Do You Believe?

This story is a little dark. There is no blatant BTB. There is no real reconciliation. There is some sex, but just enough to move the story along and add to the sense of the story. There are regional and racial stereotypes in this story, if those things bother you please don't read this. Also, if you look at the first few sentences you will see that there is religion in this story. I hope that you will read and enjoy (?) this story. As always, all comments are welcome.

*****

"Do you believe in God?" She asked me.

"Yes, I do. I know he's real." I said confidently.

The expression on her face was one of questioning surprise. "How do you know that?"

"Because of things that have happened to me that could only be explained by the existence of God." I told her. I looked at her and she still seemed skeptical.

Karie, my employee, was a college student that works for me. She must be taking a class that has caused her to question God's existence.

"What has happened to you to give you this assurance?" She asked.

"That is kind of a long story. How about we talk about it some other time when we don't have customers to wait on." I said.

"How about tonight after we close?" She proposed.

"Fine, but it wouldn't look right for you and me to be staying after just the two of us, so if you can get one of the others to stay and listen to my story, I'll tell you." I was hoping that no one else would want to stay. The story still caused me some emotional turmoil.

"I'm sure Kim would be glad to stay. I'll talk to her." She said as she turned to go.

My name is Kurt Bergen. I'm a manger of an Outback Steakhouse. Karie and Kim are waitresses that work for me. I hope that if I have to tell my story they don't tell anyone else, or worse, start to look at me with pity.

I am in my office finishing up my reports on the computer when in walk Karie and Kim. These two are best friends, have been since grade school. They are both attending the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

"We're all done. Do you want to check out our work?" They asked.

"Sure." I said, hoping that after I check (to see if their tables, floors, table sets, and waitress station are clean and orderly) they will just leave. Everything looked great as I expected. They are very conscientious employees.

"Looks great girls, go ahead and take off." I say.

"Oh no, we're waiting until you get done. How much longer?" Karie asks.

"About 20 minutes, you don't have to stay. I can close up all by myself"

"You said you would tell us your story. Don't be trying to weasel out of it now." Karie declared.

"Okay, let me finish up." I said as I walked through the kitchen area to see how my cook and dishwasher were doing. "Looking good guys, how much longer?"

"We'll be out of here in 15 minutes boss." My dishwasher said, he always called me boss. He didn't seem to mean it derogatorily though. Just an expression for someone that employed him.

I walked back to my office and the girls were sitting there waiting. I sat down and made light conversation as I worked on the computer. In 15 minutes my cook and dishwasher stepped in the door and said, "We're ready to be checked out."

"Guys, it looked good when I walked through. I'm sure it looks great now. Thanks, go ahead and take off." Showing confidence in their ability to do a good job without my checking again was one way I showed my trust and appreciation for all their hard work.

"You girls leaving too?" Gary the cook asked.

"No, Kurt is going to finish up and then he's going to tell us how he knows there is a God."

"Gary looked at me quizzically. "It's a long story and I told Karie and Kim that I would tell them after work." I said.

"Well, can we hear it too?" Jack the dishwasher said.

"Sure, if you want to, but I'd like the story to stay just between us, will you agree to that?"

"Of course." They all said.

I finished my reports, shut down my computer, stood up and said. "Let's lock up and hit Ramos Pizza, I'm buying."

"Great!!" They all said.

At Ramos we grabbed a large table and ordered two large pizzas with pop (as they say it in Nebraska).

Then I started my tale.

"As you can guess by my accent I'm not from Nebraska, I'm originally from Jefferson Georgia. It's about an hour northeast of Atlanta. It's small town of only about 10,000 people."

"I knew you were from down south, I could tell." Said Jack, "What brought you here?"

"Well, that's the subject of my story. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm the 4th of 5 siblings. We were never rich, we weren't dirt poor, but there were more than a few times we had pancakes for supper because the budget was tight. My mom and Dad were always arguing about something, mostly money. To get away from it I started running. By the time I was in high school I was the fastest cross-country runner in my school. I liked to run and it kept me out of the line of fire at home. By my senior year I had run two marathons, also by my senior year I had a steady girlfriend, her name was Jessica Belle Purdy. I loved her."

