Waiting for the Good Times

Pulling into a nearby supermarket car park, Connie kept saying, "Oh, Dan. Oh, Dan." By the time she stopped the car her elation was tangible. More so when she flung her arms around him and planted kisses all over his face and neck, mumbling, "So much has happened. Thanks to you."

Feeling a warm gladness inside, Dan, gently eased her away and said, "You are going to let me know sometime, I suppose."

She gazed into his face, "Oh, so eloquent. That's what Vera said you had been—but I knew that already, didn't I?"

When Connie managed to begin at the beginning, Dan learned that Vera had unexpectedly turned up at her house early Monday morning. She had been awake all night thinking about what Dan had said.

Connie hugged closely into him as she said, "Something about me being 'in limbo', was it? Dan, she's actually agreed to let Max go." Saying those words changed her demeanour momentarily and Dan saw her lips tremble.

Vera had accompanied her to meet with the two physicians and told them of their joint decision. Medical procedure was always to allow a couple of days extra thinking time, and consideration for donating the organs of the deceased. "I was amazed how eager Vera was for that. She said it would be perfect to know that Max's heart was still beating."

The switching off would take place on Thursday and both Vera and Connie had to be present. "That is going to be difficult for you both. I wish I could be with you."

Connie nodded, "I'm dreading it. It will be like losing him twice." Then her voice brightened as she told him,"My God, having made this decision has turned Vera into a human dynamo. She has an undertaker acquaintance and she has already arranged the funeral for next Tuesday."

"As early as that?" Dan commented.

"She has so many connections. When I hinted that I might sell the house now, too many memories there, Vera immediately put me onto an estate agent friend, and that's where I've been this morning. He thinks he might have an immediate buyer, and showed me photos of a two bedroom first floor flat by the river."

"Those new ones?" Dan asked.

Her face now flushed with enthusiasm, Connie nodded, "With balcony and super views up and down the river, and available right now."

"Costly?"

"Yes, but I'll still have surplus from the house sale."

She started the car, and said, "Would you mind if we change our pattern today? Go coastal, and stroll along the beach, hand in hand, like young lovers. I have something else you need to know."

Barefooted, shoes in hand, they were soon strolling along the beach, just as Connie had decreed, and uneasily she broke the news to him. "Dan, I feel so deeply for you, and Vera told me that you, in talking about me, brought in the word 'love'."

"I must have been crazy," Dan said, hoping he sounded jokey enough.

She stopped and leaned in against him, "Then I hope you're crazy enough to appreciate what I'm about to tell you."

Dan put his arms around her. Was this going to be her declaration of love? Maybe an indication of when their celibacy would be over. It was neither of those things.

Turning her face up to look into his eyes Connie said, "Dan, I'm about to enter what will be an awful week. But it has become a week that Vera and I must bear together, and not inflict our mixed emotions on anyone."

A little disappointed Dan said, "I appreciate that, but--"

Connie held up a hand, "No 'buts', Dan. I realise that it will feel as though I am shutting you out. But what I hope to be doing is releasing myself for the future---hopefully with you."

"Okay, sounds promising." His attempt at lightness did not match the heaviness he was beginning to feel inside. Not to see her for a full week, could he bear that?

"There's more. My brother lives just north of Milan in Italy, and Immediately after the funeral I'm going to be flying out there to stay with him and his wife. Soak off all the grief, if you like, recharge my batteries..Oh, please, don't look like that."

Dan wasn't sure what his face was showing, but for sure a pall had fallen across his day. "At least two weeks without seeing you. How can I exist?"

Connie kissed him softly, "It might be easier than the frustrations I've heaped on you these past weeks."

"Oh, yes," Dan said, before returning her kiss, "I hated those terrible frustrations, kissing you and all of that."."

That evening Connie told her drama group about how her circumstances were changing and there were various responses. When she told them the next session would be three Tuesdays away, there were general moans of disappointment.

This was news that made Dan wince. Three weeks, worse than he had expected. He hung back as she had requested as the evening closed, and they clung to each other as though it was a permanent goodbye. There was even a little pain in her asking for his address so that she could send him a card from Italy. It seemed to emphasise the distance they were going to be apart..

