Four Letters

by Lisa M. Harley

  The shop was really small with just two sinks and one dryer, but it was all mine. Tanner helped me paint and jazz it up a little bit. It looked more like my place than an old lady’s beauty shop.

  We painted the walls a sunny yellow and accentuated with a bright pink. I had two large bright pink pictures on the wall. They were abstract-y with yellow flowers on them. The dryer in the corner got a new hot pink cover with little yellow daises on it and the chairs got the same. Tanner and a couple of his friends put in light ash laminate floors and I had a big daisy rug right in front of the cash register. It was all light, bright, and exactly what I dreamed of.

  Tanner and I lived the perfect life. I didn’t love the fact that he had to travel so much for his job, but when he was home it was amazing. We had Dawg who always let us know what was going on around the place and we had each other. That was all we needed. Tanner made good money at his job and the shop was doing really good now too. I bought myself my first ever new car. It was a Buick Rendezvous and I was in love. The color was called sanddust, but it was kinda gold, and it had tan interior. You would think on the dirt roads the color wasn’t a good idea, but it actually rarely ever looked dirty. I was so proud of that thing. I took it over to Dr. Shelby’s office the day I picked it up. She told me she was so proud of me and how far I’d come since we’d started seeing each other.

  I quit going to her about a year ago. I’d had a couple of instances where I had to call her, but it was more like talking to a friend than a doctor.

  Between her and Tanner I finally felt normal. I was happy and I very rarely thought about my old life or all the crap I’d been through. Life was good.

  “Now, Mrs. James we need to get this rinse washed out before we turn you into a bleach blonde floozy!” I laughed as I helped her lay back so I could rinse her. She was eighty-seven years old and getting her “blue” rinse. Just as I got her head in the sink the phone started ringing. “Give me just a second, hon. I’ll be right back.”

  “Adlee’s Cut and Curl,” I answered.

  Click

  That had been happening a lot lately. About once or twice a day. The shop phone would ring and then I’d hear someone hang up and a dial tone. I hadn’t really thought much about it, I figured it was just kids messing with me. Kids will be kids, nothing I could do about it.

  I walked back over to the sink. “Alright, you ready to rinse?” Mrs. James nodded and I went to work rinsing the color out of her hair.

  By the end of the day I was worn out. Being a stylist was a tiring job. I spent all day on my feet and even though I had a padded mat behind each of the chairs, my feel still hurt when I went home at night.

  Tonight was going to be perfect though, because Tanner was going to be home. I loved it when he massaged my feet for me at night. That was one of my favorite things he did for me, well, one of the favorite things.

  “Dawg! I know, I know. He’s home,” I screamed at Dawg from the living room. I knew Tanner was getting close. As stupid as this sounds I could just feel it when he hit town. I knew he was home. I walked out to the porch and waited for my husband to get the truck parked. I got the one finger country boy wave and then I saw my man climb down out of the truck and come running over to me with a dozen yellow roses in his arms.

  “Hi honey. I’m home,” he whispered into my neck.

  “You’re smashing my beautiful roses,” I whimpered as he pulled away from me.

  “Who said these were for you?”

  “They aren’t?”

  “Nope. I brought these for Dawg. Dawg loves me more than you do.”

  “Oh, he does, does he? Well, then I guess you can sleep out here with him tonight,” I said in a tone as stern as I could muster.

  Tanner picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He kissed my neck and squeezed my butt, pulling me tighter to him. “Do you feel that?”

  “Mhmm,” I moaned.

  “I don’t think Dawg can help me out with that,” he laughed.

  “Well, we do live in the boonies. I guess you could give it a try,” I snickered.

  “Always the funny girl, huh?”

  “Always, darlin’. Always,” I said as I kissed his neck and ran my fingers up his chest and into his hair. I pulled his head back so we were eye to eye. “I love you, Mr. Jones.”

  “And I love you, Mrs. Jones. No matter what happens, I’ll always love you.”

