Cindy perked up. "Baby, you're NOT lost. I found you!"

Tina said, "You might've found HIM, my Alan found ME." Then to the group: "Who's got the biggest car? We should ride together!"

Cindy giggled and nodded assent.

"Ford Taurus," Alan said.

"You win," I said. "I went with a sub-compact! We could all FIT in a Focus..."

Alan laughed. "No, we'll take the Taurus. Do you two need to go back to your room first, or are we ready to go?"

I looked at Cindy. "She LOOKS ready, but you never know ... Baby?"

"I'm ready. You ready, Tina?"

Tina shut the cover on her laptop and stood. "I'm ready. Let's go."

Alan patted his back pocket to verify his keycard was in it, and we walked down the hall behind Tina and Cindy. Tina's walk had a little more gentle flow to it. Cindy never seemed to shake the idea that she was on the verge of skipping, her hair bobbing delightfully.

Allan nudged me. "Look," he laughed. "Cuties!"

"Uh-huh," I said. "Apparently in my former life I rescued puppies or something to have karma like this."

At the lobby the girls stopped and waited for us. Cindy took my hand and Tina linked up with Alan and we strode past the front desk, two couple headed out for the evening. The air outside was crisp and chilly as we walked to the Addison's parked car.

Tina said, "Guys in the front, girls in the back. Ya'll are taller."

We got in the car. I closed the door and felt familiar fingers touch my face.

"We're buckled in back here," Cindy chirped.

Alan started the car as I punched up our destination on the GPS, and off we went.

I started the conversation about work. I REALLY wanted to hear how another wise sane middle-aged engineer would end up with a teen-aged wife. I mean, besides ME.

"Sounds like the same division as in Arizona," I said. "I ended up with the generators and you got the distribution."

"Pretty much. Only generation I have is the emergency set that keeps the control room coffeepot going. Got a nice utility substation. We built it too."

"Those are fun," I said. "You get Tina out there?"

"No," he said. "I tried but our safety guy's one of those anal retentive ones that's hard to work with. I'm surprised he's still there. You're telling me that Cindy..."

"I'm the "Engineer's Apprentice," Cindy said. She turned to Tina. "I've got all kinds of pictures on my laptop in the room. You gotta see 'em!"

"You remember Bill Carmody, right?" I asked Alan.

"Yeah. He's on your project?"

"Yeah," I said. "Project manager on this one."

"Day-um! He was good running the mechanical side of that last job."

"He's doing a great job with this one, too. He's like Cindy's godfather out there. She's out there almost every week. Sometimes twice."

"Alan, I wish I could visit your job."

"I know, baby," Alan said. "We talked about it. But lemme work an angle on it. Might be able to get you out there with your physics class, and work from there. Uh, Dan, doesn't that interfere with her school?"

"Uh, Alan, I'm kind of proud of my Cindy. She's sort of a unique case in the eight grade."

"Unique?" Tina questioned.

Cindy had a little smile but kept quiet.

"Yeah," I said. "She's graduating from high school in May."

"Me too," Tina said. "But I'm a senior. What's the deal, Cindy?"

"I took a test. And another test. And Dan gave me a little push abut school..."

"She's just scary smart, is all," I said.

"Got me one a'those," Alan laughed. "Tina's an honor student, even with missing half a semester last year as a high school dropout."

Tina lowered her eyes. "It's part of a long story, Mister Dan."

My little redhead patted her new friend's knee. "Tina, Dan an' I know about long, sad stories. I got my own..."

Alan's eyes flitted off the road and at me. "Who starts first?"

"I think I'd rather let Cindy decide what she wants to tell. I just sort of showed up at the RV park..."

She picked the story up. "Me an' Mom were livin' in a trailer in an RV park. It wasn't a very good situation. My mom was..."

Tina sensed the connection. "Mine was horrible, Cindy. I lived with my grandma until she died, and then I had to move in with Mom."

"I lived with my mom in a thirty-foot travel trailer," Cindy said. "An' Mom worked in a bar..."

I sensed a bit of a quiver in Cindy's voice. "Baby, you don't have to..."

"Hush, honey," Cindy said. "I want people to know how bad it was before you came along, love. Tina, my momma gave me up when I was fourteen to the nice lady who ran the RV park, just so she could go to Vegas with some dude she picked up at a bar..."

