It was a warm summer’s evening in the middle of July; Jennifer and her husband Myron were attending the wedding of Myron’s sister. The wedding ceremony had been earlier in the afternoon, but the bride, groom and wedding party had gone off to have photographs taken, so there was a break of about an hour or two before the reception was due to start. Jennifer, Myron and their two children had gone with the wedding party to have pictures taken, but those had been over rather quickly, and now the bride and groom were being photographed.

The wedding reception, for reasons that Jennifer didn’t fully know, was adults only. So her two children were taken back to the house with an elderly aunt, who claimed tiredness from the lateness of the events. When Jennifer and her husband Myron walked into the reception space of the Hotel, Jennifer stopped straight in her tracks. Her breathing deepened, her eyes widened and she went pale. She hadn’t seen him in nearly twenty four years.

“Are you okay?” Myron asked, looking at his wife oddly.

“I’m fine,” she answered, perhaps a little too abruptly. Her eyes lingered on him for a little longer, and then she smiled at her husband, not only to reassure him but to reassure herself. She went sat down with him near the top table, with Myron’s parents.

For the whole evening she was in an odd mood. Memories of times gone by kept flashing in front of her eyes. She saw herself as she was when she knew him, when she was eighteen years old. She remembered how close they were, how much they had loved each other, not only as a brother and sister would, but as best friends, lovers and soul-mates

When she was eighteen years old she lived in a cul-de-sac halfway between Downers Grove and Oak Brook. Ric Anderson lived next door to her. They were best friends, he was like the brother she never had. They loved each other, and Ric told her this every day. He was in an up-and-coming band back then, Sledgehammer. Everyone was talking about them, they were the latest street band to hit the music scene. Jennifer Bouvier, as she then was, went to all of his gigs, despite the fact that she was under twenty-one.

During a particular gig at the dive bar Scorpio, which was now long shut down, Ric dedicated a song to Jennifer, singing it in his low and melodic crooners’ voice. After the song Jennifer got up on stage and the young pair kissed for the first time. Later that evening they went home together, and they slept together. This was Jennifer’s first time ever. That night Ric had her virginity. After that first night it was hard for the pair to get together. But they managed to find time. They went on a sexual journey together that was full of firsts and love. But this was cut short after only two months.

Ric’s band Sledgehammer was noticed by a talent scout and before the band knew it, they were signed first to a small Indie label and they started touring around Chicago and the Midwest. Then they garnered the attention of the Hollywood music hotshots, and Sledgehammer found themselves with a recording contract and money. Within the first year of being signed they released their debut album, "Hand of silence", which found much critical acclaim and commercial success.

They went on national and worldwide tours with all the big grunge and alternative bands of the day, playing to stadiums packed with people. It was a dream come true for Ric. But the fame was not to last. Almost as soon as they were on the radar, they dropped off. Subsequent albums that the band released were panned by critics and hated by fans. They flopped. People now accused Sledgehammer of being sell-outs, the worst thing any band or artist could be called.

By 1996 the band was on hiatus with feuds between band members and record executives being well documented. The band gained a reputation for being difficult to work with and manage. People started refusing to work with them. Ric was the only member of the band doing anything productive. He was the only member writing or trying to get work done. The other band members were only interested in the money, drugs and chicks.

At the urging of the record label in late 1997 the band released an album of old covers, which was met with mild success. Critics liked the band’s take on old rock classics and the style they added, but for Sledgehammer it was the beginning of the end. The in-fighting and feuding between members got too much for Ric; he left the band and went solo. Not long after that the lead singer Bobby Mays died of a drug overdose.

For Ric Anderson, that was confirmation for him to leave the corporate music world. He returned to the Indie label and embarked on small tours across America and Canada. He gained a small cult following, there were new fans and some old, who liked that Ric had returned to the original Sledgehammer sound. He was a singer by this stage, as well as playing the bass. It was always good to be multi-talented in the music world. Versatile, was the word commonly used to describe the now solo Ric Anderson.