  He carried me inside and we spent the entire evening in each other’s arms. Around midnight I crawled out of bed and went into the kitchen to get a snack. I practically grew up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so you’d think I would hate them, but it was the exact opposite. They were one of my favorite meals.

  I got the bread out of the breadbox, the peanut butter from the pantry, and the strawberry jelly from the fridge. As I sat down at the table and started to open the bread I felt Tanner’s hand on my shoulder.

  “You scared me,” I said as I turned around to look at him. “Want a sandwich?”

  “Yes ma’am.” He pulled his chair over next to mine and sat down to where our legs were touching under the table. He placed his hand on my knee and then slowly moved up my inner thigh. He grinned at me and then slowly slipped his finger along the crotch of my panties. I was immediately wet. I was always so ready for him. I moaned as he slid his finger inside me and circled my clit. He pulled his finger away and then slid it into his mouth. “You taste so much better than strawberry jelly.”

  “Oh my god, that’s gross.”

  “Believe me it’s not. You taste fucking amazing. I could live off of that taste for the rest of my life.”

  Then I decided I wanted to do something for Tanner that I’d never done. I’d never “tasted” him. The only man I’d ever done that for was Paul and when Tanner saw that it bothered me, he told me he would never ask me to do that for him.

  I stood up and pushed Tanner back away from the table. Sitting down on my knees on the floor between his legs, I started to unzip his jeans.

  “What are you doing, Adlee?”

  “I wanna taste my husband,” I purred.

  “Are you sure? We’ve talked about it and I know you’re not comfortable doing that.”

  Reaching my hand into his pants I pulled out his cock, rose up, and licked him from the tip to the base of dark curls.

  He tossed his head back and yelped, “Holy shit, Adlee.”

  I took the very tip of him into my mouth and sucked very gently. Then when I felt him shudder beneath my touch I slowly slid him in deeper. He raised his hips off the chair and twirled his hands into my hair.

  “That feels amazing, darling. So amazing.”

  Something took over and I couldn’t stop. I rode his cock with my mouth. Up and down over and over sucking and pulling and gently nipping at the tip with my teeth. Then he screamed, “Adlee!” as he erupted inside my mouth. I swallowed and it didn’t taste anything like I remembered from Paul. This tasted salty and good. This was my husband and tasting him hadn’t been a horrible experience. I’d enjoyed it. I wouldn’t even mind doing it again. I climbed up on his lap and wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my robe.

  “You taste amazing, too,” I said with a huge smile on my face.

  “You are the most spectacular woman, Adlee. How did I get so lucky? What did I ever do to deserve a woman like you?”

  “You’re you, Tanner. That’s all. You’re a great guy and you fixed me. I ask myself everyday what in the world I did to deserve you. You don’t need to ever ask yourself that question. You made me the woman I am today. Without you, well, I don’t know where I’d be, but I can tell you right now that I wouldn’t be me. I wouldn’t be the Adlee you made me into. The Adlee that was always waiting to come out. The Adlee that just wanted to be normal and live a normal life. You did this and I don’t know how I can every repay you for that.”

  “You repay me every day by being happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you, darlin’. Happiness, because nobody deserves that more than
you.” He smiled and my heart melted.

  While we were snuggling at the table feeding each other peanut butter dipped in jelly off of the spoon the phone started ringing. Reluctantly, I climbed from Tanner’s lap and walked over to the door where the old phone hung on the wall.

  “Hello,” I said. “Hello, is anyone there?”

  Click

  “Who was that?” Tanner was now standing right behind me with his arm snaked around my waist.

  “Just another hang up.” I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck. I kissed his neck and was starting to work my way up to his mouth when he stopped me.

  “You getting a lot of those?”

  “A few.”

  “How long?”

  “Oh, a month or so. It’s just kids messing with me. Probably some cheerleader who’s pissed because I made another girls hair a little blonder than hers. Don’t worry about it, baby.”

  “It’s my job to worry about it, Adlee. You need to tell me when stuff like this happens,” he said as he released his hold on me and walked back over to the table to sit down.

