Prologue

Debbie was only sixteen when she gave birth to her son, Jake. The father was only eighteen himself and didn’t fancy the responsibility of fatherhood, and he didn’t stick around. In fact, he never saw his son. Debbie’s parents were supportive and looked after baby Jake during the daytime to allow their daughter to finish her schooling. Debbie took her toddler son to college with her where she obtained a degree in business studies. Then she moved to the big city and started working for a big insurance company. Jake was then starting school and they made a happy mini-family — Debbie the twenty-something professional career woman, and her young son to whom she was devoted.

Plenty of Debbie’s friends and colleagues were just in casual relationships with motherhood far away yet, so they all adored young Jake when they came to visit Debbie’s apartment. The boy was quite happy to be pampered and cooed over by all these broody young women!

In 1999, when she was twenty-six and Jake was ten, Debbie moved out to the suburbs to a small neat home down a quiet leafy street. Jake was approaching puberty and enjoyed being the man of the house — mowing the lawn, washing the car, rescuing his mum whenever she encountered a spider — her greatest fear — going for a leisurely stroll to stretch it’s eight legs round the bathtub.

For the mother of an adolescent boy, Debbie was still a relatively young woman. Her and Jake were sometimes more like friends than mother and son, and very open and affection towards one another. He enjoyed having a mum who was just as much a friend and confidant as she was a loving mother. He even once asked her what masturbation was, having heard the word on TV. Debbie had explained it without shame, saying it was ‘when boys and girls play with themselves because it feels good, and it simulates the pleasures of sex but without an actual partner.’ It wasn’t an explicit description, but nonetheless it was far better than the reaction of most mothers, who would have been mad that their eleven-year-old son knew such a word! Debbie simply said that ‘all boys’ do it when they enter their teens and that ‘it’s a private act but not one to be ashamed about’. Jake had blushed a little at hearing his mum talk about such things, even though she was normally open about things anyway. But nonetheless it made him feel so glad to have a young and open-minded mother. He knew one friend who’s prudish, nagging middle-aged mum was still telling her boy that masturbation (or ‘touching yourself impurely’) was ‘wicked’ and, furthermore, still repeating the age-old crap about it making you go blind!

Jake had a small circle of friends and even had a girlfriend or two as he entered his teens, although he didn’t get up to anything more serious than kissing and a bit of groping! He spent a lot of time at home with his mum, enjoying her company and helping around the house. Debbie in turn had a circle of friends at work but she was primarily devoted to Jake, although recently she had agreed with her friends that she should ‘get out more’. Debbie had not had a serious relationship with a man for years and rarely went out on dates. Upon realizing that she wouldn’t be a twenty-something for long she began to conclude that it was about time she got herself a man, and because Jake was mature enough to look after himself without a babysitter, she figured she could start going out a bit more.

True love for Debbie, though, was closer to home than she thought.

Chapter 1 »