Coming Full Circle Ch. 02

We had arrived at the hospital so any further discussion would wait till the trip home. We spent a pleasant afternoon with our son and it was good to watch the relationship between him and his mom. They were obviously devoted to each other and it was good to see that Tony never blamed his mother for our problems.

Beside the daily phone calls, we made the trip three more times to see Tony before we could bring him home. I got to know Ilene again and we made the first tentative steps toward friendship. I welcomed that after all this time. Up to this point, we had avoided any discussion of the past. I don't think either of us wanted to open that wound. Having Tony home also helped in that we didn't discuss anything personal in his presence.

Tony decided to postpone his final year of college while he healed and we agreed that he needed the time. His neck was still in a rigid cast and he didn't need any demands on him right now. He decided that he would like to stay with me since we had not been together much since the divorce. He usually stayed with Ilene when he came home and I saw him infrequently.

I offered to fix up one of the rooms for him with a hospital bed and any equipment he would need. Ilene had no problem with that arrangement so we moved him in to my duplex. Ilene was impressed with it and wanted to know all about it. I gave her the tour and she really liked the layout and the space. I told her that Sharon was responsible for the decorating. She said she knew Sharon had good taste; she was with me after all. It was a four bedroom, two level duplex with a master bedroom down and it had plenty of space. I don't know why I bought one so large, but I did.

It was fun having Tony there and it was also pleasant having Ilene visit. I felt more in control that way and as a result was willing to let things develop. Tony and I talked a lot and I began to learn some things of interest. He told me that Ilene did not date at all, and rarely went out in the evenings. He knew that because he called her almost every night and she was always home. If she did go out, it was with a woman she worked with and it was usually business related. If she did go out she always called him if she was going to be late. To her, late meant after 9:00 and she always told him where she would be and how she could be reached.

He also told me that she was the boss where she worked but never went out on shoots or locations. She always sent the other people in her department. She would often talk with them on the phone to arrange certain things but never went on site. He asked her why one time and she just shrugged her shoulders and told him she no longer had any interest in them.

I asked him if she ever talked about our divorce and he said she wouldn't talk about it. She said I could tell him about it if I chose. I asked him what he knew and he said that Mom always said it was all her fault but she wouldn't tell him any more. He said she cried a lot the year after the divorce but seemed to finally get past it. He just didn't think she had much fun any more.

I admit I thought a lot about what Tony told me. While Sharon and I finally grew apart and went our separate ways, Ilene and I had been torn apart and we were both just wandering around, going nowhere. I thought I had found something with Sharon but the differences between us were too great for a lasting relationship. I wondered what kind of relationship Ilene and I could have. I planned to have that discussion with her at the first opportunity.

About a month later, Tony had his cast removed and the doctor wanted to insert some screws in his cervical vertebra to give the fracture more strength. He felt that doing it now would benefit him for the rest of his life. We all agreed to do it even though it meant Tony being in the hospital for at least three days. This time there would be no cast so we scheduled the operation for the end of that week. Both Ilene and I scheduled time off to be available for the duration.

The operation went off without a hitch and Tony was fine. We stayed with him until we knew everything was going to be all right. We left him afterwards and headed for home, both of us with a feeling that things were finally going to be OK. On the way, I decided that the time was right for my discussion.

After we had been on the road for a while, I began:

"Ilene, have you thought of where you think our relationship is going? We share Tony and he has at least brought us to the point of a tentative friendship. If it is to develop further, we need to be aware of what we both expect. How do you feel about that?"

She seemed to be thinking of how to respond because she turned to me and began to speak a couple of times but stopped each time. She lapsed into silence for so long that I thought she was not going to answer. She finally sighed, and spoke.

"I can only answer you in part by saying that I would like a relationship with you that could become more than just friendship. I say in part, because I said something like that about our relationship once before and even told you how you could learn to trust me. You remember: it was all lies." She stopped again but I knew she was not finished and I allowed her to take the time she needed.

"I told you that day in the lawyer's office that I only loved one man and that was you. Nothing has changed. But I also know that you lost trust and faith in me then and I can't blame you, so you see there is nothing I have to offer you. I lost everything when I betrayed our relationship and I have nothing to give you that would allow you to trust me." She exhaled as though it had cost her a great deal to say what she had. "So you see the problem? I don't know how we can go forward."

This was a subject that I had given a lot of thought to and I had a thought that I wanted to put to her. It was too serious to allow me to drive and talk at the same time so I pulled over to the side of the road and turned to face her.

"I appreciate what you are saying, and I agree. But we have one thing going for us now that we didn't have then. We are not married and we have no claim on each other. If we decided to take our relationship farther than just friendship, it would be as two independent but consenting adults. If either of us wanted to end the relationship it would be only a matter of saying so. If we strayed, it would only be of concern if the other cared. If we cared then we would simply walk away and end the relationship. Maybe some small pain but no more." I looked to her to see her reaction.

"I see what you are saying. So, in other words, trust is not an issue and there are no promises to be true to. Neither of us could be unfaithful since no commitment to the other has been made?" She got it immediately.

"That's right. You and I could go back to my place right now and we could make love and it would be between you and me and no one else. If we enjoyed each other, we could continue, but if either of us had a reason to stop, we would just say so." I waited for her response. "That's a very interesting proposal. You would have no need to trust me because I have made no promises to you." She looked pensive for a minute.

I responded by saying. "That's right and I would expect nothing from you except your willingness to be with me. If at some point, you felt that wasn't enough, we could simply end it."

She was quiet for a moment and then said in a soft voice, "I think it might be worth trying. Would starting right now be a problem for you? I don't know whether you had something else planned tonight, but I would like to start now, if you would."

I glanced over to see her smiling.

"I think tonight is a great idea. My place might be best because I do have that great big shower and that huge Jacuzzi. Would you like to stop at your place to get anything?"

"I don't think I will need anything to wear tonight. If you have some pajamas that I could wear for tomorrow morning, that would be enough." She giggled like a little girl and I was happy to hear it. I realized that I had missed this kind of closeness. Sharon and I had a little of it since she was so outgoing, but I needed the familiarity of someone I knew as well as I knew Ilene to open up that way.

I started the car and resumed our trip home, but now with a little more enthusiasm. Ilene moved over to sit next to me as I drove and she placed her hand on my thigh. She rubbed my leg softly and I could feel my erection growing. She glanced down to see it as well and put her hand on it as she looked at me.

"Do you want me to do this?" she asked softly.

I didn't trust myself to speak but when I nodded yes, she smiled, reached over and pulled my zipper down. Reaching in, she freed my engorged cock from confinement and bent down to engulf it with her mouth. I was pleasantly surprised and put one hand on her head and gently stroked her hair. I told her that I was probably not going to last very long and that I would tell her when I was about to cum. She stopped long enough to tell me not to bother and went back to giving me a blowjob that made that trip a little more dangerous. True to her word, I came in buckets and she swallowed it all. Afterwards she snuggled against me and I heard her humming a little tune as I drove.

As we headed for my duplex, I realized that I was happy again for the first time in almost three years. I wasn't foolish enough to believe that our problems were in the past and I was sure that I would never get back to considering marriage, but a closer relationship with a woman that I knew as well as I knew Ilene was worth having. We would see where it would go.

The end.