Blame it on James Brown

--

It was a Saturday morning. They were lying in bed talking, after a stupendous down-and-dirty triple play, when Dixie sadly mentioned that her niece Norma had broken up with her boyfriend.

"It's sad," she said. "She and Dicky been together since ninth grade."

"That's too bad. Who broke it up, or was it mutual?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know the whole story. But he was a sweet guy and they really seemed to love each other. Everyone assumed they'd get married someday. They made a cute couple."

"Like us?" he said with a big grin.

"Yeah, but without the salt-and-pepper vibe. I have pictures of them, I'll show you."

Dixie got up. Daniel had no real desire to see the photos, but he didn't mind watching her sweet black ass, the one he'd just fucked a few minutes earlier, as she walked to the dresser. She bent over, her asshole still wet with cum, and dug around in the bottom drawer. She pulled out a large photo album and then got back into bed beside him.

She opened the album to somewhere in the middle, turned a couple pages until she found what she was looking for.

"This was taken the night of their senior prom," she said.

Daniel looked at the two smiling teenagers, arm-in-arm. Norma with her innocent face and the same Afro she still wore, sky-blue gown and giant corsage. Dicky was handsome, thin with broad shoulders and a matching blue tuxedo with black lapels and a pink carnation attached.

"You're right, they're a good-looking couple. Is Dicky an athlete?"

"He was a heck of a running back in high school. Played three years varsity. Ran track, too."

She turned the page. "This one was taken at the beach."

The photo showed the couple from the waist up, standing on the beach with the ocean in the background. They both wore sunglasses. Dicky wore a baseball cap and his upper-body was smooth and hairless. Norma looked great. She had on a two-piece white swimsuit, and Daniel was surprised and impressed with her body: her firm tits in the skimpy top, toned arms and shoulders, and her slim, tapered torso, all in stark contrast to the white suit. She always dressed professionally and was rather demure at the office when she wasn't busting his chops about something, and had hidden it well.

Dixie showed him a few more group shots with various family members, then turned the page, paused a moment and then quickly turned the page back. Too quickly. Daniel had glimpsed a photo and it looked like Dixie with a man. He put his hand on hers.

"Why did you turn back?" he asked. "Keep going, I'm getting to know your family, I'm enjoying this."

"Let's not go there. I don't think you'll enjoy the next page."

"Huh? What do you mean? What don't you want me to see?"

"It's not that," she said, and turned and looked into his eyes. "It's just, well, I don't know, it's in the past. I should have removed those..."

"What?"

"The pictures. They are me and my husband."

"Dixie, please. I know you were married. What's the big deal? So what if I see a photo of you and your ex-husband?"

"He's not my ex-husband. Legally we are still married."

"What? I thought you were divorced!"

"I never told you we were divorced. I said it hadn't worked out."

"So, you are still married?"

She nodded.

"Are you still in contact?"

"No."

"Jesus! I can't believe it. I've been seeing a married woman. You've been committing adultery."

"Oh, please," she said. "Let's not be overdramatic. I haven't seen him for two and a half years. It's not like you're breaking up my marriage or anything. We just haven't got around to the divorce."

Daniel looked into Dixie's watery eyes. They were naked in bed, postcoital, talking about her husband with a photo album in her lap.

"Are you going to turn the page?" he asked.

She handed the album to him. He flipped the page. There was a five-by-seven picture of Dixie and her a husband, a two-shot, all dressed-up for something. But both faces in the photo were familiar.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "You're married to Bernie?"

Dixie turned and looked at him with laser eyes. "What? You know him?" she said.

"He's the reason I'm here!"

"What?"

"Yeah, he's the one who set me up with Reggie, the GM. He helped me get hired here."

Daniel explained the many months of nights in Alaska when he'd listened to Bernie's show on the radio and how he'd written to him and they began a long-distance correspondence through the mail. And how Bernie had been kind enough to invite him to visit his station in Chicago, and they had gotten to know each other a little better, and Bernie had gone out of his way to contact Reggie and set him up with an interview, and he came here and was eventually hired.

