CHAPTER 19:

“I found out today that he’s dating Denise’s sister,” said Rodney. “Denise told me. Cross your fingers.”

“Really! Thank God,” said Claire. “Oh and consider them crossed!”

“Yes, for damn sure,” he said.

“Serious?” she said.

“Who knows? Probably too soon. But, Denise says that they went out four days in a row last week, so ...” he said, leaving his words hanging in the air.

“Oh man, maybe we caught a lucky break. She is pretty, very pretty. And, they do have you know what in common,” she said.

“Yeah, they’re both heroes who lost body parts becoming one,” he said.

“Yes, and our hero got his legs cut off saving us. Kind of gives us bragging rights don’t yuh think!” she said.

“I guess. But all I can think of is how bad it would be if she eventually shines him on. I mean like Nadine did. It’s looking good right now, but as nervous as he doubtless is, I’m even more nervous!” said Rodney.

“Yes, I see what you mean,” she said. “I just crossed my toes too.”

“Good idea, I’ll join you,” he said, and he wasn’t smiling.

“On another score, Rebecca asked me about him yesterday,” she said. “I think she misses him at least on some level. He doesn’t call or ask to visit or email her or anything. He answers her calls when she makes them and that has happened twice since the barbecue last month. But he makes no such moves on his own. I think she is beginning to realize just how hurt he was that time he heard her talking to Jill.”

“I don’t know. He’s her daddy. He knows teenagers say and do dumb things. I can’t believe he’s holding on to those kinds of bad feelings this long,” he said.

She shook her head. “Maybe not, but I’m mildly concerned that he might be. His feelings are still delicate, so raw even after all this time. I mean you know,” she said.

“You mean since the divorce,” he said.

“Yes, since the divorce. Him losing his legs to save us just kind of compounded everything. But now, with this Ann woman, maybe . . .”

“Yes, well that is the hope,” he said.

******

Date number nine was at the Crossroads. I’d set up camp at the Randall Arms, my old stomping grounds. I’d made the move back to the Valley because and only because of my new relationship with Ann.

Until this night, the only ones who knew about my new old address were the Traynors; they’d seen me at church and we’d talked. They were more than supportive of my relationship with my new woman.

At any rate the two of us awaited my buds, Sammy and Henry. I was feeling good. Nothing like a woman to make a guy’s day. I hadn’t even thought about Claire in any meaningful way in days; that had to be a positive for sure.

“Here they are,” I said, as Sam and Henry sidled up to us. “Have a seat guys.” They sat, and I slid an inch or two closer to Ann.

“Sam, Henry, this is Ann Rogers the prettiest girl in the place,” I said. The two men hey-hey’d me for the next couple of minutes.

Our conversation and drinking and laughing and nonsense went on for an hour plus.

“Anyway, you two met at the Pollard’s place?” said Sammy. “That is one heckuva coincidence for sure.”

“Yes it was,” I said. “I mean go figure.” He gave me a look that I could not figure out.

“Sam?” I said.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just a helluva a coincidence, like I said.” I nodded. But, now I was thinking and my thoughts weren’t good thoughts. I put them out of my head for the time being.

The four of us partied for some time. Colleen joined us near the end, around 11:00 P.M.: she’d had shift duty at the hospital or she would have been with us earlier.

The night ended and the van delivered us to her place first. We were in the back seat. As the vehicle came to a stop, I got the sweetest kiss I’d ever gotten or so it seemed to me.

“That was something,” I said. I leaned into her, and I gave her one back. It had a lot of passion in it too a lot of stored up passion.

“And so was that,” she said. I smiled a smile I hadn’t smiled in forever.

Back at my place, I mulled over what Sammy had sort of suggested while we were at the Crossroads. Could Ann have been a set up by Claire or more likely Rodney to get me a woman? And what if one or the other of them had set me up? It was a hell of a coincidence, but Ann had said, or at least implied, that Rodney did not know of her injuries prior to meeting her for the first time at the barbecue. And, how should I react if it had been a set up? I had no intention of breaking off whatever it was that I had with Ann. Oh no, I’d actually come to the realization that I needed her.

But what might be real bad: what if Ann had been influenced in doing this, being with me, to get me to feel human again but had every intention of dumping me down the line. I couldn’t believe that the two cheaters would stoop that low, but then again, they’d stooped way lower than that more than once. Oh yeah, they were capable of a stunt like that. But, with all that had happened in recent years the true fact was that I doubted that they would go that far this late in the game. I did, however, think it more than plausible that one or the other or both of them might have set it up for me to meet with her that was a very large possibility. I’d be finding out as soon as I could.

******

“I took a flyer yesterday and stopped by the Salvation Army office,” said Claire.

“Oh,” he said.

