“The Sandpiper, huh?” said Sarah. “Fancy. We’ve only been there once before, on our anniversary a few years ago.”
“We have to dress up for it?” Julie asked doubtfully.
“I asked about the attire when I made the reservation,” Jake said. “Business casual is fine.”
“Business casual?” asked Brian. “What’s that?”
“It means you don’t wear jeans or shorts,” Joey told him. “Put on a pair of slacks and one of those button-up shirts you have and you’ll be fine.”
“Oh ... I see,” Brian said.
Brian and his family left a few minutes later so they could go home and clean themselves up a bit. At around 6:00 PM, Jake and Laura retreated to Grace and Chastity’s room so they could change into their own business casual outfits. Jake looked longingly at Laura’s unclothed body as she stripped down to her panties. He tried to caress one of her breasts, but she slapped his hand away.
“You know the rules,” she said firmly. “Nothing resembling sex in my nieces’ room. It’s not right.”
He groaned a little in frustration. They had not been intimate with each other since the last night in Schweitzer—damn near a record for when they were actually in each other’s presence—making Pocatello the first place they had ever visited overnight as a couple in which they had not had sex. And that was not going to change on their last night here. She was very firm in her conviction that no hanky-panky (her phrasing for it) would take place in this room or even in this house. Copping a quick feel was not even acceptable.
“All right,” Jake said with a sigh, “but I expect a blowjob as soon as we get to cruising altitude tomorrow.”
She smiled. “Maybe we can do a little better than that,” she suggested.
“Oh yeah?” he asked, immediately interested. “What do you have in mind?”
“Something I’m sure the FAA would frown upon,” she said. “We’ll have to work out the logistics once we’re up there.”
“I’ll be looking forward to the experiment,” he said, leaning in and giving her a kiss. She accepted this affection until he tried slipping his tongue into her mouth. At that point, she pulled away and told him not to be naughty.
“Prude,” he accused.
“In Pocatello, yes I am,” she declared.
Joey drove them to Sandpiper’s in the Bronco. They arrived almost simultaneously with Brian, Julie, and Everett. They were seated immediately even though they were fifteen minutes early. The restaurant was moderately crowded, as it was a Saturday night, and they turned pretty much every head in there when it became known that Jake and Laura Kingsley were in the house. Some of the looks they received were disapproving, some curious, some neutral, but no one approached them and asked for autographs or tried to strike up conversation. Even the staff made no mention of who they were.
This had pretty much been the status quo with the locals since their arrival here. The Pocatello newspaper and the local news broadcasts were all aware that the Kingsleys were in town and were making a big deal about the visit of their hometown daughter and her sleazy husband. The mayor, who a few days before had talked of inviting the Kingsleys on a tour of city hall, was now on record as withdrawing the offer when his office was inundated with a flurry of emails and phone calls from the LDS population expressing disapproval. Local bishops of the LDS church were frequently quoted in their expressions of condemnation of the couple and the lifestyle they enjoyed. Everyday Pocatellons were interviewed and expressed a variety of opinions both in favor of the Kingsleys and against them. Every activity that the family made in public was reported on as well. But throughout all of this, not a single reporter had shown up at the Best home, or had called, or had made any attempt at communication whatsoever. And when the Kingsleys went out on the town, everyone stared and whispered as they were doing now, but no one had come up to ask for an autograph or to simply shoot the shit, no one had told Jake to his face what they thought of him. No one that they did not know even came within ten feet of the couple if they did not have to. It was very strange to be stalked, yet not stalked.
The food at Sandpiper’s was pretty good. Not the best Jake had ever had, but pretty good. He enjoyed a filet mignon with a fully loaded baked potato. Laura and most of the rest of her clan had the prime rib, which was a specialty of the house and something the Bests rarely were able to afford. Jake and Laura shared a $127 bottle of 1993 Merlot from the Napa Valley of California. Joey and Sarah drank Budweiser, but from the bottle instead of the can. They ignored the glasses that had been brought with the beer and drank directly out of the bottles. Grace, Chastity, Julie, and Brian all drank Pepsi in the glass. Little Everett drank from a bottle of apple juice.
The tab turned out to be just over four hundred dollars, to which Jake added an eighty-dollar gratuity. They then piled back into the Bronco and headed back to the house, Brian and family following behind. Once there, the canned Budweiser began to flow once again and they talked some more of the upcoming spring break trip to California and some of the things they might do there. Everyone definitely wanted to ride the ATVs and go deep sea fishing, but the girls also wanted to make a visit to Los Angeles to see Hollywood. And Chastity wanted to know if there was even the remotest possibility that she might get to meet Celia Valdez.
“I’ll have to check with her,” Jake said, “but if she’s available she would probably be open to coming by for dinner one night. She likes our house.”
“She just bought a new house of her own,” Laura said. “It’s in Malibu, right on the ocean. You can literally walk out her back door, down a flight of steps, and you’re on the beach. She’ll be moving into it next week.”
“That’s so cool,” Chastity said. “What’s she like?”
“She’s just an ordinary person like you and me,” Laura said.
“She’s so beautiful,” Chastity said. “Is any of that true about her getting it on with that female pilot?”
“Chase!” Joey and Sarah barked in unison. “You don’t ask people things like that!”
“None of it is true,” Jake assured her, lying through his teeth, of course.
They turned in relatively early that night since they planned to be wheels-up for the flight back to San Luis Obispo by 11:00 AM. Jake, as had been the case every night of this stay, did not sleep all that well thanks to the combination of sexual frustration, a bed that was about a foot too short for him, a mattress that was lumpy and uncomfortable, and the complete absence of any sort of white noise beyond Laura’s gentle breathing.
The next morning Jake dressed in his jeans, a t-shirt, and a pullover sweater. Laura put on a summer dress. And she removed her panties, failing to replace them with a fresh pair.
“Nice,” Jake said with a smile as he watched this maneuver (Laura made sure he saw her doing it). “Is Laura the Prude staying behind in Pocatello?”
“She most certainly is,” Laura said. “And good riddance to her. Laura the Nymph needs to have her lust slaked in a bad way.”
“Thank God,” Jake said, his motor already starting to rev a bit.
Breakfast was served shortly after they emerged from the room. It consisted of scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, and hash browns. Brian, Julie and Everett came over to partake in the Sunday morning family breakfast and to say goodbye to Jake and Laura. Sarah and Chase both made comment on the fact that Laura was wearing a summer dress in December.
“It’s like twenty-five degrees out there,” Chasity said. “You’re going to freeze your boobs off.”
“Chase,” Sarah said warningly.
“Sorry,” she said (although she obviously was not), “but I’m right, right?”
“Yes, you are right,” Sarah conceded. “Are you sure that’s how you want to dress, Little Bit?”
“I’ll wear my jacket until we get in the air,” Laura told them. “Remember, we’re flying to southern California. It will be in the sixties when we land.”