A Kiss is Just a Kiss

Word travelled around John's workplace that he was now a free man, and single women from the ages of 25 to 65 made sure that John, who had always kept himself in good condition, knew they were available. On the few times he stopped off at a favorite watering hole, he didn't lack for company. It took a while, but John occasionally took advantage of the "abundance of riches." Over time, the hole in John's soul healed and life returned to a more even keel.

The McClarys divorce didn't go near as smoothly as the Monteros, but 18 months later, Traci and Aaron tied the knot. The two Montero children didn't warm up to Aaron and mostly stayed with John when they were home, while the McClary kids only stayed with Aaron and his new wife every other weekend. Traci tried her best, but never really warmed up to Aaron's children. In time, that actually proved to be the smaller problem for the pair. While Traci loved being Aaron's "work wife," being his full-time wife seemed to wear thin after several months. Traci wasn't sure if the problem was just missing John, overexposure to Aaron or the fact that she really did need the variety of two men. No matter the cause, three years later the pair divorced.

******

At 52, John was still in good shape, although his dark brown hair was streaked with gray. He had little problem attracting female company, and had one or two dates every week. He had stopped off at his favorite watering hole for a sandwich and a couple of drinks after a tough day at the office. He was seated at the bar, just starting on his sandwich when he heard a familiar voice just behind him.

"Hello, stranger, mind if I sit here?"

John didn't have to turn around to know that the voice belonged to his ex-wife. He swallowed hard.

"What are you drinking, Traci?" he said as he gestured her to sit.

"The same as always, John. I know you didn't forget."

"Cal, a Chablis for the lady, please. On me."

As the bartender served the wine, John took the first look at his ex-wife in almost five years. Her blonde hair was a couple of inches longer, her waist line was a couple of inches wider, crow's feet had formed at the corner of her eyes, but she was still a damned good-looking woman, John had to admit to himself.

"How about we call a truce for Katie's wedding, John?" Traci asked.

"I didn't know we had hostilities going on," John replied.

"Until one minute ago, you haven't said the first word to me since the divorce," Traci related. "You don't show up at family events. You even stayed away from Katie's engagement party. Our oldest is getting married next year, and you have to be there and be present.

"It's important to her, John."

"If it's important to Katie, then it's important to me. I will be there and do whatever I need to do for her. You guys make the plans, I've got the expenses covered."

Traci gave John a sad smile.

"I remember when you felt that way about me, John. I don't know how I could have been so foolish as to ever take you... your love... for granted."

John reached out his right hand. Traci put her left hand into it.

Before she left the bar two hours later, Traci got John's cell number. The pair agreed to do their best together to make Katie's wedding as memorable as possible.

Three weeks later, John met Katie and his ex for a lunchtime wedding meeting. The meeting went well, and as John was getting ready to head back to work, almost reflexively he asked Traci out to dinner for the upcoming Friday night. Traci beamed and Katie looked a little more than surprised, raising her eyebrows at her father.

Traci's version of the proverbial "little black dress" took John a little by surprise when she answered her door Friday night.

"Whoo... very nice," Mrs... McClary," John stammered.

Traci's immediate smile morphed into a look of guilt.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it came out," John said.

"I'm sorry, too. I let you down. Hell, I let me down," Traci added.

Dinner was at one of the city's best Italian restaurants, followed by an art showing at one of the galleries in the city. The pair mostly talked about their children, and some about what each had been up to since their divorce. Traci told John that after her divorce from Aaron, she moved over to the university's business department, which after 20 years with the English department, was like being divorced from an extended family.

"When I do something stupid, I really do it big," she said sheepishly.

Both enjoyed the evening, and Traci offered John a drink when he walked her to the door. He politely declined, saying, "maybe next time."

The comment didn't escape Traci, who smiled widely.

On their third date, Traci was successful at enticing John into her bed. She found a more experienced, more aggressive John, with some new tricks in his bag. She screamed through several orgasms as he used first his fingers, then his mouth. She got off one final time right before John got his own.

"I gave this up for what?" Traci mumbled as she came down.

John realized that Traci was asking herself a rhetorical question and had the good grace not to answer.

John and Traci went out twice more over the next few months and both times wound up in bed together. While John viewed the evenings as little more than booty calls with a beautiful old friend, he knew that Traci was beginning to see the dates as much more. Katie confirmed this the next time she and John had lunch.