“Yes, I asked if they’d heard from Jim in the last few weeks. I mean, apart from hearing that Jim and the new girl, Ann, were dating we haven’t heard anything from or about him per se,” she said.

“Okay?” he said.

“He’s moved back into town for sure. I know you thought that he might because it would be closer for him to be with his new woman if that’s what she is,” she said. “And, well, he has.”

The man smiled. “I’ve avoided calling him knowing how little he wants to be around us, but I will now. Maybe we can even go out with them or something. You know kind of support him, them.”

“Yes,” she said, “that’s a good idea.”

******

“I like your place,” I said. “I see you’ve made some effort to make it more easily accessible to folks like us.”

“Well yeah,” said Ann, “kind of a logical thing to do dontcha think.”

“Yeah for sure. I’ve done it too, but not as much as you. I mean I’m renting at the Randall Arms. Not allowed to do all that much there, the rules you know,” I said. I’d toured the three bedroom ranch style and now we were seated together on the couch in the front room. There was a large screen TV across from them but it wasn’t on. Television was not the order of the day, evening.

I had my afghan across my lap. Yeah, I was still self-conscious about my missing legs. Well, my stumps didn’t look good and that was the long and the short of it, no pun intended.

She’d dimmed the lights, had one of those dimmer switches that some people have in their homes. If I ever got my own place I made a mental note to have one of those installed too.

I was nervous and she must’ve realized it: she took the lead. By lead, I mean she leaned in and kissed me.

“Wow! Man-oh-man!” I said, really more like whispered.

“Been a little while since I’ve kissed a man in a darkened room, actually a long while,” she said.

“Trust me as far as that’s concerned, I figure I’ve got the bragging rights,” I said. “I’m quite sure it’s been a lot longer for me since I’ve tasted a woman’s lips. Oh, and if you had any doubts about it, yours are flat wonderful!” She smirked.

“Well, thank you for that,” she said. “Dare I ask, how long has it been for you?”

“About eight years,” I said. And, until tonight I had no hope of ever getting another romantic kiss again. My legs . . .”

“Hmm, yes they are a draw back. I do know something about that. It’s been almost a year since my husband dumped me,” she said. I nodded.

“Do you miss the guy, what’s his name?” I said. She gave me a curious look.

“Hmm, his name is Carl, Carl Rogers. And no, not since I realized what a bum he was. When a man treats his woman the way he treated me, well, he loses a lot of his allure if you know what I mean,” she said. I nodded.

“I know exactly what you mean. But for me the hurt has never really faded. Too many elements to the betrayals to forgive and forget,” I said.

“I understand,” she says. “In my case I just made the decision to never speak to the asshole again and get on with my life.”

“I’ve tried to do that, but the bunch of them keep bringing me back to heel. And, there is the fact of my daughter, as you’ve pointed out,” I said.

“Yes, your situation is different for sure,” she said.

“Yes, yes it is,” I said.

“Anyway, maybe we should get down to business, whaddya think?” she said. I smiled what I was sure was a truly a winsome smile at her words.

“I think you’ve got a seriously good idea there,” I said. “Oh yeah!”

I leaned in once again and kissed her. It was such an animalistic thing to do. And, I felt like an animal, a tiger in search of a tigress, and she was it!

She was wearing a long sleeved lavender dress that fell below her knee. My hand was resting on that knee and she didn’t object. It, my hand, began to slowly inch its way up her thigh. I was almost fainting from the intoxication of the smell of her. She tasted like juicy-fruit when I kissed her and smelled like jasmine in spring time when I nuzzled her neck.

The two of us were sure as heck missing a lot of flesh and bone, but at that moment it didn’t make a darn bit of difference. My hand paused not two inches from her pussy and massaged, gently massaged, the flesh near it. She was actually panting and dribbling spit from the side of her mouth which I mopped up with my tongue. Our faces smelled acidic from all of our kissing and sucking and licking.

I pressed my luck, I pushed her panties to the side and cupped her labia, and the feeling I got was so personal so wonderful so almost a new thing that I could have died at that moment and had no regrets. But, I didn’t die and I pushed a finger as deep as I could inside of her. She shivered a little but her eyes were closed and her arm dangled motionless at her right side. I pulled my finger out and sucked her woman juice from it.

Her eyes opened and she leaned in and kissed me. Her hand wandered down to the front of my pants and squeezed my steel hard manhood.

“I see your little man is ready for me,” she whispered.

“Oh my yes,” I said. She unbuckled my pants and pulled my zipper down. The one thing I didn’t want was to take my abbreviated pants completely off. I wanted her to pull them down but not off. She seemed to get it and did exactly as I hoped she would: down but only almost off. She played with my sex for a few moments and then leaning down she took me in her mouth. My God the woman was a true expert at driving a man totally over the top!

