The afternoon was spent watching her parading in all her new outfits, it really was nice just to see the sheer pleasure on her face. None of the clothes had been expensive but that didn’t bother her in the slightest, they were new and they weren’t the drab prison garbs that she’d endured for the last four years.

The only clothes I didn’t get to see were her new bras and panties although I did get a couple of teasing glimpses as she showed off the shorter skirts she’d bought!

She’d even bought two pairs of shorts and I do mean shorts, they didn’t so much fit her, as clung to her and once again I found myself gazing longingly at her beautiful little bottom.

“Wow” was all I could say as I watched her cheeks peeking out from either side of a pair of cut off denim shorts, “I’ve got to say this mum, you really have got a gorgeous little bum!”

“Yes, that’s what – – – -, oh never mind”

I don’t know where the bravery came from, but I said quietly.

“You can tell me mum, did you have a friend in there?”

She blushed furiously for a moment, but smiled as well.

“Everyone did darling, we’d have gone mad without someone to hold onto at night”

“Was she nice?”

“Beautiful Tommy” she seemed very wistful, “Her name’s Jill, you’d like her”

“If you like her then yes, I know I would too mum”

“We promised to keep in touch”

“And will you?”

She shook her head, “I don’t know darling, it’s all so different once you’re out, it seems, I don’t know, seedy, yes that’s the word, seedy”

“Well I think it’s bloody sexy” and it broke her mood again.

“Pervert” she laughed and punched me playfully in the ribs.

“Ready for the Barbie yet?” I asked and she did a little dance of delight.

“You bet I am, lead on McDuff”

“Come on then, we need some burgers first from Mr Patel”

The nice old Asian who owned the shop and my flat above it was enchanted with my mother, he knew where she’d been and why she’d been there. The same people who’d found the flat for me were obliged to tell him I was an ex offender and the details of my offence, but all he’d done was to ask me if I intended to steal from him and I answered calmly.

“No sir, I was convicted of manslaughter, not theft”

For a moment or two he looked at me in silence then held out his hand and shook mine solemnly.

“I am trusting you, but you steal and I’ll be doing the man slaughtering myself”

That was good enough for me and ever since then he’d been kindness itself to me.

We filled a basket with cans of lager and a bottle of vodka, mum’s favourite tipple, a packet of burgers and some bread rolls too and he said.

“You take this as a gift for your lovely lady mother”

She smiled at him and thanked him, then burst out laughing as he said in a stage whisper, “I’ll overcharge him the next time he comes in!”

“He’s nice isn’t he?”

“Yeah, I suppose so, he fancies you though”

“He doesn’t, he was just being friendly”

“Mum he could hardly take his eyes off your bum the whole time we were in the shop”

“Well at least one man fancies me, that’s something” she laughed.

“Two” I said softly and she turned to look at me.

“What was that?”

“I said two mum” and felt myself blushing again, “I was reminding myself to get two glasses from the kitchen!”

“Hmm” was all she said, but she looked very thoughtful!

She’d settled on wearing a short denim mini skirt, “to get some sun on my legs” as she put it and a light blue sweater and she stood behind me laughing at my attempts to get the barbecue going before disappearing out through the back gate.

“Here you are, this’ll do the trick” and she squirted a long stream of lighter gas onto the pathetically smoking charcoal

“WHOOSH”

She practically jumped on me as the thing flared up and scared the life out of both of us it only lasted for a second or two but it was long enough for me to inhale the new perfume she wore and just about long enough for her to realise that when we’d grabbed each other, my right hand had gone under her sweater and was holding her naked back.

“You can put me down now Tommy” she said softly and I jumped like a scalded cat when I realised where my hand had been.

“Sorry mum” I grinned sheepishly, “I er, I didn’t mean to, you know”

“Don’t worry about it” she laughed, “It’s been a long time since a man had his arms round me!”

“Yeah me too” I said ruefully, “I’d forgotten how nice women smell”

“Oh you noticed my perfume then?”

“Yes it’s nice mum, you smelled lovely” and I turned back to check on the Barbie.

“Is something wrong Tommy?” there was a note of anxiety in her voice

“No, nothing mum” but there was no fooling her, she grabbed an arm just as I was off balance and swung me round.

“Tommy please if there’s – – – – -, oh”

What was wrong with me was that brief contact with her and the smell of her perfume in my nostrils had given me an erection!

“Oh Tommy, I’m sorry” but she didn’t bloody sound very sorry and I didn’t see much regret in her eyes either.

“Did I do that?”

I really wanted the earth to open up under my feet and swallow me.

“Well it certainly wasn’t Mr Patel mum, was it?”

“I can’t believe that” she giggled.

“Mum, for Christ’s sake” and she shut up, or at least she turned away, but her shoulders were shaking and I was damn sure she wasn’t crying this time!

By the time she’d turned round again, my embarrassment had solved the problem and there was no longer an obscene bulge in the front of my shorts.

“Aw come on Tommy don’t be grumpy with me, I could have got angry as well you know, but I didn’t”

I grinned at her and passed her a can

“In fact” and she giggled again, “It’s nice to know I can still do that to a man”

“Don’t be silly mum, you’re very pretty and you know it”

“Pretty, me?”

I looked at her face, she meant it, she really didn’t believe that she was pretty.