So began the long, slow dragging days. At work, Joe Marske commented on how deflated Dan looked. Dan told him about the Thursday switch off. Joe's only comment was, "Good. That's going to ease her mind----eventually."

That Thursday was so hard to bear as he couldn't stop thinking of the pain Connie would be going through. Then came another Tuesday, the day of the funeral. He had promised Connie that he would be there, but they both agreed that lingering after the service could only add to their unease. At least he would have this chance to see her, however briefly.

In his dark blazer and grey pants he stood in the rear of the church and listened to the interesting humanist style service outlining the life of Max Garson. From his position he could just make out the back of Connie and Vera, their two heads close together.

Service over, Dan waited until the flow of family and friends was almost over before he approached. Connie, elegant in black, immediately held out her arms. Dan was pained to see her looking so tearful, even as he moved to hold her, her lower lip began to twitch . He drew her close, and she murmured, "God, I'm going to miss you."

It was all too quick, as she hastily told him that her house was , and that, while she was away, Vera was going to supervise the move to the new flat.

A warm kiss and he moved on to where Vera was bidding farewell to a friend. She turned her head to Dan and, with a half smile, she said, "So good of you to come, Dan."

Dan told her how brave she looked and accepted her appreciation of his words. Then he said, "Thank you for taking care of Connie."

Vera had looked at him with wide eyes and said, "I hope you will eventually be good for her, Dan. She deserves that."

Too soon they were gone, and he was alone once more. Over the following days, Dan was so depressed that he began to wonder whether there would really be a positive outcome to this whole affair. When the first postcard arrived it pictured the Alps as a distant back drop to rolling pastures and hills. Her writing expressed how much she was missing him, and how she had imagined them walking into the woodlands on the hills, "--where we could hold each other."

When a second card arrived he realised that he had no fixed date for when she would return. On the second Tuesday without her, as a kind of salve, he went out and bought himself a little Toyota Auris with low mileage. Later he fixed himself up with a cell phone which he had never possessed. In future he would at least be able to make more frequent contact with Connie.

By the weekend before the drama group was due to reassemble, Dan was frantic to know when she would return. On the Saturday he drove down by the river and looked up at the many balconies of the new apartments. One of them had to be Connie's, but he had no idea which it might be.

Sunday dawned bright and in sheer aggravation he drove way up into the countryside and did a round trip back down the coastline. Having taken a light lunch he debated, as the afternoon wore on, whether he should take a main meal but, not hungry enough, decided to go home. Later he would recall that it was fortunate that he made that decision.

As soon as he stepped inside the front door, he saw the small pink envelope on the doormat. Puzzled, there was no post on a Sunday, he picked up the envelope which simply had 'Dan' written on the front. Tearing it open he found it was an invitation style card.

'Connie Garson cordially invites you to an apartment warming party to celebrate her moving into 202 Riverside Apartments 6.30p.m on Sunday 28th September.

No bottles or gifts, just be there.'

At first Dan felt a wave of elation. Connie was back, and it was the 28th He would be seeing her at last. Then almost immediately he was wondering about the short notice. Was he just an afterthought? Hadn't he hoped that any first meeting would be just their two selves? The idea of having to be guarded in his approach to her in a party atmosphere did not appeal at all. Still, he reckoned, he had to accept that she would be excited about her new home.

He showered, shaved and liberally sprayed himself with the only male deodorant he possessed. 'I'm going to see Connie,' the words kept pounding through his head. He dressed in the green outfit he'd worn for their first meal together. Okay, it was going to be hectic, but maybe later, Connie would make the crowds disappear, and then---oh, and then--

At precisely six twenty five he was pressing a small bell push under which was the number 202. The main door immediately opened and he stepped into a well appointed entrance with dark green carpet and light wooded walls. There were two corridors left and right, and a flight of stairs straight ahead of him, but on the left of that was what was obviously a lift door. Within seconds he was stepping out onto a second floor corridor, with the same green carpet he'd seen downstairs.

Room number 202 was the second door along on his left. Dan took in a deep breath and pressed the bell, trying to hear if there was any kind of party noise. Probably well insulated.

