For the Long Haul

In the heat of summer, can romance follow when she falls?

This story was written for the

Literotica Summer Lovin' Story Contest 2024

.

It's a sweet, sexy romance with a slow buildup but also with what I hope is some good conflict and some hot sex as the story progresses. However, if you're primarily interested in getting straight to the sex, you'll want to look elsewhere.

© SouthernCrossfire - 2024. All rights reserved.

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It was expected to be a blistering hot Saturday in early July so I was up early, wanting to finish before the temperature climbed into the 90s or beyond. The barbecue, the fireworks, and the heat and expected humidity at my big brother's house later that evening gave me even more incentive to finish early so I could enjoy at least the hottest part of the day in peace, quiet, and air conditioning while prepping my living room for painting.

After breakfast, I headed out on that already hot summer morning, walking the short distance to the rear pedestrian entrance to the nearby forest preserve that doubled as a city park. Being an avid hiker and photographer, I'd purchased the old fixer-upper primarily because of its proximity to the park and its trails. Four years later, I'd made some progress on the house, but my To Do list was probably longer than when I started.

I was equipped only with a little knife in my pocket, a water bottle and a first aid kit in my day pack, and my digital SLR camera hanging around my neck. My mother had given me the camera as a birthday present way back when I was in high school so I looked forward to replacing it with a new mirrorless type in a few months after my financial situation improved. My cell phone stayed home since the purpose of my hike was relaxation and de-stressing.

Once I reached the main trail, I looked both ways and turned right to do the main loop counterclockwise. I'd gone maybe 15-feet when it struck me that I usually go that way and I briefly debated turning around and going back the other way before chuckling and continuing on.

My ex-girlfriend sometimes complained that I was a creature of habit but I figure that is better than being an eternal fussbucket like

some

people. After breaking up with her a couple of weekends before, I knew I'd have to explain her absence at the party later that evening, particularly to my little nephews who really liked her. Unfortunately for them, they didn't get a vote in the matter.

Shaking my head to escape from such negative thoughts, I spotted a squirrel on a nearby log. I got it in my viewfinder a moment later, focused, and snapped a shot. While the camera had an excellent autofocus feature, I liked doing it manually in the woods to focus on the features I wanted rather than having to tweak the camera's suggestions.

A noise up the trail scared the squirrel before I could get a second shot, so I started on, seeing an older couple heading my way. As we passed, we all smiled and said a quiet "Good morning."

That made me feel good; it was going to be a nice day.

I passed two or three other people over the next few minutes and had a couple of high school or college-age runners come running up behind me and continuing on. It was early so there weren't many people around and the woods were quiet except for the sounds of the wind, the birds, and maybe other critters.

I was focusing on a butterfly when I heard someone approaching. I snapped off a couple of quick shots before the person drew near and the butterfly floated away. I looked up to see the pretty blonde that my friend Clancy, who lived a couple doors down on my street and who sometimes came to the park with me, had been talking about for the past several months.

"I'm gonna marry that girl."

"I don't think so, Clancy. I don't think you're ever going to even meet her. She runs by, she never stops, and she never says a word. By the time you get your tongue off the ground and untied, she's always long gone, so I say you're dreaming."

"Dreaming of her," he laughed. "Someday circumstances are gonna be right and she's gonna fall for my natural charm and good looks."

Clancy wasn't a bad-looking guy, but I chuckled, telling him, "Keep dreaming, buddy."

As we passed on the trail, I smiled and said hello to the young woman, but she didn't pay me a bit of attention as she passed, as usual. I glanced back, catching a quick glimpse of her really nice ass in skin-tight running shorts before looking away. Thinking that they'd actually look good together, I muttered to the wind, "Good luck, Clancy. You're going to need it."

A little farther along, I passed another couple walking, a guy with a mutt of lineage that completely escaped me, and a few runners coming my way or coming up from behind and passing to leave me in their dust. I stepped off the path when I reached the creek, looking around to take more shots of whatever might be of interest. With digital cameras using cheap and reusable card space rather than the much more expensive film in my first camera, an old SLR that Mom bought me at a pawn shop when I was 11 or 12, I frequently took a lot of photos to see if any might be special.

