Finding Each Other

Rain pounded against the roof of the apartment complex and against the windows of each unit. The trees groaned in protest as the wind attempted to uproot them. Lying awake, Greg stared at the window and watched the water pour down. It was the largest storm of the year, and Greg was glad to be lying in bed as icy water poured down outside. He sat up slowly and reached around until he found his television remote control. He turned it on and blinked as the TV brightened the previously dark room.

Lying in bed watching television suited him. He was a recently divorced thirty one year old, still trying to readjust to the single lifestyle. He flipped through the channels and checked the clock. Only a few minutes after midnight, on a Friday night, now technically Saturday morning. He sighed and continued flipping through the channels. He wondered if he should be out mingling in singles bars, but laughed at the thought, remembering the few disastrous occasions when he had tried that before he had met his ex-wife.

He finally found a good program, and was settling comfortably in to watch it, when his phone rang. He muted the television and got out of bed. He frowned as he walked to the phone, wondering who would call at midnight. Brief visions of family or friend emergencies flashed through his mind as he reached the phone. He took a deep breath and picked it up.

"Hello?" he said calmly.

"Hello Greg?" a female voice greeted him, "This is Sandy from work."

Sandy worked in a different department, but they had talked a few times. At the Christmas party about a month ago he remembered exchanging phone numbers with her. They had spent almost the whole party getting to know each other, and Greg had felt like they had really made a connection. After the party he had found out she was married and the next time they talked it had been much more subdued. Greg remembered how disappointed he had been after he found out; because she was the first woman he had felt strong feelings for since his divorce.

"Oh hey Sandy, uh, what's up?" Greg said, trying not to sound as confused as he felt, and not really succeeding.

"I'm really sorry for calling so late, did I wake you up?" she said.

"No, I was just sitting around," Greg answered.

"This is going to sound crazy and horrible of me, but I didn't know who else to call, and I had such a great time at the Christmas party with you, and your number was one of the few in my purse that I thought could help me, and I know I must sound like a wreck, I still can't believe I'm calling you out of the blue like this…" Sandy's voiced had started getting higher and higher in pitch as she talked. Greg frowned and tried to interrupt her.

"Sandy, Sandy, its fine. I'm glad you called, are you all right?" Greg said quickly. She paused on the line, and he heard either a laugh or a sob and then she took a deep breath.

"Honestly, no I am really not, but that aside, I am kind of stranded." Sandy paused and waited for Greg to respond.

"Stranded? Where?" Greg asked.

"I was driving around trying to think of what to do, because I, I've just, well, I was driving around in this horrible weather, and my car just died. I don't know what the problem is, I checked the engine but I don't know what's wrong. I know this is horrible of me, and I'm sorry to even have to ask you, but I was wondering if you could pick me up and take me to a hotel somewhere." She finished, her voice barely held together. She sounded as though she had been crying and Greg's first thought was to ask why her husband wasn't going to do it.

"I can come get you, sure," Greg said, "where are you?" She gave him directions, thanking him profusely and apologizing constantly. "Ok, it will take me a little while to get there, I live half an hour from where you are, not counting the rain."

"Oh that's fine, I'm just so glad you can do it, however long it takes is fine." Sandy replied gratefully.

They hung up and Greg quickly changed. He put on long pants and grabbed a thick jacket quickly. He grabbed his keys and wallet and left. He hadn't remembered how badly it was raining, and the time it took him to walk from his apartment to his car was time enough for him to get soaked. He climbed in his car quickly and started it. He turned the heater up and pulled out of the complex.

It took him about forty five minutes, he had horrible visibility and he had to watch for the roads to be flooded when he got out to the area she was stranded in. He finally saw a car parked to one side of an empty road. He pulled up behind it and saw someone moving inside the car. He turned off his lights and got out into the pouring rain. He saw the other car's door open and someone emerge.

"Sandy?" Greg called out.

"Yeah," she said as she walked over.

As she got closer, Greg saw that she was soaking wet. She had a purse clutched in her hands and she was shivering. She was wearing jeans and a sweater, but the sweater was thin and was drenched as well. Her hair was plastered against her neck and face, and her face looked ashen. When she got close to Greg, he let out an exclamation as he saw her face closer. Her skin was white and her lips were blue. Greg ran forward and pulled off his jacket. He wrapped it around her and helped her to his car. She got in his car, still shivering with extreme cold and Greg ran around the other side. He got quickly into the drivers side and turned the heat up to the maximum and pointed all the vents at her.

