Life in a Small New Hampshire Town Pt. 08

Tom replied, "We can't impose on all of you like that."

"It's all set up, Tom. All your friends want you to make a speedy recovery. It's about the only thing we can do that is actually useful, and it's only going to be for a short time."

Chris embraced me in a big hug.

Chris

"Thank you, Amy. Don't argue with her, Tom. Amy can be notoriously stubborn when she wants to be."

I noticed Amy smirking.

"Thank you, Amy."

Friday, July 19 Morning

Chris

Erica was just finishing up her shift and said, "It looks like your vacation ends today, Tom, and you'll be checking out of our lovely resort." She looked at me and continued, "Like most doctors, Doc Watson doesn't like to address a patient's sexual needs, so I will. In his discharge advice, he will warn you, with some variation of the following, to 'avoid all strenuous activities, including lifting, twisting, exercise, etc.' Buried in that advice is 'don't have sex'. I know that this will be hard to hear, much less adhere to, but don't do it. Doing anything that requires using your abdominals too soon will land you right back here for additional surgery to repair your self-inflicted damage. As much as I like you two, I'd much rather see you anywhere but here in the future."

"Doc won't tell you this, but you can attempt to make love once you can stand up from a sitting position without pain. I warn you that this may not be for 4 to 6 weeks. Don't rush it, and you should initially be on your back and Chris on top, Tom. Be careful, slow, and gentle the first time. In the meantime, after 2 or 3 weeks, Chris can give you a hand or BJ if you guys are into that, as long as you try to minimize your movements and don't thrust, Tom. I'm afraid that you'll just have to take care of yourself, Chris.

"I can see that you've been thinking about this by the fact that both of you are in full blush. Attempting to have sex too soon is one of the leading causes of relapses and repeat surgeries in abdominal patients. Just wait. You'll thank me in the long run."

Chris

Erica finished up her duties and said her goodbyes and good luck.

"Thanks for everything, Erica. Thanks for that lecture. We'll try to behave."

"I didn't say that you can't sleep together, but keep it to sleeping. You can snuggle, but Tom should stay on his back, at least initially. Ask the nurse or physical therapist when you can start sleeping on your side if that's your preferred position, Tom, and do wait a couple of weeks before you..... do anything."

Erica left with that. Tom was taken for his battery of tests after breakfast. Dr. Watson showed up around 11:00.

"All good news, Tom. You're free to go home today, with restrictions." Dr. Watson handed both of us both a sheet of discharge instructions, a long list of dos and don'ts." The most important thing for you to have a rapid and successful recovery is to take these instructions seriously and to limit your physical activity."

"I gather from your expressions that Erica gave you her normal discharge advice. I can't disagree with anything that she said. You should get a call this afternoon from both the VNA and the PT department to schedule daily appointments starting tomorrow. I'll see you back here next Friday. Best of luck to you."

The day nurse came in with a wheelchair and took us to the main entrance. I stopped at the hospital pharmacy and picked up the scripts that Dr. Watson had ordered, then retrieved my car and we headed to Appleton. I parked close to the entrance and called Amy and Olivia. We arrived at Amy's apartment working together and, stopping every few steps, we got Tom upstairs. I convinced Tom to use the bathroom before getting into bed. Olivia left the room while I helped him strip down to his boxers. Amy and I assisted him settling into the bed.

I went to our apartment while Amy and Olivia stayed with Tom, piled a week's worth of dirty clothes in the washer, and packed clothes for the two of us. I waited until the washer finished and transferred everything to the dryer and left. They may be a wrinkled jumble when I can get back here, but they were mostly shorts, tees, panties, bras, and socks, so I wasn't worried.

I stopped at the store downstairs to pick up some food for the next few days.

Samantha asked, "How's Tom doing?"

I gave her the current optimistic outlook and returned to Amy's place. She helped me carry the groceries and suitcases upstairs, after which we both started to prepare for work. While Amy may not be sleeping in her apartment, it was logistically easier to leave most of her clothes here.

