Ann: A Love Story Ch. 75

It had been another long week. My workdays weren't as long, but they had become a lot more intense. Because I had been conducting second interviews, they not only took longer, they were a lot more in depth. And that created more stress, even though I was down from the fourteen hour days I'd put in the previous week and a half, to a more manageable ten to twelve.

Another reason the week seemed so long was that Ann was supposed to be coming out for a week, and the anticipation of having her back in my arms made the hours and minutes drag on. And that was before I got the crushing news that I'd received when I got back to the hotel late on Thursday night.

I'd walked into the lobby that night in a good mood, knowing I'd have Heather at my disposal for the evening for one of her long, luxurious blowjobs, thanks to the transaction I'd made the day before in the 'sex account' game Ann had invented. But when I walked up to the front desk to check my messages, everything changed in an instant. Heather had a look on her face that told me she not only had news, but that it wasn't good.

"There's a message for you, Neil...from Ann," she said, unable to hide the fact that she was upset.

"Oh my God...is she okay?" I said in a bit of a panic.

"Yeah...she's okay...just has some bad news."

"What is it?"

"She won't be here until Saturday night. She had something come up with the wedding, and she's trying to get it taken care of before she leaves."

"What the hell could THAT be?" I asked.

"She didn't say. She just said that she needed to get it resolved now...because waiting until the week she gets back would be too late."

I sighed, knowing that it was a possibility. Ann had a couple of issues with the arrangements she was working on, with the catering and the cake, and a couple of logistical things, namely lodging for guests coming in from out of town. It got to the point that she'd warned me that she may have to delay her trip by a day or two.

Because Ann was coming out for a week, it was going to cut into the planning time for our big day. I knew she was still going to come out...she had too, to find us a place to live after we got married. Once the wedding was over, I had to move out of the hotel, so we needed a place to go. But Ann could technically drive out any week to do that, while there were things regarding the wedding that needed to be taken care of that couldn't wait.

With the news, I was a little distraught knowing that Ann was now yet another day away, and Heather knew it.

"Give me a few minutes, Neil. I'll get someone to cover me, and I'll meet you upstairs," she said, thinking that I'd want her company now more than ever.

It was a very nice gesture on Heather's part. But as wonderful as the thought was of letting Heather take away the stress of my workday and now my sudden dejection, by giving me some one of her amazing blowjobs, my mood had been forever changed for the evening.

"Thanks, Heather...but I think I'll just save that for some other time," I said as I tried to smile politely.

"Aw...Neil. I'm so sorry this happened. I know how much you've been looking forward to Ann being here."

"Yeah...I know. But I guess that will just make the reunion sex that much sweeter," I said, thinking of what my Dad called it.

"Ha...I've never heard it put like that. But you're right...I might have to clear your floor so the other guests won't complain about all the noise you'll be making."

I just smiled again and gave her a little wave. "Goodnight, Heather. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Neil. Hey, remember that I'll be here until midnight. If you change your mind, just give me a call, okay?"

"Okay...thanks," I said as started to turn the corner and head to the elevators, knowing before I took a step that I'd never make that call.

"OH! I almost forgot, Neil. Ann said to tell you that Rose is okay...and so are the Armstrong's'."

I let out a little sigh of relief, and said, "Thank God...that is such a relief!"

Heather gave me a knowing smile, understanding just how good that news was, compared to the message that Ann's arrival was going to be delayed. In fact, compared to what Heather just said, the news that I was going to be without Ann one more day didn't matter at all. This was MUCH more important.

I took another step, and stopped in my tracks. Turning back to Heather, my face contorted a little. "Wait...the Armstong's?"

"Yeah...I think she said the Armstrong's. Todd and Gracie...right?"

My eyes opened wide, and I smiled. Nodding, I said, "OH...yeah...that's right."

~*~*~*~*~*~

I stripped down to my boxers, grabbed a Heineken out of the little fridge in my room, and flopped onto my bed. Picking up the remote off the table between the beds, I turned on the television, settling back into a big pile of pillows as I tried to get my mind off of Ann. But as soon as I flipped through the channels I was bombarded with the news coverage that had been going on for a couple of days, and Ann came right back to my mind. Well, Ann...and a lot of her friends and family.

