Chapter 1

Greg was bored.  He had finished his homework early as was usual for him and he really didn’t feel like reading or playing on the computer.  ‘Maybe I’ll take a walk over to the park.  I might get lucky and see the cheerleaders practicing again.’  At seventeen, he was a typical teen, and watching those girls jumping and twirling in their short skirts would give him some fantasy material for his nightly masturbation sessions.  It was not like he would ever get a chance with any of them.

It wasn’t that he was bad looking.  If he had known it there were more than a few girls that thought he was kind of cute.  What really hurt him was his brain. He had the second highest GPA of his entire junior class of seven hundred students at John Adams High School.  In being so smart, he found that he was not in the popular cliques, and with high school being the bastion of social class that it is, the few girls that he tried to ask out were afraid to go for being branded an outcast.  He had a few friends, both male and female, but as far as a love life, that was dead in the water.

This meant Greg was still a virgin.  He had a little experience in kissing and feeling up a girl since he and Mary Beth Williams had played ‘house’ when they were still in middle school.  But he had never even come close to his ultimate goal of being fitted in a girl’s snug pussy.  The closest he came was imagining his own hand was what he was looking at on his computer screen.

He left a note for his mother that he was heading toward the park and would be back around dinnertime. He doubted it would ever be read, but he left it in a stab at normalcy.  Then he grabbed a jacket and headed out the door.  

There was a slight breeze that made him remember that spring was still a ways off.  The sun was still high enough that the shadows of the buildings he passed were not darkening the sidewalks and the warming rays felt good on his face.  Nonetheless, he knew that his hopes of watching cheerleader booty bouncing in the park would not be happening.  They would have stayed in the gym.  Damn!  He had hoped to see Melissa Smith dancing around.  She had the biggest tits in the school and the sight of them bouncing as she did her cheers would have taken his mind off the boredom.  With those thoughts, he almost turned around, but knowing that nothing to do at the house, he continued on his way.

He had been right.  There wasn’t much activity in the park.  A few young children were playing on the jungle gym and the slide under the watchful eye of their mothers.  A couple of guys were playing catch near the baseball diamond, but otherwise, the grassy area was deserted.  Since he was here he decided to walk around the perimeter of the cleared area and then head home.  The cool breeze was starting to get to him.

He had made it a little over half way around the park near the east side when he thought he heard a noise.  It came from under the bleachers that provided a place for the spectators when the high school had a varsity game.  He stopped and listened closer.  It sounded like a girl quietly sobbing.  Concerned that she was hurt, he moved around the little equipment shed and looked into the web of steel pipes.

It was a girl all right.  He could not see any blood or other indication that she was hurt.  He did immediately notice her beautiful light brown hair.  She was dressed in the uniform of the local Evangelical school, tartan skirt and white shirt.  Her black shoes and knee-high socks completed the outfit.  She raised her head when she heard his shoes scuffing the gravel and he realized that he knew her.  It was Mandy, Amanda Marie Carson, who lived at the opposite end of the block from his family.

It was definitely Mandy, but her normal good looks were marred by the red of her eyes and the slight amount of makeup that was now making black streaks down her cheeks.  His heart went out to her.  As children, they had played together since her family first moved in when they were both five years old.  They had always been friends but never really as close as he would have wished.  Yet he had always thought she was the prettiest and smartest girl he had ever laid eyes on.  If he would have admitted it, he had carried a crush for her for years.

While this was running through his mind, she recognized him through her blurry eyes.  “Greg?  W- what are you doing here?”

“I was taking a walk and heard you crying.  Are you alright?”

“No.  I’m not.  But it ain’t something you can do anything about so just go away.  Just leave me alone.”

“Mandy, we have been friends for a long time.  And I am not about to leave a friend in need even if all I can do is be there for her.”  She didn’t answer him, but tears started down her lovely cheeks again as she pulled her arms around her legs, hugging herself tightly.

Not knowing what else to do, Greg climbed through the support pipes and sat down next to her.  At least she didn’t pull away and that might mean she didn’t mind if he came closer.  He felt the wind again and noticed that she didn’t have a jacket so he opened his and brought it around her back, shielding her as much as possible.  In this position, he put his hand on her shoulder and nudged her to him.

