Starlight Wishes

It had been curiosity that had led her to Ruth's bed, and the older girl had no problem with that. And while the experience had been indisputably enjoyable, it had also made Susan also realize how much she missed Stephen. With her going off to school five hundred miles away, while he started working full time for his father, they decided that it was unrealistic for either of them not to see anyone else -- especially since they hadn't gone all the way yet. Oh, they had done things with, and to, each other, but technically at least, Susan was still a virgin.

That changed when Susan came home during the break as, with her loss of virginity repeatedly confirmed during those few weeks, also came a promise to be true. Something, it turned out, Stephen had been while she was gone, despite there being no requirement for him to have been so. In hindsight perhaps, they might have celebrated their new relationship one time fewer because, as the warning on the side of the box said, condoms really were only 98% effective.

Looking back, she never regretted marrying Stephen, and, as she told Diane, her children were the great joy of her life. But Stephen was gone, and to a lesser extent so were her children, because they now had lives of their own. Perhaps it was time she found a new life as well, whatever it might turn out to be.

-=-=-=-

Susan poured the last of her coffee into the sink and rinsed out the cup. Whatever her dinner with Bailey was supposed to be, it was time for her to get ready for it. Dropping the cup into the dishwasher, she headed upstairs to shower and get dressed.

Stepping out of the shower, her skin still tingling from the hot water, Susan dried off before wrapping herself in a white terrycloth robe. The shower had felt good and also helped clear her mind. She was, as Stephen had often said, making a mountain out of a molehill, and she should just let things unfold as whatever they were meant to.

Moving into the bedroom, she sat herself in front of the mirrored vanity and gazed at her reflection. She was, she knew, still a good-looking woman. A fact attested to by the number of men who had asked her out since she'd lost her husband. A few of them had even been friends of his, now single for one reason or another. If nothing else, the thought that they still found her desirable reminded her how long it had been since her body had felt any hand other than her own.

Brushing her hair, Susan wouldn't have been human if she didn't at least consider how it might feel to actually act out Diane's scenario. As much as she had loved Stephen, there had been times when she looked at other women and was reminded of the nights, few as they might have been, that she'd spent with Ruth. She'd even fantasized a few times that it was one of the women she'd admired going down on her in place of her husband. There was nothing wrong with that, she reminded herself; Stephen sometimes closed his own eyes and imagined someone other than his wife sucking his cock. It was a game they allowed each other to play, one that she missed.

Without realizing she was doing it, Susan absentmindedly slipped her hand beneath the fold of her robe and stroked the nipple of her left breast. A nipple she found erect and hard. Even when she did become aware of it, she didn't stop but instead opened her robe, allowing both breasts to be cupped in her hands.

Susan had always loved the touch of soft hands on her mounds, be it her own or that of a lover. Nature had been kind to her, gifting her with breasts that were just large enough to be sexually attractive yet also small and firm enough to have successfully endured her years.

Continuing to let her mind wander, one of her hands dropped from her breast, sliding down across her stomach until it came to rest between her legs. There to find, despite having just dried herself off, that her pubic mound was damp. She felt her fingers gently probe within, creating a small tingle inside her

She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh, trying to picturing in her mind's eyes what her imaginary lover might look like, only to find a vague form that refused to take shape. Nevertheless, she continued to stroke herself softly.

"Mom ..." came Diane's voice from the doorway of the bedroom.

Snapped out of her erotic musings by the sound of her daughter's voice, Susan quickly closed her robe. She hoped Diane hadn't noticed what she'd been doing in the reflection of the mirror.

If Diane had noticed, she gave no indication. Susan turned in her chair to face her daughter, holding her robe tightly closed as she did so. Dismissing the last of the carnal imagery from her thoughts, she asked her daughter if something was the matter.

"I just wanted to apologize," Diane said as she stopped at the edge of the vanity. "I think I might've upset you by what I said in the kitchen."

"There's no need to apologize," Susan smiled at her youngest. "I think I probably overreacted a little too. I actually thought you were serious."