I couldn’t hold back, but a few minutes of her sucking my cock and squeezing my balls and I came, and I mean I really came! I collapsed backwards into a semi-coma on the couch.

“You’re not even done, buster,” she said. I knew what she meant and I pulled myself together and, rolling over on my belly on the couch, I pulled her panties completely off and went at her pussy with my mouth in a display of desperation that could not have had all that many equals, oh no, and that for a flat fact. She laid herself back on the seven foot couch and spread for me. I wriggled my way up her body and pressed home my cock as best I could. She was tight but she was also slick from my sucking on her treasure. I soon found out that I could indeed fuck a woman no legs or not. I was pounding into her as I never had Claire even in our salad days, well, what I thought had been our salad days.

I discovered several things during the next two hours. One, I could fuck my woman, and that’s how I was seeing her at that moment. Two, Missionary was pretty much it for me. We could do cowgirl and we did, but doggy was too much of a challenge for me at my present skill level.

We lay semi-comatose after what for me, and I think for her as well, was pretty much a sexual marathon.

“Okay for you?” she said.

“Is that a serious question?” I said.

“It was good for me too and necessary actually,” she said.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Necessary is the term I would use.”

******

After my resurrection from the depths of angst and despair, I had an overwhelming desire to share my good feelings. I called my buds. We’d be meeting at the Crossroads again, where else.

I was sipping on two fingers of Gentleman Jack waiting for my buds o arrive. I’d gotten to like that particular splash of amber the best.

I was near the bottom of my first round when I saw them enter. They saw me; they joined me.

“Well, you sounded happy,” said Sammy, coming up to me.

“Yeah, positively ebullient,” said Henry, sidling up a nano second after Sam.

“I’m sure I did,” I said. “I made it official; I have a girlfriend.”

“Well congrats and all of that,” said Henry.

“Yeah,” said Sammy. “So tell.”

“It’s one of those things where a guy’s got a lot to tell but can’t because the details are kinda like, delicate, if you know what I mean,” I said. The two friends looked at each other.

“Okay, but it’s time to be indelicate,” said Sammy.

“Well, if you insist,” I said. “Ann and I are a couple as I just told you. Last night we got it on and it was good, I mean really really good!”

“Okay, now’s the part where you tell us to forget getting any of the details,” said Henry.

“Like I was about to say boys, forget about getting any of the details,” I said, smirking.

“Hmm, well what else. I mean are you going to move in together? Thinking maybe of doing the big thing? What?” said Sammy.

“Haven’t gotten that far into any planning but it is a very large possibility if it’s left up to me,” I said. “As for us moving in together any time soon that hasn’t come up yet either.”

“Yeah, well don’t forget to send us an invitation if you do do the big thing,” said Sammy.

“Yeah, like I’d forget to do that,” I said. The laughter was good: it gave me a good feeling.

******

For the second time in recent times his secretary announced an unscheduled visitor, and it was the same as the last unscheduled visitor.

“Yes, yes, send him in,” said Rodney Pollard.

The man rose from behind his desk to greet his visitor. “Sammy, good to see you; what brings you to my throne room today?” said Rodney.

“Good to see you too,” said Sam.

“So, friend, really, what’ve you got?” said Rodney.

“I know you know that Jim and Ann are dating, right?” said Sammy.

“Yes, I’ve heard that, her sister is my secretary,” said Rod.

“Oh, really?” said Sam.

“Yes.”

“Well, the night before last they made love and Henry and I visited with him at the Crossroads last night. He’s ecstatic! He’s hoping to maybe take their relationship to the next level,” said Sam.

“The next level?” said Rod.

“Yes, the married level,” said Sam. His host gave him a look the major element of which was disbelief!

“Really,” said Rod.

“Yes, and well, I know you and Claire have an interest in seeing him be happy, so I thought you might want to know,” said Sam.

“Sam you are absolutely right, and thank you for the heads up. I’ll be talking to Claire about this tonight,” he said. “I introduced him so I have bragging rights. But, oh man, I didn’t dare hope for news this ‘maybe’ good!”

“Yes well, I completely agree; this man needs a woman; hell, all of us guys do, but him especially,” said Sammy.

******

“Yes, that’s what he said,” said Rodney. “Our guy may finally have someone to hold onto and a path out of his misery.”

“Oh my,” said Claire, “if only it does truly work out. It won’t exonerate you and me; but at least we won’t have to spend half of our waking hours feeling guilty about destroying him.”

“It sure was a piece of good luck Denise asking to bring her sister to our impromptu barbecue,” she said.

“Uh—yes it was,” he said. She gave him a look.

“Rodney?” she said.

“What?” he said.

“Rodney is there something you’re not telling me?” she said, suspicion fairly dripping in her tone of voice.

“What do you mean?” he said.

“Rodney, did you set our man up? I mean did you set him up with Ann Rogers?” she said. He looked away.

