Wow! What a story!

And Haleys lisp is so impressive!

Part 18.

Later that evening we lay spent and exhausted.  Haley was curled up against me to my right, her right hand laying on my chest lazily making circles on it with her index finger.  We weren’t talking. Britt had gone into my master bathroom to use the facilities and freshen up.  When the door opened she shouted excitedly “DUDE!  You have a jacuzzi in here!  Why did I not know this!” She came and leaped into bed and asked “and why is it empty?”  I explained what a pain it was to keep it clean and maintained, much like a pool.  I told her I had tried to keep it full the first year I had the house, but it felt like a full time job keeping it clean, so I finally gave up.  Then I added that at that time I didn’t have anyone to share it with, and I had no desire to sit around in my own warm bath water and watch my own farts pop to the top.  Britt slapped me softly and said “you are nasty.  But you are going to fill that jacuzzi up.  And WE are going to soak in it.  And you can watch my farts pop up.”  She started laughing.  I did too.  I like a little dirty humor; and her saying that contrasted so much with what I saw of her apparently prim and proper exterior.  Haley responded to both of our comments with “you two are both nasty!”

Britt leaned in beside me and asked “so, are you going to fill it up?”  I answered “what, like right now?  No.”  She looked at me pouting.  Her pout was so insanely cute with her facebow sticking out of her mouth.  So cute.  And she had not taken it off all night.  Even earlier.

I looked at her and said “for two reasons.  One, it is midnight, I am in my boxers, and I have to go under the house in the crawl space to turn the valve on to fill it.  But I would do that for you.  Right now.  But the main reason is by the time it fills up and heats up, we will probably be asleep.  I will make a deal with you.  I will do it in the morning and it will be ready for tomorrow evening. Is that good with you?”   

She looked back at me coldly and said “you take a lot for granted thinking there will be a tomorrow evening.”  Her demeanor seemed to have changed in an instant.  She continued to look at me coldly and I began to think she was serious.  The expression on my face changed to one of concern.  There are some things I am good at.  A poker face is not one of them.  My emotions are usually on full display.

After a minute she couldn’t stand it.  A smile broke out on her face and she started laughing.  She jumped on top of me and said “got ya!  Of course that is good.  I didn’t know it was so much work; or took so long.”  I put my hand on the back of her head, resting it over the straps of her headgear.  I told her “you are such a turd.”  This made her laugh harder.  I was in love with Haley, who was now tracing hearts instead of circles on my chest.  But Britt’s quirky and sometimes off color humor was right up my alley.

Britt looked up at me and asked “so, I asked you earlier if I could smoke in the den.  Can I smoke in here?”  I replied “sure, the bed didn’t catch on fire earlier.  It must not be flammable.”  She laughed and said “I will be back in a sec.”. I assumed when she said smoke she meant a little more weed.  I was going to owe her some because I was going to smoke some more of her’s when she got back.  As she went to leave Haley said “would you grab my facemask and my elastics?  I guess I need to put that damn thing back on.”  Britt answered “no problem Haleybug.”

After Britt had left I asked Haley “is everything ok?  You are awfully quiet.  Please don’t tell me you regret this or I won’t be able to live with myself.”  She shifted so she was looking me in the face and said “everything is perfect.  I am happy.  Pretty high.  But the main thing is my mouth is hurting.  And my lisp is so bad I am embarrassed to talk.”  I reached over and hugged her and said “I am so sorry.  The last thing I want is for you to be miserable. I promise you if there was some way for me to take some of your pain I would.  Gladly and without hesitation.  But I can’t.   Is there anything I CAN do?” 

She replied “you are doing it.  I am with the two people I care most about in the whole world.  I can’t ask for more.  I am just sore.  And embarrassed.  Plee ja may me fee pri e.  Wa thi horble lisph I fee sa ug e.”

