Thunder and Lightening Chapter 43 By Lazlo Zalezac Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004 Jerry woke in the morning with his arms around Jenny. His morning erection pressed against her, snuggled happily in the crack of her ass. His hand cupped her breast. He loved the fact that she insisted they sleep nude together in bed. It was a minor thing, but illustrated the huge difference between this and his first marriage. A sigh of happiness escaped from him. Six months of marriage had not diminished the passion he felt for her. "You're awake," whispered Jenny making it sound more like a question than a statement. "Yeah." "Good. Now put that hard cock to use," she said with a giggle. She'd been lying there for five minutes fantasizing about him waking. After placing his hand on her breast, her hand had been busy between her legs. "Your wish is my command," Jerry quipped with delight as he ran his hand over her body. Her enjoyment of sex was a constant source of amazement to him. Every morning since getting married, they woke and enjoyed each other. Jenny rolled onto her back and spread her legs in an obvious invitation for him to mount her. Instead of accepting her invitation, Jerry turned his attention to her breasts. He loved her breasts and she never denied him a chance to appreciate them. She held his head to one breast and then gently guided him to the other. His hand came up to fondle the nipple of the abandoned breast. He kissed his way down her body until he reached her pussy. His tongue went to work exploring the hidden folds of her lower lips. His ex-wife had never allowed this, deeming it disgusting. Jenny had taught him how to perform oral sex and he had paid close attention to her instructions. He enjoyed everything about going down on her. The taste was heavenly, but that was icing on the cake compared to her reaction to his attentions. Watching for the subtle clues as to when she was ready for him to move to her clitoris, he reveled in her body as it twisted and thrashed beneath him. When she was ready, he moved to her clitoris and began tracing out the alphabet with his tongue. She came before he reached the letter 'k.' Her legs snapped tight around his head holding him in place between them. Jerry put his lips against her sex and hummed knowing the prolonging effect that had on her orgasm. Jenny relaxed and he went back to work tracing out the rest of the alphabet with his tongue. His efforts were interrupted again when he reached the letter 'u.' Two orgasms in the course of going through the alphabet demonstrated how excited she had been even before he even began. By the time he finished tracing out, z, she was crying, "Fuck me. Fuck me now." Always happy to obey such a command, Jerry moved up and covered her body. She helped guide his cock into her. Her impatience overwhelmed Jerry and he began the slow entry into her. She grabbed his hips to pull him into her faster. He slowly worked up to a hard fast pace, enjoying the feel of her hot moist passage around his hard cock. "Oh God, that's heavenly," moaned Jenny. Her moans were soon replaced by little screams of pleasure. She loved the feeling of being covered and taken by her big man. It made her feel protected and loved. Jerry came with a low roar a few seconds before Jenny emitted her scream of pleasure. Rather than rolling off her, he stayed covering her with his large body. She enjoyed it and would have protested in an attempt to keep him in place. With her arms and legs wrapped around his body, she cooed, "This is so good. I wish I could keep you like this all day." "And why shouldn't we?" asked Jerry knowing the answer. Every morning they had the same conversation. "Because we got kids to feed and businesses to open," replied Jenny sadly. She really wanted to stay like that for another few minutes. "I declare this a cold breakfast day," said Jerry, "and that means we can stay here a little longer." "Goody," she squealed and hugged him harder. Jerry was in heaven. He didn't want to leave her arms, much less her presence. Any fears that he might have had about her turning into his ex-wife upon getting married had disappeared. She loved him, she wanted him, and she did everything in her power to take care of him. Although it seemed impossible, it only made him love her even more. The time in each other's arms passed and it was time for them to face the rest of the world. Jerry said, "I guess I should get up now." "Yeah," she replied with a sigh. Jerry entered the dining room, showered, shaved, and dressed, to find the rest of the family seated around the table with bowls of cereal in front of them. Smiling, he said, "Good morning." Smirking, Bill said, "Ever since we moved back here, Dad's gotten lazy. It seems to me that he sleeps in an extra half hour every morning." The comment caused Jerry to blush when he recalled what he was doing during that extra half-hour. Without missing a beat, Jenny replied, "Oh, he was plenty energetic this morning." Melissa tittered at her father's embarrassed reaction knowing that Bill had been trying to get exactly that reaction. It amazed her how the newlyweds acted with each other. Her dad seemed to be twenty years younger and a