“You did didn’t you? Damn it, Rod, you were supposed to keep me in the loop about any of that kind of thing. I did you!” she said.

“Claire, we’ve tried so hard on so many levels. I just didn’t want you to be part of another failed idea. If it worked out good, if not, well then not,” he said.

“Well, how do you like them apples,” she said, more to herself than to him.

“Well it’s working out, maybe,” he said. “It does look good according to Sammy.”

“And thank God for that good man. If he ever needs any help or if there is anything we can ever do for him and Colleen, we gotta do it.

“Question, does Denise know you set her sister up?” she said.

“No, she just considers it a lucky break. I don’t think Ann is keeping her up to date either. At least she’s not said anything to me about knowing anything other than they’re dating, not about you know what,” he said. “And yes as to helping out Sammy and Colleen if the opportunity presents itself.”

“Hmm, well they don’t live together. I talked to Denise and Ann both at the barbecue. They’re close but not around each other all that much was the way I got it,” said Claire. “So maybe it’s not all that much of a mystery that Denise isn’t in the know about everything.”

“Yes, I figure that that’s about the size of it,” he said.

“So do we want to get more involved than we obviously are at this point?” she said.

“No, I don’t think so. And, I should add, that Ann doesn’t know about my minimal involvement either. And bear in mind my involvement has been purely passive. I didn’t exactly set them up. Not overtly. All I really did was get them together in the same place at the same time to see what might happen. I didn’t even think about them getting to where they might actually be at the moment; that’s just frosting on the cake as the saying goes,” he said. “I was just hoping he’d find in her a woman he could talk to and maybe be able to empathize with each other’s situations.” She nodded.

“Okay, so we don’t do anything except stay the heck out of the way for now, right?” she said.

“Yes, exactly,” he said.

******

“Father has a girlfriend!” said Rebecca.

“Yes, and we are all, all of us Pollards, staying the heck out of it. If your father brings her into the conversation, then fine; then we’re in. If not then not,” said Claire. Her daughter snorted.

“It’s not like we get a lot of opportunities to talk to him,” said Rebecca. “I know some of that is my fault, but I never, never meant to cause him pain, honest.”

“I know, dear, none of us want to cause him pain. But people, including us, are often careless and thoughtless and cause hurt especially to the ones who are most vulnerable and that’s just the way life is, the way people are,” said Claire.

“Mom, can I ask, how did you find out that Missus Rogers was his girlfriend,” said Rebecca.

“One of his friends actually came to us and told us. But let me be clear, we really don’t know for sure if they are boyfriend-girlfriend just that at the moment it looks like it,” said Claire. Her daughter nodded.

“Are we going to be seeing him or them soon, mom?” she said.

“Not sure, maybe. Your dad is working on it. So maybe, but just how soon is the question,” said Claire.

“Okay, mom, thanks for telling me the news. I sure hope that it’s true. Even as young as I am I know that all of us need a significant other. You’ve got dad. Oh, and I’ve got a boyfriend,” said Rebecca kind of softly.

“Pardon me!” said Claire. “And just who is this young man you’re talking about in that tone of voice?”

“His name is Gerald, Gerald McCready,” said Rebecca. “He’s my age. We have classes together at school. He’s a gentleman, mom. Gerald’s a good guy. You’ve met him, a long time ago.” She was pleading now. Knowing how protective her parents were it seemed her best hope of gaining their approval.

“Your father is going to want to meet him, and for that matter so am I,” said Claire. “You say I’ve met him before, but I don’t remember him so ...”

“Mom!” whined her daughter.

“What, you don’t want us to meet this fine young man of yours,” said Claire.

“No, I mean of course I do. But do you have to be so negative?” said Rebecca.

“I’m not being negative. I’m just withholding judgement until I meet the young man—again. Is that so hard for you to understand?” said her mother.

“No, I guess not,” said Rebecca. “Uh—mom?”

“What Rebecca?” said Claire.

******

My buds and I had had a pretty good night of celebrating. Well, it was celebrating for me. Annie Rogers was going to be my girl if I had to kidnap her and carry her off into the jungle, and yes with no legs to do so does make that more of a figure of speech than an actual threat, but it’s the way I felt.

There had to be a god. No other possibility exists that could explain my good luck at finding a woman so pretty and willing to be with me. Even if it didn’t last, our relationship, at the least it gave me some hope that I wasn’t a complete loser when it came to women.

And now I had another date with my personal Venus.

CHAPTER 20:

The Crossroads had indeed become our place of choice in doing the casual thing as opposed to the formal thing. We still did the fancy dinner at the fancy bistro. We still liked those kinds of things too. But most of the time when we met, or got together with friends, we met at the C. The company was good, the bartenders professional, and the mood of the place suited us. We were here again.

