Those Healing Hands of Time

"Ooh. Sounds nice. Looks like you didn't waste any time."

"Yeah, well, it's been, uh what? Eight months?"

"Almost, yeah."

"What about you? Seeing anyone?"

"I was for a bit, but that fell through. I guess it finally hit me how good a thing I had and I blew it."

"Uh, George, this one is way too tight across the arch. Have another one to try?"

"No, Sir, that was the last of the ones we have in your size."

"OK, thanks. I'll just have to look elsewhere."

"So, Bry, care to have a drink with me," she asked as I got up to leave. I waited until we had left the store completely and were out on the sidewalk before I turned to her.

"Chris, no. I don't want to have a drink with you. I don't want to talk with you. I don't want to think about you. The sooner you're gone is the sooner I'll feel better. OK?"

"Wow. Pretty caustic. I thought we'd be polite and catch up, you know. I mean, we did have something very nice together."

"Yes, we did. I agree with you on that. But you went and fucked it all up. For weeks I was depressed and angry and I'm slowly getting over it. I don't want to relive things or even think about you ever again. So, good-bye, Chris," I said as I turned and walked away, even though my car was in the opposite direction. I hadn't gone more than ten steps when I heard a sob, but I refused to turn around, I refused to look and I refused to give her the satisfaction of thinking she could still influence me.

I circled around to my car, went down the street several blocks and found a little bar. There I had three or four stiff drinks to try and drown my anger, but I ended up being 'dangry' which means both drunk and angry. I Lyfted home and picked up my car the next morning.

I was surprised at how my mood shifted for the next few weeks. I had been on the mend but seeing her made things boil up again in my mind. Even Elise picked up on my mood and asked me what was going on. When I answered with the one work 'Christina,' she understood immediately.

"Are you going to be OK?"

"Yeah, probably. I'm not as bad as earlier on."

"Rats. Too bad."

"What!?"

"I was thinking you might be an asshole to me again and we'd get another free night at Cascade Falls," she laughed.

"Don't count on it," I joined in her laughing.

"Seriously, Bryan, I hope things turn out OK for you. You're such a great guy even though you are my boss."

"Thanks, Elise. Means a lot to me."

Because of that little incident, I decided to be more aggressive in my social life. I thought about getting together with Heather again and even though it would cost me, I figured it might help me forget the latest Christina episode faster. I contacted Gail at Professional Services, Inc and requested a weekend with Heather. When she called me back, she had some bad news.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but Heather has declined any more time with you."

"What? I thought we got along great. I mean, she even declined the tip and..."

"Yes, I remember. But if I can be completely frank..."

"Did I do anything wrong. Am I on some kind of a black list?"

"No! You did nothing wrong. She gave you a rating of five stars."

"Wait! You rate the customers?"

"Of course. Someone with a low rating of one or two stars will not be using our services again. Uh, not very many get five stars, the most are four stars and there are some three stars."

"Then why...uh...I don't understand."

"OK. I'll tell you. Heather apparently likes you a lot and sometimes when that happens, the escort doesn't want to be in a business arrangement with the client any more. It's that simple."

"Oh, I see. Uh, so I guess that's that, huh?"

"Well, Sir, I could offer you one of our many other wonderful ladies. Take, for instance, Monique. She's a lovely Eurasian lady from France who speaks English with a darling little French accent. She's very sought after here. And there are many more to choose from."

"I don't know. Probably not. Say, is there any way you could get a message to Heather? I understand she doesn't want to see me again professionally and..."

"Sir, I can also tell you she'll not see you outside of her position here. We have a saying kind of like doctors who say once a person is a patient, they can never be considered in a romantic way. We say once a person is a client, he can never be considered in a romantic way, either."

"OK, I get it. Is there any way she might call me just to talk? I swear it will be the last contact ever. I have a couple of quick questions, that's all."

"I will ask her but don't hold your breath. OK?"

"OK. And thanks." She already had my cell number and promised to pass it on to Heather. I waited for a couple of weeks and finally thought she wouldn't be calling me. But it was late one Wednesday when my cell rang with an 'unknown caller' message. Thinking it was a telemarketer, I almost didn't answer but something in the back of my mind told me to answer.

"Hello."

"Bryan?"

"Yes?"

"Heather. You wanted to talk?"

