Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Chapter Sixteen



   There was an IHOP just a bit up the road.  I'd noted its location on the
way to dinner.  We loaded up in the car again, the girls in the back seat
giggling in the delightful way that somehow disappears from females as age
advances.  Hearing it from the girl I loved and her friend was very
pleasant.

   I looked at Dan.  "Didn't expect to be on the road at this hour."

   "Me neither," Dan said.  "But I learned a long time ago that hanging
around with Cindy was gonna result in a few random situations.  She's never
done this late night snack thing, though."

   Cindy made a cute remark, a little double entendre.

   "Tina has been talking about Cindy most of the evening." I paused.  Dan
looked at me, knowingly.  I continued, "well, you know..."

   "Cindy's been the same way," he said.  "She says it's like finding the
big sister she never had."

   I laughed.  "You know, Bud, I never figured that you and I would be
marrying sisters."

   "Beginning to look that way," Dan said.

   "Tina, they're talking about us," Cindy giggled.

   "That's because we're the most important thing in their lives," Tina
replied.

   "You got that right!" I said.

   Cindy smiled.  The kid had a sweet smile.  "We'll try not to take
advantage of you too badly," she said, giggling at her own joke.

   I glanced at the pair in the rearview mirror.  Yeah, it didn't take much
of a stretch of the imagination to see them as sisters.

   Dan was apparently been reading my mind.  "They do look like sisters."

   We pulled into the parking lot and walked into the little restaurant. 
We found a booth and I scooted in with Tina next to me.  The waitress came
up.

   Dan said, "it's too late for coffee for me."

   I noticed that Cindy nodded in agreement.  They ordered hot chocolate,
and a pastry, apiece.  The waitress looked at me and Tina and I told her
that we wanted the same thing.

   Cindy and Tina started back up on the sisterhood thing.  Tina looked at
me.  "Uh, Alan we're not gonna let this thing drop, are we?" She looked at
Cindy.  Cindy was smiling.



   I said, "Yep, sometimes guys are like that.  But if Dan had stayed in my
back pocket, we might've missed you two.  It's almost like Dan and I were
supposed to meet only for one job and then take off in separate directions,
meet you two, and then run into each other.  I mean, if I was sitting here
at the table with all of us, I'd think this was some kind of fiction."

   "I gotta agree with that," Dan said.  "If we'ed been working together,
we'd've been doing just like last time, running the roads and stuff.  I
would'nt've been hanging around the swimming pool..."

   Cindy giggled.  "Yeah, hanging around the pool, scoping out babes."

   Tina looked at me.  I know she could tell that Cindy was joking but she
feigned a slight outrage.  "Uh, Dan!  You were at the pool to pick up
fourteen year old girls?!?"

   Dan took a swipe at that one.  I think he handed it out of the park. 
"Oh, no, Miss Tina, she was thirteen when I met her." Cindy punched himin
the bicep, playfully.

   "There you go, Dan, coming off like some kind of child molester."

   Dan put his arm around her and squeezed.  "Truth is, we ran into each
other at just the right point in time when we both needed someone.  I
didn't know I needed someone, but Cindy popped up.  You know, sometimes you
need stuff you don't even know about." Dan looked at Cindy with adoring
eyes.  "Even cute little redheads."

   Cindy sort of filled in the story.  "I was livin' in an RV Park.  The
only time I saw kids my own age that summer was on weekends.  And then they
only stayed for couple of days.  I needed a friend.  I wasn't even sure
what a real friend would look like.  In school, it was hard to have
friends. A lot of the kids knew about my momma.  And even in Alabama,
living in a travel trailer puts you at the bottom of the list.

   Tina reached across the table and patted Cindy's hand.  "You an' me both
had mommy issues." She continued, "I had it good as long as I stayed with
Grandma.  But when Grandma passed away, I had to start living with Mom. 
Yeah," she snorted.  "Supermom.  Didn't let teenaged daughter get in the
way of her life!  We moved every couple of months, so I had to drop out of
high school because I kept changing schools.  And when we evacuated for the
hurricane I didn't think I'd get back alive.  Mom's boyfriend was crazy.  I
hate to use the term 'batshit' but if it was in the dictionary they'ed've
had his picture next to it.  And what was worse, some of her 'friends' were
already making little comments about doing things with me."

