Dating Divorcees

Ray was pleased his thinking on this matched Pam's. He hoped Annie felt at least a little excited about him; he felt she'd be Mrs Right for him. Time would tell. He should remember not to screw up and to remember she was still hurt -- no Pam's description was more graphic, she still felt wounded. Ah yes, and smarting from having one's life turned on its head; he'd experienced that. The difference between Annie and him was he'd reached stage he felt relief when his wife moved to end their marriage; although by then she was not living with him he'd been too afraid to let her go. How fucking stupid!

Tokyo was a large restaurant but divided into zones by lines of booths. The area where Ray was sitting had ten tables, so it was reasonably quiet and intimate, Japanese style. He frowned thinking he'd not asked Annie did she like that cuisine. Conversation around him, although low, died. He looked up and spotted Annie being led to him, in a shimmering green strapless dress and patterned black stockings, plenty of leg showing. She looked stunning. He stood proudly and almost expected to be applauded.

Ray almost panicked and realized that was because he was so keen to do the right thing. When she reached the table should he just nod and turn a palm to indicate her chair? That was stupid, he'd be standing against a chair and there was only one other chair at the table. Should he just hold her shoulders, delicately and briefly? Oh, her grinned inanely as she came right up to him. He deepened his grin, his mind a blank. She kissed him on one cheek and then the other and was then sat.

"Are you going to join me?" she chuckled. "I thought we were to meet in the bar?"

"The bar? Oh god, I forgot I said that."

She smiled and told him to take a deep breath, that there was no need to be nervous. "I guess you are not used to dining out since...well since you know when?"

"I-I..." He didn't want to lie to her. Miraculously a waiter appeared and they decided on cocktails.

"I apologize for this dress being so sexy. Most of my clothes are still packed away. I'm still working up confidence to move out of my parent's home. I wasn't sure if pants and a top would be acceptable here."

"You looked so stunning when you entered I lost my mind."

"Oh dear, I hope you weren't thinking of having your way with me?"

Ray sat dumbly. How did one answer that?

"I see she said," pursing her lips. "Well, could I say certainly not on a first date and for that matter not anytime soon. I'm in no mood to rush into anything."

"I can understand that and totally agree. You are the one who matters to you; pace yourself."

Annie looked quite startled. "Although you are a divorcee I'm surprised you'd think like that, being male."

"I was fortunate. Pam took me under her wing and was gentle with me."

Annie colored and said, "That was very nice of her but should you be talking to me about such a relationship with Pam? It is adultery."

"Does that behavior make me evil?"

"No. Pam certainly is not evil and would be unlikely to associate with you or even have you working in her offices if she thought adversely about you."

"That's true."

"Ray, I'll be gentle with you. You are wounded."

He looked at Annie open mouthed.

"What, is my eye makeup awry?"

"No, your lovely face is fine. You just surprised me. I'd though you were the wounded one."

"That's an apt description for us both. If this works out well tonight, as I feel it will, it could be mutually beneficial if we continue dating."

"What you and me?"

"Yes, of course. I wasn't planning to set you up with someone else."

Ray sipped his vodka Martini wondering why his level of verbalization was on a part with the cockroaches in the kitchen. Some women including his mom called him debonair, but suaveness had nose-dived this evening. At that moment he knew what it was, he was in awe of her. Potentially she was so right for him and he was acting like a village buffoon. And she threw him a lifeline, a topic he could speak intelligently about even if buffoon mode.

"You described my face as lovely. Was that a throw-away line or was something on your mind?"

Ray gazed at her. "Speaking honestly, you come close to being beautiful. Your face is classically oval and your complexion is near to being olive, most suitable for your long black hair and deep green eyes. To me you are indeed beautiful."

"Oooh, a compliment. And what else have you noticed?"

"Um, how is the cocktail?"

"Good. Come on: don't be evasive. I saw you noting my breasts the other day."

"Please pull them out and I'll attempt to give you a meaningful opinion."

She giggled and said he did have humor. She'd begun to worry about that. She switched to his interest in the arts and then to recreational interests and his replies appeared to be favorably received.

"Do you enjoy sex?"

Ray looked for the arrival of wait staff with their meal but no-none was in sight. He was on his own.

"I can take it or leave it."

"Liar."

He grinned sheepishly and said he'd attempted to give the reply that could satisfy her.

