Sandra, in her mid 20's, had been a friend of ours since high school. She was 5'6, a little bit overweight, large-breasted, long brown hair, big brown eyes. She always had trouble with boyfriends, relationships never lasted. Usually she would be broken-hearted and leaning on our shoulder about something. Really it became a bit tiresome over the years to keep hearing the same story, it was kind of good that she lived in another city.
But having a guest is always unique, and news of her visit was quite welcome. Probably good for Sandra, too, to be traveling somewhere for a change.
My wife and I greeted her the afternoon of her arrival. Quickly she shared the usual soap opera story of her unhappy love life...but it was good to see her anyways, and we also laughed and joked, caught up on old times...
My wife Cathy was heading off on a retreat that evening, due to return in 2 days' time. So Cathy and Sandra said their good-byes after dinner. We'd set up our spare bedroom for Sandra, down the hall from the master bedroom.
Sandra and I stayed up to talk a while longer, and in frustration I said to her "you've got to act on what you want, Sandra, you can't just let life keep passing you by..." She didn't say much in response, before we both retreated to our rooms for the night.
A half-hour later, I had settled into bed, had just turned the lights out, when I heard bare feet on the hallway floor. A moment later there was a knock on the door.
I slung on a robe, and went over to open the door. Sandra was in her nightgown, in bare feet. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"Can we talk a bit more, Bill?" she asked.
We sat together on the couch, she cried, I listened, I consoled. It was getting cold in the house, so I got her a blanket to cover up. She shared it with me.
It was still a bit cold, and she said "hey Bill, would it be okay if we cuddled up a bit?"
We sat closer. The warmth from her body was nice. I noticed how beautiful her long brown hair was, and my hand reached over to touch it briefly, before I put my arm around her shoulder. For the first time all evening, she seemed to settle down.
We stayed like that for about half an hour.