3 Coins in the Fountain

"No," I laughed. "It gave me three days with you."

I will never understand women. She got the biggest smile on her face, but at the same time tears rolled down her cheeks. And then the pulling was back. But before we gave in...

"There you are ..." We turned to find Sarah behind us.

"Maria, Jackie is really sorry," she said. "She didn't mean anything by it. She thought that maybe she was helping you. And I guess maybe she was a little jealous."

Whatever had been going on with us was suddenly gone as the anger rekindled in those brown eyes.

"How the fuck was she helping me?" yelled Maria. "Trying to rub her magic tits on my friend seemed more like she was trying to help herself."

"So maybe it's a little of both," said Sarah. "Remember the talk we had about your marriage? You haven't been divorced for a year yet. Your divorce has only been final for what ... Three weeks? When you registered for the tour group this year what did you say?

You said you were never going to go through all of that again. You said you just wanted to race, become a better driver, and maybe have a little bit of fun. Those were your words, Maria. Those were your words two weeks ago before the tour started.

And now look at you. Whether you want to admit it or not, you're falling for a married man. These things don't EVER work out. And the two of you are already so tight that dynamite couldn't pull you apart. So maybe Jackie was trying to get you some space before things got worse than they already are.

And like you said, maybe she wanted what you have for herself."

"But Sarah, you and Jackie have ALL of the guys," said Maria.

"Maria, any woman can get a lot of guys to fuck her," said Sarah. "It's a lot harder to get ONE guy to really care about you. Reid treats you like you're golden and you guys aren't even screwing YET.

Jackie hasn't ever ... Shit I'm not really sure that I've ever had anything like that. All I know is that Jackie sees the two of you and she gets really jealous. Forgive her, okay?"

As she turned to go, she looked at us again. "Aren't you both supposed to be racing in the morning?"

"Can I have the couch tonight?" Maria asked.

"No," I said. "But you can have the bed again."

"Am I gonna be in it alone?" she asked. I nodded.

The next morning I woke up to find her watching me. "Breakfast, Race, Talk," she said.

"I was thinking," I said.

"Don't stop," she said. "I want you to keep thinking. It's a good way to exercise your brain. But for now, keep all of your thoughts in that head that I L ..." Her eyes went up as if she'd been caught at something.

"Okay, but I'm not eating any oatmeal," I said.

Fifteen minutes later we were sitting at the table in the cafeteria. Maria as usual had her million dollar smile on. I was staring into a bowl of oatmeal with berries in it.

"Come on, Honey, eat your oatmeal so you can race," she said.

"Don't you mean WE can race?" I asked.

"Reid, I'm already ahead of where I was last year," she smirked. "Anything else is gravy. I'm still gonna do my best, but ... How do Luke's NASCAR guys say it in the interviews? I'm just glad to be here racing."

The race was fun. It was ten laps instead of three. Ian obviously had something up his sleeve.

"Let's see how you do in traffic," he said as he posted the starting grid.

I started last.

"Sorry, Honey," smiled Maria, who was starting on the outside of the second row.

I tried to keep Maria's mindset. But running full speed and braking late into the first corner moved me into eight as I passed two guys coming out of the bend.

I had a thought as I bore down on seventh place. Ian's strategy was actually flawed. All of the better drivers were in the back. That meant that everyone I passed got easier.

By the end of the first lap, I was inching my way past Maria and into fifth place. The surprising thing was that Luke, who started first, had already fallen to fourth. It took me two more laps, but by the end of the third lap I was in first and beginning to open up a lead.

What surprised me the most was that Maria had moved into the top three behind me. She finished in third and made a run for me as soon as she stopped her car.

She grabbed my hand and we got ready to leave the track.

"Reid! Get your ass back here," growled Ian. "We have a lot to do this afternoon!"

I spent the afternoon adjusting to the differences between the Cosworth and a real formula one car. Even though the car I would be driving was a fifteen year old car that was three generations removed from today's modern racers, it was still much faster than anything I had ever driven.

It was also as squirrelly as hell. A single touch of the throttle sent the car careening forward. A touch of the brakes and the car stopped so suddenly that I felt as if the contents of my gastric system were coming out of my throat.

