Once again time seemed to be displaced. I don’t know why we stopped our kissing but if I was complete right now I would be ready to lead him upstairs and get down to business. I didn’t want to go home. When we finished kissing we again stood there forehead to forehead quietly holding each other. My eyes were closed and my thoughts were going through thermal meltdown. Part of me was wondering why I had never felt like this when I kissed a girl and another part was saying, “Who cares?”

He started to let go which caused me to tighten my arms a little drawing his around my waist yet again. I didn’t want to let go. His arms were warm, he smelled wonderful, there was a great heat between us and the world didn’t matter. My eyes were still closed. I started thinking about the fifteen pounds I needed to lose, and my derriere was too big, my one ear was a little lower than the other, my ear lobes didn’t match, my nose was too big and a thousand more things which might make him not like me. Then I began to wonder why he did. I finally discovered I was deep breathing like I’d just finished running a mile.

Slowly my arms unwrapped from around his neck, my eyes opened again and I looked into his as I moved back a little whispering, “Wow.”

He smiled. He had a really nice smile. He helped me to the couch, “before you fall down,” he said quietly.

We sat there while he held my hands together in his. We just sat there for the longest time. This was different, this was nice ... This was ... I don’t know how long we sat there quietly, but when I began to come around again and noticed my surroundings it was nearly nine and I was in no condition to drive home.

He guided me upstairs, “You need some sleep, Lynn.”

He helped me remove my shoes then tucked me, fully clothed, into bed. He was leaving toward the door when I said, “James, please wait. I won’t and can’t do anything tonight but, please, would you just sleep next to me tonight? JUST sleep?”

He looked at me for a minute then took off his shoes and crawled into the bed with me. I cuddled against him, my cheek against his shoulder, my arm across his chest and eventually I went to sleep breathing in the smell of his aftershave.

Other than awakening a couple of times during the night in shock that I was sleeping next to him, nothing happened. I visited the bathroom once then crawled back into bed seeking his warmth. I felt him move around during the night as well but didn’t really awaken more than enough to know he had been moving. I had some really strange dreams ... well, maybe not so strange for a woman.

Early in the night I shed my blouse and pants, sleeping in my pantslip and camisole. I awakened in the morning to discover him gently rubbing the nipples of my breast forms through my camisole and bra. What surprised me was I could feel it a bit as the motion and touch of his fingers transferred through the form and onto my chest. It wasn’t unpleasant. As I awakened he leaned over me giving me a kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and a moment later discovered he was wearing only his underpants. He slid over on top of me and I spread my legs to allow him to assume the dominant position. He was holding most of his weight off of me.

“See how nice it could be to have a husband in bed with you?”

“I never said it wasn’t. But until I’m completely female it isn’t going to happen.”

“It’s happening now.”

“You aren’t my husband, and if I start screaming, an army will pour through that door locked or not.”

“Couldn’t we just pretend for a few seconds?”

I thought about that then raised into him, folding my legs around him. It did feel nice.

I released my hold pulling back again, “Let me up. I need to go home to change so I can get into the office, I have work to do.”

“Could I go with you? I need to talk with my office if I could borrow your conference room. Your office is higher than this location so I'm hoping the signal there will be better.”

“Okay. How does that suitcase work? And you need to let me up.”

He rolled off me, then I reluctantly got up going to check my hair and use the amenities in the bathroom. When I returned, he was shaving with a cordless. He wandered into the bathroom as I pulled on my pants and tucked in my blouse. The low heels went back on my stocking feet then I dug into my purse for my mascara and lipstick. Going over to the vanity, the lights clicked on and I did my minimal for the day. It was just beginning to become light outside, the clock said seven fifteen.

“James, I’m going downstairs. I need to get my jacket and check my car. It sat out all night.”

“Okay. I’ll be down in a minute.” he called back to me.

Exiting his room, I traipsed downstairs to pull my jacket from the closet, put it on and zipped it before I went out to see if I still had a car. It wasn’t too bad, I could still see some color poking out from under the mound of snow. I’d seen a lot worse. By now my gloves were on and I began pushing snow away from the exhaust pipe, off of the hood, and away from the front grille. I unlocked the car which took a bit of warm breath and hands on to release the key cover. After five or six tries I was able to unlock the door then began fighting with it trying to get it open. One of the guys happened along and he yanked on it a couple of times, nearly removing the handle but he managed to open the door. It swung open easily once the ice had been broken loose and the snow was out of the way.

