Lessons in Love

*Author's Note: There is mention and hinting of extra-marital affairs albeit allowed, but the story only uses that as a set-up for something more. If the thought of that isn't your cup of tea, you will want to find something else to read. For everyone else, constructive feedback and comments are always welcome. *

"Brian Nance," *clapping* "Megan Norman," *clapping* "Samual Robinson." With a subtle sigh, Christine Spencer, the superintendent of a small school district in North Carolina smiled and shook another graduating senior's hand. As she did, she couldn't help but think to herself, "Damn, will this ceremony never end?" She found herself scanning the audience of family and friends of the students, noticing the packed stadium, and doing her best to remain professional and happy for the students.

What no one, well no one but her and one other person in the stadium that May evening knew was that Christine was horny as hell and needed this ceremony to end so she could get on the road and take care of her "issue." As she congratulated another student, her eyes hidden by sunglasses looked over their shoulder and scanned the student seats where her eyes eventually settled about halfway back. There in his black robe, and blue Master's hood sat Daniel Sims, a history teacher at the school and her secret lover.

The relationship between her and Daniel would be scandalous if anyone found out for a multitude of reasons. The obvious one was that she was his boss, while not his direct supervisor, in a small district like theirs, teachers and the superintendent interacting semi-regularly was not uncommon.

Secondly, Christie as Daniel sometimes called her, was 20 years Daniel's senior. At 47, Christie had started out as a teacher, working her way to elementary principal, then assistant superintendent, before finally being named Superintendent two years earlier.

Thirdly, and probably the most scandalous was the fact that Christine was married. Granted, her marriage was one in name only, she long suspected he may be having an affair, but could never prove it, he was openly intimidated by her success, and his job as an engineer at a local chemical manufacturer kept him away a lot.

While the first five years of marriage were simply okay, they quickly fell into a funk that they never climbed out of. By the time they both accepted/admitted the issue, they were 15 years into the marriage, it was just too much hassle to get a divorce, and in a rural southern culture, a divorce could potentially tank Christine's career, so they stayed married.

Besides the other issues, there was another issue with their passionless marriage, Christine's sex drive; she didn't think it was abnormally high but compared to her husband's low drive, even in the early days, it became a clear point of contention. So, when they recognized their bedroom and marriage were dead and divorce wasn't an option, Christine's husband Mike told her one night, "I get it, you have needs that I can't meet, so you can have those needs met however you need. I just don't want to know, see, or hear about it."

That message had been four years ago, and while she was in shock when it had been conveyed, she was secretly grateful that she was now free to do whatever or whomever she wanted, as long as she kept up appearances. She had enjoyed a couple of flings while on trips, but nothing local and nothing that she decided was worth keeping around long term; that was until the past Christmas.

As the last of the graduates made their way back to their seats, Christine retook her seat and as the final speeches began, her mind couldn't help but drift back to five months prior.

*December-5 Months Earlier*

Every year, a couple of the schools always threw staff Christmas parties, and the high school was no different. The key thing about the high school was that their administration always invited the central office staff and she always tried to make an appearance. When she walked into the ballroom at the hotel the school had rented for a few hours, she was greeted by the school's principal and a few teachers before making her way to the bar to get a drink and mingle a little bit.

While standing at the bar waiting on her glass of red, she heard, "Superintendent Spencer, so nice of you to grace us with your presence."

Recognizing the voice, she turned after the bartender handed her glass of wine to see Daniel standing in front of her. She couldn't help but laugh and smile, "Well you know Mr. Sims, we have to grace you peons with our presence on occasion."

Daniel laughed, "So formal in an informal setting."

"Well, you started it by calling me Superintendent, I've told you before, call my Christine."

Daniel took a sip of his drink, "Yeah, but even that seems formal, I think Christie would be more fitting."

She laughed once again, "Well whatever works for you."

"Well, I work for you, so maybe you should tell me what you want to be called...". Daniel allowed his sentence to trail off with a smirk before smiling and saying, "I'll talk to you later Christie."