whole lot happier. Jenny came out this morning glowing. Giving her father a break, she asked, "So what are the plans today?" As Jerry sat down, he answered, "Today's Friday. Work for us and school for you two." Jenny said, "I was thinking that I'd come here after work and prepare something to eat. When Bill gets out of school, we'll drive over to the slum house and wait for you. Melissa could spend some time with her friends and then come over to the house. We'll have a nice little dinner before you go over to Henry's." "Sounds good to me," said Bill. Earlier that week, Melissa had written the largest check of her life getting her swimming pool set up for the season and the heater serviced. The pool was ready for use and she hadn't had a chance to try it out. She suggested, "Why don't you come over to my house and cook there? You wait for Bill here and then come over. I'll meet you there. We can swim while things are cooking." "Sounds even better to me," commented Bill looking forward to an after-school swim. "That does sound like fun," said Jenny. She tried to remember where she had put her old bathing suit. "Great," said Jerry while adding the milk to his super sugared cereal, "sounds like a plan to me." Jenny turned to Melissa and asked, "What are you going to do after dinner?" "I've got a date tonight," answered Melissa. The announcement brought a sudden silence to the table. It was the first time she had ever mentioned having a date. Bill was the first to recover and asked, "Who?" "Ben Sanders," answered Melissa with a smile. She knew the guy was considered a geek, but he had been very understanding when she had dinged his car in the parking lot at school. One thing had led to another and before she had been aware of what was happening, she had agreed to going to a movie with him. "Ben? He's shy. How did he ever work up the nerve to ask you out?" asked Bill surprised at the identity of her date. Ben was terminally shy. As far as he knew, Bill was one of the few people at school that Ben even talked with on a regular basis. "I have no idea. We were talking in the parking lot and the next thing I knew I was agreeing to a movie," answered Melissa with a shrug. "I'm impressed. He's really a nice guy," commented Bill. He found it even more impressive that his sister was going out with someone who wasn't in the elite clique on campus. He would have bet money, and hence lost it, that she wouldn't date outside that group. "How do you know him? He's a senior," queried Melissa amazed at her brother's knowledge of people on campus. It seemed to her that everyone on campus knew him. "He helped me on my history paper. He's really into old photographs and located those civil war pictures I included in my paper," answered Bill. "Huh?" "You didn't know that he wants to be a photographer?" asked Bill. "No, I didn't," she replied. The information was good to know. At least she had a topic of conversation that might hold her through any rough patches in the date. She said, "I'll ask him about that." Jerry and Jenny watched the exchange between the two kids with interest. Jerry asked, "So what time will you be coming home?" "I'm not really sure. Probably around eleven or so," answered Melissa. She wasn't about to announce that it was her first date and she was nervous about it. It was a pleasant drive to work that morning. Jerry had taken the old truck. He enjoyed the reactions of the other drivers as they passed or drove beside the truck. Even after two years, it still had an impact when someone saw it for the first time. Pulling into the parking lot, he parked the truck where it could be seen from the street. It wasn't that he enjoyed showing it off, but that he was really proud of it and enjoyed showing people that an old car or truck was a work of art. He went to the front door and unlocked it, finding that Martin was already at the front desk booting the computer. The young man looked up at the noise of the door opening and said, "Good morning." "Morning. You're here early," said Jerry. "Woke up early and had nothing to do," replied Martin as he stepped around the counter to the coffeepot. A fresh pot of coffee had just finished brewing. He poured a cup and handed it to Jerry with a smile. "Thanks," said Jerry. He looked around and saw that the store was basically ready to open. It was fifteen minutes before opening time. He commented, "Good job on getting the store ready to open." "Thanks, boss," replied Martin with a smile. He returned to the counter and watched the computer go through the startup screens. He commented, "Looks like Mike and Karen are going to be busy installing the computer systems for the next few months." "Yeah, I'm proud of them," said Jerry. He sat down in the chair next to Martin and took a sip of his hot coffee. He put the cup on the counter and said, "They are really changing the way the company operates." "They are? How about you?" "I'm just an old fashioned manager of a small business," replied Jerry with a smile. He winked at the younger man. "Right." "How are your classes going?" asked Jerry. Martin had gone to three-fifths time this semester. He worked six half days a week and attended classes in the afternoons and evenings. "They're