   "Yep," I said, "that's what I'm talking about.  If me and Dan had been
working on the same job, I would've been driving up the road bitching about
the hurricane traffic and I would'nt've stopped for breakfast.  You don't
know how aggravated I was, first the driving, stop and go for three solid
hours, an' then I stopped for breakfast, and some asshole wanted to make a
scene.  Then I almost got arrested.  I figured it was just what I needed to
put the finishing touches on a perfect day." I saw Tina smiling.  "And
that's one of life's little twists, because what started out as a tragedy
turned into a really good thing."

   Cindy slid up closer to Dan and held his arm.  She smiled and said, "You
know, best possible outcomes.  It's kinda like some weird fairytale where
the little castle is thirtysomething feet long and has wheels."

   Tina change the subject.  "Cindy, tell Alan about your college stuff."

   "I'm afraid I sound like I'm bragging," she said demurely.

   "It's not bragging, Cindy.  It's really neat.  He won't think you're
bragging."

   Cindy told us that she had two 'gifted' scholarships.  "An' I've already
interviewed with the deans of two engineering schools in Alabama.  It's
hard decide which one to choose."

   A part of a previous conversation came to mind.  I smiled.  "It's that
'Engineer's Apprentice' thing, ain't it?" I could see the pride in Dan's
eyes.

   Cindy continued, "Yes, it is," she said smiling.  "The first time I saw
Dan in his element, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  An' every time I
visit the site, it kinda reinforces that.  One day I hope to be an engineer
like Dan."

   I laughed, "Baby doll, you need to set your sights higher than that."

   Dan looked at me with a wry grin.  "Jealousy is a terrible emotion," he
said.  "You know, that's not the worst of it.  She got letters of interest
from a lot of different schools.  Even MIT and Stanford."

   "But I want us to stay in Alabama," Cindy said, looking at Dan.  "I
think it would be easier for him to work down here." She smiled and gave
Dan a playful bump.  "I think either one of these two universities are just
fine."

   Tina looked at me then said, "See, that's another one of those
coincidences!  Me and Alan have been talking about my college.  I gave up
on college after Grandma died.  But now, with Alan, and being back in
school, well, when he saw how I was doing in school, we started talking
about college.  Before I met him, I had no clue about a major.  Guess
what?!?" She looked at me, grinning.  "I got a clue now!"

   "See, Dan," I laughed.  "You ain't the only one that can delude a young
lady!" I continued, "Tina's an honor student, too."

   Dan looked at Tina.  "Tina, how's your math?"

   Tina smiled.  "Straight A's.  And I'm taking the advanced placement
classes."

   He smiled, saying "That's great!  The math is the toughest part.  If
you're in AP math, then you're on your way."

   Cindy is the one that tossed the challenge on the table.  "I think you
guys should move to Alabama," she said.  She had a big grin on her face. 
"If you do that, Tina an' I can go to school together.  I think that would
be the most amazing thing."

   Dan looked at me, a little dazed.  Then he looked at Cindy.  "Sometimes
you amaze me, little girl.  No!  Just about every day, you amaze me."

   Taking that as encouragement she kept on.  She looked at me and her
husband and said, "Doesn't that make sense?  You guys, maybe y'all can work
something out, you know, where you workand what you do." She continued,
"Dan's kinda got a job lined up with a new powerhouse.  So that's an
option. He says it's enough money to keep him in the area, but you guys are
good at what you do.  Maybe there's a way that y'all can keep on doing what
you're doing, you know, going where people need you to get them out of a
bind." She paused.  Addressing me and Tina, she said, "Dan was gonna do
that so he could be around while I was in college.  But with me and him and
you guys, we'd have our own little community..."

   "You know," I said, "she might be onto something."

   A giggle came from Tina.  "That's my little sister!" Big smirk.

   Dan was just shaking his head.  Cindy saw that and said, "We don't have
to make a decision tonight." She giggled, "I was just thinking.  I thought
I'd just throw it out on the table."

   "Cindy, that's an interesting idea, you know.  Like you said, though,
wedon't have to rush into a decision.  We can talk about it, and we can
think about it, and we can talk some more.  Me an' Dan know a bit about the
business, so we can talk to see if we come up with a model that makes
sense."

   "There you go, talking like an MBA," Dan picked.

   This was a hangover from our last job together.  I think I'm a bit more
organized and methodical, a little bit better administrator then Dan.  "You
know exactly what I mean," I laughed.

   "Yeah," he said.  "Let's think about it."

   I saw Cindy and Tina exchanging looks.  Something told me that a
decision was being made right now.