Had a picture been taken at that moment, you would have seen that her face matched her red dress as she watched him walk away to talk with his coworkers. Daniel Sims was the Senior government teacher at her district's sole high school. While she was an assistant superintendent, she had been tasked with integrating Chromebooks into the classroom, and through the application process had met Daniel. He was smart, driven, funny, a bit arrogant, but could back it up, and well intentioned when it came to the students and his job. They, along with the rest of the committee spent a lot of time together developing, then implementing the plan that placed a device in every student's hand, along with those same devices and their capabilities into the teacher's hands.

About a year later, when the district decided to implement a new learning management system, she was once again tasked with leading the committee and she knew she wanted Daniel and a couple of other teachers from the Chromebook group to lead the charge and they had done so with stellar results. When she was hired as superintendent officially, Daniel was one of the first people to text her congratulations.

Over the next year or so, she continually met with her technology committee and got to know Daniel very well. He was only 26 when they met and wasn't from the area but had meshed well with his coworkers and it was apparent the kids loved him when he was nominated by eight different students for teacher of the year, which she had had the pleasure of awarding him the previous May. It was at the state awards banquet for all the teachers of the year in the state when she had a bit of a low moment during dinner and basically spilled how her marriage was all for show as Daniel talked casually about how online dating was so hard in a small community, and after dinner they went to the hotel bar and had a few drinks to commiserate their lack of love lives.

The next morning when she had awoken in her hotel room, she found herself still in her dress from the night before and when she looked up, Daniel was asleep in the chair against the window. After getting over her embarrassment and waking him up, she discovered he had helped her back to her room after one too many glasses of wine and out of concern, slept in the chair to be sure she was alright. Since then, she had used Daniel as a sounding board and genuinely saw him as a friend. Their interactions were professional, but fun, and at times a bit flirty, but nothing many people would even notice, but she sure did, much like his comment that night.

As she watched him walk away at the party, she felt the twinge in her pelvis of lust and wondered how he would be in bed, but she quickly shook it off as she was approached by other teachers. After her 3rd glass of wine, she was feeling the effects and as the party thinned out, kept noticing Daniel stealing glances at her; when she caught him, he would smile and return to his conversation.

Against her better judgment, she grabbed one more glass of wine and a beer she had seen Daniel order and walked up to the table he was sitting at chatting with a few other teachers, "May I join you all?"

One of the other teacher's, a new hire by the name of Max Smith, stammered through, "Hello Superintendent Spencer."

Daniel laughed, "Max, calm down, Christie is just another person like the rest of us. Although one that could make our lives hell if she wanted." He said, adding a subtle wink at the end.

As Christie sat down, she placed the beer in front of him, "I only want to make your life difficult, but I'll bring beer to soften you up.

All three of them laughed and spent the next ten minutes chatting about things in general until Max excused himself to leave. With just the two of them and a few others left from their party and the ballrooms began filling up for normal nightly activities, Daniel and Christine were able to talk more openly, bantering about work, shenanigans at the party, their lives', and once again giving her a chance to thank him for helping her over the summer and not spilling her information to anyone.

Daniel responded with a laugh, "It's nice to have some juicy information on your boss, but overall, you're welcome."

Being the 4th glass of wine, before Christie could stop herself, she muttered, "If you only knew how juicy."

Daniel smirked, "Is that so?"

Her face once again matched the color of her dress, and with an audible gasp, she covered her mouth with her hands.

Daniel patted her knee subtly, stood up, smirked, and said, "Well that's good to know also. I think it's time to head out before this place gets too crazy. Do you want me to walk you to your car?"

"That would be nice, I had to park out in the middle of nowhere."

Daniel nodded, stood, helped her with her jacket and they made their way out to the parking lot. As they got outside, Christine gestured across the lot to the far end, "I'm over there."

"You weren't kidding, I'm over there," he gestured to a Jeep closer to the entrance. They walked in silence until they reached her blue Lexus GX 460. "Damn, superintendent pay is better than I thought."