After three reluctant attempts the engine started, it only took a few seconds before I was happily rewarded with it’s purr. While the engine warmed, I begin to knock the snow off the top of the car becoming more cautious when my hand hit the ski rack causing me to suddenly remember it was hidden under the snow along with a couple of sharp poles. Again I fought with the car until the trunk lid finally opened so I could obtain my rubber scraper which I used as gently as possible to remove snow from the windows. It was made to squeegee water off the windows after a rain but it doubled nicely as a snow remover. Not so good for ice though as I discovered one day last year when I scored a mark across my windshield.

The engine had a couple of minutes to warm up so I switched on the defroster and heaters. The seats had built in coils and the rest of the car had forced heat as well as heating coils which were in the rear windows. That was especially nice since the rear windows were covered with sheet ice as well as the little snow which had been sticking to them.

Looking into the monitor for the pursuit camera nothing was visible but a blur. Going to the back I discovered the lens of the camera was blocked with an accumulation of snow. My rolled up kerchief made short work of that, I needed to remember to put a box of Q-tips in the glove box. The camera was now clear of snow, but the image was still a little blurry. I had wished more than once that the camera was inside the car looking out the rear window but then it couldn’t see things close behind the car. The windshield wipers now made short work of whatever snow or ice remained on the windshield. They just pushed it around at first but the defrosters finally heated the glass enough that the wipers were able to fling the stuff off. I switched from the defroster to heat to begin warming the interior of the car. Everything checked out and I was good to go about the time James exited the front door with two of the guys in tow. They all piled into the car after James put his suitcase TV thing into the trunk.

“You’re brave souls to trust my driving.”

“Go on, Lynnette. I know you aced the EVOC.”

“Yes. But that was on dry pavement, not snow and ice.”

I goosed the throttle momentarily to break the tires loose if they should happen to need it then begin to sedately move the car to the waiting point so the tire spikes could be lowered.

“Let me know when they think the spikes are down.”

“They say they’re having a problem with number three.”

I tried to remember where three was located and was about to ask when he said, “Okay, they got it. The fully retracted indicator is lit.”

The gate began to open, pushing snow. It got stuck about half way but I managed to squeeze my car out allowing the gate to close behind me.

“The guys are going to love shoveling that stuff out of the way so they can get the limo out,” one of the agents observed.

“Yeah. This was a wet storm so it’s all sticking together. Not nice like powder. And it will turn to ice if the temperature rises a little then drops again.”

“I’m going to turn down the heat a little, are you warm enough back there?”

“Yeah. These heated seats are great, Lynn. How much did the car set you back?”

“$62K. Plus the extra rims and snow tires. Oh, that also included a full sized spare, not one of those new stupid little good for nothing things.”

“I hate those things too. They make a donut look good.”

The trip home took almost twice as long as my trip from home to the safe house. The snow was still sticking to the roof of my car, partially held in place by the ski rack, skis and poles. When my car made it’s way up the snow filled driveway I inserted my key and waited for the light to turn green then entered the disarming code via the keypad, waiting for the second light to turn green which indicated the alarm had been disabled. Touching the remote for the garage door caused it to open and with only a little loss of traction on the ice we managed to make it into the dry garage where I shut off the engine then hit the garage door control again to close it behind us.

When we piled out of the car my first concern was to go over to check the power bank monitors where I discovered I had nearly a full charge in the peripheral batteries but the house set were down to forty percent. I hoped I didn’t have a cell or two that were dying. That seemed to happen nearly every winter except for the first one when using this system. This was leading edge technology so I couldn’t get replacement cells just anywhere. Someone had said they were the same as those used by the telephone companies but that didn't mean I could buy them there.

“I must have forgotten to shut off the heat. The house charge is down.”

James suddenly took great interest, coming over to look at the panel as I clicked on four breakers, set four switches, then a timer for ninety minutes.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve turned on the driveway heaters and set the timer to kick them off after ninety minutes. That should be long enough to completely clear the driveway unless it starts snowing again. That will allow the limo to drive all the way up to the front and leave room for the chase cars as well. Most of the water created by the melting snow will drain off before it freezes again.”

I clicked on two more breakers. “This will defrost my sidewalks and stairs. All outside heat is powered from the peripheral batteries which show fully charged.”