I squeezed her.  I then shifted her head around and very gently kissed her.  I looked her in the eyes, just inches from her face and said “baby, there is no one else in the world that compares to how beautiful you are.  You are SO pretty I can’t even put it into words. You couldn’t be ugly if you took lessons on it.   And the lisp will get better.  It will.  You just need a little time.  And I will be beside you all that time; doing whatever I can for you.  I don’t know that I can make it go away.  But i will do everything I can to make you forget about it.  I don’t know what else to do.  But if you tell me, I will do it.”  She hugged me back and said simply “tha ya, juh hol me.”  I wrapped my arms around her and held her close.  Covering her up, trying to protect her.  From the world and the insecure thoughts in her head.

I really liked that chapter. It captures exactly the feeling which I would think getting all of those appliances would do to you. Continue writing, you are doing great!

Ummm… I don’t think the emojis came through, I became very confused with the amounts of confused emojis I saw and the comment at the end.

And thank you for the kind words!  Just like my Haley, I too sometimes; every once in a while; even if it isn’t very manly to admit; like to be told I am pretty too.    (hey, emojis that do work)

Part 20.

As I looked at Haley, I felt terrible.  Terrible that she was suffering.  And terrible that, unintentionally of course, I had made it worse.  I looked into her eyes and apologized "I am sooo, sooo sorry sweetie.  I didn't know.  I feel horrible.  You should have woken my sorry ass up and made me go to the couch. I would have gladly.  Again, I am so sorry."  She looked back icily and said "you didn't mean to" then rolled over away from me. 

I put my hand on her upper arm and said "I don't know what I can do to make it right, but I promise I will try."  Then I had a thought hit me.  I had not seen Haley eat anything since lunch the day before.  I asked her "baby, when is the last time you ate anything?"  Still facing away from me she replied "yesterday at lunch. I haven't felt like even trying."  I scooted over closer to her and wrapped my arm around her.  I told her "let me fix you something.  You need to eat.  I can't change last night, but I can try to make today better.  Please stay here and let me bring you some breakfast." 

At this point there was some rumbling from the other side of the bed.  Britt raised her head up, rubbing her eyes, and asked "what are ya'll making so much noise over there for?"  I answered "I am going to get up and fix Haley, no, both of you breakfast.  You can stay here if you want and have breakfast in bed."  Britt cleared the cobwebs and said "no, I am ready to get up.  How about I help?"  I looked over at her.  I couldn't help but notice her headgear of course.  I answered "I would love some help."  As I followed Britt down the hall to the kitchen, I could not help but fixate on her headgear.  Then a thought ran through my head and I did a little math.  I had seen her at 4 pm the day before, and she had been wearing it.  It was now 7 am the next day.  And unless she took it off sometime between 5 and 7 pm, that meant she had been wearing it for 15 hours straight.  I couldn't help but marvel at this, and decided I had a few questions for her about it when the time seemed right.

In the kitchen, I looked at Britt and asked "you are the orthodontic pro.  Haley's mouth is really bothering her.  I was thinking scrambled eggs, grits, and I will blend her a smoothie.  Does that sound like a good menu for her?  Do you think she will be able to handle it?"  Britt said "that sounds good.  I know she will be able to handle a smoothie at least.  I don't have the expanders like she does, but I remember the pain the first few days after I got my braces.  Soft foods were about all I could choke down.  Speaking of choking down, I had fun last night."  She turned and smiled at me, giving me a dazzling smile.  "And also speaking of choking down" she continued "do you have any bacon?  I am feeling pretty carnivorous this morning."