Just forty-eight hours before, I'd been in my room, eating a pizza from a local joint down the street from the hotel, my eyes riveted to the screen. I was just settling in to watch game three of the World Series, which was being featured as the Battle of the Bay, with the San Francisco Giants playing the Oakland Athletics.

It was a series that not only I found interesting, Ann was practically beside herself. The two teams that she'd followed during her ten years in Northern California were in the games' biggest showcase, facing off against each other. And as the series moved to Candlestick Park, she had said she was hoping for a Giants win, even though she was more of an A's fan. She just wanted the series to go as long as it could, and Oakland was already up two games to none.

It was a phone call I'll never forget. Ann was already in tears when I answered the phone...and I knew the instant it rang it was her. In fact, my hand was on the phone, ready to pick it up to call and console her...but I was in too much shock.

"Neil, are you watching this?" she said as I answered, trying to fight back her tears.

"Yes, babe...I can't take my eyes off it. This is so...tragic."

The greater San Francisco Bay area had been hit with a 6.9 earthquake just fifteen minutes before the start of the game; the epicenter less than 25 miles from the stadium. At first, I didn't know what had happened, other than the signal had gone out for the game for a little bit. But as the cameras came back on, and the scene started to unfold, it quickly went from being just an unusual beginning to what I'd thought was going to be a relaxing evening of sports entertainment, to a late night filled with feelings of helplessness and worry.

The images Ann and I were watching at the same time, 500 miles apart, were staggering. The television network that was covering the game was going to use a blimp to provide aerial shots of the game. Instead, it began giving immediate coverage of a natural disaster just moments after it happened. We looked on in horror as we saw buildings and homes in rubble, plumes of smoke rising from fires burning in different regions of the city, and people standing in the streets, looking on in shock.

When the blimp showed a shot of the Bay Bridge that spans San Francisco Bay, connecting Oakland and San Francisco, Ann let out a shriek.

"OH MY GOD...NEIL!"

"I see it, baby. I see it," I said, trying to calm her down. But I was having a hard time remaining composed myself. There, on the TV in my room, was a picture of the bridge, a section of the upper deck having collapsed down onto the lower deck. I felt a tear roll down my cheek, along with the shiver that ran though my body as I looked at a car stopped less than a hundred yards from the huge gap in the bridge.

That image was quickly followed by one of the Cypress Freeway in Oakland, which had also collapsed. The top portion had fallen onto the bottom, giving the appearance of fallen dominoes leaning against each other as the camera panned down the expanse of mangled concrete.

"Oh my God," Ann said, her voice cracking. "There're people under there, Neil. There has to be."

"I know, babe," I replied, my own voice strained with emotion.

When the cameras returned to scenes of San Francisco, Ann was a mess. "Oh...God. Neil...that's near where Rose's store is," she said as she started to sob. "And Sonya...she could be at the airport, or on the way home...or anywhere. DAMMIT!" she said, finally breaking down.

Ann had so many friends scattered in the general areas on both sides of the bay. Sure, her Aunt and Uncle and her immediate family were probably okay. They lived far enough away that they would likely have felt it, but not had the massive damage that we were watching pretty much as it happened. But Ann had friends everywhere, and as she'd so eloquently put it to me before, to her...friends WERE her family.

I wondered silently if any of them were at the game. I didn't bring it up, because I didn't want to cause Ann any more heartache. All I could do was hold her over the phone in a way. And she held me too. While I hadn't lived there, the people I'd met...what were now OUR friends, were on my mind as much as they were on Ann's. And the real life drama that we were unfortunately sharing brought that home to both of us.

We'd been watching for a few hours, and Ann had calmed down some. It was still emotional, but we were to the point where we were talking though the logic of what we knew, and where people might be. Ann went through a mental list of where people lived, and the likelihood of where they might be. And one conclusion that we made was that a vast majority of them were likely home, ready to watch the game. The ones that we weren't so sure about, we both said a little prayer for. And then we prayed for all of our friends.

