A Week in the Snow (16 page)

“That’s enough!” Richard finally raised his voice. The shock of that made both women look at him instead of at each other. “Her name is Rebecca, and she’s my girlfriend.”

“She’s the other woman!”

“She understands the circumstances, and, no, she is not the other woman. I’m not hiding her. She’s my girlfriend, and anybody who knows my history will understand and accept that.”

“She’s a whore,” his mother spat again, her face a mottled red. She stared at him as if she were determined her point would get across and bully his into oblivion. She had always disciplined with a firm hand, even when her kids were grown, and she wasn’t the kind to let a differing opinion get in her way.

Richard stepped towards her, forcing her back to the door. “She’s not a whore. If you call her that again, you can remember this is my home, and I won’t tolerate it here.”

“Don’t you mean your home with Amanda? Your wife’s name is still on the deed, isn’t it?”

The sneering tone of voice sent fury through Rebecca. This was his mother? How did Richard manage to grow into such a gentle, non-judgemental man if this was the example he had?

“Get out of my house.”

The order was delivered with such quiet fury that Janette took a step back from her son and stared at him, seeing a totally different person. Rebecca stared at him too, surprised at the amount of fury he conveyed in a few short words.

“What has she done to you?” she demanded, glaring at Rebecca.

“She’s shown me what I’ve been missing,” he said, and started to swing the door shut.

“You’re not throwing me out!”

Richard looked at the woman in front of him. He loved her, but she was so filled with anger and self-righteousness that he felt as though he had no idea who she was. His heart softened towards her, but he wasn’t the same pushover anymore. He had done a lot of thinking, and he had decided long before Rebecca came along that it was time to move on with his life. Rebecca had been the final push in getting that process started.

“I love you, Ma,” he said, and Janette’s chin quivered. “But this is my life, and I’m going to live it how I see fit. I’m sorry if that way doesn’t agree with you.”

“But you can’t do this. You’re married, Richard! I raised you better than this!”

“I’m sure Amanda’s parents are thinking the same thing about her.”

Janette’s mouth dropped open. Richard stood in the doorway, unmoving. His mother finally moved back on to the sidewalk and shot him one last glare.

“You’re doing something wrong, Richard. The laws of both God and man say so.”

“Be careful going home, Ma. I love you.”

With that, Richard shut the door. He leaned his forehead against it for a moment, trying to get his emotions under control. Jesus Christ, how much upheaval could one day hold? It wasn’t even noon yet.

He turned to look at Rebecca, who yet stood by the bottom of the stairs. Their eyes met and for a moment they stood perfectly still. Rebecca was the first to break, and when she did she ran towards him, needing his touch more than anything else. He scooped her into his arms as they listened to his mother’s car navigate out of the driveway and roar away.

“That went well,” Rebecca murmured, fighting tears. She held on to him as hard as she could, realising what a chance he was taking with her, and how much resistance he would encounter from those who loved him most. Amanda might be alive and well, but her ghost was very clearly haunting those she had left behind.

“You’re not what she said,” he told her, unable to repeat the words his mother had used. The thought of applying them to someone like Rebecca, a woman who had done absolutely nothing wrong, was out of his realm of belief.

“I know.”

“Do you?”

“Three years is long enough. It’s not possible to be a home-wrecker when there’s no marriage left to destroy, is there?”

Richard kissed her. They were both shaking from the aftermath of the confrontation. Richard could feel the fine tremors of her body as she fought to keep her emotions under control. In a sudden decision, he led her to the living room. Her thighs bumped the back of the couch in front of the fireplace. Richard slipped his hand up her back, under her shirt, until he reached her neck.

He bent her over the back of the couch.

Rebecca had no idea what he was doing until she was draped over his couch, naked ass up in the air, her hands on the cushions to steady herself. The ready pose immediately set passion afire, and she spread her legs, bracing her feet on the floor. Richard pushed down his pyjamas and pressed his hard cock against her pussy.

“Fuck me,” she said over her shoulder, and before the words were out, he was buried to the hilt inside her.