As we cooked, we chatted.  I asked her "so, how long will Haley's mouth hurt?  And what can I do to make it better?  And what does she need to do about her lisp?  It REALLY bothers her."  Haley replied "like I said, I don't have expanders.   But from what I have seen from patients, it is rough the first 3-5 days, then their mouth gets more accustomed to their new guests.  There isn't really much you can do for her.  Cooking her breakfast like this, maybe running little errands, you know just good boyfriend things; that is about it.  Oh, and stock up on some pain relievers, she will need them.  She probably needs it now, she hasn't had any since last night.  As far as getting used to everything it will just take her a little time.  And I am not even going to give her a hard time about her lisp.  Yet.  I can tell it really bothers her.  I know she doesn't want to speak, but that is exactly what she needs to do.  She needs to practice speaking; relearning how to with everything new in her mouth.  She will have a lisp the whole time she has that tongue crib though.  I HATE having to put them in any patient's mouth.  I know it is going to be so hard for them.  It may be about the worst appliance there is, even worse than stupid headgear and facemasks.  At least you can take headgear off.  The tongue crib is there.  Always there.  I give Haley hell; we give each other hell actually; and we love to do it.  But I am going to use kid gloves with her this week.  And just be patient.  She may take it out on me.  She may take it out on you.  But that is ok.  Just be patient with her.  Hug her and tell her how pretty she is, that kind of thing."

Britt had missed the little drama that had unfolded before she woke up.  I explained it to her, that I had kept Haley up snoring, and I knew she was mad at me.  Britt answered "well, for the record I didn't hear it.  But I was pretty dead to the world.  And in your defense, with her mouth hurting she might have been tossing and turning all night anyway.  But, I am sure that laying there hurting, unable to sleep, and hearing her boyfriend snore in her ear did not help her mood."  We worked in silence as I thought about what she had said.  Haley than asked "have you ever seen anyone about your snoring?  You know one of the things we do is sleep dentistry.  We have a lot of patients, predominantly men, that we see for snoring.  And it is usually because they want to keep their significant others happy at night.  Why don't you come in and see us?  I bet Dr. Sanders could fix you up with a nighttime appliance that would eliminate the snoring." 

She then came over and got in my face.  She used her hands to pull my lips apart and examined my teeth.  I was a little taken aback, but from what I had learned from Britt the night before, once she felt comfortable with someone there were few boundaries.  She said "and you need to get a cleaning anyway.  I will schedule you an appointment, let me know what works best for you."

Once the eggs, grit's and Britt's bacon were cooked and cooling, I started to work on a smoothie.  I am far from a smoothie expert, and I had limited options, so a strawberry/banana smoothie it was going to be.  As I cut up the banana and strawberries, I asked Britt "so, what is the story with your headgear?  Did you just get that extra strap yesterday?  Are you really going to wear it for 18 hours a day?"

Britt answered "well, I said Haley and I do everything together.  I was jealous of her tongue crib, so I demanded Dr. Sanders make my headgear even worse.  Haha!  Actually, we have our ortho appointments together too, at least back to back.  We don't schedule patients after 2 pm on Fridays.  We wrap up the week, get things tidied and prepped for the next week, and staff that are in treatment have their appointments.  Since Emily started first, she goes ahead of me. And then I go since I started before Haley.  Then Haley brings up the rear.  There is another girl in the office, Lauren our receptionist, who is going to start soon, so Haley will get bumped up a slot.  But anyway, I had my appointment before Haley, and Dr. Sanders could tell I was slacking.  So she told me 18 hours, no exceptions.  And she added the cervical strap.  I am going to do my best.  It isn't out of the realm of possibilities for her to prescribe 24/7 wear.  She has done it before with patients.  So, I will do my best.  But I can tell you I am not thrilled about it.  I do not plan to take my mask off at work at all, not one second.  I mean I know it is just braces, but it is still embarrassing to me.  Having my picture plastered on Facebook was horrifying. Is horrifying.  Speaking of which, I haven't even checked Facebook since I looked over your shoulder.  I am sure it has gotten ugly."

As I dropped the fruit in the blender and added the milk and ice I looked at her and said "well, you are off to a great start.  Unless you took it off for a little while yesterday afternoon, you are at 15 hours."  She said "actually, I did take it off for an hour when I was getting ready to come up here.  Dr. Sanders put it on me at 3:30, so I am actually at 14.5 hours.  I want to try to get it all in before I take it off.  Only 3.5 more hours and I will get a little reprieve and get to actually go outside on a Saturday afternoon.  But I know it is going to be so hard.  This is only the first day.  And I had better come up with some inside hobbies, because I will be locked away inside as long as I am wearing this." 

