by Misty Malone
"Responsibilities for driving?"
"Yes. You have a responsibility to follow all laws if you're going to drive. Do you realize that if Alana would have pulled out in front of that car and gotten into an accident you both would have been in trouble?"
He could tell by the look on her face this was news to her. "We would have been?"
"She would have been cited for pulling out in front of the car, but as her licensed driver, the law is the same as if you were driving. You would have been facing a charge of driving while intoxicated.
"I didn't know that."
"You need to stop and think about your responsibilities before you do things, Kelli. To help you do that, for the next two weeks you're not to drive anywhere you don't need to go. You can go to work or to get groceries, but no going to visit a friend or take Alana to a shoe sale. Do you understand?"
Kelli's mouth dropped open and she sat up straight. "You're grounding me?"
Cal grinned as he said, "Yes, I guess in a way I am. But when I ground you for two weeks you'll be grounded the entire two weeks. Do you understand what I'm telling you, Kelli?"
"Not really. That's ridiculous. I'm an adult. You can't ground me."
"Well, that depends, Kelli."
"What do you mean?"
"We've talked about spankings already, and that I spank you because I care. I think you understand that, don't you?"
"Yes."
"And you've accepted that, I believe. You even told me that you feel cared for and cherished afterwards, didn't you?"
"Yes, like right now," she said as she snuggled back into his arms.
"And you said you trust me when I spank you, right?"
"Yes. I understand now that you're doing it for my own good, and I know you'd never really hurt me."
"And you said you trust me to guide you?"
"Yes, but—"
"This is the same thing, Kelli. I'm trying to take care of you and keep you safe and happy. I think it's very important that you learn about responsibilities and start honoring them. You didn't meet your responsibility for being her licensed driver, so for the next two weeks you've lost the privilege of driving for pleasure."
"Cal, no, you can't—"
"Make it three weeks. Do you want to keep arguing with me?"
She opened her mouth to object, but when she saw Cal's eyebrow raised, almost daring her to say a word, she quickly changed her mind.
"Wise decision," he told her. He wrapped her in his arms again and held her, giving her what he hoped felt like a safe place to think. He felt her slowly relax, and eventually she laid her head against his shoulder once more. "I really am trying to do what's best for you, Sweetheart."
"I know," she reluctantly admitted. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it, does it?"
"No, it doesn't, brat," he said with a grin.
He watched as a smile slowly emerged, and soon seemed to brighten her whole face. He held her face in his hands as he kissed her, and reveled in how passionately the kiss was returned.
* * * * *
The next day Alana and Kelli again found themselves comparing notes, or spankings. Kelli told Alana she was grounded, and apologized to her for drinking too much wine and causing the whole problem. Alana of course insisted that if she hadn't almost pulled out in front of a car, John wouldn't have pulled her over. In the end, they both vowed to never upset the men again so there would be no more spankings.
The girls were both a bit upset about Kelli being grounded, but admitted they saw Cal's logic. The first time they wanted to go somewhere, which was to see a new movie that had just come out on their day off, they grudgingly admitted to themselves that being grounded was making a point they'd probably both remember. They stayed home and watched an old movie on television instead. Although they were disappointed, they were also proud of themselves for doing the right thing.
A week later, though, two weeks into the three-week grounding, the girls were restless. It was a hotter than average day and they decided some ice cream sounded good. They talked about it, wavering back and forth between deciding the men would never know, let's just be careful and go and come right back, and they'll know, we can't go. Finally Alana suggested, "Why don't I drive. He said you couldn't drive, but did he say you can't be my licensed driver?"
Kelli thought hard before saying, "I honestly don't remember." They were both quiet, looking at each other while they thought again. "I could say I only remember him saying I couldn't drive. That would be true because I really don't remember him saying I can't be your licensed driver."
"You want to do this?" Alana asked. But then she stopped. "But if they find out, Cal will say this is supposed to be about responsibilities, and again you ignored them."
"You're right," Kelli agreed. "We better not go."
"Unless," Kelli said with a mischievous grin, "you call and ask him. You tell him you understood you can't drive, but that he didn't say you couldn't be my licensed driver, but since this whole thing is about taking your responsibilities seriously you wanted to check with him first and make sure you understood correctly. Hopefully he'll be so impressed that you called to be sure before you did it that he'll see that you are taking this very seriously, and say it's okay. We'll get to go get ice cream and he'll be proud of you! That's a win, win!"
"I love it," Kelli exclaimed as she took out her phone to call Cal. The girls were excited, knowing this plan was going to work great.
But then Cal answered his phone. Kelli carefully explained the situation, and they sat back, waiting for him to tell them how proud he was of Kelli for asking before they did it. Cal's response was, "Kelli Anderson, I'm surprised at you. We talked about this when I first took away your driving privileges. It's obvious you weren't paying attention because I specifically told you that included you being Alana's licensed driver, since that's what was happening when you got yourself in trouble to begin with."
Kelli slumped her shoulders and said, "I'm sorry, Cal. Now that you said that I do remember. I honestly didn't remember you including that until now, though."