"Oh, Hi, Heather. Great to hear from you. I, uh, I understand you turned down my request to hire you for another weekend."

"Yes, I'm sorry, but that's correct."

"Why?"

"I'll put it bluntly: I like you too much. I don't want to take your money and I can't get involved with any clients, so I had to decline."

"Well, that sucks," I chuckled.

"Yeah, but that's the way it is. Sorry. Uh, you know there are some other lovely ladies who would be more than glad to..."

"No, I think I'll have to pass. You were such a great companion that I'm afraid the others will come up short."

"You're absolutely wrong about that, but I understand your decision."

"Thanks. Well, I guess I'd better be going..."

"Bryan? If I could make a suggestion?"

"Uh, I, uh, sure. Suggest away."

"You should get ahold of Diane."

"Diane? Diane who?"

"I don't know her last name but she was at the dinner that night sitting to your right. I think she went by the name Di."

"Why should I contact her?"

"She likes you."

"Now how do you know that?"

"A woman knows. She couldn't take her eyes off you all night. I saw her watching you as we danced. And she gave me the evil eye more than once. She didn't like me with you, that was obvious."

"I had no idea."

"Yeah" she giggled, "You men seldom do. You should give her a call sometime. I think you'll be glad you did."

"Well, Heather, I just might, but I still think you're crazy. Hey, uh, thanks for calling me. I appreciate it. I had a wonderful weekend with you and I'll always remember it fondly."

"Hey, you know I enjoyed it. Take care, Bryan," she said as her voice cracked right before she hung up.

I sat there with my mind racing. She had basically said she liked me enough that she had to decline any more business arrangements and due to her profession, couldn't consider ever getting close to me in the future. That sucked, but I understood.

It was several lonely weekends later I finally decided the recommendation to call Diane was worth considering. It was easy to track her down. I knew where she worked and getting her last name was a simple matter of looking at their employee listing. I stewed about how best to contact her. A cold call would look suspicious but how else was I to contact her? Finally, I called my boss and asked about her company's relationship with ours.

"They're good people. We use them occasionally when we need the extra help. Why?"

"Well, I met one of them at the meeting and she seemed pretty bright, that's all."

"Uh-huh. Sure," he chuckled, "I assume you want to figure out a way to casually meet her, don't you?"

"Well, yeah."

"What about the lady you went there with?"

"That was never going to be a long-term thing and we've kinda gone our own ways."

"Oh. I see. Well, uh, let me think about it. We do have a fairly big project coming up and will need to pull in extra resources. Why don't I contact them and see if I can send you over for an 'interview'?"

"Look, don't do something like this for me. You gotta consider the business side of things."

"Believe me, I will. We truly will need some help soon and this may be the way to get that help and get you some help, too," he smiled.

Four weeks later I found myself entering their main office for a meeting with their C-suite. I was to propose a six-month cooperative agreement where they would help supply us with extra knowhow and hands-on experience in return for a nice slice of the profits.

I was escorted to their conference room which was nicely furnished without being too ostentatious. Several of their executives strolled in, grabbed coffee and introduced themselves. One of them looked quite familiar and I finally remembered he was the one with Di at the big meeting in New York. I wondered briefly if they were a thing or if it was purely platonic. I was getting ready to start things up but was requested to wait for the final person. A few minutes later, Di walked in! I was surprised as I didn't think she would be involved in such high-level discussions and I have to admit, she appeared surprised as well.

"Di, Hi. Here to hear my dog and pony show?"

"Yup, I guess. I had no idea it would be you, though."

"You two know each other?" asked one of the execs.

We explained we'd met at the international meeting months before and he responded, "Good. If this thing flies, I'll put Di in charge."

They all settled in and I gave my presentation. I had their attention from the get go as I started with the bottom line: They stood to make a tidy profit with minimal outlay. I launched into the details and could tell within five minutes they were hooked, which made my job so much easier. At the end they agreed they were inclined to accept the offer and promised to get back to us within the week.

After we all stood up and shook hands, I asked Di if she'd like to grab lunch with me.

"Your treat? They don't pay me enough around here for me to go Dutch," she said loudly enough for them to hear before breaking into laughter.

"Sure. Just tell me where. My car's right out front."