   The conversation changed to the upcoming concert, and some of the other
concerts that we'd been to in the recent past.  Tina was telling Cindy
about the live bluegrass music that we'd heard.  She smiled at Cindy.  "I
love the live music," she said, "but I guess that's not the same as being
up on the stage." She elbowed me.  "Don't you wish you played a musical
instrument?"

   Actually I did regret that, but I said, "I play several instruments."

   Tina looked a little bit surprised.  "What instruments, baby?"

   "CDs, iPod, and a bunch of ancient instruments that Dan knows about. 
Things like cassette tapes and vinyl records."

   That got Cindy to giggling, got me a dig in the ribs, and Tina said,
faking sadness, "I fear that I have married a smart-ass!"

   Everyone had finished their chocolate and pastry.  It was time to go. 
Dan and I did our customary arguing over who got to pay the ticket.  I won,
this time.  We were all in a good mood for the short ride back to the
hotel. In the lobby, we agreed to meet for lunch the next day at about
eleven, then we headed to our rooms.

   Tina was ahead of me in the hall, key card in her hand.  She opened the
door, and I walked in.  She closed the door and backed up against it.  I
don't know what she wanted but I knew what I wanted.  I pressed her back
against the door and kissed her.  The way she put her arms around my neck
and held me against her confirmed that she desired same thing.

   I locked the chain lock and the deadbolt on the door.  When I turned
around, she was standing beside the bed stripping off her clothes.

   "Baby, what'd you think of Cindy's suggestion?" she asked.

   "It's actually very interesting," I said, "if Dan and I can figure out
how to make a living, I think it's a great idea."

   "I was just thinking," Tina said, "if we had our little community, like
Cindy said, then if you or Dan had to go out of town to work for a few days
or whatever, we'd have each other, me an' Cindy, to sort of back each other
up.  That way, maybe y'all wouldn't feel bad about abandoning us for a few
days to go off on a project.  What d'you think?"

   "You know, little brown haired girl, that sort of makes sense.  I can't
see you and Cindy take'n more than four years to get a BA in engineering."

   "Got a question, Mister Engineer..."

   "A question?"

   "Yeah." Pause.  "Why'd'you still have all your clothes on?" She was
completely naked now.  And she had a delightful grin and a twinkle in her
eye.

   It didn't take me long to match her nakedness.  I laughed.  "Well, there
goes any chance of clear thought.  Seeing you naked just wiped out half my
blood supply to my brain."

   She giggled, eyes twinkling.  "You know, sweetie, when we're both naked
we don't need to do a whole lot a deep thinking." She smiled.  She put her
hands on my waist and tugged me sideways, laying down on the bed facing me.

   We wrapped up into a full body kiss.  I let my hands explore her, my
fingertips relishing every bit of her silky skin.  If she purred under my
touch, I shuddered under hers.  She had her right arm under me pulling me
against her while her left hand was down at my crotch, her fingers curled
delightfully underneath my balls.  I would've said 'expertly', but it
wasn't a matter of expertise.  No, it was a matter of her enjoying the
sexual exploration and happily reading my reactions to it.

   Withher fingers wrapped around my shaft, I was hard as a rock.  She
pulled back from a kiss, her sweet face inches from mine.  "You make me
feel so good, Alan."

   My answer wasn't a word, it was a shudder.  She started sliding downward
in the bed, while gently pushing me onto my back.  When her cheek got down
to my navel, she kissed, teased it with her tongue, then turned her eyes
towards me.

   "D'ya have any idea what I have in mind?" She said, flicking her tongue,
knowing that she was driving me crazy.

   "I don't know what you have in mind, but I have some ideas of my own."

   Giggle.  "What kind of ideas, sir?"

   "That hot chocolate and that pastry was nice, but there's a taste I
really crave.  Sadly, there's only one place in the WHOLE universe that I
can get it.  It's totally controlled by this young lady."

   She giggled, playing the game.  "And if this young lady was, like, if
she'll let you have that, is there, like, some kind of reward she can have
in return?"

   "I don't know," I said.  "Just maybe, she can find something to
entertain herself while he's tasting." I brushed her sleek auburn hair away
from her face.  What I saw was, in my mind, perfection.

   "I think the young lady is willing to accept your offer," she giggled.
She slid further down the bed, tossing a leg over my face, presenting me
with an engorged, juicy pussy.  I was starting to move close enough to lick
her when lightning shot through my body, caused by her mouth covering my
dick.  "The young lady says that compensation is adequate," she said with a
giggle, her head bobbing downward to return to my dick.