"Thank you so much Greg, I will be fine in a minute," Sandy said in a shaky voice.

"Do you have anything else you need from your car? I can go get it," Greg asked.

"No, I can get it tomorrow," Sandy replied.

"Are you going to be all right? You look frozen; you might have hypothermia or something," Greg asked.

"I'll be fine, I'm feeling better already," she said quickly, but continued to shiver. "When my car died I got out was fiddling with the engine, trying to see what happened, I got completely soaked and then I couldn't turn my car on for the heater. Then I waited for like half an hour before I called you, because I wasn't sure what to do."

Greg turned back onto the road and started heading back towards the main roads.

"I don't know any hotels around here, do you?" Sandy said softly.

"Not really, I know of some near my apartment. Um… Did something happen at your house?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, I left my husband. I should have driven straight to a hotel with this weather, but I felt like I needed to clear my head, so I just started driving around, why I chose a deserted area I have no idea. Thank you again for getting me," she said meekly.

"Oh really, its no problem, I'm sorry it took me so long."

They drove in silence back towards Greg's apartment for ten minutes. Sandy stopped shivering and Greg began sweating with the heat on. Sandy was still leaning forward soaking up the heat though, so Greg left it on full blast.

"I don't know what the situation is with your husband, but I have a spare bedroom at my house, it has a couch that is pretty comfortable, and I haven't had company in a long time. It would be no problem," Greg said carefully.

"I couldn't do that to you, I've already inconvenienced you enough," Sandy said quietly.

"You need a shower and to get out of those clothes, I have plenty of extras at my house, and with no car, I can drive you around tomorrow, getting yours fixed and stuff."

"I don't know..." Sandy said slowly.

"Of course it is totally up to you, I don't want you to feel pressured or anything, but you would be more than welcome to stay in my guest bedroom tonight, since it is pretty late already." Greg said quickly, and then wondered why he was pushing so much.

Sandy and Greg drove in silence for a few minutes and then Sandy sighed and looked over at Greg.

"To be perfectly honest, I would love to stay at your place tonight, and not have to deal with a motel and my lack of transportation, but I don't want to inconvenience you any more than I already have."

"You can just owe me one, really, I would love to have you stay," Greg said.

"Then I accept, and thank you again, o savior," Sandy said and smiled for the first time of the night. Greg smiled back and they rode in silence for a while. Greg brought up something about work, and they both relaxed and talked about mutual acquaintances for a while, until they neared Greg's place.

They both hurried through the rain and up to Greg's apartment. He opened the door quickly and turned on the lights. They stepped into the living room and Sandy handed Greg his jacket back. He gave her a tour and she put her purse down in the guest bedroom.

"I can't believe you keep this place so tidy. I am constantly cleaning up after my husband, from dishes, to clothes, he feels he needs to leave a trail wherever he goes," Sandy said.

"Actually, my ex-wife was kind of the same way. I was the one who did the dishes and laundry," Greg said with a grin and showed her to the bathroom.

"I actually did the laundry today, so these towels are clean, which you are more than welcome to use. Do you want to take a hot shower now?" he asked.

"Sure, you mentioned something about dry clothes for afterwards?" Sandy asked.

"Of course, follow me," Greg led her into his bedroom and pulled open his closet. He grabbed a sweater and a pair of folded sweatpants. He looked up at her as she looked into his closet in an interested manner.

"Go ahead and grab any of the t-shirts you'd like," Greg said.

Sandy browsed through all of the too large shirts, until she got to the very back. She pulled down a small white t-shirt that was smaller than the other ones.

"That's an old undershirt of mine, I forgot I still had it. It's probably the smallest shirt have," Greg said.

"Well, it will probably fit all right," Sandy smiled. She inspected the sweat pants he gave her.

"These will be way too big, but they have a tie, so hopefully they will work for one night," Greg said.

"Its more than enough Greg, this is just fine. I'll go hop in the shower then," Sandy said.

"Okay, oh, before you go, are you hungry? I was thinking of making a small snack, would you like something?" Greg asked.