She directed me to a nice café along the river. We sat outdoors and watched birds, turtles basking on logs and even a few canoeists paddling by. We were served by a very efficient young man who brought our food and sodas promptly. They weren't terribly busy and I didn't feel rushed so we took our time. The conversation was comfortable and warm. We talked initially about the proposal which she was all in favor of before we drifted on to more personal topics. By her humorous questions, it was obvious she wanted to know about my 'status.'

"I don't see a ring on your finger. Did you escape the clutches of tall, dark and beautiful?"

"What? Who?"

"That woman at the meeting. It looked like she had hooked you and was reeling you in."

"Oh! Heather. Nice gal," I replied, teasingly not answering her question.

"Well? Gonna answer my question?"

"I'll answer only if you promise ahead of time to have dinner with me this weekend."

"Your answer to my question better be 'Yes, you escaped' or you'd be cheating on her."

"Only one way to find out. Dinner?"

"OK, sure. I'll go. Now..."

"We are not a 'thing' at all. And I wouldn't cheat on anybody."

"Great. Glad to hear it. Uh, I love seafood. How about Timothy's?"

"Ouch. Kinda spendy."

"You deserve it for teasing me like that," she chuckled.

"Ah, maybe I do. Give me your details and I'll give you a call."

As I drove back to my office I had a big grin on my face. It looked like the project was going to be accepted and I had a date, a real, honest-to-gosh date for a Saturday evening. I silently thanked Heather for telling me about Di.

I reported back to my boss the promising news and we received the 'Yes' response within two days. Di was placed in charge of their part of the project and my boss put me in charge of ours. It looked like we'd be seeing a lot of each other over the next six months.

On Saturday evening I arrived promptly at six to be met by an amazingly attractive Di. I have to admit I was practically tongue-tied when she greeted me at the door. She had done something with her dirty blonde hair exposing her amazingly sleek neck off to one side. I could see a hint of eye shadow and pink lipstick but there was otherwise no makeup. She simply didn't need it.

Her dress had a nearly risqué neckline with a hint of promising cleavage showing above. Her breasts were of modest size and seemed to fit her figure perfectly. Her belly was flat and her hips were full and feminine. The hem of her dress was right at her knees which allowed me to see her lower thighs as she slid into my sports car.

We chatted comfortably on the way to the restaurant and while waiting for our food. We had a lot in common, as it turns out, though we had attended rival universities. She teased me mercilessly about my school having lost to hers in football for the previous four years running. She loved hiking and had even done some backpacking, something I used to do a lot, though not so much once I was seeing Christina.

"Maybe we need to do an overnighter sometime."

"Better make it an easy trip," she laughed, "Because your school breeds wimpy guys."

"Hey, just because our football team sucks doesn't mean I can't hike."

"Oh, yeah? We'll see. How about Gunderman Meadows? Think you can make it up there?"

The hike to Gunderman Meadows was well known to be tough. One climbs up a series of switchbacks that seem to go on forever before running along a ridge for several miles. The meadows are beautiful and well worth the hike, but I was concerned it might be too much for her.

"Eh, you sure you want to go up there. Kinda steep..."

"Hah! I knew it. You U guys can't hack it like we Staters can."

"No, seriously, have you been up there?"

"Yeah, and it's beautiful. Let's go!"

And just like that we were planning a three-day, two-night trip over our dessert and coffee. We agreed to the next weekend when we both could skip Friday. We drew up a quick equipment list, she agreed to bring the food and I was responsible for the tent and water purifier. Back at her place she insisted I come in to finish our planning. An hour later we had everything settled and I got up to leave. She escorted me to the door and gave me a little one-armed hug before closing the door.

I was on cloud nine all the way home and for the entire week. Elise even commented on how happy I seemed. When I told her I was excited about going backpacking, she shuddered and wondered aloud how being stinky and sweaty for a whole weekend could be any fun. I didn't want to jinx things by telling her who I was going with, so I kept my mouth zipped.

The weather forecast for the weekend was perfect; highs in the mid-seventies and lows in the mid-fifties. It wouldn't be too hot during the day and is was cool enough at night to snuggle down in the sleeping bag and sleep away. There was also a zero chance of rain but one must always bring a tent if for no other reason than to get away from mosquitos, in case they were bad. I picked Di up bright and early and we drove to the trail head where there was only one other car. I was sure it would get busier on Saturday but we'd pretty much have the place to ourselves for the day.

