Gary and I had exchanged a few emails since our encounter, but had not been able to make firm plans to see each other. Too many scheduling conflicts. It was almost a month after the 'cabin' encounter. The holidays had intervened; we were both miserably busy with family and holiday obligations. But when I had a free moment, I relived and rehashed the moments we'd had together. While I was busy with family and friends and various holiday activities, my mind was occupied with thoughts of Gary. The memory of those moments together kept me aroused, so much so that my husband benefited. Mark was more than pleasantly surprised at my unusual ardor. It may have relieved some of my guilt, too. But truthfully, I wasn't feeling that guilty. What I was feeling was spectacularly sexy and desirable.
But Mark was so pleased, in fact, that he decided to join me on a bike ride. The kids were at my mom's for the weekend, so it was just the two of us. That would be great; I enjoyed spending time with him. I liked him as well as loved him. But, it was unusual for him to offer to spend time with me like this. My paranoid radar was going off. Was I sending off funny signals to him? No, not really. He usually went fishing Saturday mornings with his best buddy, Nick. He explained that Nick had a meeting with one of his lawyers in the morning and couldn't make their usual Saturday morning jaunt.
Nick wasn't one of my favorite people; I failed to see his charm. He and Mark had grown up together; best friends since childhood. Nick was loud, boastful, raunchy, and racist, all things that drove me crazy. His family had deep roots in Florida. He and his brothers had inherited a good chunk of real estate, sold it off to the developers and made a mint. Since then he fished for a living. Entered some tournaments but mostly did it for fun. Had the latest and best toys, boat-wise and otherwise. He'd been through three wives, was on the fourth, and had spawned a passel of brats. He had good lawyers to protect his interests. He had to pay child support, of course, and some alimony, but his inheritance was still intact, the interest supplying more than enough for his living expenses. He and Mark spent at least one weekend day out on the water, usually Saturday mornings, scouting for poor, hapless fish. Not that I minded the catch, I didn't. I'd made some fabulous meals out of their catches. But, really, I'd rather have my husband home doing 'honey-do' things. There's golfing widows and I was a fishing widow. So I was surprised when Mark said he'd come biking with me on Saturday.
We racked up our bikes and headed to Flatwoods. When we got there, I saw Gary's Matrix in the parking lot. Oh, shit, I thought, this was not good. I didn't think he'd be there on a Saturday. Hell, I didn't know his schedule, I realized. Anyway, he wasn't anywhere to be seen, thank goodness, so Mark and I set off for our ride. Mark didn't ride that often so it was slow going around the loop. That wasn't a problem: it gave us a chance to chat and tease each other and catch up, remembering to share things we forgot over our hurried dinners. I let him set the pace. We had a good time together. At about mile five of eight, he started complaining about his rear. I could sympathize. I remembered being practically incapacitated by butt pain when I first started riding. The more you ride, the easier it gets and after a while, it doesn't hurt anymore. Getting the proper equipment, like padded bike shorts, helps as well. But I definitely remembered those first few painful rides. We decided to head back to the parking lot; he'd stay there with a fishing magazine he'd brought and I'd ride another loop. I stopped at the van and put on my Ipod for the next loop, and set off at a much faster pace. It was a busy morning and the loop was somewhat more crowded than usual with other riders, runners, skaters, and the large blue-hair contingent, the snow-birds that fill up the state during the winter months. I had one almost crash experience with a family of four spread all over the road instead of being to the right, like they're supposed to be. It's hard to stop suddenly when you're going 17+ miles per hour. I managed to thread my way through them with just a few curses and finished my ride and headed back to the parking lot. I racked my bike, grabbed my shake and went to do my stretches.
Right then I saw two figures riding up. I could tell it was Gary; his body and riding style were by now so familiar to me. He was riding with a woman. They came to a stop by his car so I walked up to say hello. They both were taking off their helmets as I approached. I glanced at him then looked at her. Oh my god, she was gorgeous. Tall, pretty yellow hair pulled back into a pony-tail, thin, and when I looked into her face, beautiful. Kind of Reese Witherspoonish, with bright blue eyes and a pointy jaw. She was everything that I'm not. I hesitated, but Gary turned and saw me. I could see the look of alarm in his eyes. I felt the same way. I foraged ahead; it was too late to turn back. "Uh, hi, Gary. Did you have a nice ride?" I stammered.
"Yes, we did. Jayne, let me introduce you to my wife. Tracey, this is Jayne; Jayne, Tracey."
We exchanged greetings while he racked their bikes and they changed their shoes. She was pleasant, very nice actually. I told her how I'd met Gary, and she said she remembered him telling her the story of helping someone who didn't know how to rethread their bike chain. (Did she roll her eyes???) We walked back together towards the pavilion area with the picnic tables where I stretched after my ride. Mark was there, reading one of his fishing magazines with his Ipod in his ears. He took his ear buds out and I introduced him to Gary and Tracey. He seemed to be captivated by her. They immediately struck up a conversation while she did some light stretches. They seemed to connect. Gary and I drifted off to the far side of the area.
"My god, this is a disaster waiting to happen," I whispered to him, doing quad stretches. "We need to find a way to head this off at the pass. It's like I'm frozen in place watching a horror movie."
