A Long Time Coming

She looked great in what I would call a "mom version" of the proverbial little black dress, as it was about one inch above her knees and shared just a hint of her large chest. I tried not to be too obvious as I looked, because I knew her son was watching me.

Maybe because Molly was raising a teen, she seemed very tuned in to a younger person's world despite her age. It took me about five minutes to kind of get comfortable with the whole thing, but after that it seemed just like any other date I've ever had. We enjoyed a delicious meal and then went to a concert put on by the local philharmonic. Not the wildest date I've ever been on, but good enough that I knew I wanted to try this again.

Maybe it was because of her age, but I was a little timid about making a sexual move on Molly. She was certainly sexy enough, but something about her intimidated me, for lack of a better word. She obviously noticed something was a little off, though, and she broached the subject head-on on our sixth date. We did a bourbon and barbecue night and then hit a country-western dance club for some line dancing. Neither of us had ever line danced before, but we really had a great time learning from the veterans at the club.

I had my hands on Molly all night long, and I know she could pick up on the vibrations of the night, but I was again struggling with just how I was going to get things rolling when Molly put her hands behind my head and pulled me in for a smoking-hot kiss. Her body was plastered up against me, and I know she could feel my dick harden.

"I know you're worried about my age, Stevie, but I'm not going to break a hip. We need to end this night horizontally," Molly stage-whispered.

An embarrassed smile split my face from ear-to-ear. I took her hand and led her out of the club.

Ten minutes after we hit my apartment, I had my head between her legs and was licking and sucking for all I was worth. Molly might have been the oldest woman I've ever bedded, but she was incredibly energetic and knew how to use her experience.

"Ahhh fuck Stevie! Ahhh!" she cried out on her first orgasm.

I gave her several orgasms that way before I gave her one fucking her missionary and a second doing her doggy. Just when I thought we were done, she took my soft dick in her mouth and got me hard again, then she rode me cowgirl with wild abandon. God, I loved watching those big boobs bounce up and down. Her bucking explosion pushed me over the edge.

A wedding invitation showed up in the mail about a year later and pulled me up short. Seems that Allison had graduated about a year before, and she was marrying the man she had been involved with for her senior year in college. We had stopped emailing each other and I lost track of her. She now lived in Illinois, but the wedding was going to take place in New York, where her parents still lived.

I took Molly with me and explained how everybody fit in to this neighborhood celebration, because that's what it really was. My parents were there, Big Ed, Barb and Laura were there and Traci and her parents were there.

Drew Goldstein seemed like a nice enough guy, but it took a lot of inner reflection to be happy for Allison. I never really got over my feelings for her, but it just wasn't to be. Shit happens, move on.

Still, I probably didn't make either Allison or Drew happy when she introduced him to me the first time a couple of days before the wedding. We had that history, and I was probably as close to an older brother as she had.

"I'm very happy for you, Drew, but hear me, and hear me good," I said tersely while keeping a smile firmly in place, "If you hurt her, I'll break your nose. Got it?"

Both Allison and Drew seemed a little taken aback by my statement. Drew was smart enough to nod his understanding as I shook his hand.

I was told later by Laura that Big Ed approved of my threat.

Traci apparently finally got over me. She showed up with a husband in tow and a pregnant belly. He looked like a reject from a '60's biker movie, and neither Joyce nor Tim Batson seemed very pleased with him. Traci and I barely spoke the whole weekend, but we were civil when we did.

Molly and I never committed to being exclusive, and I knew she went out with others while I chose not to. We never discussed others until a few months after Allison's wedding when Molly made a sumptuous Irish meal and told me she had some news for me. Seems that she had been going out with a nice guy a couple of years older than herself almost the entire time she had been dating me, and he started talking exclusivity. She figured that she owed me that information.

I wasn't totally surprised at the announcement and I certainly couldn't fault her if she wanted to go with a surer thing. Also, the two of them probably shared more commonality.

She started to get emotional and I think she started to apologize, but I gently stopped her.

"Never apologize for doing what is right for you, Babe," I said. "You were always completely upfront and honest with me. If you want commitment and he can and I can't, then that's on me. You're a beautiful woman and a wonderful soul. I hope everything works out wonderfully for the two of you."

I really did mean what I said. I got up from the table, gave her a very tender kiss on the cheek and left.

My mom gave me the somewhat sad news of Allison's divorce in a conversation about five years later. I say somewhat sad, because in truth I still had some feelings for the woman, but in reality it's always sad when someone's marriage goes belly up. To my way of thinking, you marry a person thinking it's going to be a lifetime commitment, and when it turns out not to be, that's devastating. I felt bad for her, but didn't try to contact her because we didn't keep up with each other.

I was more than a little surprised when I got a text from Allison about six months later. It read, "U out there?" I guessed that she was unsure if I still had the same phone number. I was pretty surprised to see whom the text was from, but I didn't respond for about three days. Finally, I responded with a non-committal "Yes."

Another three days passed before I got a phone call one evening.

