Kate's husband left that morning for two days work wiring a friends beach house. She had decided not to go and to take a break from his cold rudeness.
Kate checked her email and found a note from her friend Robert. He had written the previous day that he would be driving through her home town and jokingly said they should get together but then said he knew it was not possible. Kate sighed and thought that meeting him would be nice. Kate next opened up a file containing a story she had started to write and had not gone very far with. She added a sentence and then lost interest and turned off the computer.
The morning was spent sipping tea and reading a good book and when she noticed it was almost 11 AM she decided to treat herself to lunch at Paneras. Since she had a little shopping and a few errands to take care of she went to the Paneras just off of the interstate, which was not her usual place to go, but she knew that Robert would be driving through and she thought it might be nice to think of him being close for a few minutes.
Kate and Robert had met after exchanging emails commenting on each others stories on Literotica. They had exchanged stories about their favorite stories and had gone on to discuss their families and their problems and finally their loneliness and desires. They had exchanged small hard to see pictures and had spoken on the phone twice. Since both were married, albeit unhappily, they had gone no further.
There was a line to order when she entered Paneras and she noticed the man at the counter looked familiar but could not place him. He had short white hair and a stocky build and she knew she had seen him somewhere before. He moved on and Kate put it out of her mind as she prepared to order. She got her favorite pick two combo and stood by the counter until her name was called. Taking her food she went to the back area where the computer nerds hung out knowing it would be quieter there and she would be able to read as she ate her lunch.
As Kate found a table and set her tray and bag down she noticed the man sitting in the back corner with a laptop computer open. He looked up at that moment and for ten seconds they just stared at each other. This went on for several minutes as they both ate and they exchanged smiles and suddenly both smiled and sat up straight. Recognition came to her but not belief because it was too much of a coincidence. He stood and stepped forward and said "Kate??" in a quite low voice as he searched her face.
"Robert?", she said with the same question in her voice, "What are you doing here?"
They stopped to laugh and he asked if they could eat together and she happily agreed. Since he had his laptop computer already set up, she moved her food to his table and they found that they had ordered the same combo, Turkey Bacon Bravo and cheddar broccoli soup. They laughed about their similar tastes and began to talk. He explained that he had left home in the middle of the night, preferring to travel at night with little traffic and admitted he had stopped here knowing she lived close by and while not expecting to see her, he was emailing her while he ate.
They talked as they ate, not like strangers, but as friends who were thrilled to be together. When they talked about their kids and his grand kids Kate reached over and squeezed his arm when he told her a story about his little Carrie breaking her arm falling from her bike and hitting the curb and then wanting her Paw-paw to see her bright green cast.
When their food was gone they refilled their drinks and sat talking and as the time passed and they were both comfortable when she reached across the narrow table with her left and and took his right hand and they held hands as they talked. They talked about their marital woes and both found the sympathy in deep loneliness that they both felt. They even talked about how they missed holding someone in their arms and feeling passion that had been absent for so long.
Robert and Kate laughed over stories about his and her experiences with their grandchildren and finally as it neared two in the afternoon they ran out of words for a few moments.
"I guess you need to get back on the highway", she said, and was deeply saddened by the thought.
Robert took a deep breath and hesitated before answering. "Actually, my time is my own right now. My wife is on a trip with her mother and will be gone for a week. I decided to pack my camera and computer and just drive and follow the highways for a while. Anywhere I find an interesting place to stop and take pictures, I plan on stopping. My time is yours if you would like to talk some more."
Kate smiled and he saw the gleam in her eye as she squeezed the hand that she still held.
"Would you like to take a walk in one of my favorite places? I know you love being in the woods and away from people and I have the most wonderful place for pictures."
Robert agreed immediately and she gave him directions in case he fell behind as he followed her. Twenty minutes later they were parked side by side in the shaded end of a parking lot at the nature preserve. When they got out Kate walked right up to Robert and gave him a hug that he returned gently but firmly for nearly a minute. He asked her how far they were walking and she told him it was around two miles out and back.