As Britt ate at the kitchen island, I fixed Haley a plate.  Thinking of what Britt had said about pain relievers, I asked her "can Haley take Oxy?  I have some left over from when I got my wisdom teeth removed. What if I give her a half of one?"  Britt answered "as far as I know.  Take it to her and ask.  It may zonk her out for a little while though."  I replied "I think being zonked out may be what she needs."

I had my hands full as I carried the plate, smoothie, pain pill and a glass of water down the hall.  I managed to make it to the bedroom without spilling or dropping anything.  There I found Haley laying on her side in the fetal position, softly crying.  I quickly put everything down and rushed to the bed.  I lifted her off the bed and wrapped her in a hug.  I asked her "what is it baby?  Are you ok?"  She sniffled and softly cooed "ey i jus so muh, all a tha stuff in mah mout, and the fahmasck, and it hurts, and I think I made a huge mistake."  I took my hand and stroked the back of her head as I gently rocked her.  I told her "I am so sorry baby. I brought you a pain pill, it may help.  Will you take it for me?  And will you at least try to eat.  I know your mouth is killing you, but you need to eat.  And I know you are mad at me.  I deserve it.  But will you do it for me anyway?  It should help." 

As I continued to rock her, the crying stopped.  She made one last sniffle and pushed herself away from me.  She said "yes, I will.  I am sorry, I am not really mad at you.  I am just mad.  At all of this."  I placed my hand on hers and said "I am your punching bag, punch away.  But first, let's get that facemask off of you.  You are doing so good, it is time for your break anyway."  I gently removed the elastics and facemask from her face and put them on the nightstand.  I then handed her the the pill and glass of water.  She put the pill in her mouth. It took her two tries to get the pill down.  She said "ey so ha to swallah."  I told her "I can only imagine baby, but it will get better.  Britt told me it will.  And please try to eat." 

I watched as Haley attempted to eat.  I felt so bad for her.  It was such a challenge for her.  She had to go incredibly slow, taking small bites even though everything was super soft.  Swallowing was so hard for her too.  But she was a trooper and managed to get most of the food down and finished most of the smoothie.  She had finally had enough of the struggle and handed the plate to me.  She said "thah you, you ah so schweet.  Ah I am sorry I wah a bitch earlier."  I put the plate down and hugged her, telling her "you weren't the b word, you could never be.  I won't even use that word in a sentence with you, because they don't go together at all."  She hugged me and said "I nee to brush."

I went with her into the master bath.  After helping Haley clean all around the metal in her mouth, I led her back to bed.  Once there, I fluffed up the pillow for her and told her "why don't you try to take a nap.  I will be quiet as a church mouse.  See if you can get some sleep with that pain pill and without me snoring in your ear. I will come check on you around lunch."  She said "thah ya".  She reached over and picked up her facemask.  I quickly put my hand on hers and said "even though you look ravishing in that stylish mask of yours, you have gotten in enough time for now.  Leave it off, try to get some rest.  Please, for me."  She looked over at me and said "ok".  Once I got her tucked into bed I leaned in and gave her a gentle peck on the lips.  I told her "sweet dreams".  I picked up the plate and smoothie glass; leaving the water beside the bed; turned off the light, and closed the door behind me.

When I got back into the kitchen, Britt was finished eating and had cleaned up.  She was sitting on a bar stool at the kitchen island looking at her phone.  When she noticed me walk in she looked up and said "you will not believe the response Dr. Sander's post on Facebook has gotten.  It has blown up.  It is crazy."

