Mountain Christmas in the arms of an old friend.

"Wait. Please stop. Turn your cute little ass around and come back here..."

A couple of days before Christmas, my girls and I loaded into my aging Jeep Cherokee and headed for their grandparent's home in the mountains. Upon finding out that my socialite ex-wife was "doing Christmas in Hawaii" I had been on top of the world. See, I love the rest of that family with all my heart.

My own family was almost gone. We lost Dad some years back. My brother and his family moved to South Florida and our mom was wasting away in a nursing home, her mind long lost.

I had married the middle of three girls. She was "the pretty one". She had modeled and done a bit of acting. Something snapped in her when our youngest, Katie, was four years old. Rebecca, the ex, wanted to chase the glamour again. With a sudden demand for mature models, she took off. We divorced and she took up with some douche-bag producer. They seem to make money. They jet around and meet celebrities. She sends money for the girls. She was missing the growth of two wonderful young ladies. Good riddance.

My former in-laws, Charlie and Joan had a beautiful place up in the Rocky Mountains. They bought and paid for it long ago when mountain land was cheap. I love to visit and take my two girls, Judith and Katie. I pick my times when Rebecca will not be there. It's not that we don't get along. I just can't listen to her prattle on about their travels and celebs she met. It ranges from annoying to nails on a chalk board.

The eldest girl was Elizabeth, Betty to the family, was tall and slim like her dad and Rebecca. Her features were slightly masculine but pretty. In her life she had had boyfriends and girlfriends. Mostly she kept her relations away from the family. Most recently she had a long running thing with a handsome older man named Daniel. They seemed happy together. Betty smiled more than I ever knew her to.

Then there was Melissa, the youngest. Missy, to the family. She wasn't tall and slim like her dad and sisters. She was short like her mom and carried some extra weight. She actually had a nice figure under the clothes she wore. I had seen her in a classic one-piece swimsuit. She was impressive. Melissa was a buxom little lady with a small waist and a round bottom. Most of her winter wardrobe went straight down from her bust to her hips. This made her appear to be shaped like a beer keg. But oh, what a face. She was genuinely cute with her mom's light blue eyes, eyes that I could easily get lost in.

We made our last pit stop before climbing the mountains. With the snow everywhere, our trip was taking much longer than normal. I escorted Judith and Katie to the ladies room of a clean truck stop. I waited, then walked them back to the Jeep and locked them inside with snacks. Then I went in and took care of my own business. That's our procedure. Too many horrible people in the world these days. Judith saw to letting our tabby cat, Tabby use her litter box in the floor of the car. Finally, we were ready to get back on the road.

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