Four Summers

This story takes a bit of time to develop and there is little sexual activity, all of which is between adults. We writers appreciate your votes and love comments so that we can improve our stories. Thank you.

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Everything, it seemed, happened to me in the summer. Bad things and good things. Sometimes I was glad when fall came along, signaling summer had finally left us for good. And sometimes I wanted the summer to go on forever…

First Summer

In August an incoming text pinged on my phone right after I had dropped off our two kids, Zoey and Lucas, at my parents place for a long weekend. School was starting soon and they were excited to be away from home for a weekend. I pulled over and read the text.

“I’m so very sorry to do this to you and the kids. Tell them I love them. I have to do this to prevent myself from ruining their lives. Good-bye, Adam. I love you.”

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” I swore as I dialed 9-1-1. Once the operator answered I told her I was afraid my wife was going to harm herself or commit suicide. Unfortunately, I was over an hour away from home and I had no idea where she was. I was patched through to emergency services in our home town, told them what I knew and they promised to investigate. With fear in my heart, I raced home. There was a police car in front of my house and the polite, young female officer met me.

“Are you Mr. Avery?”

“Yes, I am. What do we know?”

“Well, Sir, we have looked through the house and no one is in there. We assumed that she has a car and your garage is empty. We’ve sent out several crews looking for the vehicle, a blue Camry, according to her vehicle license filed with the state. Right?”

“Yes. Oh, shit, I thought she was doing so much better…”

“Mr. Avery, what is her phone number? We may be able to triangulate on it if she’s within cell range…”

I gave her the number which was called in and suddenly her radio crackled to life.

“Unit seventeen, we’ve located the signal coming from somewhere in Patterson Park. Join us for the search.”

The officer jumped into her car and tore down the street. I thought for two seconds what I should do and decided to follow her there. I lost her in traffic but knew how to get to the park which was about twenty miles out of town. Once I arrived there, I saw five or six police and sheriff cars in the main parking lot. The young officer was gone but I was met by a stern-looking deputy.

“Sir, there is an emergency here, please move along.”

“I know, I called it in. It’s my wife…”

“Oh, sorry. Here, wait with me at this table. We’ll see what they find.”

After what seemed like an eon, but was probably only ten minutes, his portable radio crackled.

“We have a DB with apparent GSW. Send in Dr. Smather. We’re securing the scene.”

The deputy turned to me and said sadly, “Sir, that message means they found a body and are calling the coroner.”

Nausea rose up and I suddenly was heaving between sobs. I screamed and became irrational, crying I had to go see her. As I turned to head up the trail the deputy grabbed me and sat me down. “Sir, we can’t have you go up there. It may not be your wife and even if it is, it could be a horribly ugly scene. You have to stay here.”

Numbly I nodded ‘yes’ and sat back down. Somewhere there was a tiny ray of hope that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t Emily. I wept more silently until I saw the female officer who had been at our house come down the trail. She had a somber look and approached me.

“Sir, can you please describe your wife?”

“Yeah. Tall, blonde, short hair, thin. Scar on her right wrist from a bike accident years ago…”

“Unfortunately, I believe your wife died by suicide today by firearm…”

“Firearm? We don’t own any firearms!”

“Well, Sir, the female appears to have died from a self-inflicted shot to the head. She is about ten minutes up the trail and then a bit into the woods. We will need to investigate things a bit more. Do you see her car here?”

After looking around the large parking lot and dodging people who were staring at us, I saw her car in a far corner. We went over and easily seen on the front seat was a paper bag and an opened box. Once I let her into the vehicle, she retrieved the box, turned it over and showed it to me.

“Your wife seems to have bought this today, Sir. I’m sincerely sorry for your loss. I’ll need to call this information in. Can you get anyone to drive you home? We’ll need to take care of her car as part of our analysis.”

I nodded and after a few minutes I called my buddy, Bill. “Hey Bill,” I sobbed, “It’s me. Uh, Emily, Emily just killed herself.” Bill started to ask questions but I kept right on talking. “I need a ride home. Can you and Susan come pick me up at Patterson Park and take my car home, please? I don’t think I should be driving.”

In about thirty minutes Bill and Susan drove up. Susan ran to me weeping and hugged me. Bill stood by looking stunned and finally gave me a hug, as well. I gave my keys to Bill and he took off leaving me with Susan. Once the officers realized I had some help, one came to me and told me they’d drop by in an hour or two for a formal interview and discussion about what would happen next.

I sat next to Susan, numb with grief and pain, as she drove me home. Bill was waiting there in the driveway and they both lead me into the house. Once Susan got me a Coke I started to talk, more to review in my mind what had just happened.

Emily and I had been married for over twelve years. I knew early on she could be moody at times. After Zoey was born ten years prior and Lucas eight, she had pretty bad postpartum depression. With the help of some counseling and six or so months of medication, she seemed to perk up each time. Then a slow, gradual deterioration of her mood began. Once she was even hospitalized briefly due to suicidal thoughts; her meds were adjusted and she seemed to improve. Lately things had started to get bad again. She was seeing her psychiatrist twice a week, meds were switched and doses were increased. I thought back to the last week and remembered she actually seemed to be a lot better. While she wasn’t laughing, her mood was clearly better, so much so that I thought it would be a good idea to let the kids go for the weekend. I had hoped to spend some time with her without the added stress of the rambunctious kids, hoping to help her continue to improve. I had no idea she would do this, particularly because she seemed better.

After I had talked myself out, I sat there glumly as Susan began to discuss what we, what I, needed to do next. She mentioned the kids who needed to know about their mom, and of course I had to tell our parents. She and Bill urged me to tell the kids personally, so I picked up the phone and called my mother.

“Mom, it’s Adam. Are the kids with you right now. No? Well, please sit down. Emily just committed suicide.”

There were shocked gasps from my mother before she settled down and proved herself to be a great mother. “Adam, you’ll need to come up and tell the kids yourself, you know that, don’t you? And they’ll need to delay their start of school. Counseling, they’ll need counseling, too.”

She went on and on with recommendations and suggestions until I finally said I’d drive up early in the morning to tell the kids. My plan was to immediately return home. I knew there would be tons of things to do so I couldn’t stay too long.

The young officer arrived a few minutes later and interviewed me. I gave her Em’s psychiatrist’s phone number and a brief history of her illness. She told me sometimes once a severely depressed person makes up their mind to commit suicide, they appear better as they have made a decision that will get them out of their pain forever. I was given information that the autopsy would be done the following morning and her body would be released the next day to a mortuary of my choice.

Once she left, Bill sat with me while I called Emily’s mother Linda with the bad news. Linda was no stranger to suicide; her husband, Emily’s father, had committed suicide himself about the time our kids were born. Linda promised to fly down in a few days to help out. Susan made a quick meal and although I had no appetite, I did manage to gag some food down. They left me around nine pm and for the rest of the night I alternated between sobbing and fitful sleep. Finally, at six in the morning I showered, grabbed two cups of coffee and headed out to the most difficult task of my life.

My kids were in the den watching cartoons when I arrived. They groaned thinking I was there to pick them up, but there must have been something in my manner which calmed them down immediately. My mom turned off the TV and I sat down with Zoey and Luke and told them the bad news. There is no way to sugar-coat the news, so I just told them. They were obviously shocked and started to bawl. We all sat there, hugging each other and crying. Finally, we all settled down a bit and agreed we should head back home.

The next few days were a kaleidoscope of awful images and feelings: Sheer grief. Casseroles. Mobs of visitors. Funeral home. Hugs of condolence. Droning preacher at a funeral. Pouring rain at the gravesite. Too little sleep. Sobbing children. Sobbing me. Writing an obituary. And on and on.

After about ten days Em’s mother and my parents left, leaving the three of us to navigate our way through life. The kids had not started school for obvious reasons. Then one morning, I received a phone call from their principal. She asked how they were doing and gently suggested they might need a couple of things. First, she urged me to get them back in school as a mechanism to return to some kind of a routine. Secondly, she recommended counseling for them. She offered a quick session with the school counselor for the purpose of referring them to a professional child psychologist in the community.

That evening I talked with them about it. They glumly sat there as I told them their teachers missed them and they needed to get back to school. I promised them if it didn’t go well, they could return home for a bit longer. When I mentioned counseling, I realized they didn’t know what that meant. I told them counselors were people who could help them understand what had happened and help them recover a bit. This was met with stony silence until Zoey asked, “Yeah, but will it bring Mom back?” I admitted it wouldn’t but I gently insisted they give it a try.

The next day I took them to school. Each of their new teachers met them in the office, hugged them and then escorted them back to their rooms. I heard later they told the other kids that Zoey and Luke had “lost” their mother and all the other kids in the rooms were to be extra nice to them. Once they were in their classes, I went to see Shelly Simpson, the school counselor. She escorted me to her office and closed the door.

“First, I want to offer my sympathy to you and to your family and secondly, I want to help as much as possible.”

“Thanks.”

“A parental suicide is one of the more difficult situations that we have to deal with. We know from experience kids may seem to bounce back, but there are still issues that need to be addressed. Now, I do basic counseling here at the school, but my time is quite limited as I cover both this school and two others.”

“I see.”

“So, what I would like to offer is a name of a superb child psychologist for your kids. I’ll have them see me and I’ll tell them about her. Sometimes things like this coming from me are accepted better than from a parent. Here, take her name and give her a call. Set up an appointment, let me know when it is and I’ll talk to Zoey and Luke about it later today. OK?”

“Sure. Thanks. Uh…would they be doing this together or separately, do you think?”

“I’d leave it up to Dr. Ellis. I would predict a combined visit with both, and then maybe some private sessions.”

“OK. I’ll make the call and get back to you.”

“Adam, again, I want to offer my sincerest condolences. Good luck with those two. They’re great kids and I hope, no, I’m sure they’ll do well in the long run.”

I went home and called Dr. Ellis, Christine Ellis, PhD, as the card said. I got a voice mail and left my name and the issue at hand. Within thirty minutes my phone rang with her caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Yes, Dr. Ellis calling for Mr. Avery.”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I understand from your call the nature of your concern. First, let me offer my condolences. I know professionally this can be devastating not only for kids but also for spouses. My job is to help your kids but I want to urge you, as I would any surviving spouse, to get some counseling also. If you want, I can give you some names after I’ve seen your children.”

“Uh…I’ve kinda thought that might be a good idea, too. When can you see them?”