"But how? What can we do?" He leaned over to do some toe touches, limbering up his hamstrings.
"I'm open to suggestions. Can you tell her I'm evil...he's evil? Anything." I grabbed a pillar to stretch my shoulders. "What are they talking about, anyway? Mark's not normally that animated, not unless he's talking fishing."
"No, no, no....don't say that! Tracey loves fishing. She grew up going out every weekend with her dad. That's our main bone of contention, that I don't fish. I just don't get the allure. Spending hours in searing heat or bitter cold, trying to lure some poor critter from its lair. Not that I don't like eating fish. I do. I just don't see the wonder of spending hours out on the water chasing them. That's what the damned seafood department in the grocery store is for." He was doing cross legged squats now to stretch his glutes.
"Oh, god, Mark goes out every weekend. It drives me absolutely nuts. I need someone who can help me around the house. He spends one day of the weekend out on the water and then he thinks he needs to relax and recover from his work week on the other day." I was on my toes stretching my calves. "Oh, and you know I'm itching for you. It's hard having you so close and not being able to do anything."
"Damn right, woman. Me too. Fer f's sake, this situation is down right intolerable. I see you, I want you. Your husband is right there, my wife is right there, and I still want you so much that I'd do something stupid." He did some hip flexor stretches.
"My god, me too. I want you so badly. But let's use our heads here, eh?" I stretched my quads again.
"Agreed. OK, what day is good for you next week? Would it be possible for me to come to your house?"
"Yeah, sure, while the kids are in school." I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, inhaled, and thought of the possibilities. A shiver ran through me. "I'll make it happen. Just let me know what day." We took the few steps back to where our spouses were involved in a deep conversation. "Oh my god, they're really hitting it off. This is not good."
"Hey!" said Tracey, brightly. "We're gonna meet up for lunch. You guys ready? Let's go to Fridays. It's not too far away."
I looked from her to Mark and back again. He widened his eyes, tried to look innocent, and shrugged his shoulders, giving me his best George Clooney imitation. That's the actor he most closely resembled, with the dark hair shot through with silver and big brown eyes. "She likes to fish," he said, simply. I looked over at Gary and he shrugged too.
"Uh, shouldn't we go home and shower first?" I asked. "I'm kinda stinky from my ride." I took an experimental whiff of my arm pit. "Not too bad, I guess."
Tracey shook her head. "We're all in the same boat, and I'm starving. We'll just offend those around us, and the wait staff."
"Boat...ha! That's where I should be now." Mark chirped in. "But if I were there I wouldn't have met you." He smiled over at Tracey. Gary had moved beside her and draped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed. We walked towards our cars. "OK, then, we'll meet you there." He swung into the driver's seat of the van and I climbed in the passenger seat. I gave Gary what I hoped was a look of abject terror as they walked by.
Mark was chatty on the way to the restaurant, which was unusual for him. He seemed really taken with Tracey. I was almost jealous, then shook myself. My god, I didn't know how to stop this. "Mark, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, we don't even really know them, you know." I said.
"Jayne, what are you talking about? You told me about Gary and how he helped you out. I remember. And Tracey seems really nice. And I've found someone I can talk to about fishing. Maybe she'll want to come out with me and Nick." He grinned over at me. He was teasing me. He knew how much I despised Nick. It would give me something to do, warning her off Nick.
We got to the restaurant a few minutes before they did, so we loitered out front. "Tracey's awfully pretty, isn't she?" I asked Mark. I couldn't help myself.
"Oh, I guess, if you like that type," He answered. Smart man, my Mark.
Gary and Tracey arrived and we were seated at a square table, Mark to my right and Gary to my left, Tracey across from me. Mark and Tracey started talking again about fishing while I hid my head behind the menu. I glanced over at Gary, beseeching him for help. Again, he just shrugged. The waitress took our drink orders and Mark and I talked and decided to do our usual and split a burger. Once orders had been placed, Tracey and Mark started talking again about fishing. He asked if she wanted to go out sometime with him and Nick and she said she'd love to. I had to interject. "Tracey, you don't want to meet Nick. He is the most obnoxious, foul mouthed, boastful, bigoted sumbitch that I know."
Mark countered: "But he's got a nice boat. A very nice, big, boat. And he loves going out. We do all nighters sometimes." The server was back quickly with our drinks.
"Mark, you've got to have some standards." I could feel the same old argument about to happen and I didn't want it to happen in front of Gary and Tracey. "Tracey, I'll let you make up your own mind. Just don't say you haven't been warned." I took a sip of my water and continued. "They've been friends since childhood. They've grown into such different men, but I can't seem to get Mark to see Nick how I do." Good god, I'd gotten in deeper than I should have. "OK, I'll just shut up now."
Mark and Tracey continued to swap fish stories and I felt Gary's hand on my knee. An electric wave traveled from my knee to between my legs and my mouth fell open slightly in shock. I turned to look at Gary and he just grinned at me. The tablecloths were not long so he didn't move his hand up, just left it there and squeezed gently. I could feel my arousal building. I stood up suddenly. "Uh, I'm gonna visit the ladies room and wash my hands before I eat."
