The Second Dance

"Donna, I don't know how you really feel, but I know how I feel. If you would like...I mean...I'm not saying you'd ever want to, but...well, there are other things we could do besides dance."

"Like what?"

"Oh, like go to a movie or take a walk or maybe just get a pizza and watch TV. I don't know. It's been so long I've forgotten what women like to do."

In the light of the porch lamp that lit the inside of my car, I saw a tear trickle down Donna's cheek.

"Are you saying you want to do those things with me?"

I nodded.

"Yes. If you want to do them with me."

Donna leaned over my center console as far as she could and then put her hand on the back of my neck and gently pulled me to her face. I didn't need any encouragement to kiss her.

I'd forgotten what kissing felt like too, but that kiss brought it all back to me. I was thoroughly enjoying that kiss, when there was a tap on my side window. Donna opened her eyes, and then gasped, "Oh, God no."

When I leaned back in my seat and looked out my window, there stood Jack and Melanie, and they were grinning. When I rolled down my window, Jack tried to sound like I suppose I did when we had our talks about him and girls.

"Dad, you know you won't be able to control yourself if you keep this up, don't you?"

He couldn't keep a straight face then, and neither could Melanie. They both burst out laughing.

When they calmed down, I asked Jack why he wasn't at home like he was supposed to be. He just grinned.

"Mel and I set you up hoping this would happen, so we came to her house to see if it would. We've been waiting in the bushes."

"You set us up? What does that mean?"

Melanie answered my question.

"After she'd been to a few dances, Mom told me about how you two danced one time when you were in high school. She even remembered the name of the song. Mom, I know you've not been really happy in a long time, but after you started going to the dances, you seemed happier. I figured it was Mr. Lawrence that made you happy. In case you haven't realized it, you've talked about him a lot too.

"It took us forever to find that song because it's so old. We finally asked the music teacher where we could find one, and he told us he thought he had it on a cassette tape. He did and he helped us put it on a CD so he could play it at the dance."

"Dad", said Jack, "You've been happier too since you started going to the dances. You hum to yourself when you're writing, and you never did that before, at least not that I remember. We just wanted you both to be happy, and this seemed like a way to make you remember.

"The last dance, that one that said 'take a look at me now', was my idea. I thought if you did and if you looked at Mrs. Richardson like she is now...well, from what I just saw I think you did."

He chuckled then.

"The way you were kissing, I guess it worked."

Well, I didn't know what to say and neither did Donna. We just sat there until Melanie said, "We're going in the house. Mom, don't stay out here too long, or I'll have to give you a curfew."

When they left, Donna giggled.

"Do you believe what they did?"

"Well, we were there and it did happen so I have to believe them. Is what Melanie said true, that you talk to her about me?"

Donna hung her head in embarrassment.

"Yes, I suppose it is. I didn't tell her that I'm in love or anything like that though. I don't know where she got that idea."

I lifted Donna's chin so I could see her eyes again.

"I don't know how Jack decided that either, but what if I said I think I might be falling in love with you?"

I saw tears trickle down Donna's cheeks.

"Do you really mean that?"

I nodded.

"Yes. I knew I liked being with you until that dance tonight. What that dance did was make me remember how it was to be with a woman, and then when we kissed, I thought maybe that was happening. How do you feel about that?"

Donna didn't say anything. She just leaned over and waited for me to kiss her again.

We dated every weekend after that, though a lot of the time was spent at my house with Donna reading my manuscript. We didn't do anything more serious than kissing though. We both knew our kids would find out and it would be hard to explain why they shouldn't have sex but it was OK for their parents to.

That all changed when Jack and Melanie went to college the next fall. Jack and Melanie both got accepted to MTSU and UT Knoxville, but Jack went to UT Knoxville to become an aeronautical engineer and Melanie thought MTSU might be a better school to become a math teacher. Neither could really commute, so that left Donna and I by ourselves.

The Saturday night after we dropped them at their dorms and said for them to call if they needed anything, Donna came to my house for a pizza and a movie on cable. We ate the pizza and watched the movie, and then spent a little time on my couch just holding each other and kissing.

After one kiss, Donna stroked my cheek.

"You know what?"

"No, what?"

"We're all alone here. We could do anything we wanted to do and nobody would know."

She was grinning, and I thought I knew what she meant.

"Do you have something in mind?

Donna let her hand fall to my thigh then.

"Well...I was thinking that maybe we could do what we keep telling our kids not to do."

"We keep telling them not to do it until they're married. We're not married."

Donna stroked her hand slowly up my thigh.

"We're not just eighteen either. We're both old enough to know what we really want instead of just getting carried away. I really want this...and I want it with you, Craig."

"Right here on the couch?"

Donna chuckled.

"That would be fine if we were eighteen. I think we'd be more comfortable in your bed."

I made sure the front door was locked and then led Donna to my bedroom. She sat down on the bed, bounced a couple of times, and then smiled.

"This will work a lot better than your couch. Are you going to undress me?"