"How about the truth."

"I live for it. There's nothing better; good sex makes my mind and body soar."

Annie bit her lip. So Ray told her to say it.

"Me too."

The wait staff arrived with some of their order, saving Annie from embarrassment. Whenever he looked at her she'd been looking at him and would smile before turning away. So he asked, "Have I made you feel good about yourself?"

She looked astonished and said yes and thereafter their evening went ever so well.

They went their way in separate cabs. Before parting Ray kissed her on both cheeks and then full on the lips.

"Let's try to make it happen."

"Yes," she whispered, looking at him with huge eyes.

As he was driven off Ray made fists of his hands. He resolved, nothing would stand in their way; it would happen.

Two nights later Annie called Ray, tension in her voice.

He said hi and asked was she okay.

"I think so."

He remained mute.

"My ex has called. Things are not working out for him; he suggests we have a trial reconciliation."

"Okay," Ray said slowly, thinking slow was the best response he could give her. "That could be good or bad. Would you like to discuss it with me?"

"Yes, definitely."

"Okay, do you run?"

"Yes, a bit. I rather like it."

"How far can you manage?"

"Three miles is good, providing I set the pace."

"Okay, keep calm about this Annie. What say we meet at the rowing boat sheds tomorrow evening at 6:15? We'll do the beginner's circuit -- that's 3.5 miles. Can we manage that as well as talk?"

"Yes."

"Good. Are you still looking beautiful?"

"No, I've been crying."

"Good."

"What?"

"That should tell you something. Call a girlfriend. I'm at work and will be working on an emergency until possibly midnight. I did a random audit and found our dual back-up system has failed for the past three nights. I'm doing a manual and looking for the fault in the auto system; I suspect a software blip. No data has been lost."

"I'll let you get back to your work. It wasn't a good time to call you. Sorry."

"There was great need for you to call me, and I'm glad you did."

Ray was doing stretches when Annie arrived. He saw the long legs right up to the very short running shorts and said. "Fuck me."

She laughed a little self-consciously and said, "Excuse me?"

He blushed. "Sorry, you weren't meant to hear that. I saw your legs and my response was meant to be a whisper but it emerged as a blurt."

"You are crude."

"Especially when confronted by acres of beautifully sculptured leg."

"Come on, enough flirting. Off we go."

They settled into her speed and rhythm and she asked, "Do you have anything to tell me?"

"Yes, that kiss we exchanged before getting into our cabs the other night was a kiss made in heaven."

"God, you are such a flirt."

"It gets worst Annie. After you called last night and I was waiting for the verification of the manual backup to finish I began thinking of your pussy."

"Ray, please. How can you expect me to pound pavement when you're talking to me like that?"

"And it's so politically incorrect from me to talk to you like that."

"Yes. I mean no. Oh what do I mean?"

"What you mean is I shouldn't be teasing you."

"Teasing. So you weren't thinking about my... er... pussy?"

"Young lady, I plead guilty. I was thinking about your pussy, even attempting to picture it."

Annie stopped running.

Caught be surprise Ray ran on a few paces and then walked back. She was having a blow.

"Are you okay?"

"Just catching my breath but I feel wonderful. What you said a minute ago has left me feeling like a princess. No one has spoken tenderly like that for a long time."

"But the topic offends you."

"Astonishing as it may seem, no."

Ray moved in and they kissed, long and tenderly.

"Mom is expecting you for dinner. They usually eat early but she is delaying dinner till 7:30."

"That sounds very good. What does you mother think about my appearance on the scene?"

"She is heartened and says she's already noticed an improvement in my spirit."

"Right, on we go."

When they were settled in Ray asked, "Why did you and your ex split?"

"It began slowly with me beginning to suspect he was lying to me. Some friends and I had occasionally seen him in the company of a woman. His explanation was she was his PA and yet after several such reported sightings, when I enquired at his office I found his present PA had been his PA for three years and was dark auburn hair and forty-five years of age rather than being blonde and around thirty years of age that was the woman my husband alleged to me was his PA. I had him followed to a conference were photographs were taken of him sharing accommodation with a blonde woman and kissing her passionately in view of the public. I confronted him with the photographs. He denied he was the man or that he knew the woman. I then showed him a photo of the woman I'd taken from his wallet and he denied that photo had ever been in his wallet. So I sought dissolution of our marriage and we reached financial settlement without requiring the intervention of the court. We disposed of all of our shared assets, taking half of the proceeds of sale."