The door opened and, in a small entrance area with a second door half open behind her stood Connie, looking ravishing in an off one shoulder gown, pale green floral design, and the thin material clung to every inch of her as it reach her ankles. The bare shoulder was incredibly tanned, as was her face, which was highlighted by her fair hair. Ah, that face, that lovely face. Dan found himself transfixed, rendered immobile by the sheer beauty of her

He began to recover his senses as Connie reached out her hands and laughed, "Are you going to stop gawping and come inside?"

"I've dreamed about seeing you again," Dan sighed, as he stepped towards her and closed the door behind him. "But seeing you looking like some unobtainable angel is beyond any dream I've ever had."

"Always so good with the words, but 'unattainable'?" Connie sighed as she moved in close to him. Once again time stopped as their arms went around each other and Dan clutched her even closer. "Is it safe to kiss you now?" he asked, his mind on who might be beyond the half open door.

"Definitely not," she said, with a strange firmness in her voice. "It will never be safe for you to kiss me again."

For just a second Dan's eyes glanced towards the door behind her, "I'm not first one here, am I?"

"Yes, you are. You're also the last one here. In fact, you are the party. The only party I'll ever want and if you don't kiss me soon I'll scream."

Their lips collided in so familiar mode, tongues meeting like old friends, and so agitated in the meeting. That first kiss carried so much desperation, so much adoration, so much desire as they ground their bodies against each other.

Dan's eagerness had pushed Connie back against the inner door, and she staggered as it opened wider, breaking their kiss. In the wide room ahead of them, Dan's glance took in a white leather sofa with matching easy chairs, and a table set for two with a bottle of wine in a bucket. To the left was a patio window which he guessed led to a balcony to the left of that he could detect a kitchen. Two further doors slightly to his right had to be the bedrooms.

Still hugged in close to him Connie said, "I just got home yesterday lunchtime, ached to see you, but had so much to prepare for this night."

Dan switched on his Mr Casual look, "Oh, is something supposed to be happening on this night?" And he began kissing along her tanned bare shoulder.

"Well," he heard Connie murmur, "there's food, all ready in the heated cabinet. How hungry are you? Or there's me. How hungry are you?"

Dan's lips were still savouring her bare shoulder, and along the side of her neck. "I'm fascinated by this amazing tan you've acquired. Are there any white bits?"

"You might have to search thoroughly," she whispered, her hand raising his head so they were gazing into each others eyes, and Dan detected that her breath had quickened as she asked, "Would you rather search than eat?"

"You mean, this gown actually comes off?"

"Very easily." Her hands had slipped over his shoulders and pushed off his jacket. "You are overdressed anyway."

Then they were clamped together once more, their lips almost tearing at each other as tongues wrestled, and Dan recalled the last time they had been like this among the trees, when she had allowed his hand to rest briefly on her breast. That had stopped because she had been a married woman.

Now?

Gently he eased her back so that his right hand could slide over her thinly clad, bra-less breast. He longed to know the skin texture of that wondrous roundness. He heard the growling rumble in her throat as she rolled her belly against his throbbing erection, while her right hand twitched on his hip bone, waiting vulture-like to grab at his solid penis as soon as their bodies came apart. He knew for sure that sooner rather than later there had to be a climax.

His left hand trailed down her spine until it touched the rim of her gown and the zip that lodged there. Slowly, with index finger and thumb, he guided the zip downwards, and as the gown parted, the free fingers of that hand traced over the delicate smoothness of her skin, until, at the point where the zip completed its descent, those fingers were fluttering in the beginning of the crevice in her buttocks.

Connie broke the kiss, and she looked up at him, her eyes clouded with passion, as she flexed her shoulder to release the gown. Dan had to move his hand from her breast to allow the gown to drop away completely. As Connie moved her feet to step out of it, Dan was able to return his hand to the now naked breast, and he discovered the exotic smoothness he had anticipated. At the same time, while his mouth traced once again over the delightful smoothness of her shoulder, his left hand continued to wriggle down and into the tight crevice of her buttocks.

