Circumstances, Regret, Reunion

After dropping his shirt to the floor, he leaned back onto her, letting the fingers of his right hand resume caressing her through the cloth covering her womanhood, while his left hand took firm control of her wrists, holding them firmly above her head. He knelt in and engulfed her mouth with his own, kissing her deeply.

As his fingers brought her closer to climax, she moaned into his mouth and tugged at her arms. He tightened his grip on them, causing her to become more excited at the thought of being dominated by him.

His fingers worked her steadily, then he placed them beneath her pajama bottom, and onto her panties. They were thoroughly soaked from the juices his kneading had elicited, and she knew she would come soon.

He worked her this way for a moment, feeling her build toward climax, his own troubles forgotten as this beautiful friend sucked on his tongue and moaned into his mouth.

He began to slip his fingers beneath her panties, moving toward her trimmed mound. His mouth left hers and started toward her breasts.

"I can't last much longer." She stammered.

"I know. Let go lover....cum..." He replied, as his lips covered her left nipple.

Just as his fingers found her opening, and he prepared to slip them into her, his daughter began crying from the guest bedroom.

He immediately stood, wiped his fingers on the bedspread, grabbed his t-shirt and started toward the sound of his crying daughter.

She began coming down from the pleasure of the impending orgasm, and watched as he put on his t-shirt, and buttoned his jeans before exiting the bedroom.

She waited in the bed for ten minutes, listening to him comforting his child. She quietly got out of the bed, buttoned her own blouse, and silently went into the living room. She stood at the door, and watched Steve silently, as he rocked his young daughter back to sleep, singing the 'hush little baby' lullaby to her quietly.

Amy looked at his back as he comforted the child, watching him slowly get her to drift back to sleep. After five minutes, she retreated silently back to her bed, crawled in, with her back to the door.

She wiped tears from her eyes, and settled under the sheet. After a few minutes, she heard him come to her door. She breathed through mouth to hide the sniffles that had developed from the crying. She was now certain he would not return to her bed.

She heard him stop at the door. For a moment she could feel him watching her. Then, she heard him sigh slightly, and leave the door.

She silently cried as she heard him settle in on her couch, and after about an hour, she drifted off to sleep. The last thing she saw was her bedside clock that read 12:59 AM.

The next morning, a Saturday, she awoke at 7. She went into the living room to find Steve gone, the sheets and blanket he had put on the couch neatly folded. She teared up a little, then went into her second small bedroom, and saw the bed where his daughter had slept also made.

She went into the kitchen and found a two word note left on by her coffee maker.

"I'm Sorry..." was all it said

she sat at her table, and stared at the note.

She felt someone shaking her.

"I'm sorry." She murmured, as she came awake in the Richmond airport, with a gate representative gently shaking her. The young lady was gently prodding her awake.

She felt groggy, and realized she had been dozing and dreaming. She also felt sexually aroused by the dream of a long ago happening.

The young airline rep, realizing she was fully awake now said "Ma'am, I understand you are waiting for flight 321 to Denver."

"Yes." Amy said.

"Ma'am, Denver's airport is closed due to another snowstorm there. All flights have been cancelled for tonight. I would suggest you book a hotel room before they are all taken. It is beginning to snow here in Richmond as well."

"Thank you miss." Amy replied, her mind moving toward a different resolution.

"You're welcome Ma'am. May I help you with your carry-on?"

"No thank you. I have to get back to the rental agency."

"For a car? The storm is almost here, and they are expecting it to get bad quickly."

"Thank you. I understand that. But there is something I have to do since my flight is cancelled. I will reschedule my flight."

With that, Dr. Amy Kriegler stood, grabbed her small carryon bag, and headed for the car rental section, the image of a note in her head.

"I'm Sorry" she said under breath.

She noted the time as 6:45, when she went to retrieve retrieved her one suitcase from the cancellation. She retrieved it, and rolled it across the street to the car rental agency, and rented a car, this time a dark blue Toyota Camry. It was 7:30, and full on dark and snowing fairly hard when she started the car. She retrieved a Whalen properties business card with Peggy the receptionist name on it, and looked at the handwritten address on the back. She put the address in the cars GPS, and set off in the snowstorm from the Richmond airport.