More often than not, I deleted most if not all of them after getting them on the computer.

I was just starting down a long incline when I saw a big Dalmatian pulling a young lady up the trail toward me. His panting sounded like it was on a loudspeaker and the poor girl was encouraging him to slow down, which the silly dog must have taken as "Go faster."

The dog looked very familiar, both due to his large size and his red Pongo collar, but I didn't recall seeing the young woman before. From what I remembered, the dog usually traveled with a guy about my age who always said hello, so this was probably his wife or possibly girlfriend considering it was only somewhere around 8 or maybe 8:30 a.m.

Without my cell phone and wearing no watch, it was nice to be disengaged from the world in general and time and deadlines in particular.

I gave a polite "Good morning" but didn't hear a reply as she rushed past me, trying to keep up with the dog who looked like he was on the way to a fire. Dalmatians were long considered carriage dogs and mascots at fire stations so it seemed rather appropriate in a way. Since my dad had been a firefighter, I'd always liked the breed, which was probably why I recalled the big fellow in the first place.

Over the next half mile or so, I passed a few more people including a couple of cute young ladies. The strawberry blonde was taller than her dark-haired friend and she piqued my interest. Our eyes met for a moment before she suppressed a smile and deliberately glanced away.

For maybe a split second I considered trying to strike up a conversation about something, about anything, to meet her, but that seemed forward to me, weird even, since they weren't stopping or saying anything. The cute blonde's eyes caught mine briefly once more and we each said "Hi" just as we passed each other. A moment later I thought I heard giggling, which caused me to smile and glance back only to see them turn their heads forward once more. Were they checking me out? I grinned at the thought but then wondered if maybe I just had something on my face.

I quickly wiped it and smoothed my hair just in case as I walked on.

It had been about two weeks since my breakup so I wondered if my suddenly resurgent interest in meeting women meant that I was ready to try again or if I was just getting horny.

I'd been frustrated with the situation with Angie for quite some time before finally deciding to end it with her. After going through with it, I decided to swear off women and sex for a long time afterward, but I was discovering that saying it and actually going through with ignoring them were two quite different things. Seeing multiple cute women in a matter of minutes, even in passing, was making me reevaluate the situation for the first time since the breakup. Perhaps taking the situation in hand when I got home, if I could do it without thinking of Angie, would give me a much-needed release and let me avoid such complications for a while longer.

Unfortunately, I was about as far from home on the trail as I could be so by the time I reached the front of the park where the trail looped by the park office, a pavilion, the facilities, and the parking lot, I was thinking, trying to decide who I might call to ask for a date. Spending almost two increasingly frustrating years with Angie before I finally pulled the plug and moved on had led to a feeling of relative isolation and unsureness about what I wanted and complete lack of clarity on with whom I might want it. However, I was fairly confident that it wouldn't be with some random pretty woman I passed on a park trail.

As I walked by the feature pond near the pavilion, a dragonfly caught my eye so I tried to bring it into view on my camera and set up a shot. With my lens set to a large aperture and the camera set for a quick shutter speed, I was hoping it wouldn't move too much and would be the only thing in focus as I started to press the button to take the shot. It was then that an all-too-familiar voice rang out behind me.

"Jim, I thought you'd be here. Can we talk?"

I jumped, the camera shook, and the dragonfly flitted off to who knows where, leaving me with a blur on the LCD screen for an instant before it blipped out like I wish I could.

Turning, I saw Angela Brauner, Angie, my former girlfriend, standing about 15-feet behind me wearing a burnt orange cami-style tank top and short white shorts, both of which hugged her figure just right and reminded me of why it had taken almost two whole years to end things with her.

"Angie, what are you doing here, and how on Earth did you find me?"

