Walking the Dogs Ch. 02

"Hello?" A pause. "Oh hello."

I glanced across at Hannah as I drove watching her face as she answered her phone.

"Ok then. What time?" She sighed and said, "Yes, I'll be there. Bye."

I looked across. "Problem?" I asked.

"You're going to have to drop me home" she said. "I'm on standby and they've just called to say they need me for the next Newcastle to London flight. They're picking me up in half an hour."

I tried not to let my disappointment show, concentrating on my driving.

"You'll have to let me know where you live then."

"Uh, yes. Sorry I forgot you didn't know where you were going. Turn right here," she said glancing in my direction. "I'm sorry about this Jess, I was hoping they'd leave me alone this time and call someone else in."

"Never mind, there's always next time" I said.

Hannah looked at me with relief and smiled. "Next time?" she asked, teasing me.

I glanced at her, grinned and said "Sure, why not?"

She smiled. I shivered a little, realising that I loved that smile. She turned to look out of the window as we continued driving and she directed me to her home. Five minutes later I pulled up outside a well kept semi-detached house.

"Here," I said as I scribbled my number down on a piece of paper. "Call me," I said handing it to her.

"Thanks," she said.

I leaned over towards her and gently kissed her cheek. She looked embarrassed, pulling away slightly.

"Sorry," I said.

"No, no, it's OK. It's just my parents don't know about me. In fact, I'm not even sure I know about me."

"Oh," I said turning away to look forward trying to keep my feelings in check. I felt slightly rejected, but chastised myself remembering how I felt a few years ago. "Well, I hope work isn't too bad."

"Thanks," she said as she opened the door. "Come on Tyson!" she called letting the dog leap out. "I'll see you soon," she said giving me a small smile as she shut the door.

I watched her walk up the path to her front door before putting the car in gear and driving off.

Max jumped into the front seat and looked at me. "It's ok mate, I hope we'll see them again as well." He tilted his head to one side looking at me as I talked to him as if he understood every word I was saying. I reached out and stroked his head, "Good boy. You know what love is, don't you? As long as you get your dinner," he tilted his head again at me, "walks," another head tilt, "love and treats you're OK aren't you?" He sat there with his head tilted to one side knowing that I had said all his favourite words in one sentence, with a hopeful look in his eyes. "We're going home now," I said as he bounced from the front seat into the back and then back into the front again.

The rest of the week went by slowly for me. I tried to keep busy, which wasn't hard at work as we were busy, but also when I had time to myself. Every time my phone rang I grabbed it looking at the caller display waiting for it to come up with an unknown number. I was disappointed each time.

"Get a grip Jess," I said to myself on more than one occasion. I kept daydreaming, remembering that kiss we had by my car. Was it in my imagination or had she really responded like she had? It seemed almost like a dream to me, but I knew that it had happened and I wasn't dreaming. But why wasn't she ringing me then? I had no way of contacting her, although I suppose I could have phoned her work, but then I didn't know her surname. I could have knocked on the door of her parents' house, but then if her parents didn't know about her lesbian inclination, I didn't want to go there and rock the boat. "You'll just have to be patient Jess," I told myself on more than one occasion, which is something I knew I wasn't very good at.

Anyway, what was I hoping for? I hadn't been with anyone for years, since my last lover left me. Why would Hannah be interested in me? Everyone always ended up leaving me, leaving their boot marks on my heart where they had trampled on me.

I had only had two relationships that meant anything to me. The first one had been with one of my teachers at school when I was 15. I don't know how we didn't get caught, but somehow we didn't and it had ended when I came up to university at the age of 18. She told me that there was no way we could keep on seeing each other and I had to go out and spread my wings. However I didn't want to spread my wings. I wanted her, I was in love with her. She ended it by saying that it was fun while it lasted but it was over now.

I was devastated. My heart was broken and I spent the first two years of college getting over her.

I didn't have another relationship until I met Beth in town when I was out one night seven years later. I really thought that she was the one. I'd had a number of flings in the intervening time, but nothing that meant much to me. With Beth we just seemed to connect immediately. It was slow to start with, but after a few weeks she finally did come up to my flat for the coffee which I had offered every time the taxi dropped me off on our way home from a night out.

