Author's Note:
I love Country Music. I know for many you are hanging your head and saying 'why Red... why?' I really like George Straight's song "She Let Herself Go" and I started a series with that title, but the woman in that story is different from this character. The character in "She Let Herself Go" is just as special to me, but as I looked back and reflected on the words to this song I realized I wanted to create another "She Let Herself Go" with a different woman in mind.
So I hope you enjoy "Dazzled by December". Her adventures will follow the path of George's Straight's song. . .where Alissa in "She Let Herself Go" follows a path of fantasies that she and her lover had played out on the phone and now play out when they spend the Summer together. I hope you give both a look see and I know you'll see the difference and perhaps you'll see similarities, but not in their excursions... each is unique in that regard. Please enjoy and leave a comment if you wish. ~ Thanks ~ Red.
*
The ocean air caressed December's face and she leaned over the railing of the
Fascination
, letting herself watch the water spray over the ship. A hand pressed against her back and she turned around to face the young man she'd met at the "Welcome Aboard Mixer/Orientation Gathering" that was held just two days ago. His name was Ridge and she had immediately felt drawn to him. Her smile lifted and she slipped her arm into the crook of his.
"What were you thinking?" he asked.
December laughed, her voice soft and melodious, "I was just remembering what brought me here."
"Ahh... the letter?" Ridge's eyes took in her quiet and calm expression as they walked away from the railing.
"You remember?" she asked and then waited why he opened the door that led down a small flight of stairs. They moved down a brightly lit hallway. She felt her breast touching his arm and she smiled inside. When was the last time she felt this way? Excited and electric?
His voice brought her back and she listened to his voice caress her. "I remember everything you've shared with me. I remember the sound of your voice, the scent of your perfume, the color of your eyes when you laugh and when you drift off thinking of him."
December sighed. "When I read that letter there was this moment where I was shocked. I didn't feel sad. I didn't feel happy. I felt as if the final door had been closed on that chapter of my life."
"And a new one opened, didn't it?" he asked.
She held her magnetic keycard in her hand and whispered, "I believe so." She slid it inside the silver box, watched the green light blink and then saw Ridge's hand reach out and open the door to her cabin. She stepped inside, feeling his presence wash over her as he closed the it behind them. The swish of the lock sealed them, its sound eased over December and she shivered.
Ridge stepped behind her and slowly began to move his fingers across her warm skin. In time, they made love, slow and easy, until passion ruled them both, then they coupled hard and fast. Eventually Ridge fell asleep holding the exquisite creature in the crook of his arm and December silently stared into space. A feeling of euphoria surrounded her and she basked in it as she remembered the last few weeks of her life.
She'd come home to find a letter on the table. Five words filled the post it note. She shook her head in disbelief at the words written on a tiny scrap of paper, stuck to the table where they had once made love. "I don't love you anymore."
December knew it was coming and when it did, she didn't feel sorrow, but instead the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders. She called her mother and then her sisters. They too were not surprised. Later she learned they had anticipating it for sometime. Matthew and December had grown up in the same town and it was a given they would become engage and marry, have babies and live a long and happy life together. However that isn't what happened.
The Head Cheerleader and the Quarterback did what was expected of them and wed three months after graduation. He was 19. She was 18. They lived like newlyweds for the first year, ships passing in the night the second, and the third they were like two strangers going through the motions. When he wrote the letter, they weren't even speaking. They simply weren't in love the way married people were supposed to be in love. They were in deep like, until they lived together as man and wife. It was during that time they became adults and as time passed, they saw in each other things they didn't like. They saw in themselves things the other took for granted.
Six months ago she'd dropped her groceries on the table, picked up the post it note and sat down. No tears fell as she realized after twenty-five years and three babies later she was free. . . and so was Matt. The kids, two girls and a boy were no longer little ones that she bounced on her knee while he worked. They were adults with lives of their own; when the news of their pending divorce was broken, she saw that they too knew it was time. As she packed her suitcase, not wanting to live in the house where she'd spent so many dismal days she wondered if it had been worth it. Had the past twenty-five years of staying home and ironing his pants and raising their children been worth the weight Matt and she bore.
She concluded later it had been. She loved her children and Matt wasn't a bad man. He just wasn't "The Man" for her. She booked a cruise for singles and found a spark she'd never felt before in the arms of a stranger. A sigh escaped her lips and she rolled to her back; rising, she felt a firm grip on her wrist.
"Stay," Ridge whispered. She turned back and caught his features with the light of the moon filling her room.
"I'm just going to the bathroom." She leaned over and kissed his lips. "Besides silly, this is my cabin." She watched dawning cross his face and she laughed. "I'll be back. You do have more condoms don't you?" she asked with a wink and a smile.
She heard him scrabbling from the bed to grab his pants. "Damn," he muttered. She giggled.
"Don't worry. I bought some on the island today," she said before she closed the bathroom door.
Richard watched her leave. He still couldn't believe his luck. He'd taken these cruises before and sometimes they were wonderful, other times they were duds. This time he'd seen the heavenly creature with the spun-honey hair and flickering hazel eyes and he'd lost his breath. It took him several swallows of his brandy before he made the move to approach her in a more suave manner than the simple "Hello and nice to meet you" he'd used at the orientation gathering.
When it became apparent that she was interested in him and was willing to spend the cruise with him and no other, he thanked his lucky stars. They'd spent every moment together until it came to saying goodnight. Those first two nights he'd walked her to her cabin and kissed her goodbye. The first evening it had been a passionate kiss, but both had pulled away, promising to see each other the next morning at breakfast. The second night the kisses had been given off and on all day and into the evening. When they reached the door that night, it was a battle of wills that forced him to not gather her close and take her in the hallway. Tonight he knew there'd be no turning back and as they joined, he knew he'd never forget December.
He heard the door open and he looked up to see her body haloed by the light of the bathroom. He'd crawled back into bed and now he watched her pull a condom from her purse and place it next to the table.