hand. Her long messy hair was bright green on one side, and pink on the other. She wore a black and green Jack Daniels T-shirt. “Yeah?”
“Hi. I’m Stormi’s uncle Pete. Is she here?”
“I’m Jackie. She got tired of waiting, and went home.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I sighed and walked back to the truck. I picked up a phone for Summer on the way to Sunny and Stormi’s house. I dreaded the chance of a confrontation with Helen, and asked, “Wynter, can you go get Stormi, please?”
She huffed and reluctantly said, “Fine. But I’m sitting in her lap, not the other way around. She outweighs me by a ton!”
I clarified, “Hahaha! You’re about a hundred pounds, so she’s only twenty heavier. It’ll only be for a few minutes.” Wynter checked, but Frank hadn’t seen her. I gave up and took my three other nieces to my place.
Stormi was sitting on my front steps. She was very happy, until she noticed her sister and cousins. I parked, then handed Wynter my keys. I told her, “Please make a couple pizzas. I need to talk to Stormi.”
Stormi and I stared into each other’s eyes while the others went inside. I locked up the truck and quietly declared, “I’m so sorry! I love you, Stormi!”
“I’m sorry and I love you too, Pete! So much!” She grabbed my shoulders and thrust her tongue into my mouth.
I was very tempted, but gently pushed her away. “We need to keep our love a secret, especially with your cousins here. I’m in love with you, but we can’t do anything tonight.”
“I’m sorry I was so upset. Jackie helped me figure some things out. She wants to be a psychologist. I think I feel the same things other people feel, just like louder, more intensely.”
I wondered to myself, ‘A psychologist who looks like Harley Quinn?’ “It’s okay. I’m very happy you’re back, but be cool. We can’t let your sister or cousins find out.” She sadly nodded in agreement.
Her expression went from disappointed to aroused, as she said, “Sucks they’re here, but we’ll be alone tomorrow night.” She briefly opened the top of her purse, exposing a small dildo and a bottle of sex lube!
I smiled. “Tomorrow will be great! But tonight, I’m just boring old Uncle Pete, and you’re one of the kids I’m babysitting. Oh, here’s your keys. Sorry I broke your phone accidentally. The store couldn’t fix it, so I got you a new one.”
“Wow! This one is a lot nicer. Thanks!” She kissed my cheek and turned it on. I followed her toward the steps and said, “I’m glad they could at least copy your data to the new one.”
She frowned and said, “No. My contacts and pictures, my songs, they’re all gone. My old messages, too.”
I suddenly realized I’d mixed up the phones, and quietly exclaimed, “SHIT! That’s the blank one! Summer has yours!”
-
