Midlife

Tuesday came and Peter found himself pacing his office. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and he was waiting for a client to get back to him about a new contract. He moved to the window, tapping his pen on the windowsill. He hated waiting. He was trying not to think of Maria moving around his home, doing all the domestic things that he loathed to do. He pictured her in his bedroom, changing the sheets, vacuuming under the bed, kneeling on the floor to fetch a stray sock from under the bench at the foot of the bed. Her soft round bottom pushed out as her back arched like a cats. Curvy and sensual.

Christ almighty, he was having a domestic fantasy about cleaning. He really had it bad. He didn't even really know the woman but she had left a noticeable impression on him.

He glanced at the clock, yet again. Only 3 minutes had passed since the last time he looked.

The phone's ring made him flinch. At last.

The call lasted longer than he wished but at least it sounded like he'd be coming out ahead on this deal.

Forty-five minutes later he was cruising home. Trying not to speed, he was glad he had a small jump on the traffic that would be clogging the streets in another half hour. He drummed his fingers in time with a cereal commercial on the radio. All his nervous ticks were coming out today. He changed the station for around the twentieth time, not really caring what was on, just needing to do something.

Finally, he pulled into the drive, not waiting for the garage door to open he parked in the driveway. He tried not to look like he was in any hurry to get inside. He pushed open the door and noticed the stillness inside. Damn! He must have missed her. He casually made his way to his bedroom, with only a slight detour by the kitchen. Nope, she wasn't there. Damn.

He threw his jacket on the bed and kicked off his shoes, not caring where they ended up. He grumbled to himself, "Idiot. What are you 13?"

"Hello, Mr. Walker." A voice said coming out of the bathroom.

"Gah!" Peter almost jumped out of his skin when a woman came out of his bathroom carrying towels. It wasn't Maria.

"Oh, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Teresa. The agency sent me today." She was a very thin older women with lots of grey streaked in her neat bun.

Peter shook his head. "Oh, Teresa...uh...." He tried to clear his head. "Great." He didn't know what else to say.

She stood still staring at him. "Well, I'll just finish up and get out of your way." She moved passed him and headed for the door.

"Yeah...no...I mean, don't rush." Before she could disappear down the hall he called to her. "Hey, Teresa? What happened to Maria? Is she alright?"

Teresa looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, she...um...she asked to be... " She shifted from foot to foot. "...transferred. She didn't say why."

"Oh." Peter frowned. "Right. Ok. Thanks, Teresa."

Damn.

He must have scared her off. She must have felt awkward coming back after seeing him practically naked and asking her about her personal life. Fine.

The rest of the evening past uneventfully. He had a run in the cool evening, with all the dog walkers, evening joggers and cyclists. He showered and put together a ham sandwich for dinner. He ate while he looked over the contract from this afternoon.

He was just settling down to watch the ten o'clock news, when the phone rang. He debated answering when he saw that it wasn't a number he recognized.

"Hello."

"Peter? It's Maria. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Peter's heart thudded in his chest. "Not at all, Maria. This is a surprise. How are you?" He asked coolly. His face split into a huge grin and he punched the air in triumph.

"Great, Peter." She sounded hesitant. "I, um. I wanted to talk to you about the other day. I thought it best if I didn't work for you anymore."

His heart sank. Crap! He had scared her away. "Why is that? Did I do something to upset you? Maria, I'm sorry if I did anything...."

She didn't let him finish. "No, no, no! No, that's not what I meant. I just thought that ...." She sighed. "I've never done this before but...I had a really nice time having dinner with you and I thought that maybe..." she trailed off.

Peter's face lit up again. He tried to keep his voice calm, while he did a little happy dance, "Would you like to have dinner with me, Maria?"

"No." She said.

No? Peter blinked. No. Damn.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to have lunch with me tomorrow." She continued. "I don't have class until 2 tomorrow and thought you might like to join me for lunch." He could hear her puff out a breath like she'd been holding it and trying to get through the rehearsed question.

Peter let his shoulders relax with relief. "Of course! I mean, yes. I'd love to join you."

"Great. Do you know the coffee shop on Willowbrook? Sammy's?" She asked.

He grinned to himself. "Yeah, I love that place. What time?"

"12:30, ok?"

"Perfect. What made you think of Sammy's?" He wondered aloud.

