Friendly, hopeful, but almost entirely ladylike

Jess was dressed in an elegant, black dress with little white dots, that emphasises her slim frame. Unlike Kelley, her dress was fully buttoned up. I noticed that she was wearing pearl earrings, and a bit of red lipstick.

Jess smiled brightly at me. "Hello Luke. I'm glad you agreed to come," she said gently. She offered me her hand, as her sister did. She had never done that before, but I obliged her with a kiss.

Jess smiled brightly at me, her eyes darting back and forth across my face. Then a question occurred to her. "How much did Dad tell you?"

I looked to Darren, who returned my gaze solemnly. "He told me enough," I said.

Jess nodded, satisfied with this answer. "We'll have a family discussion a little after lunch. I have a number of ideas. But... whatever happens, play things cool. My family can tell if something is wrong, and can pick up on wording, but remember that they won't understand anything at all that you or I say about sex."

I nodded, but frowned. "What about you? I mean, your Dad told me that you can conceive of sex, but..."

Jess nodded. "We'll get to that later, don't worry. For now, let's just say that I lost my virginity to my best friend in high school, just after stripping naked for him in the back of his car."

I was pretty surprised by this impromptu revelation. Darren seemed to pick up on this, and looked to me, slightly nervous. "Sorry for asking, but... is that a good thing?"

I looked to him. This was genuinely going to take some getting used to. "It's a sort of rite of passage, and from the sounds of things it went well for her."

Darren smiled with relief. For her part, Jess grinned at me. "I like the way you answered that. You see what I mean, though. We'll talk about it later. Just keep your cool and everything will be fine."

"Lunch is ready," Hellen called from the dining room.

Jess looked at me significantly, and approached slowly. "Luke, I may have talked you up a bit in the last month. They all really want to like you. Just go with the flow for now," she said, giving a short, gentle caress of my chest through my shirt, "and let's talk seriously after lunch." She pulled her fingers away as she slipped past me.

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

I looked to Darren: he seemed amused, possibly just by me 'ma'am'-ing his young daughter. "After you," he told me.