But the music business could be a harsh mistress, even the independent Indie labels. Ric and his backup band now played clubs, pubs and events, and while it wasn’t the dizzying fame and heights he had once known in his twenties, it was a somewhat constant source of money for him and the band. Ric enjoyed it, he wanted for nothing. He had everything he could ever want. Well, not everything. There was one thing he wanted, and the knowledge that he had let it go hurt him and made him sad.

Just as he and the band had finished that particular song, he saw her. He saw her for the first time in twenty something years. And she had noticed him as well. Oh my God , he thought. Oh my God ! He managed to break himself from his trance and get himself together enough to continue playing. Sweet little Jennifer Bouvier was here. The girl with whom he had shared so much, the girl he used to live next door to. His first love. His only love.

For the whole evening his mind was on her. He watched her interact with the other wedding guests and people he assumed were family members with the familiarity between them. She hadn’t changed one bit. Well, of course she had, she wasn’t eighteen anymore. She was a woman now, but she was still as beautiful as ever. The years had been kind to her. Her hair, while not as dark and shiny as it used to be, had mellowed out to a lighter color, but there were no signs of gray or fading yet. Her fair skin was still luminous and clear, and from where he was standing, her blue eyes were still bewitching as ever. He had to speak with her, or in the very least, see her up close. But how? How would that happen? How would he do that?

The opportunity presented itself to him when his band took a twenty minute break from playing. Jennifer was sitting at the table by herself, speaking on her phone to someone. She pressed the button to end the call and looked around the room, smiling at people she knew. Without even realizing it, Ric had started walking towards her table. He wasn’t aware of his own legs taking him there, he wasn’t in control of himself anymore. His legs were independent from the rest of him. She looked up at him, and her face went pale again; she was expressionless.

“May I?” he asked, his voice catching slightly.

He was nervous. Jennifer nodded, and Ric sat down opposite her. He couldn’t believe it was actually her, and she couldn’t believe it was actually him. They looked at each other, taking the other in and not saying anything. Ric had grown up a lot since last she saw him. He had a mature handsomeness about him, not the pretty boy ruffian he formerly was.

“So how have you been?” Jennifer managed to croak out awkwardly.

“Good. Life is good. I can’t complain,” Ric replied.

Things had been so natural between them before, was this how it would be from now on? Awkward chance encounters where conversation seemed unnatural?

“Congratulations with the band,” Jennifer said. “I was always your biggest supporter. I was sorry to hear about Bobby’s passing.”

Ric smiled ruefully. “A lot of people weren’t. By the end of it Bobby had turned into this dark and sinister person. He hurt a lot of people and put them through a lot. I’m just sorry that I had waited until two weeks before his death to make my peace with him. I wish that I’d had more time. But you know, hindsight is a wonderful thing.”

“At least you made your peace. I’m sure there are people out there who wished they had tried to help him and take that first step like you did,” she replied.

Jennifer’s husband Myron came back over to the table and looked at Ric suspiciously. “Darling,” Jennifer said standing up. “This is Ric Anderson. He and I used to live next to each other as children and play together. Ric this is my husband Myron Fletcher.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ric said standing up and shaking Myron’s hand.

Play together, Ric thought. More like lovers. Ric wondered if Myron knew this. He felt an odd sense of pride that he’d had Jennifer before this man did. Ric didn’t like Myron at all, and he was certain the feeling was mutual. There was something about Myron. A vibe of distrust. Myron shook Ric’s hand and nodded at him, giving this man the once over.

“I’m going out to the balcony with some of the other guys to have cigars and brandy,” said Myron.

Ric noticed that he spoke to Jennifer like she was an idiot. He was very condescending in his manner of dealing with his wife. He was a man of average height, his fair hair was starting to thin and his russet brown eyes were forever roving and judging people, Ric was certain. He was handsome, sure, but there was an arrogant smugness in his face that made one want to punch him. He just had that manner about him.

“Does he always talk to you like that?” Ric asked as the pair sat back down again after Myron had left to enjoy brandy and cigars on the balcony with the gentlemen’s club.

“Drop it, please Ric,” Jennifer replied.