Tina said, "Alan found me about to get the crap slapped out of me by my mom's boyfriend. They were going to meet a guy to do a drug lab in Arkansas. Mom's in jail now. Alan offered me a place to stay until we got things sorted out. I did all kinds of sorting, and he kept showing up on the top of the stack." She smiled and reached her hand forward to caress Alan's neck. "I love you, Alan. D'ya know that?"

"Yes I do, angel," he said.

"Dan was somebody to talk with, then somebody to help me with schoolwork, then a friend, and then there is no reason it the world that I'd ever want NOT to be with him. I don't know how we lived without each other..."

I couldn't see her. The car was lit only by the ambient light of a city street and my little love was seated behind me, but I knew her 'happy serious' smile, green eyes atwinkle, the way the corners of her mouth turned up as she showed dimples to accentuate the freckled nose.

"He gives me the stars..." She reached up and gave me a proprietary touch.

"She's my star," I admitted. "You oughtta see her onstage."

"Stage?" Tina blurted.

We were pulling into the restaurant parking lot. "We can tell that story inside," Cindy said.

The four of us walked into the restaurant like the two couples we were. Fortunately it WAS a family place because we were all in our 'travelling clothes'. For Cindy that was jeans and a sweatshirt. This time it was University of Alabama.

I noticed that Alan and Tina made a cute couple. The top of her head reached his ear. My Cindy was ten inches shorter than me, a delightful thing, in my mind, but the difference in our heights emphasized the difference in our ages.

We were taken to a table in a corner, nicely removed from the traffic flows. "Just don't forget us back here," Alan chided the waitress.

We pored over menus and chose a couple of appetizers and our entrees and chatted the whole time. Cindy told her story about our musical exploits. She set her eye on Alan. "Did YOU know he could play guitar?"

Alan raised his hands in surrender. "Nope. He kept that part pretty well hidden." He paused. "Well, there was that one time, but he'd had a few beers and so had I, company party, you know, and he took the bass from the guy in the band for a while, but who can tell when a bass player's any good?"

I laughed. "I see you still have a decided lack of discernment in music."

"Hey, bud," Alan said, laughing, "I'm here for the same concert YOU are..."

"That's probably Tina's idea," I picked.

Tina stood by her guy. "I'm just the navigator on this one. The first time I ever saw a live concert, Alan was sitting there next to me." She smiled. "First time in an airplane, too."

"And now you have your license?" I asked.

"I took my flight test two weeks before Christmas," she said.

"I'm jealous of that," Cindy said, feigning a pout. "I have to wait 'til I'm seventeen. It's gonna be my birthday present."

"Little darlin' wrangled a couple of flights in an Extra," I said. "Thought I was gonna have to buy one..."

"Oh, really?" Alan said.

"Didn't we see one of those somewhere in Kentucky?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, baby," he answered.

Tina's turn to stick a pouty lip out. "Cindy, now I'm jealous."

Cindy giggled. "Don't be! I'm sure you have plenty of adventure all your own."

"Oh yeah," Tina laughed. "Like escaping Tennessee before Alan got arrested for child molestation."

"Alan," I said, "You were molesting this lovely child? You DOG!"

"I molested him first, Dan," Tina admitted. "He was all perfectly honorable and everything..."

Cindy cut her eyes to mine, smiled, and said nothing.

Tina continued, "And we thought the age of consent in Tennessee was sixteen like a lot of other places, but it wasn't, so we had to do a flying trip to Louisiana for a judge to fix up some paperwork and marry us."

Another knowing glance from Cindy. And a giggle. "Oh, Dan an' I know about judges and paperwork," she said.

The chatter continued through the meal. Cindy and I did our normal trick of ordering two different entrees and swapping plates halfway through. No, we wouldn't do that in a 'white tablecloth' place, but this was a family-style restaurant and we didn't feel bad about it. I noted that Alan and Tina split a dessert. So did my Cindy and I. And four coffees afterward before Alan and I almost went to fisticuffs over who picked up the tab.

"Dammit, Alan," I finally said, "YOU drove. I pay!"

"Alright," he gave in. "I get lunch tomorrow. If you guys wanna hang out with me an' Sweetie."

Cindy and I were a duet. Together we said, "Of course!"