“I have an opening tomorrow afternoon. First, I want to see you for fifteen minutes or so at noon, then I’ll see them at three thirty. I’ll spend an hour with them. Later on, thirty-minute sessions are the norm. I’ll see them together tomorrow and then off and on I’ll see them individually. How old are they?” After I told her she mentioned that even though they were fairly close in age, their therapies would be quite a bit different. She also mentioned that Zoey was on the cusp of puberty and might have some additional issues in the upcoming years.

Then she went on, “And I’ll need to see you privately a few times, depending on how they progress. I have to walk a fine line between honoring their private feelings and your right as a parent to know what’s going on with them. We’ll work it out as time goes on.”

We broke the connection and I prepared the first meal for the kids since their mother died. Up until then we were eating warmed up food friends had given us. Once Zoey and Luke were home, I asked them how school had gone. They each said “OK” and that their teachers were nice to them. Zoey went on to say her teacher was going to give the class a math test the next day though Zoey was not expected to take it. “I think I’ll try it, anyway,” she said. “Maybe if I study a bit tonight, I can do OK. I don’t want to just sit there while the others are taking the test.”

I congratulated her on her attitude and told them both about Dr. Ellis. The school counselor had already told them this would be coming. There was still quite a bit of eye-rolling but I stood firm and told them this was the way it was going to be. I encouraged them to be open with the doctor, tell her what was going on, ask her any questions they might have. Afterwards they went upstairs to do homework and go to bed.

For me, sleep was still a major issue. I had the most trouble sleeping in the master bedroom and ended up in our small guest room most nights. I refused to let alcohol be my sleeping medication, but I would still have my nightly shot of scotch, as I had always had done. That evening I drifted into the master bedroom and bath. After looking at myself in the mirror, I opened the medicine cabinet and slowly started to remove Emily’s things. Pill bottles, make-up items, creams and such ended up in the trash. I went over to the bathroom closet and removed her favorite towel, an old worn out beach towel she’d had for years.

I felt better getting rid of her things from the bathroom, but I knew tackling all of her things in the bedroom and the rest of the house would be a major undertaking and I’d have to be careful not to throw out something that might have meaning for the kids. Finally, I went in and collapsed on the guest bed and slept fitfully most the night.

At noon the next day I arrived at Dr. Ellis’ office. It was a fairly modest office and the waiting room was filled with various toys as well as posters of comic book heroes on the walls. Dr. Ellis was an attractive brunette woman, perhaps half a decade younger than I was. She had on a professional appearing but loose dress that looked comfortable and I noticed she sported a wedding band on her left hand. She ushered me back to a tiny consultation room with just two chairs. I gave her a brief outline of our family and what had happened and agreed to have the kids there later in the afternoon. She gave me paperwork to fill out in the meantime.

For our first session I was asked to be with them. Dr. Chris, as she asked them to call her, was genuinely warm and sympathetic, but still carried a professional air. Rather than have them sit in chairs in the main consultation room, she offered them and me cushions on the floor.

As she took one for herself, I could see why she wore her rather loose dress as she sat down on her cushion.

The session was fairly straightforward. She engaged them in simple conversation and I could see how she was picking up bits of information that way instead of firing a whole series of questions at them. There was quite a bit of crying, particularly by Zoey, and Chris reached over and gave her a gentle, one-armed hug to reassure her. At the end of the session she made appointments for the next several weeks, some with the kids together and a few individually. Over the next few months, she saw them regularly and let me know privately she was optimistic about their progress.

I won’t say the kids or I, for that matter, bounced back quickly, but as time went on, I realized they were doing way better than I was. I finally called Dr. Ellis for that referral to counseling. I ended up with a grief counselor named Ben Wilson. He was an MSW with specialty training in grief and its management. I spent several visits with him during which we discussed the issues of anger as well as simple grief. I had unresolved anger towards Emily for what she had done to the kids and to me. Ben helped me finally understand how overpowering depression can be and how most suicide victims simply see no alternative for ending their pain. With that in mind I was able to finally forgive Em and eventually I was able to look at her death as if she had died from cancer or an auto crash.

Second Summer

After ten months of their counseling, I received a call in June from Dr. Ellis asking me to come in for a parent visit. When I arrived, she ushered me into the small room and we sat across from each other. She was smiling, fashionably dressed and I noticed her wedding band was missing. We chatted briefly about a few recent developments in the news and a couple of school issues. Finally, she brought things around to Zoey and Luke.

“Adam,” she said, “I’m quite pleased with how your kids are doing, especially Luke. Now I know they’ll have setbacks now and then, such as with holidays, but overall, they are doing quite well.”

“You mentioned Luke, but what’s the story with Zoey?”

“Zoey has additional issues to deal with. She’s a girl, she’s now eleven, and she’s at the beginning of puberty. And kids, particularly girls, in middle school can be viscous and mean. She’s got a lot on her plate, not just her mom’s death.”

“Do you think she needs extra counseling?”

“No, not formal counseling, but what she needs is a surrogate mother. She needs someone she can turn to, ask about changes her body is going through, ask about periods, even talk about sex.”

“Yeah, I could talk about some of that, but I’d feel a bit uncomfortable doing it, and I’m not sure she’d open up to me either.”

“Are there any close women in your family she could turn to?”

“No, not really. No sisters, my brother’s wife is an alcoholic and not at all a good role model. Emily had no sisters or brothers.”

“Any close neighbors?”

“Nah, they’re all pretty much older and she doesn’t know them at all well.”

“Hmm, I see. Well, let me think…” She sat there a few seconds before she cleared her throat, looked at me and said, “Adam, I’d like to volunteer.”

“What, more counseling? I thought you said she was doing well.”

“No, I’m volunteering to be a friendly woman she can hang out with. I know kids will often drop big questions in the middle of a casual encounter, so she needs those casual encounters. I can be that person.”

“I see. So, what do you propose?”

“How about I be a pretend big sister, not officially with that great organization, but casually, you know, just between us?”

“I see. Uh, how would it work? And do you think Luke would feel left out?”

“I think it all depends on how it is presented. We’re at the end of our official counseling, so I will let the kids know I will step back and be available if they want to talk with me in the future. I’ll wait a month or so and then I’ll call Zoey and ask her to go with me to some girly thing, maybe a junior fashion show at the mall. I can say I’m looking for gift ideas for a friend’s daughter, who’s about her age.”

“That could work. Maybe I could use the time to take Luke to a ball game, maybe.”

“Good idea. Keep it quiet, but don’t be surprised when I call.”

“You know, I really appreciate it. This is way beyond the call of duty.”

“Adam, I want you to know that your kids are extra special. I have enjoyed getting to know them and have been really pleased at how well they’ve done. I’m quite fond of them and I want to make sure Zoey continues to do well.”

Three weeks later I received a call from Chris. She told me this was her first call to Zoey, so I handed her the phone. Zoey sounded a bit shy and surprised at the call, but she warmed up immediately when she realized she was being invited to a fashion show.

“Dad, Dad, Dr. Chris wants to take me to the mall and a fashion show. Can I go? Can I?”

I pretended to be thoughtful, asked her when and for how long, and what she planned. Zoey would be picked up on Saturday afternoon for three to four hours. I looked at Luke who seemed to be a tiny bit hurt but he grinned when I told him, “Fashion shows are for girls, Luke. Wanna hit an Otter game with me the same day?” Chris and I made final arrangements and I encouraged her to take all the time she needed and that way Luke and I wouldn’t be rushed.

Zoey was on cloud nine all morning and Luke appeared excited, as well. Chris arrived as Luke and I were heading out the door. I extracted a promise from Zoey to ‘behave and be nice’ as Luke and I left. The game was a great hit with Luke. His favorite player hit a homer in the fourth and got a sac fly in the ninth to win the game. We ate crap from the vendors and I let him have a second Coke while I nourished a beer for most of the game.

When we got home, I saw Chris’ car parked on the street and once we were in the garage, I heard laughter and giggling from the kitchen. Inside I was met with a beautiful sight: the two were just finishing making a cake. Zoey had flour dust on her nose and her apron was smudged with chocolate icing. She ran to me and told he how much fun they’d had. I heard a description of each outfit until Chris laughed and teasingly told her to not bore her dad with all the details. Luke had to tell her about the game and she seemed genuinely interested and talked with him for a while until she mentioned she had to go.

I escorted her to her car and she whispered that Zoey was a delight to be with and they had a chance to just be ‘girls.’ “You have a wonderful daughter,” Chris said, “And I’d like to do this again sometime. I think she’ll open up to me over time. I hope so.”

“I do too. And Chris, thanks for your concern and taking her out today.”

“Adam, it was my pleasure. I truly enjoyed being with her. She’s a really sweet kid.”

And that’s how a routine of Chris and Zoey spending time together every several weeks started . Usually, it just for a few hours but it gave Luke and me the opportunity to do ‘guy’ things without the big sister hanging around. Once their session was fairly early in the day and they were back by midafternoon and Chris stayed and helped me a bit with some gardening I was working on. She left several hours later just before dinner.

Third Summer

Their ‘girls’ days,’ as I called them, continued on for the better part of a year. It was that next June when Zoey asked Chris a couple of times to stay for dinner but the invites were politely declined. Zoey seemed a bit saddened after the second invite and so I took her aside and asked if she really wanted Chris to have a meal with us.

“Yes, Dad, she’s super cool.”

“OK, so the next time you two get together, I’ll try to arrange it. OK? But don’t tell her.”

It was around this same time my mother, who had already encouraged me to start seeing women again, called with an offer.

“Adam, we want to take care of the kids for a week in the next month or so. We know they’re on summer break so can you arrange some time off for yourself? Go on a vacation, maybe?”

“I don’t know, Mom, I’d have to think about it.”

“Adam, this isn’t an offer, it’s an order,” she laughed. “You have to get away. It’s been nearly two years and you have to play, get away from it all. And I never thought I would tell my child this, but maybe you need to get laid, too,” she laughed again.

“Mom!”

“Oh, Son, get real. You’re a male in the prime of life. I know you miss Em, but you have to move on. Look, is there anyone you could invite on a quick trip?”

“No, there’s no one special, Mom. Let me think about it and get back to you. And thanks for the offer, I mean it.”

For the next week I spent several hours daily looking at travel options. Finally, I happened upon a last-minute special on a singles cruise in the Caribbean. It would be for six days/five nights and they had openings for three more single men. I thought about it and decided to go. Once I made reservations, I let my mom know about it and that evening I told the kids.

“Hey, you two. Nana and Gramps are coming to visit for a week or so. Interested?” There was an enthusiastic response and I went on to tell them I’d be on a quick trip myself.

“Dad, are you going with anyone?” asked Zoey.