   After the initial surge of ecstasy, I had enough presence of thought to
start enjoying the pussy there in front of my face.  I knew she was
enjoying herself because she pushed back against my face, wiggling her
hips, urging my tongue to her favorite spot.

   If it was just about her, I would've left my tongue right there.  But,
you know, sex is about both partners, and part of the pleasure I derived
was from the sweet, musky taste of her juices, so in between little
sessions of teasing her little pink pea-like clit with my tongue and lips,
I moved a little further downward on her sweet, pink pussy and helped
myself to the juices that I loved.

   It didn't take much of this kind of attention for her to start losing
control of her hips.  I clasped the cheeks of her ass with my hands so I
could continue my attentions.  I knew she was getting close to the stage
when she pulled her mouth away from my dick and held it against her cheek
as little mewing sounds came from her mouth.

   Finally, she said, "Oh God, Alan, I'm THERE!  Nnnnnnggghhhhhh!" And she
went over the edge, her body collapsing on me.

   Knowing that I could bring my baby this pleasure was immensely
satisfying to me.  I gave her a few seconds to ride her orgasm down, then
lightly started teasing her with my tongue again.

   "Oh God, Alan!  Another one!" she said, releasing a long hissing breath.

   Again I let her ride her orgasm, lightly kissing the engorged, juicy
lips of her pussy, savoring her juices.

   Finally, my sweet Tina regained her senses.  She rolled sideways off of
me and looked at me.  "You know, baby," she sighed, "I think I die a little
bit when you do that."

   "I know exactly how you feel, sweetness," I said.

   She looked at me with an adorable grin on her face.  "I don't know if
you know exactly how I feel," she said with a lilt.  "I think you need a
reminder."

   I smiled back.  "Maybe I do, little one," I said.  I watched her auburn
hair swaying as her head bounced down, engulfing me.  This was another
thing that wasn't necessarily 'expert'.  I preferred other words, words
like delightful, ecstatic, enthusiastic, and words they haven't written in
the dictionary yet.  It wasn't long before her attentions had me feeling
rising surges.

   She recognized this by the taste of my pre-come as she sucked me, and
then as I got closer, the hand that was working on my scrotum detected the
tightening.  This time, she didn't stop to tell me anything.  She just
moaned.  I felt her "Mmmmmmm" resonate through my body.  Lips, teeth, and
tongue worked in concert with her happy fingers, drawing me ever closer to
orgasm.

   My baby knew that I lost control as I went over the edge, too.  She kept
her right hand encircling the shaft of my dick, making sure that in my
ecstasy, I didn't lose control and thrust uncomfortably deep into her
mouth.

   As I lost control of the movement of my hips, a little giggle escaped
from around my dick, and then she continued her efforts, little moans from
her signaling that she was enjoying herself.  I went over the edge.  I
could feel her tongue working as she swallowed the first of several spurts.
My fingers lightly stroked that short auburn hair as the orgasm coursed
through my body.  Her hands kneaded my balls and stroked my shaft, working
in concert with her sucking mouth, relieving me of every bit of juice.

   Every muscle in my body seemed to relax as I floated in the
post-orgasmic bliss.  Tina read this sign too, sliding up in the bed beside
me.  It took a huge effort on my part for me to roll over and scoop her
into my arms.  She brought her face close enough to mine so that a tiny
effort let me kiss her on the tip of her nose.

   "D'ya really think a kiss on the nose is gonna do it?" she purred.

   "Who says I was gonna stop with a kiss on the nose?" I said.  Her face
turned up as our lips met, parted, and our tongues played together.  Once
again I let my fingers savor the feel of her soft, smooth skin, relishing
her form, not grotesquely muscled, but certainly edging towards the
athletic.

   We didn't stop with a kiss on the nose.  However, I reached over, turned
out the light, and then the two of us wiggled together finding a mutually
comfortable position, and from there we went to sleep.

   Neither Tina nor I were particularly late sleepers.  I was drifting
blissfully along in the morning in that pleasant zone halfway between sleep
and wake when I felt Tina stirring next to me.  She rolled onto her back
and as is customary for her, stretched.  People who are stretching are not
asleep.

   I rolled towards her and as I started moving, she perceived the motion
and rolled towards me.  We had a happy meeting in the middle of the bed. 
After a few good morning kisses she backed away and said, "Why don't we go
up the road to that place and get some breakfast?"

   "Sounds like a good idea, little one," I said.

   We got a couple more kisses before we rolled out on opposite sides of
the bed, taking turns in the bathroom.  I came out with my face washed and
my teeth brushed.  And a few minutes later, Tina was out, her hair shining
beautifully.  We got dressed.  Five minutes later we were out the door and
in the car.