After putting the plate and glass in the sink I went over to see what in the world she was talking about.  She said "look at this."  As she scrolled through, I couldn't believe how many people had responded.  Or how many in our area wore some type of extraoral orthodontic appliance.  There were at least a dozen new pictures posted.  One was of three woman of different ages; one appeared in her 60s, one in her 40s, and one in her 20s.  All three were wearing pink reverse pull Petit facemasks.  The caption stated 'We made it a family affair.  Here are three generations of the Packard family all wearing their facemasks as prescribed."  Most of the posters I noticed were women, though there were two guys that had responded. 

Near the bottom of the comments section there was a picture of a gorgeous woman that was about my age wearing an interlandi headgear and two facebows.  I was blown away by the intimidating appliance she wore.  It certainly dominated her appearance.  Then I noticed the rest of the picture.  She was sitting at a table on a dock, the lake in the background, and there were 7 other people crowded in around her.  It looked like they were having some type of get together and had decided to take a group photo.  From the joyful expression and the big smile on her face, she appeared unfazed by the complicated looking straps, elastics and facebows that were bound to her face.  I then realized she looked familiar.  And it clicked.  I exclaimed to Britt "I know her.  Or I used to know her.  That is Heather Morris.  Or at least she used to be a Morris.  I went to school with her; last I heard she was married to a doctor and living up on the lake."  Then I read the caption and was further blown away.  The caption read "I thought life was over when Dr. Sanders told me last year I had to wear my headgear 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  But it wasn't.  Here I am still living my best life, headgear and all.  Headgear is only as big a deal as you make it.  And Dr. Sanders obviously made mine as big as she could.  Hahaha!  But I still love you Dr. Sanders, thank you for fixing my smile!."  I was amazed.  I couldn't imagine the former prom queen and trophy wife living her life, every minute of every day, wearing such a huge conspicuous contraption on her head.  But it appeared she was.  I looked over at Britt and noticed her looking at me.  She said "you like that don't you?"  My cheeks turned red.  She patted me on the arm and said "it is ok.  I know your little secret; just like you know mine.  Maybe I can do something to indulge yours, since you did indulge mine."

These damn mini cliff hangers at the end and easter eggs I leave in the middle of each chapter don’t work well posting so frequently.

I am probably just presumptuous and vane thinking anyone is reading this bullshit.  But it is still fun.  And yes I am drunk.  That is how I started writing here; drunk, horny and bored. Probably how I will go out of this world. Life is a circle.

Keeping someone awake at work is all the motivation I need. .

Part 22.

Britt took the zippered pouch from me.  She unzipped it and looked inside, holding it so I couldn't see in.  She then zipped it back close.  She looked at me "So, you didn't look did you?"  I answer truthfully "No, I am a man of my word."  Britt replied "well, I am a woman of my word.  But first, I want you to promise me four things.  One, you won't back out of coming to see us.  Two, you will get that hottub filled up and ready to go today.  Three, you will take care of Haley.  If you hurt her I WILL hurt you.  And four, don't point and laugh at me."  I quickly replied "I promise.  I was planning on three of them for sure.  I may or may not have been trying to figure out how to weasel out of going to the dentist.  But I promise I will.  You are quite persuasive you know."  I smiled back at her as she said "good, then it is a deal."

She took off her cervical strap and said "so, this isn't all I got at my appointment. This was actually a compromise Dr. Sanders made for me."  She removed the highpull strap from her facebow and pulled it off her head.  She then slid the facebow out of her mouth and laid everything on the counter.  She continued "You saw Mrs. Fortner's headgear, the double facebow interlandi headgear?  Well, Dr. Sanders fit me with the same yesterday.  She told me 18 hours a day, no exceptions.  And I had a breakdown.  Haley isn't the only one that has cried in the past day because of her orthodontic treatment.  Dr. Sanders is stern about appliance wear.  But she also has a streak of empathy.  And obviously as you saw, she is incredibly enthusiastic and upbeat about it all.  I think that combination is why our patients tend to be compliant.  Not all, but most."