"I can't believe it, what are the odds?" he asked, rhetorically. "It never occurred to me that I might ever meet his wife, much less fall for her. Or that she might fall for me, or call me and make requests and seduce me with her sexy voice."

Dixie sat in stunned disbelief. Her eyes glistened and tears escaped. She wiped them with a corner of the bedspread.

"Can I ask you something?" Daniel said. "You and Bernie are both beautiful, warm, kind people. You are two of the greatest people I've ever met, and would seem like a great match. What happened?"

She started crying softly, and got out of bed, walked to the bathroom and returned with some tissues.

She got back into bed and hugged him.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, I did. It was all my fault." She blew her nose.

"Tell me about it."

She hesitated, took a deep breath. "Things were wonderful at first. Bernie worked at the radio station, I met him at a promotion at a shopping center. We hit it off, started dating, fell in love, got married after a year. A year after that, things were still going well, and Bernie got a better job at an FM station up in Baltimore. He tried commuting for a while, but that got old real fast because it's pretty far. I didn't see him much because he was always working and on the road, and I was doing shift work. So we got us a small place in Baltimore and we moved up there.

"I got hired at a hospital. Bernie's career had taken a step up, but mine had taken a step back. He was gaining popularity, busier all the time, doing promotions, emceeing concerts and charity events. I was young and stupid. There was this intern at the hospital. He was roughly my age, this handsome, blond-haired white boy, a rich med school kid with nice clothes and a nice car. He liked me the way I was and paid a lot of attention to me. He flirted with me, I flirted back, I was flattered, enjoyed the attention. Others could see it too.

"We had an affair, and after a while Bernie found out about it. He got really pissed-off and said some mean, hurtful things, and I did too. It got pretty ugly and we split up. And suddenly the intern was gone too, just like that, no note, no kiss goodbye, nothing. All for naught.

"So, I came back here, tried to put it all behind me, fixed up this loft and have lived here ever since. The rent's cheap and I have family close by. I should have known it would end bad, but I was dumb. I knew I was wrong, but I let it happen."

Dixie put her face close to his, their eyes inches apart. "Sorry I didn't tell you this before, Daniel. But it didn't seem relevant. It was so long ago..."

"I understand," he said. He tossed the photo album aside and held both her hands. "But I have another question. And tell the truth, because your eyes will tell me the truth even if your words don't. Okay?"

She nodded.

"Do you still love him?"

Her reaction left no doubt. First, her face cringed, as if trying to hold back her emotions. Then she cried, let it loose, and her body absorbed the tremors of her tears. He took her into his arms.

"You love him, don't you?" he said. Her nose was buried into his neck and he felt her head nodding up and down. "Say it!"

"Yes." She repeated it. "Yes."

He held her as her tears abated and she calmed down and her body relaxed.

"You need to call him," he said.

"Call him?" she asked, wiping her cheeks. "Oh no, I couldn't do that."

"What? Why not?"

"After all this time? No..."

"Dixie, you just told me you love him. You two are still married. Did you think you'd never talk to him ever again?"

"No. I don't know. I can't."

"Dixie, you can. You should. You have to."

They sat in silence for a minute, Daniel's arm around her.

"It's been too long," she sniffled. "I don't have his number. I didn't even know he had moved to Chicago."

"I have his work number. I'd bet he'd like to hear from you."

"I don't know about that. It's been a long time."

"But, maybe not too long," he said. "Don't let fear or pride hold you back, because..." Daniel cleared his throat.

"Because what?"

Now Daniel felt tears forming in his own eyes.

"Because he still loves you, too. He told me."

"He told you he still loved me?"

"Yes," he said. "We went out to a quiet bar after his shift one night and we talked for a couple hours. We talked about radio. He told me how tough the business was, and how hard it could be on marriages. He told me about his marriage, how it broke up, how he said some things he regretted. He got a little emotional as he told me. But he said he still loved you and he missed you."

