. 19-25

Chapter XIX

Sunrise was beginning to hint at its forthcoming arrival when I achieved that sleepy twilight zone of awareness. I stretched a leg that was threatening to give me a light cramp and suddenly I was wide awake! Something was in bed with me! I swear that my eyelids literally opened with a bang!

Lo and behold, Gwynn was sound asleep next to me in the bed! My first thought was to wake her and ask what the hell was going on. My second thought was to wonder what difference it made? After all, no harm done besides nearly giving me a heart attack! My last thought was to accept this latest vagary of the Universe and go back to sleep. After all, there would be plenty of time to find out what was going on in the morning—ZZZZ.

Morning was definitely in progress later when Gwynn stirred and woke me again. I opened my eyes without a transitional sleepy phase and looked over at Gwynn. This time she was cuddled up against me and stirring lightly. Her eyes fluttered a bit and then, oops, they were wide open when she realized that I was watching her. She also jumped as she became fully conscious; to me it felt like she had gotten an electrical shock!

"Oh shit! I hope you're not too pissed, s... uh, Stefan!

I gently placed my finger on her lips. "Shhh, let's try to keep the blood pressure from getting too high this early in the morning. If it will help palliate your anxiety, I will let you know that I am a fan of cuddling and you seem to cuddle very well. I'm sure there is a backstory to this surprise and I'm interested in hearing it over a cuppa java after we have become fully ambulatory this morning. Does that work for you?"

"I, uh... oh yes! Thank you!"

"Good. Now if you will excuse me, I need to drain a crankcase." Actually, the real motivation was that I needed something else to keep Little Stefan distracted besides doing differential calculus problems in my head!

Later, after our morning ablutions, while Gwynn was gobbling down a bowl of buckwheat with eggs and I was sipping on a big mug of hot Tibetan coffee, I decided that the time was ripe for what I was sure was going to be an interesting story.

"Well, so what exactly happened last night?" I immediately regretted that I had not timed my delivery to coincide with one of Gwynn's satisfied swallows!

After a coughing jag during which she cleared her trachea of the bite of food that she had inhaled, Gwynn replied, "Last night I couldn't sleep. I would close my eyes and all that I could see in my mind's eye was the face of your friend as she lay smashed in her truck..."

"Uh, Gwynn, pardon me for interrupting, but please don't get too graphic about her appearance or the accident. I'm not sure if I could handle it."

"Yes sir!" Suddenly, Gwynn gritted her teeth and hunched her back.

"Gwynn, we need to address this 'sir' business a little better than we have to date. Or maybe I should say—better than I have to date.

"I was taught as a boy that using 'sir' to address an older adult male was polite behavior. It took me a while to reprogram that reflex so that I didn't wind up addressing older males with chevrons on their uniforms as sir. It didn't seem right that I got chastised for being polite to them, but they did eventually manage to get it through my thick skull and get me to modify a reflex that my parents had very carefully inculcated." I smiled ruefully. "I guess I can thank you for making me understand how awkward sergeants must have felt when I was just being polite to them.

"We are both past the age of majority and your use of the English language is mostly beyond my purview. Your use of sir as a respectful honorific signifying that I am older than dirt compared to you may make me cringe, but I can't really object to it. What I can do is request that you not use it so much that it actually makes me FEEL old.

"Oh, and if I am ever convinced that you are using it to signify that I am your boss rather than your equal, please be warned that I may be motivated to paddle your bottom until it glows!"

"Yes..." Gwynn paused pregnantly and smiled before finishing with, "Stefan."

"Okay, so much for admin crap, let's get back to what was going on with you last night."

"Well, I was afraid that I would have the horrendous nightmares again if I went back to my trailer, so it seemed like that was out.

"I knew where you keep the brandy, so I considered the idea of getting drunk at length, but for whatever reason, it just didn't have the magic or the attraction that getting brain-dead drunk has had in the past.

"I was contemplating the idea of just staying awake all night when I remembered the way you made me feel listened to during our ice cream social. I decided that I would probably be safer with you. I figured that if I woke you up to ask for permission, you would either throw me out of your trailer or you'd think I was propositioning you. I finally convinced myself that I could crawl in and be safe with you and then wake up and get back to my sleeping bag before you woke up." She shook her head. "So much for waking up ahead of you though!"