The first, second and third times that I tried to brake hard going into a turn, I stalled the damned car. It was after two o' clock and I'd been at it for four hours before I was able to equal my times in the Cosworth. An hour later and that fucking light bulb moment happened again.

Over the radio, Ian was ecstatic. "Keep at it," he yelled. "You're getting it. That was awesome."

When he finally let me go, I could barely walk off of the track. Maria was waiting for me with a couple of our friends.

"What?" she said. "Surprised to see me?"

"I am surprised to see them though," I said.

"So be it!" I heard from two rows back.

"Don't get any ideas," said Paul. "We've got a lot more racing to do. I'm watching everything you do so I can beat you."

"I washed our car," said Maria.

"Yours or mine?" I asked.

"Ours," she said. "I had a talk with Ian about the misunderstanding with Jeff."

"Who's Jeff?" I asked.

"Come on Reid," she said exasperatedly. "How many guys do you slam into a wall in a week? Any way by mutual agreement, he and I are no longer sharing a car."

Maria and I ended up going out for a food that was rare in Italy. We had American styled pizza at Pizzeria Florida with all of my friends.

Everything was going great. I have to admit to feeling weird when Todd asked the question that had been on everyone's mind.

"Is there something going on between you two?" he asked.

Without missing a beat, Maria, said "Duh."

Which was followed quickly by a rousing, "So be it!"

It was another awesome evening. We ate, we danced and we laughed. In the middle of a dance that found Maria and I rubbing against each other as if there was no tomorrow, I felt a buzzing.

She pulled out a phone. "Michael, why are you calling me?" she asked angrily. She turned away from me and began speaking in low tones.

I waited for a while and then for no reason, I walked out of the restaurant. Once outside, the coolness of the air had a weird effect on me.

I walked back to the hotel and found myself in my room. I had been so busy playing race car driver that I had ignored my life from back home.

As soon as I turned my phone back on it connected and there were at least fifty text messages from Maddie. There were also an alarming number of voicemails.

For a moment, I wondered what to do. I decided to let Maddie convince of what to do.

I accessed the video cameras from the security system again. It must have somehow gone back to the footage I'd seen before because the conversation was ... I froze.

I was still listening to Maddie talking to Nancy, but they were wearing completely different clothing.

I zoomed in and put on my headphones. Nancy seemed to be doing all of the talking. I heard her saying that Maddie had been begging for sex and she'd gotten it. I was so angry I could barely see.

Again I found myself turning off the live feed to roll back to previously recorded material.

Having done it before I was able to find what I was looking for much more quickly.

The party was in my living room this time. I watched long enough to know that Maddie wasn't drinking this time. She definitely knew what she was doing, there were no excuses.

If anything the second time was worse. Instead of just lying there and letting them fuck her, Maddie was an active participant.

She begged the guy with the huge dick to fuck her and make her pregnant. She told him that her pussy belonged to him.

There's something about seeing the woman who vowed to be with you for the rest of your lives giving her-self, willingly to other men.

Those guys who are into wife swapping or sharing are insane. I knew that I could never touch Maddie again under any circumstances. My marriage was over. There was no going back.

As I watched her being fucked by three different men, with their sperm streaming out of her stretched out pussy, I wondered again how I ever married her.

I ripped the ear buds out of my ears. I saved the video again. Even if it couldn't be used in court, it would help me to get free of that whore.

I was having trouble breathing. I willed myself to take slow calming breaths and then she was there.

I felt Maria's arms around me. I felt her strength and her love surrounding me. She pressed herself against me and we fell onto the bed.

The next thing I knew we were kissing. At first they were gentle seeking kisses. They grew in intensity until I felt like I was losing control.

I wanted her more than anything in my life. Those breasts that had been in front of me the whole week were mine for the taking. The pussy I had caught a glimpse of through the slit in my robe was probably already wet.

Maria was moaning loudly. She looked almost angry when I sat up.

"Reid get your ass back down here," she hissed.

"We're not doing this," I said.

"Why not?" her voice was almost a growl.

"Don't you want me?" she asked. The growl had become a purr.

I pulled out my phone and held it up to her face.