I paid our check and the four of us trooped out to the car and rode back to the hotel. I heard low voices and giggling in the back seat as Alan and I talked about work things. We exited in the parking lot and walked back into the hotel.

"Tina and I figured this out, guys," she said. "We all have been living in travel trailers and tonight's the night for loooong hot showers."

Tina looked at Alan, smiling. He looked enraptured. She said, "So, we all do our own things for breakfast, and we'll get together around elevenish and figure out lunch." Giggle. "C'mon, THING," she said.

"Yeah, c'mon, THING!" Cindy giggled, pulling at my hand, urging me toward the elevator.

"How can I argue with this?" I laughed.

I let us into our room and Cindy turned the deadbolt and fastened the chainlock. I scooped her into my arms and kissed her. Then she kissed me back.

"Wow, guy," she said. "I never in a million YEARS expected anything like this!"

"It's kinda got me floored, too. But you and Tina seem to hit it off."

"I never had a sister, Dan," Cindy said. "Tina's, well, I don't know ... I LIKE her ... She could BE my sister, in an only slightly parallel universe."

"Me an' Alan said the same thing, baby. Ya'll look like sisters."

She pushed me backward onto the bed. "Uh, Dan, love of my life, d'ya think you might be interested in a long hot shower? Hmmmm?" Her eyes sparkled. "I think it would be nice to be wet an' naked and soapy..."

"That's a wonderful idea, little redheaded girl," I said, pulling her against me. Her face moved towards mine, our lips fusing.

She hopped up, sat cross-legged on the bed and untied her shoes. I slid my loafers off and wrapped her in my arms from behind and attacked the nape of her neck, pushing aside her short bronze hair, reducing her to a giggly mass.

"Stop that, ' she giggled. "We need to take a shower."

I didn't stop. She twisted around and captured my mouth with her own. "Okay, guy," she smiled. "A couple more."

Finally we stood and stripped together and hit the shower. Unlimited hot water, lots of soap, we spent half an hour, I guess, before we finally got out. After toweling off, she began to dry her hair while I tended to my shaving. She was still drying her hair and brushing it when I finished. I observed the diminutive beauty as she finished and walked into the room. It was very pleasant. Her breasts were growing a bit, the undersides taking a sweet roundness, still a delightful A cup, pushing into B territory, still perfection for her slender form, and she strode into the room with confidence and expectation, straight into my waiting arms.

I rolled her onto her back.

"Oooooo," she squealed. "Somebody's INTERESTED!"

"D'you know how absolutely beautiful you are, Cindy?"

"Only when you tell me, baby," she smiled. "You, I believe." She sighed. "You. Because you love me."

"I do indeed love you. And adore you. And worship you."

"And I NEED you, Dan. Right now." She tugged me down to kiss, insinuating her right hand between us to grasp my dick. "I wanna play."

This was signal for fun. I rolled sideways off her, awaiting the next move. It came quickly as her small hand pushed me onto my back and she deftly straddled my thighs, giving her easy view and access to her 'toys'. Green eyes flashed along with her smile as two hands reached down to tease and explore.

My own hands stroked her thighs.

"Hard tonight, babe," she grinned.

"Don't know why," I grinned. "You're cute and smart and I love you and I've been looking forward to this for a week."

She slid forward from her position on my thighs to bring a happy bit of moist warmth into contact with my dick, then she fell forward into my arms.

"Absolutely perfect!" I said to the bronze-wreathed face before me.

Inventory, okay? Physical beauty? Five-three, hundred and ten pounds, green, like in 'emerald' green, eyes, hair the color of bronze, no enhancements desired or needed, skin pale from some convergence of Scandinavian and Celtic ancestry, with that spatter of freckles across a pert nose, a complexion that should go on magazine covers. Make a big "X" in the 'physical beauty' box. Intelligence? Surely you jest. If somebody showed her something, she LEARNED it. And then, if it was interesting to her, she went and found out MORE. And heaven help us if she could actually practice a skill. I was always the quick one in any group I joined, but Cindy ... I found myself overshadowed. Personality. Seven months ago I'd met a shy, introverted, scared of her own shadow, little girl. Today she was happy, confident, at ease with others. Maturity? She was FOURTEEN! And honestly, I'd dated women almost three times her age that had less poise and maturity. Yes, I know she lacked a lot of the life experiences I'd gained by hanging around a few decades more, but she stayed right with me if we got into something that she'd not yet experienced.