He slammed into her with the second stroke, lifting her feet from the floor. His good hand on her hip and his bandaged one resting on the small of her back, he pulled her closer to him with every thrust. She couldn’t push back against him. With all her weight resting on her hands and the back of the couch, she couldn’t thrust at him, and she couldn’t reach back to touch him, either. She could only ride on the wave of his motion and let the sensations come as they would. It was a curious feeling, not having any control, and she found that she liked it much more than she had thought she would.

“Fuck me harder,” she called out. “Please, fuck me harder.”

Richard let go on her, thrusting viciously, hitting bottom every time and making her cry out in both pain and pleasure. He reached forward and yanked her hair. Rebecca let out a howl of pain and he would have stopped, but her next word was very clear: “Yes!”

Richard moved closer to the couch, so that his thrusts were angled upward a bit, and rammed her again. This time she hollered in approval but then stopped, because every thrust was taking the breath from her. When Richard’s hand let go of her hip and that same hand came down on her ass, spanking her hard, she almost came with the shock of it.

“Do it,” she growled, and he began to spank her with a rhythm that matched his strokes. Thrust in, pull out, spank. Thrust in, pull out…spank harder. Every slap of his hand stoked the fire in her pussy and made her clit jump with the thrill. She hovered on the edge of an orgasm for what seemed an eternity, until Richard reached underneath her and stroked her clit with two fingers.

The blood rushed out of her head and almost made her faint. The orgasm rushed up from the middle of her, making her cry out. The heat of him rushed out of his dick and into her, spreading within her as he groaned. Rebecca’s hands finally gave way and she fell forward on to the couch, landing on her side, the juices of his orgasm painting the inside of her thighs. She lay on the couch and looked up at him, breathing hard, her eyes wide with discovery.

“You spanked me,” she said, when she could breathe again.

“You wanted it.”

She grinned and reached back to touch her ass. The skin there was burning hot. She could only imagine what it looked like. Richard reached down and gave her another playful swat, but this time she arched away from him—only to tumble off of the couch and on to the floor with a resounding thud.

“Owww!” she hollered, and Richard was immediately kneeling beside her, laughing hard. Rebecca started to laugh too, and soon they were both howling. They lay on the floor in front of the fireplace and laughed until tears ran down their cheeks and they once again lost their breath.

When the fit of giggles was finally over, they sat back against the couch and grinned at each other. “Breakfast is still on the table,” Richard reminded her.

“My car is still in the ditch.”

“We’ve got all kinds of things to do today.”

“You just fucked me and spanked me and made me fall over the back of your couch.”

“I did not make you fall!”

“You think I would have done all that on my own?”

They went off into a fit of laughter again.

“Come on,” he said when he could speak. “Let’s go eat cold eggs.”

Chapter Ten

Word in Crispin travelled fast. By the time the tow truck got to Rebecca’s car, the driver already knew her name, where she was from and who she was with during her stay. He cast an interested eye in her direction and kept looking at her legs, even as he talked about where she wanted him to take the car and who would cover the bill for the tow. When the tow driver craned his neck to check out her ass as she turned away, Richard loudly cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow.

“Gonna get on it right now,” the driver said, and headed for the back of the truck, still staring at Rebecca’s legs a little longer than was appropriate.

The car was still half buried in snow, but now that everything was melting it was easier to get it out. Snow had sifted in through the broken window, ruining the leather seats. The front of the car was almost nose first in the ditch, and as Rebecca walked around it she marvelled at how far off the road she had travelled. In the snow it had been hard to tell which way was the right direction, and now she realised she had been trying to get out of the ditch by going deeper into it. She now knew firsthand how tricky a blizzard could be.
Richard came to stand beside her and put his hand on her arm. “You okay?”

“I’m all right.”

“Really?”

“I’m going to have to rent a car. There’s no way those seats can be replaced in a few days.”

“You could always fly back to Miami,” he said.

“There’s time for figuring all that out.”

