Divorce and a New Dawn

I'd like to thank kenjisato, again, for great editing and my dining friends for input. If you find any mistakes, it's probably something I did after editing.

Active sexual activity only involves characters over the age of eighteen. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and my bank account.

A DIVORCE AND A NEW DAWN

Camping to renew myself.

I had one more night before I needed to break camp, and head back down to the Valley of the Sun. My name is Dave Toner, I am a middle school math teacher and a part-time sports official. I had just started my summer break, or summer recess, just don't call it a summer vacation. Going to summer school, summer conferences, writing yearly lesson plans... or re-writing yearly lesson plans to change to some mode of teaching that some

jackass

in an ivy-covered hall at some college thinks is the next best thing since sliced bread, is never a vacation! I am of Irish, Scottish, and probably a little Norse heritage, five-foot-ten, of course blue eyes. Officiating sports keeps me in reasonable shape.

This was just a camping trip to change the scenery. I had just divorced my wife, Julia, of four years. She had an affair with a guy at work, we even tried to fix things, but we were not able to. The only thing about the divorce that was 'good,' was that I got the house and two of our dogs. Julia got our other little dachshund pup Hildi. My dogs were two little brown dachshund torpedoes, Herbie and Heidi. I could tell they missed Julia. Sometimes, they would search the house, I knew they were looking for her.

Everyone needs a mantra.

It was kind of a renewal for me. You see, fishing is my 'mantra.' I had caught 'some' trout in Oak Creek, I was carrying my two-and-a-half days' catch in an ice chest, but that would be over my possession limit by one, nine, and a game warden could cite me, but I know I'd be able to beat it since five were frozen solid and not all were caught the same day. I had them packed in ice for the two-hour drive back to Phoenix that I'd make first thing in the morning. It was hot during the day, but cooled off at night, being at 5,500 feet in elevation. With an average breeze speed of twelve miles an hour, the nights are in the low forties, with daytime temps in the high eighties to low nineties, it is '

sleeping bag, not required but recommended

.' But having Herbie and Heidi with me was quite nice at night, here at the north end of the Oak Creek Canyon where Arizona State Route 89A, makes the switchbacks out of the canyon up to the west portion of Mogollon Rim, (Muggy-own Rim). At that point, you travel only 1,900 feet as the crow flies, but two-and-a-quarter miles in the switchbacks, and gain 1,420 feet in elevation.

The days I had spent camping was a change— fresh air, my puppies at my side usually asleep and good fishing— it was something I needed.

Wow, a fight out here in paradise.

I had met a couple who were camping near me. They were an unusual pair. Dawn O'Connor was blonde, a five-foot-nine dynamo, she had an electromagnetism about her; she was maybe Irish or of Scottish heritage, O'Connor could be either. Her boyfriend, Paul Fisciano, 'Feci,' was an Italian-looking fellow. In my opinion, he looked like a six foot-ish, overgrown, spoiled child; he sounded immature as all get out.

That night, they had a hell of a fight. He packed up and got into his car and just

fuckin'

left! After about sixty or more minutes, she realized he was not coming back.

She came to my campfire in tears, she sounded like a lost soul. I gave a comforting hug, and I felt a surge run through my body. My dogs snuggled up to her, and she quieted down. I am a sucker for women in distress, maybe that's why I was divorced; my ex never seemed to appreciate my concern whenever she was the damsel in distress.

As Dawn and I talked, I found out this was not the first time that Paul had driven off, leaving her because he was mad. But, this was the farthest from home he had done it—

one hundred forty miles

! One thing, Dawn's purse was in his car! She had no money on her, but she did have a copy of her driver's license, she had an old one tucked into her phone case, she had replaced it when she had lost it less than a year before and then found it after she replaced it.

As the evening got cooler, I offered her a hoodie which was too big, but it kept her warm. When it looked like the baby-faced moron wasn't coming back for her, I offered her a sleeping bag and a place in my tent. A little after seven-fifteen, the sun had finally disappeared from the canyon floor. I set up her sleeping bag on the other side of the tent from me.