"You may have made the best move available. I'm not sure how I would have reacted to somebody waking me up and asking me if they could get away from their nightmares by sleeping with me."

I reflected a moment, grinned, and continued, "Now, if you had fibbed and reported that you were freezing and needed a warm body to keep you from dying of frostbite, I already know that approach can and has borne fruit in the past.

"That's pretty much beside the point now. More importantly, how well did you sleep? Did you manage to avoid your demons?"

Gwynn's eyes got wide. "I swear, this was the best night of sleep that I have had since Mom and Dad died!

"Hmmm, maybe I should qualify that, there were a couple of nights in the sandbox when three or four of us nurses just collapsed in a pile of exhaustion after pulling a thirty-something shift.

"Even stranger, this is the first time I have slept in the same bed with a man since I got away from that fucker, Randy!"

Suddenly, Gwynn got excited. "Oh, oh, OH! And what was really wild, after I got to sleep I had a dream and in it I actually met your friend!"

I was pretty sure that I knew who she was talking about, but this was a sensitive spot in my psyche and I needed confirmation. "My friend?"

"Yes! The girl in the car accident. It seems like we talked for a while, but all I really remember is that she is beautiful and she said that when you and I are together, there is enough energy available for her to appear to me as she appears to you. She and I have a connection but there is only enough energy in the connection for her to appear in the condition that I found her in at the accident."

"Wow! Now that is a lump of data that will take me a while to chew on!"

"OH! That's right, she also said her name is Terrence! Is that right?"

"Holy shit! It feels like somebody just played a xylophone on my backbone! That's wild! That's weird! That's kinda scary! I guess that's a roundabout way of saying yes—sorry about the lack of brevity!

"Let me change the subject totally. Gwynn, do you have any plans for today?"

"Um, well, not really. Why?"

"It's looking to be a pretty nice and warm day. Would you like to run out to Hot Wells and soak for a while?"

"Hot Wells? What's that?"

"It's an old bore hole out in the desert that produced hot artesian water instead of oil back in the day. The BLM has made it into a rather nice spa out in the middle of nowhere."

"A government spa in the desert? Right! What have you been smoking? Or maybe I should be asking what kind of special goodies you put in your coffee?

"No, really. Unless it has flat-out dried up in the past two years, we could go down to the BLM office and get you a brochure to look over. Well for that matter, we'll have to stop by there anyway; I'm not sure that I could find it again by memory alone."

"A government spa in the middle of nowhere, ay? It sounds interesting." Gwynn paused as a thought struck her. "But it is a big fat no if this place is clothing optional!"

I had to grin. "I could think of worse situations. At least we'd be able to compare my... uh, bicycle tire with whatever you have to brag about.

"Unfortunately, the reality is that you need to bring a swim suit and at least one towel to the spare tire comparison contest. Oh, and since my truck seats are not cloth, you will probably appreciate having a big T-shirt or some other cover-up with you."

Gwynn returned a wry smile and asked, "Comparing spare tires, ay? What makes you think that I have a two-piece suit?"

I laughed. "Gwynn, if you have anything worth covering up, I will be amazed! Granted, your personality doesn't fit with an itsy bitsy teensy weensy yellow polka dot bikini, but I will be equally amazed if you don't have a more modest two piece!"

Gwynn blushed a bit. "All right Sherlock, you hit pay dirt!"

"All right, dress for desert travel, just in case, and wear your swim suit under that. I'll bring extra water and lunch. See you at my truck in a few minutes."

The woman working the desk at the BLM office just bubbled all over when she learned that Gwendolyn was new in town. We... er, Gwynn left the office with quite a stack of tourist information brochures when we were all done.

"My goodness! Talk about friendly! I wish everybody was that nice around here!"

"Uh, Gwynn, I think that a lot of it is you. Yesterday, you were a nice person, but in spite of that you seemed to be living in a shadow or something. If I can use some new-agey babbledegook, I would have to say that your aura seemed kind of dull or dark. Today, something has changed. In the same unscientific terms, I would have to say that your aura is bright and inviting. I dunno, does that make any sense to you?"

"Something changed overnight? I don't feel any different. What the hell different happened last ni... Oh shit! Is it you?"