“Or you could just ditch everything and stay right here.”

She shot him an indulgent smile.

The tow truck roared as the cable tightened, and soon her car was moving out of the snow like a snake shedding its skin. Now that it was out of the ditch, the damage to the front bumper was clear. She winced as it was pulled up on to the back of the flatbed truck, more snow shaking off the car with every bump and shimmy. Glass made tinkling sounds as it fell from the doorframe and bounced on the cold asphalt.

“You did her up good, hon,” the driver said as he secured the wheels of her car to the flatbed. “You want to ride with me in the cab to the shop?”

“She’s riding with me,” Richard said, annoyed.

“Suit yourself.”

They followed the tow truck and its cloud of billowing black smoke. Her Florida plates looked forlorn and lost as they peeked over the snow-covered bumper. Richard reached over and took her hand as they pulled into town, where it seemed everyone had to stop and stare at the shiny red car. At the mechanic’s shop, the tow driver put the car down in a corner of the lot and took off for another call, but he didn’t fail to try one last look at Rebecca’s ass.

The mechanic looked the car over and gave a list of things to be done. “The window. The dents in the front, I think I can knock those out, no problem. I can set up a paint job for you in Florida if you want. I’m not sure what’s wrong with the engine, guess it depends on how much of a good bang you took into that ditch. The seats are all kinds of a problem, and I can’t fix those. That’s a factory issue.” He kicked the tyre on the driver’s side. “And you’ve got a flat.”

“My insurance will cover anything but that.”

“Ah, no worries. I’ve got an old tyre that will fit. It will get you to Florida and then some.”

Rebecca smiled at the young man. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You take good care of our Richard, you hear?”

Her smile grew broader as he popped the hood and peered underneath. It was the first overtly kind word she had heard about her relationship with Richard, and it had a soothing effect, like balm to the soul.

Climbing back in the truck, she told Richard about it. “He wants me to take good care of you.”

“You’ve been doing a good job of that already.”

At the offices of the newspaper, many townsfolk made a point of stopping in just to chat. The place hadn’t been that busy since the local election night, and Richard was more than fed up with it by noon. It didn’t help that curious faces were staring at the office from the windows of the diner across the street. Rebecca stayed hidden away in the back room, pretending to look at the old equipment. Richard was uncomfortable with the attention, so he could only imagine how she felt.

When they went out to lunch, he suggested what had been on his mind all morning.

“How would you feel about getting out of town for a few days?”

She smiled. “I was thinking it might be nice, but I know you’ve got work to do.”

“I’ve got staff. They can handle things for a while.”

“Where would we go?”

Richard shrugged. “Wherever the truck happens to take us.”

“That sounds good.”

“Do you like Chinese?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“There’s a great Chinese place in Clinton. Let’s go there.”

She had no idea where Clinton was, and she didn’t care, so long as she got to spend time with him there. “Okay.”

Back at his house, they packed one small overnight bag, her clothes nestling in right beside his, and they made sure not to forget her cameras. Richard switched the home phone so it would ring to his cell, and watching him reminded Rebecca of her own cell phone. It had sat on the kitchen counter for days, drying out from the snow. She knew better than to turn it on before the parts inside had had a chance to dry, because the slightest bit of moisture would fry every circuit in the little gadget. Now she wandered into the kitchen and picked it up, studied it for a moment, and decided to try it.

The screen came up and her greeting appeared. So far, so good. She waited another few seconds and watched as the address book appeared, then the listing of missed calls. She was grateful the phone was working, but shocked at the number of messages waiting for her.
Forty-four? Forty-four messages in just a few days?

She scrolled through them, and her shock turned to annoyance. Gene had left her messages forty-two times. Of the other two messages, there was one from someone wanting a photo taken, and also one from her friend Lisa, wanting to go to lunch when she got back into town. She stared at the missed calls from Gene. There were plenty more than forty-two, and she wondered what she would find when she listened to his messages. Begging and pleading, most likely, and when that didn’t work he would have resorted to an angry defence of the way he had acted.