"Oh, I was serious," Diane said. "I really do think a little fling might do you a world of good. What I'm apologizing for is trying to press you into it. That's something that you should decide on your own."

"You could really see me having a fling with another woman?" Susan asked.

"I could see you having a fling with anyone that made you feel good," Diane replied. "You deserve whatever happiness you can find in life, and I know Dad would've felt the same way."

Susan wasn't sure how Stephen would've felt about her dating another woman, but he had once said that if he was the one to go first, he didn't expect her to wear black for the rest of her life.

"I don't know about you," Stephen had joked after that discussion, "but if I'm the one who winds up alone in a nursing home those widows had better watch out, because I plan to go out with a bang."

'And I wish you could have,' Susan thought, again regretting that he had gone much too soon.

"Mom?" Diane asked, seeing that she seemed lost for a moment.

"I'm fine, I was just remembering something, that's all," she smiled.

"Well, I'll let you get dressed," Diane said before leaving the room. "If you need help with anything, just let me know."

-=-=-=-

"Mom, Bailey is here," Susan heard Diane call from the bottom of the stairs not long later.

Taking a final look at herself in the mirror, Susan said that she would be right down.

"She'll be right down," Diane repeated to Bailey when she walked back into the living room. "Can I get you something while you're waiting?"

"No, I'm fine," Bailey said with a smile.

"I have to say, I love your outfit," Diane commented. "It really stands out."

"Thank you," Bailey replied. "It's one of my favorites, but I don't often get a chance to wear it."

The outfit in question was a rich banana cream colored pants suit with an ivory white, long-sleeved blouse. It was accented by a dark brown leather belt and matching open toed shoes.

"Oh my, don't you look dashing," Susan said as she stepped into the room and saw Bailey.

"I could say the same about you, only in your case it would actually be true," Bailey responded, totally taken by the dress the other woman was wearing.

Diane too was quite surprised by her mother's attire; it had been a long time since she'd seen her wear anything so sexy, especially that particular outfit. The red dress had been sitting in the back of her mother's wardrobe closet since before her dad had died, unused since their twenty-fifth anniversary party.

It was just low cut enough to give a hint of the bust beneath it and still be respectable, and short enough to show off Susan's equally striking legs. Around her neck was a string of pearls which Diane recognized as having belonged to her grandmother. It was a testament to how well Susan took care of herself that she could still wear the dress.

"Shall we get going?" Susan asked as she picked up her

purse from a small side table. "The reservations are for eight."

"Have fun, you two," Diane called out as she watched them

walk out the door, adding in a much lower voice, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

A voice that had still been loud enough for Susan to have heard as she looked back and gave her daughter a reproachful look.

-=-=-=-

It had previously been agreed that they'd take Susan's car to the restaurant, so Bailey had taken a cab to the house. She had started down the walk towards the curb where she saw Susan's 1993 Ford Escort Wagon parked, when the blonde took her arm to redirect her.

"It's such a beautiful night I thought we'd enjoy it more if we took the convertible," she said as she made a hand gesture in the direction of the garage.

"Oh my God, that is incredible," Bailey gushed as they reached the open door of the garage and she saw what Susan had simply referred to as the convertible.

Bailey's father and uncle owned an auto repair garage and liked to restore old cars on the side. So the Wimbledon White 1966 Mustang sitting before them was something she both recognized and appreciated. With a red leather interior and all of the original trim restored, the classic car looked like it had just been driven out of the showroom.

"This was my husband's pride and joy; his father bought it for him when he graduated high school," Susan explained. "He and our boys spent over three years restoring it about ten years ago. I only take it out on special occasions."

"Is this a special occasion?" Bailey inquired, wondering if perhaps it could've been her birthday or something.

"As I've gotten older," Susan noted, "I've found that it doesn't take much to make an occasion special. Sometimes, just the company of a good friend is reason enough to celebrate."

Bailey smiled.

"Would you like to drive it?" Susan unexpectedly asked.

"I'd be afraid that I'd scratch the paint or something," Bailey quickly replied, even though she was an excellent driver, having been taught by her father when she was fifteen.