She immediately launched her upper body onto his and clung to him, her tears wetting his shirt as she broke into great heaving sobs.  Not knowing what else to do, he brought his other arm around to encase her, stroking her hair and whispering to her that it was all right and he was there for her.

They stayed in that position until Mandy’s sobs had calmed to little sniffles and hiccups.  He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, “thank goodness it was clean” he thought.  He handed it to her and she used it to wipe her eyes, cheeks and then blow her nose. She finally sat up a bit and tried to blot the tears that had soaked into his shirt.

As she started to get herself together, Greg took a quick look to check her out.  She was definitely shorter than he was but a very attractive package that was perfect proportion to her height.  Her breasts were not really large, but they filled the blouse she had on nicely.  Her legs were long and toned and her thighs (her skirt had rode up almost to her hips) looked smooth and very sexy.  He then mentally kicked himself for checking her out when she was so obliviously upset.  

Neither one had spoken for several minutes.  Mandy was still trying to get herself together and Greg didn’t have a clue as to what to do to help her.  So he just kept rubbing his hands up and down her upper arms.  She finally brought her head up to look directly at his face.

“Thank you for letting me cry on your shoulder.  I can’t believe that I got your shirt all wet.”

He felt doubly bad for thinking what he had.  “Hey we have known each other a long time.  Even though we don’t see each other much any more, we are still friends.  And friends are supposed to help each other.”

“Yeah, I guess.  I just can’t believe that Steve dumped me after we...” She stopped before she finished that sentence.

“Hey, that is enough of a reason for you to be upset.”  Greg was trying to keep her from being embarrassed for almost saying something that she didn’t want to reveal.  He stood and offered her his hand.  “Come on, I’ll walk you home.  We can talk on the way.”

Mandy took his hand and stood.  She had an almost smile on her face, the first since he had first spotted her under the bleachers.  Together, they cut across the open field and out onto the sidewalk.  The breeze had kicked up even more and Greg noticed that Mandy was almost shivering.  The shirt he had on under his jacket was pretty heavy but she had nothing but her light blouse.  He slipped off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.  She gratefully accepted it and gave him another smile in thanks, the second one he had seen today.

They did talk a little on the way home, keeping the conversation on very general terms by Mandy’s preference.  They got to the sidewalk to Mandy’s house and he gave her a wave that she returned.  He then jogged down the block to his own house. Greg was feeling good about himself for helping Mandy while at the same time wondering if it was just a breakup that upset her or if there was something else.

Greg didn’t see Mandy for the rest of the week.  Since they went to different schools, that was understandable.  But she was on his mind often.  She had looked so vulnerable, so unhappy, that it preyed on his mind.  He went through his normal routine plus some extra research for a paper that he had to write in history.  Although he didn’t need the grades to pass, he found the comparative cultures fascinating.  Besides, his parents expected him to excel at everything he did.

Both parents worked at high pressure, performance based jobs and they did very well and expected the same from their son.  They were lucky in that Greg was the type of teen that was responsible and serious about his work as they expected him to be.  He was often home alone in the evenings and more or less took care of himself.  

Saturday morning, Greg got up and fixed himself breakfast.  His parents were gone as usual and he planned to spend some time in front of the TV just channel surfing and fooling around.  Even he needed his ‘down time’ and since he was always home alone, nobody could complain.

He had settled in a movie that promised to have some action as well as more than just a bit of skin showing when the front doorbell rang.  He went to open it, expecting some of those religious folks that always seemed to be out giving away their little pamphlets or somebody selling candy or magazines.  He was trying to think of an excuse to get rid of them when he opened the door. Instead of a couple of people dressed in suits or carrying a cardboard carrier of chocolate, it was Mandy dressed in a skirt and sweater.  In her hand was his jacket that he had covered her with at the beginning of the week.

She smiled at him.  Holding the jacket out, she said, “I wanted to bring this back and to thank you again for being so nice to me.”

“Hey, it was my pleasure.  I always look for fair maidens in distress to rescue.  It is part of my quota to keep my knight in shining armor standing.”  He had hoped it would get a smile from this pretty girl in front of him.