“No, all by myself. I need to get away from work and a quick vacation is in order. But later this summer I want to take you two to Yellowstone. How’s that sound?”

They were OK with my vacation plan and excited about Yellowstone. After my final plans were made and about a week or so before I was to leave, Chris called. We chatted for a few minutes and I told her the kids, Zoey especially, wanted her to come for dinner.

“Adam, that’s sweet, but I’d feel a bit odd about it.”

“Why? Zoey has so much fun with you and she does want this. You’re not thinking of this from a professional standpoint, are you?”

“Ahh, well, no, not really. I just don’t want to impose. And, I don’t want Zoey to read into this anything more than a ‘big sister’ kind of thing.”

Just then Zoey came into the room and so I told Chris that Zoey was right there and handed off the phone. They made arrangements for an afternoon on the weekend and the phone was handed back to me and I decided to not speak in front of Zoey about the meal. I broke the call to Zoey’s dismay.

“Dad, did you forget? You were going to ask her to dinner.”

“I’m sorry, Kiddo. I’ll tell you what. I’ll call her tomorrow and see if I can convince her to come here and try my bad cooking. OK?”

With Zoey’s approval I made plans to call Chris the next day, which I did. I ended up talking with her for quite some time before I broached the subject of a dinner. But I surprised her and myself by suddenly asking her to lunch.

“Chris, Zoey wants you to come over for dinner after one of your ‘girls days.’ Could I entice you to have lunch with me at Paul’s Deli to discuss it in more detail?”

“Why, Adam, I’m pretty busy most days and I grab a bite in the office. Uh, I do have an extra thirty minutes this Wednesday and could meet you at Paul’s. How about twelve fifteen?”

I agreed and found myself at the appointed time at Paul’s just as Chris walked up. I greeted her with a friendly smile and she gave me a tiny one-armed hug. We went through the line chatting about nothing in particular and then took our seats. It was fairly loud in the deli. Their tables were quite small and our knees kept bumping as we leaned towards each other to talk. After the sandwiches were finished, I finally brought up the subject of dinner.

“Chris, you have no idea how grateful I am to you for all your time you’ve spent with Zoey.”

“Adam, she is a delightful young lady. Your son is also a charmer, by the way. You know, she has opened up to me quite a bit. I’ve been able to prepare her for her periods. We got her some pads she carries with her. And I’ve been able to talk with her about sex a little bit. By the way, she’ll need some training bras pretty soon, so I could help there, if it’s OK with you.”

“Yeah, sure, that’d be great. I’ll give her extra money so she can pay for them.”

“You know,” she went on, “She’s got a pretty good head on her shoulders. She’s told me she likes boys, but as friends, nothing more. I find myself looking forward to my time with Zoey. Maybe it is some suppressed maternal instinct, I don’t know,” she laughed.

“Well, she really wants you to come to dinner after one of your little get-togethers. Do you think you might reconsider?”

“OK, I’ll do it. But you need to understand something. I kinda think she’s trying to push you and me together.”

“Yeah?”

“Umm-hmm.”

“Hmm. Interesting. Hadn’t thought of that.”

“If I can put on my psychologist hat for a second…I think she’s looking for a new mom.”

“Uh, I see. Now it makes sense. The other day I told them I was going on a vacation while they spent time with my parents and she wanted to know if I was going with anyone.”

“Are you?”

“No, there’s no one like that in my life now, not at all. I’m just not ready, not yet, anyway. So, what about dinner? If you agree to come, I’ll make sure Zoey does the lion’s share of the prep work before you take her and we can do our final cooking when you return.”

“OK. Let her know I expect to have a feast fit for a queen,” she chuckled. “And I have no dietary restrictions.”

“Great. Thank you. I know Zoey will be ecstatic.” With that we finalized the details for the weekend and I told Zoey that evening. She promised to help out as much as she could.

On Saturday Zoey was up at the crack of dawn. She was so excited that she ate a quick breakfast and dragged me to the kitchen. “What do I need to do, Dad?”

“Well, we’re going to grill some small steaks and have grilled vegetables, as well. You’ll need to cut up the onions, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini and summer squash. We can marinade them while you’re gone. I’ll take care of the steaks. Potatoes or rice?”

“Baked potatoes, please. And for dessert? Can we keep it simple? You know, ice cream?”

With our meal all planned she hopped up on a foot stool and diligently cut the vegetables, added olive oil and a vinaigrette to make the marinade and scrubbed the potatoes. I was proud at how well she did all the work and told her so.

After our quick lunch Chris picked up Zoey for a few hours while Luke and I worked on making some bird houses. I spent time making sure he could handle the hand tools while I used the table saw. Around four the girls came back. Zoey was all excited about the shopping they’d done, though she gave no details in front of Luke. Luke was proud of his handiwork and spent time showing it to Chris. I offered Chris a glass of wine and the kids had ginger ale. Zoey cleared her throat and said, “I propose a toast. To Dr. Chris, who helped me so much this last year.” “Here, here!”

The Luke chimed in, “To Dr. Chris, who takes my dweeb sister off our hands so Dad and I could do some fun stuff,” he laughed. “Here, here!”

Then I added, “To Dr. Chris, who has helped all of us. Thank you.” “Here, here.”

I looked closely at her and she was blinking furiously, apparently trying to blink away some tears. “To all of you,” she toasted, “Thank you very much for your kind thoughts.”

We had our drinks before Zoey and I went about preparing the meal. Luke took Chris outside where they seemed to be deep in conversation until they were called in for the meal. It seemed everyone enjoyed themselves but right after dessert Zoey mentioned my upcoming trip.

“You know, Nana and Gramps are coming to stay in a week so Dad can go on a summer vacation.”

“Oh, I heard,” said Chris, “And where are you going?”

I was a bit embarrassed to answer so I kept the answer as brief as I could. “Oh, a quick cruise out of Miami, that’s all.”

“Are you going with anyone?” she asked, even though I had already told her a few days prior.

“No, just me. It was a last-minute thing. I’ll be nice to get away from work for a week.”

“Yeah, Dad said it was a ‘singles cruise’ so maybe he’ll meet someone nice,” piped up Luke. I could have strangled him.

“Well,” she replied, “I’m sure you’ll have fun. Hey, look, it’s getting late, I’ve a busy day tomorrow and I need to be heading out,” she said rather abruptly. “Thank you so much for the meal. Zoey, you are a fantastic cook. Keep it up,” she smiled, but, as the saying goes, the smile did not reach her eyes.

I escorted Chris to the door and thanked her taking Zoey shopping. She turned away a bit quickly so I had to ask. “Chris, is everything OK? You seem upset.”

“No, I’m just tired,” she answered somewhat dismissively. “Have a good trip. I’ll call Zoey in two or three weeks.”

With the somewhat unpleasant tone still ringing in my ears, she walked to her car and drove away without looking back at me. I couldn’t figure it out. Was she upset at something about my trip? Everything had been quite pleasant until that was brought up. I turned back to the house and Luke and I cleaned up in the kitchen.

That evening I took a little extra time with each kid at bedtime. Luke was exhausted and barely stayed awake while I chatted with him about the bird houses. Zoey was a bit more talkative.

“Dad, Dr. Chris helped me buy some bras today, is that OK with you?”

“Sure, Sweetheart, that’s a girl thing and I don’t think I would have been at all helpful at the store.”

“She seemed a bit upset at the end; don’t you think?”

“No,” I lied, “She told me she was a bit tired and just wanted to get home.”

“Good, ’cause I really like her and I don’t want her mad.”

“Kiddo, she’s a nice person and I’m sure she’s not mad.”

After they were both asleep, I wondered about Chris’ abrupt departure. She had seemed friendly and relaxed until Luke mentioned the singles cruise. Maybe she was upset the kids knew I was going on one, but I didn’t think they knew the nature of some of these cruises. Some are poorly-disguised sex parties, though the one I was scheduled for seemed a bit more modest. I eventually had my nighttime scotch and fell asleep in no time.

A week later their grandparents came down to our place to stay with the kids. All four of them were excited to be together for a week. Zoey and Luke dragged Dad back to look at the bird houses and Mom escorted me outside.

“I’m so glad you are going to get away, Adam. Enjoy yourself, I mean it. But be careful. You are a fine man and you don’t want to get serious too quickly. Think of the kids.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll take is slow. I’m actually looking forward to a week where I can’t do work and I can’t be responsible for the kids. Maybe it will unclutter my mind.”

“I hope so. Take care.”

On the next morning I took a flight to Miami and a Lyft to the port where I checked into my berth on the ship. By midafternoon we sailed and I found myself taking a power nap right before dinner.

Dinner the first night was a casual buffet designed to get people to mingle. There were dozens of nice-looking women though some of them appeared to be fairly predatory. Eventually I met up with a petite blonde woman from Seattle whose name was Diana. We chatted a bit and since the noise level in the dining room was quite loud, I suggested we go outside. We walked around the deck for a while, giving our brief life stories to each other. She offered me sympathy on losing Emily, though I did not mention the suicide. Diana was a divorcee who apparently was goaded into taking this trip by her girlfriends. She mentioned they felt she needed to “get out and kick up her heels,” so she signed up for the trip.

Eventually we sat down on some deck chairs, stretched out and watched the stars. Our hands were fairly close on our armrests when she reached over and put hers on mine. We continued to talk about this and that until it got a tiny bit chilly and I was aware of her shivering.

“A lady from Seattle shivering in the Caribbean? That’s odd,” I teased her.

“Normally I would be wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, not some flimsy sun dress,” she responded.

“Let’s get inside and get you warm, OK?”

“Sure,” she answered as we stood up. We walked up to the bow end of the dining room with her wrapping her hand around my arm. She continued to shiver a bit so I loosened her hold and slipped my arm around her back. “Mmm, feels nice,” she murmured.

Back in the dining room there was a band playing so we danced to some fast music until we were giddy. The music slowed and I held her in my arms. This was the closest I had been to a new woman since well before Emily and I got engaged. It felt warm. It felt very nice. Diana had some nice curves and her full breasts pressed into my lower chest. I started to get hard and was embarrassed so I tried to pull away.

“Don’t, please. It’s nice to know I still have that effect on a man,” she whispered as she pushed her pelvis in closer. I held her in my arms for several tunes until she stretched up and kissed me lightly on my upper chest. “Adam, would you like to escort me to my room?”

