The Neighbor Could Have Been His Mother, and He Couldn’t Resist

When the three young people disappeared upstairs, Marlene lowered her voice and leaned across the table toward her new neighbor.

—You told me to bring you my résumé. Do you really think I have any chance of getting a job at your hospital? —she asked.

—I wish the hospital were mine —Pilar laughed—. But yes, I think you have a shot. You just need to get your degree recognized and sign up for the job bank. Right now there are lab openings, and you may get a call in a few weeks.

—The degree’s already been recognized. I started the process even before the divorce. My daughters and I were dead set on moving here —Marlene explained, and she bit her lip before adding in a lower voice—: I’m eager to start over. If I have nothing to do, I get overwhelmed.

—If you want, tomorrow I can introduce you to HR. I go into clinic at ten. —Pilar studied her for a moment—. Sorry for being nosy, but if you’ve always worked, how did you manage with two girls the same age?

Marlene turned her glass between her fingers before answering.

—My ex-husband hired a nanny, Remedios, a Spaniard who looked after them until a year ago. I studied, built a career, and never lacked work. That part of me was, to a large extent, what broke the marriage. I’m not very domestic; I never felt like a traditional mother. I love them madly, but sometimes I feel like we’re more sisters than mother and daughters.

—And what did he say about that?

—That I was bland and boring in bed. —She said it without anger, almost amused—. And that why should I work, if his income was more than enough. Now he’s with his secretary, an office girl with huge tits who, according to him, is a wildcat. He’s promised to leave everything for her and give her the son I never wanted to give him. She’s been pregnant since before we signed the papers.

—If you were so proper —Pilar said, frowning with a smile—, how is it that his family accuses you of seducing him?

Marlene glanced toward the stairs the boys had gone up. She lowered her voice even further, uneasy, like someone confessing a secret she’d kept for years.

—Because I did seduce him. But only out of curiosity, because of the reputation men from the south have. The thing is that I… I like women. Well, men too, I enjoyed myself with him. But a woman catches my attention much more. I’ve only been with one in my life, and maybe that doubt was what made me, as he put it, dull. My daughters don’t know any of this.

—Well, if that’s the problem, you just need to add a little salt to life —Pilar laughed, and rested her hand on Marlene’s forearm a second longer than necessary—. And look, I’m an expert at that. Since I was widowed I haven’t been with anyone again, but I’ve found the right match for quite a few uncertain friends. If you want, I can help with that too.

Marlene opened her mouth to answer, but the doorbell cut her off.

—The pizzas —she said, standing up—. Tomorrow you’ll tell me everything. I’m very nosy.

***

They ate dinner in the garden, the two women and the three young people. Adrián, Pilar’s son, barely looked up from his plate whenever Saskia or Lena spoke to him. They were twins, one blonde and one brunette, dressed identically down to their socks, and so beautiful it was hard to look straight at them. They agreed that the next morning the two mothers would go into town to sort out the hospital paperwork, and Adrián would stay with the girls to sort out the internet connections in the new house.

—Behave yourselves and don’t make the boy’s life impossible —Marlene told her daughters—. And no putting holes in the walls.

—Yes, ma’am, Captain —Adrián replied, and the twins’ laughter made him feel, for the first time that night, that maybe he wasn’t so invisible after all.

Back at his own house, Adrián said good night to his mother and, without turning on the light, peered through the crack in the blind toward the house across the street. The sisters had closed theirs. That night he dreamed of things that were hard to admit even asleep: in his dreams it wasn’t just Saskia and Lena, but also Marlene, their mother, naked in front of a mirror.

***

His mother woke him by knocking on the door. There were five minutes left before the alarm sounded and he was still dragging himself out of sleep, with a vivid image of Marlene looking at herself naked through a pair of binoculars he himself had bought online and that were arriving that very day. He showered, put on a new pair of athletic shorts, a matching T-shirt, and gave himself a pep talk in front of the mirror so he wouldn’t make a fool of himself.

—Be nice to Marlene’s daughters —Pilar told him as they left—, but don’t let them walk all over you. They’re way too gorgeous and they’re going to try to boss you around. You’re handsome enough not to look out of place between those two.

They dropped Marlene off at her front door, where she was already waiting for them in a flawless suit jacket. Adrián took his toolbox out of the car while she slid into the seat he had just vacated.