I checked the consumption meter which showed an estimate of 50% peripheral usage. With both the house and the prediction of the peripherals being down I thought it best I should bring up all of the wind generators.

“The charge gets close like this every winter.” I said as I snapped on four more breakers.

“The last four breakers will force thaw the four wind generators. Each can produce two kilowatts in a five mph breeze and ten K in a twenty or higher wind. The peripheral batteries can store fifty Kilowatt hours and the house batteries can store close to one hundred. The system is also capable of drawing power from the commercial power company but I haven’t needed to do that in two years. My whole system is pretty much self contained. Let’s go in.”

Unlocking the door leading into the mud room we entered then I locked the door again. We walked on into the main house before I turned on the perimeter alarm system again. The alarm warned me one window wasn’t secure on the second floor. We did a hasty check only to find I forgot to close the bathroom window after my bath when I was in my rush to get to the safe house. That little mind fart allowed a small accumulation of snow to drift up against the opening due, I suppose, to air flow into the house through the screen. Otherwise, the house was clear and I had closed the window which cleared the alarm. Re-setting the alarm system gave me a green light. I made a mental note that I needed a master control outside for when I set the alarm as I was going out. The reason why I shouldn’t do that came back to me even faster than the original thought had passed through my mind. Going back downstairs, I started the ten cup coffee pot then retrieved some Danish from the refrigerator to go with it. A quick heating of the serving plate allowed me to warm the Danish. I admonished them to use the napkins as I returned for the coffee. Getting out all the cups and saucers then placing them on the kitchen counter along with cream and sweeteners I pulled out a tray and placed three of the cups on it. Now I started the twenty cup coffee maker so the rest of the gang would have coffee when they arrived, then pulled out more Danish placing it all on a larger pre-warmed platter. The smaller coffee pot went onto my tray and I carried it out for them to serve themselves.

“Use the coasters. I don’t want coffee rings on my furniture. Some of this was my great grandmother’s. There’s more Danish in the kitchen and more coffee is brewing. Cups, cream, sweeteners and napkins are out there waiting for the rest of the guys. I’m going upstairs to shower and change. Be back in an hour.” Turning to James, “Are you able to make your connection okay?”

“Yes. Fine, Thank-you. Here, look. Cathy’s having breakfast. Just a second, I’ll turn on my camera.” He manipulated the keys and I could see us appear in a little window in the lower right corner of the screen as he turned the case to include us both in that smaller picture.
“Hi Cathy. How’s breakfast?” She looked up, away from the table, obviously at a monitor screen.

“Hi Daddy, Hi ... Mommy,” she looked embarrassed, “I’m sorry, I forgot your name.”

“Mommy’s okay, Cathy. My name is Lynn.”

“Lynn. Thank-you. I had fun while I was there.”

“How would you like to come here for Christmas? We’ll be doing all kinds of special things and there will other children to meet and Santa Claus will be handing out presents.”

Her face fell for a moment then brightened again, “Really? Do we get to play in the snow, too?”

“Certainly.”

“Can I go, Daddy?”

“Yes. You can go, but it won’t be for quite a few weeks yet so you will have lots of time until then.”

“Cathy, did you send a letter to Santa this year?”

She looked hurt, “No.”

“Why not? Can’t you write yet? Nana could help you.”

“I know.”

James gave me a little squeeze on my arm just out of range of the camera.

“Well maybe you could tell your father and he could let Santa know.”

“Okay.” she still sounded lackluster.

“I’ve got to go sweetheart, your father will be here for a while ... Bye.”

“Bye.”

I made a mental note to ask him what the problem happened to be with Santa Claus and Cathy sometime when we had a moment alone then I headed on up to my room. Selecting my outfit for the day, it went onto my bed before I undressed and went in for a nice hot shower, luxuriating in the pounding water and mindless activity.

My thoughts drifted back to this morning, awakening next to James and the thoughts which ran through my mind. Eventually the water began cooling, a certain indication I should end the shower if I wanted to remain warm. I wrapped my hair and patted myself dry then powdered and put on my undies.

Now I begin the tedium of drying my hair, brushing it excessively until it behaved. In the dry winter weather, static was easy to build up so getting it to behave was a chore. I hoped once my own had grown out it would be a little easier to care for, this was like caring for two heads of hair. I was still young enough to want long hair. I put it all up into a ponytail and continued dressing, then applied my make up before putting on my blouse. Today was going to be very casual.