Dixie looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Really? You're not making this up?"

"No, I'm not making this up, I swear. It's all true. I didn't know he was talking about you, of course, he didn't mention your name or where it had happened. But he said he missed and still loved his wife. So, if you love him, and he loves you, it would be silly to be stubborn about it. Don't you want to find out?"

"I'll think about it," she sighed. "It's kind of scary."

"I know. Nothing good comes easy."

They held each other and soon nodded off.

--

Daniel awoke two hours later and was getting dressed while Dixie watched.

"Leaving so soon?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, lacing up his Chuck Taylor All-Stars. "If I stay, I'm gonna want you again, but I don't wanna mess your mind. Or mine. You have some thinking to do."

He dug into his wallet and pulled out Bernie Blue's business card. He showed it to her, then grabbed a pen and from the desk and copied the phone number onto a slip of paper and handed it to her.

"Here's his number at work," he said. "He works the seven-to-midnight shift, Monday through Friday, in Chicago, but that's eight-to-one a.m. here. Call him. Let it ring until he picks up, you know the drill. He'll be glad you did."

He kissed her goodbye, and it was a doozy. He made sure of that.

"Call him, Dixie, you both deserve it," he said as he was leaving. "If you don't, I will. Goodbye."

His lips were tender and his dick was hard when he walked out.

--

Daniel didn't call her the following day or the day after. He gave her space, and didn't want to cloud her thinking. On the third day she called.

"I called him," Dixie said.

"How did it go?"

"Pretty good, I think."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, it took a long time to get through," she said. "When he finally answered I could barely speak, I was so nervous. We talked for a couple minutes and he put me on hold while he put on another record. He played the entire side of an album and we talked for nearly half an hour. Then after he got off and went home, he called me and we talked for another hour. I was up half the night."

"Wow, it sounds like it went really, really well."

"He invited me to go visit him. He offered to pay my way."

"What did you say to that?"

"I told him I'd think about it. But I don't think I can."

"Why not?"

"I'm not ready for that. For him to pay and stay with him, so suddenly after so long? No, I couldn't accept that."

"Then go on your own, get a hotel room, take your time to feel it out."

"I don't know, Daniel. I got my job, my car's a wreck and would probably not even make it, and I really can't afford it."

"Take time off, take the bus, and I'll help you out with the money. Problem solved. No excuses. When do you want to leave?"

Over the next several days they talked it over and over. Bernie called her a couple times. Gradually Dixie came around. Daniel could tell she was conflicted, and he and she had feelings for each other, but he knew she had to resolve her marriage issues one way or other.

Dixie had nine days of vacation and sick time saved up, so she decided to use it all. She would leave the following Thursday.

--

Thursday morning, Daniel arrived at Dixie's at five-thirty a.m. He loaded her two suitcases into his van and off they went. He was giving them time to spare. The bus was scheduled to depart at seven-oh-five, but he had to drive into the city, find the depot, find parking, and buy the ticket. Traffic was smooth at that hour, so they were downtown by a little after six, and found parking in a nearby lot. He carried her bags two blocks and found a bench in the vestibule of the Trailways bus terminal. Dixie waited while Daniel went to the ticket window.

"Here's a round-trip ticket," he said, when he returned. "You can use the return fare in two days or two years, whenever you want. Do you have some money?"

"Yes, I have some," Dixie said.

"Well, here's some more," he said, handing her an envelope. "Just in case."

Dixie looked in the envelope and saw five one-hundred dollar bills. Over twice what she had with her.

"Five hundred dollars?" she squeaked. "I can't accept this."

"Can and will," he said, and kissed her lips. "For insurance. In Chicago there are hotels near the bus station, not far from where Bernie works. Find a good one and get a nice room." He opened her purse and stuffed it in the envelope. "You should get there late tomorrow morning. After all that time on a bus, you'll be ready for a nice room." He laughed.