  “I’m sorry, Tanner. I really didn’t think another thought about them.” I crawled back onto his lap. “Can we get back to what we were doing before? I think I was right about here.” I slowly leaned in and took his nipple into my mouth. The rest of the evening was spent pleasuring my husband and definitely not thinking about silly kids calling me and hanging up.

  ***

  The hang up calls not only continued, they escalated. I was getting two or three calls a day at the shop and another two or three every night at home. I told Tanner all about it and I started to keep a log of dates and times. I never heard anything on the other line. No heavy breathing or background noise.

  The calls were starting to freak me out a little bit too, but I didn’t want Tanner to see that I was worried. He had to go back on the road and his boss told him this trip was going to be a long one. Tanner told me he might be gone as long as a month. I couldn’t imagine spending that much time away from him. It broke my heart when I watched him pack his duffle bag and head into town to pick up his semi.

  Life was always a little harder when Tanner wasn’t here.

  I went to work every day and kept the house up. Everything was going along just fine until it wasn’t anymore. After Tanner had been gone about three weeks I received the letter. The letter that changed my entire life.

  In order for you to fully understand what I’ve done, I need to first show you exactly who I am. This is my story…the story of Daniel Raider.

  Chapter One~

  Growing up in a Chicago suburb, I lived a very normal, routine life until one day when I was fifteen years old, everything changed. That was the day my dad turned our whole fucking cookie cutter world upside down. That was the day he took everything I thought I had ever known about our life and smashed it into a million tiny pieces.

  I was sitting at the kitchen table eating a snack after school. My mom had made her famous no-bake cookies and she made sure to have some waiting on the table for me when I got home.

  Pulling my homework out of my bag, I looked over at my mom. She was so pretty. It amazed me that she was always so put together. No matter what, on the nights when Dad was expected to be home for dinner she would make sure she looked her very best.

  Today she was wearing a light yellow dress. With the white heels and wide white belt, I couldn’t help but think that she looked like June Cleaver from that silly show I watched in re-runs when I was a kid. Her dark curls were hanging loosely down her back.

  As I was watching her flitter around the kitchen making sure everything was perfect for when Dad got home, I thought to myself how young and carefree she looked. She didn’t look her age at all. It was weird for me to think about her that way, but my mom was really the perfect wife.

  When Dad walked into the house my mom’s bright blue eyes lit up with joy. She practically ran to the door when we heard him pull into the garage. Immediately I could tell that something wasn’t right. It was clear by the look on his face, whatever my dad had to tell us, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Mom tried to throw her arms around his neck and he awkwardly pushed her away. Then I heard the famous words, “We need to talk, Miranda.”

  That look of joy in my mom’s eyes, the one that my dad had just put there, was suddenly replaced by a different look. A look of pure fear. It was like we both understood in that moment, that nothing would ever be the same. We just fucking knew.

  “Daniel, go to your room. Your mother and I need to discuss some things,” my dad said, sitting his briefcase down on the kitchen counter.

  Popping the last bite of my cookie into my mouth, I stood and walked over to the sink to put my plate in it. My mom’s fingers dug into my bicep. She turned her scared eyes on me and said, “Stay, Daniel.”

  With that look in her eye, there was no way I could disobey her. I walked back over to the table and took my seat again.

  “I’d prefer he not be here for this, Miranda,” my dad chastised.

  “Whatever you have to say to me, you need to say to our son also, Peter. He deserves to hear whatever news you’re about to bestow upon us.”

  From where I was sitting I could see my mom shaking. I honestly don’t believe that she knew what my dad was about to say, but she knew she would need me and that’s why she wouldn’t let me leave. I sat quietly trying my hardest to keep from fidgeting. I was patiently waiting for the other shoe to drop, for my dad to say what he’d come here to say.

  “Fine. He can stay. If that’s really what you want.”

  “It is. What’s wrong, Peter?” my mom asked as a lone tear streamed down her cheek.

