Third Try's a Charm

"So, who's the new girl? Someone I should know about?"

"Just someone I recently met, no big deal."

"No big deal? You rush in, shower, and even shave on a Saturday morning for this girl, and she's no one special? Please!"

"Just let me know in advance if you decide to have a sleep over. I don't want to be having my morning coffee and see both of you buck naked chasing each other around the house."

I gave her the eye. "Like when you have David stay over?"

"That's different, we don't leave my room except to get something to eat." We looked at each other and burst out laughing. "I think if Mom and Dad could see us now, they'd be proud of us." I agreed with her.

Our date the following Saturday night was great, fantastic, wonderful, and another dozen or so adjectives that meant the same thing. I planned for dinner and a movie—we never made it past dinner.

Olive Garden wasn't the fanciest place in town but it was nice, has good food, and best of all is quiet. We spent two and a half hours eating, drinking a bottle of wine, sharing a dessert, and mostly talking.

We exchanged our life stories, where we were at this time in our lives, and where we saw ourselves in the future.

I explained to her I was taking business classes in school. Since I was half owner of the store, I felt I needed to know as much as possible to grow the business. It was my sister's and my livelihood, therefore we needed to be up on all the new trends, especially all the new online advertising, if we were to make it with all the new big box mega stores popping up.

Shannon told me she was also taking business courses and wanted to get into marketing and advertising.

"Creating something out of nothing gets my juices flowing. I've got a million ideas banging around in my head. I just need some type of creative outlet for them. There are a few internships out there I'm interested in, but so is everyone else. If you can get on with a big marketing firm, and do well, you're pretty much assured a job when you graduate. And, that is what I plan to have happen." Twenty minutes later the place was closing—they kicked us out.

For the next hour, we made out like a couple of teenagers inside my car, up on the bluffs overlooking the city lights. By the time we stopped, all the windows were fogged up and her blouse was wide open, and her bra? Well, it had to be somewhere inside my car.

"I think we need to stop right here tonight. You get me any hotter I'm going to explode, and there is no way in hell I'm doing it in the back seat of a damn car. Been there, done that, and never again," she said, buttoning up her blouse, stopping every once in a while to give my pouting lower lip a kiss. We held hands while I drove her back to her place.

We made out for another ten minutes or so in front of her parents' house, before I walked her up to her door and called it a night.

"Next time," she said, giving me a kiss and grabbing my package that was trying to explode out of my jeans. She went in and shut the door. I started walking back to my car, when I heard the door open and a voice yell out. "Remember, seven thirty tomorrow morning, and don't be late or I'm starting without you." She blew me a kiss, shutting the door again.

I got there early and had just finished warming up when she pulled into the parking lot.

"Sleep okay?" she asked with a little laugh, starting to stretch. "I've got more than a little excess energy this morning to get rid of. How about if we do a quick six miles and go back to your place?" I had already started running when she yelled for me to hold up.

We were sweaty, salty, and grungy, but it made no difference as we thrashed around on my bed. Lips, tongues, fingers all came into play. I made her scream twice before finally finishing. If we were sweaty before, we were dripping wet now.

"Damn, I needed that," Shannon said, rolling over on top of my chest giving me a kiss. "Only now I think I need a shower even more because I'm smelling a little ripe at the moment." She sniffed the air. "And it seems I'm not the only one."

"That's the smell of love," I said, trying to sound sexy.

"Love, hell. It's the smell of body odor and a combination of both our juices. Come on, I'll race you to the shower."

We got into the shower and between all the laughing, screaming, and finally the moaning, we made a lot of noise. After showering we ran back to my room for another session, followed by another quick shower. It was shortly after noon when we emerged and went downstairs to the kitchen. Sue was sipping on a cup of java when I chased Shannon down the stairs.

"Morning Sis, this is Shannon. Shannon, this is my sister, Sue." Sue smiled briefly before putting her coffee cup down.