He lived on the outskirts of the city, normally about a twenty minute drive, but with the weather, it took 45 minutes.

She pulled into the cul-de-sac that was her destination, Steve Briggs home.

She parked the Camry just before the street rounded itself into a cul-de-sac, and sat there watching his house. She saw him look outside from his front door window, and froze, wondering if he could recognize her at that distance and lighting. She breathed a sigh of relief when he retreated away from the window.

She felt flushed and excited. Since the death of her husband six years previous, she had only had casual relationships with a few would be suitors. None had gone beyond friendship, and none had went into the bedroom.

She was 48 now, her business was successful, and she trembled slightly at the course of action she was pursuing. She felt almost like a teenager, waiting for her crush to pick her up for a movie, except this time she was the one who would knock on the door, and hopefully go in.

She turned the headlights off, leaving the engine running and the parking lights on.

She checked outside for passersby, and seeing no one on the snowy street, began making a few phone calls to her office manager in Chicago about the cancellation of the Denver trip.

After working out a rough re scheduling of the missed Denver symposium to later in the spring, she went over a revised schedule. She had no other symposiums to conduct for about three weeks, and advised her office manager that she may be delayed in returning to Chicago, even after the storm cleared.

After another 45 minutes, with all the business details squared away with the changes the snow storm had brought, she checked her watch, then began going through her mind what she would do and say when she rang his door bell.

She could see the lights had dimmed, and judged by the flickering lights that he was watching television.

After another 15 minutes, she put the Camry in gear, and rolled slowly into his driveway. She exited the car with her suitcase and carry on, and carefully made her way to the front door. She hoped he would not look outside till she got onto the covered stoop, as in the spotlight, he could easily see and recognize her, and she was hoping for as complete a surprise as possible.

Flushed with an eager excitement, and feeling young again, she set the bags down on the stoop, checked her watch, and reached out to ring the doorbell. It was 9:30.

Steve had turned off the light in the living room, and sat in the semi darkness watching The Man who shot Liberty Valence. He had switched off the living room light right after the start of the movie. Chester the cat had crawled into his lap and went to sleep after about 15 minutes. He checked the clock around 9:15, then took the last drink of his beer.

He contemplated retrieving the last one from the Fridge, but decided not to disturb the cat. He opened the bottle of diet green tea and sipped from it, slowly stroking the cats back.

He half watched the movie, and played the events of the day over in his mind. The slight depression he had experienced earlier gave way to a numbness as he watched Wayne, Stewart, and Marvin play out their roles in the movie. He pushed the memories of Amy into the back of his mind, both the younger woman whom he had almost bedded in a long ago moment of crisis, and the older woman who had shared a great lunch and reunion with earlier in the day, and whose visage he had masturbated too in the shower just a little while ago.

Just as Marvin's character trips Stewarts in the restaurant, his doorbell rang.

He glanced at the clock.

"9:30? Who in the world is ringing the bell on this snowy night?" He thought to himself.

He sat the cat aside, and being pissed at the rude awakening, the cat scurried off to the other side of the room, jumping up on the couch.

Steve got out of the easy chair and made his way to the door. He checked the windows, and in the spotlight, he could see a dark Toyota Camry parked behind his truck. While his truck had about three inches of snow on it, the Camry was barely covered. It was snowing very hard now, thick flakes and coming down fast.

He could not see who was on the stoop from this angle, so he turned on the front porch light and cracked the door.

He saw Dr. Amy Kreigler standing there alone, and pulled open the door. His surprise was instant, and he felt his legs lose a little strength.

She stepped back slightly, and he opened the storm door.

She smiled at him, her eyes flashing in the light.

"Surprise!" she said.

"A-Amy? What are you doing here?" was all he could muster.

"Flights canceled. Denver snowed in."

"How did you know where...?" He trailed off. "Never mind, come in, come in, and get out of this nasty weather."

