Author's Note: Thanks to Honey123 for her contribution to the "Danielle" part of this story. It's my fortune to know such a talented writer and truly sensuous person.
~ ~ ~
It began with a look. A single, quick glance; then another. And suddenly, the world fell away, and there were only the two of us, our eyes locked in that surrealistic moment, in which we looked, each for an instant, into the other's soul.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had been at work since 6:30 that morning, and I was getting tired. Now here it was, almost 7:30 in the evening. I should have been finishing off a nice meal and relaxing with a Sam Adams or two, then maybe watching a little TV before going to bed. Tomorrow was going to be another long day.
This school addition had taken longer than it should, and that's why the school board had hired me. I was supposed to make the men work faster, make the materials get here sooner, and generally fix everything that had gone wrong all summer. Now it was only two days before the little brats came back, and we still weren't ready. Damn elementary kids, anyway, I thought grumpily!
To make matters worse, tonight was "Meet the Teacher Night" and the place would soon be crawling with noisy pre-teens and their parents, most of whom would be wondering why little Johnnie hadn't been placed in an accelerated program, for anyone could see he was almost at genius level! I would rather have been anyplace but here, but I had a meeting with the principal and his subordinates after the general assembly. I was trapped!
Sure enough, here came the first of the bunch. I looked down the sidewalk to see a nicely shaped woman with a full head of wavy dark hair, holding onto a small boy's hand as they walked toward me.
"Excuse me!" she called, though we were still 40 feet apart. In the twilight and the dim illumination provided by what few outside lights were on, I could see that she was nicely dressed: short white skirt, a dark, silky type of blouse, and high heels. Nice legs!
"Can you tell me which way to the auditorium?"
I waited until we were about 15 feet apart before I answered her. "Sure," I said, walking up to the two of them. "It's two buildings that way, down this…"
As I looked into her eyes to speak to her, something happened. A moment. It was unexplainable and fleeting, like trying to catch a spark. There was something so familiar there! She picked up on it about the time I did. She looked quickly away, then back at me. And then we stared into each other's eyes for a long, long moment. Was it really her? I stood, slack-jawed, trying to recall her name. God, that was so long ago! Her eyes, those same mysterious green eyes, held me prisoner for more than a few more seconds.
"Mommy?"
That broke the contact, and I looked down to see the little guy, his face contorted in a grimace. His mother held his hand in a death-grip, her knuckles white as she squeezed it tightly. Suddenly, she realized it, too.
"Oh, honey," she said, dropping to her haunches before him. "Mommy's so sorry!" She held him close, then turned to look up at me, almost accusingly, as if I had ignited the moment between us. Suddenly I remembered, all of it.
"I – I'm sorry," she said, haltingly. "Where did you say…?"
I remembered to breathe then, and pointed with my right hand. "It's that way. If you want, I can show you," I volunteered. It had to be her! No matter how much she had changed, it just had to be her. The eyes don't lie.
I thought she was going to say, "That's okay, we can find it now," but she didn't. Instead, she fixed me with a smile, stood up quickly, and extended her hand toward mine.
"Brian?" she asked tentatively, cocking her pretty head to look at me. I took her hand. It was firm and strong, and I felt the old spark again. Suddenly I didn't want to let go.
"My god, is it Danielle?" I asked, sure after hearing her voice up close that it was. How long had it been, since I had heard that voice in my ear, breathing my name as I forced myself clumsily into her?
She smiled. "In the flesh." I dropped her hand and stepped into her, putting my arms around her. She returned the hug, perhaps a little too forcefully. When we broke, she looked like she was trying to get her self-control back, and failing. She indicated her son, beside her. "This is Austin."
"My son," she added.
I held my hand out to the boy, who took it, timidly. I think even he could feel that there was a strong connection between his mother and I, and was confused and possibly scared by it.
So was I, but I was also excited! I cleared my throat, as nervous as a boy on his first prom date.
"How long has it been, Dani?" I asked, adopting the name I called her by back then. "Twenty years?"
She smiled, considering. Finally, she said softly, "A long time."
We stood there then, each lost in our memories for a while. I thought back to that night in the back of my car, and the rapturous feeling of her fleshy breast in my inexperienced hand. Yes! I remembered how her plump thighs parted slightly as my hand went between them, intent on exploring all those mysterious places. The fragrance of her on my fingers after I dropped her off at home! I knew she was recalling some of those times, too, by the way her eyes lost their focus.
Finally, she spoke. "Well, Brian, if you wouldn't mind, I'd love to have you walk with us. It's kind of dark out here."
"Not at all," I said, and took her arm. As we began to walk, I explained about the construction, and why the lights weren't all working yet. I even walked them past the auditorium to show her the new gymnasium we were close to completing. "We're supposed to have been finished by now," I said, and she looked at me and smiled.
"Well, now, that wouldn't have been any good. How would we have met again, after so long?" Then she laughed, a lusty little laugh that had me fantasizing instantly about her. I looked her up and down as we stood there, amazed by how much she had changed in the last 20 years.