It had been a very long time since I'd undressed a woman and undressing Donna felt a little odd. I did fine with the blouse buttons, and she helped me slip it off her arms and shoulders. I reached around her to unhook her bra, but she smiled and stopped me.

"Not yet, Craig. I want to take off your shirt first."

Once she'd pulled my shirt off my shoulders, she smiled again.

"Now, my bra."

I admit my fingers were shaking a little when I unhooked Donna's bra. She shrugged her shoulders when she felt the band come free and let the bra slide down her arms to the floor, then she put her arms around my neck and pressed her breasts into my chest.

I kissed her, and while she was trying to get her tongue in my mouth, I unsnapped and unzipped her jeans, and then slipped my hands inside them and cupped her hips. I didn't feel any panties, so I eased my mouth from hers.

"Donna, you aren't wearing underwear, are you?"

She grinned.

"Yes, I am, but I never wear anything but thong panties. Take off my jeans and you'll see. I better lay down because they're kinda tight."

Donna's jeans were more than "kinda tight". Getting them off her was like pulling a latex glove off your fingers. Once they got started though, they came off and I did see her thong panties, what there was of them. They were basically a string around her waist, two strings from that one to a tiny little triangle over her mound and another from the point of that triangle up to her back. I couldn't see that last one, but I was sure it had to be there.

"Donna, I've seen thong panties in ads, but they seemed a lot bigger."

She giggled.

"I was hoping this would happen, so I bought a special pair in case you needed some encouragement."

Donna lifted her legs then.

"Wanna take them off for me?"

As I slipped the thong down her silky smooth legs, I saw the little, trimmed bush of hair on her mound that ended in a fringe on each soft, puffy lip of her sex. I didn't need any encouragement before that. Afterwards, I had to get rid of my pants and underwear. My stiff cock was almost bent double and it was starting to be painful.

Donna stood up and put her arms around my neck again.

"When we were in high school, we girls always knew what you guys said about us. They told their girlfriends and their girlfriends told the rest of us girls. I heard you guys said if you ever got me naked, I'd scare you so much you wouldn't be able to get hard. Am I that scary now?"

I chuckled.

"I think you already know the answer to that question."

Donna felt for my cock, and when she found it, she closed her hand around it.

"Seems to be doing just fine to me. How about if we try it out?"

I pulled the blanket and sheet down to the foot of the bed, and just as I turned around, Donna burst out laughing. She was holding a strip of condoms in one hand and a note in the other.

"It says, 'Dad, if you can't control yourself, at least be safe. There are more in the table beside the bed if you need them. Jack'."

I smiled.

"At least I know he listened to our talks."

Donna dropped the condoms and the note on the bedtable, and then put her arms around my neck again.

"I guess Mel didn't tell him we don't need them. I've been safe for three months. Now, make me feel like a woman again."

Afterwards, I wasn't sure if Donna felt like a woman again, but I knew I felt like the man I'd been with Mandy. No, I wasn't comparing Donna to Mandy. I was comparing myself to then and now.

I didn't know what Donna liked best, but I quickly learned that about anything made her sigh or moan or want to kiss me. Her breasts, while not really large, were very sensitive and her nipples seemed to keep growing the more I stroked, kissed, and nibbled them. When I closed my lips around one and sucked gently, Donna rocked up off the bed a little and then guided my hand down to her mound.

I parted the fringe of hair on her lips and then stroked the edges a little. Donna moaned, found my cock with her fingers, and began slowly stroking me. When I slipped a fingertip between those lips, Donna opened her legs wide. My fingertip slipped a little deeper, deep enough I was feeling the slippery folds of her inner lips. When I stroked them Donna caught her breath and lifted her hips again.

From then on, I just did what it felt like Donna wanted me to do. That fingertip stroking her inner lips became a finger slipping inside her when Donna raised up enough it slipped inside her on its own. She moaned then, gave my cock a couple quick strokes, and then her body jerked when I slipped that finger back out. She kept doing that every time I stroked that finger in and then out. After a few times, she pulled my face to hers and kissed me, and then found my tongue with hers. She gasped when that happened, and her body jerked again.

When she gently pulled away, she whispered, "Craig, I need you...I need you so much."

I felt her trying to urge me between her open thighs, and a second later, I was there, easing my cock down until I felt her puffy, open lips. After a little moving around, I found her entrance and began pushing my cock in. Donna moaned until I felt a little resistance, then caught her breath when my cock head slipped past that spot.

I pulled back out, and Donna caught her breath when my cock head slid past that snug spot again. This time when I pushed my cock inside her, Donna grabbed my butt cheeks, raised her hips, and kept pulling until my belly flattened against her mound. "Oh God, I didn't think I'd ever feel this way again", she murmured before she let me go.

Making love with Donna was an experience in feeling her respond to everything I did, and returning those feelings to me. With every stroke I made, she raised her body up to meet me and in the process, my cock sank into her slippery/sticky, clasping depths. It was such an exquisite feeling. Donna's passage was tight enough to keep me climbing the slope, and slippery enough I wasn't getting ahead of her.