That first night with her was special. We actually did drink a coffee, before I got the whisky glasses out. We sat up talking for hours, sipping a particularly nice single malt -- Laphroig if I recall. I invited her to share my bed and we just snuggled up to each other, spooning as though it was the most natural thing for us to do. The following morning I had woken early and lay there listening to her breathing. She had turned over towards me, and as she did, the loose t-shirt she was wearing slipped up to reveal a perfect breast.

She woke to the gentle kisses on her breasts, my hands tenderly stroking her sides and back. She pulled me up to her lips where we kissed passionately and deeply. The love-making that morning just blew me away. Tender and gentle it reflected the love that we both felt growing for each other.

We moved in with each other three months later and lived a very happy two years together. I had come out to my parents during that time; they had accepted Beth saying that as long as I was happy, they so were they.

I didn't anticipate her just leaving though. I came back from work one day to find the flat empty. She had moved all her stuff out and left me a note on the kitchen table. The dread I felt in my heart when I saw the note was compounded when I actually read it.

"I need to go. I've found another job in another city. It was never going to work out for us. I'm sorry. Beth."

She had just vanished off the face of the earth. I felt my heart shatter and drop to my feet as I read that note.

I tried for months to find her but she had disappeared, hell, I didn't even know if she was still in the country. Those years after Beth were a bit vague looking back now. I was depressed, on medication, contemplated suicide on many occasions, but somehow I just couldn't do it. Maybe it was my family, maybe my friends pulling around me and being there for me, but I just kept going somehow. The final part of my recovery came when I went and found Max at the dog shelter, bringing him home with me after the third visit.

Having this living creature with me, relying on me all the time and giving me totally unconditional love, no matter what mood I was in brought me back to myself. He was there, always happy to see me, always happy to do anything, and his enthusiasm was infectious.

I sighed, coming back to reality and lifted Max's dish to feed him. As I put it down for him and he sat there looking at me waiting for the command that he could eat, the phone rang.

"OK then!" I said to Max and he rushed towards his dish gratefully, almost inhaling his food. "Honestly Max, anyone would think you're never fed!" I exclaimed while reaching for the phone.

"Hello?"

There was a pause before I heard a tentative voice saying, "Hi Jess, it's Hannah."

My heart leaped and then started hammering in my chest. I wondered if she could actually hear it at the other end of the phone it felt so loud.

"Hello?" she asked.

Brought out of my shock by her voice I realised I hadn't said anything.

"Hi Hannah! Sorry, you just caught me by surprise! I was just feeding Max and telling him that anyone would think he was never fed..." I stopped talking, realising I had been waffling. "Uh, how are you?"

"I'm good thanks. I'm back at home for a few days and wondered if you would like to meet up? I mean, maybe we could take the dogs out or something?"

"Yes, that would be great! When?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Sounds good to me. Shall I pick you up? I mean, I've got seat covers in my car for the dogs..." I tailed off again, thinking that maybe she had already planned something.

"Yes, that would be great if you don't mind. I haven't got a car anyway, and I thought perhaps we could go to the beach?"

"Great idea. That's Max's favourite place and I was going to suggest it anyway. Great minds think alike huh?"

"I guess so!" she replied. "Is 2 o'clock ok for you?"

"Yes, that's fine. I've got the day off tomorrow so anytime."

"OK, 2 o'clock then. I'll look forward to it," she said. "See you then. Bye!"

"Bye!" I said before hanging up.

Yippee! I was dancing around the room with delight. Max came bounding in to see what all the fuss was about. "We've got a date Max! We've got a date!" He jumped up at me wagging his tail, thinking this was a brand new game. I came down to his level and he pushed his head towards me trying to get to my face through my arms to lick me to death. Eventually we ended up play fighting on the floor before I was reminded by my stomach that it was time to eat something.

Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough as far as I was concerned.

That night and the following morning went really slowly, but eventually it was time to leave and pick Hannah and Tyson up.

I pulled up outside her house at 1.59pm and got out of the car to go and ring the bell. Before I'd even got to the pavement the door opened and this white and black bullet shot out of the door, coming towards me at a rate of knots.