going well. I'm enjoying working half days instead of working full time. I'm taking a full course load, so that doesn't give me much free time. Still, my grades are good, the money is good, and I'm dating occasionally," answered Martin. His social life had taken a minor hit, but it didn't disturb him nearly as much as he thought it would. "Three and a half years to go?" asked Jerry. "Three. I've already signed up for summer school," replied Martin. He had investigated exactly how many courses he had to take to get a degree in business and plotted out how he could graduate in the least amount of time possible. "Ah, that's good," replied Jerry. He was pleased with how hard Martin was working on his education. Part of the agreement for the special part-time employment was to maintain a 3.0 or better. Martin was definitely doing better than required, as was Carlos. "Carlos is doing well," said Martin. The young Hispanic man was graduating the community college that semester. He only had two years left and would spend them at the local state university. It was a change that made Carlos nervous, but Martin was sure his friend would handle it without a problem. "I'm glad to hear that," said Jerry. He wondered what he was going to do when both of them graduated college. It was about time for Mike to move up in the company and he'd need a new assistant manager. Of course, that would mean Mike and Karen would have to move to another store for Mike to get a manager position. He didn't want to choose between the two young men as to which would get the job. "Looking forward to having a Saturday off?" asked Martin. "Yeah," said Jerry. He had asked Mike to adjust the schedule this week so that he could spend the day with his family. Mike had gone one further and said that he would start swapping Saturdays off. He hadn't thought about starting to take Saturdays off. "What are you going to do?" "Jenny is closing on the sale of her house tomorrow," answered Jerry. The sale of the house had taken longer than Jerry had anticipated, but Jenny was unwilling to compromise very much on the asking price. For a short period of time, he had assumed that she hadn't wanted to sell it. That idea was quickly squashed when she nearly exploded after he suggested she keep it. She had remarked that it was the time of year and that in the spring the housing market would pick up again. Based on what happened, it appeared that she was right. Martin recalled Jenny mentioning something about that. He joked, "After that, I bet you go out and blow all that money on a shopping spree." Jerry laughed at the idea and was about to follow up with another suggestion when the telephone rang. Martin picked up the phone before it had even finished ringing. Jerry glanced at the clock and saw that it was five minutes after opening. It looked like it was going to be a busy morning. He stood and waited for the order to get printed. For the hour before Karen and Mike showed up, Jerry pulled orders while Martin took them. It was a busy morning. When Mike came in, he went to Jerry and said, "I'll pull orders for a while." "Thanks. I'll take care of some of the office work for a change," said Jerry with a grimace at the idea of the work that waited for him in the office. Al Sinclair had requested that he design new reports for the stores that utilized the information in the computer. Jerry had been sweating over that job for the past month. Karen looked up when he entered the office and handed him a sheet of paper. She asked, "Is this what you wanted?" Looking over the sheet, Jerry was very impressed with what she had done with his idea. Sitting back, he examined the graph and smiled. "That's perfect. It's easy to see how much it cost to operate, how much we sold, and how much we made." Karen said, "I noticed that the operating costs are seasonal." "That's right. Differences in costs to heat and cool this old building," replied Jerry looking over the sheet of paper. Nodding his head, he said, "This is a treasure trove of information." "What next?" asked Karen. Jerry picked up the stack of four reports they had designed. Looking them over, he couldn't imagine what else his boss would want to know about the store. Shaking his head, he asked, "What do you think is missing?" "I'm clueless," she replied shrugging her shoulders. "I guess the only thing I can come up with is the accounts report I use to direct my sales calls. You know which one I mean. The one that shows each customer account with the amount they ordered that month, the month before, and for that month a year before," said Jerry. After a moment of reflection, he said, "No. That's a little too detailed for the head office. "You're probably right," answered Karen with a smile. She watched the big man wrestle with his doubts. She'd come to appreciate the side of Jerry that worried so much about little details. The other day she had caught him faxing the other three reports to see in what condition they had arrived. He wanted to make sure that all of the lines on the graphs were visible after faxing. After seeing the results, she stopped arguing that the lines were fine and doubled their widths as he had requested. "I guess I should call him