Having been deposited by the cab, van, we had our usual table near the back and far enough from the disco guy to hear ourselves talk.

“Glad you were free tonight,” I said, unnecessarily.

“Me too, but the reality is that I am free almost any time,” she said. “I mean apart from you I don’t have a lot of people calling to ask me out or to join the group as one might be inclined to say.”

“Yeah, well, me either,” I said. “I just feel lucky as hell that we met. That we did it at my ex-best friend’s place is some kind of coincidence. You said that night that your sister had told you he was interviewing you for a job or words to that effect. You heard anything about that yet?”

“No, not yet. Denise told me that he is working on it. She said I could have an office job right off, but that the one open at his place was kind of low on the pay and benefit scale, so he was looking to get me a better deal.”

“It’s been almost two months. Your sister give you any time line on that?” I said.

“Hmm, yes, maybe. There’s a company that needs a clerk and that he’s kind of in tight with that might hire me. It’ll be $30K annual if I get it plus the usual benefits. That plus my military disability will take care of me pretty good,” she said.

“Good, sounds good,” I said. “Wish I could do as well. I’m getting by on maybe twenty grand at the moment. But, I’m looking for something I can do as well, you know like you.”

“For sure,” she said.

“You know, I know you said that the reason for having you and your sister come to their house that day was to kind of feel you out about a job, but still, it seems almost too coincidental you and I meeting up like that.

“Oh and don’t misunderstand me. I’m grateful as hell to my lucky stars that it worked out, but knowing my ex-best friend like I do, I still wonder if he might not have had a dual purpose in mind. Know what I mean?” I said.

“I guess I do. But, I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth either,” she said.

“You see meeting me as a gift then?” I said.

“I do, Jim, I do,” she said.

“Ann, I’m gonna go out on a limb here. If I’m out of line, just slap the hell outta me. Okay?” I said.

“Okay,” she said, suspicion written all over her face.

“Ann, I’ve fallen for you,” I said. I was shaking in my boots, well, figuratively speaking.

She stared at me. “Jim . . .” she started and stopped. I had a bad feeling.

“Never mind. I can see . . .” I started.

“No! I have the same kinds of feelings for you. But . . .” she said.

“Okay, but ‘but’?” I said.

“Are you sure, Jim? I know or think I know that you still have feelings for you ex. I am not gonna be good as a fill in woman for you. The man that gets me, even if any man ever even could want me the way that I am, well, he has to be all in on me. I’m not going to go through again what I went through with the last so called love of my life,” she said.

I sighed, and it was a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” I said, finally. “Ann, the truth is that since you came into my life whether a set up by my old ex-best friend or not, I have completely lost any interest in my ex-wife. I have rarely even thought of her these last couple of months.

“Oh, I’m still mightily pissed at the bullshit the two of them pulled on me. I’m still real unhappy with all of the put downs and attempts to buy me off with money. And they tried, offered me a lot of money or the means to earn it; but all of that notwithstanding, I’m over them. Ann, I want you, and I want you real bad! If you can get by ‘my’ disability, I swear to you, I’m your guy and I mean forever!”

She came to me and planted her lips on my lips and she tasted oh so sweet. “Okay then,” she said. “So what’s our next move? Oh, and one of these days, I am gonna slap the hell outta you just to make sure you know your place.” She started to laugh no doubt at the mental image of me taking my punishment at her hands.

“I’m so glad you asked that, dear heart, I mean about what comes next. Our next move is to move, to move in together,” I said. “It would make it so much easier and cheaper than to keep doing as we have been. And, then we start planning the wedding. Oh wait I almost blew it, almost earned my punishment. Ann, will you marry me. Oh, and consider me on my knees begging you to.” She snickered.

“Yes, darling man, yes indeed,” I said. “Oh, and now you can get up off your knees.” We both laughed, uproariously laughed.

The night of sex and cuddling and being together was the best of my life I was certain of it.

******

We did move in together, to her place. She had recently gotten her own place where we’d already spent some time together. That had happened soon after our initial meet up. Her parents had funded her down payment and costs. And it was a house: it was smallish but warm and well adapted for folks like us; she’d seen to that. We did okay financially too as a result of the move. My twenty and her thirty from the military disability thing combined were enough. And, if she got the job she was hoping for, and if somewhere down the line I found me a job to complement hers; well, we’d be doing right fine for sure. No competition for my ex-best friend of course, but pretty damn good all things considered.

There was one thing that kept bugging me. I really wanted a van like the one Rodney had custom built: the one with the elevators. Man that would be the cat’s meow. But, $200K was way out of my price range and likely always would be.

But, all of that stuff aside, I had some thinking to do. The notion that he had set me up on the one hand really burned my butt. But, on the other hand, his ploy had worked. I had what looked like a way to be happy once again. Did that mean that I was now in debt to him! Not on your life. But, it did lessen my visceral, if more or less dormant, hatred of what two of them had done to me.

