She felt sure the hair would be plastered tightly to her lips.
When she heard her father drive up, Lily hurried to the front door, stood smoothing her skirt on her hips, tugging it down just a little. Her heart was pounding. She heard him run up the steps. Peering through the curtain she saw his grin. Her lover! As always he wore a jacket and tie that looked out of place. He made dressy clothes seem overstuffed. His chest and neck were simply too big, She opened the door and drew back to the wall, gazing at him, blushing, suddenly tongue-tied, aware that a full day had separated them since dawn when he had pumped his load of jism into her cunt.
He handed her a flat box wrapped in tissue.
'A little gift,' he said, not quite meeting her gaze.
She took it and tore it open. A nightie, a featherweight thing like a white mist. Swallowing down her pleasure, she crushed it to her bosom.
'Don't you like it?' he asked.
She choked, 'I'd rather have a kiss, Daddy.'
He bent down and pecked her cheek. Alarmed, she let the nightie fall, seized his lapels and clung.
'Daddy, I mean a real kiss.'
'Honey, listen. I've been thinking. I wonder if we shouldn't ease up. Think things over. I love you too much- you see, honey-'
Without finishing, he thrust from her, strode toward the bedrooms.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. It had ended. He had not even looked at her crotch-length dress. She picked up the nightie and sat in the chair by the phone in the hall, sniffling.
Shortly he emerged from his room wearing only a pair of shorts, barefoot.
He said, 'I'll work in the greenhouse until supper.'
'No!' she cried.
He paused, biting his lip. He was looking at her dress. Rather, looking at her exposed twat, for the dress had pulled up when she sat. She saw a darkness in his eyes. He rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth.
Was he changing his mind?
Then she heard a voice at the kitchen door.
It was Kit, calling, 'Bill, could I speak to you for a moment?'
He turned and strode toward her. Lily sprang up, reaching out toward him but he kept on going to the sound of Kit's voice.
Kit was trembling all over. She guessed she looked haggard. She felt it. She stood on the steps from the greenhouse to the kitchen door and saw Bill appear, a hulking, hairy-chested man in blue denim work shorts.
She gasped, 'Bill. Do me a favor? A big one?'
He opened the screen door. He was grinning at her. 'Hell, Kit, you can have anything except my right arm. I need it. Come on in. We'll pop a beer.'
'Bill, I've mixed cocktails. I want you to come over and have a drink with me. That's the favor.'
'I must say, you're demanding an awful lot.' He grinned, turned back and called, 'Lily, I'm going over to Kit's for a minute.'
Kit led him out of the greenhouse.
In her kitchen she took the tray of dry martinis she had already poured, handed it to Bill, and went into the living room, where Sonny was watching the afternoon ball game on TV.
She said, 'Darling, I want to talk to Bill. Would you please go help Lily make supper, or watch her TV-'
Sonny looked surprised but obeyed without a word. When she heard the kitchen door snap shut she took her drink from the tray Bill had set on the coffee table. They tinkled their glasses together and far a moment she met his eyes over the urns of their glasses, gray eyes with a twinkle in them, handsome eyes in a squarish brown face, a good, clean, honest face.
She said, 'I've been a terrible fool, Bill.'
'Welcome to the club.' He settled back against the cushions.
'Bill, I despise myself.'
He scanned her. 'I don't see anything to despise, just the prettiest woman in town.
'Do you know why I'm divorced? I mean, why my husband insisted on it?'
'Sure. Because you had too much spirit, too much independence for his liking. You wanted to pay your own way, which you do now, but he wanted to keep you in your kitchen.'
She smiled. 'You're good at telling me what I want to hear.'
'I'll tell you something you don't want to hear. Your martinis are too small.'
Impulsively she bent over him and kissed his forehead.
He looked up, surprised.
'Thanks, Bill,' she said. She could not explain how he had, with a few words, lifted her spirits. He liked her. She knew he did, liked her as a person, respected her. That was what counted. Dropping down on the couch beside him, she said, 'You'd make my day if we could extend the favor a little. Stay to supper?'
'Lily has ours ready.'
'Let the kids eat it. You and I-please, Bill? r need time to tell you things.'
'Don't tell too much,' he warned. 'And don't run out of gin.'
Smiling, she nodded agreement.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lily was in her room, sobbing, when Sonny called from the kitchen.
'I got kicked out. Can I watch your TV?' She swallowed a lump in her throat before saying, 'Go ahead.'
Her tears dried up. Thoughtful now, she went to the bathroom and washed off the tears. What were Daddy and Kit up to?
Not wanting Sonny to see her pussy blatantly exposed, she got a pair of panties, pretty lace ones, and put them on before going out to the living room.
As she passed the hall phone it rang. She answered, heard her father say, 'Honey, you feed Satiny. I'm dining with Kit tonight.'
Astonished, she hung up. Never had anyone phoned between the two houses! It was always a yell, or a head poked in the kitchen door. Things sure were screwed up.
A mirror hung over the phone. She fixed her hair in it, then wondered why she was going to all the trouble for Sonny, who preferred screwing his mother?
She stood on tiptoes to examine her skirt length.
It was flattering, she thought, making her look like all legs. Her legs were pretty, she knew that without vanity. She went into the living room.
Sonny's gaze was fixed on the TV screen. Somebody was at bat. She deliberately sauntered across his line of vision, saw him look up, staring at her midsection.
'Hey, is that a dress, Lily? Or a…'
'It's the latest,' she said, dropping into an armchair, the arm of which hid her thighs. 'Daddy is staying at your mother's for supper. You're eating here.'
Their gazes met. His mouth gaped. 'Kit-and your-dad?'
She nodded.
She wished the house next door were a greenhouse, so she could see what was going on.
After his second dry martini, Bill switched to beer. The weather was too hot for heavy drinking.
Kit did not go into her troubles before supper. They traded light chatter and when she went to the kitchen to do the steaks, he switched on the TV ball game and watched it without really seeing, sipping beer and pondering Kit's actions. When she called him in he saw that she had changed to yellow shorts and halter. She looked dazzling, those luscious tits and the round ass cheeks and lusty thighs. And her smile across the table, her lower lip flattening, dimples indenting her cheeks, the crinkle marks at her eye corners, the auburn hair wreathed softly about her face.