I didn't have a time in mind of when we should end the call...Ann needed comfort, and I never looked at the clock as we talked. I knew the next day would be hard, but that didn't seem to enter the equation at the time.

Out of the blue, Ann said, "I'm so happy right now, Neil."

"What?" I said a little stunned.

"I know...that didn't sound right. I'm not thinking straight right now. What I'm stumbling to say is that I'm happy that I have you to lean on. A few hours ago, I felt my whole world crumbling right along with the city I love more than any other city in the world. I have...WE have so many friends out there...and I don't know if they're okay or not. But I have you, and I know that no matter what happens, I have you to help me get through this. I could feel you hugging me through the phone, Neil. I still do. And that lets me know that somehow, everything is going to be okay."

While we really didn't 'know', I got Ann's point. "It is going to be okay, Ann. Try to get some sleep, and we'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"I have a lot of calls to make, babe. I'll call you, okay?"

"Sure...I love you Ann."

"Love you too, baby. Goodnight." she said as she disconnected the call.

In the the hours and days that passed, I'd gotten many messages from Ann, each one letting me know that another person on our personal checklist was accounted for and okay. The morning after the earthquake, Ann began doing one of the things she did best...she started networking with her friends. She worked the phone, contacting people that she figured she could get in touch with that could not only let her know they were okay...they also might be able to tell her about other people as well.

Ann reasoned that the phone lines were already going to be overloaded with an emergency of that magnitude, not to mention the areas that were going to be without service just because of the quake itself. So, she contacted people that would have been calling people on their own. Ann was hoping that by calling key people among her California friends and family, she'd find out about others, limiting the calls she'd have to make. And she started by calling her Aunt Helen.

Helen told Ann that her related family was all okay. Helen was able to get in touch with them rather easily, since they lived across the mountains and farther away from the areas hardest hit. I had figured as much, but it was still nice to get that news.

Next, Ann called the most logical person she could think of to start finding out about our...well, our extended family. She called her California 'Mom', Billie, and her 'Dad' Alfred. True to form, Billie had been on the phone too. And she was able to let Ann know that her last roommates, Chad, Dana and the girls were fine, as well as Missy at the sex shop. In fact, all of the people that had been at the bridal shower and the going away party were fine, even though some had minor property damage to deal with.

Yes, there were a couple of close calls...most notably Sonya, Ann's friend who was an air traffic controller at San Francisco International. Sonya always took the 101 to work, which goes right past Candlestick Park on the way to the Airport. Knowing there would be a lot of extra traffic because of the World Series, she left her house early, and arrived to work just before the earthquake hit. Had she left at her normal time from Antioch, which was some 50 miles or so away from the airport between San Francisco and Sacramento, she would have been traveling over the Bay Bridge right around the time of the quake.

Taking another sip of my beer, I watched the latest updates of what was going on through the eyes of one of the news networks providing coverage. And as I did, I thought about the latest news I had gotten from Ann. I was glad to hear about Rose, who owned the photo shop in the heart of the city that we were using to develop the pictures of our adventures. Ann had many of her business cards, so I wasn't surprised that she called her. I WAS a little surprised that she got through in just a couple of days. And while I was thrilled Rose was okay, I wondered if her shop was damaged in any way.

Yet of all the messages I'd gotten at the front desk about the welfare of people Ann and I cared about clear across the country some 3,000 miles away from where I was lying, the one that surprised me the most was the word that Todd and Gracie Armstrong were alive and well. The Armstrong's were the couple we'd met at the Bed and Breakfast in Sacramento...he being the millionaire industrialist, and she being his wife; and at the time, the two of them were on a weeklong getaway of sexual adventure.

Todd and Gracie had watched Ann from the doorway of our room as she undressed for me. And they watched as I took photos of Ann as she did. We'd shared that erotic moment for a few minutes, thinking at the time it was innocent fun. But we also shared a dinner table the next morning, and I'd gone so far as to buy a rich man and his wife breakfast, because, well...it was the right thing to do. I'd even told Todd that the reason I was doing it was because I figured no one ever did...and that's what friends would do.