   We retraced last night's path to the pancake house and had breakfast. 
Our next move was to get back in the car and go back to the hotel.  No, we
didn't go inside.  Tina giggled at my plan.  I had her enter the address
for the concert venue.  Then we timed our trip from the hotel to the
destination.

   "Baby," she said, "we won't be leaving from the hotel.  We're gonna go
out to eat and then we're gonna go to the concert hall."

   "Yeah, you're right," I said.  "But we'll get some idea of the time, and
we'll get a lay of the streets, and while we're there, we can look at
parking."

   "Okay," she said.  "I'll buy that.  And while we're out, we can kinda
look around for a while.  We did that, but around 10 o'clock, we pulled
into the hotel parking lot and went inside.  We knew that we would be going
to lunch at around 11 so we took advantage of the hour of free time to work
each other up into a state of excitement.

   As expected, just before 11 o'clock, Tina's cell phone rang.  She looked
at the display, then looked at me giggling.  "That's my little sister!" She
flipped the phone open.  "Hi, sis!" Pause.  "We're in the room." Pause. 
"Tee-hee!  Noooooo!  Not right now!" Pause.  "Okay!  We'll see you in the
lobby in just a bit!"

   Tina turned to me.  "Put your clothes on, baby.  My sister's waitin' on
us!"

   As I was getting dressed, I asked, "You sure you're not carryin' that
'sister' thing too far?"

   I got the 'you know I'm right' stare in reply.  "Alan Dean Addison!  I'm
surprised.  The GUY was your friend.  He has a unique wife and we hit it
off.  I feel a connection.  Don't you?"

   "I didn't want to push something on you, baby.  I didn't expect THIS to
happen."

   The expression hadn't changed.  "Okay, baby doll," she said, "exactly
WHAT part of our WHOLE relationship did you EXPECT to happen?" Her face
broke into a smile and she stuck her tongue at me.

   "You have a point there, little one," I admitted.

   Bigger smile.  "Two of 'em, actually." She was bra-less.  "And if I
remember from ten minutes ago, YOU seem to like 'em..."

   "Oh, sure, use sex to control the old guy..." I quipped.

   That statement got me two arms filled with a delightful
seventeen-year-old.  I could've put lunch off for an hour, but people were
waiting on us.

   We got dressed and walked out to the lobby just in time to catch a guy
questioning Cindy about her orange University of Alabama sweatshirt.

   She and Dan saw us walk up.  I said, "What's wrong, Cindy?  Get caught
wearing the enemy colors?"

   She smiled at the guy, then me.  "I forget that people get SERIOUS about
this stuff."

   "Yeah," I said.  "During football season, you can get the crap beat out
of you for wearin' the wrong shirt."

   Dan said, "Nah!  They exempt cute redheads."

   Tina asked Cindy, "Ya'll think of something light for lunch?"

   Cindy answered, "You bet!  I think we can get serious for dinner, before
the concert.  And after the concert, we can do like last night."

   Tina looked at me.  "See, babe?!?!?  Like sisters!" Cindy crossed the
short distance separating them and stood beside Tina.

   Yeah, I admitted to myself, they could pass for sisters.  "We need to
get a camera and take some pictures of this group.  Nobody'll EVER believe
it!" I said.

   Dan said, "Yeah, remember how ol' Bill Carmody used to accuse us of
collusion?  When he sees OUR wives together, he's gonna figure he was
absolutely right!"

   "Yeah, he will," I said.  "How'd he take finding out about you and Cindy
getting married?  They already knew her out there, didn't they?

   Dan's face darkened a little bit.  "Yeah," he said.  "We'd been out
there a couple times.  I wasn't the one that named her 'Engineer's
Apprentice', that was somebody else.  Bill and a couple of the other
engineers gave her the name.  I mean, she'd been out there couple of times
by herself.  Well, you know, I brought her out there.  And one time she
came out with a whole science class.  But when we got married, I lost sleep
because I thought it might've ruined the relationships I had on the job,
but even worse, I was afraid what they would think of Cindy."

   Cindy said, "Yep, Mister Bill treated me like his granddaughter and the
rest of the guys treated me like a little sister or something like that."