***

Olivia stayed until 6:00, then headed home. Either Erik, Amy, or I managed to check on Tom about once an hour. It almost seemed unnecessary, but doctor's orders. Alicia and Michael came in after work, had some food, and danced most of the early evening before leaving around 9:00.

Michael

We went up to Alicia's apartment, grabbed her overnight bag, and started to drive to my place. She had explained about Tom and Chris using Amy's apartment. Alicia was staying at my place for the first time.

I spent most of Thursday evening cleaning my house. I normally am pretty neat, but I definitely wanted to make a good impression on Alicia. My house is actually a log cabin that came as precut logs. Unlike traditional log cabins, the outside of the logs was milled to look like clapboards and the interior surfaces looked like tongue and groove boards. I contracted the site work, foundation, and standing seam roof. Zack, my father, and I did the rest of the work to finish it.

It has two bedrooms and a bath upstairs, a kitchen, dining area, living area, and half bath on the first floor. I'm located at the end of Oak Hill Road, a dirt road, up in the foothills above Appleton. Because of challenges of snow, ice, the steep climb, and/or the condition of the road bed in winter, my car is a 4x4 pickup, which I also use for work. I had spent time cleaning its interior Friday afternoon. I didn't waste time washing the outside since I had to drive over two miles on a dirt road that was going to be rain-soaked tomorrow.

Alicia said, "I'm glad that you drove today," while we were driving up Oak Hill Road.

"It's not usually a difficult drive except after a heavy snowfall."

Although it was dark when we arrived at my home, Alicia exclaimed, "It's cute."

That was probably not the description I'd use. I grabbed her overnight bag and we headed inside. I gave her the nickel tour, described building it, and ended up in my bedroom where I left her bag.

"The bathroom's there if you need it."

"Not now. Michael, I'm impressed that you built this yourself."

"I did have help from Zack and Dad."

"It's still quite an accomplishment."

We went to bed and made love.

Chris

Friends approached the bar and asked how Tom was doing all night long. We finished our closing duties and I went up, took a shower, and crawled into bed next to his already sleeping body, totally exhausted and immediately fell asleep myself.

Saturday, July 20 Early morning

Chris

I sensed Tom stirring.

"Sorry to wake you, but I really need to pee."

I asked, "Ready for some coffee?" after we accomplished that and got Tom back in bed, propped up with a couple of pillows.

I made a pot after getting an affirmative response, and brought two mugs back to bed. I sensed him looking at me once I finished mine, and turned towards him. "What?"

"We've only known each other for less than a year, but I'm feeling deeply in love with you. We seemed to have been forced to deal with the 'in sickness and in health' so often part of the marriage vows although we are not married. That's supposed to be for old folks, not someone our age."

Wow! In love, then marriage and marriage vows all in the same couple of sentences. What does that mean, does he .... is he .... is this just an emotional reaction to his nearly dying? "You can't believe the emotions I felt when Sheriff Farnsworth told us that a tree had crushed your car, that you were unconscious and on the way to the hospital, Tom! The next few hours, until Dr. Watson came out of surgery and gave us his guardedly optimistic prognosis, were the longest and most terrifying of my life. The longer we waited, the more I dreaded what I might hear. I love you so much, I'm so happy to be here with you."

I started to reach over to hug him, but stopped myself. I reached over and held his hand. "Don't move. Remember what Dr. Watson and Erica said. I want to hug you, hell I want to make love to you, but overriding those things is that I want you to recover. Quickly."

He smiled and held my hand, probably the greatest gesture of love that he could make under the circumstances.

Michael

We got up to a rainy day, had breakfast, and planned for the rest of the day

"Do you think that you may be up for a movie tonight? Any outside activities will be limited with the rain. My offer to make dinner is still there, or we can eat out."

"I want to see what Line Cook Bradford can do, so yeah let's eat here. I wonder what's playing?"

"I checked the Bijou Theater's website. Their lineup this week is: Rocket Man, an Elton John bio-pic; Wine Country, a road trip movie; Echo in the Canyon, a documentary about 1960s music coming out of LA; and The Sting, the Newman and Redford classic. The Bijou often features oldies on one screen."

"Let's see The Sting. Times?"

"5:15 and 7:40."