I extinguished the campfire and crawled into my sleeping bag; Dawn was already snuggled into the sleeping bag, and I snuggled into mine. The dogs each took a human to snuggle up to. We continued our talking, I told her about my divorce, and she told me about her rough time with Paul.

I found out she was a teacher and I told her I was a teacher, too! She taught in the same school district as I did! She said she was switching schools this fall, and she was going to be teaching English at South Middle School.

I said, "NO WAY! That is where I teach!"

We ended up talking way past midnight. During our conversations, I told her I would definitely be giving her a ride all the way to her place in the morning!

The drive home.

We talked while we finished breaking camp. She packed up what Paul had left and her stuff.

She was just a year younger than me. We both had graduated from Arizona State University, ASU. In fact, I had to wait until her year to walk through graduation since I had graduated in January.

As we drove out of the campground, I asked, "What are you going to do when you get back to his apartment?"

She said, "I need a change, he has been like this for the last year, our fight was over him wanting to have sex with me, I was just not in the mood.

Oh my god

,

I am so embarrassed I just told you that...

I need to leave him, but I have nowhere to go. He works as a truck driver for a building supply company, but never seems to have enough money for the rent or groceries, he has bled me dry. So, I do not have money to find a place."

One hell of an idea.

"Dawn, I have three extra bedrooms and I live two blocks from the school. I could put you up as a fellow teacher, you know, like a boarder or tenant."

We got in the truck and left the Pine Flat Campground. After twenty-seven miles of her silently thinking, I turned on to Interstate 17, then she said, "Okay, I'll do it."

"Do you think he will drive back up to get you?"

With a laugh, she said, "He won't find me there!"

"Well, let's see, you need to call the Coconino National Forest rangers, they will contact Coconino County, and the Yavapai County sheriffs' departments, (two of the counties that Coconino National Forest is in), then tell them that you got a ride so if he tries to find you and calls them, that way they won't be searching for you."

In the next half hour, she had to tell her '

tale of the bad boyfriend

' to a Coconino National Forest ranger! Luckily, she was able to talk to a female ranger on the call. All three departments worked together all the time, the National Forest people asked her to meet a Yavapai County deputy sheriff in Cordes Junction, Arizona at the McDonalds to verify who she was, and to take a report for all three agencies. We spent the next thirty-six miles of Interstate figuring out how to get her stuff out of his apartment. That was the easy part, the hard part was making sure he wouldn't find her easily, but that turned out to be easy, too.

Dawn added tears, which helped the deputy in believing her story. He said he had a daughter her age and I could see his anger even though he was trying to hide it. I bought the deputy a burger, fries, and a Coke while he took the report. (You can still do that in some places). Dawn asked that my name be kept out of the report and the deputy said he would just call me a 'concerned citizen', she was thinking ahead, if he came looking for her when she got back home.

We ate at McDonald's and continued on to my place in Scottsdale. I asked Dawn how much stuff she had.

She said, "We might have to make at least two, maybe three trips."

"No, I'll just get a U-Haul for the day. A good size truck is only about thirty dollars a day."

She looked at me like a lost puppy. I got on my phone and called some teachers from my school— a couple of single female teachers, and a couple of single male teachers and coaches, to help us on Tuesday.

When we arrived, I set her up in one of my extra bedrooms.

What was great about our getting back on Monday, Dawn's soon-to-be ex-boyfriend HAD to work on Tuesday. Dawn did call and left him a message, "I am getting a ride from a nice old lady and will be home on Tuesday. I will talk to you when you get home Tuesday after work." When she hung up, she said, "Like hell I will!" And finished with, "The fucker thinks he has taught me a lesson!"

Mi casa es su casa

On Tuesday, it took us two hours to get all her stuff out of the ex's place, she grabbed her stash of cash, she found a load of cash on his dresser, maybe some of it was hers, after all he DID owe her money. She grabbed that, too. The move, it wasn't neat, but it was quick. The guys and I did the heavy lifting, and we were the beasts-of-burden. In under two hours, we filled the U-Haul and were gone! She left him a note... "WE ARE THROUGH!" My female teacher friends helped Dawn with washing clothes and setting up her room.