That lasted until Donna gasped, held her breath, and I felt her legs start to quiver. When I stroked out, she relaxed a little, but as soon as I stroked inside her again, she dug her nails into my back and whimpered, "Oh God, Craig. I'm almost there."

After two more strokes, she caught her breath and held it as she started arching up off the bed. She made a little cry, then fell back on the mattress and her hips started rocking up and down so fast I didn't have a choice. I groaned as the first spurt exploded from my cock head and inside Donna. She was still doing that when I spurted two more times, and even after that, her thighs were quivering against my sides and I felt little contractions milking my cock.

It took quite a while before Donna sighed, wrapped her legs around me and giggled.

"I'm not going to let you go until you do this to me again."

"Well, it was more of a mutual thing than me doing something to you. This was fantastic."

Donna hugged me tight and kissed me, then whispered, "We can do this again, can't we? I want to do it a lot."

We did do it a lot, all the way up to Thanksgiving. We thought since the kids were coming home for that weekend we should at least keep up the illusion we were just dating. We underestimated Jack and Melanie.

We decided it would be best if we made Thanksgiving dinner at Donna's house. We thought that would look like I was just visiting. Jack was going to pick up Melanie on his way back from UT Knoxville and they'd come to Donna's house first.

As soon as Melanie walked in the door though, she hugged Donna and then grinned.

"Mom, you look great and I can only think of one reason you'd have changed."

Donna tried to play the role of mother.

"Mel, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Melanie just grinned again.

"Remember those talks we had...the talks when you said sex would make me feel like a different woman? Well, you look like a different woman to me."

When Donna blushed, Melanie stroked her cheek.

"Mom, I understand, so don't be embarrassed. I haven't done anything, but I can understand how you must feel."

Jack shook my hand and then smiled.

"You get my present?"

I nodded.

"It meant more to me that you listened to me than what you gave me."

Jack shrugged.

"Just didn't want you getting yourself in trouble. Looks like you found what you've been missing all these years though."

I said I didn't know what he meant, and Jack just smiled.

"Dad, I've seen how you look at Mel's mom. You just can't bring yourself to tell me how you feel about her. Don't worry, I can see it in your face."

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner, a Thanksgiving dinner like I'd always dreamed of having. It was great having Jack at home too. He was full of what he'd been learning and we had long talks about what he was going to do when he graduated.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Donna and I were together almost every night, and every night we were together ended like the first one. Before we knew it, Christmas was only a week away and that meant the kids would be coming home again, but for a week this time. That meant Donna and I would have to be apart at night, something neither she nor I really was going to enjoy.

Christmas was going to be at my house, so Donna and I bought a new artificial tree and then spent two hours decorating it. We'd both bought presents for each other and for our kids, and after Christmas dinner, we were going to exchange gifts.

Christmas dinner was great just like Thanksgiving, and I ate way more than I should have. After Melanie and Donna cleared the table, we all went into the living room to exchange gifts. I held my gift to Donna until everybody had opened theirs.

When I wrapped it, I put it in an old shoebox. Donna tore off the paper, then the tape holding the box together, and then started to cry when she looked inside.

"Is this what I think it is?"

I sat down beside her and put my arm around her, then pulled the ring box from the tape holding it inside the shoe box.

"You should probably look at it before you say anything else. You might not like it."

When Donna opened the ring box, she didn't say anything. She just showed it to Melanie. Melanie took one look and then started to cry too.

Donna turned to me, put her arms around my neck, kissed me, and then said, "I can't think of anything I'd rather have gotten for Christmas".

Well, that was a long time ago, but it seems like yesterday sometimes. It's funny how fast time goes by before you know it. We were married on the first of June that next year and then spent a week in Mussel Shoals together. When we got to the hotel and opened our suitcases, we found one card each, one from Jack to Donna and one from Melanie to me. Both cards were the same except for the note written on the inside.

Donna wiped her eyes and then showed me her card from Jack. Inside, it said, "Guys aren't supposed to get all emotional about things, but I want you to know Dad couldn't have found a better wife. I don't remember my real mother, so if I can call you Mom, it'll make me really happy."

Melanie's card to me brought tears to my eyes too.

"I grew up knowing Mom wasn't happy. She's happy now, and so am I. I hope you don't mind if I call you Dad, but I never had a dad before and I really want to have a real father in my life. I know you love Mom. I hope you can find a way to love me too."

Donna wiped her eyes again.

"Our kids are something else, aren't they?"

"Yes. They seem too grown up for how old they really are."

Donna smiled.

"It'll be nice to have a son. I always wanted to have a son. It'll be great to have him call me his mom. What do you think about Mel? Can she call you Dad?"

I smiled.

"As long as I can call her mother my wife, she can call me her dad."

Donna started taking off her clothes.

"Well, we'd better be sure that never changes then. Think we could figure out something to do that will keep us together?"

We're still together, so I guess what we figured out did work. Some of that is the subject of my third novel. The first and second sold pretty well and I got an advance for a third once my agent proposed the topic to my publisher.

It's going to start when my main characters are in high school and have one dance together. They'll meet later in life after both have experienced some trying times in their lives. The title is going to be "The Second Dance".