I had to pause there and I thought about that beautiful girl. Those memories were good ones.

"I don't know if I've ever told anyone that I had been married before coming to Nebraska."

"Really? I didn't know that." Karie stated. As I looked around at the other faces I could tell no one knew.

"Jessica Belle, everyone called her Belle, she kinda insisted on it, but after we were going out for a while she let me call her Jessie. She was beautiful in a natural kind of way. She didn't have to wear makeup, to me it would have covered up perfection. She wasn't a runway model, more of a girl next door beauty".

"It was 9th grade, first day of English class, she walked in and I was lovestruck. I just watched her take a seat, I must have looked like an idiot. When the teacher started taking roll and called out her name, 'Jessica Purdy' she confidently said, 'I go by Belle'".

"Wow," I thought, "of course she goes by Belle, she's a Southern Belle. She was way out of my league."

"It took almost half the semester to get up enough courage to even talk to her, when I did, she said jokingly, 'I was beginning to think you had a mental block and couldn't talk to girls. I did think I had seen you talk to Mary though.'"

"Sorry, I guess I didn't know what to say." I said sheepishly.

"So, Kurt, what can I do for you?" She said with confidence.

"I was wondering if you could help me with English. I know you're getting an A and I am barely getting a C." I asked.

"Sure, if you can do something for me." She said.

I looked up at her face, "Anything, just name it." I said.

"I'm having trouble in biology class. Can you help me with that?"

"Sure!"

We worked out a schedule where on Tuesdays I got tutored in English and on Thursdays she got tutored in Biology. By the end of the semester we were good friends.

One day before Christmas break she asked me whether my church has services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

"We don't go to church." I said apologetically.

"Well, would you like to come to a Christmas Eve service at my church?"

"Uh ... I don't know. I've never been to church and I wouldn't know what to do. I wouldn't know when to stand, sit, or kneel. I might embarrass you." I said ashamedly.

Right then Kim interrupted my story. "You had never been to church? I thought everyone went to church in the South. Isn't it called the Bible Belt?"

"Well, my dad was anti-church. 'All they want is your money!' he always said."

"So did you go?" Gary asked.

"I thought about it. I would get out of our house for a night and get to spend more time with her in the process. It might give me more insight into who this Southern Belle was. So, of course I went."

"I didn't understand a lot about it. Of course, I had heard about baby Jesus before, but the preacher mostly talked about the lamb of God. I had seen the nativity scenes and knew there were cows and sheep but I didn't understand what he was talking about."

"I had many questions for Jessie after we got out of the service. She said, 'Come to Youth Group with me this Sunday night and maybe some of your questions will be answered.'"

Well I did, and Sunday morning service the next week, and continued to go. Finally, I really understood and on a mission trip that next summer I met God. Our mission trip was to a very poor area in the hills of Kentucky. These people made my family look rich. What struck me was although they were dirt poor they smiled, had great attitudes and were sincerely happy. They knew God would provide for them.

"So that is how you know there is a God?" Karie interrupted.

"No, that comes much later. Don't get me wrong, I knew and felt him in my life on that mission trip. In fact, I asked Him into my heart that week. The things that cemented it in my mind came years later. Let me continue my story." I said.

"Well Jessie and I became an item. We were active in church and youth group and were together almost all the time. I was happier than I had ever been and probably ever will be."

"All through high school we were a couple. We had our disagreements but we never broke up. We also pledged to each other to stay pure until our wedding day. Don't get me wrong, we weren't angels. We were, after all, teenagers with teenager hormones. We experimented but never went all the way."

I paused as my mind drifted back to all the things we did.

We were in my car, we had started with just necking but it became quite intense. My hands were roaming all over her chest, above the shirt at first of course but then I slipped my hand up the bottom of her blouse. Her skin was so soft and warm. When I felt her bra I started caressing her. She didn't stop me, but I could tell she was a little nervous. I stopped kissing her, pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Jessie, I love you, I won't do anything you don't want me to do."

"I love you too, Kurt. I just want my wedding night to be special, something I'll remember forever. I want it to be my first time."

"I understand and although I'm eager to make love to you I will wait as long as you want, in fact, I pledge to you that we will wait until we get married, no matter how long that takes." I promised.

