I had just gotten out of a relationship with my last girlfriend, Corenne—we’d been together for a few years, and neither of us wanted to see an end to what we had, but you know how it is when you discover that you’re both great people, just not great for each other, right? So anyway, I was suddenly single again, and that’s when the trouble started.
I was hanging out with a friend of mine, Steve, I guy I had met in college, and we had a lot of the same interests, you know, sports, video games, pretty girls….
Wait, let me go back a little for a moment. Let’s talk about Corenne, my ex, for a second. She was a gorgeous woman, with clear green eyes, a dark complexion, and a trim, supple athletic body. She was also an absolute blast to be around and she had a number of girl friends that she would ask over from time to time. So there we would be, hosting a movie night at our place, maybe a half dozen of us there altogether, and I’d be the only guy. I used to wonder sometimes what Corenne told her friends about me, because she was the first woman I’d ever been with whose friends all seemed to really like me—and I mean, really like me. They were all flirty, though Corenne never seemed to mind. But then, she knew I was faithful, and maybe she got a little enjoyment out of seeing her friends fawn over me. In any case, it was only flirting, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Enter my friend Steve.
Like I said before, he was an old college buddy of mine, and he had just moved into the area after having spent a couple of years in Los Angeles. It was, at that time, his turn to have been recently separated, and he was sorta down on himself, so, when I suggested that we invite him over for the next movie night, Corenne quickly agreed.
And so it was, and that was how Steve met Corenne’s friend, Emma. Emma was a lot like Corenne, both beautiful, both smart, both funny, but the difference was that where Corenne was dark, Emma was light. And Steve fell in love with her the second he met her.
Luckily for Steve, when he wants to, he’s got the charm of three guys, and he turned it all on. Emma didn’t have a chance, the way I saw it, and it was only a matter of time before they were a couple. We didn’t see them very often for while, which I thought was quite normal, but eventually we began to catch up with them more and more. Their engagement was no surprise, not really, and everyone was more than happy for them.
It was during that engagement, though, that things got a little… unusual. Shortly after Steve and Emma’s engagement, Corenne and I decided to split. Like I said, it was amicable if still painful, and I decided to spend some time being single again. Corenne was special, and I wasn’t going to settle for someone less than her just to avoid sleeping alone. Such was my mindset.
Anyway, thanks for putting up with this backstory, so now we can move forward.
I was visiting Steve and Emma, which meant a bit of a flight for me. It was a holiday weekend, and Steve and I always kept warm places in our hearts for St. Patrick’s Day. So, the weekend began when Emma picked me up at the airport. My plane was a little late, but no worries, I was too relaxed to get worked up over something like that; I was working as an engineering consultant in Denver, and business was good which made me all smiles. When we were cleared to debark, I grabbed my one carry-on and hot-footed down the exit chute.
Stepping into the passenger lounge I spotted Emma right away, and was I ever glad that I saw her first. If not, she might’ve seen how I looked at her. She had on a pair of dark slacks made of this thin material I have no idea the name of—I heard them called “sassy pants” once, and I’ve never heard a more appropriate nickname. She also wore a sexy white blouse, a pair of heeled, black boots, and her light hair was wrapped up behind her head and held in place with a clip. I couldn’t help but remember the times, before she met Steve, when she would flirt with me on movie night. Images of her in the light green pajamas she would change into came quickly and they were hard to push away.
She was still scanning the other passengers for me when I put my thoughts back in check and tried to get her attention.
“Emma!” I called to her, raising my hand and beginning to walk toward her.
She spun in my direction and flashed a smile so brilliant I was afraid I was still going to get caught with the wrong sort of look on my face.
“Jack!” she replied. Suddenly she took the few steps left between us and threw her arms around me. I held on to my bag because I didn’t want to put both arms around her—I could smell her perfume, and the shampoo in her hair, and the thought of putting both arms around her right at that moment seemed like a bad idea. How would I explain it if I suddenly produced a pup tent while she was pressed against me?
So I looped my right arm around her, and she started laughing as she brought her head back to look at me.
“I didn’t know if I had the right plane,” she said, glancing at the terminal readouts. “When I didn’t see you,” she giggled now, “I started to doubt myself.”
“Well, you were right,” I said. “’Cause here I am.”
She stopped giggling and gave me a smile.
“Do you have to go to baggage claim?”
“Nope, I travel light,” I said, indicating my one carry on.
“Smart boy.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Again, the smile.
“C’mon,” she said, separating from me but grabbing my hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
I followed her, trying to be casual about the quick glances I took at her sassy pants—sunglasses would have saved me the trouble, but how do you explain wearing them indoors? Luckily, whenever she looked back I was always ready with a smile for her.