It worked because she let out a little giggle.  She looked so much better when she was smiling.  “You always were a bit of a goof.  Even when we were young, you could always get me to laugh.”

“Want to come in for a few minutes?  It still isn’t all that warm out there.”  

Mandy hesitated for a few seconds before she stepped over the threshold.  Greg closed the door and led her to the living room.  He asked if she wanted something to drink and when she answered in the affirmative, he was soon back with a couple of Cokes.

She was sitting on one end of the couch watching the action on the television.  The main characters were in bed and a bunch of the bad guys were getting ready to ambush them.  The machine guns started blazing and the main characters dove out of bed completely naked.  Her eyes were glued to the screen.  Greg touched her arm with the can causing her to jump a bit.

He apologized for startling her and reaching for the remote, turned down the volume.  He was a little bit embarrassed that she had caught him watching something that had that much nudity.  

He was not the only one embarrassed.  Mandy’s face was tinged pink.

“I’m sorry.  I was just looking for something to watch and landed on this.”

“Oh no, its fine.  I didn’t mean to interrupt you.  It’s just that I never get to see anything like that.  Mom and Dad are real strict about what I get to see.  They even have almost every channel blocked except for the religious ones.”

“Dad has every channel even though he is never around to watch them.  When they asked which ones he wanted, he told them ‘all of them’.  I don’t think he knows that it included the Playboy channel and the adult film channels.”

“Have you watched those?”  Mandy’s eyes were big.

“Well, not very often.  I just happen to see them as I go through.”  Greg stammered in answer.  In reality, he watched (and jerked off to) those channels every chance he got.

Wanting to steer away from that subject, Greg asked her if she was doing better than she was the last time they had met.

“Yeah, I think so.  I was pretty devastated when Steve dumped me.  We had been together for three months, and I thought I was really in love with him.  He was the first guy I ever dated.  He goes to our church and that was the only reason I could go out with him, and then it was only church sponsored functions.”

“Well, if you want my opinion, he is a complete moron to even consider dumping a beautiful girl like you.”

That made her head dip down, but he could see her smile.  “That’s very sweet.”  Then she glanced up at him hopefully.  “You really think I’m pretty?”

“Oh hell yeah!  I mean... well, I do think you are very pretty.  And that you are a really neat person.”

She looked at him more serious now.  “That’s nice to hear.  Even though it isn’t really true.”

“What makes you think it isn’t true?  You have always been nice and friendly to everyone I have ever seen you talk to.  You aren’t nasty to people, you always had something good to say.  That makes you a nice person.”

She was starting to tear up again.  “That’s not what I have heard at school all week.  The girls have been calling me a slut and a whore and the boys have all been trying to get me alone because Steve had been bragging about us.”

“Don’t believe them.  That Steve is an asshole for saying anything about what you two did.  Someone who really loves you wouldn’t be talking about something like that to anyone but you.  If I ever did something with a girl, I wouldn’t talk about it.”  Greg shut up quickly after he let it out that he was inexperienced.

“You mean you haven’t done it yet?  I would have thought...”

“Thought what?  You know geeks don’t get laid.  Not if a girl wants to keep her standing in the social order.”

The had gradually moved closer as they talked and now Mandy put her hand on his arm sending chills up his spine.  “No!  That’s not what I meant. I just thought that since you are so cute, you would have had a bunch of girls by now.”

Greg realized that she had not meant any offense.  He gave her a half-hearted smile.  “Thanks for the compliment, but when you have high grades and don’t play any sports that the school offers, you are labeled a geek.  And no matter how you look, you are not date material.  Friends, yes when you need help with homework, but forget it when it comes to going out, much less making out.”  He tried not to let too much of his bitterness show.

“Well then the girls at your school are stupid.  If I could, I would go out with you.  But Daddy thinks that anyone outside the church is heathen and should be avoided.”  She looked genuinely saddened by that.

Greg had a fleeting moment of panic when she confessed that he would actually have had a chance with a girl this perfect in his estimation.  He wasn’t sure he could handle it.  After a moment of silence, he finally spoke again.  “I wish we could go out.  I bet we would have fun.  But we can still be friends.”