His legs felt weak as he stepped aside to allow her to come in. He took the suitcase from her as she stepped past. She walked in and stopped, as the only light in the room was the little coming in from the door, and the flickering TV.

He closed the door, turned on the light switch, and then automatically took her suitcase and set it on the couch, causing the cat to meow and run off into the open door of a bedroom.

He turned and looked at her, searching for something to say. His surprise at this totally unexpected happening had thrown him off kilter. He felt as nervous as he had when he was 14 and on his first movie date.

"The flights to most of the major cities out west were delayed or cancelled around 5 this afternoon. Chicago, Denver, Des Moines....just about all." She said, breaking the silence. "I attempted to get a room at the airport hotel, but they were already booked up with other delayed travelers, so I headed here."

He blinked a couple of times, catching a glimpse of the Duke facing down Lee Marvin on the TV, but not hearing a word the actors were saying.

"How did you know my address....?? I know it is not on my business card." He replied, letting some of the joy he was trying to hide inside show in a small smile.

"Your receptionist Peggy." Amy replied, winking at him and letting her own smile come across her face.

He let out a big grin. "Why that old busybody....I was wondering why she asked me about you this afternoon."

Amy laughed at this, and began taking off her coat.

"Are you hungry?" He asked. "I can whip up a mean frozen pizza. I grocery shop on Saturdays, but their might be something I can make for you."

"Yes, I am a little hungry, and a frozen pizza would be fine." She replied, "Where can I put my coat?"

"Oh, I'm sorry....I don't get a lot of guests out here." He said, retrieving her coat and scarf, and placing them on a hangar in the coat closet.

He then returned to the kitchen entryway, "Please, sit down."

She pushed her suitcase to the end of the couch, placed her purse atop it, retrieving a small cosmetic case out of it, then sat down on the end nearest the big blue easy chair.

Steve rummaged around in the kitchen pantry and the fridge.

"Hey, would you like a breakfast supper? I can whip up some mean eggs and sausage, turkey style of course!" He asked, trying to come down from the teenage nervousness that was eating at him.

"That would be great, and thank you."

He cooked up a couple of scrambled eggs, and microwaved a few patties of turkey sausage, made her a plate, and said, "I don't have any wine, but I can offer you either milk or diet green tea."

"I will take the tea." She said, all the while watching him preparing the meal.

"Table or couch?" He asked

"I can eat them right here if that's ok."

"Sure." He said, bringing the plate and tea bottle to her. After giving her the food, he used the remote to turn the volume down on the TV. Before preparing the eggs, he had felt unsure of himself in this impromptu visit, but now, as he placed the remote on the end table and sat down in the easy chair next to it, with Amy eating her meal on the other side of the end table, just three feet away, he felt a strange calmness replace the nervous energy that had pervaded him just moments before.

In the few minutes it took her to eat the eggs and sausage, he watched the movie again, with little sound, stealing glances at this beautiful visitor from the past, sitting on his couch, in his home, with no one around.

He caught her stealing glances at him as well.

She placed her empty plate on the end table when she finished, and the two of them sat there watching the movie for a couple of minutes.

"So, is this what you do for excitement on Friday nights?" She asked.

He looked at her, smiled, and said, "This time of year, yes. In the spring and summer, I volunteer with the local little league, as a coach and sometimes an umpire, and I was in a bowling league for a while. I used to regularly work out at the Memorial Hospital's wellness center, but that has been sporadic the last four years," He rubbed his belly. "And it's showing here somewhat."

She laughed at this.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Nothing. I just remember you all those years ago talking about all the places and things you wanted to do with your kids when they got older, and how you played on the Hospital teams in basketball, softball, and I recall a flag football league."

"Yea, but that was long ago and far behind. I did take my kids on a lot of battlefield tours and such all over Virginia. I love history, and I tried to get them to love it too.

I think they do, as they always enjoyed our trips." He rolled his eyes and added "It was a good break from their mother, who did not seem interested in them at all."

"Pardon me for saying this, but she seemed like a real bitch. And I barely knew her."