"I'd be willing to take the chance, but fair enough," Susan said as she directed Bailey toward the passenger side. "In the beginning, it took me a little while to get used to driving it too, but I finally realized, what good is having something if you never use it because you're afraid of losing it?"

The car handled as well as it looked and it wasn't long before they pulled into the parking lot behind Romano's. There Susan insisted on parking the car herself, reasoning that there was a big difference between offering the keys to Bailey, who she knew grew up around a garage, and handing them off to some sixteen-year-old kid who barely knew the difference between a classic Ford and a '92 Yugo.

-=-=-=-

"Mrs. York, how nice to see you again," Salvatore Romano beamed when he spotted Susan coming through the front door of his restaurant. "It's been far too long."

"Thank you, Salvatore," Susan said with a warm smile.

"I took the liberty of reserving you a private booth where ..." the seventy-two-year-old owner started to say, only to pause once he realized that the woman in yellow standing a few steps behind Susan was her dinner companion. He had mistakenly assumed that his old customer would be having a private dinner with a male companion, the first since her husband's passing, and had acted accordingly.

"No booth in the corner, Salvatore," Susan said, recognizing why the old man had done so. "I'm just having dinner with a classmate; I have no reason to hide in the shadows."

"Of course, of course," Salvatore replied in an apologetic tone before turning to the waiter at his elbow to say, "Dominic, please escort Mrs. York and her guest to table four."

"Was there a problem?" Bailey asked Susan, unable to overhear the whole conversation.

"Not at all," Susan said. "Mr. Romano and I are old friends and were just taking a moment to catch up, that's all."

"Oh," Bailey said as she followed Susan and Dominic to their table.

The conversation over dinner was almost better than the food, which was as first rate as Susan had remembered it to be. It had been way too long since she'd enjoyed going out and sharing a meal with someone. Whenever she'd gone out with any of her old friends, they spent so much of the meal avoiding anything that might upset her, or bring on a sad memory, that she stopped accepting invitations. Not having been part of her life until a few months ago, Bailey was like a breath of spring air.

"That was a great meal," Bailey said as she gently pushed the now empty plate away. "I really enjoyed it."

"Yes, it was," Susan agreed, "almost as good as the company."

Their conversation was interrupted as Dominic appeared by the table carrying a small leather folder, the sort that carried the dinner check. A brief look of apprehension appeared on Bailey's face as she motioned for the waiter to hand the bill to her. She was certain that their little celebration was going to take a good chunk out of her discretionary funds, but she'd had such a good time that it was worth it. But, as she opened the billfold and looked at the total at the bottom of the check, that look of concern was replaced by confusion.

"Is something wrong?" Susan asked as she noted the change of expression, thinking that now was the time to offer to split the bill.

"I don't understand the bill," Bailey confessed as she laid it flat on the table so that Susan could see.

There, written across the total at the bottom was an inscription, 'paid in full -- classmate's discount.'

Now equally confused, Susan looked to Dominic, who in turn shifted his own gaze toward the bar. Or more specifically, to the rounded middle-aged man standing at the end of it. Raising the drink in his hand in a toasting motion, Mario Romano expressed his salutations.

"Mr. Romano said to tell you that in appreciation of his first grandson, he sincerely hopes that you will allow him to pay for your meal," Dominic said with a smile.

"You may tell Mr. Romano that I would be honored," Susan replied, signaling her appreciation with a smile and a friendly wave.

"What was that all about?" Bailey asked as Dominic stepped away. "Is he paying for every patron's dinner?"

"Mario and I have a bit of a history," Susan explained. "Back in high school, I introduced him to my friend, Gina Berlusconi, and it was love at first sight, at least for him. Gina took a bit longer to come to the same conclusion, but they've been married thirty years now, with six kids -- and now, evidently, a grandson as well."

"Well, I guess that's certainly worth a free dinner," Bailey expressed, "but I don't think that our waiter should be short changed."

Watching as Bailey laid out on the table what would've been an appropriate gratuity for the bill, Susan was certain that Mario would've also made that up to Dominic as well. She didn't say anything, however, as it would've detracted from the older woman's desire to take her to dinner. It was enough that it had cost her far less than she had originally expected.