“Sure, gladly,” I answered and led her from the dance floor. At her room she invited me in. She had a fairly nice berth with a generous window and a double bed. There was a small refreshment center and I accepted a scotch while she had a glass of wine. We toasted each other silently before she looked at me and said, “Adam, I’m going to be pretty blunt. I’d like to invite you to my bed. It’s been a long time since I’ve slept with anyone and, quite frankly, I’m horny. You look like a nice guy, so…”

“I, uh, I guess I should be honored.”

“No,” she laughed, “You should be pulling at my dress. This is sex, pure and simple, not love. Are you still interested?”

My answer was to reach over to her, slip the glass from her hand and lower my head to her for a kiss. Our lips teased and played and our tongues joined in. She was an extraordinarily sensual kisser who could alternate between soft little flutters of the lips and deep, passionate probing with the tongue. I found myself getting increasingly excited, particularly when she pulled my hand to her breast. I felt and teased her beaded nipple through the thin top. My shirt buttons were pulled apart and she reached in and started stroking my nipples.

I took a few seconds to open the top of her dress before I nudged her to stand up. Once she did, I slowly reached down, grabbed the hem of her dress and slowly pulled it up. Her panties were thin little things which barely hid a landing strip of fur. Her hips were full and shapely and her belly had a tiny bit of pudginess. Up went the dress until her bare breasts popped free. They were true beauties, full with a slight hint of sag and round, pink areolas capped with tiny, beaded nipples. As she reached up and pulled the dress free, I leaned over to savor their wonderful taste. As I sucked, I could taste a faint musky flavor.

Eventually she sighed, “You know what to do with nipples. What about pussies?”

“There’s only one way to find out. Here, let me slip these down,” I replied as I tugged at her panties. Then she was standing nude in front of me, a very attractive woman eager for sex. She quickly pulled my belt off, undid my pants and shucked down my boxers. My erection was quite prominent and she reached for it and said, “I have condoms for later, but I seem to remember something about oral sex.”

I smiled back at her, leaned her down over the bed and began to kiss her slowly, starting at the mouth. I held myself above her with my cock making lazy circles on her thighs. As I kissed lower, I spent time on her nipples to her obvious delight. Her hums and moans were like music to my ears, music that I had not heard in years. I spent a little time moving south, tickling her innie with my tongue before I reached her landing strip. I gently licked it as I went down and parted her lips with my finger tip. She was soaking wet and I pulled up some of her honey to moisten her clit to her obvious delight. I kept kissing around and around, not quite on her clit as I let my thumb continue to stimulate her.

“Tongue me, dammit,” she moaned.

“Tongue? You want tongue?” I teased.

“Please, it’s been too long, I don’t need so much forepl…Ahhhh,” she sighed as I let my tongue slide firmly right over her clit. She tasted divine, sweet with a slight, salty tanginess. In no time at all she grabbed my head and pulled it towards her forcing my tongue to do its job. Her thighs squeezed my head until she arched her back and she screamed out, “Oh, dear God, oh God, oh God!” before she relaxed back onto the bed. I continued to lightly lick her labia and clit, not stimulating so much as merely giving her lingering touches.

“Wow,” she sighed. “That, phew, that was fabulous. You do know what to do with pussies. Thank you.”

“Hey, I enjoyed tasting you, watching you. That was exciting for me.”

“Yeah, but now it’s your turn. You like receiving oral as much as giving?”

“I love giving, but receiving, well, receiving can be out of this world.”

“OK, so let me try.” She helped me slide up in bed and began to do a similar march of kisses down my body. She briefly played with my nipples, which I enjoyed immensely, before she turned her attention to my cock. Her tiny little licks concentrated at first on the sensitive part just below the knob. She started to lick up and down the shaft before she licked right over the head. With her mouth open she slid the head in between her teeth. Her tongue licked below the knob and she took the top couple of inches fully into her mouth. It felt wonderful. I’d not had a blowjob for years and I truly missed it. She then drooled some saliva onto the shaft and began to pump my cock with her hand as she took the head again into her mouth. After a few minutes she paused and looked up at me.

“I am way gaggy, this is as far as I can take you, sorry.”

“No apologies needed; you’re fantastic. Just keep moving your hand like that.” In no time she applied more suction and harder rubbing and I felt myself climbing towards my first non-solo orgasm in two years. I gently patted her on the head to warn her and she broke for a few seconds and whispered, “Go ahead, it’s OK,” before going back down on me. When I finally came it felt like an explosion went off behind my eyes. Diana took it all and swallowed the last drops before rising up.

“Thank you,” I whispered as she nestled up next to me.

“Hey, it was only fair. Plus, I want you to have some lasting power next time, so that should have taken the edge off, right?”

“Mission accomplished,” I said as I leaned down to kiss her. We lay there for a few minutes, gently stroking each other. She popped up, grabbed her wine and handed me the rest of my drink. As she sat next to me, I realized she was quite attractive. Her mousy blonde hair was cut in a nice shag and her figure was lovely. Some might think she had a few pounds too many, but I always preferred women who had some “meat on their bones” over those rail-thin model types. I reached over and gently stroked her nipple until she shivered and plopped down next to me.

“Interested in round two?” she asked.

“I most certainly am. You?”

She answered with a long, slow sensual kiss as her hand reached down to stimulate my cock. It basically didn’t need much stimulation and pretty soon I was rock hard again. I reached over to tease her clit and she gently pushed my hand away. “I’m getting on top. But here, put this on first.”

Once the condom was on, she crawled over on top of me and let herself slide down, impaling me in her warm, tight canal. She slowly started to raise herself up and down on my cock. With her left hand she stroked her right nipple and with her right she reached down and rubbed her clit in little circles. Pretty soon she was moaning and crying out, her chest was flushed red and her face contorted as she climaxed again and again. I was able to hold off for a few minutes longer before I groaned as I came. She slowed down and eventually stretched out on me, still with my cock in her.

“That was very nice. My girlfriends back in Seattle were right: I needed that.”

“Mmm-hmm, I agree. I kinda needed it, too.”

A few minutes later she got up, we retrieved the condom and she went into the tiny bathroom. After she came out, she sat on the bed next to me and said, “Adam, uh, I really enjoyed myself. If it’s OK with you, how about we hang out for this trip. You know, TWB.”

“TWB?”

“Yeah, tourists with benefits,” she giggled.

“I’m sure I’d enjoy that, yeah.”

“Maybe I should emphasize the ‘tourists’ part of this…you do know this should be just for this trip. No getting serious, now. I know men can sometimes read way more into a brief fling than they sometimes should.”

“Oh, I understand. Let’s enjoy ourselves and then we’ll part with fond memories.”

“Why don’t you go get a clean change of clothes and come back. I’d love to snuggle and sleep with you here, unless your room is bigger.”

“Nope, you’ve got the better room,” I said as I stood up to get dressed. We kissed, I left and returned fifteen minutes later with my clothes and toilet kit. Once back in bed we hugged and eventually fell asleep.

Diana and I spent the rest of the trip pretty much together. I ditched my room, stayed with her and we were together on shore leaves. We snorkeled and took a jeep tour at one port-of-call, while we danced and partied aboard. There were all kinds of silly games put on by the crew with the idea of getting the passengers to mingle but Diana and I ducked out on most of those. Afterall, we’d met someone we were happy with, so why bother?

Every night we enjoyed each other fully. Diana turned out to have a little kinky streak. She had bought some thin scarves at one of our ports and that night she convinced me to tie her up and have my way with her. She never needed to use her safe word and seemed to enjoy letting me tease her without letting her come. Finally, when I did stimulate her to orgasm, she came with huge moans and wild thrashing. She even became unresponsive for a few seconds before recovering and reassuring me that was her sign of a major orgasm.

The night before we returned, we spent together enjoying gentle and tender sex. After we finished and had a drink, she surprised me by asking, “Would it be Ok if I asked you not to stay tonight? I hate good-byes and I don’t want to see you tomorrow and bawl my eyes out.”

“Uh, sure, I understand. Hey, look, I want you to know I’ve enjoyed our time together. You are one nice lady and,” I paused, “One helluva tiger in bed,” I chuckled. “Someday you’ll make a guy truly happy.”

“Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself,” she laughed. “Here, give me a kiss. Adam, good luck, may God smile on you.”

For the first time I slept in my tiny cabin and the next day I left as early as possible so as to not see Diana. I made it back home late after the kids had gone to bed. My mother was tactful and discrete and did not ask too many questions but she did say she hoped I enjoyed myself. I gave a rundown on all the ship activities and ports of call to the kids the next morning. It took a few days for them to settle down and for us to reestablish our routines.

We didn’t hear from Chris for a few weeks and I was a bit concerned, particularly since our last time together had ended up rather abruptly. I was worried Zoey was going to feel ignored so I eventually called Chris’ office and left a message asking her to return my call. Late that afternoon she called our house, Luke answered and handed the phone off to Zoey. She was excited and asked me if she could go with Chris to a musical matinee put on by our local community theater the following weekend. Once they made their arrangements, Zoey hung up and I was left wondering why Chris avoided talking with me.

On Sunday Zoey shot out of the house when Chris drove up and I still hadn’t had a chance to talk with her. I resolved to confront her during the week and find out why she was seemingly avoiding me. Zoey apparently had a wonderful time and reported she had talked with Chris a lot over a milk shake at the local DQ. I asked casually what they’d talked about and the only response I got was, “You know, girl stuff.” A few minutes later she did add that Chris had asked about me and how my trip had been.

It was on Monday when I called the office again and this time she answered.

“Chris, it’s Adam. Have a sec to talk?”

“I do,” she answered fairly warily.

“I’ll get right to it. I get the sense you are avoiding me. Am I reading things right, or is it in my imagination?”

“Uh, maybe a bit of both, I guess.”

“Did I do anything to offend you? Or is there a problem with Zoey?”

“No, Zoey’s great,” she laughed. “Your kid’s an absolute peach.”

“Then…” I said, leaving the unspoken question lingering.

“Look, Adam, could we maybe meet and talk face-to-face? Say, at lunch?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. You name the time and place, I’ll be there.”

We agreed to the next day at noon at a local bistro. I arrived a few minutes early to grab a good seat away from the crowd and Chris came in a few minutes later. We got our order before sitting down. At first, we chatted a bit, talking mainly about Zoey and the musical they’d gone to. Finally, I needed to find out what was bothering her.

“So, Chris, please tell me. Uh, what’s going on?”

“Adam, I’ve thought about this all morning and I want to be, you know, careful when I talk about this. I need to keep my professional world away from my personal world and so I’ll say this as delicately as I can: I was quite surprised when I heard you were going on a ‘sex cruise’ and I was a bit taken aback. I, uh, wasn’t sure it was such a great idea, you know, with your kids knowing about it, and all. So there, I’ve said it.”