Steve looked at her with narrowing eyes for a second. She sensed she had said the wrong thing, but then he smiled and said, "Yes, she was. And to my knowledge, still is."

"I don't know why she was. I guess she thought she had married beneath herself. I know her mom did. But we met at a party, did the wild thing, and she got pregnant.

Did the right thing and got married I suppose, but it was never happy. I don't know why we had more than one child together, don't know why she stayed with me if she was that miserable, but those kids were what kept me going all those years...." He trailed off, his eyes slightly misty.

"And now they are gone too." She said. "You did a remarkable job it sounds like."

"Yea, I guess I did. But now, I pretty much come home to this place after taking care of all the stuff that breaks at Frank Whalen's places, and just proceed to get old I suppose." He felt odd saying things like this to this old friend and almost lover.

"Ben and I never had kids. He felt he was too old to start a family when we married." She said after a moment. "He was 43 and I was twenty seven when we married, and he did not want to be 60 and going to high school graduations, plus there was his work which took up a lot of time."

"I'm sorry for you that you didn't. They are a challenge, but well worth it." He said, looking into her eyes, trying to ascertain where this may be heading. "I bet you would have made a wonderful mother."

She blushed at the compliment. "Guess I'll never know."

"You would have." He said, smiling again looking into her face brightened by the lamp.

They again turned their attention to the movie. After a couple of minutes watching in silence, barely hearing the dialogue with the volume almost turned down, Amy arose, and took her plate to the kitchen, and placed it in the sink.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm a terrible host, I should have gotten that."

"Oh, quit being a gentleman, I'm a big girl." She replied with a laugh.

Steve grinned at this. Amy picked up a dish towel off of the stove handle as she came back into the living room and sat down. She wiped the sweat off of the diet tea bottle, and took a drink.

"That leads me to one of the reasons I came here tonight, after the snow storm cancelled flights."

He looked at her with a questioning look as she opened the cosmetic case and pulled out a folded small note and handed it to him.

He looked at it, turned it over in his hands. The small note pad paper was aged and weak along the seam. He opened it, and read the words "I'm Sorry" written in his handwriting. He recognized it from years ago.

"I have saved that all these years."

"Why?" he asked. "I thought that was why you avoided me the last year or so we worked at Memorial. Because of that night."

She took another drink from the tea bottle, replaced the cap, and then explained.

"No, I don't regret that night at all. I met you right after you started working there. You were fresh out of the service, newly married, with an infant daughter.

I fell in love with you the minute you sauntered into our nursing station on the IC floor, there to repair something. I just got the lightning bolt at that moment."

Steve shifted in his chair, feeling some embarrassment at the confession.

"I knew you were married, and yes, I could tell when things were not going well for you. Believe it or not Big Guy, there were several nurses in that hospital that would have gladly had your children."

He laughed at this and interrupted. "Yea, right."

"I'm serious. You always were easy going, and cheered up people who were often times dealing with death every day. I, and most other people there could tell when you were having troubles at home, because all that would go kind of low key when your wife would be causing you problems. I was one that hurt right along with you, rather silently, because I did not want it to be known that I was in love with you."

"Then why..." he started, but she continued.

"That night I saw you at the gas station, I knew immediately something bad was wrong. I think I told you that you could not hide hurt or lie very well. I wanted to help you out, cause remember I was in love with you."

"As I recall, you said you would not molest me, knowing I was married and all" He said with a slight grimace.

"Yes, I did. And honestly, if I had not drank so much wine that night, I may have been able to hold myself back. But the man of my dreams was there, he was hurting, and the wine kicked out all the inhibitions and taboos, and I did what I did. But I do recall you did most of the molesting." She finished with a smile.

"Yes I guess I did." He sighed. "You were too much to resist that night."

She smiled "I was young and good looking then."

"You still are, don't fool yourself. The years have been kind to you."

"Be that as it may, Big Briggs, I kept that note all these years."

"Why?

"I'm not really sure."

Steve looked at the note, reading the two words several times.

"What were you sorry about?" She finally asked, placing her head in her hands on the couch arm, her big eyes looking directly at him.