"Sure, that would be great. I'll be out in a few," Sandy replied.

Sandy walked into the bathroom and closed the door. A few minutes later Greg heard the shower start, and he walked into the kitchen to find something to eat. After an unsuccessful search of the fridge, Greg decided to make some toast and began doing so. He made six pieces and left them on a covered tray on the kitchen counter. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat on the living room couch, waiting for Sandy to finish her shower. About ten minutes later, he heard the shower stop. Another few minutes after that, he heard the bathroom door open.

Sandy emerged in the white t-shirt and sweat pants. She had wrapped a towel around her hair and the color had returned to her face. Greg glanced at how the clothes fit and found his eyes drawn to her chest. The t-shirt was designed for men, and it was tight around Sandy's breasts and loose around the shoulders and stomach area. It was obvious she was braless because he could see her nipples outlined against the tight white material. She smiled at Greg and held out a bundle of clothes uncertainly.

"Do you have a bag or something I could put my wet clothes in? I'll need to wash them soon, but for now just a bag or anything would work," Sandy asked hesitantly. Greg blushed and nodded quickly.

"Of course, I have a spare laundry basket you could use; I'll grab it for you. Go ahead and help yourself to some toast if you'd like, or anything else in the fridge. Be right back." Greg walked quickly to his room and brought out an empty basket. She put her clothes in the basket and he set the basket inside the guestroom.

Sandy walked to the counter and examined the toast. Greg followed her and got out butter and jam for her. Greg got her a drink and they moved to the couch to eat their toast.

"So, if you want to talk about anything, I'm here to listen as well as provide cheap late night snacks," Greg said with a smile.

"Oh you shouldn't tempt me, if I started I doubt I could stop," Sandy replied and shook her head.

"I'm a good candidate for venting if anyone is, I've gone through a similar experience recently myself, so I know how parts of it feel," Greg said quietly.

"Yeah, that's part of why I called you instead of someone else, I thought you might understand. How long has it been since you got divorced?" she asked.

"Officially divorced three months, she moved out a month before that." Greg said softly gazed at his beer before taking a drink.

"Things have been going wrong in my marriage for almost a year now," Sandy said. She took a deep breath.

"I told him I was leaving tonight, and he got angry. I've left before, but I always came back. Tonight he did something that I will never forgive him for though. I told him I was leaving, and I went up to pack some clothes for a few days, and he came up after me, and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the house, said if I was going to leave, to just fucking do it. I think it strained one of my shoulder muscles, but the shower really helped," Sandy said quietly.

Greg frowned and felt a surge of anger. He hated men who would use physical force against women, and it must have shown on his face.

"I know Greg, I will never go back to him now, our marriage was over a long time ago, it just took tonight to make me see it," Sandy smiled weakly.

"My marriage was ended just as quickly, when I listened to a message on my answering machine from a guy, telling my wife that she had forgotten her purse at his house," Greg said quietly.

"Ouch," Sandy said.

"Yeah," Greg said. "Are you sure your shoulder is all right?"

"Yeah, it's better now." She said and set her drink down. She sank back into the sofa and smiled at Greg.

"It feels great to be warm and dry," Sandy said and closed her eyes as she lay back against the sofa.

"Are you tired? The bed is already made up if you are," Greg asked.

"I'm relaxed, but not sleepy. I'm pent up from today; I know I couldn't fall asleep yet."

"I understand," Greg said quietly.

"Do you want to watch a movie Greg?" Sandy asked quietly.

"Oh, sure. Well, actually that might be a problem. I have a bunch of DVD's, but it was my wife's DVD player, and I haven't gotten another one yet. The TV in my bedroom has a VCR built in, but I don't think I can move it out easily," Greg said.

"Oh," Sandy said simply, "Well we could watch it in your room," she finished.

"Yeah, we can, It's just that, you know there is only the bed in there. It's plenty big enough for two people though, I just didn't think…" Greg trailed off.

"We're both adults, it'll be fine," Sandy said with a smile. Greg blushed and nodded. He showed her his collection of VHS tapes. After some debate they decided on a light hearted comedy. Greg walked into his room and set it up in the VCR. Sandy walked in a minute later, carrying two pillows from the guest bed and the large blanket that had been on the bed. Greg fiddled with the VCR some more and Sandy got on the bed. She set the pillows up and lay down facing the TV. She had left more than half of the bed open for Greg, and Greg walked over and carefully lay down.