"We can relax afterwards, have some wine with dinner, and not worry about having to drive if we take in the early showing. Would that be too late to start dinner?

"The early show will get us back to my place around 8:00. I was originally planning to grill steaks on the BBQ. I could still do that depending on when the rain stops. They will be oven broiled otherwise. They won't take long to cook in either case. I'll prep the rest before we leave."

***

We arrived at the Bijou and got seats nearly dead center of the theater. I don't know if it was the rain, the early showing, or a lack of interest in The Sting, but there were only about a couple of dozen other people watching it with us. Alicia who was to my left, leaned in to me and left her hand on my thigh for most of the show. I had my arm behind her, resting my hand on her shoulder. We were comfortably close, but not engaging in anything at all intimate.

I was happily surprised to find the rain had stopped as we exited the theater. Alicia remarked again, "I'm glad that you're driving," once we were on Oak Hill Rd.

"It's not so bad once you know the way." I said, "Dinner will only take about 15 minutes from start to sit-down," after we arrived home. "Are you ready now or would you like to sit on the front porch with a glass of wine?"

"The rain's stopped, it's in the mid-seventies, so let's enjoy a glass before dinner."

I fetched a hand towel to wipe the two Adirondack chairs off, uncorked and poured some wine, and we settled in beside each other. I said, "This is one of my favorite Zins. I hope that you like it. Cheers!" as I handed the wine to her.

Alicia observed, "It's really relaxing here. Your house is lovely, it's quiet up here and the view is very pastoral," after we clinked our glasses.

The land in front of my home slopes down towards the valley. The first 20 or so acres are fenced in as a pasture, with about a dozen cows grazing.

"Those are either first calf heifers or dry cows put out to pasture until they are ready to freshen."

"Freshen?"

"Give birth and start milk production. The older, dry cows get about a two-month break at the end of their pregnancy to recover before their next calf is born and milk production starts again."

The mosquitos and black flies arrived, so we returned to the kitchen after I started the grill. I got the broccoli and its sauce going, the steaks grilling, and the salad and dressing out. We sat down to eat when the food was ready.

***

Alicia

We cleaned up the dishes, Michael poured the last of the wine, and we moved into the living room, settling down on the couch.

"That was good, Michael. I can put a good word in with Olivia for your line cooking skills if your woodworking business ever fails. Good cooks are always in demand."

I realized I didn't know how his business is doing and my little joke may have been inappropriate, but his quick laugh reassured me.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Business is strong right now, but maybe we could start a dance studio together if it did fail."

I didn't see that one coming. Is he trying to tell me something or did he speak before thinking like I did? I decided that my best course of action was to lead the conversation in a different direction.

"Tell me more about your business. What do you make?"

"We design and manufacture wooden items. Furniture, kitchen cabinets, front doors, bar tops, wooden fixtures for offices and businesses, basically anything wooden for the home or business. We generally don't do production runs. Most of our business is for unique, custom-made items."

"There's a market for that around here?"

"Not really. I grew up in Lake County and liked it here enough to come back after college. There is an abundance of furniture quality lumber produced locally, and generally in neighboring areas of northern New England. We primarily work with one sawmill run by one of my oldest friends. He sets exceptional logs aside for me when he notices some come in. He'll process anything that we want or need from what's on offer, to our specific needs."

"To answer your question, two of my best friends from college are an architect and an interior architect who work together. They are located in the Boston area. They design higher-end homes and have been the source of many jobs, especially when we were starting out. We're getting referrals from friends of some of our earlier customers at this point."

"Where did you go to school?"

"The Rhode Island School of Design."

"Wow, Michael. I'm impressed."

"I was lucky. My grades were decent in high school and I had a wonderful guidance counselor who encouraged me to apply to RISD. I told her that my parents could never afford tuition there. She apparently had a friend in admissions there and was aware that RISD was trying to build up their woodworking program. She also knew that there was some scholarship money available to accomplish this goal. She guided me through the application process, as well as encouraging me to apply for additional local scholarships. I graduated with very little student debt."

"You're business partners with Zack. How'd that get started?"