   Dan continued, "I mean, they were used to see us together.  They see us
having breakfast together several times a week.  But after we got married,
I walked into the Monday morning staff meeting wearing a wedding band.  I
wasn't gonna say anything until somebody asked, but you know how things go,
somebody asked.  I came right out and told 'em.  I halfway expected to get
run off the job right then, but ol' Bill just looked kind of surprised.  He
said, 'Well stranger things have happened.  Cindy's bright and smart, and
you an' me been working together long time.  I know you'll take good care
of her, 'cause if you don't, I'm gonna save five bucks on the concrete and
the foundation somewhere when they stash your body.' And then he kinda
laughed.  After that, it was hard for the rest of the crew to say anything"

   Cindy said, "The one that had the most problem acceptin' it was my
guidance counselor.  That's Mister Jim.  That's the people we do music
with. And before we got married, me and Dan ate at their house.  But Mister
Jim saw my ring at school an' it shook 'im up, I think."

   Dan continued, "When he called me he sounded stressed.  I told him that
I wanted to keep him as a friend and that I understood how me and Cindy
getting married would look.  You know, his wife, she's a music teacher at
the same school.  She said Cindy was married and WASN'T pregnant and they
both knew several pregnant middle-schoolers and he oughtta be grateful that
Cindy wasn't one of them."

   Cindy giggled.  "Mizz Ann asked Mister Jim when he'd ever seen Dan
without me right there with 'im.  She told 'im we make a cute couple."

   Dan finished, "Jim Hardesty's my good friend.  He's gone the extra mile
taking care of Cindy, testing her, working with the school board so she can
rise to her potential.  I would've hated losing his friendship."

   "So he's over it?" Tina asked.

   "Talk about!" Cindy said.  "We flew with 'em to Atlanta in Sissy."

   "Sissy?" I asked.

   "Our Cessna, 'Sissy'," Cindy said.  "Just us two COUPLES.  We left their
kids with their aunt and uncle.  Had a great weekend."

   I told them about some of the questions and the looks at Tina's open
house at school.

   Cindy smirked.  "We had an open house.  Dan got nailed by the librarian.
Let him tell you about that."

   I listened to Dan's story.  "SO that helped?"

   "Yeah," Cindy said.  "Before that, I was a cross between the devil's
spawn an' a poor little troubled child.  Now she treats me normal."

   I said, "Look, we can continue this conversation in the car, can't we?"
and I herded us out the door.

   Nearing the car, Tina said "Applebee's?  We can do 'light' there."

   "My first time at Applebee's," Cindy said.  That started a whole new
conversation about who did what for food, and our wives mutually recognized
that Dan and I had a bit of adventurous tastes in cuisine.

   "Alan's adventurous," Tina announced.

   "Ain't nothing adventurous about an Applebee's, I said.  The place
wasn't TOO crowded.  We got seated immediately, in a booth, Tina and me one
one side, Dan and Cindy on the other.  We ordered drinks and entrees.

   Dan said, "Alan, I'm not being nosy, but how's this work with your
daughter?"

   "I was worried," I said.

   "I wasn't," Tina said.  "She and I talked on the phone quite a bit.  I
was a little nervous, but it was actually FUN!  Like (she looked at Cindy)
ANOTHER little sister.  She's smart, an' she's a cutie, too.  I guess a lot
of those movies about evil stepmoms and horrible stepkids are wrong.  Every
time she pushed the rules, though, I pushed back, and we got along fine."

   I filled in a bit.  "Tina made it a good situation.  I mean, I can't
think like a little girl.  Last year, I took vacation and just did
everything she could think of.  This year, her and Tina did things together
and then we ALL did things together.  I think she was happier seein' Tina
than me." I explained a few other thoughts.

   "How's the relationship with the ex?" Dan asked.

   "Bitch be crazy," I blurted.

   "Alan!  That's coarse!" Tina chided.  Then, "But I concur with your
evaluation!"

   Cindy giggled.  Dan said, "It's that whole 'blended family' thing.  I
hope it works out for Terri."

   I looked at Tina.  She had a far-away look.  "I wish there was a way..."

   I sighed.  "Her mom'd have to agree to it."

   Tina said, "That goes back to your previous statement, baby."

   We talked about my family and Dan's family and how they received our
non-standard brides.

   Tina talked about her life with her grandmother and how she fell in with
my family.  Cindy was even more enthusiastic.  Tina said, "looks like we
both ended up with new families."

   "Uh-huh," Cindy chirped.  "An' THIS weekend, I met my SISTER."

   Tina's face glowed at that statement.

   I looked at Dan.  "IF they're sisters, that makes you an' me
brothers-in-law, doesn't it?"
   Dan laughed.  "Yeah, now I can borrow your tools..."