I managed to keep my cool when I responded. “Chris, I think you have misinterpreted what happened. You see, I went on a vacation at the recommendation, no, the insistence of my mother. She told me I was getting to be a grouch and needed to spend some time away from the kids, you know, have some ‘me-time’ and be able to talk with adults, that is, outside of work. So, I took her up on the offer of a kid-free week. I knew I didn’t want to spend a lot of time planning or deciding, I just wanted to get away.

“Well, when I went online, I found out that cruises are reasonable ways to have everything taken care of. Once I got there, well, they took care of everything: travel, meals, entertainment, shore leave activities. You see, I didn’t have to do anything but pick which activity to do. Everything was arranged for.

“I grabbed the best available cruise. And yes, it was a ‘singles’ cruise, but not a ‘sex’ cruise. So instead of there being a bunch of silver-haired ladies and bald, pot-bellied old men, there were younger people, people who would be interested in doing more active things.

“I snorkeled, went on a jeep tour through a rain forest and ate wonderful food, danced, you know, vacationed.”

“I see,” she replied before pausing a bit. “Well, did you have sex?”

“Chris,” I paused, “I’ve considered you a friend, a good friend even, once we got over the worst of our situation after my wife…after Em committed suicide. And I have been so appreciative that you have taken Zoey under your wing. She has thrived with your positive input and you wouldn’t believe how grateful I am you’ve been there for her, to talk about, well, you know, periods and stuff. Helping her buy bras. I will be forever thankful. But, and this is a big but, I don’t feel you have any right to inquire about my personal life whatsoever. So, I will not answer the question. It, frankly, is none of your damn business.”

I stood up and smiled politely at her, dropped a couple of twenties on the table to cover for the food and tip and excused myself. I was no more than fifty feet outside the front door when I heard footsteps rapidly approaching me from behind. My shoulder was lightly grabbed and I turned around to see Chris, with tears running down her cheeks, look up at me.

“Oh, Adam, I’m so sorry. You’re absolutely right. I’m such a bitch. Could I somehow run the tape back and erase my rude and inappropriate question?”

“Chris, I uh…”

“Look, I was so totally wrong to ask you that. You’re right. It is none of my business. I, of all people, should know better. And I hope it doesn’t ruin our friendship and I truly want to still see Zoey and feel welcomed in your house.”

“Uh,” I stammered, not knowing what to say.

“Adam, please say something, anything, please!”

After a few seconds I looked at her and drew her into my arms. As she sobbed against my chest, I could see people around us look with puzzlement in their eyes. Eventually, I bent down and whispered into her ear, “Do you have any clients this afternoon?”

“Just one, but she’s doing great and I can reschedule her for tomorrow.”

“Good. Do that. Make your call while I wait here.”

She turned away from me, made a quick call and turned back to face me. Her face was blotchy and streaked with tears. “I’ve got the afternoon free, so…”

“Let’s go for a walk. How about along the river? OK?”

“Yes,” she sniffed, “That would be great.” We left her car parked and took mine to the river. Once there we got out and started to stroll leisurely. Still processing in my mind what had happened, I didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Finally, without looking at her, I started to talk. I talked about my life, the struggles I had paying for college, the loans still outstanding, the difficulty of living with Emily and the horrible effect that her suicide had on all of us. I talked about being lonely, but at the same time being too busy to even consider dating again and how my own mood suffered at times.

Then I said, “And to hear from the one person I had found to be a ray of stability in our lives, to hear that question…Dammit, Chris, that hurt. Really hurt.”

“Oh, Adam,” she cried, “I know, it was inexcusable of me!” She turned to me and gave me a big hug and started sobbing again. We stood there as several people passed. Suddenly, one college-aged guy stopped and asked, “Ma’am, are you OK? Is he doing anything to you?”

“No, no. I’ve done something horribly wrong to him. Thank you, though,” she sobbed.

After a few minutes she relaxed her hold a little bit and went to sit down on a bench. I sat down next to her just as she reached out and held my hand. I waited a bit and when she didn’t say anything I said, “Chris, I like you, and I know Zoey adores and looks up to you.”

“Adam, I like you, too. That’s why I feel like such a shit for what I said.”

“So maybe we should start over,” I said.

“What do you mean ‘start over’?”

“Well, how about you and I meet again for lunch, maybe later this week, and talk, you know, get to know each other a bit better. You know a lot about me, about us, but I don’t know you at all well.”

“You mean like a date?”

“That sounds kinda ridiculous, quite frankly, but OK, let’s have a date.”

“I think any date will need to involve some alcohol, so lunch may not be such a good idea. Dinner?”

“Ah, yeah, I’d have to explain things to the kids and I’m not so sure they’d be up for that.”

“OK, how about right now? I’m going to go home, clean up my messy face. You come over and we can sit on my deck, have some snacks and a glass of wine.”

I couldn’t think of any reason not to, so I agreed to show up in an hour or so. I took her back to the deli and after she gave me her address, I took off and went home. After calling work I picked up a bit, pulled some frozen chicken out to thaw and prepped some potatoes and green beans for dinner. The kids were lounging around the house so I told them I’d be back in a few hours before I headed out to her place.

Immediately after I rang her bell, the door opened. She looked much better, indeed she looked good. Gone were the tears and smeared mascara and instead she sported a bright smile. Her brunette hair, which is normally done up in a bun or pony tail at work, was hanging loosely to just below her shoulders. A simple blouse showing a tiny bit of cleavage and chic chinos clung to her attractive physique.

“Welcome, come in. I have to admit I sampled the wine already. It’s a rosé, ok with you?”

“Sure, great.” She poured me a modest glass of wine, grabbed my hand and lead me through the kitchen out to her deck. It overlooked her yard which dropped down to a small urban greenspace.

“This is where I come to recover from a bad day at work or just to relax. And today we both need to recover from a god-awful bad lunch, so, have a seat.” We sat there with our chairs slightly angled towards each other, where we could look at the greenbelt yet still talk comfortably. We covered nearly everything; politics, the weather, our local baseball team, her background, you name it. I specifically avoided talking about our lunch from earlier in the day. She told me about her past which included a divorce a year earlier. After a couple of hours, she gave us another half glass of wine each. Eventually we were laughing and teasing each other and I suddenly realized I was truly enjoying myself. Chris was a lovely lady and I felt completely at ease with her.

Suddenly I checked my watch and realized I needed to get home and help get food on the table for the kids. I went to excuse myself and thanked her for the afternoon. Just as I turned to leave, she came up to me, reached around me and gave me a tiny hug.

“Am I forgiven?” she asked.

“Let’s just forget it ever happened. Maybe we could get together again sometime, if that’s OK with you.”

“I would love to, Adam. Give me a call sometime.”

I didn’t mention any of this to my kids. We had a quiet dinner and I let the kids watch a rather cheesy rom-com until they hit the sack.

I waited for two weeks to call Chris. Again, I got her voice mail, but on this occasion, she called back between her patients.

“Hi, Adam, how are you doing?”

“Fine, you?”

“Good. What’s up?”

“Well, we talked about getting together again and I was wanting to know if you’d like to have dinner with me.”

“Oh, that’d be lovely. When and where?”

“How about Chez Louis this Friday? I could pick you up at six thirty, we could have a drink before dinner at seven.”

“Sounds just great. I’ll be waiting.”

“OK. See you then.”

On Friday morning I mentioned to the kids I would be going out to dinner and they would be on their own for the evening. They were quite surprised and asked a ton of questions and I reassured them I was just going out for a few hours with “a lady friend.” I declined to tell them who it was. That evening I arranged for a delivered pizza, always a hit. I told them they were to have no company and if they had any problems, they were to call my cell or our neighbor, Mrs. Reece.

I’m glad I wore nice slacks and a shirt as Chris came to the door wearing a super sexy outfit. At work she would wear loose dresses so she could sit on the floor with the kids, but that night she had a see-through top which revealed a sexy bra underneath, along with a fairly tight skirt which emphasized her hips and ass nicely. Three-inch heels completed her outfit. Her hair was loose and she had a warm smile as she greeted me with a tiny hug.

“I’m so looking forward to a nice meal,” she said.

“Yeah, me too. And I must say, you clean up pretty nice,” I joked.

“Why, thank you,” she laughed as she did a mini-curtsy.

I escorted her to the car and was pleased to see a bit of thigh as she sat down in the bucket seat. The drive to the restaurant was fairly short and we briefly talked about our days. Mine was fairly boring doing some computer work and she told me about an unnamed child who was recovering from some emotional trauma and, fortunately, was doing a lot better.

We arrived a bit early for the meal and sat in the bar for a drink until our table was ready. It was in a remote corner offering us plenty of privacy to talk. Our meals were superb, as they always are at Chez Louis, and we shared a small dish of vanilla-lavender sorbet for dessert. We were finished fairly early in the evening and when I went to drop her off, she asked me in for a cup of decaf-coffee.

Her living room was modest and comfortable. We sat at opposite ends of the couch and continued our conversation from the restaurant. We joked that we had solved climate change and helped create world peace.

There was a pause in our conversation before she turned to me and asked, “Adam, I kinda need to know something. Do you want to see each other a bit more or is this just a kiss and make-up thing for my awful behavior that day?”

“Uh, well, I enjoyed this evening. A lot. What do you think?”

“It’s complicated because of Zoey. She’s a sweet, sweet kid and I want to keep spending time with her. If you and I were to date and things didn’t work out, then it’d be uncomfortable for me to come by and see her if, you know, if you and I were on the outs.”

“I see. You’re right, that could be uncomfortable.”

“As much as I have enjoyed this evening, I made a personal decision to help your daughter and I think we probably should not plan on any further dates. Let’s be friends and keep it there. OK?”

I was, quite frankly, surprised at this but I had to admit she was right. I thought about the problem we had when she asked me about sex and my trip and I could see something like it happening again. Eventually I said, “I guess I see your point. Let’s just be friends. But I’m going to have to ask you to please not pry into my private life.”

“Oh, Adam, I promise. That was stupid of me and I swear I’ll never do it again. You know why I did it, don’t you?”

“No, why?”

“I’ve kinda been attracted to you and, well, uh, more than once I’ve thought about you and me, uh, you know…”

“I guess you just put a nail in that coffin, so it shouldn’t be an issue again,” I chuckled as I stood. When I got to the door, she came up to me while blinking back tears and gave me a nice hug. “You’re a nice guy, Adam. Thanks for being my friend.” I leaned down and gave her a tiny kiss on the top of her head and left to go home.

