Changing Gears, Part Two

Can you believe next weekend is Labor Day and summer vacation for many is over.  It has gone by in the flick of an eye. Not much going on here, pretty laid back, it's really too warm and staying in the air conditioning seems the smartest thing to do.  Ray and I went to the movies the other day, well we went to separate movies together.  He saw his usual shoot em' up bang bang and I saw The Hundred Foot Journey.  It was a wonderful fell good story.  If you get a chance, go see it, I think you'll enjoy it. We've tried a couple of new restaurants lately, some worth going back, some not.  How about you, anything fun happening, any plans for the last three day weekend of the summer (well in US anyway)

Here is part two of Changing Gears, you can read here in case you missed the beginning.

“Josh Bradford, I’d like you to meet Ms. Brandy and Ms. Renee Reynolds,” Pete said.     

“Hello little Ms. Blue Eyes,” Josh said talking to Brandy. “Nice to see you again, Renee,”

“You two know each other,” Pete sputtered.

Josh explained that Renee, and her daughter had stopped by his garage last Sunday when she was having a problem with her car.

“But you’re not open on Sunday.”  Pete said.

“That’s what I tried telling her, but she didn’t take no for an answer and then sent in reinforcements.  I couldn’t turn down Ms. Blue Eyes.” Josh said.

“That’s the short version,” Renee said.  “I was quite bitchy and treated him terribly.  In fact, I thought of stopping by today on the way up to apologize and thank him, but I missed the exit.  By the way, the car’s running fine.”

“Glad to hear that and I accept the apology.  I think I still have that bump on my head.”

“I’m so sorry.  I know I can be a little high-handed.  It comes from being on my own and dealing with men who always think a sexy body means a lack of brains. When that happens,  my antenna goes up and the claws come out.  You were not exactly pleasant either.”

“Was that before or after I bumped my head?”  She laughed at his remark and offered her hand for a handshake. “Peace,” Josh took her hand and felt instant warmth.

Pete explained that he, and Josh Bradshaw grew up together and had been tinkering with cars since they built their first go cart with each other.  Pete talked about Josh’s military career and how he came back to Sumerton to take over their old hangout, and was still talking when Josh interrupted him.

“Do I get to talk,” Josh asked? Pete laughed and apologized.  “This is my first fix-up,” and Pete laughed harder.

“Is that what this is?  I thought I was just invited for a barbecue.”

After their initial standoff, Renee and Josh hit it off. They laughed and joked telling stories of Jeanine and Pete in their younger days.  When dinner was over, they helped Pete clean up while Jeanine sat with her swollen feet propped up on a chair, playing ‘old maid’ with Brandy.  They ended up all playing Monopoly until Brandy and Jeanine were ready for bed.  Pete suggested that since it was early, Josh and Renee should go out for a while.

“Are you sure you’re okay with Brandy staying here.”

“Of course, it’s okay.  You’re spending the night anyway, so as long as you don’t get rowdy and wake everyone when you come in, you’re fine, and I want you home no later than 2:00, or you’ll be sorry,” he answered trying to maintain a stern face.

Josh and Renee enjoyed themselves.  They both enjoyed dancing and singing along to the music.   They were amazed when the band called for last call. Josh realized he didn’t want the evening to end so before heading home, they decided to stop for breakfast.

“You are so different than my first impression. I’d love to see you again.  Maybe next time we could do something with Brandy, is that okay with you?”

“It’s more than okay.  I’m glad you didn’t allow your initial impression of me to stand.”

“Me too, because I have to tell you I had all I could do not to take you over my knee.  You acted like such a bitch, and I will not tolerate that sort of behavior.”

“So, you said.  That’s really some old-fashioned thinking, for such young a man.”

                                                                                                                                 

“Call me a throwback but I think when something works it never goes out of style, just like this old Aston Martin.

“You might be right; I know you are about this car.  You’ve done a beautiful job of restoring her.”

“Thanks. “So, after my disclosure, do you still want to date me, because consent to one is consent to the other?”

“I guess I will just have to be on my best behavior with you.”

“Not just me, but with others, especially when Brandy is around.  Otherwise, you’re setting a bad example.” 

Renee said that as long as he was laying all his cards on the table, she would do the same.  She was tired of being single and was looking for someone to love and who loved her and Brandy. Parenting was hard work, and she felt bad Brandy was missing out on not having a daddy in her life.

“If you’re interested in a long-term relationship, then the answer is yes.  If you’re not, we will be friends and bump into each other at the Martin’s.”

By the time they pulled into the Martin’s driveway, it was well after 3:00am.  The front porch light was on and when Josh walked Renee to the door, he wondered if Pete would be up waiting for her.  He laughed to himself, and she asked what was funny.

“I was thinking what Pete told us to be home by 2:00, it is way past that.”

“So, we broke curfew; we're in trouble.  I hope he’s not in there with a shotgun,” she laughed.  Josh delivered a slap on her bottom and pushed her in the door.

“Ooohh, it’s starting already, and we haven’t even made another date,” Renee said with a giggle.

Josh smacked her butt again.  “You two, knock it off out there,” they heard Pete say.

                                     ______________________________

Renee and Josh had several dates over the next couple of weeks, some including Brandy, some not.  Josh began thinking of them as his family; it was a good feeling.  It was nice to be concerned about someone other than himself.  Sunday was now family day and he no longer spent Sundays alone in the garage, that was reserved for Mondays; he didn’t mind.