now," said Jerry waving the sheets of paper around. "I'd say so," said Karen watching him examine the sheets a final time. Sighing, Jerry picked up the phone and dialed his boss. On the third ring, Al answered, "Hello?" "Hello, Al. This is Jerry Smith." "What can I do for you?" "I've finished designing the monthly and quarterly reports for you," said Jerry. "Good, fax them to me," said Al. Jerry held out the reports in Karen's direction and then waved at the fax machine. She picked up the hint. She grabbed the papers out of his hand and went over to the fax machine. In the meantime, Jerry said, "Karen is faxing them even as we speak." Knowing how Jerry ran his office, Al said, "Speaking of Karen. When she's done faxing the reports, could you ask her to leave the room?" Surprised by the request, Jerry answered, "Sure. I think you'll be pleased with the reports we've designed. I've got to say that Karen has put a lot of work into making sure that everything is perfect." "I'm sure she has," replied an amused Al Sinclair. It seemed to him that every time Jerry did something, he was the first to point out who on his staff had helped him. A more important realization dawned on him at that moment -- Jerry's store was the only one in his district where he knew the name of every employee in the store, what job they did, and what contributions to the chain they had made. Karen gestured to Jerry that the pages had been faxed. Jerry relayed the message, "Al, Karen just let me know that the faxes have been sent." Al covered the phone and called for his secretary to bring in the faxes. Jerry covered the phone and said, "Karen, can you excuse us for a minute? I'm sure that Mike and Martin could use a little company." Knowing that she was being sent out of the room, Karen smiled. It was usually a good thing when Jerry and Mr. Sinclair needed privacy. She said, "Sure thing." Jerry watched her leave and turned his attention back to the phone. He could hear Al shuffling a few pages, but couldn't judge the reaction. He was startled when Al exclaimed, "These are great! I can see everything I want to know about the store on four pages. These are monthly reports. Where are the quarterly reports?" "The quarterly reports are the same except that the data is over a three month period rather than a month." "Outstanding. I knew you could do this," said Al pleased at the result. "I'm relieved to hear that you like them," said Jerry. The relief in his voice carried over the phone. "Were you worried?" "A little," answered Jerry. "Karen out of the office?" Even knowing the answer, Jerry looked around the office before he answered, "Yes, she is." "Good. I've talked with management here about what has been going on in your store," said Al. "What's going on here? Is something going on here that I don't know about?" Jerry asked worried that he had missed something important. Al laughed and replied, "I hope you know about it. You've had the greatest improvement in sales in the chain. You've modernized your operation and helped transition that to half of the stores in my district. You've had zero turnovers for two years and no reports of on-the-job accidents." "Oh, that. I've got a good crew," replied Jerry. He waved his hand to include everyone and then realized that Al couldn't see the gesture over the phone. "Yes, well. I talked with our management team and we'd like to promote you up here to the main office. We'd like to put you in charge of modernization for the entire chain," said Mr. Sinclair. The news stunned Jerry speechless. He'd given up on the chance of ever getting promoted. In fact, he'd never given it a thought after that night when he walked out on his ex-wife. "Are you still there, Jerry?" asked an amused Al. "Yes, sir. Just a little surprised," said Jerry. "You'd be moving into an executive position," said Al. Barely able to process the news, Jerry numbly echoed, "Executive position." "Yes, my secretary will be faxing the information you'll need to know when we get off the phone. We'll start negotiating the salary after you've had a chance to look at it. You'll want to come here with a lawyer so that your interests are protected." 'Negotiating the salary?' wondered Jerry. The idea that he would have to negotiate for his salary was totally foreign to him. Not knowing what to say, he said, "Okay." "Congratulations are in order. You'll want to think about promoting someone to take your position and then help select who will be the assistant manager," said Al. "Sure, that makes sense," said Jerry. "I look forward to having an office down the hall from you," said Al, "I'll talk to you Monday, okay?" "Sure, that makes sense," replied Jerry struggling to come to grips with the news. Al chuckled realizing that Jerry was probably in a state of shock. He said his good-byes and hung up the phone. Jerry sat in place for five minutes still holding the phone to his ear. Realizing that Al had hung up a long time ago, he set the phone down and stared off into space. It was an hour later that Karen knocked on the door. He looked up and answered, "Come in." "Everything all right in here, Jerry?" asked Karen. She had expected him to call her back to the office when he got off the