She then did something that amazed me. I wasn't sure what she was doing but soon her bra was being pulled out one of her blouse sleeves. I was excited. I knew that beneath that blouse were two bare breasts. I wanted, no I needed to touch them. I pulled her head in and started kissing her passionately, maybe even a little more than just passionately. I put my hand back under her blouse and caressed my way up. I felt the soft underside of her breast. She moaned into my lips. I was in heaven, I know that sounds stupid, but It was the first time for me to feel a women's breast.

I massaged her breast and started tweaking her nipple. I stopped kissing her, pushed her blouse up over her breast, moved my mouth down and started sucking on her nipple. My hormones were raging, I was so hard. Jessie let me continue, in fact, she was enjoying it.

The next few months were filled with experimentation. She would give me hand jobs while I pleasured her with my fingers. I started licking her clit, she grabbed my hair and pushed my face into her. She started to spasm in orgasm. I felt great knowing that I could please her in that way.

In the next year we were spending a lot of time getting to know each other's bodies. Sixty-nine became our favorite thing to do. I remembered one time we were really getting into it. I was on top and she was working on my cock, she really enjoyed doing that. I was licking her clit and then I worked my way down, replacing my tongue with my fingers as I started rimming her cute little asshole. I put my tongue in her and she went crazy. I continued to finger her as I fucked her ass with my tongue. She started to get very worked up. I was getting worked up also. She started to have an orgasm and her hips were bucking me, I was hanging on for dear life as she took my cock deep in her mouth. I wanted to cum in her mouth but she had never let me before so I said, "I'm going to cum!" She didn't stop, in fact she went faster, and I shot my load as she spasmed in orgasm. She didn't swallow, but that was okay, I was thrilled that she let me.

The next two years were filled with more of the same as we got closer intellectually and emotionally as well as physically.

"So, what happened?" Kim asked, bringing me back to the present.

"Sorry, lost in thought." I said. "Let me continue. In my Senior year I got a job at the Outback Steakhouse in Commerce, Georgia. I started as a dishwasher." I said and looked at Jack. "After a while I became a cook." I said looking at Gary. "By the time I was 21 I was an Assistant Manager. That's when I asked Jessie to marry me. In the spring of 2009 we got married. We went to Miami for our Honeymoon, but we didn't see much of the beach, we didn't see much of anything but the inside of our hotel room."

My mind wandered again remembering our first time and the week that followed. The night of our wedding we were both nervous. We were anxious for our first time but even though we knew each other's bodies it would be a new experience. We were tired but I had to have what I hadn't had before.

We were both excited and ready to do this, I was hard and she was wet. She got into bed and I got on top of her. I went slowly, she encouraged me by telling me she loved me and how she enjoyed the feeling of me entering her. As I hit her hymen she tensed, I looked into her eyes and said, "I love you Jessie. I want to grow old with you."

"Well, you'd better, were married now, I'm Mrs. Kurt Bergen for the rest of my life."

I pushed into her, I could tell it hurt her but she looked at me with love in her eyes. After just a few strokes we were going at it like bunnies. It felt soooo good, soft, wet, and warm. I didn't last long, in fact, I was embarrassed how quickly I shot off. She didn't say anything, but rather moved her head under the sheet and took my cock into her mouth to get me hard again. The second time I lasted a lot longer, giving her two orgasms in the process. "God, I love this woman." I thought to myself.

The rest of the honeymoon was more of us loving each other and experimenting with what we had held sacred for our wedding night. At one point we tried something that we had heard about but obviously never tried. We tried anal. I could see the pain on her face as I entered her, even though both she and I were lubed excessively. I decided then that unless she insisted I do it again that I would not push her into it again. I wanted every time we made love to each other to be an enjoyable and loving experience. I wanted her to feel only love and giving, never pain or selfishness.

When we made it back home we were eager to get an apartment and start our life together.

The pizza had arrived as I had been reminiscing and I continued my story as we ate. "I loved being with her. We tried to work out our schedules so that we had at least one day off together. She was working at The Gap in the Tanger Outlet Mall close to where I worked. We would spend as much time together as possible.