Going back down, I found everyone had arrived so I checked the pot, refilled the small one with the remains of the twenty cup pot then went out to start another pot brewing. Passing back into the garage during my circuit so I could check the power system again I noted the snow which had been on the roof of my car had turned into a puddle on the floor under it. I took down my skis and poles drying them before putting them against the wall of the garage. Finally the power system was checked again. I could have done this in the kitchen or in my bedroom but I couldn’t do projections or see the rate of use and charge at those locations so I wanted to do it here. The peripheral batteries were still losing ground but not much. That meant the wind generators were providing most of the energy which was thawing the driveway and sidewalks. Peripheral storage was now about eighty five percent. The house was gaining, fortunately. It was up to sixty percent over the last hour or so despite our usage of heat, lights and the water heater for my shower. I could almost see the house storage indicator climbing.

If this wind kept up I would easily have the house bank filled by the end of the day even if I left the heat on. I made the mental note to set it down to sixty degrees before we left, that should work out okay. I heard a click and all the peripheral breakers snapped off. I reset the kick-off timer to four hours but this time set a startup time of around 4:00. Then I clicked on half of the walk, driveway and stair breakers again. That hopefully would allow those areas to thaw again before I got home for the evening. The squeegee thing was taken down from the wall so the puddle of water surrounding my car could be pushed toward the center of the garage where the drain accepted most of it. Then I dried the squeegee with a paper towel. As I reentered the kitchen I found one of the guys raiding my refrigerator.

“Hi Lynn, got any luncheon meat? Thought I’d make a sandwich.”

“No. I was planning on treating us all to Denny’s or I-Hop. Go tell the guys to decide which while I clean this up. How’s James doing with his suitcase?”

“He shut down a couple of minutes ago. Spent most of that time with his office and daughter. He’ll go back on it once we get to the office. He figures the additional height there will help with the signal. Apparently he likes being up on hills.”

I nodded my head, “Could you have the guys bring their cups and trash into the kitchen? After I finish here, we’ll all go eat.”

“Sure thing, Lynn.”

A minute later, as the sink was filled with hot soapy water and the guys were bringing their stuff into the kitchen in a procession. I began washing and had some of the saucers in the rinse water when James came in with his cup. I slid his into the soapy water then began washing more saucers as he started searching for something.

“What are you looking for, James?”

“A dish towel. I’ll dry.”

I wasn’t about to refuse the offer of help, “Under here,” I indicated with soap suds dripping from my gloved hand.

He pulled out a towel.

“That’s a hand towel, leave it out and take one of the white ones with designs on them, those are the dish towels.”

He pulled out a dish towel then closed the door so I could stand at the sinks again. As he dried and stacked the saucers he was looking at my neat orderly kitchen. Dozens of spoons, ladles, knives and strainers were hanging or sheathed all over the place. He looked in some of the lower cupboards to discover mixing bowls, cooking pots, two double boilers, a brand spanking new Rival crock pot and two turkey pans complete with covers.

As he began drying the cups, he looked around some more finding the two range tops in the center island, which were each covered by a composite marble slab which disguised them, while an overhead ventilation hood gave away their location. Two large ovens and a large microwave were built into the stone faced wall nearby. The refrigerator was 23 cu. ft. and there was an upright freezer next to it. My kitchen was ready and able to support a large party. A medium sized microwave was located on the center island along with both a four and an eight slice toaster. The commercial eight slice was spotlessly clean. It should be since it was fairly new and had never baked a slice of toast, at least to my knowledge.

James turned back to finish his duties drying the cups and saucers. Soon I was draining the soapy water, rinsing the sink and drying it with the moist dish towel. I opened the drain of the sink that was filled with the rinse water then shook off the gloves before drying them with the dish towel. Finally I dried the rinse sink.

The dish towel was used to wipe down the counter then went into the laundry room. The trash was taken out and we were finished.

James watched all my activity silently.

All characters in this work have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relationship whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. The characters contained herein are not even distantly inspired by any specific individuals known or unknown to the author. All incidents described or alluded to within this work are pure invention. No affiliations, involvements or gender assignations due to the use of any images contained within this work are to be implied, intended or inferred.

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