She chuckled. "I used to waitress there when Sandra was a baby. Some of my friends still work there."

"Really? I used to go there a lot, a while back. Does Benny still work the grill? He used to make the best chili on Wednesdays."

He could hear the smile in her voice. "He sure does. What do you think I always go there for?"

They talked for a few minutes more about the people they knew there and all the regulars.

Peter was amazed that he'd never noticed her there before. They seemed to know all the same people that frequented the old place.

"I guess I picked out the perfect place." Maria said. "Well, it's getting late Peter and I've got an early day."

"Yeah, me too." Peter paused, "Uh..I'm really glad you called, Maria. I didn't know how to contact you or I would have asked you to dinner, sooner or later."

"Oh. Well...goodnight." Maria hung up.

"'night." Peter said a little too late.

Peter went to bed with a little smile on his lips. As he drifted off to sleep, he realized she hadn't answered his question about why she transferred. He was definitely going to ask her at lunch tomorrow.

***

Work was extra busy the next morning. Peter was scrambling to assist one of his best clients with a huge error that had been made. His boss was grating on his nerves. He wouldn't stop butting in, making Peter's job extra stressful.

Lunch couldn't come fast enough. His assistant Eric could tell that he was anxious. "Peter? Do we have a lunch date?" He asked in a condescending tone.

Peter had to smile at his intuition. "We don't have a lunch date. I have a lunch date with a lovely woman at Sammy's."

Eric wrinkled his nose at that. "Sammy's? Don't you usually have your nooners at Bridgestone's or Le Mer? Slumming are we?" His raised eyebrows getting lost in the flop of blond hair on his forehead. "Wait...woman? Have we finally graduated from high school seniors?"

"All right. Enough of that." Peter rolled his eyes. "Maria happens to be a gorgeous, intelligent woman with a 21 year old daughter. And it's just lunch."

"Trying to get to the daughter through the mom, huh?" Eric wiggled his expressive eyebrows. "Neat trick."

Peter shook his head. "Shut up."

Peter was finally able to rush out to his car at 12:20. It wasn't too far to Sammy's but parking could be tricky at that time of day. At exactly 12:30 he slid into a parking space about half a block from the diner.

He rushed up the street, hoping he hadn't kept Maria waiting. Then he spotted her crossing the street and he almost stopped in his tracks. This was, yet again, another Maria. She was a sunshine vision in yellow. She was just wearing a simple pale yellow sundress and sandals, but to Peter she was sunshine itself. Her skin glowed golden on her shoulders and legs. Her dark hair was in a simple ponytail that showed off her graceful neck. He was mesmerized.

When she spotted him, her face broke into a wide easy smile. Peter knew he was staring with probably a dopey smile on his own face.

"Hola, Pedro!" She greeting him. Humor in her eyes.

He bent slightly and placed swift kisses on both her cheeks. "Good to see you, Maria."

She glanced sideways at him. "Very continental with the double kisses."

He shrugged. "Just one of my many moves, to charm the ladies."

She rolled her eyes when he opened the door with a flourish of his arm. "Ham." she smirked.

It was pretty crowded in the small diner. There didn't seem to be any empty tables, but there were a few seats available at the bustling counter.

"Do you want to wait for a table?" Peter asked.

Maria was already moving towards the empty stools. "No. This is good."

Damn. Peter just barely kept the frown off of his face. He wanted to be able to look at her from across the table, now he was rubbing elbows with a large construction worker filling the seat next to him.

On his other side Maria slid smoothly onto the stool. She waved happily to the large black man, whose head was peaking from the kitchen. His face wreathed in smiles. "Hey, Bibi! How ya been?"

"Great, Benny. How's Linda and Penny?" She called back.

He gave her the okay sign with his large fingers and got back to work.

The waitress hurried over with menus. "Bibi! It's been too long. What's up?" The middle age waitress had a tag on that said her name was Connie.

"Had to dig myself out from under The Man. You know how it goes, Connie." Maria gave her a pretend scowl.

Connie chuckled, "Don't I know it. What'll you have?"

"Chili and cornbread. What else?" Maria pushed the menus away. "And I'll have iced tea. Peter?"

"Milk." He ordered.

Connie gave him an appraising look. "Milk, hey Pete?" She pointed her pencil at him, "Him, I like." She spun to hustle their order.