I got out of work after the dinner rush on Saturday nights. She wanted to go out every Saturday night. We made it to church the first few months but after awhile she wanted to sleep in and explore each other on Sunday mornings. Soon we were only going to church about once a month. We did definitely make it to Christmas and Easter services though.

Obviously, I had to be at work on Sundays. I had a great Assistant Manager that opened for me. This allowed me to come in at 11:30, exhausted of course.

We both had off on Tuesdays. Wednesday was a long day as you know because we do inventory on Wednesday nights. That worked out pretty well because she closed on Wednesdays and they did inventory also. Theirs didn't take as long though so she would wait for me.

After a while she was promoted to Assistant Manager also, and we were both happy at our good fortune, now we could save a little more money toward our down payment on a house.

Soon I got promoted to Restaurant Manager. Twenty-three years old and I was a manager, I was so happy. Life seemed to be going our way. In no time at all we would be able to buy a house and start our family.

A while later Jessie came into the restaurant all excited. She was being promoted to Store Manager! She would have to change store locations though. She would be working at the Mall of Georgia. We still lived in Jefferson so she would be commuting about 35-40 minutes in one direction and I would still be commuting 20 minutes in another. I think that was the beginning of the end, but I didn't know it at the time.

When she started she was so happy, but also I could tell she was feeling the pressure of managing a store. I knew what she was going through, I had felt the pressure too when I first got promoted.

After about a month of managing she started to change. She started wearing makeup. She told me her District Manager, a woman, suggested she spruce herself up a bit. I didn't think she needed it but if it made her District Manager happy than I was okay with it. I had had to make my own changes when I was promoted.

We were still enjoying our life together. Our love life was great. We bonded for hours every Tuesday and had a shorter session on Thursday night after work every week. We also had quickies whenever we could find the time.

After she was a manager for about a month she came home and told me that her inventory night was going to be changed to Thursday night so she would be home late from now on. No more Thursday night love making. We still made love passionately on Tuesdays and quickies whenever we could work it out.

My days off were Mondays and Tuesdays, that was my "weekend". Unfortunately, that is the norm for restaurant work. On Mondays I ran errands, made appointments, and since Jessie was working, I relaxed and made Mondays my day. I would go to lunch almost every week for Chinese.

Let me tell you something I found as funny. When I was a teenager my friends and I would get Chinese food and laugh when we read our fortunes. The fortunes weren't necessarily funny but we added "in bed" at the end of all of them. It was hilarious how that changed the fortunes. For example, 'Your energy is contagious ... in bed.' Or 'You will make a big impression on someone ... in bed.' It became quite the joke for us.

When I had Chinese for lunch I would read my fortunes and laugh out loud in the restaurant. I would get strange looks and often would be asked, 'What's so funny?' I would explain and some of the people would laugh along with me.

Well, one Monday I got a fortune that read, 'Your most trusted is untrustworthy.' I laughed, but only quietly. Jessie was my most trusted. That can't be right. Again, I laughed at the fortunes so I didn't put much faith in them.

The next Monday I had Chinese again. I opened my fortune cookie and again the fortune was 'Your most trusted is untrustworthy.' I had had a fortune come around more than once so it wasn't too unusual to get a repeat fortune, but this was the first time it happened back to back. It made me a little apprehensive.

That night when Jessie got home I looked for anything that would make me think that she might not be trustworthy. I saw nothing, in fact our quickie that night was full of passion. The next day we made love for hours, it was passionate, there was no way she could be unfaithful to me.

The next Monday I got Chinese again and again the same fortune, 'Your most trusted is untrustworthy.' Was Jessie cheating on me, was she untrustworthy ... in bed?

I had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. I was sitting in the waiting room, my mind on my marriage. The fortunes were really getting to me. Three weeks in a row, the same fortune, could that be a coincidence? I was staring at the low table in front of me, not really looking. Like most waiting rooms there were magazines on the table. The top magazine had the name Jessica big and bold. The bottom of the magazine was covered by another magazine. Under the Jessica magazine was another magazine only partially visible, but the words that lined up with her name were 'is cheating on you.' I stared at it, my heart pounding, my breath getting faster and faster. I picked up the first magazine, it had an article about Jessica Alba. Underneath was a Cosmopolitan with an article titled, 'How to tell if he is cheating on you.'