Ann had been at pains to convince me that it was time to move on. Had he done something good or useful for me, for us, as she maintained? The short answer was yes. Did it make up for all of the bad stuff? The short answer was no. Did it buy him, and for that matter Claire, some level of tolerance or bode well for some kind of relationship with the two of them? The short answer was yes, but I’d have to be gritting my teeth when granting such a hitherto unlikely level of tolerance.

And then there was Rebecca. She’d grown up to be a truly startlingly beautiful woman, and yes I was proud of her, and of my fatherhood. Did she give a rat’s ass about my being proud of her? Doubtful. But, as my Ann was telling me, I would be letting things play out without making too many waves just for the sake of making them. I would be going with the flow and not sweating anything all that much; well, I was under orders.

All of the foregoing said and set in stone I did have one card to play and I intended to play it before even telling Ann that I was going to: I would be going to talk to Claire. I really needed to know whether or not I’d been set up, or Ann had, and then I would actually make up my mind just how much I’d be willing to interact with the pair of them.

******

I pushed the button on the ground floor intercom. I was hoping she was home and willing to see me. Oh, I knew she’d see me if she were home, but ‘willingly see me’ might be a participial phrase that didn’t actually quite fit the moment. Well, we’d see.

“Yes,” came the tinny response from the intercom.

“Yes, Claire, it’s me. Any chance you’d have time for a little talk?” I said.

“Jimmy? What? I mean of course,” she said. I could almost see her frown ten floors up.

“Good, I’ll be right up,” I said.

“Okay, I’ll buzz you in,” she said.

I skittered over to the elevator. She’d hit the buzzer and it opened just as I got to it. It opened, I skittered inside.

The ride up seemed kinda slow, but I did get there. The doors opened and she was there waiting for me.

“Jimmy, good to see you she said. Rod’s at work of course, but I’m sure you knew that. And it really is good to see you though a bit of a surprise. But come in, come in,” she said, as she led the way across the short hall to the open door of the penthouse.

“Yes, well thank you for seeing me,” I said.

“Darn it, Jim, you know damn well that this door is always open to you, always. Okay?” she said.

“Yeah okay, I guess,” I said. Then I saw her, Jenna Courtland. I hadn’t seen her in forever, but I did know her. She was Claire’s best friend from her school days: kind of the counterpoint to my relationship, my past relationship, with Rodney Pollard. I remembered Jenna being a nice person.

I know my face must’ve shown my embarrassment. “Oh, Claire, I’m sorry. I didn’t know, didn’t think. I should’ve called,” I said. I really was sorry. And, I hadn’t thought or considered or anything. I’d just come by.

“Jenna, nice to see you. You look good,” I said. I was on my skitterboard and it was clear to me that Jenna was feeling a little uncomfortable. Well, I had that effect on people.

“Uh, yes, and it’s nice to see you again, James; it’s been kind of forever,” she said.

“Yes, well that’s so I guess,” I said.

“Claire, I’ll be going. I’m sure James must have important things to discuss,” she said.

“No, no,” I said. “It’s my bad. I can come back later. Really it’s no bother.”

“Jim, of course it would be a bother for you. And is Jenna right? Do you have things we need to discuss,” said Claire.

“Nothing that can’t wait till later,” I said. I turned to go, but the woman blocked me. “Stay right here, Jimmy. I’ll be back in a second. She didn’t wait for a response from me. She just walked her friend out and to the elevator across the hall. They were talking but I didn’t hear any of it.”

******

“Well, I can see you were surprised,” said Jenna, as they stood talking in front of the elevator. “Does he just show up like that often?”

“No, it’s the first time actually. I think you were right. He must have something fairly important to say for him to just drop in like that,” said Claire, “and yes, I need to hear him out. Anyway, we’ll talk.”

“Sure bet,” said Jenna. “Anyway, you better get back in there, or he’ll be thinking we’re conspiring or something given everything you’ve told me,” she said. Claire keyed the elevator’s code and Jenna Courtland was gone. She rejoined her ex-husband.

She was back in less than a two minutes. I felt embarrassed and a little bit set back in my goal of getting some answers. But, I did want those answers and I wanted them now. Ann and I needed to know what was what. Well, I considered that we did.

“So,” she said. “Can I get you something to drink, anything?” said Claire.

“Uh, maybe a cup of coffee if you have any made. I don’t want to be a bother. And, I really am sorry about interrupting you and Jenna like that. I should’ve called first. If I ever need to come by again I do promise to call first. I know you all have lives and well, I don’t want to be a bother.”

“Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy you need to get it in your head that you coming by is never going to be a bother. I am very happy to see you today, surprised, yes, and I would appreciate a call beforehand of course, anybody would, but it is a very small thing any way you cut it. I mean you coming by on the spur of the moment,” she said. “So, anyway . . .?”