Maria was appraising him, too. "Milk?"

Peter smiled back, "I've had milk with Chili and cornbread since I was kid. It's the best. And remember it does a body good." He raised his eye brows at her. "Bibi?"

She shrugged and took a sip of the ice tea that Connie slid in front of her. "There was already a Maria working here so I used my middle name Beatriz but it ended up just Bibi. I must have a dozen nicknames, Bea, Betty, Mary...you name it. My nieces and nephews call me Tia Tee Tee. How about you, Peter? I'm sure you've earned yourself a couple of nicknames in your time."

He stirred the milk with his straw, "I suppose. Pete mostly...which I hate. Not sure why. My dad called me Sport sometimes but that seemed rather forced. Not the warmest man, my father. And of course there was the inevitable, Peter Rabbit." He shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess that's the easiest." she chuckled. "I like Pedro. That's was my great uncles name." She gave him a sly sideways look. "What? No, Peter the Great?"

Peter couldn't help admire the crooked smile playing on her full lips. "Well....I guess there were a couple of women that used that name after a particular stellar performance. You know how it is?" He brushed imaginary lint from his shoulders.

Maria rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. "Puh-leez!"

Their lunch was set before them and for a few moments they just enjoyed the first few bites of the flavorful chili and freshly baked cornbread.

Peter wiped his mouth, "Benny, is a master. I think this is even better than the last time I had it."

Maria nodded enthusiastically, "Sure is."

They ate and chatted for the rest of the lunch time. A couple of customers passed by and greeted Maria.

Peter glanced at the clock while Maria scrapped the last of the chili in the bowl. He only had ten minutes left in his lunch hour. Damn. "I've got to get back to the office, Maria. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," Maria snatched up the check as he reached for it. "I invited you, remember?"

"But..." he started to protest but he decided to let it go, just this once. He nodded. "Thanks."

She looked a little surprised that he didn't continue his argument. A huge smile lit up her face. "Next week? Same time, same place? I'll even let you pay."

Maria paid and they were headed towards her car.

Peter hesitated, "Well, I was sort of hoping we could have dinner some time this weekend."

This time Maria hesitated. "Peter, I wish I could. I really do but...with school and work and my family, the only time I have right now is Wednesdays for lunch. At least until the end of the semester in June." She laid her hand gently on his arm. "I really like you Peter. I just can't take this any further right now. Is that alright?"

Peter couldn't help but believe the sincerity in her eyes. "Sure. Believe it or not, I can take things slow." He smiled back at her. "See you next week." He kissed both of her cheeks and hurried back to work.

They met at Sammy's every Wednesday for the next couple of months. They always sat at the counter and had the chili with cornbread. Maria even started ordering milk. This was the best part of Peter's week, by far.

"This final is going to kill me." Maria groaned as she buttered her warm cornbread. "I don't know if I can make it next Wednesday. I'm short on time as it is and I'm studying every second I can find. I can't wait for this semester to be over."

Peter nudged her, "Yeah, maybe you'll be in a better mood when it's all over. You've been such a bear."

She nudge him back. "I have not!" She shook her head. "Yeah, I guess I have. I feel like my head is going to burst." She rubbed her temples. "I need some time

off. I only have a couple of weeks after the final before summer school starts. Yuck." She held her head in her hands.

Peter placed his large hand on the back of her neck and massaged the tension there. He'd kept to the unspoken rule of 'hands off' but he always managed to touch her hand or her incredibly soft shoulder. He'd admired her graceful neck and the soft baby hairs that curled on her neck. This was the perfect excuse to touch that tender spot.

"Mmmm," Maria moaned. "That feels good. I bet I feel like one big knot of bricks."

That's not exactly how Peter would describe her at all. She felt incredible. "More like prickly pear." He joked.

She raised her head and continued eating, "Yeah, I bet. Sandra's been keeping away from me this past two weeks. She says I'm a woman on the edge. I guess she's right."

"I have the perfect solution." Peter suggested. "A friend of mine has a lake house about two hours from here. He says I can use it whenever I want. I can see if it's available one of those weekends before you have to go back to school."

Maria looked at him for a moment. "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that. I mean...uh...the whole weekend?"

"Sure. He's always inviting me. And I figure now's the perfect time." He smiled into her eyes, hoping to coax her to accept.