Mandy’s eyes brightened.  “Of course.  You are the first person who hasn’t been judgmental with me.  I really need a friend that I can talk to.”

She was much happier now that she understood that Greg wasn’t holding her sexual history against her, what little there was.  They talked of other things like school and music until Mandy noticed the time.  “I have to get home.  Mom thought I was going to see a friend, she just didn’t know which one.”

Greg walked her to the door.  Just before he opened the door to let her out, she turned to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.  She slipped out the door with a quick ‘Thanks again!’ before moving quickly up the sidewalk toward her house.

Greg went back to the television, but he couldn’t keep his mind on what was on the screen.  He kept thinking of that kiss.  It wasn’t romantic or anything like that but the feeling of her soft lips on his cheek had started a hormonal overload.  That was the first kiss from a girl not a relative.  He finally went up to his room to lie down and relax.  He soon fell asleep and dreamed about Mandy in a manner that definitely not ‘just friends’.

=========     *********     =========

Mandy for her part was thinking about Greg.  She felt relief at being able to talk to someone who didn’t think badly of her.  She hadn’t really told Greg that she had finally given in to Steve’s demands for sex, but she was sure he had figured it out.  They had only done it twice.  

The first time he had gotten her hot and bothered, she had just lost control. They had snuck down into the church basement during a teen night.  He had managed to get his hands in her panties after a period of making out.  He had managed to give her an orgasm, and before she could recover, he had slid the crotch of her panties aside and shoved his prick into her.  It had hurt terribly and he didn’t do anything to make it better.  He just immediately started pumping into her.  She was fortunate in that he didn’t last much more than a minute until he groaned and filled her pussy with his semen.  Then he pulled out and zipped up leaving her lying on the floor with his seed dripping out of her.  It had been nothing like she had thought her first time should have been.

The second and last time happened just a few days before Greg had found her.  He had talked her into going back to the basement again.  But this time she was going to tell him that what they had done before was wrong and she didn’t want to do it again.  He started to paw at her tits while he tried to kiss her.  She pushed him away and told him that she didn’t want to.  He had then called her a slut and since he had done her once, she should just put out for him again.  She then tried to leave, but he had shoved her down on the gym mats, ripped her panties off and shoved his prick into her again.  She was dry and it hurt terribly.  She was on her knees with her chest pressed into the stack of mats and he kept slamming into her from behind.  He finally tensed up and shot his stuff into her.  Then he pulled out and slapped her ass, leaving a handprint.  Then he walked out leaving her in pain and crying.

Mandy shivered from those memories.  But what had happened next was almost worse.  When she told him at school that she was never going to do that again with him, he broke up with her and then started telling all his buddies that she was a slut who would drop her panties for anyone with a dick.  The girls heard about it and had shunned her as well.

The only bright spot had been Greg.  He had comforted her that day under the bleachers and walked her home.  He hadn’t tried to do anything to her.  And today he hadn’t tried to grab her even after he found out she was a harlot.  He had just told her she was pretty and nice.  He had cheered her up and been sweet the whole time.  She had surprised herself when she had kissed him on the cheek.  It had just felt like the right thing to do at the time.  The rest of the weekend she thought about Greg and tried to figure out a way to see him again.

They didn’t see much of each other for almost two weeks.  Greg changed his route home so he would pass her house every afternoon.  Most days, Mandy would be at the window and would smile and wave at him.  This did his mood a world of good and he looked forward to it.  He had little else to look forward to considering that his father was in Asia and his mom was spending so much time at work that he never saw her.  He was starting to think that she had a lover somewhere since he would get up in the morning and peek into his parent’s room and the bed was always made and nothing moved.  He set a trap by making a fold in the spread and when he checked the next morning, he found it in the same place, confirming his suspicions.

It wasn’t that he really cared that much.  His parents would often be gone from the time he could get himself up and ready for school.  It did seem spooky to know he had the house all to himself though.  He might as well be living on his own.  He did make a call to his mother’s office on Thursday and left a voice mail asking if she would at least bring some groceries home or make some kind of arrangements.

