"Dane, how would you like to go on a picnic today?" she asked brightly. "There's a little lake outside of town that's really nice for swimming."

"That sounds great, Mom," Dane said. "It feels like it's gonna be a hot day."

It would be even hotter, Jodie feared, if they stayed alone together in the house. After breakfast, she set to work making a big picnic lunch, and then they drove out to the lake. Dane chattered happily all the way, keeping her entertained. He really was a nice kid.

He was also a very attractive kid, and the resemblance to his father was uncanny. Every time Jodie looked at him, she saw Larry, and that made her awfully horny. She couldn't help thinking about all the terrific fucking she and Larry had had, even though they'd ended up divorced.

Now she had no sex life at all, but she understood that Larry had done better for himself.

"What's your stepmother like?" she asked Dane.

"Sherry?" he said. "Well, she's okay, but she isn't really like a mother. She's hardly older than I am, so it was more like having a big sister."

Jodie winced. She knew that Larry had recently married again, but she hadn't realized the girl was so young.

"Do you like her?" she asked.

"I don't know," Dane said. "After they got married, I didn't see much of her or Dad. They were always off on trips together. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. I felt like I was in the way. So I was real glad when you invited me to come here, Mom."

"Me, too, honey," Jodie said, reaching over to pat his knee.

His remarks made her realize that he was, after all, still her little boy. He was a kid yet, and she had a responsibility to make him feel loved and wanted. Apparently she'd gotten him away from Larry just in time. Now she'd have to see to it that he didn't feel "in the way" around her.