Luchia

You know that feeling. But I had the damnedest time working out what it was. It was the flat, something about it wasn't right. Then I struck me - it was clean. No, I mean really clean, like - oh, I don't know. You know, woman clean, not the 'that will do' bachelor type clean, like it is when I try to do my cleaning thing.

Shit, there were even some flowers in a vase. What the hell was going on here?

Time was going on and I had to get to work so with a quick look around I left for my office. All day I mulled it over. For someone to have cleaned my flat they had to be able to get in and that meant they had to have a key. The only person who I could think of that could possibly still have a key to the flat was my last flatmate Ann.

No, that didn't make sense. Ann had left me to get married. Surely she hadn't broken up with Karl already. Karl was a nice bloke and Ann was crazy about him. Mind you, she had shared my bed right up until the night before her wedding. Perhaps Karl had realised that after he left in the evenings she got out of her own bed and joined me in mine.

My mind wasn't on work all that Monday and my secretary noticed. Just after lunch she suggested that I call it a day and told me she'd probably be able to handle anything that came up better than I would.

That evening when I got home I looked the place over very carefully, half expecting to find Ann's suitcase in her old room. But there was nothing there. I stood staring at Ann's old bed but nothing popped into my mind. It was a different matter when I got to my own room though. I only had to close my eyes for a moment and I could picture Luchia lying there on the bed.

Bugger, I got that damned feeling in my chest again. 'I know,' I thought to myself, 'I'll take a cold shower. That might get me thinking straight.' I'd just finished getting undressed, when I heard the front door open.

"Thanks, Mrs Harris," a voice said, "I'll have to get George to get a key cut for me."

I grabbed a towel to wrap around myself and stuck my head around the bedroom door; I saw Luchia enter the flat carrying a shopping bag.

"Luchia, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, George, you're home. I wasn't expecting you for another hour or so yet. The girls and I found some sewing that needed doing yesterday and I had planned to have a meal ready for you when you got home."

"How did you get in, Chia?" Such a dumb question to ask - I'd heard her thank my neighbour, Mrs Harris, for letting her in; it was more that I wanted to know how she knew that Mrs Harris had a spare key to my flat.

"Oh, I saw that key to Mrs Harris's flat, hanging in the kitchen on Saturday. I figured if you held an emergency key for her, then she would most likely be holding one for you. The girls and I did a little spring cleaning for you yesterday, I hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind, but I'm a little annoyed you didn't tell me you were coming. I'd have been here and helped."

"Where were you yesterday anyway?"

"Down at the pub. I'm afraid the flat felt a little empty after you had left. I tied one on, a bit."

"That was silly, you knew that I was coming back, didn't you?"

"Well, no, I didn't. You said you wanted to know what the girls used to talk about and you found that out on Saturday night."

"You've got to be kidding? We've got the rest of that book of yours to work through yet. Oh, and look, I've got a little present for you here."

Luchia slowly lifted the edge of her skirt until she was displaying her tiny thong that was making a futile attempt at covering her newly shaved or waxed pubic area.

"Do you like it? I saw you take some hair from your mouth the other night. I didn't want anything to put you off the next time."

All the time we had been talking Luchia had been closing the gap between us. Standing no more than a couple of inches from me in the end, she reached up and put her arms around my neck and pulled my mouth to hers. As we kissed, I suddenly felt a tug at my towel and it was gone.

"Oh, my, I think this little guy needs some attention," she said, breaking the spell, as her hand found my earnest friend.

"No, not yet. Let's shower first and then you can pick which pages you want to try."

Well, Luchia didn't cook our dinner that night. Instead we spent the night in one of the longest sessions of gymnastic sex that I had ever had. It was three o'clock in the morning - I know because I'd just woken up and checked the clock. The movement of my doing so must have told Luchia that I was awake.

"George!" she said in a hushed but very serious tone."

"Yes, Chia."

"I think I've fallen in love with you. Do you mind?"

"Luchia, I know I've fallen in love with you."

"Oh, I'll bet you say that to all your conquests."

I sat up and putting the bedroom light on. I turned and looked at her.

"I know you'll have trouble believing this, but I don't actually."

Then getting off the bed and walking over to my dresser, I said, "And I've never done this before either."

From the top drawer I took a little brown box.

"This is my mother's engagement ring. Luchia, will you marry me?"

"Oh, my, I never dreamed you would actually ask me. Are you sure about this?"

"As sure as I can be."

++++++++++++++++

Three weeks later we were married in the local registry office. Six months after that, I gave Amy away to Mike in the local Catholic Church. They've moved into my flat for the time being, whilst Luchia and I live in her house. The plan is that once Claire gets married and Amy decides it's time to have children, we will switch houses. Claire's fiancé works some way away and when they get married, they will buy a house near there.

The girls were calling me dad even before Luchia and I tied the knot. Oh and we've never seen or heard of Jerry since the night of Amy's party.

It looks very much like Luchia and I will grow old together; I certainly hope we will. I don't think Luchia is planning anymore children, but I'll let her make that decision. I'm wondering whether my wandering ways with women were caused by my not being able to find the right one.

And I have to ask myself. If I hadn't been so pedantic about not going after my friend's girls, would I have found out that Luchia was "the one" many years ago? Would Amy and Claire have been my real children? And would both Luchia and I have had a happier life?

Life goes on.