"Sorry, that's way above my pay grade. Was it me? Was it Terri? Was it the dream? Was it just the fact that you decided to warm up a bed with another person? Was it all of the above? I sure as hell don't know, but SOMETHING has changed—and I think for the better!"

Chapter XX

A bunch of sandy and dusty miles later we were pulling through the gate at Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area. Gwynn looked around with a bit of surprise. "Wild! It's just sort of a microscopic oasis in the middle of the desert; and it's man-made to boot! Who would have thought?"

"Let's go soak for a while, Gwynn, and then we'll come back to the picnic area for lunch."

"Okay. It looks like we'll have the tubs, or the soak holes, or whatever they are called all to ourselves—at least for starters."

"Leave your clothes here at the truck and bring your towel with you to the tub. Oh, and don't forget your thongs. I have the impression that the BLM tries hard to keep the sand clean around the well, but every now and then I have found a chip of glass or parts of partially buried cactus in the sand."

When I was ready to soak, I came around to the passenger side of the truck where I was motivated to issue a nice loud, and appreciative wolf whistle! "Hot damn, woman! You've been keeping the wolves away from you for how many umpteen years! What have you been using to keep them away? Machine guns? Flame throwers? Nuclear bombs?"

Gwynn replied with an embarrassed smile and a full body blush! She was speechless until we were ensconced in one of the wonderfully warm hot tubs. Suddenly I saw that her eyes were brimming with tears! I scooted over next to her and put my arm around her. "Hey beautiful, what's wrong? We can go back right now if you need to!"

Gwynn broke down and cried on my shoulder for a while. "No, no, it's all right. I just realized that since Randy, there hasn't been a single man who has even tried to hit on me. You can't imagine how embarrassed—and pleased—that your compliment made me feel! If I'm as attractive as that wolf whistle implies, then whatever I've been using to keep the wolves at bay could probably be bottled and sold to the Pentagon for half the national debt." She smiled weakly at her little joke.

I gave her a kiss on her forehead and said, "Do me a favor. Don't ever tell me exactly what that somofabitch did to you. I have the feeling that I would wind up on death row for stalking him to his lair and then committing a murder in the most cruel and unusual manner that I could devise!"

"No, don't you dare! He's not worth you sacrificing even one second of your life! And anyway, when he broke my nose, I left him with a paring knife stuck in his gut! I've lost track of it, but to the best of my knowledge there is still an active protection order against him."

I chuckled and grabbed Gwynn in a bear hug. "Oh wow! Now that is a girl after my own heart! I am so happy that you were able to do that!" I planted an exuberant kiss full on her lips until the more considerate part of my brain caught up with events and made me recoil with an apology! "Oops! Omigod, I let my emotions get ahead of my good sense! I'm so sorry if I've scared you or offended you! You just say the word and I will take you right back home without a peep of argument. The most important thing is that you need to feel comfortable and safe!"

Gwendolyn gave me a long look, muttered something that sort of sounded like, "God damned white knights!" under her breath and then after what seemed like an endless stare announced, "Dammit, you don't get to run away that easy!" She grabbed me around my neck, threw her legs over mine, and levered herself onto my lap. The next thing I knew, Gwynn had locked her lips with mine in a hard and insistent kiss. As the kiss progressed our lips softened, our lips parted, and our tongues began to play tag.

What had all the makings of an endless kiss was suddenly interrupted by the slam of a car door in the parking area. We both came up for air and looked at each other sheepishly. "I hope I'm not scaring you away!" came out of both our mouths simultaneously. The shock of the coincidence was so strong that both of us broke out with a burst of almost hysterical laughter.

"Wow! Gwynn, that was HOT!"

Gwynn giggled and replied with a smirk, "But of course! Why else do you think that more steam is coming off our tub than is coming off the other one?

"I guess that now that we have company we have to be good little boys and girls. However, may I please stay in your lap and hug you?"

"Whew! Yes you may as long as you don't wiggle around on my little traitor enough to wake him up any more than he has already!"

"Little traitor?" Gwynn giggled. "Oho! So that's his name?"

"Well no, Little Stefan is what he normally goes by. However, little traitor tends to be an appropriate appellation any time he is around an attractive woman like you."

Gwendolyn blushed lightly and gave me a short but loving kiss. "Thank you for the compliment!"