"Ugh, hi Tyson!" I spluttered trying to fend him off and trying to pick myself up as he licked me enthusiastically.

"Sorry about that!" I heard a voice say before the dog suddenly vanished from my face. As I looked up I saw Hannah laughing while trying to chastise Tyson at the same time. I burst out laughing and scrambled to my feet. "It looks like you've now been dealt one of Tyson's killed blows!" said Hannah.

"Yeah," I said with irony in my voice, "that dog needs to learn some manners! It's nice to know he missed me though!" I said.

"He's not the only one," Hannah said quietly, almost under her breath. I looked sharply at her, wondering if she said what I thought she said. "Shall we go?" she said more loudly smiling at me.

"Come on then. Tyson, in you go!" I opened the back door of the car for him and he jumped in enthusiastically saying hello to Max who seemed equally as pleased to see his friend.

We drove towards the coast, with conversation lively, catching up on the last two weeks since we'd last seen each other. She had me in stitches with some of the stories she told about passengers on flights. We were carefully avoiding contact with each other. I was unsure of how she felt and I didn't want to scare her off.

When we let the dogs out at the beach they tore off, so excited about being there. Hannah and I took a more leisurely stroll down the ramp and onto the sand. Watching the dogs play, it was hard not to laugh at them.

"Honestly, I thought Max was 5 years old, not 8 months old!" I exclaimed as he charged into the sea, barking and biting at the waves. Tyson seemed to be unsure of the sea, but Max was straight in like he had been born for it. "I guess that must be the Labrador part of him!"

The weather was unusual for November in Britain. Not a cloud in the sky and hardly a breath of wind, it was crisp but warm enough for us to walk in shirt sleeves. The sun, low in the sky, was casting its yellow light across the sand and catching the tops of the waves as they crashed onto the shore.

"I love it here," I sighed. "I used to come here before I got Max when I wanted to clear my mind and loved it then, but since I got him I love it even more," I said to Hannah. "Do you come down here often?" As I said it I realised what a cheesy line that was. "Sorry, that's a really bad line isn't it?" I grinned at her as I said it.

"Yes it is, and yes I do!" she replied. "We've all got to come out with cheesy lines sometime though!"

"Oh yes? And what would your most cheesy line be then?" I teased.

"I don't think I can remember, but never as bad as that!"

"Oi! I'll get you for that!" I laughed. "Let's see how ticklish you are!"

She squealed and ran off with me in hot pursuit after her. I caught up with her, grabbing her around the waist, digging my fingers into her sides, tickling her mercilessly. She wriggled around trying to get away which made me grab her and tickle her even harder.

"Ok, ok, I surrender!" she said as she suddenly went limp in my arms, weak with laughing. I held onto her, not wanting her to drop into the wet sand. She straightened up and it became one of those moments when the world seems to stop. My heart was pounding, partly because of the sprint down the sand, but mostly because of the way she looked at me. I could have drowned in her eyes at that moment.

It was at that moment when Max decided to run up to us and shake, spraying water all over us.

"Max!" I exclaimed as we jumped apart trying to keep out of the way of the spray. I looked at Hannah and we both burst out laughing. "Come on!" I said linking arms with her. "There's a café at the end of the beach where we can get a coffee. Fancy that?"

"Yep, let's go!" and with that she dragged me off down the beach.

We fell into an easy conversation on the way as we walked, all the while laughing at the dogs' antics, who were clearly enjoying themselves.

When we arrived at the café we bagged a table outside, made the dogs sit down and Hannah went in to get two Café Latte's. When she came out she found me staring into space.

"Hey you!" she said. "Wherever you are, I hope it's good!"

I blushed, not wanting to admit to her that I was dreaming about what she would look like naked. She was dressed in jeans again -- as I was, but had a fitted top on which accentuated her curves and her breasts. I could have sworn that she didn't have a bra on.

"Oh, nowhere!" I said. "So, tell me," I said, changing the subject rapidly, "how long have you been flying?"

"About 18 months now," she replied. "I've always wanted to do it and finally got through the interview with BA after an endless amount of dead-end jobs that bored the tits off me."

I couldn't help but glance at her tits at that point, thinking, "I'm glad they weren't bored off you, they're gorgeous." I looked up to see that she had seen me looking at her and I blushed.