"Why are you doing all this for me?" Dixie asked.

"Why? Because I care about you. You're the finest woman I've ever been with and I'm going to miss you like crazy. I've missed you already these last few days. But the bottom line is you are still married, and you still love him and he still loves you. You both owe it to yourselves to find out once and for all if you can work it out. And even though I'll be the loser here, I hope you do."

Dixie took his hand and squeezed. "You truly are a gem, Daniel. I'm so lucky to have met you."

"Well, I have to be honest. If your husband wasn't Bernie, I don't know if I would be so noble. But he was so kind to me, so helpful, he stuck his neck out for me. You don't meet people like that everyday. I was just this dumb, inexperienced nobody from nowhere, but he took me seriously, and he helped me. He didn't have to do that, but he did. So I'm lucky too."

They both had tears in their eyes. They kissed like lovers saying goodbye, which they were. Daniel let his tongue wander over hers and tasted her for what he was pretty sure would be the last time.

They stood when her bus was called. They hugged, shared a final kiss, and Daniel watched her carry her bags through the portal that led her outside where buses were lined up and idling.

--

With Dixie gone, Daniel found he had much more time on his hands. He worked more weekday hours, selling ads, writing copy, working in the office. Norma had heard the story and knew why her aunt had left and where she had gone. But she was warmly sympathetic toward Daniel, which he appreciated. Usually she was kidding him or teasing him about something, and he fully expected to get the same treatment this time. She called him a couple times when he was on the air and requested 'Three O'clock Blues', but her voice was no where near as sexy as Dixie's and they would laugh and he told her to knock it off, he was trying to get some work done.

--

A couple weeks later, about ten minutes into his shift, he noticed the phone light up. He'd just put on a record so he answered the call.

"Play 'Three O'clock Blues' for me, could you?" said a husky, sexy female voice.

"Now Norma, will you cut that out!" Daniel barked into the phone.

"Norma?" she said. "What, are you screwing her now?" It was Dixie.

"Dixie!" he said. "I was wondering when I'd hear from you. How are you? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Daniel, very good. What about you? Are you screwing my niece?"

"No. No, of course not. But she's called me on the air a few times requesting that song, giving me a hard time. I like getting calls, but I told her to cut it out."

"It won't be long, I'd bet, if she's messing with you. She wouldn't bother if she didn't like you. Go easy on her."

"Oh please."

"Anyway, I called to say thank you. I'm going to be staying here, Daniel. I quit my job down there and I'm applying for jobs here. At some point we'll come get the rest of my stuff, but I'm not sure when. We're working things out. Thanks to you."

"I'm so happy for you, Dixie. You deserve it."

"Here, somebody wants to say hi to you," Dixie said.

"Hey, Daniel," came Bernie's rich, deep voice over the phone, "When I sent you down to Virginia it was to take a job, not sleep with my wife!"

"Oh, Bernie," Daniel said excitedly, "That was unintended. We didn't know. I didn't know Dixie was your wife until..."

Bernie's laughter cut him off.

"Don't sweat it, brother, I'm just messin' with the kid. Dixie told me the whole story. We'll just blame it on James Brown."

They both laughed. Dixie really had told him everything.

"Anyway, I just want to thank you for all you've done. Thank you for putting her on that bus. I know she wouldn't be here and I wouldn't have her back if not for you. I owe you one."

"Thanks for calling, Bernie."

"It's cool. Here's Dixie."

"Thank you again, Daniel. And I'll pay you back when I get a job and get some money together."

"Don't worry about it. Good luck, and thanks for calling. I'm happy for you."

"Bye, Daniel. And say Hi to Norma. And go easy on her."

Daniel hung up the phone and went back to work. He was feeling bittersweet, he didn't have the energy he usually had when he was on-air. But things turned a little more upbeat about a half hour later when his phone started flashing and he answered.

It was Norma making a request.

---------------------------