On the way home, we stopped at the city courthouse, and she filed an '

Injunction Against Harassment

', in other words, a "no contact order" for Paul. (It included boilerplate type words:

threat

, violence, possibly alarmed, annoyed,

humiliated

, conduct that

mentally distressed the person

.

1,000 feet from work or the residence

.) The clerk had a list of acceptable reasons and solutions, Dawn just was able to pick all that applied plus some she did not realize did apply. See that was the easy part of making sure he wouldn't find her. One more thing, my house was less than one thousand feet from the school, so the house and the street I lived on was covered by the distance part of the order, without even listing it.

The cookout

It was the first time my fellow teachers had been in my place since my divorce. All the teachers were happy for Dawn to be able to get away from Paul, (and as I found out, happy for me also since it looked like I had found someone to be with... after my divorce). I invited all four to stay for a cookout— burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and grilled trout! (It was the grilled trout that sealed the deal.) Coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, rice pilaf, macaroni salad and a big ass summer-lettuce salad rounded out the grilled fare. I had shopped Friday afternoon and got the deli 'container' stuff, all in my fridge. (Yes, it was on a whim, or was it divine intervention? It was going to be my divorce blowout) The pups were doing their food vacuum duties and were as happy as could be.

Down to business.

On Wednesday morning, she brought the injunction to our district office. The district sent a certified letter to him officially notifying him that he was not allowed on

ANY

district property. They explained that they had used it for years and it was cleared with the State Attorney General. So, every property and building in the school district was off limits to him.

Wednesday afternoon, we were able to sit down and talk, I mean really talk. Dawn thanked me for taking her on as a 'roommate,' and because of my 'good Samaritan act' (of taking her in and protecting her), she said, "I'm now indebted to you."

"No, Dawn. Just look at it as you are getting some good karma for a change."

The Red, White, and Blue teams.

I helped move her classroom items from her old school to our school. Her classroom was near my room. In fact, we were now on the same teaching team as we found out when she talked with my principal.

We had three teaching teams— red, white, and blue. I was the leader of the red team; I taught math and algebra; Sue O'Brien taught science and biology; Bill Pike taught social studies and US government; and Dawn would teach English and advanced writing. We were the advanced studies team; in other words, we got the smart kids. On our team for the last three years, we had Mary Ross as our English teacher. Mary was a nice person, but very set in her ways. Dawn was the new blood we needed. We were all in our early to middle twenties; Mary Ross was in her late fifties, looking at retirement.

Summer

Both Dawn and I were taking classes at ASU towards our master's degrees. The summer moved along, Dawn helped me with housekeeping and cooking. It was a real relationship we were forming. She started going to my baseball and softball games that I was officiating. She would get mad whenever anyone would yell at me, the umpire,

imagine someone yelling at the umpire

. We would later go out and have a bite to eat.

We did hit a bump-in-the-road during the softball playoffs in August. There were two slow-pitch softball leagues, North and South, in town. Paul played on a team that just barely made it into the playoffs from the North League. The two leagues ran their own little 'Slow Pitch World Series.' When Paul saw Dawn, he sat down next to her.

I heard a loud, "You need to leave me alone!" I called time very loudly.

The team from the South League had mostly police officers and firefighters on it, one officer was even assigned to the Domestic Violence Taskforce, just Paul's bad luck.

I told one of the officers of Dawn's order against Paul.

The officers jumped into cop mode, two went to where Dawn was sitting and the third called in the cavalry. Within five minutes, we had three squad cars pulled up to the bleachers. The police officers that were playing the game, turned it over to the uniformed cops. Within minutes, Dawn was surrounded by wives and girlfriends of players from both teams. They formed a protective shield around her; for a second, I thought I was watching the Nature Channel, it was like the protective circle formed by musk oxen when threatened by predators and the horns were out! Chalk one up for sisterhood!

Paul got stupid and pushed one of the wives out of the way, she fell— wrong move— she was the wife of one of the police officers!

Good old Paul was face down with handcuffs on before he knew what hit him. (He was hit, I mean, kicked for good measure by the wife of a player from his own team!!) They had Paul 'Feci' hooked up and started all the cop stuff— forms and reading of rights— that they had to do.