"Shut up, you know this comes from my "husband's" salary more than mine. We have to keep up appearances."

Daniel laughed at her use of air quotes, "Surreeee...I don't see you complaining." Just as she was going to respond, a cool gust of wind picked up and Daniel instinctively shielded her with his body, pressing against her gently. As he did so, they looked at each other and even though neither said anything, their lips crashed into each other.

Daniel pulled back first, "Oh fuck, I'm sorry about that."

"Mmmm, I'm not."

"You're still married even if it is for appearances."

"Yes, but I left a detail out before because it wasn't appropriate. Hell, it's still inappropriate now, but he doesn't care what I do as long as he doesn't see, hear, or know about it."

"Oh, so the kiss isn't a big deal?"

"Well, other than me being your boss, no it's not."

"Oh...."

Christine scooted closer to Daniel and looking around to make sure no one else was around and said, "How bout it Daniel, you want to sleep with your boss?"

"Ummm yes."

"Good, we can't leave my car here, you can take a cab back to your Jeep, you can't stay the night."

That evening was the start of something different. They had sex twice before Daniel left, once fast and once slow. Those hookups had continued once every couple of weeks since. Daniel never stayed the night or vice versa, but they had definitely become more than booty calls, often leading to pillow talk, and cuddling once they were done.

*Present Day*

With summer now upon them, Daniel would have more free time and when a conference out of town came up the day after graduation for all the state superintendents, a new opportunity had presented itself. With the clapping started and the official ceremony now ending, that opportunity was quickly approaching as she was drawn back to the present moment.

The students began to process out of their seats and began to meet their families in the end zone and the staff began to mingle and slowly make their way towards the students for pictures and final goodbyes. Normally central office staff didn't stick around for the final goodbyes, so Christine started to walk towards the exit, making sure to say hello to any teachers she saw before stopping in front of Daniel, "Good evening Mr. Sims, congratulations on another good year."

Daniel smiled and silently laughed as Christine maintained her usual professionalism, "Thank you Superintendent Spencer, it was a normal year which was nice."

Christine smiled and noticed they were alone amongst the crowd for a moment. Daniel looked around, fished a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and said, "Here's that data you wanted about the lost Chromebooks."

Christine smiled, "Oh! Thanks for getting that for me so quickly."

"No problem, it should help a lot."

"I'm sure it will, I'll look at it tonight or tomorrow during my conference."

They both heard kids call out to him, causing them both to laugh, "Duty calls, enjoy your conference and your summer."

"You too Daniel."

They hugged, which wasn't out of the ordinary due to her elementary background, everyone knew she was a hugger, so no one even batted an eye at the gesture. Daniel walked off to join the crowd of students and Christine made her way to the parking lot and her car. As she backed out of her spot, she found herself stuck in a little bit of traffic, so she took the opportunity to open the paper Daniel had handed her to read. When she opened it, it read:

"That dress looks good on you; it'll look great on the floor too. Head north on 19. Turn right on Wakefield Rd. outside of Andrews. Turn left on Junaluska Rd. After 2 miles turn onto Bolden Branch Rd. Driveway on the left, turn down, you'll come to the cabin at the end. The porch light is on and there is a key in the woodshed on the middle post. I went down earlier to get everything turned on so you should be good to go. I should be there about 9."

As traffic started to move, Christine grinned and thought to herself, "He never knew what dress I was wearing beforehand, he just had to assume. Cheeky bastard." Christine hurried home and grabbed her suitcase for the conference in Asheville that she was heading to after she left Daniel's family cabin in the morning. Before heading out of her bedroom, she glanced in the full-length mirror and admired herself for a minute, "He's right this dress does look good on me."

The dress was a navy blue that she had found at Nordstrom over the winter. It fell to just above her knee, and was a 3/4 sleeve, making it perfect for a late spring graduation. It had a fake sash that tied around her waist, accentuating her waist. While she wasn't small and thin, Christine only stood about 5 '5, but had very womanly curves to her hips and her 38D breasts. She had allowed her blonde hair to fall naturally in its wavy/curly form and finished the look with a pearl necklace. As she smoothed the dress before heading to her car, she couldn't help but allow the thought of, "Daniel is right, it will look good on the floor tonight."