"Got a few minutes for an old friend?" she asked. "I really need to spend some time with a non-relative or a girlfriend trying to make me feel better. I know we haven't kept in touch much through the years, but you've always been honest with me and you make me laugh. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a good laugh."

Never having been a beautiful woman, I didn't realize how tough Allison had it in the years since we parted. Always having her choice of dates in college and after, being invited to all sorts of events and outings, it must have been exhausting. Then when she married Drew, the handsome son of a prominent Illinois financier, it seemed that the good times would continue forever as they both got good jobs in his father's company and were enjoying a very comfortable life in a new house in a suburb of Chicago. The story went south when she found out that Drew had been cheating on her for at least a year with the daughter of an old family friend.

I agreed to drive to Chicago for a long weekend to provide a shoulder for her to lean on. I know she sounded distraught on the phone, but I was shocked when she appeared at the door of her apartment in a bad area of town. She looked like she hadn't eaten or showered in days and her eyes looked haunted. What happened to my little chicken fighting buddy? She looked like shit. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open, and that's when she started to cry.

Like most guys, I am totally clueless in the presence of a crying female. All I could think to do was wrap my arms around Allison and walk her back into the apartment. We spent the next two hours on her ratty sofa as she cried into my shirt and haltingly told me her tale of woe.

Allison threw Drew out of the house when she discovered the cheating, but then Drew's father got involved. Allison hadn't really read the pre-nup she signed with Drew, and nine months later Allison was divorced and living in this apartment, with no job and very little life left.

Drew's father made sure his HR department ruined any chance Allison had to get a good job in the area, and she was working in a dry-cleaning shop.

Allison and I talked a lot Friday evening and all day Saturday. While we hugged when I first got to her apartment, the most physical thing we did after that was hold hands occasionally while we talked. It just didn't feel right. It also didn't feel right seeing Allison the way she was and how her life was going. I needed to get her a clean break, so I reached out to the one man I knew who cared more for Allison than I did.

I explained the situation as I understood it to Big Ed, and he promised me he and Barb would be in Chicago the next morning to take Allison back home to upstate New York. When I told Allison that news, she just about ripped my ears off, but I knew it was the right move. As I helped her pack up her few meager belongings, she still called me every name in the book.

"I'm a 30-year-old woman. I don't need to be treated like a 5-year-old girl; you dick!" was among the nicest things she said to me as I helped her pack on Monday.

I kept in touch with Allison weekly through Big Ed and Barb. Allison steadfastly refused to talk to me.

My life went on. I dated several women, including one for almost a year. I was close to asking her the question when she told me that she had met someone she wanted to date, and didn't want to cheat on me, so we needed to break up. I told her I appreciated the honesty, and got my deposit back on the engagement ring I had purchased.

About six months after sending Allison back to New York, I took a couple of days off and went to Chicago for a weekend. I had done some homework, and was waiting next to Drew Goldstein's Mercedes when he got off work Friday afternoon at five. He didn't seem to remember me at first as I approached him in the parking lot, but just as I got into his space, I saw the light of recognition flash in his eyes. It was too late for him to get his hands up, however, and I launched into him with every ounce of strength my 6-foot, 180-pound frame had. I felt his nose explode and blood flew everywhere as he hit the deck.

"I warned you what would happen if you hurt Allison. Apparently, you forgot. I didn't," I said quietly.

Interestingly, although there were a lot of people in the parking lot who saw me clock Drew, not one made a move to help him or stop me from walking away. I'm guessing the boss's son was just not that popular.

I was back in Indiana just a few hours later, but I still expected the police to show up at my door because of my assault on Drew. I was surprised when it didn't happen. I was also surprised two weeks later when I got a phone call from Allison.

"A little birdie told me that you re-arranged Drew's nose a couple of weeks ago," Allison said. "I thought you were just being an asshole when you threatened him all those years ago. Now I'm not sure just how to thank you.

"Dad said he will be sending you a bottle of Glenmorangie 18-year-old, by the way."

I had a suggestion as to how Allison could thank me, and I took a week's vacation to help facilitate that. We spent a big portion of that week together, and by the time I left to return to Indiana we were a monogamous but long-distance couple.

We did the long-distance thing for about six months before she moved to Indiana to live with me. Big Ed and Barb weren't totally comfortable with those arrangements, but considering our history they gave us some slack. It was only for about a year, though, as Allison accepted my marriage proposal two months later, and we were married about 10 months after that.

I love irony, so we were married exactly 17 years to the day of our first date: my prom.

Epilogue:

It might have taken us a long time to get together, but as they say, something good is worth waiting for. Allison and I just celebrated our 30^th anniversary at a party hosted by our two children, Eddie, and Rosalie, and their spouses. Everything hasn't always been perfect, but it's been as close as I probably deserve.

By the way, we get a Christmas card from Traci every year. She's on her fourth husband and has four kids spanning 25 years. Although I didn't know it at the time, somebody up there was looking out for me.