So she knows what I’m talking about, he thought. “So tell me about your life then?” he asked, quickly changing the subject. “You managed to get out of the cul-de-sac at least.”

“Not long after you and your band made it big, I packed my bags and went off to Boston, to the school of public medicine. I work at St Luke’s now as a public health nurse and midwife,” she explained.

“Congratulations,” Ric smiled. “I always knew you would do great things. What does Myron do?”

“He’s an economist.”

“Impressive. Do you have any children together?” Ric asked.

“We do. We have two children. A son Harvey who’s nearly 15 and a 13 year old daughter, Elaine,” she replied.

Harvey and Elaine, he thought, Myron and Jennifer. He could imagine the four of them. He imagined Harvey to look like Myron and Elaine would be a mini-me version of Jenn. "So why didn’t you stay in Boston? I’m presuming that’s where you met Myron?”

“I did meet Myron at Boston U. His father and my father actually knew each other from when they were students. After we married we moved back to Chicago to be closer to my family. My father was very ill, and I wanted to be closer to him so I could care for him and help as best as I could,” said Jennifer.

“My father did tell me that Mr Bouvier had been ill. I’m so sorry for your loss Jenn.”

“Thank you,” she replied, smiling at him apologetically. “My mother still hasn’t fully recovered, even after all these years. I don’t think she ever will. It’s been hard on her.

“The mother,” Ric said evenly, out of habit.

He couldn’t believe that after all these years, Nancy Bouvier was still as painful as ever. At least from what his father told him. Jennifer refused to meet Ric’s gaze, but he could see a hint of a smile forming on her face. It was a smile reminiscent of the girl she used to be. The girl that Ric used to know. Ric leaned over and grabbed Jennifer’s hands, taking them in his grip. Jennifer looked down at their interlocked hands and then up at Ric.

“Do you remember that first time Jenn?” he asked in a low voice.

“Stop it Ric,” she whispered in return.

“Because I do. I think about it all the time. What was and what should have been between us.”

“What should have been? The past is the past Ric and that’s where it’s going to stay. We had what we had, and that is it. These times are different,” she said. She retracted her hands from his and placed them in her lap where he couldn’t see, protecting them.

“We need to talk Jenn,” he said.

“We are talking.”

“Properly. We need to talk properly. I have a room here, on the third floor. Ask after me at reception. I get it if you don’t want too, but I’d really like it if we spoke. We have a lot to tell each other,” Ric explained. He checked his watch and saw that the twenty minutes had nearly elapsed. He stood up and smiled at Jennifer and returned to the small stage.

For the rest of the night Jennifer was by herself, while her husband was out with the men on the balcony, drinking, smoking cigars and speaking of matters that you couldn’t when women were around. She didn’t know why she was surprised, he did this all the time to her. He would find people or company more exciting than Jennifer and the children and go be with them instead, leaving his family on the side lines. Myron always had that way of making Jennifer feel as if she was unwanted and making her feel as if she didn’t matter. She was lonely in this marriage, and had been for the past few years.

But seeing Ric again had brought back all the memories they had shared together, all the firsts she had done with him, and the firsts they had experienced together. He was right, they needed to speak. They needed to get everything out on the table. There was tension and awkwardness between them, as well as a sort of undefined grief that neither of them had mourned. Indeed Jennifer hadn’t realized it until that point in time. But how would she get away from Myron?

She couldn’t tell him that she was going to spend some time with her former lover in private. She saw the look in Myron’s eyes; he didn’t trust Ric or like him, despite not knowing him. She was going to have to think of a lie to get herself away from the party for half an hour at least. She sighed angrily. She hated lying to her husband. A voice went off her in head, full of self-hate and scorn. You should be used to lying to him. Your whole marriage is a sham, the voice told her.

For the remainder of the night Jennifer tried to justify taking Ric up on his invitation. She tried to justify lying to her husband, telling herself that it could potentially be for the good of their marriage. If she left tonight with Myron and ignored Ric’s invitation, then she would be questioning herself for the rest of her life, providing she never saw him again, or providing it was another twenty years until their next meeting. She would be questioning herself about what could have been answered or what could have been between them, because she realized in that moment that she loved Ric, and she always had. The love had never gone away, she had merely suppressed it.