She grinned, and as she made her way through the house and towards the garage and her car, she yelled at Mike, "Alright, I'm off to the conference in Asheville, I'll be home late Tuesday night."

He gave a grunt from the living room and simply said, "Ok." She shook her head, and silently thought to herself, "Jackass. Glad he didn't see the overnight bag along with my suitcase," and made her way to the car, backing out of the driveway and made her way to US 19 to begin following Daniel's directions.

After merging onto US 19, Christine drove for about a half hour to the town of Andrews. As she continued, she began to look for the next step in Daniel's directions. She noticed a Hardee's right when she turned onto Wakefield Road and decided to stop in and grab something to eat; even though she tried hard to watch her figure, she couldn't resist one of their hamburgers which also explained why she wasn't a stick but very average in the weight department. After getting her food, she followed the remainder of Daniel's directions and just like they/he said; she found the driveway about 25 minutes after leaving the Hardees.

She had pictured a smooth gravel driveway, but after turning between two large trees, she was faced instead with bumps and small ruts and she wondered if her AWD Lexus was going to make it in one piece; just as she was getting worried though, the trees opened a bit, the light of the porch became visible, and a small parking area emerged. She parked and walked over to the woodshed, found the key he had talked about and walked down a short hill with at gravel path onto the small front deck, unlocked the door and with her small overnight bag in hand, let herself in.

When she walked into the cabin, she flicked a switch next to the door; the first thing she noticed was a lot of wood. The walls were tastefully done in a knotty pine paneling that had kept its natural lightness when stained and when coupled with the lighting made the cabin feel much larger. She found herself in a small kitchen that was combined with the living room and dining room to create a "great room" style. The living room was traditional with a couple of couches and a decent sized TV hanging over the fireplace. Off the main room there were 3 doors, she opened each one to find bedrooms before noticing a note on the door on the right. It read, "You can put your stuff in here."

She removed the note and opened the door exposing a decent sized bedroom with a queen-sized bed, 2 dressers and an attached bathroom. The bathroom was simple with a toilet, vanity, and shower and tub combo. She set her bag on the bed and used the restroom before venturing back out into the main part of the cabin.

After turning on a few more lights, she found the switch for the deck lights and walked through the large glass back doors. She found herself on a large deck that stretched the entire length of the cabin and overlooked a small creek. There was a grill, what she assumed was a smoker, several Adirondack chairs and in the corner, a hot tub. She walked over and leaned against the rail, taking in the sounds of the forest, the creek, and the soft hum of what she assumed was the hot tub.

She looked at her small gold watch and noted that it was just after 8 and the sun was already behind the mountain casting a soft light on the forest. She returned inside and sat down at the small island in the kitchen to enjoy her burger and fries. Once her dinner was finished up, she threw the trash away, wiped off the island and returned to the bedroom and fished a book out of her bag. She had brought some work things to look over, but decided she could do that at the conference, she was just going to relax tonight.

Returning to the kitchen, she opened the fridge to find it stocked with the basics and found a bottle of white on the bottom shelf. She pulled it out, and taped to it was a note that read, "There is a bottle of red in the pantry to your left." She smiled and walked over to the pantry where she found a bottle of 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, and with a few more cabinets opened, she found a wine glass and a bottle of Angel's Envy Bourbon. Pulling the wine glass and a scotch glass out, she poured herself a glass and left the bourbon and scotch glass on the counter for when Daniel arrived.

She sat on the couch and dove into her latest book, a political thriller by Jack Carr, just another one of the contradictions that made up her life. In public, she had the perfect marriage, childless by her own decision to focus on her career; calm and confident in a field that the upper levels were dominated by men. Behind closed doors, Christine loved the pulse racing of a good action movie or in this case book, not the cheesy romance stuff that so many women were drawn to.