"It's early on a Saturday morning on a hot day and I didn't sleep well so I got up to come talk to you since you haven't been answering any of my calls. I wanted to catch you before you took off to do something like this. When I got to your house, you were already gone but your car was still in your garage, so I figured you'd probably be here in your little fortress of solitude. And since you always hike this place counterclockwise, I went clockwise figuring we'd pass each other. When I didn't after a while, I decided to stop here where there's a bench. That way, I could sit and rest and I could catch you to talk whenever you came by."

Yes, Angie was smart and she had me pegged as a creature of habit, but she seemed particularly proud of herself with this bit of deductive reasoning. I'd definitely be mixing up my direction from now on, I decided.

"Angie, I'm sorry, but I've already told you there's nothing more to talk about. We're done and I'm not going to reconsider. You know in your heart that we're not right for each other in the long run, so if you'd be honest with yourself, you'd admit it and move on. You'll be happier sooner rather than later that way and it won't make both of us miserable trying to drag it out. Please, just drop this nonsense and go."

"Jim, you're serious, aren't you? I hoped that having some time to think, you'd reconsider and you'd be willing to give it another shot. I think we really could be good together. I mean, if you'd let us."

She'd moved in close, that orange tank top just inches from my chest. She could be so distracting at times and she knew how to take advantage of that. It took me a moment to shake off her charms before I was able to shake my head and reply, "Angie, no we couldn't. We'd probably last for a while, maybe even years, but we'd be on each other's nerves much of the time, we'd quarrel--and maybe even fight--and we'd eventually both be miserable. I don't want that and I think I know you well enough to know that you don't either. Let's just let it go and walk away, okay?"

She studied me and started to give a slow nod, giving me hope that she'd seen the light, but her face slowly transformed as her mouth opened. I knew that look; it spelled trouble. Angie had a temper at times.

"Wait a second," she demanded. "You've found someone else, haven't you? That's why you broke up with me. So you could fuck around with someone else to help you forget about me, wasn't it?"

Having turned thirty years of age only a month earlier, I sometimes wonder when, if ever, I'll learn to keep my mouth shut. I obviously knew I should but wasn't up to practicing discretion yet, saying, "Not that it's any of your business, I didn't find anyone before the breakup, haven't found anyone else since, and haven't been out with--or just with--anyone else since we broke up. I, ah--"

I almost revealed my thought about starting to look again, but my statement about it not being any of her business finally struck home then and I stopped, practically biting my tongue.

She looked at me and gave a slow nod. "No, you're not that kind of guy. I'm sorry, Jim, I didn't think you'd cheat; you're a nice guy and you've never struck me as the two timer-type."

It was a small victory, so I took it, agreeing, "No, I'm not."

She stepped closer and whispered, "In that case, and since you haven't found anyone new yet, do you want to go back to your house, get a shower together to cool off, and then just fuck the morning away for the fun of it, no strings attached? It could be great stress relief. I'd bet almost anything you could use it."

She was right. I could use it, but the suggestion, and the way she seethed sexiness, was classic Angie; not getting what she wanted directly, she often tried to do it through an alternate method. While the release she suggested was quite tempting and would be welcomed, it wouldn't be all there was to it. Even more stress would come from being with her, from having to fight off the urge to resume a relationship that would never go anywhere in the long run.

"Thank you, but no, Angie. We're over and done, and we don't need any complications that might confuse the issue. Please, just go and don't try this again."

She was clearly disappointed in my response, so she resorted to anger, the red erubescence of her blush lighting up her face and even the tan on her chest, clashing with the perfectly fitted orange cami-tank. She stared at me and huffed before practically growling, "Ohh! Why did I even try? I hate you, Jim Kuykendall, and I don't care if you change your mind and come to me begging to get back together, I won't do it. Ever!"

While I knew she was being melodramatic and probably didn't mean a word of what she was saying, she said the last part loud enough that an older couple looked our way. She noticed as she turned and practically stomped away.

"Oh, what are you looking at?" she groused as she passed them.

The guy chucked but the woman looked annoyed as Angie continued on, going back the way she said she'd come. When they looked at me, I shrugged and said, "Sorry, breakup blues," leading them to nod their heads knowingly.