"You do realize that Mom thinks you two have a shot at getting back together, don't you?" Katie asked pointedly after the pair had been seated in the restaurant. "She's as giddy as a schoolgirl. Your conjugal visits have given her the impression that you actually care."

"But she knows that I'm still dating other women. I've told her that repeatedly. I've never lied to your mother, either then or now. She's a beautiful woman, a sexy woman. I'm not above taking a sexy woman to bed. I'm a healthy man."

"Okay, Dad, I get it. But this is the woman who thought she could have two husbands and that you'd go for it. She's already shown that she might not have the best judgment when it comes to her sexual relations."

"Message received, Babe. I'll back off."

Traci hinted at being asked out several times over the next few months, but John kept his promise to Katie, in part because he found the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. To be truthful, she found him, sending him sprawling at the local supermarket one Saturday when she hit him with her shopping cart.

"What the...?" John cried as he fell to the floor at the local Kroger store after being hit by another cart.

John looked up to see a tall, thin blonde woman about 50 years old with her hand in front of her open mouth looking down at him.

"Oh, my lord, I am soooo sorry," the angular blonde said. "I was looking for some saffron while I was still pushing the cart and I wasn't watching..."

John practically bounced up off the floor.

"Hey, no harm, no foul!" he practically yelled. "I'm good!"

Green eyes started to tear up as John spoke. Without thinking, he scanned the woman's left hand for signs of a ring. He smiled to himself when he saw the hand was free of jewelry.

"Some guys will do anything to meet a pretty woman. I'm one of them. I'll admit to being shameless," John said.

She dried those green eyes with her sleeve and came back grinning broadly.

"Hello, Shameless. I'm Rhonda. Rhonda Shires, actually."

Rhonda turned out to be a 50-year-old who divorced her husband of 20 years for cheating 10 years previously. She had been dating off and on, but hadn't been in a serious relationship since the divorce. While she felt bad after running into John, she quickly admitted to herself that it might have been the best thing she had done in some time.

"He's a hunk," she thought to herself as John bounced up.

John and Rhonda had their first date a week later. The date was supposed to have been dinner and a movie, but the pair was having such a good time talking they ditched the movie idea and went to a quiet bar for some drinks, dessert and more talk.

That first date led to a half-dozen more, and the pair got busy on date number four. Rhonda was completely overwhelmed when John ate her to a half-dozen orgasms, screaming unintelligibly during the act.

"Unless this guy's Jack the Ripper, why would any woman have turned this guy loose?" Rhonda asked herself as she drifted off to sleep in John's arms.

John asked Rhonda to be his date to Katie's wedding three months later. Traci admitted to Katie that she was hoping John would take her as his date.

The wedding went off without a hitch. The bride was beautiful, and both of her parents were incredibly proud. Sitting at the "family table," with Rhonda, Traci and Katie's godparents, Robert and Syl Morton, John was the perfect host, making sure the conversation and laughter, along with the champagne, flowed all night. He also made sure to dance with all three women at the table several times during the evening.

It was late into the reception when John and Rhonda came off the dance floor hand-in-hand, as usual, before Rhonda excused herself to visit the restroom. Before she left, she leaned in close to John, whispered something into his ear while touching his cheek and gave him a peck on the lips. Rhonda's eyes glowed as she moved off, and John's were glowing as he sat down, Traci noticed.

"I really hate to be the one to say this, but you need to put a ring on that woman's finger, John," Traci said as the Mortons, old family friends, looked on with smiles on their faces. "I once had a wise old acquaintance tell me that the devil was in the details. Love is not in the kisses hot enough to melt steel; it's in the comfortable, soft ones. It's in the little touches of the fingers, the soft caresses.

"A few months ago when we dated several times I thought I had a chance to win you back, but upon further reflection after those dates, I noticed that we never touched softly like we did when we were married. I realized then that our relationship was never going to be special again. But as I watch you and Rhonda, I see exactly what my friend was referring to: the little touches, the little intimate kiss. She loves you, John, and you love her. Put a ring on her finger, John, and ride off into the sunset with her. You will have my best wishes, and everybody else's, too."

As Traci finished talking, Robert was filling everyone's champagne glasses.

"To John and Rhonda and riding off into the sunset!" he toasted.

As Rhonda approached the table, John rose and gave her a peck on her lips.

"If I might be so bold," he said loud enough for the entire table to hear. "I'd like to ask the future Mrs. Montero for this next dance."