Connie's head threw back as she moaned softly, "Take, Dan. You've waited so patiently. Take whatever you want." Her eyes met his again and she added, "But please, let me give."

Saying that, her hand slid over the bulge in his pants, and it was Dan's turn to groan with the pleasure of it, as she squeezed and probed through the thin fabric of his pants. Dan's hands began to sweep up and down over the wonderful skin of her whole body, breast, hips, waist, belly, buttocks and thigh. His hands could just not get enough of her as he found that not only was she without a bra, there were no panties to impede his progress.

As her fingers fumbled at his belt she hissed, "See, I was all ready for you." She pulled at the pants and then the boxer shorts, which had to be freed from his raging erection. "Oh, God, Dan, I have so waited for this." Her fingers closed tightly around his penis. "But we aren't going to do it standing up, are we?"

"I would do it any way you want it. But wait---" And he held her out at arms length his eyes touring up and down her body. "I intended to find white bits—they're in short supply."

To his surprise her breasts were almost as tanned as her shoulders and the rest of her, apart for a very thin strip across her tawny pubic region.

Connie giggled, "My brother's house has a flat roof, well shielded and very private. Leona, his wife, is tanned all over. Lying next to her in my tiny bikini bottom, I felt overdressed."

Dan laughed, but held her while his eyes absorbed the sheer wonder of her naked body. "I thought you might have a blemish somewhere. Nobody is that perfect."

Laughing, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards one of the doors, "Come on," she said, "this body craves exclusive release."

Dan allowed her to lead him into the bedroom, dimly lit by a solitary bedside lamp. A delicate orange seemed to be the order, duvet, curtains and painted walls were all a gentle shade. Even the perfumed air held a suggestion of orange. Dan guessed that the door on the right led to an en-suite.

Dan moved in close behind Connie, enjoying the subtle touching of skins as he whispered in her ear, "We've been very patient over the weeks, and we could dive at each other like ravening beasts."

"We could," she replied, tilting her head back to plant a kiss on his neck.

"But if we just take it leisurely, savour every touch, every kiss---nice and slow, I think the result could be even more spectacular."

"We can try for that, " she said, as they settled on the bed, and Dan leaned over her, his lips searching for hers, his left arm behind her head, his right hand beginning a slow patrol down to her hip.

Their lips came together in a gentle kiss in which their tongues became quickly involved. Connie's hands strolled gently over, shoulders, chest and back, setting his skin alight. It was all just as they had decided, slow and easy.

That was until, almost telepathically, her hand stroked over his pounding erection, at the same moment as Dan allowed his fingers to slide up along her inner thigh, and ease between, as he found, already soaked labia.

Instantly she grunted a desperate ,"Oh, Dan," as her fingers gripped and pulled at his penis. Dan was totally ready, believing that his erection was not far from spouting forth. He raised his body to lie between her trembling thighs as Connie heaved his penis head up to her moist entry and without further thought his anxious rod was making one powerful journey up into this lady that he had waited for.

"Marvellous," Connie cried out, as Dan felt himself strike against her cervix. So deep, so eager were they. Connie's vaginal walls seemed to be chewing on his pounding erection as he drew back to make a second plunge, and her hips heaved upwards to meet him.

It only took seconds of their exertions before Dan recognised the familiar flow pouring into his penis. Desperate that he would be leaving her in mid air, he knew it was too late to do anything about it, and revelling in the delicious sucking sensations inside Connie's vaginal tract, he surrendered to giving rapid, deep thrusts to expel his long stored seed into Connie's womb.

Happily, so long had it been stored that his ejaculation unexpectedly went on and on and before it had ended, he felt Connie give a violent lift of her hips and he heard her squeal of what might have been agony, but he gladly knew it was quite the opposite, as she continued to groan, gasp and pound her body up at him. Trying to kiss her was pointless as her head twisted from side to side.

At last, sated, the hunger of their long wait at least abated, they lay glued together by their perspiration. "Was that slow and leisurely?" Connie said with a sighing giggle.

"I think we failed miserably."

"But beautifully—oh, I'm so happy. All my planning worked so well."

"Planning?" Dan sat up and looked down into her lovely face, even more lovely now that he had possessed her.