"A well deserved compliment, I might add.

"And now I need to rain on our parade a bit. It just registered that we probably don't want to get too uh, explicit here—even if we didn't have company."

Gwendolyn gave me a puzzled look and replied, "Oh? What do you mean?"

"Well, here we are in the middle of nowhere at a facility that does not appear to be significantly vandalized. That implies to me that Big Brother may be present."

"Big..." Gwynn abruptly sat up a bit more. "Surveillance cameras? Is that what you mean?"

I gave her a sour look and replied, "Yeah, that seems like a high probability. I could be dead wrong, but I wouldn't bet on it."

Gwynn gave me a little smile, snuggled up a little closer to me and said, "All right. If all I'm allowed is a cuddle, I guess I'd better make the most of it."

We luxuriated in the womb-warm water for the rest of the morning. After our stomachs started telling us that we needed to eat, we crawled out of the tub and, after we managed to stand on our rubbery legs, dried each other off. We had lunch at one of the tables near the little nature trail around the tiny pond where the hot water collected. Our swim suits were pretty much dry by the time that we finished eating and had taken a walk on the nature trail.

After that, we drove over to the part of the area devoted to ATV antics and took a barefoot stroll along the high spots of the dunes. Early in our little stroll I had offered my hand to Gwynn to help her up a steep spot and after that we completed our exploration linked hand in hand.

We weren't in a hurry to get back to civilization, so we poked around on some of the side roads that seem to cut off into the desert at random. The truck had just touched pavement when Gwynn was motivated to pipe up. "It's been a long day and I am hungry. How about I treat you to supper?"

"Boy, you really know how to twist a guy's arm! Where do you want to go?"

"The gang at the hospital speak highly about La Casita. Have you been there? Or maybe more importantly, do you like Mexican food?"

"No, I've never managed to try that place. I'm game to try it out if you are."

"Well, keep your eyes open. I know that it's on the main drag, but I do not know the address!"

As it turned out the food was good and the companionship was stellar! In fact the companionship was so stellar that I don't remember a whole lot more than the fact that Gwynn spent most of the time playing barefoot footsie on my pant-covered legs. I do recall having mixed feelings about my attire: I recall wishing over and over that I was wearing shorts and sandals so I could play the game as well as Gwynn was doing it; and I recall being very thankful that I was in pants since otherwise Little Stefan probably would have blown a hole in the tabletop! Supper was a nice, slow progression through our entrees. Dessert was ordered mainly so that we could stay longer and not because we had an empty spot in our bellies. Gwynn topped it all off with a coffee for the road for both of us. A cappuccino for her and a latté for me.

It was dark by the time we walked out the door! "My gosh, Gwynn, I didn't realize that it was getting this late. I'm surprised that they let us walk out instead of kicking us out! And for that matter, what's in the bag that the waitress gave you?"

Gwynn giggled. "Remember when I had to so to the bathroom?"

"Yeah."

"I was having so much fun playing footsie that I decided to look up our waitress after I got out of the ladies room. I promised to give her a 100% tip if she would accept and play along with my delaying tactics this evening. The bag is what I ordered for later this evening if we needed it." Gwynn finished her explanation with an amazingly innocent smile.

"Holy smokes! So THAT'S why she started looking like the cat that ate the canary every time she came to the table after that!"

Gwynn gave me her own cheshire cat grin and answered, "Yup!" She put her arm around my waist and proceeded to giggle the rest of the way to the truck.

Chapter XXI

By the time that we got back to my trailer, Gwynn was starting to exhibit a whole lot more sober behavior. In fact, by the time we were inside and Gwynn was "triumphantly" unveiling the bottle of Port wine she had liberated from La Casita, her mien was closer to a deer caught in the headlights than to a hyena on the prowl.

"Okay beautiful, what's wrong? Between the restaurant and here something has been winding you tighter than Big Ben attached to a jet engine!"

Gwynn burst into tears and fell into my arms. "Oh Stefan, I so wanted to seduce you tonight! And now I'm scared to death!"

"Hey, hey, hey there, beautiful, don't you worry your lovely head about that! You have just given me the biggest compliment that a gal can give a guy—and I DO appreciate it! You have got a ton of baggage to unpack and WE will do it at YOUR pace! Understand?"