It only took a couple minutes before we got to her vehicle, a new model Escalade, the truck version, white with giant 20” rims—maybe 22. Apparently Steve was doing well.
“When did you guys get this?” I asked. Steve had begun working in politics, though I was still a little shaky on just what it was he did.
“Last month,” she replied, as we both slid into the cab. I had never liked the Escalade before, but my goodness, it was an impressive truck up close. Maybe I needed to change my mind about them.
She started the engine and slowly got us out of the parking garage. In moments we were zooming down the freeway.
“Hey, do you have your cell phone handy?” she asked me, kind of out of the blue.
“Yeah,” I replied, pulling it from its pocket in my bag.
“I want you to put my cell number in your address book.”
“Okay,” I said, thumbing the buttons as she recited the number.
“Now, call it to be sure.”
I complied, and suddenly I heard a buzzing in the cab. It only took a second to realize the phone was in her lap. Actually, it was stuck between her thighs. I raised an eyebrow as I watched the little PCS vibrate.
“How long you gonna keep buzzing my crotch there, Tiger?” she asked, a wry tone in her voice.
Oh man, was I caught for sure that time. Immediately, I killed the call, and then I laughed casually—or so I hoped—while looking out my window. I would have given money, good money, to know whether I had turned red. Flirting with Emma had been so much easier when I was the one in a relationship, and as unfair as that sounds, I think it’s because I couldn’t imagine Steve being as comfortable with it as Corenne had been.
A moment later she brought my attention back from the bridges and fields that I had pointedly kept it on, and asked, “Do you remember Melinda?”
“Sure,” I replied, grateful that those had been the words she’d chosen to speak. Melinda had been a member of our movie group. She was the smallest of the girls, perfectly proportioned (well, as best I knew, anyway) but petite. Melinda was the only one who could keep up with me when I started spouting movie quotes—of course I remembered her. “How is she?”
“You can ask her yourself tonight,” Emma said, slyly. “I’ve invited her over. She couldn’t have been more excited. It’s been a long time since she’s seen you, y’know?”
“Yeah, it has been a long time since I’ve seen anyone.”
Emma nodded, and then asked if I had any ‘nice’ clothes with me.
“In this?” I asked, pulling my bag a few inches off the foot well floor. “No way. Why? I thought Steve said all I would need are jeans?”
“Hold on, Turbo!” Emma said, taking a hand off the wheel to hold it up at me. “I just asked because I was thinking the four of us might like to go somewhere nice for dinner tomorrow night.”
I didn’t really need time to think about it, it was a no-brainer.
“No problem, we’ll just need to stop somewhere so I can get something.”
Emma smiled wide.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
The rest of the drive was filled with small talk about our respective jobs and current events, and it wasn’t long before we pulled into the driveway of the two-story home she shared with Steve. It sat on a couple of dozen acres or so, and it was beautiful countryside. I said so.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it, Jack?” she said as we got out of the truck. “The land is one of the big reasons we bought this place.”
I took a quick look around. I didn’t see any houses.
“We don’t have a lot of neighbors, as you can see, and we like it that way. Must seem strange to you, all this space.”
I grew up in a city, and I still lived in one.
“No, not really,” I said, shaking my head a little bit. “I like it. It feels good.”
“There’s no Starbucks within walking distance, though….” She teased.
I laughed. Either she remembered how much I liked coffee, or Starbucks had become synonymous with urban life. Either way, it was funny to me. I hefted my bag over my shoulder and Emma took that as a cue or something.
We walked up the porch steps and she unlocked the front door, looking over her shoulder to make sure I was behind her.
“Would you like to see your room first, so you can put your things down, and then I’ll give you a tour of the whole house?”
I nodded. “Fine by me.”
“All the bedrooms are upstairs,” she said, leading me up a slightly curving staircase. We came to a landing of sorts, with a bedroom off to the left, a bathroom straight ahead, and a short hall leading to the right. I took the first bedroom I saw, the one to the left of the staircase. It was nice, not appointed too feminine.
I put my bag down and turned to her. She was a lot closer than I expected, and I brushed her breasts with my elbow as I turned.
“Whoops, sorry,” I apologized, though I couldn’t help the start of a small chuckle.
But she turned as if I’d never spoken.
“Let me show you the rest of the house now.”
She grabbed my hand and half dragged me across the landing. Down the hall was the master bedroom, and off to the side were two other bedrooms. Soon she was showing me the master bath, and the large tub she seemed very pleased with, when suddenly she asked, “Do you still see Corenne?”
I was a bit surprised, really, but Corenne was a friend of hers after all.
“No,” I replied, shrugging. “She has her life now, and I have mine.”
“Do you know if she’s doing okay?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. That, I did know. “She’s doing really well.”