“The coffee?” I said.

“Oh yes. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Let’s restart this little meet up,” she said. She turned and headed into the kitchen. She was gone no more than a minute.

“Okay,” she said, returning and setting the two cups of black coffee on the coffee table in front of the couch. I was still on my skitterboard.

“Yes, well, I did have a reason for coming by,” I said. “I’m sure you know that Ann and I are getting on fairly well, good actually. But, I have some questions relating to that happy circumstance if you don’t mind.”

“Uh-mind? Of course not. I mean if I can help in some way. Anyway at all, just ask away,” she said.

“Okay, good,” I said. “Claire I need to know. I mean I really need to know the truth. Was my meeting Ann a set up by you or by Rodney? And if it was Rodney, which I see as more likely since her sister works for him, did you know about it, the set up ahead of time. I mean you must’ve if it was a set up.” She sagged back in the seat she’d assumed on the couch. I was sitting on my skitterboard a few feet from her. I would have joined her on the couch, but I hadn’t been invited to do so.

She stared at me almost accusing me, or so I thought. “Jim, the short answer is no. I was not privy to any matchmaking effort by my husband, nor had I entertained any such in the case of Ann Rogers. But . . .” she said.

“Claire?” I said.

“But, I did find out later that my husband had indeed come to the conclusion, without any input from me, that bringing the two of you together might be a useful thing for all concerned. I became suspicious of things a few days ago, as a matter of fact, and asked him outright if he had done so. He told me that he had, sort of,” said Claire.

“Sort of?” I said.

“Yes well, Denise had mentioned to him that her sister was in a blue funk not being able to find a job, and I guess Rod decided to help her out by interviewing her, Ann. Then, her sister, Denise, informed him about Ann’s injuries and I guess at that point Rod decided to try and go for a two horse parley.

“Jim, don’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth. If the meet up is working out for you then good, if not; well, then at the least Rod’s heart was in the right place. Can you accept that?” she said. I was nodding.

“That I don’t like being set up is a given, but this once I am inclined to not take this latest example of interference into my private life to heart. But, he and I will be talking. I do not want you two to by any means to begin to think that what you’re doing is okay by me because it isn’t. I need to do for myself.

“But, as I said earlier, Ann and I are getting along so no harm done I guess. Just no more, Claire, no more. Okay?’ I said. She nodded.

“Okay, Jim, okay. I promise and I will pass along what you’ve said today to my husband,” she said. “But, Jimmy, I do want to say that things would be a whole lot easier on everybody if you would think about softening your thinking about things and relationships and all of it. Rod and I adore you and owe you big time. We’d like to do right by you and make amends to a least some small degree if you would only allow.”

“Yeah, well please just let me be my own man and we’ll get along. Please,” I said.

******

“So they did set us up to meet,” said Ann.

“No, not they, just Rod. According to Claire he did it without her knowledge and input,” I said.

“And you believe her?’ said Ann.

“Yes, she wasn’t lying. Not this time. Claire is more than capable of bad behavior but lying is not in that mix. She’s always been honest no matter how hurtful it is to anyone concerned including herself,” I said. The woman across from me nodded.

“Okay, so that’s it then,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he said. “Well, almost at any rate. I told her that I was going to let this last invasion of privacy slide, but that I didn’t want there to be any more of it. She said she understood and would honor my wishes from now on. I know she’ll relay the message to the rich guy. That said, at some point, and soon, I will be talking to him too in order to reinforce what I told her. But, not tonight.”

“Okay, and tonight?” I said.

“Well tonight I, we, have other fish to fry. I mean if you’d be into it,” I said. Her smile was a mile wide.

“I think I could be tempted,” she said.

“How about right here?” I said.

We were in the front room. The area rug was thick and the throw pillows on the couch would do for the necessary props for our games.

“Why I think right here would be fine,” she said. She went to the wall near the front door jamb and dimmed the lights. I sure did like that dimmer switch. Yes, it was a very useful little device.

Coming back to me, she lowered herself to the carpet and lay down on her back. She rolled onto her side and looked over at me. “Well?” she said.

I rolled off my skitterboard and lay next to her. I reached for her and pulled her close. I needed to kiss her, to kiss her a lot. I liked kissing especially kissing her. We kissed and felt each other up for some minutes, long minutes. Man, she tasted good. And her breasts! What a woman!

I lifted her dress and made to pull her panties down and off of her. She raised a little making it easy for me.

She shuddered as I moved down her body and lapped at her pussy. The smell of her was absolutely intoxicating; the taste of her was oh so female. At that moment, strangely, I couldn’t help comparing her to my ex-wife. Ann did not suffer by comparison.