Greg fast forwarded through the coming attractions and the federal warning signs until the actual movie was on. He stretched out and propped his head against several pillows. Sandy wrapped herself up in her blanket and they watched the movie in silence.

After the movie had been on for fifteen minutes, Greg began to get cold. He sat up and was going to get under the covers on his side of the bed, until Sandy spoke up.

"Cold?" she asked perceptively.

"Yeah, a little," Greg replied.

"Just share mine," she said quietly.

She scooted herself over towards him and held her blanket out. Greg lay back down and covered himself with half of her blanket. It wasn't quite enough, and so Sandy moved closer to him. He wrapped it around himself and felt her body warmth from under the blanket. She adjusted herself again, and Greg remained still as she leaned against him.

She held the pillow against her chest, and rested her head against Greg's shoulder. Greg stared at the movie, unsure of what, if anything, he should do. She stretched her legs out and her right leg now lay touching his. They continued to watch the movie in silence for a while. Greg had felt unsure about the slight physical contact at first, but as the movie went on, he began to relax. He came to the conclusion that he was oversensitive, and watched the movie in peace.

When the movie was about halfway through, Greg felt his left arm growing stiff, and he began to carefully lift it. Sandy lifted her head obligingly, but before he had a chance to put it back down, she scooted over again. Greg did what was natural as her head came down to rest on his chest, which was to just use his other arm to hold her. His arm was resting along her shoulder and back, and she sighed into his chest.

They both finished watching the movie, holding each other. When it was over, Greg used his free hand to turn the television off. Sandy didn't stir and Greg wondered if she was asleep. He looked down at her and she looked up at him in the same moment. She made no movement however, and Greg found he was reluctant to move as well. They sat in silence for a minute or two, when Sandy spoke softly.

"Can we just stay like this?"

"Of course," Greg replied.

"Thank you," Sandy murmured into his chest. They lay in the dark for another ten minutes, both enjoying the welcome physical contact.

"I haven't been able to hold anyone in a long time," Sandy said. "My husband and I haven't even slept together in six months."

"That's about how long it's been for me as well," Greg said quietly. Again, a few minutes of silence followed.

Sandy tucked her legs up. Greg hastily lifted his arm off of her back, thinking she was going to get up. Sandy put one arm down against the pillow and leaned down on top of Greg. He stared at her, wondering what she was doing, until she got close enough for him to figure it out. He panicked and started to speak.

"Sandy I don't know-" he started, but was cut off as her lips met his. She pressed down gently on top of him, and they shared a long sensual kiss. She leaned off of him for one second.

"I do know," she whispered and leaned forward again. Their lips met again and this time Greg returned the kiss. Sandy put one hand gently on Greg's chest as they kissed.

Greg was going through a mass of emotions, not sure that they should be doing this, but Sandy's soft and gentle kissing was wearing away his inhibitions. Sandy leaned down and kissed his neck. She kissed the edge of his shirt, and moved back up again to his mouth. Greg brought his hand up to cup her face as they kissed. He initiated them sitting up, and their mouths were locked as they moved together into a sitting position. This time Greg moved away from her mouth, gently kissing her cheek, and moving down to her throat. Kissing softly on her skin, he moved down her neck, his lips only gently grazing the tender flesh. He kissed the hollow of her collar bone and moved back forward and they locked kisses again.

Sandy leaned back and put a hand on Greg's chest. He stopped short and looked at her questioningly. She just smiled and brought her hands to the bottom of her shirt. She slowly pulled it up and Greg stared. She lifted the shirt over her head and then quickly moved in to kiss Greg. He watched as her breasts were freed, and stared at the beautiful sight. Her nipples were hard and as she leaned forward to kiss him, they gently grazed his chest. They kissed for a few more minutes, until Sandy reached for his shirt. He brought his hands down and grabbed his shirt quickly, and pulled it over his head. Sandy leaned forward to gently trace his chest with her fingers. She leaned down and kissed his chest softly, going down to kiss his abdomen and then venturing up to kiss his neck and then on the mouth again.