The kids were still awake and peppered me with questions about my date. Who was she? Was she nice? Was she pretty? Would I be bringing her home sometime? You know, things like that. Since Chris and I had agreed to be “just friends,” I merely said I had dinner with a nice lady and we were friends and were not dating. The kids seemed to be a bit saddened by the news but quickly ended up telling me about the TV show they had watched. Eventually they hit the sack fairly late and by the next morning the whole episode was forgotten.

They had seemingly forgotten it, but I still thought about Chris off and on. I was surprised she essentially confessed to having thoughts about us being together. No doubt about it, she was one attractive and smart woman, but I had to respect her decision, particularly because Zoey would have a good female role model as she crashed through the teen years.

For the next year or so Chris continued to see Zoey every three to four weeks. Zoey clearly liked Chris and would get so excited in the few days before one of their get-togethers. After most of these sessions Chris would hang out at our house for an hour or so just chatting with me and talking a bit with Luke. I would usually give her a glass of wine, which she seemed to appreciate, while we visited.

Fourth Summer

Late the next spring Zoey and Chris planned one of their events for all four of us. They wanted to make it a surprise and wouldn’t tell us where we were going; we were told to wear outdoorsy clothes and bring bathing suits. Chris drove us up to Rapid River and we ended up inner-tubing down a four-mile stretch. It was a blast and everyone had fun, but I particularly liked seeing Chris in her tight one-piece bathing suit with a deep plunging neck line, high-cut hips and nothing but webbing up her sides. On our drive back Chris had put on a wrap-around skirt and I enjoyed the view all the way home.

Shortly after that the school year came to a close and Zoey was going to ‘graduate’ from middle school. The school put on a special awards presentation with a ‘moving on up’ ceremony. Zoey wanted to invite Chris and I saw no reason not to. She called Chris and was ecstatic when Chris agreed to come. The assembly was held on one of the last days of the school year but Luke would not be able to come as he had a standardized national exam to do that afternoon. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and chatted with a few of the other parents in the foyer. Suddenly I felt a hand slip around my arm and I turned to see Chris.

“Hi, Adam. I’m so glad Zoey invited me. I know she’s bound to get an award, she’s a smart young lady. You must be proud.”

“Yeah, I am, thanks. Care to sit with me inside?”

“Sure, let’s get a nice seat near the front.” She grabbed my hand and gently pulled me behind her as she weaved between other parents in the aisles until we found some good seats.

After sitting down and before the ceremony started, we chatted quite a bit and got caught up each other’s lives. Once the principal came to the podium we quit talking and the crowd quieted down. The ceremony was brief but nice. The teachers each were able to give out awards and Zoey received two, one in math and one in science. She just beamed when she was called up on the stage. She looked right at us and waved before a sudden, puzzled look crossed her face. It was so quick I don’t think anyone else noted it. I was a bit confused until I realized what happened. Inadvertently, Chris had grabbed my hand and squeezed it when Zoey’s name was announced and had never let go.

“Uh, I think she just saw us holding hands,” I whispered to Chris.

“Oops,” she replied and released her grip.

After the ceremony we met up in the lobby where Chris and I gave Zoey big hugs of congratulations. We admired her certificates and Chris took pictures of the Zoey and me. I turned to Chris as I took my phone back from her and asked she stand next to Zoey for a few pics, as well. While we were doing this an older lady behind me said to me, “Want me to take a picture of your daughter with her proud parents?”

I laughed and thanked her replying she was my daughter and Chris was a good, close family friend. After the pictures the lady went to hand my phone back to me and whispered, “She may be a family friend, but I know she cares for you. I see it in her eyes.”

How was I supposed to respond to that? I ended up thanking her and the three of us wandered outside. We stood there in the parking lot stalling and not wanting the good feelings to fade. Suddenly, I had an idea.

“Chris, want to join us for a celebratory dinner at Pizza Extravaganza?”

She agreed, thinking it was a great idea. Zoey was delighted and ended up going with Chris while I picked up Luke. We went to the popular restaurant and had soft drinks, well, I had a nice IPA, while the food was being prepared.

Zoey was talking a mile a minute and giggling and whispering in Chris’ ear. Then she turned to me and asked, “Dad, why were you holding Chris’ hand during the ceremony?”

I didn’t know what to say, however Chris rescued me. “He wasn’t holding my hand; I was holding his. I was so nervous and excited for you that I needed to grasp something while they were announcing the awards. That’s all.”

“Oh” she responded a bit crestfallen, “I thought…”

“Oh, Honey, remember we’re good friends, that’s all.”

Zoey’s mood seemed to shift a tiny bit with that, but we still were in a festive mood until we left. Once the kids were in my car, I waited for Chris to get into hers. We stood there a few seconds chatting and suddenly Chris looked up at me and said, “Just so you know, I did enjoy holding your hand. And it was kinda fun when that grandma thought we were a couple.”

“Yeah, it was. Hey, thanks for coming. Goodnight.”

“Adam,” she spoke up, could we do another lunch sometime, maybe?”

“Sure, just give me a call,” I responded as I smiled at her and turned back to the kids and my car.

Once in the car I got the third degree from Zoey and Luke.

“Dad, are you two really just friends?” “Yeah, Dad.” “And what’s with the hand-holding?” “And why’d you ask her to dinner with us?”

“Look, guys, have I been dating anyone lately? No, I haven’t. So, no, we’re just friends. I happen to like her and she’s done a world of good for both of you, well, for all of us.”

For a few minutes there was a bit of quiet until I heard some whispering and giggling from the back seat. “Uh, Dad,” Zoey spoke up, “You know, it would be OK with us if you dated Dr. Chris. She’s pretty neat.”

“Why thank you, Zoey, I’m glad I have your blessing,” I laughed, “But I don’t think she wants to date me.”

“How do you know?” asked Luke.

“Well, to be honest, we have talked about it once and she didn’t want to get involved.”

“What if I talked to her?” asked Zoey.

“Now look, you two, stop it. I am, in case you forgot, a fully-grown man and I get to decide how to lead my life. Chris made it clear we are to remain friends. If it means that much to you, well, maybe I’ll do the dating scene someday. You know, use a dating app or something.”

“Dad, I’ve heard that those are filled with desperate women who are looking to get laid!”

I pulled over and turned to her. “That kind of talk is totally inappropriate coming from my daughter. I wish you’d not use that terminology. Now let’s get home. No homework from now until September, right?”

The change in topic seemed to work wonders and they were excited and happy when we got home. For the next day or so there was no mention from them of Chris and me. I was able to call Chris and we agreed to a lunch at some point during the summer.

In the meantime, I had made summer plans for the kids. It was going to be a patchwork operation. On some weeks they’d be at a ‘scholars summer school’ where smarter kids could do neat science experiments and even some programming, as well as spend some time at the local university. Other weeks would be unsupervised time at home but with Mrs. Reece looking in on them. Then they each had two weeks scheduled at an old-fashioned summer camp on a lake.

I had pretty much forgotten about our casual plans for lunch when Chris called for a lunch get-together. We met at a small, boutique lunchroom near her office. She was there before I arrived, stood up and gave me a tiny hug and a slight kiss on my cheek.

“Thanks for coming, Adam. I’ve desperately needed to get out of the office lately.”

“Oh? Something wrong?”

“Nothing and everything. There’s no one thing that is wrong, but I’ve had some real difficult cases lately and they do tend to wear me down unless I take care of myself,” she responded.

“I know you can’t talk specifics about them, but if you want to vent, just let it fly.”

“I’m afraid if I do, I’ll just get more depressed. Lately I’ve had a couple of bad, bad abuse victims and those poor kids are going to be screwed up for the rest of their lives. Their trauma won’t go away even with the best counseling in the world. So, I need to talk about something else…How’s Zoey? Luke?”

“Doing great. They are at a science camp at the U for the next three weeks. I didn’t think Luke would be terribly interested but he is learning some things. Zoey, however, loves it and calls every day and talks my ears off with what she’s been doing. She even got to dissect a frog and told me she now wants to be a doctor or a vet.”

“That doesn’t surprise me at all. Smart girl and she’s got a very analytical mind. And Luke, I don’t know him as well, but he’s no slouch either.”

“Yeah, I know Emily and I were fortunate to have them. Good kids. Hey, uh, could I talk business for a few seconds? Do you professionally think they’ve recovered fully? I mean, from Emily’s suicide? I still worry…”

“Adam, you’ve got some strong kids. It’s been, what, nearly three years now. I think they are well adjusted and though they may still miss her, I don’t think there will be any long-term problems. Certainly not like those abused kids.”

“Thanks, I like to hear that. Look, can we talk about something more pleasant, maybe?”

“Yes, I would definitely love to change the subject, that’s why I asked for lunch. So, how about the Otters, think they’ll be in the playoffs come fall?”

Once we switched to sports and finally the news, our moods improved and we had a nice time. We laughed, told jokes and the time flew by. Suddenly she looked at her watch and declared she was nearly out of time, wrapped up the rest of her sandwich and rushed to the door. Suddenly she came back to me and said, “I didn’t get my good-bye hug.”

I stood, threw some twenties on the table and walked out with her. At her car she turned to me, reached around me and got her hug. I have to admit it felt good, almost too good, but she had made it clear we were to be friends and nothing more, so I broke the hug and wished her a good afternoon.

That night I got a text from her: Thank you

Ur welcome Nice lunch

Meant the hug Was nice

Yes Gnite

It had been quite some time since I had spent any time romantically with a woman and I was actually looking forward to the summer when the kids would be gone for part of the time. I figured it would be a chance to meet someone nice, maybe someone like Diana. Quite frankly, I was tired of solo sex as my only release. As I wasn’t familiar with online dating sites or apps, I spent one evening, right after the kids left, researching the apps and finally chose one. It seemed to cater to singles my age and was fairly low-key in its approach. I signed up, paid my dues, created a profile and uploaded my photos. I was honest in saying I was widowed, but left the suicide out of it.

Within twenty-four hours I received quite a few hits from women who wished to get together. I reviewed their profiles and chose two of them, one a blonde school teacher named Susan and the other an Asian appearing woman who was an accountant.

Susan and I got together at a local coffee shop. She was pleasant, attractive and intelligent. We got along just fine and agreed we’d like to meet again for dinner. I thought our dinner date went well but when we arrived back at her place, she turned to me and basically told me, in so many words, she was not interested in continuing to see me. I tried not to let it get to me, after all we were just trying to get to know each other and nothing had been promised. But my male ego sure took a hit with that.

