This is a follow-up to "Tutor," published in the mature section 7/31/18. It helps to read that one first.
*****
'We need to keep our distance, to decompress,' Alex told him on the night he graduated high school. Craig isn't blind to why she ended things. In fact, he agrees that they wouldn't have much of a future long term, not with the twenty-plus disparity in their ages. She's in her forties and he's in his late teens. She's been married and divorced, shares custody with her two children who aren't much younger than him. What business does a kid just out of high school and still living at home have cavorting with his forty-something divorced neighbor? None. He knows it and so does she, and yet they miss each other terribly. It's the classic tug-of-war between logic and emotion, and thus far the former has held sway over the latter. But not by much.
On this warm, partly sunny, late June day, like every day, Alex is never far from Craig's thoughts. He's just stuffed a bag of groceries in his car when he spots Alex from across the vast parking lot of the Weiss Supermarket arguing with Henry Albecker, her married, middle-age, next-door neighbor who's been trying to get into her pants for years. What a coincidence, Craig thinks, the three of them from the same neighborhood shopping at Weiss at approximately the same time. He sees Alex load her trunk with packages, and then hears her tell Henry to leave her alone, jerking her arm away when he attempts to grab it. "I need you!" he shouts. He appears to say more, but someone's noisy muffler drowns out the rest. Henry's standing against the door of Alex's Ford Taurus, arms folded against his chest, refusing to budge. Alex is ordering him to move, to let her inside, but the six-feet, four-inch Henry is having none of it.
Craig, wearing running shoes, khaki shorts and a T-shirt, jogs over. "Is there a problem here?"
Henry, attired in off white dress pants and a light sports jacket, tie askew, doesn't look pleased to see him. "There wasn't until you showed up, Craig. How's the algebra coming?" He winks sarcastically.
"There's a BIG problem here," Alex says. "Henry's holding me hostage on this parking lot."
Henry shakes his head. "Alex, I'm merely trying to arrange a time when you can show me how to get started with a home web business, something akin to what you're doing. You keep putting me off. You tutored this guy, now you can tutor me." He points to Craig. "Right? She tutored you wearing something that I somehow doubt most people, including your parents, would find appropriate. Of course, I wouldn't mind it a bit if you wore the same thing for me." He undresses her with his eyes, licking his lips at this reference to the sexy kimono Alex wore one Saturday morning, a treat meant for Craig, not for Henry who had dropped over minutes before Craig was due to arrive.
"Let her go," Craig orders. "Step away from her car and let her go." Craig stands a few inches shorter than Henry, but he's confident that if things got physical, Henry would be on the losing end. The guy might be tall with a long reach, but he's a spaz, looks like he's about to trip over his own feet when he walks, not to mention his generally flabby physique, a paunchy waist and arms that look like they lift nothing heavier than paperweights.
Henry grunts. "Ah, her teen knight in shining armor come to rescue his damsel in distress. How quaint." He bangs his palm against Alex's car door. "Go home, Craig, this isn't any of your business."
"Ah, but it is, and you've got mere seconds to move out of the way," Craig says, balling his fists. With jaw clenched, he glares at his adversary, ready for action.
Henry sizes him up, as if deciding what should come next: fight or flight. "Okay, all right," he says finally, throwing his long arms up and stepping away from her car. "Have it your way, Zanetti. After all, I wouldn't want to get between you and your mistress."
Alex's eyes flash with anger. "Mistress? You have no idea what went on between Craig and I," she snaps, wagging a finger in his face. "And you never will, you pathetic jerk."
Henry backs away, his hands raised in a defensive posture. "I can guess what went on," he says, "just from the way you were dressed. Or I should say, more like the way you were UNdressed." Smirking, he lingers a few seconds more before heading back to his car.
"Call me if he ever bothers you again," Craig says once Henry is out of earshot. Too distracted with the potentially messy business just concluded, Craig now notices her attire, white shorts hemmed past mid-thigh, a low-cut yellow blouse and low heels. "I miss you," he says, "and not just because you're the sexiest woman alive. I miss our conversations, your mentoring and guidance and holding you after our wild love making."
She looks skyward, brushing back tears, and then faces him. "I've missed you too, Craig, you know that. For me, parting hasn't been such sweet sorrow. There's been nothing sweet about it." She manages a weak smile. "Sarcasm aside, I think Henry got it right. Perhaps you are my teen knight in shining armor." She steps back when he reaches out to embrace her. "Craig, if I let you hug and kiss me, we both know what'll happen. I'll melt in your arms, my panties will get soaking wet and before I know it, we'll be back in my bedroom doing what we shouldn't be doing."
"Naughty can be nice, you know." She frowns. "Look, it's something we both want, and it's something we'd be doing if I didn't live at home, if I had my own place."
"But you do live at home and anyway, I hear you've been accepted at JMU. So you'll be going to school out of state. Congratulations on that, by the way."
"Thanks. Yes, I'll be away, which is even more reason for us to resume seeing each other over the summer. I'm taking a math prep course at community college. Algebra and basic trig. Stuff you can help me with."
"Craig..." She shakes her head and makes a half-turn, trying not to look into his baby-blue eyes, the eyes that she finds all but impossible to resist. "Oh my, the tangled webs we weave," she whispers. She grips the handle of her car door but makes no effort to open it—makes no effort either to stop him when he steps forward, hugs her and begins to plant soft kisses on her neck. She'll need to change panties when she gets home, but that's not her only thought. She's thinking back to the night of Craig's graduation when his mom Eileen confronted her, almost smacked her in outrage over what she had going with Craig. Alex couldn't argue. In fact, she had empathized because she has teen kids of her own. She's thinking about this at the same time she's now standing by her car, necking with her so-called teen knight dressed in casual summer duds (forget the shiny armor), pressing her body tightly against his, feeling the bulge between his legs and kissing him as if there's no tomorrow. "Oh Craig, what now, what now?" she sighs, her tone ringing with exasperation. "Where can we possibly go from here?"
"Well, there's always Mount Pleasant. Nobody from the neighborhood will see us there." Mount Pleasant is a woodsy park with shaded, winding roads. Locals have used it for a lover's sanctum for years.
She shakes her head. "I meant that metaphorically, Craig, not literally."
He flashes that brash smile of his, the smile that lights up her heart. "I know, but we can take it literally and then think metaphorically. Sound like a plan? Bet you haven't made love in a car for years."
She chuckles. "Truth be told, Craig, I've never made love in a car. Did plenty of necking, but never went all the way."
"So this will be a new experience." He brushes back his thick mane of blond hair, then hugs her again. "Shall we?"
