Brian Ackerman rang the doorbell repeatedly for the fourth time but there was no answer. He stood outside the two-story suburban home just outside Savannah Georgia and looked around. The old Mazda hatchback, with car stickers and decals, belonging to his step-son Carter was parked right behind his wife's new SUV. They both seemed to be home and it was early morning so how come no one was opening the door?
It was obvious that they were up to something, and his sudden arrival early morning had caught the mother and son off-guard. He took his cell phone from his pocket and dialed his wife's number. Suddenly he heard heavy steps coming down the wooden staircase and he knew that it was Carter. The twenty two year old opened the door and said "Sorry! Didn't hear you."
Brian looked at his step-son up and down as he stood shirtless, in his long bermuda shorts. Something was up because he looked mildly shaken. "Where is your mom?" Brian asked him. "She is upstairs," said the young man. He was tall, with long brown hair and a surfer's body and it was not unusual for him to be walking shirtless around the house when his mother was present. But, this time he looked different.
Brian suspected that something was not right. He made his way up towards the bedroom and Carter never followed. When Brian opened the door and walked into the bedroom, he could hear his wife under the shower and the bed seemed messed up like someone had just got up from it, in a hurry.
"Becca!" He called his wife but it was obvious that she could not hear him under the echoing loudness of the shower.
He looked around and suddenly his eye caught sight of a condom next to the bed. He kneeled on the carpet and looked at it. Then he picked it up and realized that it was filled with fresh warm semen.All of sudden it hit him what had just happened between the mother and her son. He took a deep breath and then yelled his wife's name.
"Rebecca!!!"
The shower stopped and Rebecca's nervous voice came. "What?"
"Come out!" He said. "Carter! You as well." He immediately called his step-son. Carter came up the steps and looked at him. Brian held the condom up to him and asked, "How long has this been going on?"
"What do you mean?" Carter said, stuttering with obvious guilt written all over his face.
Brian yelled, "Stop bullshitting and tell me Carter!"
The door opened and a nervous Rebecca came out. Her hair was damp and she had a tower wrapped around her large bosom. "Brian ... please! Calm down."
Brian brought the condom to Rebecca's face and yelled "What is this Rebecca? How long have you both been doing this?" Rebecca was almost about to cry so he turned towards Carter. "Answer me damn it! How long has this been going on?"
"Leave him alone. It is not his fault," said Rebecca, and she stepped forward to divert Brian's shock and wrath upon herself.
"Shut the fuck up!" Brian yelled. Then he turned around and yelled at his step-son. "Take your stuff and get the fuck out of my house! Get out!"
"Brian ... please. It is my fault. Please!" Rebecca fell to her knees and Carter stepped in between the two of them.
Brian saw a protective son, trying to shield his mother and then an extremely conflicted Brian stepped back. "I knew something was not right between the two of you." he said and started sat down heavily on the bed. "Jesus Rebecca!"
Two years earlier ...
Carter was sitting on the couch playing Nintendo while his mother prepared dinner. "Did you eat your lunch Carter?" Rebecca asked.
"No mom!" Carter replied, eyes still glued on the screen.
"So where is it?" she asked.
"In the backpack."
Rebecca went to pick up the backpack that was casually dumped near the main door when Carter had entered. "What is the point of me making all this food when my young man is not even touching it?" She muttered but loud enough for him to hear, and then unzipped the backpack.
"I was not hungry mom!" He replied, keeping his concentration on the game.
As Rebecca took out his lunch, she saw something else in there. Condoms! On one hand she was glad that he was using protection, but on the other hand, she was concerned. Who was this young woman? Or was it even a woman?
"Buddy, we need to talk about this!" she said, raising the box of condoms.
"Ohh mom!" Carter replied.
"You are not in trouble. It is just that you no longer have your dad so there are some conversations that you and I need to have," she said and placed it back into his bag.
It had been a few years since the divorce and things had not been easy on both of them. In the beginning Arthur Kildare would visit his son frequently as he had joint custody with Rebecca but after his second marriage, these visits had become less and less frequent. Slowly, the role of mother and father were taken over by Rebecca who had changed her last name from Kildare back to Nelson. She had found a job as a video editor and was finally making enough to fill the new suburban house with enough furniture to give it some semblance of a home.
They were sitting on the table enjoying the meatloaf when Rebecca asked, "So who is the girl?"