And no one on the sphere called Earth knew the truest definition of friendship, and exemplified all of its meanings, the way Ann did. And this was one of the best examples of that that I could remember. We'd had a brief couple of encounters with Todd and Gracie...albeit memorable ones. Yet Ann and I had both committed to being friends to them. We'd felt that connection, and we'd told them we felt that way. I'd said it because it was polite, and it felt good. Ann said it, because that's how she felt inside.

I took myself to task for a moment, thinking that I wasn't the friend I thought I was...comparing myself to the way that Ann thought and acted. And as I thought about it some more, I realized that yes, I needed to step up my game and try to be more like Ann when it came to living what I said.

But I also came to the conclusion that we complimented each other in so many ways...we rubbed off on each other. And it was Ann that rubbed off on me in the first place, which made me look to befriend Todd and Gracie from the very beginning, in some ways before she had. Ann and I had truly become...a couple.

That thought actually made me smile. At the same time, I was puzzled. "How in the world did Ann get in touch with them?" I wondered out loud.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The latest round of interviews had moved from the Vocational Training Center outside of town, back to the temporary office of Armada Manufacturing. I'd made that change on my own, because we were controlling when the people would show up, and it would make the process more comfortable. And, it gave me more support besides just Angela. But it was nice that Jeff, my boss, supported the decision, saying it was a great idea.

I walked into the office early on Friday morning still feeling a little down. I'd gotten a good night's sleep, but I was still a little depressed because I wouldn't be seeing Ann later that night. In a way, I'd set myself up for failure, since I knew she was hitting a few snags in the wedding plans. I never dreamed that anything that cropped up would really be serious enough to delay Ann's trip. So the news that it had kind of devastated me.

At the same time, I knew it was likely hitting Ann hard too. She'd been talking for weeks about how much she needed her cunt stuffed with my hard cock. Still, she'd been teasing me, talking about how many times I'd had to lick Heather or Carol's pussies, and not being able to fuck them.

In fact, we'd talked briefly on Wednesday night, when she'd called to tell about a few more friends in California that she'd reached. And she happened to call just as I was finishing eating Carol to another orgasm. Carol had slipped up the back stairs of the hotel, Heather letting her in so she wouldn't be noticed in the lobby. Carol was a little concerned about meeting me at 'my place' all the time, not wanting to give the impression that we were having some kind of affair. And that was a valid concern...which was one of the reasons Ann had limited her 'availability' to Wednesday's during the week...and Saturday's, which were a lot easier to work around.

The fact was that that was the first time Carol had been to my room since the night she and Heather were there together. Whenever we'd get together, it would be somewhere a lot less conspicuous. But Ann wasn't surprised that Carol was in the room with me. In fact, that got her mind off the events in California...and that was a good thing.

Carol was on her back on the bed...the sex bed. And she was totally naked for me. When the phone rang, I debated whether to answer it or not. But knowing the likelihood that it was Ann, I did. With Carol begging in the background, I had to tell Ann what I was about to do.

"Well don't let me stop you," Ann said bluntly.

"Okay...I'll call you back..."

"No...I'm going to talk you through this. Give the phone to Carol, and do whatever she tells you to do," Ann said playfully. So, I found myself handing the phone to Carol, before climbing between her spread thighs.

Carol giggled when she spoke to Ann, and said, "Okay...I'll do it." Looking down at me, Carol smiled and said, "Ann wants you to lick around the outside of my pussy."

Being a good listener, I did what Ann was telling me to do through Carol. I licked around the outside of her pussy, making sure I stayed away from her inner labia and her clit. And I did that until Carol gave me my next instruction.

"Middle finger of your right hand, Neil. Ann wants you to fuck me with it slowly while you bite and suck my pussy lips."

When my finger sank into Carol's wet snatch, she let out a long, sexy sigh. "God yes, Ann. It feels so fucking good," Carol said softly into the mouthpiece of the phone.