"Rule number one—no loud laughing or shouting on a Sunday mornings until ten o'clock. Rule number two—no using up all the hot water. Rule number three—if you're going to hump my brother to death try to be a little quieter especially if my boyfriend isn't here. Do all that and we'll get along great. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to call David and tell him to get his ass over here. After listening to the two of you for the last couple of hours, I've got a real need only he can take care of." Sue got up, walked up the stairs, and made her phone call.

"Is she pissed?" a worried Shannon asked.

"Pissed no, horny yes. How about some breakfast?"

We ate and went back up to my room for most of the afternoon. At three thirty Shannon said that she had homework to finish up but would call me later. It took nearly twenty minutes for her to finally get out the front door. I was in lust!

For the next year, Shannon and I were joined at the hip. Sue was happy I'd finally found someone special. We even double dated with her and David on several occasions. I had one semester left of school, and was longing for the day I would have no more schoolwork hanging over my head.

"I'm engaged!" screamed my sister, when she stormed through the front door running into our kitchen waving her left hand bearing the ring. I gave her a big hug and told her congratulations. By this time David had finally made his way into the kitchen and had this little smirk on his face.

"She wore me down," David started to say. Sue grabbed him and gave him a huge kiss.

"Well, it's about time. I'm happy for the two of you. I only wish Mom and Dad were here to see this day."

Sue looked up and then at me. "Don't worry, I know they're looking down from heaven and are proud of the two of us." She was on cloud nine. We broke out a bottle of wine and started celebrating. At nine o'clock David said he had to go, something about work in the morning. He grabbed Sue, gave her a kiss on the lips, a quick pat on her butt, and was out the door.

"He's a nice guy. I know the two of you are going to be happy."

My sister couldn't take her eyes off that ring. She kept twisting it on her finger and stretching her arm out, I guess to see how it looked on her hand from a distance.

"I can't believe it's really going to happen. We've been together for almost three years. I think things came to a head six months ago when I told him I wouldn't move in with him. He had just bought that new house and told me since we spend most of our time together anyway, I should move in with him. I thought about it but remembered what Mom told me, 'If he wants you bad enough, he'll put a ring on your finger.' Looks like she was right."

"Well, I know the two of you will be happy no matter where you live."

"How about you and Shannon? Any wedding bells in your future?"

"I know she loves me, that goes without saying, I just don't know if I'm ready for that step yet."

"What do you want to do, still play the field?"

"No, it's not that. It's that I don't want anything to change. I love my life right now; I've got the best of both worlds. In a couple months I'll be done with school, I've got a great job lined up, and life is good."

"Steve, nothing stays the same, you should know that by now. If you love her, grab her before someone else does. Life is too short to take chances with your happiness." She was probably right.

"Maybe I will, but not quite yet. After all, we've got your wedding to plan."

I graduated in May. We had a quiet celebration, just me, my sister, Shannon, and David. June 18th my sister and David got married. It was small, intimate, and memorable. She moved into David's, or should I say their new house. I debated for a while, but told my sister that as soon as I could see myself clear, I'd buy out her share of the house or we'd just put it on the market. I had a little time, anyway.

In July I started my job with Davis Standard, and was pulling down a pretty decent salary. Most of the money coming in from our hardware store went straight into the bank or was used for upgrades. That's when I bought a little toy for myself. It wasn't the newest or the biggest motorcycle out there, just big enough for Shannon and me to tool around on.

Sue was now doing the accounting books and ordering most of the stock and materials for the hardware store. She really took to retail and had a lot of great ideas, most seeming to work. In December Bill and Carol told us that they planned to work only another year, and then retire for good. Bill said that Carol had talked him into getting a travel trailer and wanted to see the country. I told them there was always a job waiting if they ever wanted to come back.

Sue became the acting manager, and we hired a young and energetic kid out of the local community college. We started planning for the post Bob and Carol era. I was putting in about ten hours a week, mostly on the weekends, which gave my sister a much needed break.

Though my life was busy, I found more than enough time to spend with Shannon. During the holidays I met her entire family. It was kind of nice and different spending time with a normal family. My only concern came when I met her mother. She had to weigh well over two hundred and twenty-five pounds. The old adage, if you want to know what your wife is going to look like when she gets older look at her mother, started to concern me. Shannon's mom had personality plus, but all I could see in her was my mother.