"Ugh you're watching porn ...?" she groaned.

"That's my home security system," I said. "Apparently Maddie did it again."

"So doesn't that mean we can do it?" she asked.

"No, Maria," I said. "We're different. I don't want to make love to you for the first time because I'm pissed at Maddie. Or maybe because my ego is hurt because three guys ran a train on my wife."

I took her hands in mine. "Maria, I am really confused right now. I guess I should be more hurt than I am, but the truth is that I no longer care what Maddie does.

At the same time I keep going back to what Sarah said about you wanting to just drive and have a little fun. I guess sometimes I feel like that's all I am ... Just a little fun." She set her lips to say something and I stopped her.

We've only known each other for a short time, Maria, but I love you more every day. I already love you enough that I got jealous back there. You know in the restaurant when you started talking in concerned tones to that guy on the phone. I mean, I have no rights when it comes to you but it seems funny that I got angrier about you talking on the phone than I did over my wife having a gangbang in my house.

And you're divorced, Maria, but I'm not YET. I don't want you to be that woman who sleeps with married men. You're better than that.

And lastly, I don't know how you feel about things between us... But if this turns out to be just a summer fling ... I don't want you to look back on us and regret having done it."

"Reid, you're an idiot," she began.

"Ahhhhp," I said. "I want you to really think about what I said. So you don't get to reply for twenty four hours."

"Oooh boy, Reid Richards, tomorrow night I'm giving you a piece of my mind," she said. She got up and changed into her night clothes.

"Unh unh!" she said. "Get your ass over here, mister. Maybe we aren't going to have sex tonight, but we are definitely sleeping together."

I wrapped my arms around her and we settled in to fall asleep. I vaguely remember her saying something to me as I drifted off.

"I love you too, dummy," she'd said.

The next morning we were in the midst of a flurry of activity. We both got all access passes so we could hang around the pits during the race. No one else in our group got them. I got to do a couple of laps in the car to familiarize myself with the huge track.

The race was an endurance race. They use them to test out equipment and set ups that can make the F1 cars better and more dependable.

My job was to be ready in case one of our team of drivers went down. In other words I was the second alternate.

The crew chief, Derrick, laughed at my nervousness. He told me that the chances of me going in were extremely slim. No contest winner in the past eight years had ever gotten to drive.

Maria and I sat together with her on my lap watching the cars whiz by.

"Michael, the guy on the phone is my ex-husband," she said. "The concern in my voice is because he isn't handling our divorce well.

His life is falling apart. He lost his job and his former secretary kept hers. She's screwing her new boss too.

He wants me back. The concern you heard in my voice was because he threatened to kill himself.

You left before I could tell him that I already belonged to someone else."

"It hasn't been twenty four hours yet," I smiled.

"Reid, you said that you didn't want me to be that woman who's sleeping with a married man, right?" I nodded.

"Honey, I already am and I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks. I think that you spend too much time trying to be the good guy. You're an awesome husband. But it didn't stop that whore you married from screwing a bunch of guys as soon as you left town did it?

I want us to enjoy every God damned second we have together whether it's the rest of the tour or the rest of our lives."

"I'm not listening to you," I said. "It hasn't been twenty four hours. La la la la."

"I love you Reid," she said and then she planted her lips on mine.

"Reid, get that woman off of you. You're gonna have to drive," said Derrick suddenly.

As we walked toward the pits where I would take the car when it came in he was full of advice.

"Don't be nervous," he said. "Ari, our second driver has a bad case of the shits. Clint has been in the car for six hours straight. I just need to get him a breather. You won't be out there long. Your job is just to keep running laps. Don't worry about positions. Just do the best you can. It'll probably only be for two or three laps. We'll take some pictures for you."

And then the car pulled in. Clint jumped out and I jumped in. I pulled out onto the track and started running laps.

At the end of my second lap Derrick came on the radio.

"Reid you're doing great," he gushed. "We haven't lost a single position. Do a couple more laps."

Two laps later he told me to keep going. After an hour my ass was killing me. I drove two more laps and they flagged me in.

"I could have done more," I said.

"Trust me," he said. "I was going to leave you out there. But you have some kind of emergency."

