I'd been living with Samantha for just over a year now. She'd just recently signed a new lease agreement with me to continue on as my roommate for another 18 months. This was great news for me, as the house I had purchased just before my wife passed was too big for me, and felt lonely when empty. I didn't have the patience, or energy to put myself back out into the dating world at my age, and didn't have a lot of friends in town. Plus the fact that I worked from home, meant that I was there most of the time. For several years, the place had just felt... empty.
Living with Sammy had been a true blessing. She was clean, neat, and organized... but not compulsively so. She was respectful of my work from home hours, never playing music or watching the television too loudly when she knew I was in the office working. We shared a meal or two each week together, when our schedules permitted it, and on rare occasions would watch TV or a movie together in the main room when she didn't have something else going on.
Samantha was quite a bit younger than I. having just turned 30 prior to moving in, compared to my upcoming 47th birthday. She was also quite beautiful in a very 'girl next door' kind of way. Standing about 5'8" on flat feet, but had a predilection towards wearing heels or wedge shoes that added a good 3 to 4 inches to her natural height. She wore her dark hair just below shoulder length, with natural looking waves most of the time. Sometimes taking the time to straighten it, which made it appear much longer. Her face was what most would probably describe as cute, rather than hot, however she knew very well how to apply makeup in a way that could change that perception. Having seen her plenty of times with no makeup whatsoever, I knew how naturally pretty she really was. Especially her deep golden brown eyes, regardless of what she was wearing on a given day, it was never hard to look into her eyes, as they were almost impossible to turn away from. Her body was perfectly shaped for her height, not too skinny, not chubby or overweight. When dressed for a night out, she'd often wear bras and tops that made her breasts look much larger than their natural size, but having seen her around the house in a tight fitting tank top I knew them to actually be on the high end of a B cup. Besides her amazing eyes, her next best feature were her long, lean legs. She went to the gym at least 3 times a week, and I don't know what she did there, but it was working. Her legs were lean and toned without being thick or too muscular looking. They were just perfect stands leading up to one of the best asses I'd ever seen in a pair of jeans.
However, while I was obviously very attracted to her, I never tried to act on it. Not even basic flirting. I didn't think it would be appropriate as her 'landlord' first of all, and secondly the age difference made it even more inappropriate. So I was content to steal glances at her around the house and was simply happy to be sharing a home with a beautiful woman.
I tried to stay out of her affairs, but I did notice that although she had a long term boyfriend, she never brought him over or had him inside the house. I asked once if she thought it was against some rule or something, which she assured me was not the case. I had never never placed, nor would I have even thought to place, any restrictions on her comings, goings, or inviting of guests. All I had ever asked was that the rent and bills be paid on time, and that the common areas of the house kept a respectable level of cleanliness.
Then came the night that started a new chapter in our relationship. I had just gotten off work, and was coming out of the office to head to the kitchen for a beer when I noticed Sammy was in the main room crying. I took a couple steps into the room, keeping a respectful distance, and gently cleared my throat to make sure she knew I was there.
She stopped, looked up at me, sniffled a little, and said; "I'm sorry, I didn't realize how late it had gotten. I'd better go to my room."
As she started to get off of the couch I replied; "You don't have to go anywhere, you're allowed to cry wherever you need to. I'll leave you be if you want, or we can talk if you want?"
She looked at me with those perfect eyes, red around the deep brown from the crying, and said, to my surprise; "Yeah, I'd like that. Let me just clean up a bit first."
Then she got up and headed toward her bathroom, turning back about halfway there and saying; "Were you going to grab a beer? If so, would you mind grabbing me one of my hard seltzers while you're in there?"
I was a little surprised at how well she knew my daily routine, but didn't think too much about it as I went to the kitchen and got our drinks.
I sat down on the far end of the couch she had previously been sitting on, then thought to myself 'No, this is too close, too personal. If she wants you closer, she'll let you know.' So I set down her drink on a coaster near where she had been sitting and moved myself to the chair adjacent to the couch on the opposite side. Where I could easily talk to her face to face without being 'in her face' so to speak.
She came back from the bathroom with her hair tied back behind her head in a messy ponytail, she had dried her eyes and washed all traces of her makeup off. She was still stunning, maybe even more so with the soft vulnerability of the recent crying still fresh in her eyes. She picked up her drink and coaster and moved over to the end of the couch next to the chair in which I was sitting.
"Todd and I broke up." She stated bluntly.
Todd, that was his name, the boyfriend she'd been with since before she moved in with me. I think I had met him all of three, or four times. She rarely spoke of him, yet somehow I had always just had a general feeling of dislike towards him. I suppose I had always written that off as a bit of jealousy, since she had never once shown any signs of the relationship being abusive in any way, nor had she ever complained openly about him to me.
"I'm so sorry." I replied, stopping myself from immediately asking what had happened. Instead I let those three words hang in the air as an invitation for her to elaborate, or not as she desired. While keeping a steady gaze into her eyes.
She took a big gulp of her drink and said; "Don't be. He's an asshole. Always has been. I left him. Been wanting to for a long time, but always told myself that I'd never do any better." Then she took another long drink, looked at the can, said; "I'm going to need something stronger after this one."
I chuckled slightly, unsure if this was the correct response or not, but picked up my beer and took a long drink myself. "Well, I've got a bottle of Scotch I've been looking for an excuse to open up, if you're up for getting sloshed on a work night."
She tipped her can towards me in a gesture of mock toasting, raised one eyebrow slightly and drained the rest of her can in one long chug. Setting it down, and saying; "Yeah, I think I'm up for that."
I laughed out loud and said; "Well alright then, let's start the serious drinking!" Drained the rest of my beer, got up, retrieved her can from the table and headed to the kitchen to get the whiskey.
Over the course of the next few hours, we talked about anything and everything. Everything that is, except Todd and her break up. I learned more about her that night than I had gleaned over more than a year of living together. I'm sure she did the same about me. As the level of Scotch in the bottle got lower and lower, the conversation got heavier. Slower, and a bit garbled as well, but the topics started to get more personal and serious.
"Can I ask you a personal question?" she said, suddenly a little less slurred than before.
"Haven't most of these been personal?" I asked, chuckling; "Do you mean more personal?"