Maybe it was wrong thinking on my part, but I was wishing—vainly I knew—that I would never have to hear or see either of the cheaters again, I didn’t need them, not anymore, really not ever, not since the divorce at any rate.

I crawled up her body and lay on top of her controlling the roll of my body mainly with my arms and especially my elbows. I entered her easily. I began screwing her slowly, very deliberately. I wanted it to last. We’d had sex a number of times since we’d begun dating, but somehow this was a different night and day different feeling. I couldn’t explain it but it was a watershed for me. Yes it was.

Soon I was humping her like the horny sonovabitch that I was. Oh yeah! God I needed this woman; I needed her bad. The good news? She needed me too. Wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be between a man and a woman? Yes it was. It certainly was.

I stiffened and unloaded a sea of cum inside of her. She looked shocked. “Oh my!” she screamed. “I’m cumming! I’m cumming! Oh my Godddddd!”

I rolled off to her right. I was gasping. And so was she.

“I came,” she said. “It has been so long” I frowned at her words.

We’d made it no less than a dozen times since we’d been doing it. And apparently this was the first time I’d gotten her off.

“Ann?” I said. She looked over at me. She knew what I was thinking, she instinctively knew.

“Don’t worry about it, stud. It’s hard for a man to get a woman off with his dick and you just got done doing it. You’ll get better at it. I’m gonna make sure of that,” she said.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m yours to command.”

“I know,” she said.

******

Ann did not have a car, but she was saving up to get one. That was going to be a boon for the both of us. I think more me than her even, but that particular point might have been arguable. At any rate we didn’t have the vehicle yet, so once again the cab-van delivered me to his workplace the Ralston Building, downtown. I was on a mission.

“Yes, I’m here to see Mister Pollard,” I said. Having gotten by the security guy at the building’s entrance, I rode the elevator to the ninth floor. The receptionist smiled and told me to go right in. I looked her askance. He didn’t know I was coming, and she made no move to announce my presence.

“Really?” I said.

“Mister Pollard said you were to be considered family and to be waved in anytime you came by without exception, unless he was actually in an important meeting,” said Florence McVey, well, she was wearing her name badge this time.

“Oh, okay,” I said, and I wheeled myself toward his door and let myself in.

“Jim,” he said. I’d surprised him.

“Yes, your receptionist...” I started.

“Yes, I told her you were cool to come in any time, I mean any time,” he said, “no waiting for you.”

“Well, thanks for that,” I said.

“So to what do I owe this little surprise?” he said. He’d come around his desk and had taken a seat opposite me. He was clearly making an effort to not seem quite so imperial in spite of his bucks.

“I know, you must know, that I talked to Claire last week, and I mentioned to her then that I would be talking to you,” I said. He looked a little, something.

“Yes, she did say you might be coming by, which by the way is something you need to do more often,” he said. “And for the record Rebecca asks about you a lot. She’d like to see you, be around you a lot more, if you’d only cut her a little slack. She’s just a kid, Jim, and she needs her dads.”

I didn’t show my feelings and surprise when he’d said “dads” plural. Well, I don’t think I did.

“Yeah, well we’ll see,” I said. “But, Rodney, Claire outted you about setting me and Ann up to meet. And, your little conspiracy seems to have had a positive result, and I need to thank you for that. That said, Rod, I need to do for myself. Please don’t do anything like that again. Please.”

“Jim, Claire and I need to do for you. I’ve said it a dozen times if I’ve said it once, Jim, we owe you more than we can ever pay. I know you are too damn proud a man to accept anything from anybody that you didn’t earn yourself. But Jim, the fact is you did, you have earned it. Whatever we do for you, give to you, any of it, Jim, you’ve earned it. My God you have. You need to let us pay our dues now. Really man, it’s time,” he said.

“Rodney...” I started.

“Jim, neither Claire nor I know Ann very well, hell, hardly at all. But, she is your woman now and Claire is mine. It’s time to let things normalize. I mean don’t you think? You need to build a life with your new woman, and we would like the opportunity to welcome her into our family. And you know exactly what I mean by our family, Jim. I mean all of us: Claire, me, you, Rebecca, and yes even your friends Sammy and Henry. And lest I forget your friends from the street too: Mack and the other guy. Whaddya say man?”

“Roy,” I said, “Roy Inness.”

“Huh?” he said.

“Roy Inness, he’s the other guy from the truck park, the street,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, I met them but not really,” he said. “But yeah both of them too. Whaddya say,” said Rodney.

“I don’t know. I’ll let you know. But about what I said?” I said.

“Okay, I understand, but please give what I’ve said some thought, okay?” he said.

“Yeah sure,” I said.

The man had made his case, and I’d let him make it, and he was ahead on points. Well, we’d be seeing. Whatever way my woman wanted me to approach things was going to be the way it would be.

******