But if she went to Ric’s room and spent time with him talking, could she trust herself? Nothing but time had changed between them. Could she trust herself to stay faithful to her husband and be a good wife? Of course she could trust herself. She had willpower and integrity. She would just have to keep her distance and not put herself in that position. But how would she get away from Myron and the rest of the wedding party? She would have to think up a story so she could excuse herself. But how? All the stories that she ran through in her head sounded stupid and unfeasible. Myron would never believe half the stories she was making up.

She had to be smart about this, and she had to be sensible. She would go and speak to Ric and then leave straight afterwards, returning to Myron. If Ric tried anything she would put him in his place and tell him no, she was a married woman, they couldn’t just resume where they had left off.

Myron came back inside for the last dance with first his sister and then his wife, and then the wedding party came to a climatic end with fireworks being let off, which everyone enjoyed out on the balcony while the band packed up and left.

“Sweetheart,” Jennifer said, turning to face her husband of sixteen years. “Do you mind if I stay here and help the girls?” she asked.

She hoped that Myron was buying all of this. This lie seemed the safest as she was very close with Myron’s sister Aimee and the cousins who were her bridesmaids, and of course there was always some girly tradition that needed seeing too on the wedding night.

Myron narrowed his eyes in scrutiny of his wife, something about her seemed odd, but he heard himself saying “Okay,” to her.

“You don’t have to wait around, I’ll get a cab back home,” she said.

Again Myron studied his wife, trying to figure her out. Something just didn’t seem right, both about her behavior and the situation. “Okay,” he repeated slowly. Jennifer planted a kiss on Myron’s cheek and told him that she loved him before disappearing from the large events room and heading straight for reception. She asked after Mr.

Jennifer had the opportunity to leave after she had knocked on the door, but she didn’t. She wanted to. But she didn’t. It felt like a lifetime that she was standing there when finally the door opened, and Ric Anderson was standing there. Ric Anderson who used to live next door to her. Ric Anderson who had been her first. Ric Anderson who had taken her on a sexual adventure. Ric Anderson who had been her first love.

“Jennifer,” he said in slight disbelief. He had invited her true, but he hadn’t expected her to show up. He stepped aside and motioned her into his room.

“You played really well tonight. I liked it a lot,” she said.

She felt as if she had to say it. Ric smiled and thanked her, remembering all the times she had said those exact words to him when they were younger. She sat down awkwardly on the edge of the chaise lounge and looked around the room, which was in a colonial style and very nicely and expensively decorated. Myron was from money, and nothing was too small for the Fletcher children. So when golden child Aimee wanted her wedding at one of the most expensive Hotels in Chicago, she got her wish.

“Look, Jennifer,” Ric started. Jennifer went to speak but he silenced her gently. “I need to say this, please? I’ve been carrying this around with me for nearly twenty four years, and I need to get it out otherwise I’ll explode, so please, let me speak, and then you can have your turn.”

“Okay,” Jennifer said in a soft voice.

Ric sighed and paced back and forth, which was what he did when he couldn’t find the words for something. For twenty three years he had had the words but now, he didn’t know where to start. He couldn’t find the words.

He sat down on the edge of the big bed and looked at Jennifer. He tried to fight the urge to lean over and take her hands in his, but he lost that fight. He held her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes, which were just as he remembered--dainty blue, the color of forget-me-nots. After all this time he was still drawn into her gaze; he was still captivated by her beauty.

“If ever I had one regret in life, it was that I let you get away. I didn’t take the opportunity to spend every waking moment with you. I didn’t hold onto you and love you as was due. I let you walk away too easily. I gave in and let your mother get the best of me and send me away. Every day I thought of you and what could have been between us. Believe me when I say this Jenn, but there were many lonely nights where I thought of the short time we had together. Seeing you here now, I can’t believe it. You’re actually here,” he said in a whimsical, far off voice.