Renee’s overall bitchiness seemed to have disappeared.  Josh didn’t know the reason and didn’t care, but he liked her much better this way.  She was still a little bossy but most of the time Josh would raise an eyebrow, and she would tone down her words or manner. When they were alone, he would swat her bottom.  The first real spanking occurred one evening when Josh was picking up Renee and Brandy to take them to dinner.  Renee had a particularly long, tiresome workday, and Brandy was acting as five-year olds often do. Brandy was a real chatty and kept interrupting Renee while she was trying to talk to Josh.  Renee told her to wait until she was finished talking and then Brandy could talk. Brandy, being five years old, couldn’t wait. 

“Brandy, I told you to be quiet and wait.  Now I’m not telling you again,” she said in a raised tone of voice.

Josh put his hand on her knee to calm her down. 

Brandy started talking and Renee turned to Brandy in the back seat and screamed.

Goddammit, Brandy.  That’s enough, now I don’t want to hear your voice again and when we get home you’re going straight to bed.  Do you hear me?” Brandy started crying.

Josh nicely told Renee to stop. 

“Don’t you tell me to stop. Brandy is the one that needs to stop.”

“Renee, I’m asking you nicely to knock it off, you’re the adult.”

“Go to hell, I’ll do what I want.  You are not my keeper.”

The minute the words were out of her mouth she knew she had gone too far by the look on his face.  Brandy was still crying and Josh tried to soothe her feelings.  Renee tried making amends to them both. She told Brandy she was sorry, explaining that she had a bad day at work.  Brandy stopped sobbing and Renee turned to Josh.  His stony face said it all. 

“I’m sorry.  It was a bad day and I am overwrought,” she told him.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he told her.

He stopped at his favorite Italian restaurant. He knew that pizza was on the top of Brandy’s food list and he loved their Veal Parmesan.  He ordered a carafe of their house wine to go along with dinner.

“Thank you, I really need this,” Renee told him.

“That’s not all you need,” he responded. She suddenly felt like she was ten years old again who had to bring home a note from the teacher.  She watched and listened to Brandy chatting away and Josh was listening intently to the happenings of Happy Days Day Care.  She wished she had listened earlier and she wouldn’t be in trouble now.  She had to give it to Josh, she knew he was upset but he wasn’t letting it ruin their dinner and she was sure Brandy was none the wiser of the trouble that she had caused, thank goodness.

Dinner was over, they stopped for ice cream and when they got home, Renee started running a bath for Brandy.  Josh turned on the television as Renee got Brandy ready for bed.  Brandy wanted them both to read her a story.  She was asleep the third time through the story. 

Josh and Renee walked to the living room.  He sat down, and widened his legs for her to stand between them.  He reached for and held her hands.

“You know what has to happen to get past today’s incident, don’t you, asked Josh?

“I think so.”

“Either you do or you don’t. Which is it?  Look at me.”

“You’re going to spank me, aren’t you?”

“You better believe it and I want you to tell me why you’re getting this spanking.”

“I was really bitchy to Brandy and…”

“And?”

“And I disrespected you by yelling at you in front of Brandy.”

“Okay, so do you agree that you deserve this spanking?”

Renee stood there looking down at the floor.

“Look at me, Renee. I’m waiting for an answer.” She couldn’t seem to raise her head.

“Renee, look at me.”  She raised her head but her eyes were focused elsewhere.

“Renee!”  Her eyes reacted to the tone of his voice and she finally looked at him and shook her head.

“Okay, then, let’s get started.  Lay down over my lap.”

Renee did so with some help from Josh.  He made sure she was comfortable, and the effort wasn’t wasted on Renee.  Although this was serious, she chuckled to herself.

She still had on her work clothes of an a-line skirt and blouse.  He raised her skirt and admired her round bottom encased in a pair of pink lacy bikinis.  His palm rested on her backside.

                                                              

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, let’s get this over with.”

“Giving me lip while you’re already over my knee is not very smart,’ he told her as his hand delivered the first slap. She jumped when his palm landed the second time.  The third spank came down in the same spot and she winced.  He stopped and let the sting take over before he began again.  When he did, he delivered a cadence of staccato spanks, one after another with no break.  He watched her bum flatten and bounce back with each smack and it was a lovely shade of rose on the areas not covered by her pink bikinis.  He thought that was enough for her first spanking, and he stopped.  He continued to rest his hand on her back for a few moments before releasing her from his lap. When he pulled her up, he arranged her on his lap.

“Are we alright?” he asked her.

“Am I forgiven?”

“Yes, it’s over, I forgive you and your slate is clean.”

She stood up and tried rubbing some of the sting out of her behind.  Before her skirt fluttered down over her punished bum, Josh reached over and kissed both cheeks.

‘I’d much rather be doing that than spanking.  Well, that’s not exactly true; your tush is lovely to look at and seeing it over my knee; things happe…  Renee reached down and found just what he was talking about.

“So my pain is your pleasure.”

“Well, it could be both.”  He brought her to him and snarked his fingers into her panties. She was very wet.  He brought his fingers to his lips and licked them clean.

“I think the proof is in the fingers,” and he threw his head back and laughed.  Seconds later, she joined him in laughter as he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

See you later for more Aimless Ramblings.   There are still copies of At the End of the Rainbow available. Melody and Ken are waiting to welcome you.