A few days later at another coffee shop I met the Asian lady. Her name was Joyce and it turns out she was half Anglo and half Japanese. She was born to a Japanese woman who had met her serviceman husband when he was stationed near her home. Joyce was a delightful and bright accountant working for one of the big five firms in our community. She was divorced and, just like me, was getting back into dating again. We seemed to hit it right off and agreed to getting together again. We met up at a street fair where we walked along and looked at the booths, did a little shopping and had Thai chicken satay for a late lunch. By the end of the day I had a comfortable feeling about her and I gathered she felt the same way because she started to hold my hand as we strolled along. At the end of the afternoon, she cozied up next to me and said she’d love to see me again. When I dropped her off, she came to me and gave me a slow, warm and promising kiss but did not invite me in.

Our next date a few days later was for dinner. The restaurant was upscale, almost chichi, and so I dressed up with a sport coat and tie. Joyce came to the door wearing a slinky, skin-tight dress which emphasized her nice figure. The neck line was daringly low and gave glimpses of promising cleavage and the hem was a few inches above her knees. When I saw her, I suddenly thought this could be the night that my drought would be over. Everything about her promised sex.

At the restaurant we were ushered to a small and fairly private table near the back. Our waitress was a pleasant and bubbly college-aged girl who took great care of us. She told us the specials, recommended a nice wine to go with our food and talked us into a light but tasty dessert.

Just as we were finishing our meal, I looked up to see Chris walking back to the restroom. There was no way she could not see me and once she did, she seemed to falter a second and nodded to me before hurrying off to the restroom. A few minutes later she returned and walked by us without a greeting and went back to her party, which seemed to be a group of women celebrating someone’s birthday. Joyce and I had to walk by their table to leave and when we did, I looked right at Chris, nodded and said, “Hey, Chris. Enjoy the party.” She smiled, but it was almost a grimace and said ‘Hi’ back to me.

Outside Joyce seemed subdued and finally as we were driving back to her place, she asked who Chris was. I told her Chris was the counselor for my kids after my wife had died. Suddenly Joyce appeared more relaxed and was quite animated again. As we drove on, I got to wondering about her. She seemed nice but I got the idea she was jealous of my contact with Chris. “Good grief,” I thought to myself, “Can’t a guy even have female acquaintances without his new date pulling the jealousy card?”

At Joyce’s apartment we lingered at her door and kissed a couple of times. They were warm and promising and I felt myself getting excited. Joyce looked up at me and said, “I promised myself I would take it slower, but you seem to be a nice guy, so I’ll just come out and ask if you’d like to come in?”

As much as I wanted to, I declined because I was a bit nervous about how she acted after I spoke with Chris. “Joyce, this has been a wonderful evening and I’d like to do it again and real soon. Thanks for the invite, but let’s, uh, let’s get to know each other a little bit more first. Maybe next time, huh?” She looked a tiny bit disappointed but kept a smile on her face and agreed to a ‘next time.’

On the way home I started to kick myself for turning down what could have been a nice roll in the hay. Joyce was cute and smart but yet there was something about how dramatically her mood changed when I said ‘Hi’ to another woman at the restaurant.

When I called her a few days later for another date she declined saying, “Adam, I was ready to take things further the other night and yet you turned me down. My feelings were hurt and I don’t think it would be a good idea for us to pursue this any further. Sorry.”

What? Usually, it’s the guy who is pushing for sex and here the gal was offended I had chosen to take things a little slower. I just didn’t get it, but I was glad that anything like this was out in the open right away. As I thought about it, I figured she was probably pretty insecure; unhappy I greeted another woman and offended that I turned down her offer at the door.

I was zero for two on the dating site and realized I might need to keep at it, so I logged on again and selected another couple of potential matches. I IM’d both of them and was waiting for a response when I ran into Chris at the super market.

“Hey, Chris, how are you doing?”

“OK.”

“How’s work going?”

“Not bad. Uh, I’m kinda in a rush,” she said as she started to turn away.

It was fairly clear she didn’t want to talk and was unhappy or upset about something. I quickly told her Zoey would be back the following week and to take it easy. I went back to shopping.

We finished up shopping at the same time and were in neighboring check-out lanes when I caught her eye. She did not smile and looked away rather quickly. I headed out of the store right behind her and decided I wanted to know what was going on with her. I hurried up and just as she got to her car, I spoke to her.

“Hey, Chris, something wrong?”

“Oh, Adam,” she said as she appeared startled when I spoke to her, “Nothing’s wrong. Why do you ask?”

“Chris, we’ve known each other for three years and I consider you a good friend. A friend knows when something is wrong. And something is definitely wrong. Are you OK?”

“Adam, can’t you figure it out?” she answered testily.

“Figure what out? You seem upset about something. Did I do anything wrong?”

“No. Not really. Well, maybe.”

“What? Look, Chris, you’re making no sense at all. Are you headed home? ‘Cause if you are, I’d like to drop by to talk about it.”

“I’m not so sure that would be a good idea.”

“Good idea or not, I’m coming over anyway,” I insisted. She nodded slowly ‘yes’ and got in her car. I followed her home.

Once at her house I helped her carry her food to her kitchen while leaving mine in the car. Once her refrigerated items were safely put up, she turned to me and said, “I usually don’t drink in the afternoon, but I’d like a glass of wine. You?”

“Uh, sure, OK, I’ll have whatever you’re having.

“So, Chris, be honest,” I said as she gave me my wine, “Please tell me what’s going on.”

“Dammit, Adam, I’ll tell you what’s wrong. I saw you with that hot, little Asian gal, that’s what’s wrong. It tore me up. I felt like a jealous teenager,” she gulped as tears puddled in her eyes.

“But, Chris, you always said…”

“I know what I said. But maybe I actually want something else.”

“What’s that?”

“Here I am, a PhD psychologist, and I should be able to communicate better. You know, sometimes I think we psychologists are the craziest people on the planet. But here it is: You, you silly man, I want you!”

“But I’m confused. You’ve told me if things didn’t work out between us that Zoey…”

“Adam,” she interrupted, “Maybe I don’t want to put my life and happiness on hold any more. The more I get to know you and Zoey and Luke, the more I realize things will work out. They will. And Zoey and Luke will be fine. I know it.”

“Wow…”

“You know, the nicest times I’ve had this past year or so were when I brought Zoey back to your place and we’d just hang around, talking…”

“Well, I’ve enjoyed them too. And I loved the inner-tubing on the river.”

“I bet you did. I saw you staring at me in my bathing suit,” she laughed through her tears.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite so sexy in ages. So, uh, are you telling me you want to get together?” I asked. “You know, openly and in front of the kids?”

“Yes, yes,” she said as she sniffled and launched herself at me, “I want you, Adam, I honestly do. It’s been so hard for me to keep a barrier up between us, especially here lately…”

I wrapped her up in my arms and hugged her to me. Eventually her soft crying slacked off to a few hiccoughs when she went to pull back from me. She looked up at me with swollen eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. “It just killed me to see you with another woman,” she whispered. “And I know that you’ve needed to move on…”

“It was merely a casual ‘get-to-know-you’ kind of thing. And she told me we won’t be seeing each other again, anyway,” I replied.

“But she was so sexy looking. How can I compete with her?”

“It’s not been a competition, Chris. You told me we couldn’t do the dating thing.”

“Oh, Adam, that was then and this is now. I want to be with you,” she sniffed. She looked up at me with tears sliding down her face and said, “I must look awful.”

“You look wonderful,” I murmured back.

“No, please let me go freshen up,” she smiled back to me. She popped up and went down the little hall off her living room. After she was gone a little while I heard her call from in back, “Adam, please go get your groceries. You don’t want the frozen things to melt.”

“Well, I thought I’d run them home and…”

“No! You are not leaving until I say so, and that’s final,” she laughed. After running to the car and bringing in the perishables, I sat back down on the couch. Then she came back to the living room.

She looked beautiful. The puffiness of her eyes was fading, the tears were gone. She had on a slinky robe and it was obvious there was no bra on under it. I couldn’t tell about any panties. Her hair had been brushed and was loose around her shoulders. “I still haven’t finished my wine. You?”

“No. I propose a toast. To us, together!” I said.

“To us, together!” We each took a few sips before sliding together on the couch. She reached around me and I took her in my arms and lowered my head to her. Her eyes were pleading and begging, so I answered with my lips slowly caressing hers. Gentle little strokes of my lips on hers seemed to cause her to tremble and sigh. Slowly her lips parted as she invited my tongue to hers. We sat there, arms around each other, slowly building up passion. Finally, she broke the kiss and buried her mouth along my neck. I heard mumbling.

“What’d you say?”

More mumbling and then I heard her clearly. “It’s been so long since I’ve been with someone, Adam, but right now I know I want you. I need you.”

“Uh, isn’t that a bit…uh…fast?”

“Three years, Adam! I’ve known since early on I wanted you. There at the beginning I was still married and anyway it would have been totally and professionally inappropriate of me. And you weren’t ready yourself. Later, when I was available and knew you were ready to move on, well, I was involved in raising Zoey, so I put up barriers. But I’ve wanted you for a long, long time.”

“I see. I have to admit I’ve always enjoyed being with you…”

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, as the old saying goes,” she said as she moved towards me, “You’re going to enjoy a lot more, if I have my way.” I felt her moving her hand between us and then it moved to the side and I was suddenly aware she had pulled her robe open.

I leaned back as she straightened up and stared me in the eyes. I held her gaze for a few seconds before letting my eyes drift down. She was gorgeous. Her breasts were generous, full, proud. Below them was a lovely belly with a tiny hint of the fullness of a mature woman. I could barely see the top of her panties. My mouth went dry.

“See anything you might be interested in?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Are you going to do anything about it?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“What?”

I reached out and gently stroked a nipple which beaded up as she sighed, “That’s a good start.” I stroked that breast and then the opposite one as she closed her eyes. I could see her breath become a bit irregular and the pulse in her neck picked up speed. I again leaned towards her to kiss her again and she put her hand flat up against my chest. “Not so fast, Cowboy. You have a serious excess of clothes on you.”

She reached over to me and started to unbutton my shirt and stroke my chest before she pulled the shirt off and my shoes. Then she stood up and let her robe fall to the floor. I could easily see her now and I was stunned with her beauty. She had full, womanly hips and two of the best-looking legs I had ever seen on a woman. Once she slid her panties down, I could see her trimmed bush teasingly hiding her lips from my immediate view. With her hand reaching out to me, she pulled me up while I kicked off my shoes, unbuckled my belt and slid the zipper down. My pants fell to my feet followed by her pulling my boxers down.