"Better to see the problems and deal with them earlier rather than years later when it's more complicated," said the woman, nodding. She took the man's hand and he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek before they went on their way.

I tried finding something--anything, really--of interest to photograph before moving down the path, wanting to let Angie get far enough ahead that I wouldn't risk coming up behind her. I snapped a few shots but didn't expect much from any of them.

A stop at the trail restroom facility followed, and then, not wanting to delay further as the temperature continued to rise, I headed down the trail and on my way home, trying to avoid grumbling or gnashing my teeth.

***

Hiking in the woods is therapeutic to me so it wasn't too long before my blood pressure was back down to something approaching normal. Part of it was the crunch of the gravel on the trail under my feet, part was probably the singing of the birds, and part--by far the largest part--was my belief that Angie had finally gotten the hint and wouldn't be bothering me anymore.

Or maybe that was all of it?

I was about two-thirds of the way to the cutoff toward home when I topped a rise and saw the big Dalmatian practically pulling the young lady up the trail toward me once more. With the dog randomly wandering from side to side over the trail and the poor girl not exercising good control, I moved to the side to let them pass, giving the woman a "Hi" and a sympathetic smile as they did.

"Hi," she replied almost breathlessly and then she was by me. I started walking again and had gone a short distance down the hill when I heard barking behind me followed by a yell that sounded like frustration and yet another that sounded like pain. Hearing the second one, I turned and ran back up the trail.

When I reached the top of the little hill, the big spotted dog was running down the trail in the distance, soon to disappear beyond some trees. As he did, I spotted the young woman sitting in a pile off to the side of the trail calling out for him to come back, but to no avail.

She was crying and holding her ankle. "Oh, Lee's going to kill me if anything happens to that dog. Please, God, please help him get home safely."

"Is it far?" I asked as I approached, causing her to start and yelp in surprise.

She looked at me, wiping tears from her cheeks. "No, not too far, but it depends on the stupid rabbit. Chief may chase it for hours."

"Hopefully so," I agreed. "The making it 'home safely' part, not the chasing the rabbit thing," I added nervously. "But you, are you hurt?"

She finally focused on herself for a second rather than on the dog and shook her head. "I twisted my ankle and sprained it. I need to bind it before I get up."

"Want me to take a look? I'm--"

"No, that's okay. I'm an RN, a registered nurse. I'll take care of it."

It was only then that she realized she had nothing but her shirt with which to wrap it, so she gave a weak smile and a nod when I spared her that by holding out Ace bandage from the kit in my little pack.

"Thank you," she said before starting to wrap it just like I'd have done if she'd let me.

As she finished, I said, "That looks good. Do you want some Tylenol to help with the pain?"

"No, thanks anyway. I'll be okay."

"Okay, but you're going to have a hard time walking out of here. Let's call the park rangers and they can bring a Gator," one of the four wheel-drive carts used on the park trails, "to pick you up and get you back to your car or wherever."

She frowned at me. "Do you have a phone? Because I don't. I lost my phone and my water bottle somewhere along the way--probably one of the other times the damn dog made me fall--and now I don't have a dog--God bless him--a phone, or any dignity left."

I couldn't help myself; I didn't mean to but I laughed at the way she said it. "Don't worry, it's not that bad; only two people in the world know about this and I won't hold it against you or tell anyone about it if you won't. Deal?"

I held out my hand and she gave a little smile and shook it.

"Deal."

"Now, we'll get you out of here safely and then deal with the missing dog problem. He seems like a real handful; you love him but hate him, too, right?"

"No, love is too strong a word for that dog. Tolerate is more like it. Oh--"

She was trying to get up as she said it, but promptly sat back down, the pain in her ankle being too much, even with the wrap.

"Oh, I'll have to wait until someone comes along with a phone."

"There's an emergency phone every so often along the trail," I said. "The next one's at the rear entrance, which is my exit toward home. My name's Jim; I can help you that far, if you'd like."

She shook my hand again and said, "I'm Carrie. Ordinarily I'd say nice to meet you, but under these circumstances?" She shook her head. "Sorry, it hurts."