"Anyway" she said "when I saw what it looked like on ME, I freaked out.  Especially when I spoke.  I started crying.  I told Dr. Sanders I didn't think I would be able to do my job wearing it.  That I didn't know how long it would take me to get acclimated to it, or if I ever would.  I told her I was afraid it would negatively impact my job performance.  She offered me a compromise.  She asked me if I was relatively comfortable with my current highpull headgear.  I told her I didn't love it, but I could live with it.  She told me that she would only ask me to wear it, with one facebow and the addition of the cervical strap, at work.  She said I would get in at least 8 hours on average each weekday with it.  Then, she told me to wear this for the remaining time on the weekday nights, at home and while I slept.  And then to wear it for the full 18 hours on the weekends.  So, this is what I have to wear tonight.  I was supposed to last night.  But we were, well, preoccupied.  And I didn't want you too distracted.  You had a big job to do; which by the way you did exceedingly well at."  She winked at me.  She added " I guess the only good news is that since I started wearing my headgear so much when we were off work, and now even MORE after this appointment, Dr. Sanders isn't making me wear elastics.  So, I guess that is a small win."

She pulled out two facebows.  Then she pulled out a tangled mass of blue straps with two white plastic C-shaped plates, each with numerous posts sticking up, attached to it.  Finally, she pulled out a big bag of elastics.  She looked up at me and said "it is complicated.  I have placed a couple on patients.  But this will be my first time to put it on myself.  Can we go to the bathroom?  I might need a mirror.  And I might need your help."  Holding all the pieces of her new headgear, leaving the pouch on the counter, she turned and headed towards the bathroom off the hall.

Once in the bathroom I stood behind her watching her in the mirror.  She untangled the straps, pored an inordinate number of elastics out on the vanity, and she explained "so, you have seen me in my other headgear.  I slide the top facebow in just the same.  I also have tubes on my bottom molar bands.  I slide the second facebow in those."  She leaned into the mirror and quickly slid the upper facebow in without trouble.  As easily as she made it look, I thought to myself that she must have had lots of practice with it.  The second one gave her a little more trouble.  Once she had it attached she echoed my thought with "that top one is easy, I could do it blindfolded.  This bottom one is going to take some practice."  I was riveted to her mouth, watching the bottom facebow move up and down as she spoke.  She then picked up the strap and placed it over her head, being careful not to dislodge the facebows.  The C-shaped plates went in front of her ears.  There were two straps that went over the top and around the back of her head, with a third verticle strap in the middle connecting them.  And there was another strap that went around her neck.  It was similar to the combination headgear she had been wearing, except with the interlandi the straps were all one piece.  The straps all ultimately made their way to the very conspicuous and uncomfortable looking plates on the sides of her face.  I noticed that at least they were on top of the fabric straps; she wouldn't have two huge pieces of plastic rubbing directly against her face.  She looked at me and said "we only offer two color options with interlandi headgear, blue or black.  I went with blue.  But I never expect anyone to see me in it.  Well, other than you and Bug.  And my parents." 

She next fussed with her hair.  First she pulled her blond hair up and through the gap between the top and bottom strap.  She got most of it the first try, but there were still some stray hairs trapped under the neck strap.  I told her "hang on, let me give you a hand."  I gently pulled the remaining hair through, and let it fall.  It covered much of the neck strap, but the rest of the huge device still stood out like a beacon on her head.  She said "headgears, especially this monster, are not very conducive to good hair days."

She continued "and now comes the complicated part.  Interlandi headgear patients keep the rubberband companies in business.  Will you help me?  I need four elastics on each side on the top bow, and four elastics on each side on the bottom.  The top bow attaches to the four top posts, one elastic on each.  And the bottom bow attaches to the four bottom posts, one on each. There are six posts, so on the middle two you will attach two elastics, one to each bow. I will show you how."  She picked up an elastic and started at the top post.  Then alternating on each side of her head, she went down from there on the top four posts.  Once she had the top bow connected with 8 elastics she asked "will you do the bottom ones?  My fingers are tired.  And you might just enjoy it huh?"  My heart had been pounding earlier just watching her.  As I reached for an elastic my hand was actually shaking some.  She noticed this and said "yes, I think you might enjoy it."