—The girls have already had breakfast and are waiting for you upstairs —Marlene told him through the window—. Don’t let my two little devils intimidate you.

He stayed on the sidewalk watching the car drive off, feeling an unpleasant tug in his groin that the memory of the dream did nothing to soothe. He went up to the twins’ bedroom, which he already knew, and froze in the doorway. The two of them were finishing making the bed wearing nothing but a short spaghetti-strap tank top and blue panties that were barely covered.

—Hi, Adrián. Have you had breakfast? —Lena greeted him, waving naturally.

—Yeah… I already ate —he answered, unable to believe those two creatures weren’t the least bit bothered by being almost naked. He picked up one of the bedside tables they had to take down to the basement—. I’ll take this down first, I’ll be right back for the other one.

—Can you manage on your own? —Saskia asked with a smile that was innocent and provocative at the same time—. If you want, I can help you.

—I can, it’s better to take them down one at a time on the stairs —he replied, and practically fled.

When he reached the landing he realized the state he was in: the athletic shorts had an inner mesh lining and he wasn’t wearing underwear, and the erection was impossible to hide. He made four unnecessary trips, carrying furniture and drawers, just to stay away from them until they got dressed. They didn’t get dressed. When he came back from the last trip, the twins were still in their underwear, waiting for him standing up.

—Where do we start? —they said almost in unison.

—First, a ladder to reach the ceiling access panels —he explained, pointing upward without daring to lower his eyes to their legs—. I’ll feed a guide line in from the living room and you’ll let me know when the tip comes through.

I need to find an excuse to go home and put on snug boxers, he thought, or this is going to end in a monumental embarrassment.

He sent a message to the group he had just created with their numbers —“I forgot something, I’ll be back in five minutes”— and bolted. When he returned, with his underwear changed and an extra tool to justify the absence, the twins had put on tiny shorts to open the door. That didn’t last long. As soon as they went back upstairs, they were once again in their panties.

—I suppose you don’t mind if we’re comfortable —Saskia said with a sideways smile—. It’s much hotter here than in our city.

—You’re in your own home —he replied, this time with his hard-on better under control.

***

The job consisted of running three cables from one access point to another with a guide line and a rope. Adrián pushed from below and one of the sisters pulled from the top of an aluminum ladder. When Lena climbed up, arms raised, the short T-shirt parted from her body, and from the floor Adrián had a direct view of her breasts swaying to the rhythm of his pushing the guide, the nipples strangely hard.

—What’s wrong? —she asked when she heard him curse—. Did the rope break?

—No, nothing, I hit my finger —he lied, dazed—. You just keep pushing slowly, no rush.

—It’s coming through! —Lena said after a moment, and when he looked down she found him enthralled. She smiled without making a fuss—. And now what?

—Upstairs, to do the same —he replied, looking away in a hurry.

In the other bedroom the scene repeated with Saskia, the blonde, with breasts almost identical to her sister’s but whiter, the exact same sway. When the rope finally reached Marlene’s room, they called the job done and waited for the delivery guy.

—I had a great time —Saskia said, laughing—. I liked that from below you were directing me without taking your eyes off me.

—And I did too —Lena added—. It felt like you were afraid we’d do something wrong. Let’s get pretty to go out to lunch, since your mother said we were going to make you the envy of the restaurant.

***

They went to lunch at a restaurant two kilometers away, where Pilar had booked a table. Adrián had earlier picked up a package at a nearby gas station and hidden it in the driver’s seat: the long-range binoculars he’d had rerouted there so his mother wouldn’t see them arrive at the house.

The place was packed. The arrival of the two identical, stunning twins drew such attention that even the waiter stumbled while pulling out their chairs. Adrián, far from feeling proud as his mother had predicted, was uncomfortable being the center of everyone’s attention. His discomfort turned to panic when Lena asked:

—What’s the package you left in the car?

—A part to connect my two computers —he lied brazenly—. In case one breaks down, so I don’t lose the programs.

—Well, we could use something like that —Saskia said—. You have to show us your computers. We don’t have secrets; we share everything: programs, photos, even the same videos.

They ordered paella and, at the twins’ insistence, a bottle of white wine. Between glasses, they told him about their lives. They said they loved their mother more like an older sister; the one who had really raised them was Remedios, the Spanish nanny.

—We’re sure Remedios was fooling around with our father —Saskia confessed, lowering her voice—. A year ago she left crying, but most likely he told her he had fallen in love with his secretary, whom he’s now marrying.