  “Please sit down, Miranda. Daniel, help your mother,” my dad ordered.

  I stood up, taking my mom by the arm, and led her over to the seat next to mine. We sat and once again waited. My father pulled out the chair across the table from us and sat down. The lines had been drawn and sides had been chosen.

  My normally calm, cool, and collected dad was sweating and wringing his hands on the table in front of him. For the first time in my fifteen years on this earth, I saw my dad act nervous. Or was he scared? Either way, that just wasn’t something he did. He was the man of steel. He didn’t get nervous and he sure as hell didn’t act like a pussy. That’s what he was doing right now. He wasn’t being a man at all, or at least not the kind of man he had always taught me to be.

  “What is it, Peter? Please just tell me,” my mom begged.

  The hand wringing stopped and my dad met my mom’s gaze. His eyes darted over to me and I saw a single tear fall down his cheek. “I love you both, more than you’ll ever know.”

  “But?” I asked.

  “That’s my boy. Always the smart one, aren’t you?” I couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or being an ass, but either way I was pissed. Whatever he was going to tell us was going to break my mom’s heart. This bastard was going to shred her and all I could do was sit here and hold her hand and watch it happen.

  “Just fucking tell us what’s going on!” I screamed across the table at him.

  “I’m leaving.”

  That was all he said.

  Two words.

  Small quick words.

  Mom laughed, “Stop messing with me, Peter. What’s really going on? Did you lose your job or something?” She tried to take my dad’s hand in hers and he jerked it away.

  “I’m not messing with you. I wish I could say that this is all a joke, Miranda, but it isn’t. I’ve loved you since we were kids. You know that. Never doubt that. And Daniel, you are my son. I’ve loved you since the first moment you were placed in my arms in the hospital and no matter what happens or how you feel about me after today that will never change. You will always be my son. My first born.”

  “First born? He’s our only child, Peter. What are you talking about?” my mom cried.

  “Miranda, I’ve been seeing someone else for a while,” my dad admitted.

&nbs
p; “How long is a while, Peter?”

  “Twelve years.”

  I jumped up out of my chair. “Twelve years? You’ve been cheating on mom for twelve fucking years? What kind of man are you?” I was shaking all over. My fists were balled at my sides. I wanted to hit him. God, how I wanted to hit him, but no matter what he was my dad. I couldn’t do that. My mom had raised me to respect him and as much as he deserved to have the hell beat out of him, I couldn’t do that to her. I would never disrespect her that way.

  “Son, please sit down. I need to get this all out.”

  “There’s more?” my mom asked.

  Dad nodded. “I have two daughters. They’re six and nine. They are the reason that I have to leave. They need me now. Daniel, you’re almost grown. You can be the man of the house now. You don’t need me like Brenda and the girls do. The girls need a father.”

  “And I don’t?” I asked.

  Controlling my temper was getting harder and harder by the moment. I was so surprised when I looked over at mom. She was squeezing my hand in hers, but otherwise she wasn’t moving. She wasn’t speaking. She was just staring at my dad. She looked so sad, but she wasn’t crying or sobbing, like I expected her to be. She was just sitting there staring into his eyes.

  My dad finally responded to my question. “No, Daniel, you don’t. Not like my girls do. They need me. You’re almost a man. I’ve raised you and no matter what happens after today, I’ve been the best father to you that I knew how to be.”

  As badly as I wanted to come back at him with some snotty ass remark, I couldn’t. He wasn’t lying. He had been a great dad. No matter what he had done with this other woman and these other kids, he had never neglected my mom and me. He traveled a lot for his job, but when he was here he was involved in everything. He went to all my ballgames and school programs. He took my mom on a date every time he came home. We never felt unloved or neglected until today.

  Mom released her grip on my hand. She stood up and walked over to the counter, she grabbed the tray of cookies and walked back over to the table. She sat them down in front of dad and said, “I made your favorites. Better eat up, we wouldn’t want them to go to waste.”