From the back of his car he took out a fanny pack and after rooting in a cooler came up wtih two liters of cold water that he hung in pouches on the belt. He also took out a camera case on a shoulder strap before locking the vehicle. Kate joked with him about going prepared and he smiled and took her hand.
The walk was leisurely and she noticed that Robert's eyes were always moving. He seemed to scan the trees and woods around them and looked at her often as they quietly talked. They squeezed each others hands often to punctuate their jokes comments. She told him about her husband's coldness and rudeness and he was saddened by it.
He told her, sadly, that his wife rarely talked to him and there was no physical contact at all. He joked, holding up the hands they had held for the whole walk, that this was the best sex he had experienced in over five years. They both laughed but she noticed his was a very sad sounding laugh.
For a while they did not talk but just walked slowly. Finally, he pressed her hand and when she looked up he nodded toward a thicket up the hill. She saw a deer and fawn lying in the shadows at the edge of the thicket. Robert opened his camera bag and slowly raised his digital SLR and extended the long lens. She heard several quiet clicks and then he adjusted the camera to a different setting and took several more. When he lowered the camera to hang on a strap by his right side he put his left arm around Kate and pulled her close. She put her head on his shoulder and they stood there looking at the deer for several minutes.
Finally they quietly moved on, their feet making little sound on the path which was covered with rotting leaves. They moved slowly and paused often to stand close and watch birds or squirrels in the trees. Kate realized that Robert was totally at home in the woods and she could feel him relax with each passing minute.
They met no other hikers and finally at the top of a low rise. Kate told him that they were about to come up on her favorite place. As they slowly walked down the hillside he saw exposed rocks covered with moss, lots of tiny purple and yellow flowers and he could hear water running below. As they neared the water the trees grew thicker and the shade deepened. Kate began to walk faster, anxious to reach her spot, but Robert pulled back on her hand and she realized he was absorbing the beauty of every inch of the hillside.
In the deep shade at the bottom of the hill were large dark stained rocks and below them, a bubbling creek loudly announced its presence. They stepped off of the trail and stood by one of the large rocks looking at the stream. Kate stepped closer to Robert and he stood mostly behind her and placed his arms around her. She felt his slow deep breaths on her hair as she leaned against him. Robert felt her warm body next to him and her deep breathing and felt totally at ease as he took in the beauty of the scene around him.
"Thank you", he whispered in her ear and she felt goose bumps cover her body. "This is beautiful and exactly what I have needed in a long time." Robert's arms around her tightened and she put her hands over his and held his arms close.
After several minutes of this Kate turned and put her arms around Robert and he held her close again. When she looked up into his eyes she saw him smile and he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently. After a few seconds their tongues gently met at the tips and they gently teased each other as Robert held her tighter.
When they finally broke the kiss they stood and looked at each other for many seconds. A loud blue jay sailed past and broke the moment and Robert said, "Would you like to explore a bit and maybe find a place to sit and enjoy this paradise?"
Kate agreed and holding hands again they walked upstream following a faint game path. Kate noticed that Robert moved deliberately and rarely disturbed even the ferns as he passed by them. He never seemed to step on a flower or plant or even to make any noise with his steps. She followed in his footsteps and found that he was picking the easiest footing as well. Kate remembered him saying in an email once that he had spent the best times of his childhood in the woods.
Around the bend of the stream was a carpet of the pretty blue flowers. "I wonder what these are called.", she said almost in a whisper.
"Sweet Williams, is what my grandmother called them." he replied with a smile as he gently squeezed her hand.
Kate pointed to another large flat rock that overlooked the stream and said, "I would love to sit up there but it would be a shame to mash these pretty flowers down getting to it."
Robert turned and smiled, "Do you really trust me?"
Kate looked into his eyes and realized that she did indeed trust this thick but gentle man. "Yes" was her simple reply.