—With your mother being so beautiful, how could he cheat on her? —Adrián asked, astonished—. There are few women as gorgeous as Marlene.

—Oh, fuck —Lena laughed—. If you like our mother, then you’ll like Saskia too, because she’s her clone, just younger.

—No… it’s not that… —he faltered, red to his ears, until he gave up—. Well, yes. I like Marlene, I’m not going to deny it. She’s gorgeous, just like Saskia. But you, Lena, aren’t exactly hard on the eyes either. You’re even prettier.

—At last he says it without stammering —Lena celebrated—. We’d already noticed you liked us, especially when you tried to see our tits from under the stairs.

—I can’t deny the obvious —he admitted, now bolder seeing that the twins weren’t offended—. But you still haven’t answered me: why did he cheat on her?

—For two reasons —Saskia said playfully—. The first, because men are a bit stupid and go crazy for a pair of tits. The second, and the most important, because Marlene wasn’t giving him what he wanted. We think our mother likes women more than men.

Adrián stared at them in disbelief that they could talk like that about their own mother. But what came next left him speechless. Saskia brought her mouth close to his ear, as if in a confession.

—Last night we talked it over. We saw the way Marlene looked at your mother. And we came up with a plan to confirm it.

—And that’s where you come in —Lena went on—. This morning, seeing how excitedly she got dressed to go with your mother, we’ve almost got no doubts left. But we want to confirm it. We’re going to help you win Marlene over. Or at least try.

—You’re crazy! —he exclaimed, horrified—. Marlene could be my mother!

—But she’s smoking hot, and you just confirmed it for us —Saskia shot back, very serious—. And you’re young, handsome and, we think, sweet. She likes you. If your mother doesn’t beat you to it, maybe you can screw her and clear this up for us.

—What do you mean, if my mother doesn’t beat me to it?

—Last night she gave us some very special kisses —Lena said—. And the way she looked at our assets leaves no room for doubt. But we could be wrong. Does your mother have a boyfriend, or any friends?

Adrián thought it over. The few times his mother went out for dinner or a weekend getaway, it was always “with colleagues.” Maybe they were right.

—Let’s make a deal —he said at last, looking at them differently—. I’ll try with Marlene, even if she tells me to fuck off. But you help me with my mother, and when you’re sure about what you’re hinting at, you tell me. And I’ll tell you now it wouldn’t bother me. Can you imagine if Marlene and my mother ended up hooking up?

—Holy shit, that’s true —Saskia laughed—. We could be stepbrothers. And hey, they’d make a nice pair, the blonde and the redhead. Your mother is a monument.

—A milf that turns heads —Lena finished—. And you, even if she’s your mother, aren’t blind.

—Of course I know my mother is attractive, just like yours —he cut in, uncomfortable—. But let’s stop speculating and let’s go, we need to get the connections set up.

***

The twins left first with the car keys while he paid at the bar. When he reached the parking lot he froze: they had taken the binoculars box out of its wrapping and were reading the specs with curiosity. Seeing him, they apologized at once, embarrassed.

—Sorry for snooping —Lena said—, but we were curious. What do you want binoculars like that for, and why did you lie to us?

Adrián, who made up for shyness with a quick mind, put the box on the back seat, started the car, and invented a story about a video game in which his avatar was an eagle and the binoculars were for going up to the mountains to watch birds flying up close, improve the character, that sort of thing. He told it with such confidence that the twins swallowed it whole.

—What a coincidence —Saskia said—, we also play with animal avatars. I’m a fox and my sister’s a wolf. You have to show us that game.

—Whenever you want —he replied, relieved that the lie had worked.

They arrived at the house and he parked in the exact same spot in the garage. He grabbed the binoculars box and told them that while they changed clothes he’d go back to his house for a moment to get better-quality connectors and electrical tape. He shot off.

He went up to his room, aimed the binoculars through the crack in the blind, and verified, heart racing, that the twins’ bed —now that they’d moved it— could be seen in its entirety. If that night they didn’t lower the blind, he’d be able to watch them get into that enormous mattress, almost as wide as it was long. The wardrobe and tables were out of his angle, but not the bed. He hid the binoculars under his own bed, gathered the connectors and tape, and, elated, thinking of the view waiting for him that night, went back to the house across the street.

***