Yeah! Absolutely perfect!

And she was laying in my arms, smiling!

"Dan, you just zoned out, babe. What are you thinking about?"

"You, little one," I said. "Sometimes the reality hits me."

She knew this talk. "That you found yourself married to a KID?" Giggle.

"No. That I found myself married to YOU!"

Her arms looped around my neck and we kissed some more. Her mobile hips rose up and my dick sprang free to a purposeful angle. She toyed with it knowingly with little nudges as we kissed and then said, "I'll be back." And she spun around to present me with her pussy in my face. My mouth reached her about the same time hers reached me and we both moaned.

Nimble fingers worked magic on me in concert with her mouth. My own lips and tongue were in a joyous playground of taste and texture and the efficacy of my actions were signaled by the insistent motions of her pelvis as she writhed under the stimulation.

She pulled her mouth off me. "I thought I could wait, babe. I can't. Do me." She clasped my dick against her cheek and her pelvis rhythmically shoved her clitty against my tongue as I played with her.

"Nnnnngghhh!" and she drew a sharp breath and held it. "Nnnnnngghhhh! Yessssss!" she hissed. "Ohgodyessssss!"

I gave her a bit of time to get past her orgasm and tentatively flicked my tongue out again.

"Ohpleaseonemore!"

"Mmmmmmm," I moaned. "As long as you taste like this..." and I was quite pleased to give her one more.

It was a good one. She went limp. I let my head drop to the pillow, breathing through my nose, savoring the tangy, sweet musk of her orgasm. I heard her sigh.

"I love you soooo much, Dan."

"I love you right back, Cindy."

She turned back around, kissing me, my face slick with the juice of her orgasm. "Your tongue..."

"Incentive," I said. "I get a happy Cindy out of that deal."

Giggle. And a hop. And she was impaled on me. Her head was tilted to the left, her eyes twinkling, her face a dimpled smile. She took my hands in hers. "You got a VERY happy Cindy!" And she started riding.

The smile modulated to involve her biting her bottom lip, somewhere in the time it took me to get to my orgasm. That was a gauge of hers. She paid attention. When I just couldn't stop it, I thrust upward hard into her and she did a couple of horizontal slides that brought me and her both to the pinnacle.

"Hold me," she said.

"Yes, my love."

"Mmmmmm. Baby." She gave me a shower of tiny kisses.

I answered with my own. I felt a plop as my softened dick fell out of its tight nest. I felt the juices spreading down over my scrotum. "A mess down there, cutie," I said.

"I shouldn't waste that," she said. "It's us..."

"I was thinking the same thing, sweetness. Why don't you..."

Giggle. And she twirled around. In a few minutes she was shuddering through her fourth orgasm and I was squeaky clean. She came back to my side, nestling in my arm as I lay on my back, her hand idly fondling me.

"Still think I'm perfect, guy?"

"Past perfect, doll," I said. "There'd have to be TWO of me to love you enough."

"I don't want TWO. I want the ONE I've got right now." She propped up on an elbow. "You know, you're not exploiting me, guy."

"I tired, baby. Maybe I'm getting too old to exploit you properly."

Giggle. "No, be serious. You know what I mean. I was reading the news on the internet the other day and I followed some links on stories about exploited kids."

"Sweetness," I said, "You have no idea how much I battled ... when you first started showing up in my life. I almost moved..."

"Dan, you never told me that..." Her face was so tender-looking.

"I did, sweetness. When I felt myself starting to have the first feelings past the ones that made me want to help you in school and give you a little better life..."

"I know, Dan. Me an' Mizz Helen had more than one talk about older men and young girls. She told me that whole thing about people using each other. I knew about people usin' people, Dan. Mom gave me a great course in it."

"But that's adults using other adults."

"People using people. I'm sure that some of those kids I read about had their own motives. Those articles didn't come out and say it, but I could see that happening. You know, when I first started hangin' out around you, I knew I could get things out of you if I wanted to."

"Baby?" I said, "You never told me that."

"Because it never happened. But you were just nice to me. You were better to me being nice than I could imagine if you'd've wanted to, you know ... I kinda fell in love." She paused. "No, not 'kinda'. I did. Fall in love. Before we ... And really, that first night, the one with the storm, I didn't plan that."