“Yes you, you’re lovely mum, I mean it”

“Flatterer” she laughed, “Come on, let’s drink, I’ve got four years of being sober to make up for”

It was a lovely warm evening and we spent a pleasant hour or so drinking cold lager and eating half charred burgers, while chatting about ourselves. At one point we got up and strolled around the garden, hand in hand while she had a proper look at my garden craft.

“Shall we start getting the damsons tomorrow Tommy? It’ll be good fun”

She reached up for a low branch to pull a cluster off and I let out a long, low wolf whistle as the short skirt rode right up over her thighs and displayed the cheeks of her bottom.

“No knickers mum? Wow!”

“Yes I have” she laughed, “They’re just not very big”

And by way of proving it she flipped her skirt up around her hips.

“See?”

“Jesus” I gasped as she wiggled her bottom sexily, her knickers were no more than a narrow scrap of white nylon between her bum cheeks, fanning out into a tiny little triangle at the top.

She giggled and smoothed her skirt down again over her thighs.

“I’ll wear jeans though tomorrow, don’t worry”

“Aw shit” I laughed and hugged her tightly

“Hey wait a minute, we’ve done eating haven’t we?”

“Well I have anyway”

“So have I, wait here” and she dashed upstairs into the flat, shouting at me to crack open the last two cans.

She appeared less than a minute later clutching a black plastic bag and I watched in fascination as she took out the shabby grey coat she’d worn yesterday on her release.

“Here you are, you can burn this one” she laughed and dipped in again for more, the whole bagful went that way and we toasted the flaming end of each garment with lager. Finally the biggest, grubbiest knickers I’d ever seen came out and we roared with laughter as she danced around the garden, a can of lager in one hand and a stick with the burning knickers hanging on the end of it, in the other one!

As the clothes withered away in the heat we stood looking into the flames and she slipped an arm round my waist.

“That’s it then Tommy, nothing else left from the past” I put an arm around her and she laid her head on my shoulder.

“There’s me mum, you’re not planning on burning me as well are you?”

Looking up at me she lifted her head and kissed me on the lips, gently and tenderly.

“There’s no chance of that Tommy” she said quietly, “I’m never letting you go, never”

“That’s what I wanted to hear mum” I said and we kissed again.

“Is it darling?”

“Yes” I said softly, “I’ll never manage all those bloody damsons without you!”

Then I howled with pain as she kicked me.

“Come on, let’s get stuck into the vodka now”

She seemed determined to get pissed, which was fine by me, it had been a long time since I’d been drunk and I was honestly enjoying the slightly sexy atmosphere with her.

She was fascinated by my garden, particularly the tomatoes in their pots so I said.

“Right they’re yours, from now on you’re the head tomato lady, you water them feed them and clear the dead shoots away”

She squealed with delight and clapper her hands again.

“Really?”

“Yes really mum, they’re your responsibility now, nothing whatsoever to do with me and don’t forget you have to make sure you see Mr Patel every morning to see how many he wants and make a record of what you give him, he pays me every Saturday for all the veggies he’s had in the week, so from now on that’s your job as well, right?”

She was genuinely delighted with her new responsibilities as I’d hoped she would be and it earned me another kiss from her, this one lasted a bit longer and a hint of slightly parted lips sent a message down below forcing me to pull away laughing.

“Look at this mum” I said and opened the garden gate, beckoning her to join me.

“Oh Tommy it’s beautiful” she said and took my hand as we walked together down to the little river at the bottom of the grassy slope.

“It used to be a kids playground but a couple of kids nearly drowned by climbing over a fence that used to be there, now it’s just used by lovers and late night skinny dippers”

I looked down at her face and saw a glint in her eyes

“No mum, forget it,”

“Why? Give me one good reason why not”

She kicked her shoes off.

“It’s getting dark”

“No one will see us then, will they?”

She unzipped her skirt.

“Oh why the hell not?” I laughed and stripped off my tee shirt and shorts.

The water was bloody freezing, but it didn’t matter, we were kids again, splashing each other and trying to push each other under, at one point I swam away from her but she grabbed my foot and hung on.

Quickly I dove under the water and pushed myself forward, she was screaming with laughter as I came up beneath her, her legs on either side of my back, it wasn’t until I threw her off and she back flipped into the river that I realised she was completely naked, I honestly thought she’d left her panties on.

But no, as she sprang back up again, just for an instant I saw her whole body including an all too brief glimpse of a hairless mound at the juncture of her legs.

She pulled herself out and giggling crazily, scooped up both sets of clothes before scampering back up the slope, her sexy little bottom jiggling furiously as she ran.

“Oh God, I’m freezing” she laughed as we sat in the living room wrapped in two fluffy towels she’d grabbed from the bathroom.

It’s never a good thing to go swimming after booze, our body temperatures had plummeted but we were still giggling at the sheer craziness of it and still hitting the vodka.

“See what’s on the TV. Mum” I’ve got an idea”

I came back with a double quilted duvet that I’d bought from a jumble sale, not realising that it was a double and far too big for either single bed.

“Here you are, this’ll warm us up”

It did too, we sat together beneath it watching an old cowboy film or something and gradually letting each other’s body heat surround us.

“Oh stuff this” mum laughed, “It’s all wet” and threw her towel onto the floor.

Realising the sense of it I threw mine off too and we snuggled together beneath the big, warm quilt completely naked!

– To Be Continued… –