She looked down at her empty bowl and nibbled on the last of her cornbread. Maria didn't say anything for a few moments.

Peter didn't say anything either. He figured he would let her think about it for a few minutes before he pressed the issue. The minutes passed and Peter was getting nervous. Damn. He hoped he hadn't blown it.

"Maria...?" He began.

"I'd love to," She said quickly. She looked back with a tentative smile. "I'd love to go...with you."

"Great." he hoped he didn't sound as relieved as he felt. "I'll ask him which weekend would work best, and get back to you."

"Great." she repeated.

He walked her back to her car as usual. This time Maria took his hand and they walked down the street hand in hand. Her hand was so small in his but he could feel strength in her relaxed grip. A full grin kept threatening to split his face in two.

When they reached her car he bent to kiss her cheek as usual but this time she place her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to touch her lips to his. The kiss was soft and warm. Peter's heart gave a little jolt. He'd been wanting to kiss her for last couple of months but had kept his hands and lips to himself until she was ready. Obviously, she was ready.

A sigh escaped her lips and she pressed herself against him, his arms automatically wound around her and he slid his hand down to the small of her back. God, she felt good.

Maria broke the kiss gently keeping her arms around him. She looked up at him a slight frown creasing her brow. "Darn. I was afraid of that."

Confused, Peter frowned, too. "What? Did I do something wrong?" His fingers were running soothing circles on her back.

"No," she smirked at him. "You're a great kisser. That's going to be a problem." She chuckled and reached up to press her lips back on his then pulled away. "I better get going." She got in the car and opened the window. "Call me with the details." she called out and was gone.

Peter walked slowly back to his own car halfway down the block. Wow, he hadn't felt like this since high school. He touched his lips imagining the feel of her pressed against him. She felt so right, their bodies fitting together like the perfect puzzle pieces. He adjusted his crotch as he slid into his car, not realizing how aroused she had made him with that simple kiss.

Peter considered the new sensation of being so aroused with only a kiss. After all he was used to casual relationships but this was so different. She was becoming a friend, a confidant. Was this what love felt like? Peter thought he knew about love, but did he? Lust, yes. He'd had some long term girl friends but he had to acknowledge that he had kept them at arms length and wasn't too shattered when they had split up with him. Split with him? Yup. They had wanted more of a commitment that he wasn't prepared to give. He was always clear that he wasn't the commitment type and there had been a couple of women that thought they could change that about him. But he'd been firm and they left.

Oh, yes, Maria was different.

***

A week and half later, Peter was hurriedly cleaning up his desk. It was Friday and he was leaving early, Maria was going to be at his house at 3:00.

"So, who is it this time and where are we heading off to this weekend?" Eric was leaning in the doorway to Peter's office, his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face.

Peter almost knocked over his coffee cup in his haste, "I am borrowing Ben's lake house this weekend and who is none of your business."

"Hm." Eric pursed his lips, "Must be the 'woman' with the 'daughter', or your wouldn't be so prickly about it."

Peter smiled and shook his head, "Shut up."

Eric spun and started to leave but tossed over his shoulder in a sing-song voice, "Sounds serious."

***

Peter was zipping up his duffle bag when the front doorbell rang. "Sounds serious." he mumbled to himself as he grabbed the bag and hurried to open the door, glancing at his watch. Three o'clock on the dot, he hoped that was a good sign for what was to come.

"Hey!" Maria said when the door swung open.

"Hey, to you too!" Peter said. He sounded out of breath and excited. He'd never been this nervous about a weekend trip with a woman, and there had been many.

"You ready to hit the road?" Maria stood on tip toe and kissed his cheek. "I am so ready for this weekend. I could use some serious peace and quiet."

Peter was heading back into the house when he called back to her, "Yup! I'm all set, I just need to grab the cooler and we'll be on our way."

They packed up the car swiftly and were backing out of his drive in less than five minutes. "Top up or down?" Peter asked as he backed on to the street.

Maria set her sunglasses in place. "It's such a beautiful day, definitely down." She was grinning widely at him. "I've never been in a convertible before. This ought to be fun."

"Never?" Peter was surprised to ask.

She was pulling her hair into a pony tail as she spoke. "Not really practical when you work on a dirty farm or in construction. We mostly had pick ups or station wagons if there were lots of kids in the family, which there always was."