“That’s a long way off still mom. Don’t worry about that now.”
“It’ll come sooner than you think Jeremy.”
“Its months and months away.” To me that was almost eternity.
“Months and months ago I brought you home from the hospital for the first time. It goes faster than you realize. You’re young and think you have all the time in the world. Then you wake up one day and wonder where your life went.”
“Come on mom, you’re not that old. You have plenty of life left in you.”
“As you said, Jojo will soon be a teen, then a young woman. I don’t want her ever finding out about … us. I would feel worse about that than if your father did.”
“You’re right mom. I was also thinking of the things we miss after they are gone and not appreciating them while you had them.”
“That’s a very wise thing to say.”
“I was playing with Jojo and I realized in a few years her body will change and she probably won’t let me blow farts on her belly anymore. I would miss that.”
“I used to do that to you. And I miss it too.”
“You still can mom!” I lifted my tee shirt. She eyed the patches of hair on my pecs and sprouting up from below my belly button.
“It wouldn’t be the same. And would lead to other things we really shouldn’t be doing.”
“But we love doing!” I added.
“Yes. We do. And now things are complicated.”
“Like I told her, that’s just life and being an adult. There’s nothing we can do about it. Just deal with it.”
“We don’t need to try to make it harder.” She caught herself and gave me a sly wink.
“Harder isn’t so bad sometimes!” I replied.
“I do like it harder, just not life.” Her innuendo just might make it harder! “I think we should get back downstairs before someone comes upstairs.”
I had to agree, as much as I always wanted to be alone with mom. She started to turn, then looked back at me. “I love you Jeremy.” She said quietly although her words were innocent enough for the rest of the family to hear. I knew her intent, and that no one else should hear!
“I love you too mom.” I answered in a voice equally low.
I quickly rose with a glance down to check the readiness, or lack thereof, in my shorts. Mom saw the look and smirked as she turned back to leave. I ran my hand through my hair to get rid of my bed head and followed mom’s shapely calves down the stairs.
At the bottom mom said without turning, ‘there’s a plate in the oven for you. Since you weren’t up at breakfast time.”
I glanced at my dad in his recliner to see if he had caught mom’s intimation. A long drive onto the green kept his attention from us. Or so I thought, because as mom walked past him, he gave her a swat on her behind. He saw me watching him and he smiled with a leer.
“Someday you’ll find a woman like your mother and you won’t be able to keep you hands off her …” He glanced at the two younger kids playing some board game I didn’t recognize, then said, “butt.”
“Daddy!” Jojo cried out in disgust.
“Daddy said butt!” Johnny laughed loudly.
Their two responses covered my reaction before I was able to respond. “Yeah dad, someone like mom and I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off her either. Just like you.”