“Oh!” said Maddy. She leaned over and sniffed the seat cushion. It didn’t smell like beer, so Carl must have succeeded at wiping it up. But Carl was right; it was very wet. She thought about turning the seat cushion over but thought it better to leave it up to dry.
Maddy took pride in taking care of things. She liked things to be just so. It wasn’t easy to keep things that way with a job of her own to manage and a husband who grew lazier, it seemed, with every day. Thank goodness that her son Kyle, though like a teen boy in many of his habits, often volunteered to help with chores around the house.
“Here, mom,” Kyle said, patting his hand on the love seat on his left side. “There’s some room here. I’ll move over so you can sit next to me.” Kyle pressed his legs as far as he could against the right side of the little sofa.
Maddy squeezed next to Kyle on his half of the love seat. She put a pillow on the other cushion to keep her dress from contacting the wet part of the little sofa. Kyle wore shorts, and when Maddy sat down the warmth of his leg surprised her. So did its hardness; his thigh muscle pressed against her like steel.
Kyle felt surprise and pleasure at the cool, soft skin of his mom’s leg against his own.
The T.V. show, called “Angel City Detective,” began. It had premiered on a cable channel a year ago and had become their favorite. The series was about an attractive, young, female detective fighting crime in the dark underbelly of modern-day Los Angeles. Her name was Angel, and the irony of her name was that despite her by-the-book police methods, along with her innocent looks and understated beauty, she had a dark, wild, sexual side that she struggled to keep secret from her work colleagues. Its deft combination of sex, violence, and smart writing — not to mention, the sex appeal of the actress that played Angel — had made it a big hit. The Ryersons sat down to watch it every week.
Maddy glanced at Carl again, annoyed. She wished he would control his drinking better. Maddy didn’t mind Carl having a couple of drinks to relax when he came home. But lately his routine had involved more than a couple of drinks, and by the time he turned the T.V. off he often was drunk. Maddy’s love life suffered as a result of Carl’s drinking habit. Lately, it seemed like he loved his six-pack more than his wife. Carl’s inattentiveness had left her feeling perpetually frustrated and horny.
The relentless heat of the last seven days had just made it worse.
While Maddy was annoyed at Carl, Kyle was thinking about how his mom’s leg felt pressed against him. It felt surprisingly good, which was kind of weird, Kyle thought, because it was just his mom. Kyle, too, was agitated and antsy. He hadn’t had sex once since coming back home from college for the summer. His summer job kept him working long hours and left him tired at the end of the day, and he hadn’t had time to date. So far, the only sexual relief he’d gotten all summer had been through jerking off. And he’d been too tired even to do that for the last five days. Sitting on the sofa, he was hot and agitated, and he thought his balls were going to burst.