"I can accept that was a painful period in your life."

"Yes and thank you. Let's stop for a breather. So, what should I do? Shoot him?"

"No. Has the blonde returned to the city?"

"Yes, I made enquiries yesterday. She's even back into her old job with more money."

Ray kissed her, ignoring her plea, "Don't, I'm sweating."

"We'll be kissing when you're sweating much more profusely that this."

She giggled.

Ray said, "Right, this is what I suggest you do. Every time he calls or emails you just simply state, 'I remain uncertain; I need more time to think about it."

"What will that achieve? Oh wait, yes I see. Oh it is almost as good as shooting the jerk; he might be waiting a year or more waiting for my answer before giving up. That's brilliant."

Annie's mother Pauline was embarrassingly over-the-top, almost curtsying to Ray on his arrival. Her desire to have he daughter married again, successfully, stood out a mile. The guy lurking in the background was her father Owen.

"Owen, don't be so rude. Come forward and meet our dinner guest."

"Can we eat now? They've made me wait well beyond normal dinner time and I'm starving."

"Owen!" his wife shrieked.

"Yes dear?"

Pauline counted to five and said more calmly, "The drinks please."

The women ordered wine and looking at Owen's potbelly Ray ordered beer, larger if Owen had it.

"Got a six-pack today in case you ordered that," Owen beamed. "I drink dark beer. Pauline was waxing on about you so much I thought you'd drink wine with one finger held up in the air for sure."

Ray glanced at Pauline and caught the murderous look before it hid behind a new smile.

"Owen likes his little jokes," she said through clenched teeth.

Annie remained nervously silent.

Owen handed the women their drinks and passing Ray his beer said, "The wife tells me you are big time into computers. Corporate stuff."

"Yes. Do you have a computer?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do."

"Problems?"

"Yeah, come through and have a look. It's very slow to load and often freezes."

"Sounds like faulty memory or not enough space on your main drive."

"What's that? Owen said as they left the room, not hearing Pauline's whine that dinner was ready."

"Christ Owen, how old is this computer."

"I bought it secondhand about twelve years ago."

Ray deleted everything in the Delete file and then checked C-drive and found it jammed-packed.

"When did you last initiate Disk Cleanup and defrag?"

"What's that?"

"Come on, we'll go back for dinner and return afterwards. The problem is lack of housekeeping. I'll clean out the garbage. I'll bring a small program when I come next time that will clean away all garbage every Sunday or the next day you reboot, er I mean start your computer. The software won't cost you anything."

"I like the sound of that. Let's go and eat."

As Annie walked with Ray out to his cab Annie said, holding his hand as if determined to prevent him from groping, "Mom can't believe it. Dad is treating you like a best pal and you scarcely spoke to her apart from complimenting her three times on the quality of the meal."

"Well you dad was amazed how much faster his ancient computer is running and he found I was interest in sport and I agreed with him that women tend to talk too much when they are together."

"You didn't?"

"I share his view."

"God, no wonder you two were staring as mom and I were catching up on things on what happened today."

"Is discussing new season's colors catching up?"

"Yes, it's part of it. Daughters are supposed to keep their mothers up to date."

Ray said, "Oh", earning a big sigh from Annie.

At the cab Ray turned to kiss Annie and she said, "Do you have low sex drive?"

"I don't think so."

Annie seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "My understanding is when men have a few drinks they tend to grope. Some men grope without having anything to drink."

"Woman must hate guys who are like that," Ray said, kissing her firmly and climbing into the cab.

Annie stood waving, looking somewhat bewildered.

Ray was almost asleep when his phone went.

"Hi, it's Annie. I want you to try to grope me whether you are drunk or sober, though carefully choosing the moment. Good night."

Ray scratched his balls and said aloud, "What the fuck was that about? She could have told me that the next time we meet. It was something that would keep. Perhaps she's REALLY wants me to grope. It would be a lot easier if she said what she wants."

He went to sleep in half a dream, with motor mechanics standing around him searing for the fault in his sex drive.

Two days later Annie and Ray met for lunch. He greeted her head-on, kissing, and as he went in her placed a hand over her right breast. Annie pulled out of the kiss, a deeply satisfied smile on her face.