"You don't want to marry Shannon because her mother is fat?" A surprised Sue yelled at me. "Just because her mother is heavy, is no reason to believe that Shannon also will be. Look at me! Mom was huge and I'm probably five pounds underweight, at least according to the charts in the doctor's office."

"But you're going non-stop."

"And she isn't? She works out four days a week, she's finishing up school, and I don't see her slowing down when she finally starts work. How about you? You' don't have a bit of fat on you, yet look at Dad. I think our generation knows being grossly overweight can be lethal. Have you even talked to her about it?"

"I'm kind of afraid to. She might think I'm some type of shallow asshole and dump me. I'm not, you know that."

"I know it, but she doesn't. Look, sit her down and express your concerns, and make sure you tell her about Mom and Dad. I know she knows about them, but explain to her how it affected you. If she's the girl I think she is, she'll understand."

Unfortunately it didn't go quite as smoothly as Sue thought it would. When I tried to talk to Shannon after dinner one night at my house she became livid.

"You think my mother is a fat pig, is that what you're saying? What, do you have a scale strapped to your damn ass?"

"Look, I'm just being honest and up front with you." In desperation I tried to explain it to her again, and was again met with hostility and belligerence.

"So you think I'm going to be overweight and will pork out if we get married? At least now I know what kind of prick you really are," she said, standing up getting ready to walk out on me.

"Shannon!" I yelled to her. "I don't want to have to bury you, I love you too much." That made her stop and turn around. "It would kill me to see you get sick and have a heart attack like my mom. I buried two people I love. I don't think I have it in me to do a third."

"Steve, think about what you're saying. You say you love me but with conditions."

"Not conditions, fears."

"What happens if say for some stupid reason I decide to marry you and I gain a couple of pounds? Are you going to stop loving me?"

"Shannon, I loved my mom even though she weighed close to three hundred pounds. It was her heart that gave out because she was carrying too much weight."

"Steve, why are we even having this conversation? I'm never going to balloon up like that. Hell, I'd have a stomach bypass if I got that gross. I love you, but you've got to lighten up. You're driving yourself nuts chasing ghosts. I may gain a few pounds down the road, but three hundred pounds? Let's get real here."

At that point she confronted me with her ultimatum. "Look, until you get your head out of your ass, please don't call me anymore. I don't like being put under the microscope by you or anyone else."

I started to say something but stopped. It crossed my mind that I had already said quite enough for one day.

For the next week I went to work, ate, and did little else. I went to the gym with my sister and listened to her try to pound some sense into me. I took long rides on my motorcycle to clear my head, but nothing worked."

You know you're going to lose her, don't you?"

Sue, you were the one who told me to talk to her about my fears.

Talk to her, not accuse her. If David had said to me what you said to her, I'd have told him to hit the frigging road and not look back. Look at her, she's drop dead gorgeous, any guy would feel fortunate to have her. You, however, are letting your fears dictate your life, which is not good." I knew she was right.

Apologizing to Shannon was easy, but getting her to accept it proved a lot harder. The girls at the marketing firm, where she was doing her internship, told her to dump my ass. Shallow, a chauvinistic pig, and a few other choice words were used to describe my actions. She was taking my calls, but said maybe we needed a break in our relationship to see what we both really want out of life. I objected—she wasn't giving me a choice.

For the next three weeks I did everything I could think of to get her back. I was not above groveling, just saving that for the next time we saw each other in person. Then I was thrown a curve ball when a buddy of mine said that he saw her having dinner at a nice restaurant with a tall black man. Hell, no groveling from me, that's for sure. Instead I got angry and concerned—maybe I had gone too far—maybe it really was over.

It was a nice morning. The sun was out, it was almost sixty-five degrees, and I had recently loaded a whole new set of songs on my iPod. I planned on running until my legs gave out. I hoped it would help, since I had more than a few issues to work out of my system.