Cal believed her and gentled his voice as he said, "I'll tell you what. I am proud that you called first. That shows me you were being responsible and taking your punishment seriously. Why don't the four of us go out for dinner tonight and we'll stop at Dairy Queen for dessert? I'll call John and talk to him."
They agreed and thanked him. After the call, they talked about the turn of events. The girls were disappointed, but happy at the same time. He was making sure they got the ice cream they wanted, but not giving in on his original decree. That was typical of their two men. They could be frustrating at times, but yet consistent in watching out for them. All in all they agreed they felt fortunate to have men who paid such close attention to them, which really did make them feel cherished.
That evening when John came to pick Alana up, he took her in his arms and gave her a kiss. "I hear you're hungry for ice cream?"
"Yeah, it sounded good to us, especially as hot as it was this afternoon."
"You weren't trying to sneak around and get past Kelli's grounding, were you, by having you drive instead of her?"
"If we were going to do that, we wouldn't have called first, would we?"
John had a big smile on his face as he said, "Nope. Just checking." He gave her another kiss, this one longer and more passionate. "Are you ready to go? We're going to meet them at the restaurant."
"Yeah, just let me change sandals."
"Why do you have to change sandals? Those look fine."
"These are new and I'm breaking them in around the house. They're rubbing my foot a little bit in one spot, but it's getting better. I want to wear some that are more comfortable tonight, though."
She turned to go to her bedroom, but John stopped her with his hand on her arm. "Those are new?"
Seeing the look on his face she quickly explained, "New in the sense that I haven't worn them out yet, but I bought them before we met." She turned red as she s
aid, "I bought them after I failed my driving test the first time. They're not real comfortable, though, so I haven't stepped outside this apartment with them yet. That's what I consider new."
"Okay, that's better," he said with a smile. "I hoped you didn't mean they were brand new. I did a lot of paperwork today and my hand's a little cramped up. I was hoping you weren't going to give it a workout tonight."
"Very funny," she said as she watched him flexing his hand. She turned then to go to her bedroom to change shoes.
John waited patiently, but after a couple minutes he started back to check on her. "Everything okay, Alana? How long does it take to change shoes?"
As he got outside her bedroom door, which was open, he heard her say, "Oh, damn." She came out the door then and almost ran into him.
"Are you okay," he asked as he caught her in his arms.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him.
"Good," he said as he reached back and gave her three solid swats on her bottom.
"Ouch! What was that for?"
"For cursing. What was that all about?"
"Because I stubbed my toe on the bed. It hurt." She reached back and rubbed her bottom as she said, "Now my butt hurts, though, and it kind of took my mind off my toe."
He pulled her hands away, holding them as he said, "If you keep rubbing it I'll spank you again. Then it'll hurt more."
"What?"
"You know you can't rub the sting away after a spanking."
"Even just a short one?"
"Especially just a short one. It doesn't hurt as much to begin with. If you rub it away you won't even feel it."
"That was the idea," she admitted a little sheepishly.
He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "Let's go, you little minx, before you get yourself into real trouble."
True to their word, they all went to Dairy Queen after dinner and had ice cream mixed in with lots of talking and laughing.
Two days later each of the girls got a sales flier in the mail about the big annual sale at Newjangles, their favorite department store. Kelli called Alana. "Did you see what all they have on sale?"
"I sure did. They have some shoes at half price! We have to go."
"I know," Kelli agreed. "They have a terrific sale on jeans, too, and we've both said we need to get a couple pairs of them. When do you want to go?"
"How about tomorrow? You're off early, and I know I can get off early. We don't have anything big going on right now. John's not coming over tomorrow night because he's going to mow his yard and do some stuff at home."
"Cal isn't, either. He has a meeting with a client tomorrow that he says will probably go kind of late. It's a new client and they're making sure they know exactly what he's looking for, so he says he'll probably take him out for dinner."
"So tomorrow it is then?"
"Yep. What time do you want to leave?"
"I can probably get off at 3:00. Do you want to go then?"
"Sounds good." She turned quiet as she asked, "What about the guys? They'll have a fit."
"Oh, that's right," Alana said in a dejected tone. "I forgot about the grounding."
"Yeah, me, too. But this sale only happens for two days, once a year. We can't miss it!"
Alana looked hopeful as she asked, "Do you suppose if we explained that they'd make this one exception? Surely they didn't expect us to miss this once a year event."
"I can't speak for John, but I know Cal wouldn't," Kelli said sadly. "He would probably try to find a time to take me to the sale, but he wouldn't make an exception."
"You're right. John wouldn't, either. He'd probably take me to it, too, but that would be a problem in itself. He wouldn't understand why you have to buy shoes when they're half off, even if you may not need any right at the moment. You'll need them sooner or later, so you practically have to buy them when they're on that good of a sale."
"I know. It's just like jeans and tops. Can you really have too many?"
"Not in my world," Alana declared. "So what should we do?"
After a long moment in thought Kelli said, "I say we go. We'll try to watch our spending, not buy as much as we normally would, but we have to go and at least see what they have. Maybe they won't have much we have to have."
