I'm sorry it took so long to continue this, but there were various family crises to look after. Anyway here it is. I hope you like it. For those of you who are interested, there will be an end...
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After the truck was loaded, we all admitted to being more than a little hungry. I had found a spot on the sofa free of bagged clothes and boxes of bedroom knick-knacks, just big enough to hold one person. I sank into the cushions with profound relief. A moment later, plopping into the inch of space left, was Carol. The items on the sofa forced us into a posture that almost left us cuddled up like long time lovers. With her parents standing not more than five feet from us, it left me a little uncomfortable, but they smiled down on us like they couldn't be more pleased. We all admitted again to being hungry after all the exertion and decided food was in order. A local restaurant chain was selected and the division of everyone up into groups for the trip began.
Carol's parents surprised everyone by declining the trip for food claiming a prior engagement, but offering to take Carol's kid along with them. Carol's jaw almost hit the floor. Even Karen had a look of shock on her face. Carol stuttered and declined their offer for some reason or another, I forget what it was.
We loaded up then off to the restaurant we went. Carol had her van which was big enough to hold her and everyone else, except Dave and I. That was cool because I needed to talk to someone about what had happened upstairs. I was a little scared of myself after that. I had never felt such overwhelming want for a woman as I had for Carol. Never mind how I was still feeling.
After I had laid it all out for him, leaving nothing out, he gave me the strangest look.
"Dude. Whats up with you? You act like you never had a woman open your nose before." He had a grin on his face fit to bust.
"Huh? What does that mean?" I asked.
"You really don't know?" He said. The grin was gone replaced by surprise.
I was still buzzing from the scent of Carol's skin and the feel of her body writhing in my hands and I really didn't feel like a riddle. The smell of her sweat, perfume and especially her arousal was still moving through my mind like a soft warming breeze. I still felt dizzy.
"Come on dude, quit fucking with me. What the hell does that mean" I asked getting irritated.
He laughed and explained.
"Man, when you are with a woman that REALLY sets your fire going, don't you notice how it feels like your nose has suddenly gotten larger? Like you're getting more air? How you can all of a sudden smell her, and you want more? And there never seems to be enough?" He said.
"You get lightheaded, and all that seems to matter is trying to inhale her cause she smells so good?"
I knew just what he was talking about. I had just gone through it. Hell, I was STILL going through it. I couldn't stop smelling, feeling, tasting her.
"Whoa! Wait," he said. "You haven't! You really never have had a woman get to you on that level, have you?" He was astounded beyond belief.
"Dude, if I put you in front of a mirror right now you'd look like one of those cartoon drawings of a bull about to charge. All that's missing is the smoke coming out."
"Well no, I never have had a woman get to me like that. Man, I scared myself how bad I wanted her. Right then and there. I didn't care about her family downstairs, you, the fact we're both married. Nothing. The only thing that mattered was getting into her. I think the only thing that stopped me was ...she deserves... I dunno... better, nicer somehow."
He laughed at me. "Oh! Nicer huh?" He chuckled the rest of the way to the restaurant, hardly responding to me. He just kept laughing to himself.
The meal was nothing to talk about. Carol, of course, sat next to me. Her kids across from us. Everyone else spread down the table. All through the meal I could feel her thigh pressed up against mine, and every time I would turn to look at her , our eyes would lock until someone said something to break our concentration on each other. If you asked me ten minutes later what I ate, I couldn't tell you.
Outside, everyone kind of scattered to their own cars, leaving Carol, me and her kids standing in front of the eatery. Her daughter, who I guessed was around eight, was kind of throwing a tantrum about a candy machine.
"She act like that much?" I asked, thinking the kid needed a good spanking to settle her down.
"She just wants attention. If you give it to her she's good as gold" Carol replied, looking up at me through those dark glasses she had put on as we had left the table.
"What about her mother?" I asked. "Does it work on her too?"
"Yeah. Pretty much, if it's from the right person," she said.
Somehow, even through the dark lenses I could feel her eyes locked on mine. I could feel that lightheaded feeling coming back.
"Well, look everybody is waiting on us, so we cant stand here all day. How about I give you my cell number, and if you feel like it you can call me. I really want to know more about you." My voice came out a whisper. My throat felt tight. I wrote down my number for her. When I gave it to her, she smiled like a kid that had gotten just what they wanted for Christmas. It made me feel ten feet high. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt that way. I didn't want it to end. But it had to.
"Hey! Would you two hurry up? Take her number! Call her! whatever!" Dave yelled across the parking lot.
"Um...yeah. They're waiting," I said still lost in her eyes. (PARGRAPH)
I could pick out the little irregularities we all have; mouth too large, lips too full, cheekbones not high enough, cheeks too round , forehead too high. Intellectually, I knew I had seen, even dated, more physically attractive women, but somehow she was more beautiful than any of them.
I couldn't kiss her her goodbye with her kids right there, she was married after all. I could see she wanted to kiss too, but we couldn't. She hugged me a little too long, squeezed my hands really tight, then whispered in my ear:
"Talk to you soon," she said. Funny. Her voice sounded a little rough, too.
So began, what up to that point, was the longest three days of my life. I worked, slept, ate and was generally an a-hole to everybody. I kept thinking to myself that I'd blown it!
My relationship with Barb underwent fairly sharp change. I told her what the doctors had told me. Mainly that she was a mental case, and there was nothing wrong with her except her head was fucked, however, I didn't word it quite that way.
She denied it of course. She said the doctors were full of it. But the funny thing is; her health began to improve almost immediately. She cleaned up the apartment did laundry, cooked and started to talk about getting a job. All in all it felt like a slap in the face.
There REALLY was nothing wrong with her, just mental crap. I felt so angry I wanted to just scream until I passed out. It hurt in a way I can't really put into words. Didn't she care what she had put me through? Whatever guilt I felt about Carol died a quick death. Things got very frosty around the ole homestead. I just couldn't talk to her. I had nothing to say that wouldn't be mean, angry or just plain cruel.
Tuesday afternoon, I was at work brooding over Barb, missing Carol and just in general wondering how I'd let my life get so screwed up when the phone on my desk rang.
" Erebus , inventory control. This is Cameron," I answered.
"Well. Don't you just sound full of joy?" That smoky voice cut right through whatever I was thinking and suddenly my lungs weren't big enough to hold all the air I was taking in.
"Carol?" I choked out.
"Mmm hmm," she said.
"What's the matter? Not happy to hear from me?" she asked. I could hear the giggle in her voice.
