Part 2-------
Pat was just getting off from work, she thought back to that morning as she walked out of the store. She had gone to her boyfriend's apartment for breakfast, before walking to work, and had enjoyed her day at work. It had been an interesting day, the store had not been very busy in the morning, a few shoppers, a number of whom were just browsing, some did purchase items, but for the most part, the morning had been fairly slow. She had stocked some shelves, rang up a few orders on the register, and had spent most of the morning thinking about spending the weekend with her daughter. Her daughter lived with her father after a nasty divorce that left Pat broke, and alone. Her daughter was now almost 18, and they had discussed her coming to live with Pat when she turned 18 and Pat had was thinking of moving again already in anticipation of getting a two bedroom apartment to share with her daughter.
In the years since Pat had divorced her husband, she had spent them alone, working hard, living a life of simple means, and not really meeting anyone that she considered her type. Her time away from work was spent alone, or occasionally a dinner out with a friend or co-worker. She didnāt date, and really didnāt feel like starting a new relationship. She felt lonely, but after the problems with her exā¦ she didnāt want to go through all that again, so she just spent her time by herself. About 11 months ago, her company opened another store in Arizona, she thought that would be a good change, and as her daughter was now living in Arizona, the transfer would allow her to see her daughter more often then she could if she stayed in California. She had tried to get the transfer when they opened the last store in Arizona, but hadnāt been quick enough, and someone else got the last transfer. This time she got the transfer, and moved to Tucson. Granted this was still a 45 minutes drive to where her daughter was, but they had no other stores nearer to her daughter with openings.
The move was uneventful, she found a studio apartment about a 25 minute drive from the store, and it was a rather nice drive there. Not much traffic at the times she had to go to work, and not much when she went home. She had only been working in the new store about a week when she met a couple of people from one of the businesses that had offices in the same building/complex as the store. One gentleman was very nice to her and always seemed to have a smile for her, and a cheery hello. He seemed to always come to her line when she was at the register, and would sometimes find her in the store stocking shelves and say āHiā, or make some cute little comment as he came up to her. One time just shortly after she had thought about asking him to join her for lunch sometimeā¦ he came in and while she was stocking some shelves, he leaned over to her ear and whispered, āIf I thought you would say yes, I would ask you to meet me sometime for lunch.ā Pat turned around and with a smile, said that she would love to. Then added, āI get off in about 2 hours, if you would like it to be todayā.
They went to lunch in her car, he lived only a block from where she worked he had walked to work that day, as it was only a short block from his apartment. They went to a local salad and sandwich spot and spent time talking and getting to know each other, she told him of her daughter, and her plans to go up to see her every other weekend as it was a 45 minute drive up to the Phoenix area, and she didnāt like long drives. She told him of her recent move to Arizona, her desire to try and move closer to her daughter and to be able to someday soon to make a home for her and her daughter. This lunch turned out to be a very nice time she decided. She didnāt want it to end and after about 45 minutes of chatting after they had eaten, she mentioned to him that she had to run 2 errands, and after that she would love to spend some more time with him that day, if he had no other plans. He didnāt, and they went off to run her errands. After spending the afternoon driving around she went to drive him back to his apartment. He invited her in, and offered her a cold glass of water or soda.. they sat and talked more about their lives, their desires and what not. Pat thought to herself that this was a real nice guy, and from that point on, it was almost like they had known each other for years. He listened to her, he paid attention to her feelings, and he even seemed to understand what she had been through. They had so much in common, both had been through two unsuccessful marriages, she had a daughter, but he had no children. He had a poor and abused childhood, and she had been through pretty much the same things.
From that day forward, they seemed to everyone that they were a couple. They had many lunches together, if they were both working she would go up to his office, and they would have lunch together almost everyday. If she was working and he wasnāt, he would bring her lunch and they would sit outside for the 30 minutes while she ate and they talked. They went to movies.. rides around the area to show her Tucson and the surrounding area. They got in the habit of spending a lot of their free time together. Their shifts at work were quite different. His shifts were set and they varied only as to the day and hours, but it was the same from week to week. Hers were varied from week to week. There were times that when she would go to work that he was home and when she went there, he would have breakfast or lunch ready for her, so she could eat before going to work, or she would come over after work and he would have dinner ready for her. At times her shift would be in the evening, and he would bring her dinner, and after work she would stop at his place before going home for the evening.
They would spend time at his poolā¦ they never enjoyed it so much.. the pool was always sparkling, and very rarely was there anyone there but them. They swan, they talked they even āneckedā in the pool. It was for Pat a wonderful time and a great relationship. She found that he was a gentleman, not pressuring her to have sex, not constantly trying to ācop a feelā. It was for her almost a fairy tail. She hadnāt believed that there were men who listened, and didnāt take it to mean that a kiss was always a prelude to hot sex. He seemed to be the perfect guy.
One afternoon they were spending a quiet Saturday together. Pat had driven there at 8am, they had breakfast, went to the store and ran an errand or two, gone back to his apartment, and went swimming. After they came in from the pool, she helped him fix them a lie lunch, sandwiches and some chips. Then she asked him if seeing as they were going out to dinner and a movie later, would he mind if she took a short nap. He said not at all, and even had her go take her nap in his bed, rather than the couch. She went in to nap, and he sat at his desk to do some paper work. After about 5 minutes, she came out and asked him if he would like to come in and take a nap with her, as she wanted to lay there and be held while she slept.