I carefully attached the 8 elastics to her bottom facebow.  Once completed, she turned her head side to side and up and down in the mirror, examining the massive and complicated appliance.  Seemingly satisfied, she nodded her head slightly and turned towards me.  She said "and that is it.  Pretty gruesome huh?"  I could barely talk, blown away by what I saw.  It was amazing.  There was so much going on.  She had used natural colored rubberbands, it looked like that was all she had been given.  And they looked incredible on her.  But, I thought how amazing it would be if she used hot pink elastics, the same color that she had in her mouth the first night I met her.  I planned to offer that suggestion sometime, but not right now.  I stammered out "no, not gruesome in the least.  Very complicated.  And very unusual.  But not gruesome at all.  Just the opposite."

She said "well, at least there is one person in the world that won't run away at the sight of me wearing this; or even worse point, laugh and take pictures.  And kissing is out of the question with this.  Or much of anything.  Poor Bug got a tongue crib chastity belt in her mouth yesterday.  And I got this interlandi headgear chastity belt.  Don't we make a pair."  I softly answered "yes, you do make a pair.  The most amazing pair I have ever met."  Afraid I might say or do something I shouldn't, I poured a metaphorical bucket of cold water on myself.  I looked at her and said "it looks amazing.  You look amazing.  But I need to crawl under the house and start working on your hot tub."  She jumped up and down and squealed "YAY!" and gave me a big hug.  She asked "do you need any help?"  I told her "no, and you don't want to go down there anyway.  It is kind of yucky."

She responded "aww, I'm sorry. But thank you for doing it.  If you don't need me, I am going to go next door and see my parents.  They have to love me don't they?  Even wearing this.  And for the record, Bug and I came up here this morning.  Got it?  If it ever comes up, we DID NOT stay here last night.  Got it?"  I answered "of course, Haley drove up this morning.  Her mouth was hurting, and I wanted to try to nurse her a little today.  And you being such a good friend rode with her to keep her company, crack jokes, and take her mind off how bad her mouth was hurting."  She said "exactly, that is exactly what happened."  She smiled at me and gave me a big hug.  She said "I am going to slip out the back door, maybe none of the neighbors are out. I really don't want anyone to see me.  If they do, they might fall over from a heart attack."  I answered "yes, they might.  But only because you are so beautiful."  She said "awww, aren't you the charmer.  Ok, I will be back around lunch. To check on Bug.  Take care of my girl.  And fix her something easy to eat for lunch, maybe some soup or something.  And in between then and now, figure out where you are going to take your little harem this afternoon. Bug needs to get out of the house; so do I."

I looked at her and asked "well, what do you two want to do?  I can ask Haley when she wakes up."  Britt said "no, do not ask her.  You decide and tell us.  You are sometimes too nice.  You ask her what she wants about EVERYTHING.  Just a little piece of advice for you.  Bug likes it when the man takes control.  In the past it has always been an as**ole doing it, and it never worked out for her.  But, I think you are different.  I don't think you are an as**ole.  Not at all, the complete opposite.  And I am usually a pretty good judge of character.  Much better than Haley... Sorry, no offense."  I laughed and said "none taken."  She offered more advice "Now, don't be ugly to her.  And still solicit her opinion about some things.  But sometimes, just tell her how things are going to be.  I think you will be surprised how well things work out for you; for the both of you."

Britt opened the back door and stopped.  She took a huge breath and turned her head over her shoulder towards me.  I wondered if the neck strap chafed her neck when she turned her head, it looked like it might, but she didn't seem to react to it.  She said "here goes nothing, into the big wide world wearing my interlandi headgear" and walked out closing the door behind her.  After she left, I thought about what she had said about Haley; and about me; and our relationship dynamic.  Hmm, this is an interesting turn of events I thought to myself.