How I met Mary on the island of Maui and the start of our adventures on the island paradise.
I was waiting, seated on the bench of an outdoor mall in Wailea, Hawaii for Mary a 51 year-old African American woman that I had met on the affairs website Ashley Madison. I had been a member of the site for quite some time, without a positive result and was beginning to believe that I was too stupid to know how to attract a woman. I had tried all sorts of ploys without much luck and Hawaii was my latest attempt. The site had a feature that allowed you to send messages to a large number of women in the area where you would be traveling. So I made up a "canned" message and sent it out to the 20 or 30 women who lived on Maui and belonged to the website. Mary was one of the many and was not one who I had specifically searched for but she was the only one to respond to my initial email. Her web moniker was "Coco" and we had corresponded for a few weeks prior to my departure, agreeing to meet when I arrived. It was a couple of days after arrival that we finally managed to email enough back and forth to figure out how to meet.
So I was waiting in the open-air courtyard of the mall for Mary to arrive. She had selected a restaurant in the mall for our first date but was more than 30 minutes late and I was beginning to believe she was not coming. All of a sudden, there she was a slim, attractive "coco"-colored woman.
She rushed up and said, "Sam?" and went on, "I am so sorry I'm late but my motor bike was stolen last week and the bus was late!"
I smiled and said "I am sorry about your bike, but I am glad you made it!"
She stepped up and gave be a peck on the mouth and continued in rapid fire "I'm glad I am here too, I have been really looking forward to your coming and when I got your email I was so glad we would finally meet! This restaurant is one of my absolute favorites and I think we are going to have a great time!"
Mary was an absolute bundle of energy, very vivacious with an infectious smile. She grabbed my hand and drew me into the entrance of the restaurant and up to the slim blond hostess waiting there.
"Party of two, under the name Mary"
The hostess replied, "I am so glad you two found each other! I went looking for him but didn't find him after you had called."
Mary said, "Yeah, it was great that he was here, I was so afraid he might be gone by the time I arrived!"
The two women chatted as if they had been friends all their lives, but of course they had only just met. I was to learn that this interaction was typical of Mary. She was immensely gregarious and people just loved to talk with her.
The hostess beckoned, "This way please." and then she and Mary continued to chat as we walked to our nearby table. The restaurant, like many places in Maui had a roof, but was open to the ocean breezes and there were paper lantern lights and candles on the tables providing a soft glow to the room. We were seated at adjacent corners of a small square table and turned to chat with each other.
Mary said, "I think you are going to love this place! It has some of the best food on the island. I haven't been here for over six months but I always have a fantastic meal."
Mary had a way of filling the space with words and so as she chatted on, I had a chance to observe her. She had full luscious lips common to many African Americans and her dark brown eyes were bright with excitement. Her face was very animated like the rest of her demeanor and showed excitement, anger, joy and sadness in pantomime to what she was talking about. A saucy multicolored cap topped a set of a heavy braids cascading down her neck and upper back. She was wearing a sleeveless white blouse, which was tucked into skin-tight, faux leather pants and covered stiletto heeled open toed shoes.
So, we talked in the quiet hubbub of the restaurant and I learned that she was a single mother who had immigrated to Maui from southern California with her then infant son 30 years previously. At first, she had lived with her sister and her sister's young daughter and had made ends meet by waitressing at one of the local restaurant-bars in Keihei. She had had an eclectic life wandering around Maui performing all types of jobs, but her latest gig was as a store display consultant. Companies would hire her to come and mimic the activities of a shopper and then give suggestions about how to alter the store displays to entice shoppers. She was an independent contractor and got most of her work by word of mouth. I was very impressed with her moxie. To me it appeared as though she had perfected the ability to live fully with limited resources.
Our meals arrived and we dug in. The food was quite good and we had a good time chatting with each other. We traded stories about our infant grandson's and our worries for our children. I told Mary that I was attending a conference in Wailea that kept me from early morning to about 1PM and then I often had the afternoons and evenings free.
As the meal progressed, we began to connect physically as well as mentally. Mary would reach over and touch my elbow or I would gently tap her knee. Soon my hand was permanently attached to her left thigh and I gently stroked along the top, outer and inner aspects. Occasionally, I would stroke her forearm or reach for her hand. With the attention, Mary's conversation became increasingly animated and her smile became a permanent fixture of her face.
We ordered dessert, which was also quite good, but I almost did not notice the creamy and crunchy texture of my crème brûlée. My attention was completely focused on the beautiful woman before me and honestly, I could not wait to leave the restaurant for the after-dinner treat! It seemed as though Mary was similarly preoccupied. It was almost torture for the two of us as we waited for the check. But finally, the bill was paid and we exited the restaurant hand in hand. I was staying at the Grand Wailea hotel, which was on the grounds directly adjacent to the mall and so we had a 10-minute walk to the hotel entrance. As we walked we continued to chat and alternately held hands or ran our hands along each others, backs and buttocks. By the time we reached the hotel lobby, we were practically running with the anticipation of being alone together.