There is no way to sugar-coat it. The hike up the switchbacks was not fun. The trail was steep and we regularly had to climb over fairly large rocks in the trail. The higher we got, however, the better the view of the snow-capped mountains to the east. We finally reached the ridge around eleven am and stopped for a bit of trail mix and water. Afterwards, the hike was a relative breeze as we slowly climbed along the ridge. At about one we finally reached the meadows. It was high season for wildflowers and the colors were amazing.

There was a small sign requesting people not walk through the meadows and a few campsites were scattered around the edge of the largest meadow. We had our pick and went with one which was relatively private and out of site from the others. It was nice to take off the packs and I sighed in relief as I did.

"I knew you guys from the U were pussies," she joked, "I never even broke a sweat." This from a woman was mopping her brow and whose shirt was stuck to her back with sweat. We joked and teased each other as we had our lunch. I realized suddenly we were, or at least I was, totally comfortable with our situation and each other. It felt nice, simply nice.

After lunch I stretched out and even dozed a tiny bit. I was awakened by a fly tickling my nose but when I open my eyes, a giggling Di pulled back a strand of grass she had been tickling me with. I reached over, grabbed her wrist and started tickling her ribs as she shrieked in mock horror.

"Bwaa haa haa, little girl, there's no one who can save you now!" I said as she started to giggle.

"Help, kind sir, please help a shy girl escape the clutches of the evil, evil monster."

"There is no hope for those who are so nasty as to interrupt the sleep of the Mountain Man."

"Not even if I promise to be a good girl?"

"Well, maybe. We'll see..."

I released her as the thought struck me how fun she was and how comfortable I was with her. There were no airs and no noses turned up. There was a feeling of, of everything being 'right.'

We spent some time talking, telling each other about our backgrounds, families and siblings. It was a comfortable sharing of life stories and there didn't seem to be any hidden issues with her or her personality.

Near dinner time I went down to a tarn, which is nothing more than a small, alpine seasonal pond, to purify water while she pulled out the freeze-dried food we had for dinner. When you are hiking almost anything tastes good but she had chosen some nice 'campground gourmet' meals which we shared between us. As we sat there watching the sun slide down in the west, I realized I was at peace. I was happy, comfortable and totally relaxed, probably for the first time in years. Yes, Christina had backpacked with me but in retrospect, I realized she was doing it to please me and not because she wanted to. Now here Di was totally into it and I could feel the difference.

We lay there silently as we watched the day fade to night. It was still fairly warm but she scooted over closer to me and without a word grabbed my hand in hers. It was a nice feeling, a feeling of closeness, a feeling of sharing. As it got darker and darker the stars started to come out and we could see a few satellites sliding silently overhead. The Milky Way became more and more prominent as I realized so many people living in the cities haven't a clue how impressive it can be or even, for that matter, what it is.

Then it happened. A shooting star slid quickly across our vision. A minute or so later came another. For the next hour we were treated with a celestial wonder as streaking lights shot across the sky. Eventually it was getting fairly late and we agreed to sleep outside, each snuggled in our own mummy bag. Once we settled in, I leaned over and slowly let my lips drop to hers. The kiss was soft, tender and sweet. I whispered 'Good night' and pulled back to get comfortable in my bag when I heard her giggle.

"What?"

"I'll never forget the first time I slept with you, there weren't fireworks but I did see shooting stars."

-----

We woke up the next morning with a bit of dew on our bags but we both had slept well. I needed to go take a leak and as I was squirming around getting ready to get out of the bag, Di whispered, "Don't I get a 'Good morning' kiss?"

"If you can put up with my morning mouth, sure."

She was a trooper. I've been told I have pretty bad morning mouth but she seemed to ignore it as we had a nice little kiss. I made my way out of the bag, went over and peed on a rock before returning to the camp and starting up the stove for hot water while she continued to doze. I brought her a coffee in bed which seemed to finally wake her up. After a quick breakfast we decided to explore further up the ridge to the snowline. Carrying only a water bottle and a lunch sack was a cinch compared to the full backpacks from the day before. We made good time and were able to eat at the foot of a huge snowfield. Naturally we had a snowball fight and succeeded in getting each other wet before she tackled me on the snow, crawled on top and lowered her lips to mine. We engaged in a little lip action until I started to get cold. I teased her that her kisses were turning me cold which earned me a playful slap on my ass.