-=-=-=-

"Well, what would you like to do now?" Bailey inquired as they exited the restaurant and began to walk toward the parking lot.

"I don't know, it is almost half past nine," Susan said, glancing at her watch, "and an old woman like myself does need her sleep."

"Nonsense, you're younger than I am," a surprised Bailey said, not realizing that Susan was joking.

"Relax, I'm only kidding," Susan laughed. "In fact, there have been nights when I've been known to stay up as late as the eleven o'clock news."

Bailey now also laughed.

"What would you like to do?" Susan asked. "After all, we are supposed to be out celebrating."

"Well, there's that new film at the Cinemax, Chasing Amy," Bailey suggested. "I've heard it's pretty good."

"Oh, it's much too nice a night to be cooped up in a stuffy movie theater," Susan replied. "I know, why don't we go for a drive along the lake? I remember it being especially lovely this time of year."

"Okay, the lake it is," Bailey smiled, glad that the night wasn't coming to an early end.

A half hour later, they were driving along Lakeshore Drive and Susan found the cool night air to be as invigorating as she remembered it. It had been a long time since she'd come this way.

"As I recall, there should be a small turn off just ahead," she said as she slowed down the car, "yes, there it is."

Bailey tried to see what Susan was talking about, but even in the bright moonlight she couldn't see anything but a line of seemingly impenetrable shrubbery.

"Are you sure that ..." she started to ask just as Susan made a hard left turn, one that spun the car almost a hundred and eighty degrees, causing Bailey to grab the side of the front window for support.

Sure enough there had been a turn, one hidden by what had only seemed like a single row of hedges. In actuality, it was two overlapping lines which, if viewed from the main road, created the illusion of a solid barrier.

"Now, if nothing else has changed in the last few years, there should be an outcropping just a bit ahead, one with a really magnificent view," Susan continued as she again slowed the car down.

No more than a minute later, Susan made a slow turn and they found themselves on the low ridge she had mentioned, one with an unobstructed view of the lake.

"Wow," Bailey exclaimed as Susan put the car into park and turned off the ignition, "this is amazing."

"Yes, it is," Susan agreed. "I'd almost forgotten how much so."

Lake Montgomery covered nearly six square miles and was part of Grant State Park. The shoreline before them was home to a few protected indigenous wildlife species, so any development was restricted to the other side of it. As a result, the lack of any real light pollution afforded a far grander view of the sky than might be found only a few miles distant.

"How did you ever find this place?" Bailey asked, not being able to imagine how anyone could've found it by accident, not with all the twists and turns they'd just taken.

"It's a bit of a family secret," Susan said as she also took in the vast tableau. "I doubt there are more than a dozen people who know about it."

She paused for a moment, then explained that she had first been brought up here by her late husband, who had been told about it by his older brother, who in turn had been shown the passage by their grandfather.

"And how did he find out about it?"

"Back during Prohibition, Grandpa York used to hide a still up here," Susan laughed.

"You're kidding," Bailey said.

"Honest truth," Susan insisted. "In fact, if you went off into the woods to the left, out past those tall trees, you'd probably still find bits and pieces of the old shack he kept it in. I wouldn't recommend it in the dark, however; the original path had pretty much been reclaimed by nature."

"Did you use to come up here a lot?" Bailey asked out of curiosity.

"Often enough," Susan replied. "The first time I was only ... it had to be just before my nineteenth birthday."

It was clear to Bailey that this was a special place to Susan, but she had no idea just how special. Only a few dozen feet from where they now sat was where Susan had lost her virginity.

"You know, there's another path off to the right, down along the clearing, that leads down to the shoreline," Susan then said. "We could take a little walk if you like."

Bailey said she would and, guided by the light of the full moon and a flashlight that Susan took from the glove compartment, they made their way down the water's edge. There, Susan took off her shoes and walked barefoot into the shallow surf. A gentle wave splashed up onto the sand and over her feet.

"It's been a long time since I've done this too," she laughed.

Thinking it looked like fun, Bailey removed her own shoes and also gave it a try.