On the way home from school Friday, he spotted Mandy standing on the street corner across from the entrance to the school.  His heart swelled a little bit at the sight of her.  She just seemed to be hanging around waiting for something or somebody.  There was the fleeting thought in his mind that maybe it was him.

His hope was confirmed when she saw him and waved to him to wait until she crossed the street.  She came running over and gave him a hug and a kiss on the lips that startled him and gave him tingling clear into his toes.

When he got his senses back, he noticed that some of the other kids looking strangely in his direction.  Mandy then grabbed his arm and they started walking in the direction of their houses.

As they got a little way from the crowd, Greg finally broke the silence.  “That was quite a greeting!  But I gotta ask why you did that?”

Mandy looked up at him like she had done something wrong.  “Didn’t you like it?  Did I do something wrong?”

Greg stopped and turned toward her.  “Gods, no!  It was great.  I’ve never been kissed like that before.  But it was just so out of the blue.”

“Well, I was thinking about what you had said when I was at your house.  You know, about friends helping friends out.  I thought that maybe if some of the girls at your school thought that you had a girlfriend, they might realize that you were a good catch after all.”

Greg gave her a big smile.  He knew that it probably wouldn’t do much good, but that she thought to help him out at all made him feel really good.  Besides, he would love to have a girlfriend like her.  As they started walking again, he thanked her for the help, and then asked why she was able to be there in the first place.

She replied that they always had a short day on Friday where they were supposed to go to Chapel for a special teen worship and then time was supposed to be spent ‘socializing’ which meant they had to talk about religious things while the adults watched them.  That had been when she and Steve had snuck off together.  Now that they had broken up, she couldn’t stand being there especially with the other girls looking down on her.  They were allowed to leave to go home after chapel, so she left but decided to wait for him instead.

Greg was quite happy about this turn of events.  Even if she wanted to just be friends and have someone to talk to, he would take that.   Though he was sure that he wished it would become something more, at least from his side.

They walked along talking about school and things in general.  Mandy dropped the information that her mother was starting to volunteer in the Saturday Missions to the elderly, a program the church ran to go and pray with the shut ins and nursing home residents.  She was glad because her father paid little attention to her since she was a girl and he always took her brothers to some sport or church function.  She would have some time to herself without being supervised.

When they parted, Mandy squeezed his hand and separated, heading up her sidewalk waving.  He waved back and his feet almost didn’t touch the ground for the remainder of the distance to his own door.

He walked in and tossed his books and jacket on the chair in the living room.  He walked into the kitchen and noticed that there were groceries on the counter.  Checking, he saw that any cold items had been put in the refrigerator.  His mom must have gotten the message.  This was so typical of how she treated him.  There was no note or anything else to let him know where she was or if she would be home.  He had accepted that he was just an afterthought to both his parents; something that they thought about rarely, usually only when he needed to have papers or something else signed.

Since the time he was old enough to have a checking account, his parents had set up automatic transfers to his account for his allowance.  He had a motorcycle and they did pay the insurance for him but he preferred to walk to school since it was good exercise and they lived only a half-mile away.  They didn’t know how much he had in his account and they also didn’t know about the savings that he had.  For a teenager, he had a pretty tidy sum put away.

But that money didn’t give him what deep down he really wished for.  He would have given it all away to have parents that loved and really wanted him.  His birth had been a status symbol - something that all the up and coming couples had.  Soon after he was born, that fad had fallen out of vogue so he didn’t have any siblings.  After that, he had been raised by a nanny and brought out for inspection by his parents’ friends when they felt the need to make an impression of being the all American couple.

He heaved a big sigh.  At least he could take care of himself.  He didn’t make much of mess.  He did all the cleaning and cooked for himself many nights.  When his dad was in town, he would sometimes make the effort to be home for dinner if it didn’t interfere with his schedule.

He grilled a chicken breast on the indoor grill and made a salad to go with it.  He learned early to cook and felt he did a pretty good job at it.  And it was something that he enjoyed.  He ate in the living room while watching some sitcom from the seventies.  He put the plates in the kitchen and went upstairs to do his homework and then play on the computer.

He finally went to bed and fell asleep with Mandy’s kiss in his thoughts, as it had been all evening.

