June
"Quick! Over here!" The blond giggled and jogged off the path towards some bushes. "In here! Nobody's coming. Hurry up!"
Jim followed her around the bushes. As he caught up with her, she pulled her sports bra up. Those succulent 20-year old mounds were beckoning him. The pink tips made his mouth water.
"HEY, BUDDY! Watch where you're going!"
Jim snapped out of his daydream and almost stumbled avoiding the jogger coming the other way. "Damn," he thought. "I haven't been laid since long before my divorce was final. Must be nine or ten months now. It's been so long that I think anything in a skirt or tight shorts is flirting with me when our eyes meet, yet the only dates I've had are with Mother McCree and her four daughters."
No divorce is fun but his had at least been straightforward. No adultery or abuse charges, fifty-fifty split of the assets and he got to see his kids frequently. After eighteen years he and Jan hadn't had anything to talk about. "Maybe if she had tried harder during counseling or been more understanding about my job," he thought.
"Hey, Parker," he remembered his high school coach saying. "If you run the ball through the line properly, you'll make yardage on almost every play. If the blocking is perfect and you don't run the right way, nothing will go anywhere."
It was a philosophy that he had adopted as soon as he heard it. Do what you ought to and things will work out. Don't blame others for your mistakes.
He glanced down at his beer belly. "Maybe if I hadn't put on almost fifty pounds while Jan gained only five. Maybe if I'd let some of my salesmen make more trips instead of me. Maybe, maybe, maybe ..."
"Funny, now I've lost ten pounds since the divorce and the slowdown in the economy has cut back on my trips anyway, but how do I meet some women?" Jan had had no problems. As soon as the divorce was final she'd been out on dates. In fact he'd gotten to see his kids a lot more weekends than called for because she "had plans."
That didn't bother him. He liked his kids. Adam in accounting had gotten a divorce and his wife moved 300 miles away. Peter, who lived in the next condo had gotten divorced and then his company transferred him to the opposite coast from his kids. Jim couldn't imagine that. Even on the weekends that Jan kept the kids, he usually saw them at the sports that they played.
Now that school was out, the weekend games were suspended until fall. Instead he had scheduled a one-week vacation to Disney World in July. What had he been thinking! Florida in July! He should have planned an historical vacation to New England.
"Back to the problem at hand," he chuckled softly at his weak pun. "How to meet girls."
He had tried a couple of bars but the females looked like they were still in high school and their conversation showed they had never voted for a President. He was sure that places existed for people his age but so far he'd had no luck discovering them.
Another quarter-mile marker oozed by his feet. "Only two more miles today and forty more pounds to go."
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September
"You don't look old enough to have a daughter on the field." Jim cringed inwardly as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "How did I come up with such a lame line," he mentally kicked himself. It was half time at Ashley's soccer game and he had gotten up the nerve to talk to a pretty blonde that he'd never seen before. She didn't have a wedding ring.
"I don't," she replied. "My niece is Number 4 for the Cougars and when my sister called and told me that she couldn't get away for the game, I told her I'd come lend support." Her voice was musical and that smile was only for him, right now.
"My daughter, Ashley, plays sweeper for the Tigers. I'm Jim Parker." Now that he was close he could tell she was young, thirty at the most maybe twenty-eight. Would she be interested in a man at least ten years older?
Their conversation flowed freely around the cheers of the game. Jim managed to let Carolyn know that he was divorced and discovered that she wasn't dating anybody. The game finished with a 2-1 victory for the Tigers.
"Well, give your niece my consolations. She had a good game though." He paused. "Could I give you a call, maybe go out for a drink?"
"Sure, anytime."
Jim almost did a back flip. "A highly likely date and with such a looker," he thought as he turned to find Ashley.
"Oh, Jim," Carolyn called.
"Yes?"
"Would you like to know my number?"
He blushed. He felt like he was an adolescent again. She probably thought he was trying to blow her off. He fished out a business card and wrote her number on the back.
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"Damn, when did rubbers get so complicated," Jim growled under his breath. When he was in high school, there was only Trojan latex. Now he stood in the drugstore confronted with a selection that took half an aisle. How many brands were there? "Regular, large, extra large," he read. "Guess which size I'll take! Lubricated, not lubricated. Ribbed, knobs or plain. Reservoirs, no reservoirs."
"Can I help you," a female voice sounded close to his shoulder.
He turned to see a girl who looked like she ought to be doing her homework, but her nametag said Registered Pharmacist. "I haven't bought these in a long time," he said. "I don't understand all the optional stuff."
"I think most of these are for kids, but let me try to explain. Unless you're in the, uh ... largest one percent, Large size will be fine. We sell a fair amount of Extra Large but I bet that they're mostly used for display and bragging. Take the lubricated. It not only helps initially but also is spermicidal and kills germs and you can't be too safe. As for everything else ... it probably doesn't make any difference, although ..." her voice dropped to a whisper. "I keep a box with the knobs in my bedside table for when my boyfriend forgets."
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The first date with Carolyn ended with only a pair of warm, soft lips caressing his, but things progressed quickly. Within two weeks they were an item.
Halloween rolled around in the middle of the week so no parties were on. Jim suggested that they have a two-person masquerade ball at his place. Some rules were established. They couldn't let the other know what costume would be worn and they had to stay in character all evening.