"He's two years younger than I am. We always got along well as kids. I think that there was enough age difference between us that we didn't compete with each other. Anyway, it worked. While I enjoyed my time in Providence, Zack preferred going to a smaller college in a smaller town. He graduated from Johnson State, over in Vermont, with a degree in Woodworking & Fine Furniture Design."

"We got together after college and started our business. Zack's easy to work with, to be with."

'So are you', I thought. At this stage of my life, I approach relationships carefully, if that's where this is headed. There's just something about Michael that I'm comfortable with. Nothing that he has done has raised any red flags so far. Au contraire, everything about him says 'Keeper'.

There certainly is the physical attraction, no denying that. We make very compatible partners on the dancefloor with our similar heights and dancing backgrounds. I've realized, over time, that we share many common interests. I don't usually sleep with a guy so early in a relationship but I have known him for a couple of months. It was pretty much a sex-based relationship when I knew Tyler a few years ago, but I like to think that I've matured from that high school girl, am making better choices now. My last partner spoiled me for mutually satisfying sex, but the relationship evolved into so much more. I was sorry when he moved for his job.

As a 28-year-old woman who matured in the late 20-teens, I recognize both my desire for sexual fulfillment balanced with the need to be in a well-rounded relationship. I know it's early with Michael, but I can see a future for us.

Michael

We engaged in more small talk while we finished the remaining wine. We placed the wine glasses on the table and I moved closer to Alicia. She must have been having the same thoughts as I was, as she turned her head towards me and pulled me into a kiss. I said, "Would you like to take this upstairs?" when we finally came up for air. "It's getting late, and must be around 11:00?"

Alicia stood up, reached down for my hand and said, "Let's go." She stated, "I'd like to freshen up with a shower," after arriving upstairs.

Alicia

I used the toilet and returned to the bedroom.

"You didn't tell me you had such a big shower. Join me?"

"It was one of the things that I splurged on."

"Why don't you use the bathroom if you need to, then come back and undress me."

While I'm comfortable with my body, and actually enjoy my partner admiring it, I feel that there are times when a person needs privacy. Using the toilet is one of them. It's just the way I am.

Michael

Alicia had turned down the bed and was sitting on the edge of it when I returned. I removed her shoes and socks, after which she stood up. I undid the button on her jeans, unzipped them, and shimmied them down and off with her help, revealing bright purple panties.

"Purple?"

"Why be boring? Are you complaining?"

"No! No! And you're right, they aren't boring."

I knelt down in front of her, slipped my fingers into the edges and worked them down her long, beautiful legs. I couldn't help but to nuzzle into her hair, inhaling her aroma.

"Time for that later, Michael."

I blushed a little. "Sorry, you're just too tempting."

I stood up and grasped the edges of her tee-shirt, the Old Man of the Mountain one that she bought at the arts and crafts show, and lifted it up and off, exposing her bra.

"White? I expected purple."

'That would show through the tee shirt, Silly. Now it's your turn."

She made fast work of undressing me and we entered the bathroom. I adjusted the water temperature and we moved under the water stream. I started by washing her back and legs, spending more time then needed on her ass. She returned the favor. I started on her shoulders when she turned to face me, worked down her flanks and washed her abs. I worked back up and spent a lot of time washing her breasts, evidently too much, as she said, "I think that they're probably clean enough."

She smirked as I blushed. "Sorry."

I moved down and did her legs.

"My bush and girl parts probably could use some attention. "

I did as she asked, but limited my time and attention to actually cleaning her. Alicia then washed me. She did spend some time, probably more than necessary, cleaning my penis and balls, getting me half hard. I turned the hand shower on and rinsed her off. She did the same to me.

We headed for the bed after drying off. We just laid on top of the sheets and snuggled against each other since it was warm, and she had already moved the comforter down to the foot of the bed. I started by kissing her, then moved down to her breasts.

"You don't have to be so tentative."

Okay. I lavished attention on her left breast until her moans became louder, culminating in a mild orgasm. I moved over and directed my attention to her right breast. She responded faster and stronger this time. She said, "Lovely, Michael. Thanks," after she calmed down.