She Wasn't Mine Anymore

The main problem in the military is that you know after three years in one place, you're going to be moved someplace else. I had already been at Knox for almost a year. I had, at best, two full years left. Knox was a huge installation and I could very well spend the next two years there and rarely see Donna.

I had another opportunity to go on temporary duty (TDY). When I found out it was Hawaii, I almost asked to be replaced, but decided what the hell, I'd go.

Another two weeks passed and I was promoted to Major. The ceremony was in the same small room in the Club I had seen Donna the night before she went apeshit. I received my brand new shiny insignia and was congratulated by people I hardly knew. My TDY was scheduled to start less than a week after my promotion and all my orders had to be amended to reflect my new rank.

Two days before I was scheduled to leave, I was downtown having my car serviced knowing it was going to be sitting in my apartment complex for a month or so when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was my ex-wife, Lois. "Look what the cat dragged in," she said.

"Fuck you, Lois."

"Speaking of fucking, I'll bet you haven't been doing much of that, have you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Donna. She's one of my customers and when I found out she was dating you, I set her straight about you. I saw her last week and she told me she told you to get lost."

"Well, shit," I thought. That could answer a lot of questions. "What did you tell her?"

"Oh, no. I'm not telling you that. Seeing you squirm is too much fun. Have a nice day."

She walked out and got in a car. Apparently someone was waiting for her. My trip home was consumed with trying to figure out what Lois told Donna about me. I was home and packing when it dawned on me. She had to tell her I cheated. I didn't think there was anything that would hurt Donna more than that. Now, how was I going to fix it? I had no idea.

Then I knew. If Lois told her I was cheating, I thought I could fix it. I went through my files and pulled out my divorce documents and made copies of everything and put them in an envelope. I had to be on the flightline at noon. By then the equipment would be loaded and all they would have to do is load the troops.

My ride picked me up at my apartment and took me by the Post Engineers Office. I went to Donna's office and charged right by her gatekeeper before he could stop me. She looked up in surprise as her assistant yelled at me. I tossed the envelope on her desk. "The only thing my ex-wife could have told you to piss you off as badly as you are is that I cheated on her. I don't believe anything else would have done it. When you get some time, read that," I pointed to the envelope, "then tell me who cheated. Then find yourself a man you trust and who trusts you, but you better be ready to talk to him before you go off the deepend and accuse him of something he didn't do. Communication is a pretty good thing."

My ride took me immediately to the airfield and my flight to Hawaii. We were just boarding the plane when my phone rang. It was Donna, I turned it off. I couldn't talk to anyone 36,000 feet in the air anyway.

When we landed, there were three more messages from her. I just told her communication was a pretty good thing, but I didn't feel like communicating ... not with her anyway.

The month in Hawaii went fast. It was busy, but exciting and the training was well worth the trip. When it came time to return home, I was told which plane I was going to be on. We were on the flightline, loading when an Air Force NCO came to our group and asked if Major William Christopher was there. I raised my hand.

"I'm sorry, sir, but your plane has been changed. Let me take you to it." I didn't give a shit which plane I was on so I went with him. He took my bag and carried it for me. On board the plane, my seat was closest to the cockpit. We had been in the air a couple of hours when the co-pilot came out of the cockpit and up to me. "Major Christopher?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"The pilot would like to see you in the cockpit." I stood, went to the cockpit and entered.

"Have a seat, Major." He indicated the co-pilot's seat. "But try not to touch anything." He handed me a set of earphones. "Put these on and we won't have to yell."

I sat and put them on. If you've never sat in a seat in the cockpit of a huge airplane, especially in flight, you need to try to do it. It was an amazing feeling. The pilot must have known how I felt because he made no effort to say anything else for a long time, letting me take in my surroundings, but eventually he spoke.

"We haven't met, but we saw each other once. At the officer's club at Fort Knox. I was having dinner with my sister. I spent most of the dinner hour and much of later that evening in her room hearing about how big of a disappointment the man she had been dating was, and how he cheated on his ex-wife, a wonderful lady she bought her makeup from.

"My sister and I talk a lot. Maybe too much, but that's neither here nor there. The funny thing was she cried even as she told me how big an asshole her boyfriend, or, rather, ex-boyfriend was. She had trouble saying ex, for some reason. As time went on and we continued to talk, she cried even harder when she spoke of him."

I looked at him. He was sitting sideways in the pilots' seat not paying any attention to the controls. That big bastard was flying itself.

"A month ago, she was given some documents which proved that the ex-wife of her ex-boyfriend ... are you following this Major?" I nodded. "Good. Anyway, the documents proved the ex-wife cheated not the ex-boyfriend. Needless to say she was a pretty happy camper and tried to call the ex-boyfriend ... listen, I'm tired of all the exes. She tried to call you to apologize, but you wouldn't take her calls. She went to your office and found you were here. So being the good sister she is, she called me and asked if I was scheduled to participate in getting you and your people back to Knox. I told her I was and she asked me if I could maybe talk to you and express her apologies, since you won't let her tell you herself.

"She was married before and the asshole she was married to did cheat. She caught him boinking some broad in their bed. It broke her heart and it took until you for her to trust any man except me and our father. She even took her old name back. She told me that when she first got to Knox, she had a huge chip on her shoulder and nobody would talk to her and nobody respected her. She told me even you had some pretty nasty things to say to her and about her."