* * *

After a meeting of the executive committee at which Ray successfully sought changes to the policy on computer equipment upgrading and replacement, Pam asked Ray to stay behind. He wondered if he were to be advised about a bonus he'd not been expecting. He was disappointed.

"I'm checking to see how your relationship with Ms Beautiful is going? I saw her on a legal matter yesterday. She looks very well."

Ray didn't reply. He assumed Ms Beautiful had said something and Pam was about to relay it. But all she said was, "Well off you go, I'm busy."

What the fuck was that about?

An hour later Pam's PA Penny dropped a folder on to Ray's desk and smiled, sitting on the edge of his desk, showing plenty of leg because she was in a short skirt and allowing him to drink in French perfume. At least he assumed it was French, the way it was doing things to the finely tuned parts of his senses.

"I'm relaxed coming into your office now I understand Miss Wiseman and you are teamed up."

"Does that mean you now feel it's permissible to bend over my desk for me?"

Penny's eyes bulged until she caught Ray's relaxed smile. She giggled and relaxed and they chatted. Before leaving she went off and fetched Ray a cup of coffee without it being requested.

"Bend over me Penny to allow me to inhale your fragrance."

"Ahhhhhhh."

"I'm glad you like it."

"Do you dab it on your breasts?"

"Yes. You seem to know a lot about perfume."

"Show my how far down do you dab it Penny."

"Mr Haig," Penny said, cheeks flaming. "You have come close to committing a reportable offence. If I weren't flattered I would be upset."

"Good girl Penny."

"Mrs Kingston seems concerned about your sex drive. How wrong can she be?"

Ray patted his crotch as Penny walked away, murmuring, "Yes guys, it is a great ass. So Annie was worried about his sexuality and had confided in Pam who'd confided in Penny.

It was a conference brochure and Pam had circled an address to be followed by workshop sessions on the theme, 'Corporate IT Strategies.' Pam's knowledge about computers was limited to the keyboard functionality and the print button. The venue was a desert resort 400 miles away he'd often wondered about visiting -- fly in Friday afternoon; fly out anytime Sunday.

Perfect.

He dropped the brochure back to Penny and said he'd go. She looked up from word-processing, fingers moving at frenetic speed, and smiled secretively. "Okay. Off you go; I'm busy." Next morning Penny with a stupid smile handed Ray air bookings and hotel accommodation confirmations and muttered something Ray vaguely thought sounded like, "I wish I were going..." He missed the rest. As Penny went to walk off Ray smacked her ass. She proceeded on her way, swinging it excessively. Where was the threat to complain?

Ray checked the flight times and noted the bookings were for two persons. He checked and the room was a suite. Was Penny going with him? He looked at the scrawl at the bottom of the required authorization from Pam. She'd added a note, 'Take your partner Annie.'

CHAPTER 3

As Ray watched Annie delicately slide a piece of lobster into her mouth, watching him watching her, he said, "This is short notice but I'm off to a conference this weekend at a desert resort. I was surprised I got on after the closing date for bookings."

Annie swallowed the morsel and fluttered her eyelashes at him. "I'll miss you."

"It's a weekend event."

"I'll still miss you."

"Then come with me. You'll only have to take Friday off work."

"Oh that would be lovely. I know our workload this Friday is light."

Ray watched Annie's face change and knew this would happen. She was appalled at the thought.

"W-will that mean we'll sleep together?"

"It-it is a suite and I don't know how many bedrooms it has. I could change to two single rooms."

"No," Annie smiled. "You'll need to be looked after. Oh this is such a wonderful offer. I've been dreaming night after night of sleeping with you."

Ray dabbed his forehead with his napkin. "D-dreaming of it?"

"Yes. I've practically given up. You don't seem to want to lure me into bed with you. I was worried stress of your divorce may have taken time to sink in, now taking your sex drive."

"Y-you want sex?"

"Yes of course. I'm still wounded but that doesn't mean I'm off sex."

"Then what does wounded mean?"

"I'm not sure. An oversupply of dejection I suppose. Does it really matter?"

"What, wanting sex?"

"No you fool, worrying about dejection."

Ray felt a huge flow of confidence speed to his groin. "Does this mean we can have sex tonight."

That tempted Annie but then, "No darling. Let's wait till we hit the resort. Now you must go and buy new clothes tomorrow. This will be just like our honeymoon."