“Ric, I don’t know what to say,” Jennifer managed to utter.

Ric got down on his knees, still clasping her hands. He kissed the soft skin and looked up at Jennifer, seeing that she closed her eyes, taking a deep breathe in and then out. “Don’t say anything,” he said in a voice that was very near a whisper. “I never stopped loving you Jennifer.”

Jennifer looked down at Ric, at the eager face that was looking at her in anticipation and at the green eyes with the gold flecks. He had aged, especially around the eyes and the lips. Jennifer supposed being a smoker would do that, but he was still handsome. To her Ric was the best looking man she had ever seen. She noticed a short and pale scar on his cheek, and she wondered when and how he had acquired that.

She looked down at their clasped hands and then at Ric. She let go of his hands and stood up, walking away from him. “Ric,” she said, turning back around and facing him. He was still on the ground, watching her. “Things are different now. We’re not kids anymore. You can’t just click your fingers and I’ll come running.”

“Hey,” said Ric who was standing up now and facing her, but had stayed by the chaise lounge, which was in a shade of deep Burgundian red. “That was never the case. I never clicked my fingers and you came running. We were equals, and you know it. We both wanted it. Look Jenn, times may be different now and circumstances may have changed, but my feelings for you never changed, and I know that somewhere deep down, your feelings for me never changed either.”

“I am a married woman. I have a family, and I do not want to put that in jeopardy,” she said.

“Tell me that you don’t love me. Look me in the eyes Jennifer and tell me that I am wrong and that I am a fool,” he said earnestly. He walked nearer her and grabbed her gently by the shoulders.

“I have a husband, and I love him,” she said, sounding almost defensive, which she hated.

“I never said you didn’t love your husband,” he replied, picking up on Jennifer’s tone. “But I’m asking you to look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t love me.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, starting to become emotional. “After all these years, why?”

“Because I lost my chance once with you, and I don’t want that to happen again. If you can look me in the eye and tell me there is nothing there, I will leave this all in the past. But if you can’t, then I want to take this opportunity with both hands, and when I do, I will never let you go Jenn. Never,” Ric explained.

He looked deeply into Jennifer’s eyes and saw tears forming. She felt weak at the knees suddenly. No one had spoken to her this way in years. She couldn’t remember the last time Myron had fought for her and talked of cherishing or forever. Actually she could, their wedding day.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and put her head in her hands. Ric went and sat down next to her and comforted her. She sobbed for a few minutes, getting rid of twenty something years of pent up emotions and grievances.

“You know,” said Jenn, clearing her throat. “When you first left Chicago after getting signed, I was so heartbroken, but I was also very proud of you, which made it hard to be heartbroken and angry at you for leaving. My mother’s attitude didn’t help either, especially after she found out about us.”

“She found out? How?” he asked.

“She was going through my belongings, reading my journal and being nosy. She found the songs you wrote me, and the letters. Unfortunately for her, and me, the first letter on the pile was the graphic anatomical letter,” Jennifer laughed a little, and so did Ric.

“Oh yeah?” he laughed. “I remember writing that one. It turned me on beyond all belief. Your reaction was priceless when I gave it to you. I’d never seen you blush so much before.”

“Anyway, mom put two and two together and went into shut down mode. I had never seen her so angry. Not even my dad could calm her down and talk sense into her. I thought she was going to have a heart attack she was so worked up. Every week for the month after you left, she made me take a pregnancy test. Every single week, Ric. She even drove to me a clinic outside of town and take a sexual diseases test to make sure I was clean. I was so humiliated and angry. During that time, when mom locked me in the house and treated me like a prisoner, I questioned everything she had ever done with me. I questioned her love for me and her maternal instincts.”

“Oh Jenn I’m so sorry,” Ric mumbled. If only I had been there, he thought, I could have protected her.

“I would never do that to my daughter, and to think of mom doing it to me and remembering how it made me feel, she must have been so angry with me to do that. When I moved away to Boston I was so happy, because I thought it could be a new start. I thought I could break away from them and be my own person and do my own thing. But oh no, mom had dad spy on me, using the children of dad’s old college buddies and Alumni. My relationship with Myron, that was a farce. My dad set that up with Myron’s family, and he ‘took me on’ like I was a project of his.

