“Hi Anne, it’s so good to see you!” I blushed as I blurted
this out.
“Hi Chris, it’s good to see you too. You look good.” Anne was blushing a bit too.
I reached over the suitcase and gave her a hug and did an
awkward side face kiss. She kissed at
the same time and we hit each other on the cheek. I was aiming for her lips like the fool that
I am but at the last second tilted the angle and swiped along the side of her
face. The funny thing was she was doing
the same thing. Now it was really
awkward.
“Thanks for coming out to pick me up, I thought you would be
busy with the kids and Eddie would come.”
“The kids are all almost teens now and I wanted to see you
first!” she admitted. “I put Eddie to
work on tonight’s dinner.”
“Well that was a good decision. Let’s go get ‘em!” I rushed my words hoping
to hide the nervousness of my thoughts.
Anne picking me up. I was
looking forward to seeing her but her picking me up was a bonus of heavenly magnitude.
“Want to go to lunch first?” she hummed as we turned to walk
out of the terminal. The question hung
in the air between us. “I’m really happy
to see you. Your message about not
coming unless I showed up for this week really made me feel special.”
“Let’s go, I didn’t check my bags so I’m ready.” She nodded in agreement and placed her hand
on the back of my arm to lead me. 1…2….3….4….5 seconds she kept her hand on my
arm before dropping it to her side. It
felt like 5 minutes her gentle touch on my body. I was fluid with emotion. Vacation, family, friends, no work but it all
paled to having Anne by my side without another person around.
We walked together out into the parking lot without another
word. I followed her to the car and
placed my suitcase in the backseat. She
opened her door and got in. I stood for
a moment outside the car and shook the daze out of my head. I opened the door and hopped in. “Where to Anne?” I sputtered.
She leaned over, one hand behind my neck and the other on my
cheek and pulled me into her lips. We
kissed stupidly yet with a longing for about 3 minutes. I put my arms around as best as I could in
the cramped front seat of her Subaru. I
wanted to tear off her clothes and throw her in the back of the car. But for the first time kissing each other
hungrily it was sweet and benignly tender.
Anne pulled back as sudden as she came in and looked at me with kind
eyes. “I wanted to do that for a long
time Chris. I don’t know why but I did.
Now where should we go for lunch?”
If that was it, I was okay.
A little touch of southern magic lit into my life and it felt good. If my vacation was over at that point it
would have been the best vacation I had taken in a very long time. “Well thank you for that! At this point I don’t care if I eat or not.”
I laughed.
Anne laughed too and set her mood to driving acting as if we
were solid friends and nothing had just happened. What was I to expect? She was married, solidly to my best friend
with 2 grown kids. We lived on opposite
sides of the country. This was just a
brief encounter to test the waters albeit wonderfully. I didn’t expect any more from her and frankly
was surprised at what she did give up.
It was a beautiful surprise and I found myself so tickled and pickled by
the experience I didn’t know what to say or really what to do. Yeah it was a conundrum her being married to
Bill, my best friend back east and I would have to deal with the cancer of
denial and guilt over our little passionate moment. But I would not pursue it anymore. No, that was it. That would be the only fall out that I would
allow to happen. Unless she pulled me
into her face again. Of course, I’m
human and I’m a man. I could only dream
of what could happen next. No, no, stop
thinking now Chris, this is where trouble starts when you keep thinking. What happened was a bonus and nothing more. Nada, deliciousada but nada now.
“I want to keep thinking about what just happened, I
said. It was very sweet and surprising,
thank you.”
“Please don’t thank me Chris, let’s just let it be what it
was. A moment between friends. Okay?” She was a bit curt and I realized the demons
she would have to deal with were gigantic compared to mine. Okay, then, no harm, no foul.
“Let’s go to Sonic, I’m feeling a burger appetite coming on
with a milkshake topper!” I settled into
my seat and stared forward feeling overwhelmed.
More like 2 burgers appetite coming on.
And maybe a dozen milkshakes to top it off. If I didn’t stop thinking about “it”, it
would be ruined by an overwhelming sense of stupidity and common sense. It wasn’t supposed to happen and shouldn’t
have happened but it did. I was letting
myself spin out of control. This is why
I’m single, waiting for impossible moments like this to happen, with women that
I’m not supposed to be with. I engage in
fantastical mythical storylines about romance and chance, majestic gestures
that in the end are simply human and tender molecular moments. Molecular in the sense of what kind of
explosion could occur as a result of the betrayal leaking out and also in the
sense of the big picture of where it should be shelved. Just a moment, a blessed moment out of my
ordinary life that doesn’t need to be carved into a mountain. So I climbed down from that mountain and put
on my seatbelt and rode with my good friend, Anne to Sonic burgers in Kentucky
for a meal I would never forget.
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