"Are you sure? I don't want you to get in trouble with Cal for driving."
"And I don't want you to get in trouble with John for buying more shoes."
"I say we're adults. Let's go to that sale and act like adults!"
Kelli giggled as she said, "Yeah. We'll buy the store out of jeans and shoes. No kid could do that!"
The next day Kelli picked Alana up at work and they went straight to the store. They went to the jeans first and Alana picked out two pairs. Kelli got four. They each got some shirts to go with the jeans. Then they went to get shoes to match their new shirts.
They were meandering around the shoe department, not wanting to miss a single pair they had to offer. While they were there the security guard came over to talk with the man that worked in the shoe department. They talked a few minutes before going in the back, in the storeroom. They emerged a couple minutes later. The security guard left and the employee went to help an older lady. He disappeared in the back again and came out moments later with a shoebox. He helped the lady try the shoes on, then rang them up for her and she left.
He came over to Alana and Kelli next. "Do you ladies need help finding anything?"
"No, we're good," Alana assured him. "We're practically professionals at shoe shopping. We've got it down."
The man, whose nametag said Jason, chuckled. "I thought I'd seen you in here before."
"Oh, yeah," Kelli agreed. "Probably on several occasions."
He smiled as he said, "I'll let you professionals alone then. Call me if you have any questions or need any help." When they assured him they would, he went to help the next person.
The girls shopped for shoes another 20 minutes, and took their must haves to the cash register. A younger lady rang them up, and they left, carrying three more pairs of shoes for Alana and two for Kelli.
They hurried home, anxious to try on their new outfits with the shoes to see how fantastic they looked together, then get them hidden just in case one or both of the men dropped by after all.
As Alana took the third and last pair of shoes from the box she inhaled sharply. "What's wrong?" Kelli was at her side immediately.
"Look what I found in the shoe box," Alana said, pulling out a red stone. "It looks like a ruby."
"Let me see it," Kelli said as she took the stone from her friend. She turned it over in her hand a few times, and held it up to the light. "I don't know my gems that well, but it sure does look like either a ruby or a garnet. It's got to be some kind of gem. What's it doing in a shoe box?"
"I don't know," Alana answered. "What should we do with it?"
"I don't know. You got a heck of a buy on those shoes," Kelli said, giggling.
"I'll say. But I wonder where it came from, and whose it is."
Deep in thought, Kelli added, "And why was it in a shoe box at Newjangles Department Store?"
"Good question," Alana said. "Do you suppose we should take it back to the store?"
"And give it to who?"
Alana shook her head. "I don't know." She suddenly looked up at Kelli. "Oh, my gosh. Didn't I hear on the news last night that there's been a string of robberies involving gems?"
Kelli's face paled as she answered, "Oh, that's right. What did they say about the thefts?"
Alana got her newspaper and they anxiously read the front-page article. Alana looked up, and talking as much to herself as Kelli, said, "So there's been a string of thefts of gems and jewelry, but mostly gems that haven't been made into jewelry yet. The thefts have taken place throughout the eastern half of the state, but the FBI seems to think there's some connection with this area."
"Do you think this is one of the stolen gems?" Kelli asked.
"I don't know," Alana said. "But I think it's
a definite possibility. What should we do?"
Kelli shook her head. "I think we've got to talk to John."
Alana looked shocked. "Are you crazy? Do you know what those two would do to us if they knew you drove us to the store, where I bought more shoes? We wouldn't be able to sit down for a month."
"I know," Kelli admitted, "but what else are we going to do?"
"I don't know, but we have to think of something." They sat down at the kitchen table and thought. "Wait a minute," Alana said. "What were the security guard and that employee talking about?"
Kelli squinted her eyes. "I don't know. I wasn't paying much attention."
"Me, either, but think. I'm sure we heard some of it. They were pretty close to us."
Kelli thought back and said, "Yeah, you're right. The guy that worked there asked the security guard if he'd talked to Sarge."
"Yes, I did hear that. I wondered when he said Sarge, if he meant a sergeant of some kind. I wouldn't even have thought of that until I started dating a policeman. So, who do you suppose Sarge is?"
"I don't know," Kelli answered, "but whoever he is, the guard said Sarge wants to know if he found it yet."
Alana looked pale as she said, "I thought that's what he said. Then they went back in the back room and I couldn't hear them. But do you suppose the 'it' they're looking for is that gem we found?"
Kelli looked rather scared herself as she said, "I'll bet it is. That means somehow the department store is involved in the thefts."
"Or at least some of their employees," Alana agreed. "That also means we're holding a stolen gem."
"So now what do we do?"
"I'm not sure," Alana said. "Maybe we should go see if we can overhear anything else, or see if we can find out anything about those two guys that were talking."
"Okay. Should we go back today?"
"I don't think so. That would look really suspicious, don't you think? The sale still goes on tomorrow, let's act like we're looking for more shoes tomorrow. We can try some on so it looks real. We'll try and get both of their names off their name tags and if they talk to each other we'll try to get close enough to hear."