phone. There was still work to do regarding the inventory. "Oh, sure. Sorry. I'm just a little distracted," said Jerry. He looked around the office for a moment trying to decide what to do. Carlos was working that afternoon. He was scheduled to come in about the time that Martin left for school. He made up his mind and turned to Karen. He asked, "Could you ask Mike to call Sue and see if she can come in today? I need to step out of the office for a while." "Is everything okay?" asked Karen concerned about him. "Oh, yeah. Everything is fine. I just need a little time alone," said Jerry. "Okay." It was an hour later when Jerry left the store. He sat in his truck considering what to do. It was past lunchtime and he decided the first thing he should do was to eat. Starting the truck, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed in the direction of the Crimson Rose. Before he reached the Crimson Rose, he changed his mind and drove past it to the burger place. He didn't want to tell the news to Jenny until he knew what he thought about it. At the burger place, Jerry ordered a burger to go and then drove to his house. The family called it the slum house, but to Jerry it was his house of healing. He'd found his way to it when he hadn't been a whole person and within its walls he had healed his soul. He'd healed his relationship with his children in this house. He'd recovered from a gunshot in this house. He stepped into the house and set the bag with his burger on the kitchen table. Thinking about all of the good times, he tore open his bag and removed his burger from the wrapper. Using the torn bag and the wrapper as a plate, he started to eat his burger. After a couple of bites, he set it down and reached over to the refrigerator. Stretching, he opened the door and pulled out a soft drink. Evoking a satisfying hiss, he opened the can. He took a swallow and set the can down with a self-satisfied belch. The meal wasn't much, but it was appropriate for the place and his mood. After finishing his burger, he went out and sat on the front porch to think about his problems. The old folks across the street nodded in his direction and then ignored him. He was used to it and smiled at the consistency of the neighborhood. It only reminded him even further why he wouldn't sell this house for all of the money in the world. It didn't matter if he only used it once or twice a week, just knowing the house was here was important to him. He was still sitting on the porch when Jenny drove up with Bill in her car. Melissa arrived before the two had gotten out of the car. It took Jenny a moment to get the crock-pot that held dinner out of the car. Bill got out holding a grocery bag. The three of them walked up to the porch as a group. Their hair was still wet from the time spent in the swimming pool. Jerry stood to greet them. "Hello, Dad," announced Bill when they had closed the distance. "Hi. Did you guys have fun swimming?" asked Jerry. "The water was warm, but it was freezing when we got out," answered Jenny. With a concerned look on his face, Jerry said, "Turn around Jenny." Confused, Jenny turned around wondering why he had made that request. After she had turned back to face him, Jerry gave a sigh of relief and said, "Oh, good. I was worried that you had frozen your ass off, but it's still there." Jenny wanted to hit his arm, but she was carrying the crock-pot and had to settle for a playful retort, "You're horrible." Bill and Melissa laughed at the antics of the adults. They were still laughing when followed Jerry and Jenny into the house. As they entered, Jerry asked, "What did you cook?" "Your favorite, beef stew," answered Jenny. After the kids had left for school, Jenny had considered her plans for cooking and decided make a stew in the crock-pot. She'd be able to enjoy the time with the kids in the pool rather than sweat in the kitchen. "Beef stew? That's great," replied Jerry. It would be a good meal that would carry them through a night of hard work. The family gathered around the table while Jenny heated some rolls in the oven. She moved comfortably around the kitchen. She had set it up for her comfort after the family had moved out, since eating dinner at the slum house on Friday nights was more the rule than the exception. Bill and Jerry still worked on waterfalls every Friday at Henry's house. Shauna and Jenny worked on the books while the men worked. This Friday was payday. As the family sat around the table, Jerry looked at his family happy with what he saw. Jenny was smiling, Bill was eyeing his food with a hungry look, and Melissa was primly putting a napkin on her lap. It was such a comfortable sight, that he hated to make his announcement. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I talked with Al Sinclair. I've been promoted to an executive position." Looking over at Jerry, Jenny burst into a large smile and shouted, "That's great. I'm so proud of you." "Way to go, Dad," said Bill giving his father a thumbs-up sign. "Outstanding," said Melissa. "I guess," said Jerry realizing that they didn't get the downside of the news. "You don't look happy," commented Jenny with a frown. "We'd have to move," said Jerry in a flat emotionless voice.