She continued choosing to ignore my blatant ogling, "I'm just getting my time in before getting onto long haul-flights. I want to travel you know, get to places and see the world while I'm still young, which is even better if I'm being paid to travel."

"I can agree with that," I said. "I love my job and it's even better that I get paid to do something that I love doing anyway."

"Do you want to stay where you are forever?" she asked.

"No," I replied. "I love it where I am, but if I was able to get a job working for one of the sports picture agencies then that would be my dream job. I'm not leaving where I am now for anything else as the people I work with are great and there's a great atmosphere, but the thought of taking sports pictures and traveling the world from one sporting event to another is really what spurs me on."

"I'd love to see some of your pictures sometime," she said.

I blushed again before saying, "Sure."

"It's just they're part of you, how you see life, people, the world and..." she hesitated, "I'd like to know more of you if I can and your pictures I'm sure would show a part of you that, oh I don't know!" she blushed and put her head down embarrassed.

I reached across the table and felt for her hand. She flinched slightly but didn't pull away. "It's ok, I'd love to show you my pictures sometime."

She looked up and smiled at me shyly.

There was a pause between us before I opened my mouth and said, "Hannah, I..."

At the same time she looked up at me and said, "Jess..."

We both looked away before looking back.

"You first," she said.

I paused before asking, "You sure?"

She nodded, so I plunged on. "What happened the other week? I mean, not the kiss, but afterwards when I dropped you off? I hope I didn't scare you or anything?"

"Uh, um," she paused, looking for the right words. "That's actually what I was going to say to you."

My heart plunged when I heard her say that. "Oh, no! I did scare her!" I thought.

She looked up and saw my face which couldn't hide the disappointment I felt.

"Oh, it's not that I don't want to see you or anything!" she hastily said. "It's, it's just that what we did, you know, the kiss, was so overwhelming for me that I needed to get my head round what I was feeling. I have had some experiences with other women, but I just thought that it was because there were no men that I fancied at the time, so I just put it down to experience. I never thought that I could feel that way with a kiss from another woman. I guess it made me a bit scared of my own reaction to you. I didn't know what to do so I panicked a bit."

She hung her head down, not daring to look at me.

I took her hand again and said gently, "Hannah, its ok you know. I've been there as well and it is hard and confusing, but it isn't wrong."

She looked up at me and said, "Are you sure? I mean are you sure you're ok with this? I think I need to take things slow just so I can get my head round things. I've never felt things this intensely with another person before let alone a woman and it's all so new."

"Its fine hinny, I'm fine as long as you're fine!" I smiled at her, linking my fingers with hers over the table, rubbing my thumb over her thumb.

She suddenly got up and came round to me grabbing me and giving me the biggest hug. "Thank you," she whispered into my hair. "Thank you so much."

I said nothing but just held her, rubbing her back. Eventually she pulled away from me and said, "Shall we head back?"

I looked up at her and then at the sky noticing it was getting dark.

"C'mon dogs!" I said in response, rousing them from their slumber and smiled at Hannah.

We walked back along the beach, not talking but holding a comfortable silence, each with our own thoughts. Our hands occasionally brushed against each other until it just felt natural for me to grasp hers as it swung past mine and hold on. By the time we got back to the car it was dark. We got the dogs towelled down and into the back seat.

As I shut the boot I was startled to find Hannah standing close next to me.

"Hey you," I said softly and reached out for her.

She slipped into my arms, nestling into my breasts. She looked up at me before gently bringing her lips up towards mine, brushing them so gently. I gently kissed her back, savouring the taste of those lips that I had dreamt of over the last two weeks. She leaned into me, her kiss deepening, gently parting my lips and feeling round them with her tongue. I could feel myself becoming seriously turned on, but didn't want to spoil the moment, her moment, by increasing the pace. She licked my lips and moved so she could touch, taste and feel the rest of my face. I leaned into her as she moved her way to my ear, nibbling the lobe gently before moving down my neck. I was breathing heavily, trying to control myself, feeling the wetness leaking out of me as I became more and more aroused. She came back up to my lips where she kissed me, her tongue flitting round my mouth, exploring, before breaking away.