“My mom had to get one more twist of the knife in by sitting Myron down and making me tell him that I still was a virgin. When I protested, mom told me that it was for public relations and that I didn’t want people thinking I was a whore. She made me feel bad for what was between us. I’ve never forgiven her for making me lie to Myron and for making me try and repudiate what happened between us. She was more concerned with our family’s public appearance to her precious country club and social groups, rather than my feelings.”

“But you got away Jenn. You broke free,” Ric said.

“I did,” she replied.

She turned her head and looked into his eyes and saw that he was sincere; he wasn’t faking any of his feelings or the concern he had for her. She knew it was wrong, and she knew the risk she was taking, but every fiber of her being was yearning for Ric to touch her and kiss her. But that voice in her head, the voice of reason was trying to talk her out of this. Telling her how wrong it was to want another man and that she shouldn’t be doing this. But Jennifer did it anyway. She leaned in and kissed him.

It was a kiss that started out small and tentative at first but then built as the passion grew and the inner fires were stoked so that by the end of it, there were flames between them. Jennifer had the idea in her head that the faster they were and the quicker they did things, that her moral crime wouldn’t be as bad. It would somehow seem smaller and not as significant by the end of it. But Ric had other ideas. He wanted to cherish this moment and make it last as long as possible. He had learned a lot since he was a green youth in the first throes of sexual lust and passion. He had learned patience and delicacy with his touches.

Ric stood up and took Jennifer with him, still kissing her. He slid his hands over her waist and hips and brought her in closer to him, so they were pressed up against each other. She felt the hardness starting to form in his pants rub against her, and she moaned as she kissed Ric, the intensity of the moment building. He moved his hands to her back, holding her against him and slowly unzipping her dress so that it fell away from her body. He picked her up and placed her on the bed, holding up first her left foot and then her right, removing her heels. He then very carefully leaned over and removed her stockings, being very delicate as he did this so as not to cause ladders in the sheer material. He lifted her hips and removed her black lace underwear. The bra matched, but he left this on for now.

Leaning over Jennifer and seeing her presented before him, brought everything back for Ric. He remembered that first time they did it in his bedroom after the gig. He remembered how nervously willing she had been and how she had warmed to him and become a perfect participant by the end. He had thought her a Goddess back then, but now he saw that here was a true Goddess before him. True she was older and married with children, but that didn’t matter to him. He loved her all the same.

He leaned over her, kissing from her mouth down her body. He kissed her neck and chest, planting a kiss on each of the fair mounds encased inside her bra. He lifted her slightly and undid her bra from the back, removing it so that Jennifer was completely naked. Her nipples were two stiff little points; her breathing was rapid. Her face was flushed also, a delightful pink color that indicated her arousal. Ric continued on his journey downwards, pausing very briefly to take each nipple in his mouth and suck, swirling his tongue around each little bud.

Jennifer shivered with delight and anticipation underneath him, running her hands through his hair, which was still dark and thick for a man of forty-five. He released her nipple from his mouth and kissed down her belly until he had reached his destination. He gently raised her legs so he had better access, kissing her inner thighs first, then the surrounding skin, before peeling back her folds and kissing the intimate area that had been revealed to him. He licked up and down, from one end to the other, using the tip of his tongue expertly and becoming turned on by Jennifer’s moans.

Using his tongue, he twirled her clitoris underneath it and then sucked on it, taking it in his warm mouth. This drove Jennifer crazy, and she rolled her hips with pleasure and moaned loudly. Ric then focused his attentions downwards and trailed his tongue to her sensitive center. He licked, kissed, sucked, lapped and probed with his tongue, driving Jennifer closer to the edge. With the pad of his thumb, he rubbed her clitoris; he drove into her depths with his tongue until Jennifer was a moaning, sobbing, shaking mess as an orgasm raked through her.