“You are one handsome man and your little friend here, well, he’s not so little now, is he? He’s attractive too. Would you care to escort me to my bedroom?”

“Gladly.”

She turned away from me and while holding my hand in hers, she pulled me gently down the hall. Once in her room she sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at me. “A bit of housekeeping: I’m clean and I assume you are.” I nodded ‘yes.’ “Ah, also, I can’t get pregnant, an old medical issue. That was the main reason for my divorce. Anyway, I guess we won’t be needing any protection, will we?”

I shook my head ‘no’ and told her I’d had a vasectomy anyway after Luke was born. She smiled and pulled me down to sit next to her. We kissed again and my hands began to wander over her as I pulled her down. Side by side we lay there gently kissing, stroking and probing. There was a sense of hunger, but no sense of severe urgency. We had all the time in the world to explore each other and I, for one, did not want to rush things.

Eventually my hand slid lower and she let her legs slip apart. My fingers gently stroked and teased her hair before I reached the soft petals of her pussy. Between them was the sweet moisture of one excited woman. I pulled some of it forward to massage her clit and once I did, she moaned softly into my mouth. I kept up for a minute or so when she rapidly rose up and clutched me in the throes of an apparent orgasm. Once she was finished, she relaxed back down and sighed, “Nice.”

“I’m glad you liked it. Wanna go again?”

“Oh, Adam, you know I do. Wait, what are you doing?” she asked as I started to slide down her belly. “Honey, you don’t need to do that,” she said as I reached her pussy with my mouth.

“But I want to, please.”

“Oh, if you insist,” she snickered as she spread her thighs apart to allow me better access. Moisture trickled from her lips telling me she was still one eager lady. Her womanly scent was enticing so I lowered my lips to hers and slid my tongue out to tease her. The taste was divine; sweet with a tinge of womanly tartness. I repeatedly dipped my tongue into her and drifted it up to her clit. Once I paid serious attention to licking and sucking her clit, she began to breathe deeply and moan softly. Her pelvis was rocking up and down slightly when she placed one hand on my head, holding me firmly to her. I took that as encouragement to be a bit more aggressive with my oral activities and so I doubled my efforts and slipped two fingers into her to rub her G-spot. Her moans had gradually increased but I was having a bit of trouble hearing them once her thighs were clamped firmly around my head. Suddenly she rose up almost to a sitting position and cried out, “Oh, Adam, oh God, it feels so, so good,” as she spasmed and writhed under me.

Eventually she relaxed back down on the bed, her thighs relaxed and I slid up to be next to her. She kissed me softly and whispered in my ear, “That was the best ‘O’ I have ever had, bar none, and that includes quite a few nice ones from my little vibrating friend.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” I answered. We lay there for a few minutes before she turned a bit more to me.

“What about you?”

“Chris, no one is keeping score. That was for you. I’m honored you allowed me to your bed…”

“Oh, cut the heroic shit,” she giggled. “You have a huge hard on and I know you want some fun, too. Here, lie back down. Let me get on top.” She straddled and lowered herself onto me. Oh, sweet Jesus, she was tight. And wet. The combination of those sensations and watching her leaning over me, breasts swaying with each thrust started to send me rapidly from a stimulated to an exceptionally aroused state. She seemed to understand I was getting very close, so she slowed down, eased off on the depth and frequency of her thrusts until I relaxed a bit. Then she would start up all over again. She took me through several cycles of stimulation and relaxation until I could take it no more. I reached up, grabbed her around the waist and rolled us over until I was on top.

“Enough teasing, you,” I growled as I thrust deeply and rapidly until pubic bone was on pubic bone followed by shallow thrusts with my knob barely inside of her. Up and down, in and out I went until I felt the inevitable. I ended up plunging deeply into her and just as I was coming, she shrieked and clawed at my back. Drained, I finally slowed down and stopped. I collapsed on her, breathing heavily.

“Too heavy?” I asked.

“No, not at all.” A few minutes later she went on, “I have dreamed about this for months and months, and my dreams were nowhere as nice as the real thing.”

“Yeah, was nice, really nice.” I paused a few seconds and then asked, “Does this mean we’re dating?”

“Well, we certainly are screwing, so I would guess so,” she laughed. “You OK with that?”

“Absolutely. You think Zoey and Luke will be OK with the idea of us together?”

“Yeah, I’m sure they will. You know Zoey has tried to nudge me towards you in the past.”

“Yeah, I know. She even mentioned it to me the day of her ceremony. Let’s see how things go. Once they’re back, I’ll invite you over for dinner and we can let them know then. OK?”

“Yeah, good idea. Uh, Adam, do I feel something coming back to life?” she giggled.

We spent the next two hours in bed, touching, exploring, caressing, kissing and loving. Hunger finally drove us to the kitchen where we stood nude and wolfed down hastily-nuked nacho chips followed by a bowl of ice cream. “If I keep eating like this, I’ll weigh a ton.”

“It’ll be my job to keep you exercising in bed to keep the weight off,” I laughed with her. We went back to bed where we talked, laughed and played before we eventually fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, we got up and showered quickly. I took off to go home and get some clean clothes before I went to work. By mid-morning I received a text with the simple two letters “TY” followed by a winking emoji. I had to chuckle and my coworker looked up and asked me, “What’s so funny?”

”Well, my girlfriend just now sent me a text…”

“Girlfriend? Why Adam, you little…” she chuckled as her voice trailed off. “I thought you looked well taken-care of this morning.”

“Estelle, don’t make me blush,” I laughed. “But I do think I’ve met the one.”

“Adam, I’m so happy for you after all you’ve been through. I’ll be praying for you.”

“Thanks. Do me a favor, please. Don’t tell anyone until I’ve had a chance to tell the kids. They’re still out of town.”

“Sure, secret’s safe with me, Romeo. Congrats.”

Chris and I spent the next three nights together. We quickly became way more comfortable with each other both in bed and out. When I told her I loved her, she wept big tears of happiness. She confessed she had loved me for well over two years but kept it quiet due to her relationship with Zoey. And she admitted it was the real reason she got upset about my singles cruise and seeing me with Joyce.

As I had to get up early to go get the kids, I slept alone at my place the night before. Chris and I had made plans to have dinner at my house the following day because I figured the kids needed some time with me to decompress and tell me all about their camp. When I told them Chris was expected for dinner, Zoey was visibly excited and even Luke seemed pleased.

I was fairly tense that afternoon as we prepared dinner. I wanted to keep it simple so I arranged for grilled steaks outside, baked potatoes asparagus spears broiled in the oven and a salad. I also threw together an angel food cake which was ridiculously easy to make. Crushed strawberries and ice cream would be the topping.

The kids were out back when Chris arrived and I greeted her at the door with a tiny hug and a kiss. “Hi, Sweetheart,” I whispered as I kissed her. She smiled back at me and gave me a pat on the butt as I turned to go into the kitchen.

“Hey, Kids, Chris is here!” I called out the kitchen window. Both came flying in and Zoey ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

“Hey, Dr. Chris! I had a blast at camp!”

“Really?”

“The biology part was awesome. You know, I even got to dissect a dead frog. That was so cool. We even put electricity on the leg and it jerked, even though Kermit, that’s what we called him, was dead. The muscles were still working!”

“That must have been fun. Luke, what about you?” she asked.

“I learned a lot about psychology at science camp, it’s kinda neat,” he answered with surprising enthusiasm. “They also told us about Pavlov’s dogs and instinct and other cool things like that.”

“Well, good, I’m glad you learned a lot. You know, it took me four years of college and then three years of graduate school after that to get where I am now. That’s a lotta work. If either of you want to consider one of the medical fields, I’ll be glad to sit down with you sometime.”

“Thanks. That’d be great.”

“I’m thinking the medical world will end up benefitting from their science camp, don’t you Adam?”

“Yeah, probably. Who’s hungry?”

We had a nice meal, the kids talked our ears off and all four of us dealt with the dirty dishes. As we were all working together in the kitchen, I thought about how nice it would be to have such family togetherness all the time. Once the kitchen was cleaned up, we moved to the living room. The kids plopped into their favorite chairs while Chris and I, without thinking, sat right next to each other with Chris holding my hand. I saw Zoey’s eyes bulge with surprise. She shot me a questioning look and even Luke looked a bit confused.

I took the bull by the horns and spoke up, “Zoey, Luke. Chris and I have something to say. Uh, she and I are, what shall I say? Well, we’ve started to date each other.”

“Well, Dad, it’s about time,” screamed Zoey as she ran to us and gave us both a big hug. “Dr. Chris, I’m so happy…”

“Yeah, Dad, she’s right, it is about time,” Luke added.

“OK, you two,” laughed Chris. “If I’m gonna be here more, there’s a new rule. I’ve got a new name. It’s Chris, just plain Chris, no Doctor Chris, please.”

“Chris, huh?” said Luke. “Cool. So, hey Dad, how long has this been going on?”

Chris answered, “Your father and I have been friends for years now. While you were gone, we ran into each other at the grocery store and, well, one thing led to another and we decided we’d like to spend more time together.”

“Does this mean our girls’ trips will stop?” asked Zoey fearfully.

“No, of course not. If anything, we’ll have more chances to do things together. And Luke, you might even want to do something with me. Maybe you can teach me a little bit about Otter baseball.”

The talking and laughing went on for nearly two hours until the kids were dropping with fatigue. I shooed them up to bed and once things quieted down, I pulled Chris into my arms.

“That went well,” I said. “You know, they sleep like the dead,” I added with a sly grin.

“Yeah, well, you’ll need to put a ring on my finger before I sleep with you while the kids are upstairs.”

“Are you proposing?” I joked.

“No, that’s your job. But Adam, let’s give this some time, see how we do together, see how the kids deal with it.”

“Sure, I know. I was teasing about sleeping with you tonight. But you do know that you’re a fabulous partner in bed. I see some long lunch hours in our future,” I chuckled.

“I do too,” she said. “But I will say a little necking is perfectly OK for tonight.”

The next weeks went remarkably smoothly. The kids were quickly comfortable with Chris and me together. Zoey was even so bold as to ask me privately when, not if, but when we were going to get married. By August Chris and I were inseparable. We spent lots of time together but we still would not sleep together unless we were alone at Chris’ place or the kids were away. Fortunately, after meeting Chris, my mother stepped up and invited the kids to stay with her and Dad a few times. She, too, asked me when we were going to get married.