I was standing in my sister's bathtub, fully clothed, as she pulled the shower curtain closed. My dull life was starting to become interesting.
Most would agree that our family tends to be a little boring. My father is a claims adjuster for an insurance company. Mom has never worked outside the home.
Our parents were high school sweethearts, been married for thirty years, have never had affairs, never been drunk or gotten a traffic ticket. They still live in their first house next door to mom's parents and about a block from dads' parents in a small town. The major north south street is Main, and the major East West is of course Elm.
We have few family traditions. On the 4th of July we make homemade ice cream, we fry our Thanksgiving turkey and roast a goose for Christmas. We draw names for Christmas gifts, watch a Christmas Carol on Christmas eve and open presents on Christmas morning. We kids always voted for Christmas eve but to no avail. We watch the ball drop in Times square and eat black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Day.
All of us kids couldn't wait to get away. After high school our older sister Pam worked for a year then her, I and my fraternal twin Rick matriculated to a small college. Our younger sister Carrie joined us the following year. We were on a pay as you go basis, so it took us more than 4 years to graduate. Carrie and Rick were on the gymnastics team. Other than that, we all just went to class and worked as many hours as we could. College life was not all that exciting. Rick and Carrie graduated with honors, Pam and I graduated.
Rick now sells real estate, Carrie is an associate professor at our alma mater, I'm an accountant. Pam is a bartender. Her business card reflects her B.B.A. but she annotates it as Best Barmaid Anywhere.
Even though we all live about an hour from each other we don't get together often. We do stay somewhat connected using group chat. Three of us are divorced and Pam will be shortly. Like Johnny and June, we all married in a fever hotter that a pepper sprout, then the fire went out. Today we're all meeting for lunch. Pam wants to update us on her divorce.
After quick hugs and air kisses over our masks, we sit down and order.
As the waitress walks away Pam starts, "Well it's almost done. He and I finally agreed to split everything 50-50. It's all signed, just needs to be recorded."
Rick asks, "What about the house? Do you get it?"
"No. I can't afford it so we're selling. It'll be on multi-list next week."
"So, are you happy with that?"
"Yeah, I just want it to be over."
Carrie asks, "Where will you live?"
Pam laughs, "As soon as it sells, I'll be homeless. I've been looking at apartments. There is just not much available in my area and in my price range. But I'll keep looking."
Carrie says, "Why don't you move in with me until you find something?"
Rick chimes in, "Hey, you're welcome to stay with me, I've got plenty of room. And if you need a loan let me know."
Pam, "Thanks guys but..."
I interrupt, "Sis, my casa is your casa anytime you want it, and I think it's actually closer to your job than where you live now."
"I appreciate the offers, but I've got some time, I'll keep looking, maybe something will turn up."
Pam loves table topics. Anytime we're together she throws out a question to be discussed.
Today her question was," What do you miss most abut married life? Rick you first."
Rick quickly said with a grin, "The pain."
We laughed.
"Carrie?"
"I guess the dream. I dreamed that we'd be together always. You know have a family, white picket fence. It just didn't last very long."
"Gene?"
"That's easy, the first few months. It was great before the passion wore off. What about you?"
Pam, "it's not very dramatic but I miss being a homemaker. Stuff like, house cleaning, fixing dinner, doing laundry, I like it all except ironing and sewing. I still do those things but it's different being by myself."
She continued, "Here's a fun one. If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, living or dead, who would you pick?"
Lunch was good and we got caught up on what was going on in each of our lives.
We kept coming back to Pam's topics. Sharing war stories about our marriages and having hypothetical conversations with various celebrities.
We talked and laughed for several hours and were getting ready to leave when Carrie said, "You know this has been fun, it's great to see everyone. I think we need to do this more often."
I said, "I agree, it's been too long. Let's pick a date and place now."
Rick added, "Yeah let's do that but instead of a restaurant let's meet at one of our houses."
Pam, "That's a super idea, and that way we don't have to worry about having to leave or wearing masks."
Carrie, "Let's do a sleepover so we can have drinks and not worry about driving home."
Everyone was excited about the idea. We all talked at the same time. Someone said, "game night", someone "movie night", another threw out "potluck". The ideas kept flowing.
Finally, I said, "Let's just decide. I propose that we meet at my house next month, say the 2nd Saturday. I'll stock up on food, snacks and drinks. I've got three bedrooms and a pullout. I'll make sure there are clean sheets."
Everyone agreed. The goodbye hugs and kisses were heartfelt.
A few days later my phone chimed. It was Pam.
"Hey sis, what's up?"
"I just want to say I'm really wound up about all of us getting together, I can't wait."
"Me either, it'll be a blast."
"The real reason for my call is to tell you that we sold the house."
"That's good news, isn't it?"
"In a way, but they want to close quickly. I haven't found anything yet so is your offer still open? I clocked it and actually you are quite a bit closer to work. Can I bunk with you for a while? Pretty please."
"Of course. And I'll help you move."
"Actually, all I'm moving is my clothes and personal items. I'm renting a pod and storing everything else until I get a place."
A few weeks later it took us 2 trips in both cars to move her clothes and personal items. Fortunately, I had two empty closets. After helping her pack and move I knew that she was a size 2, wore a 34b bra, liked black panties, had more size 8 shoes than most shoe stores, a large collection of bikinis and a half dozen vibrators.
At first, having her in my house didn't really change much for me. She worked nights, I worked days, so we just left notes for each other. Sunday was the only time we were together, and she slept most of the day. That all changed during the second week. Covid19 regulations shut down all restaurants. She was out of work.
I was surprised to see her when I got home the first evening. She was sitting on the couch wiping tears when I walked in.
I asked, "Hey what's the matter? Are you OK?"
Then she told me. The restaurant had called her just as she was ready to leave.
I said, "Well that sucks. I'm sorry. Did they say how long they'd be closed?"
"They don't know. I feel bad for the employees. A lot of them have families. I'm lucky that I have a place to live, thanks to you. Supposedly we can all qualify for unemployment. But I actually love what I do. It'll be like breaking a good habit."
"I'm sorry you have to go through this, but as they say, this too shall pass. Come on cheer up let's have a drink."
We moved to the deck. I opened a bottle of wine and threw a couple of steaks on the grill. Soon she was laughing and planning how to move on. She always liked to be in charge, so, I just listened.
She said, "Until I can find work, I'll be your hausfrau. I'll do the laundry, shop, cook and clean. This place could use a heavy cleaning."
I said, "Wow, ok, ahh whatever turns you on. But you don't have to do anything. We can share the work and just enjoy spending some time together."
"No. I'm serious. I miss doing those things and I won't feel like a freeloader."