"Where's Maria?" I asked. I looked around and saw Jackie with a concerned look on her face.

"Your Girlfriend just left a minute ago," said Derrick. "She said she'd be right back. I think she needed something to eat. She's been watching you the whole time. She needed a break."

"Reid," said Jackie. "Here, take my phone. You have to call your friend Kyle."

I dialed Kyle's number and couldn't wait to tell him about my adventures.

As soon as he answered the phone he started. "Reid get your ass home ASAP," he said. "Maddie was in an accident. It's bad, Reid."

"I have you on the first plane out," said Jackie. "Since this is a legitimate emergency, we'll refund the rest of your fees. Reid, you're a great guy. I know things got onto the wrong foot with us, but please come back next year."

She seemed genuinely sorry.

"Jackie, I need a big favor," I said. "Please give Maria my phone number."

"I promise," she said.

I ended up having a couple of layovers. It took me two days to get home. I went straight to the hospital.

Almost everyone I knew was there. My mom was sitting with Maddie's mom and dad. Kyle was there too. My dad had passed away a few years before. But Maddie's sister and her husband were also there.

They all got up when I walked in. I greeted them and asked what had happened. No one seemed to know.

The only thing anyone knew was that Nancy and Maddie had been going somewhere and had been in a car accident.

Nancy was driving and she'd broken her left arm and had also sprained her neck. Her airbag had protected her from more serious injuries.

Maddie had a severe concussion, several facial lacerations and damage to her thoracic and lumbar spine. Apparently Maddie's spine had been impacted into her pelvis and created a fracture there. Due to the severity of the pelvic fracture, Maddie might eventually have a hip replacement. She also had several broken ribs.

Maddie hadn't regained consciousness yet. The doctors were very concerned about the spinal and pelvic damage and whether or not Maddie would be able to walk again.

I sat in Maddie's room for two and a half days, only leaving when the nurses kicked me out. She opened her eyes just after lunch time on the third day.

"This is why I hate cars," she said. She looked at me to see my reaction. "I love you, Honey. I'm so glad you're home." I got up and called her mother who drove straight over.

I went and visited Nancy to hear her side if what happened.

"How did it happen?" I asked her.

"Uhm what did Maddie say?" she asked back.

"I didn't ask her yet," I said. "I wanted to hear your lies first."

"Reid, why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

"Are you going to answer my question?" I asked. "And where were you going at that time of night?"

"Reid you should talk to Maddie, first," she said.

"Okay, Nance," I said. "From now on you are no longer welcome at my house. When I leave the room, I'll be telling the nurses that you are not allowed to visit Maddie and she doesn't have her phone with her."

"Reid, what's wrong with you?" she asked. I didn't answer her I just walked out of the room.

I spent the rest of my vacation time sitting in Maddie's room. We didn't talk much. Well she did, I just barely answered her.

Even when I returned to work after three weeks, I followed a pattern.

While I was at work, either my mom or Maddie's mom was with her all day long. They both thought that I was angry at Nancy because she was the driver and thereby responsible for Maddie's injuries.

"Reid, you have to forgive Nancy sometime," Maddie told me. I just looked at her.

Maddie had another three weeks before her pelvic fractures would be healed enough for her to try to stand.

"Reid, are we ever going to talk?" she asked.

"What would you like to talk about?" I asked her.

"Why you're angry at me," she said. "I know that you're pissed because you had to cut your dream vacation short, Honey."

I just walked out of the room.

A few days later, she tried again. This time the mothers were in the room.

"Guess what, Reid," she said cheerfully. "All of my test results are in. My spinal cord isn't damaged. So as soon as my pelvis and my two cracked vertebrae are healed, I'll be able to walk again. I may have a slight limp, but they say that therapy can make that barely noticeable.

"That's great," said my mother.

"And ... Honey, the doctor says there was absolutely no damage to my equipment down there," she smiled. "So except for a slight delay we can start making babies on schedule. We might even be able to start practicing soon."

"Amen," yelled Maddie's mom.

"That's strike two," I said leaving Maddie puzzled.

A few weeks later, she was heavily into her physical therapy. She was walking by using a walker and had been moved back into our house.