"I never figured out if you did or you didn't, sweetie. But you had me, whether it was that night or four years later. If you wanted me." I was honest.

"When Tina and I went to the ladies' room at the restaurant, we kinda talked real quick. She said she didn't feel exploited either."

"Oh," I said. "So that's what started this."

"Not really, love," she said. "Sometimes I want to talk about how I feel about you. With somebody else."

I knew how she felt. Even if guys weren't supposed to talk about feelings, sometimes I wanted to just simply tell somebody. The closest I'd come to date was with Jim Hardesty.

"It's hard, you know," she said simply. "I kind of said some of it to Mizz Ann when we went on that weekend with her an' Mister Jim, and I said some of it to Tootie, but I couldn't tell them all of it, because I don't know if anyone would understand how we fell in love when I was thirteen."

"And with Tina?"

"She made me feel like she understood. I don't feel exploited. I feel totally loved. I feel like it's, you know, it's hard to explain, like it's an US. That together we're more than just the two of us."

"I've felt like that from the beginning, babe," I said. "before we..."

Giggle.

"Yeah," I continued. "I fell in love with your personality and your brain first."

She giggled again, dragging my hand and pressing it against her pliant breast. "But this part..." Grin.

"Is fantasy. No, my imagination was never that good. I didn't have fantasies about cute little redheaded girls."

"So I want you to know, Dan, I will love you forever. I already do. 'Forever' doesn't start and end. It's always."

I pondered that idea while I looked at the remarkable person who voiced it. "Forever," I replied. "I loved you before I knew you existed."

She crawled over me and kissed me as she slid atop me into my arms. I brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her. "Magic," I said. "You're simply magic."

We held onto each other for some minutes before she had to get up for a bathroom visit. While she was in the bathroom, the room phone rang.

"Room 429," I said.

Female voice. Familiar. "Mister Dan, this is Tina. Can I talk to Cindy?"

"In a minute," I said. "She's..."

"Who is it, baby?" Cindy called.

"Tina," I answered. "She wants to talk to you."

"Is she in her room?"

"Are you in your room, Tina?"

"Yessir," she said.

"She's in her room."

"Tell 'er I'll call her back!" Cindy said.

"Uh, Tina, can she call you back?"

"Sure!" came the chipper answer. The tone of the answer told me that things were okay.

"Okay, she'll call you. What's your husband doing?"

Giggle. "Same thing your wife's doing, prob'ly."

"Okay. She'll call."

"'Kay! Bye!"

Presently I heard the toilet flush and Cindy popped out. "Wonder what she wants?" she said.

"I can only imagine." She looked at the clock. Nine-thirty. She dialed the room number.

"Oh, hi, Mister Alan. Tina called." Pause. "Hi, Tina! What's up?"

Giggle. "No, you really can't do that all evening!" giggle. "Lemme ask 'im." She turned to me. "Tina wants to know if we wanna go get a late snack."

I snorted. Like I was going to say no. In the year we'd worked together, Alan was the spur of the moment guy, so I imagine he got what he deserved. "Yeah, why not?"

"He's okay with it. Yeah, we'll see you in the lobby in five minutes." Little redhead was still stark beautifully nude when she bounced on top of me, kissing. "You don't mind, do you?"

"No, I don't. I imagine we ought to wear a little more than smiles, though." More giggles and kisses and we got out of bed and slid into our jeans and her idea, matching long-sleeved rugby shirts. She was tying her shoes when I stood up.

She turned to look at me. "You do realize that this counts as recharging time, don't you?" she stood straight into my arms.

"And that's a perfectly lovely way to go to sleep," I said.

We headed out the door and up the hall to the elevator. Inside I was attacked by Cindy. Giggle. "Elevators make me crazy!"

"Uh-huh," I said, catching my breath afterward. "I have no problem with you being crazy."

The doors opened and I saw Tina and Alan standing there waiting. Tina had him encircled around the waist and Alan was smiling, shaking his head.

"Didn't we just SEE you two," I laughed.

"MY thoughts exactly," Alan smiled.

Tina giggled. "I have an appetite. You, Cindy?"

Red head nodded. She had her hand inside my bicep. "Recharging." Sweet smile.