Saturday morning found Greg once again answering the door to find Mandy standing there.  She asked if he was busy.  He told her that he wasn’t any more than just some chores he had put off until today.  She volunteered to give him a hand and between the two of them, they had the laundry done and the house cleaned in record time.  Greg was surprised that the chores he normally despised were enjoyable with someone there to help him.  They laughed and teased the entire time.  

When he asked about her coming over, she explained that she didn’t want to stay at home by herself.  She had been ordered not to bring any boys to the house, but they didn’t say she couldn’t go elsewhere.  Greg told her that he was glad to have the company and she was welcome as often as she wanted to come.

Then they fixed some sandwiches and moved into the living room and turned on the TV.  Greg took a seat on the end of the couch and Mandy moved to sit close enough that their legs were touching.  Greg wondered about this, but decided that he enjoyed the feel of her thigh against his so he just went with it.

He picked up the remote and they went through the channels looking for something that would suit them.  They settled on a comedy that was pretty silly, but also showed some skin.

Greg settled back and without thinking about it, put his arm on the back of the couch and around Mandy.  She took advantage and snuggled in closer to him, pulling his arm around her shoulder.  Greg was ecstatic.  He was enjoying the sensation of her body pushing against him, and he could feel the weight of her breast pushing against his side.  He stored all these sensations into his memory to be replayed later.  

They laughed and commented on the movie as it played on, each comfortable with the company of the other.  He didn’t want to push her to go further, and she appreciated the fact that she could just sit close without having her tits mangled or the guy trying to slip his hand up her skirt.

When the sex scenes came on, they both squirmed uncomfortably.  She was embarrassed because of her upbringing, but also curious about what the people on the screen were doing.  He was embarrassed by the fact his cock was making an uncomfortable lump in his shorts.  He tried to rearrange it without causing suspicion and embarrassment for Mandy.    Secretly, he was seeing her and him replacing the actors on the screen.  Those thoughts were troubling for him because he could feel even more aroused with that running through his head.

It was late afternoon when Mandy finally decided that she had to leave before her parents returned.  He walked her to the door and thanked her for the help in the house and the company afterwards.  He hesitated opening the door for her and finally got up the nerve to say what he wanted to.

“Mandy, would it be alright if I kissed you goodbye?”

She seemed startled with the question for a second, and then looked up at him with a smile.  “I think I would like that.  You don’t have to ask me, just do it.”

With her obvious acceptance, he did just that.  Leaning down, he pressed his lips against hers, and used everything he had ever read on the Internet about kissing.  She eagerly returned the kiss, giving a little moan as she pressed back against him.  They parted after just a few seconds, but that little connection left them both tingling.

She was a little breathless as she promised to come and meet him next Friday.  Then she slipped out the door.  He watched as she walked up the sidewalk and closed the door once she was out of sight.  The afternoon with her warm body snuggled up against his had left him excited and that kiss was more than he could stand.  He headed to his room and in just a few strokes, took care of the pressure in his groin.  Later in the evening, he started reliving the events of the day and had to masturbate again in order to calm down enough to sleep.

He was sitting in the living room the next day when his mother came in.  She came in and sat down in one of the chairs across from the couch where he was stretched out.

“I think we need to talk.”  She stated this in a voice that almost sounded concerned.  “When you left the message at the office, I realized that I hadn’t been back here for several days.  Work has just been very busy and I have been staying on the couch in my office.  I am sorry that I haven’t been back here.”

“Mom, there is no reason for you to get upset about not being here at this late date.  You and dad have always paid more attention to your careers than you have me anyway.”  His mother started to protest, but he held up his hand to forestall her.  “Don’t bother trying to deny or rationalize it.  I figured out a long time ago just where I stood in the list of priorities.  And frankly, I am so used to it that anything else wouldn’t even seem normal.  If you think back, I haven’t had a nanny since I was thirteen.  I have been pretty well taking care of myself since then.  You and dad were always gone before I got up to go to school and most of the time you came home after I had fed myself and in bed.”