Ric was relentless with his oral ministrations, driving Jennifer crazy. She closed her eyes and saw lights exploding; her hearing disappeared for a brief moment and then returned; she arched her back and rolled her hips. She felt her heartbeat inside her chest and was certain that she could hear it despite her moaning and how loud she was being. Wave after wave of pleasure sluiced through her. By the end of it, she was shaking with the aftershocks and trying to regain control of her body, which had been lost to Ric and his expert touches.

But he wasn’t done yet. He quickly undressed, throwing his clothes aside. He positioned himself over her, kissing her as he very slowly entered her. He paused when he had his whole length inside her and looked deep into her blue eyes, seeing that Jennifer mirrored his own desire. Very slowly he thrust into her depths, watching her as he did this. Her reactions to him hadn’t changed since the last time they’d had sex, and he was glad. It reminded him of the short time they’d had together twenty four years earlier and how much things had changed. But despite the changes, they had stayed the same, and it was still the same between them.

As Ric slowly moved inside her, he felt a sadness start to creep into his heart, and he knew that Jennifer felt this also. They were so close together, pressed chest to chest and body to body. Knowing that this would likely be the last time ever that he and Jennifer would have this moment made Ric feel a sense of grief, which was why this had to be so special for the both of them. But he realized that it was special, because it was them, and whatever time they had left would be memorable.

He kissed her deeply as he moved his hips on hers, driving himself deeper inside her. He wrapped his arms around her and raised her slightly, holding her to him. Jennifer did the same, and they held each other, moving together, the passion building between them, both of them moaning. Jennifer wrapped her legs around Ric’s hips, forcing him further inside her still. She then managed to move slightly so she could flip them over easier, so that she was on top.

She leaned down and kissed him, rocking her hips back and forth on top of his. Ric held her hips and thrust back to meet her. Their foreheads were touching, their noses mere inches apart, both of them had broken out in a sweat with the exertion. Ric thrust up into her and felt that familiar warmth wash over him. He wanted this to last forever, but knew that it wouldn’t. But what mattered was the moment they were now having, and how special it was. Jennifer put her head in the space between Ric’s head and the pillow, and Ric smelled her shampoo, which was just as he remembered---wildflowers.

He held her hips, slammed himself into her for another minute or so, trying his best to hold back but knowing that he couldn’t. He finished inside her with a loud triumphant howl. Jennifer gently moved her hips off him and collapsed next to him, panting, trying to regain her breath. They were both silent for a while, coming to terms with what had just happened.

“Do you remember the promise you made to me that first time we slept together?” Jennifer asked in a small voice.

Ric tried to think back, but his memory failed him this time. “No, what?” he said.

“You promised me that after the first time, it would get better.”

“Did I make good on my promise?” he asked, smiling.

“Yes,” answered Jennifer. “Sweetheart yes you did.” Jennifer fell asleep shortly after that, and Ric let her. It had been an emotional night for her. After an hour he gently woke her up.

“I’m sorry darling, but this is nearly over for us,” he whispered.

He felt a lump in his throat and his voice catch as he spoke. He watched silently from the bed as Jennifer dressed again, trying to make herself look presentable once more to the world. When she was finished she hesitated. Ric stood up, pulling a sheet from the bed with him and wrapping it around his waist.

He went up to her and kissed her deeply and lovingly. When he broke away from the kiss he saw that Jennifer was starting to cry. “I know we can’t be together anymore after this,” Ric said, feeling a sob rise in his throat. “But I will try to do my best by you and support you in whatever path you choose.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“I don’t want to let you go again. I love you Jennifer.” They kissed, a passionate and steamy kiss, both of them savoring the moment. Ric walked with her to the door, opening it for her. They held hands as she crossed the threshold. “I love you,” he repeated.

“I love you,” Jennifer said.

They kissed one last emotional time, before Jennifer broke the kiss off. She wiped the tears from her eyes and left Ric standing in the doorway. She walked down the corridor to the elevator. Back to her family. Back to her husband, and back to reality. She savored that last kiss on her memory. It was what she wanted to remember this night by.