"That's because she was a dyed in the wool horses' ass."

He laughed. "That's what she said. Anyway all that was caused by her cheating ex-husband. Then you began to soften her up and treat her like a human being. The turning point for her came when you took her out for her birthday dinner. She was all yours from then on, but you didn't know it.

"So here we are in the cockpit of one of the biggest airplanes in the world flying over the Pacific Ocean talking about my sister. I don't know that the taxpayers of America would appreciate it, but what the hell. What they don't know won't hurt them."

Before I spoke I looked to see what his rank was. He was a Major. "Listen Major. She gave me absolutely no chance to defend myself. She automatically assumed the worst. I understand she had a bad experience with her ex, but that had nothing to do with me and to paint me with the same broad brush she painted every man, except, apparently you and your father, with pisses me off. I'm not sure I'll accept her apology, and even if I do, the chances of our getting back together are pretty remote. I don't like her very much right now."

We talked for another hour or so before the co-pilot came back and claimed his seat.

As we deplaned at Knox, her brother came up to me. "Listen, I'm going to have dinner with her tonight, unless you would prefer taking my place."

"No thank you. I was going to the Club for dinner myself because everything in my refrigerator will be spoiled, so I have to eat out. If you're going to eat there, I'll eat someplace else."

"No, you eat there. We'll find someplace else. Good luck, Major."

"And good luck to you."

At home, the first thing I did was start my car to see if there was any battery left. There was and it started. The next thing I did was clean out my refrigerator. Virtually everything in it was spoiled so it went in a big plastic garbage bag and into the dumpster.

I went to the local grocery store and bought enough supplies for that evening and the next morning. I would do my shopping at the base commissary where things were a lot cheaper.

I reported to work and my boss told me I was on orders for the mid-east. That really sucked. It was a priority assignment and I had two weeks to get there. I had just signed a two year lease on my apartment, but that was no big deal. Military leases always had a reassignment escape clause. It took two days to get ready to move. My household stuff went into storage again and I went on leave to visit my family in Louisiana and leave my car for my brother to take care of.

I had been in-country four months when I took two bullets; one in my left leg and the other in my left shoulder. I was conscious until they got me to the hospital where they knocked me out for surgery. Almost two weeks in the hospital and they sent me back to the states and Ft. Knox. They told me it would be another three year tour at Knox, so I found an apartment in the same complex I was in before I went to the mid-east. My furniture was taken out of storage and delivered and I arranged it exactly like I had it before. It was like I never left except for the scars on my left leg and shoulder. I went to Louisiana to get my car. While driving home, I decided to buy a new car, and that's what I did, and for the first time ever, I indulged myself and bought a sports car.

I had been back a month and there was an award ceremony for four of us who were wounded over there. I declined to participate in the ceremony. I told my boss to just give me the award in my office or put it the interoffice memo envelope because I didn't need a ceremony. He honored my request with a knowing smile.

I was in the Commissary picking out a nice steak when she spoke. "Welcome back."

"It's nice to be back." I said and turned to look at her.

She pointed to my chest. "You have a purple heart. Is that why you're back early?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

We both hemmed and hawed until she finally spoke. "I, uh, I should have talked to you about what your ex-wife said, but I didn't and I can't think of anything more thoughtless and uncaring, especially with someone you love. I was wrong about you and I apologize." She looked me in the eye when she said it. "I would really like to be friends again." I didn't say anything. "Do you think we could at least talk about it?" I put my carefully chosen steak in my cart. I looked all around before looking at her. "What have we got to lose by trying?" she asked.

"I don't like you very much." I told her.

"That's what my brother said you said, and I don't blame you, but I'm asking for a second chance."

I looked at her before rummaging around the steaks looking for a second one. I found one and tossed it in my cart.

She pointed to it. "Is that for me?"

I chuckled. "My place. 6:30 tonight?"

"Just tell me where it is and I'll be there," she said. I told her. "That's easy. I live in the same complex."

When I opened the door for her, lots of good memories came back. She was a very attractive woman. I grilled our steaks on the little ledge that passed for a balcony off the livingroom. Baked potatoes, a salad, and wine completed the menu. We didn't chat much during the meal, but we spent a lot of time looking at each other. I walked her home around eleven. There was no goodnight kiss or hug.

I waited three days before I called her and we made another date for that evening. We dated several times over the next two weeks. One evening we had gone to her apartment and had a couple of drinks. She had been antsy all evening, finally she had her nerve up so she moved close to me on the sofa.

"Do you remember the first time we had sex? It was in the BOQ and it started on this very sofa." She paused. "I had a lot of confidence then that you wanted me, but I'm not sure now. I want to fuck you, Bill, but I'm afraid of being rejected. I haven't had sex since the last time we did it. I'm yours, Bill. Yours alone, if you'll have me, and we will trust each other again, if it takes the rest of our lives." With that she stood, and pulled her skirt up exactly like she did the first time, and she sat astraddle of me like she did the first time. Then we pulled her skirt up together like we did the first time, and she had the same or similar light blue lacy panties just like the first time.

"I want you to eat my pussy and make me scream like the first time and I want you to fuck me just like the first time."

And just like the first time, my dick got as hard as a railroad spike and we did the same things, only not like the first time ... they were better.

She gets her makeup from someone else.