I was able to restart the game and it finished about five minutes later when one of the cops teammates hit a grand slam, enforcing the ten-run rule.

Officer's

wife

down!

I walked over to Dawn, and she melted into my arms. Lucky it was the eight-forty-five game, the last one of the night.

It was a 'cop show' by then, whereas an 'officer's wife down,' call was not an official designation, it was almost like an 'officer down' call. We had three supervisors, one captain and a bunch of patrolmen show up; even the chief showed up, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, he'd been barbecuing in his backyard when the call came through.

The police detective spent almost an hour interviewing Dawn and me. It wasn't too bad, as I had the key to the lights. I told him of my suspicions about Paul, he had a 'good job', but never had money, always having to mooch off my new girlfriend— where did his money go? My information against Paul made the detective's eyebrows rise, showing surprise and interest. He said he'd contact a couple of friends up in the Coconino County sheriff's department to see what kind of shit they could stir up. (Note to myself never touch a cop's wife!)

The Coconino County sheriff's department asked to have Paul's car searched while he was detained. When the city police did a 'professional courtesy' search for the Coconino County sheriff's department. Believe it or not, Dawn's purse was still in his car— it had been a little over two months. Paul was then facing charges in Coconino County, too— something to do with theft of a purse. Karma!

I took Dawn home; she was just falling apart. She told me what had happened before I had stopped the game.

When Paul sat down, he asked her, "Where is my money?"

She had answered, "You mean my money you stole from me!"

Paul had grabbed Dawn's arm, and that is when I heard, "You need to leave me alone!"

The detective looked into Paul and his past. It turns out that Paul being a truck driver made him the perfect mule for distributing drugs. During the search of his car, they found a small amount of drugs hidden in a loose door panel, enough to start a further search with a warrant, BUT the big haul was the company truck he used. It was searched and they hit the jackpot, the drugs were just sitting in his truck waiting to be delivered, the street value of the drugs was just under six figures!

Fortunately, his boss knew nothing of his side hustle using the company truck. Paul sang like a canary and turned on his partners in crime to get a lesser sentence. He got twenty-four months, and a lifetime injunction to stay away from Dawn.

Dawn received a reward from Silent Witness because of her help.

We were well into August when Dawn and I decided that we needed to establish ourselves as housemates who were... also

dating each other

. I suggested that we draw up a rental agreement to cover ourselves when tongues began to wag.

I said, "I want to see where this goes with you."

Dawn leaned in and gave me a kiss that was between a polite boyfriend-girlfriend kiss and tonsil hockey. We still kept our passion in check, it was still early in our relationship.

The team

A week before we were to start our school year, I called a meeting, at my house, of the red team.

When the team was settled I told the other teachers that— one, Dawn and I were dating; two, we were housemates; three, Dawn paid rent; and four, Dawn would probably walk with me to and from school, and ride with me when the weather was bad.

Bill and Sue welcomed Dawn on to the team... and into my life!

Labor Day weekend

Believe it or not, we made it to Labor Day weekend before we made love for the first time. We started just after breakfast on Saturday. Labor Day was the last of summer, so we decided to take a swim; we cuddled and touched each other in a sexy, flirting way.

Dawn then said, "You've got me so hot," and with a flourish, threw her swimsuit top on the pool deck.

I immediately embraced her, and her breasts felt wonderful against my bare chest. I hooked my thumbs in the waistband of her suit bottoms, and pushed them down; Dawn did the same for my trunks. We frolicked nude in the pool for about thirty minutes.

Dawn took a hold of my cock, and led me to the pool steps, and very sweetly whispered, "I believe the bedroom is calling us."

"I hear another call, the shower!"

"Yeah, need to get the chlorine off," answered Dawn, with a smile.

Dawn stepped into the shower, and was surprised when I followed her in. Dawn had never taken a shower with someone!

I sat Dawn down on the shower bench, grabbed the shampoo, and I began to lather her hair. I followed the directions— lather, rinse, repeat. Before the second lathering, she handed me a shampoo brush; it looked like a torture device of some kind. Dawn gave out a satisfied moan as I used it on her head.