Heather sat in the chair for a moment, thinking about what her son had said.  Her first thought was to deny what he had said, but she knew that he was right.  She and Ted had treated Greg as almost an afterthought.  It was then that she knew that they had done a great disservice to this young man and he had grown up well in spite of their influence (or lack of influence) in his life.  Suddenly, she was looking at him in a new light.  He was not just a part of the house, but a grown individual.  One that she really didn’t know at all.

“Son, I am very sorry.  You are right; we haven’t been good parents to you.  Hell, we haven’t been parents at all.  I haven’t ever really felt the maternal instinct even when you were small.  Please realize that it has nothing to do with you.  If there ever was a child who deserved love and attention, it was you. I just never knew quite what to do with you.   It’s funny in a way; I remember your accomplishments because I would use them as a talking point at work.  I guess I was proud of what you were doing and tried to make out as if I had something to do with it.”

“Mom, I don’t blame you or dad at all.  Like I said, I just thought that was the way it was supposed to be.  It was a long time before I knew it wasn’t supposed to be like that.  I admit that I felt really bad when I would be in school programs and everyone else’s parents would be in the audience and I had no one there for me. For a long time, I was angry and hurt.  I felt that you never really wanted me after you had me.  But that is all in the past and we can’t change that.”

Heather’s face was sorrowful.  “I know that and since you have shown me what I have missed, I truly regret it.  I failed as a parent and now I don’t know what to do from here.  Do you want me to try to spend more time here at home?  Is there anything your father and I can do to make up for the time we have neglected to be with you?”

Greg had not been expecting to have such a talk with his mother.  He had always thought he wanted to lash out over the hurt that he had harbored for years.  He wanted to hurt them for the neglect and indifference that had caused him to feel so alone and lonely.  But now that he had the chance, he just couldn’t do it.  Her admitting her ignorance about parenting had negated any anger he still had.

“Honestly, I don’t think that would change anything.  I am so used to being alone that anything else would be foreign to me.  You are still my mother and I love you.  I just don’t see any reason to change anything at this late date.  I am always happy to have your company but if you tried to ‘mother’ me now it would be just too weird.  If you just want to set me up with an account at the store so I can have food in the house and continue to pay the bills, that is all I really need.  I’ll always be glad to have you around, but it is not necessary.”

Heather was thoughtful for a moment.  She knew he was right.  They couldn’t change anything that had already happened.  She was deeply disturbed that he felt the way he did, but she also understood that it was her fault as well as her husband’s.  For all their success in the business world, this young man, her son, was more attuned to the world in what really mattered than either of his parents.

“I’ll talk to your father and we will get an account set up.  Our accountant, Carl, will take care of it.  Also, anything else you think you need just call or ask when we are home.  You have proven yourself to be more of an adult than we have any reason to ask for and I am very proud of you.”

Greg then got up, went to his mother, and gave her a hug.  He was surprised to feel a few tears hit his shirt while he held her.  They would probably never be close as some families were, but at least he had a start on some kind of relationship.  It was even better than some since his mother viewed him as an adult and equal now instead of him always being a child.

She stayed the rest of the day and they cooked dinner together.  Heather was surprised that her son was such a good cook and complimented him several times on the food.  They sat together and watched a movie on the big screen then they both turned in.  She finally slept in her own bed for the first time in more than three weeks.

The next day, they both took off work and school and went to see Carl Collins, the accountant.  Mr. Collins was not what you would expect when you thought of an accountant.  Instead of being a small skinny guy with glasses, Carl was every bit six feet eight and probably close to three hundred pounds.  He could have easily played on the defensive line of almost any pro team.  If Greg had known football, he would have realized that Carl Collins had played for the Rams before he injured his back.

Carl was introduced to Greg and was told that whatever Greg needed he was to get.  Notes were made on the Tolkin’s accounts to pay any household bills that came in.  Greg was just to send them in or drop them off at the office.  With a phone call, he was also set up with an account at the local grocery store.  

Greg then surprised his mother and Carl when he asked if Carl could help him make some investments of his own.  Carl was more than happy to work with the young man and they made arrangements to meet to set up a portfolio for Greg.

That taken care of, mother and son spent the afternoon together, getting to know one another a little better.  By the time Greg left for school the next day, he felt a lot better about his home situation and even understood his parents better.