When she flew by me, I made no attempt to catch her. After looking over her shoulder and seeing I wasn't trying to catch her, she proceeded to pull away from me until she was out of sight. I did think about trying to catch up, but this morning it seemed more like a game to her. If it was a game, I wasn't in the mood to play.

I ran for over two hours. I could have gone on longer but lost interest after I'd heard my playlist twice. I would have to load on a couple dozen more songs if I was going to do this again next Sunday. I was just finishing my bottle of water when I saw her leaning up against her car looking at me. I could see she wasn't in the greatest mood even from where I was standing. I waved, got in my car, and left a surprised Shannon. I wasn't ready for a huge confrontation, besides I had to open up the store in less than an hour and a half.

Sunday mornings we had the usual rush of customers, but by eleven thirty it had quieted down. A few were browsing the shelves, that was about it. I was refilling a display in the main aisle when I heard her.

"Why didn't you talk to me?" I knew who it was without even turning around.

"You said you needed your space and time away from me, I was giving you what you requested," I replied without much emotion.

"We can still talk, can't we?"

"If you want. Dating much?" I asked. She didn't respond right away, I could see the wheels turning in her head.

"A little, how about you?"

"Nope, been too busy."

"Steve, it was just a couple of dinners and a movie, that's all," she said, probably still trying to figure out how much I knew.

"It's your life. Hell, it's not like we're married or anything like that." She was quiet, maybe looking for some type of comeback, but I didn't give her the chance when a customer walked up and asked for help. "You'll have to excuse me, I've got to get back to work." With that I turned to help my customer. When I was finished assisting the customer she was gone.

Later that night I told my sister what had transpired between Shannon and me. She chastised me for screwing up a good thing.

"Sue, if I can't talk to her about my concerns, who can I talk to about them?"

"But Steve, you should have talked to her after your run instead of just leaving. You probably could have worked out all your issues then and there." She may have been right, just that with the store, a bunch of crap at work, and Shannon now dating, my brain was scrambled.

"If you're wondering, he's one of the guys in the marketing group at the company where I'm interning," her e-mail started. "We were just casually going out, no real big deal. Two lunches, one dinner and a show, that's the extent of it, if you're interested. We really do need to talk. I don't know where your head is at right now, and from your reaction to me the last two times I'm not sure what to make of it. Let me know if and when you want to get together." It was signed with Love, Shannon.

When I e-mailed her back and suggested next Saturday, she replied that she had already made plans, but was open either Friday or Sunday, I didn't respond. I guess I wasn't as important to her as I thought.

Over the next couple of days I got a few e-mails from her on which day would be better for me, but I ignored them like the two phone calls I let go directly to voice mail. I wanted to ask her what she was doing on Saturday night that was so damn important she couldn't change it for me, but I didn't. After another two weeks of e-mails and phone calls she stopped trying.

For the next two Sundays I half expected to see her blow by me—it didn't happen. When I explained to my sister my reasons for breaking it off with Shannon, she understood. She said we both had a communication problem. Maybe this was for the best.

Early Saturday morning I lined up for the 5K. I was in the second row and my stomach was tight like always. I had on my digital stopwatch and was just about ready to start it when I heard a voice behind me.

"I hope your ass is still in shape because eighteen minutes isn't going to cut it today." The horn went off.

She was three steps ahead of me the first mile, and just over one step at a mile and a half. At two miles I started pulling away from her, my anger taking over. I wasn't running against the clock anymore, I was running to beat Shannon, and by as much as I possibly could. After two and a half miles and with a little more than half mile before the finish I started my kick. It was a bit early, but I wasn't going to leave anything on the table, not this time. When I could see the finish line I started to sprint. There was a guy about fifteen yards ahead of me and I was pulling him in with every step even though he was running flat out.

I caught him just before the finish line. For once I didn't even look up at my time when I crossed the finish line. I was concentrating only on getting there as fast as I could. I had been looking down at the pavement in front of me, my arms pumping for all they were worth, and I was digging deep for any ounce of energy left in me. If someone in my age group had beaten me that morning, they deserved it because I had absolutely nothing left. This time I didn't puke, though I felt like I might.