What do you do when you are young, single, and horny on an out-of-town business trip? You don't know where the singles' bars are. You are so horny you are willing to pay for sex, but you don't know where to find a whorehouse. Hell, you don't even know where to find a streetwalker. You do what I did. I went to the hotel's bar. There might be some girls there I could hit on. I would probably strike out, but it's impossible to score without trying.
There was a middle-aged woman on a stool chatting with the bartender. Her skirt was much shorter than I would have expected on an older woman. Her legs were worth staring at.
I sat at a window table ten stories above street level. The cocktail waitress was about my age, very pretty, and wearing a wedding band. "What the hell?" I thought. I knew married women occasionally played around, sometimes with their husbands' knowledge, but often without. When she brought my scotch on the rocks, I smiled at her. "This is my first visit to your city," I said. "Are there other places besides this one where I could meet a pretty girl?"
"The bartender is my husband," she said.
"Ah.... I guess I just made a fool of myself."
She smiled. "Don't worry about it. He's used to having men hit on me. He enjoys seeing their reactions when I tell them I'm married and faithful." I felt my face flush. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you. The nearest singles' bar is twenty miles away."
I took a deep breath. "The view out the window is pretty nice. Not as nice as the one in here. I'll live. What's the tab?"
"Two dollars."
I gave her three.
The view out the window was pleasant. Cars drove by. Across the street walked a young couple. His arm was around her waist; her head was on his shoulder. I remembered my mother telling me about the innocence of young love. At that moment, I wished I was that lucky guy down there.
"Excuse me," a female voice said. I looked up and saw the woman who had been seated at the bar. "May I sit here?"
I started to stand up. "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know this table was taken."
"Would you mind staying? I would like to have someone to talk to."
She was definitely old enough to be my mother; yet, she was still an attractive woman. For a second, I wondered what she would be like in bed. I banished the thought at once. It was obvious I wasn't going to get laid that night, but at least I wouldn't be alone. "You were talking to the bartender when I came in."
"Yes, but we kept getting interrupted by other customers."
"Have a seat. I'm Dave."
"I'm Stella." She gazed out the window at the couple on the sidewalk. "Those were the days," she whispered. A tear formed in her eye. "I'm sorry. I'm reminiscing. You remind me of my husband when he was young. You have the same hair color, the same eyes. I met him at this very table thirty-seven years ago."
"I understand this is a very special spot for you. It must hold a lot of memories."
"You're right. A lot has changed. None of these buildings were here then. The streets hadn't been put in. Across the street was a potato farm. Strangely, I don't miss any of it. Progress has a way of taking over and blotting out the past."
"Not everything has been blotted out. You still remember him."
"We were married for thirty-four years. He had a heart attack a couple years ago."
"I'm sorry for your loss. What drew you to him?""
"Thank you. I didn't have any romantic feelings. It wasn't love at first sight. I just wanted to get him into bed. I wasn't the demure old broad you are looking at. I was a prostitute. I just wanted his money. We went to his room. I took his hundred dollars and fucked him. Then I came back here and sold myself to another guy."
I took a deep breath and shook my head. "I didn't see that coming. Something must have changed how you saw him."
"He kept coming back. He had a lot of money, and he kept paying me for sex. I started expecting him. I wanted him, not so much for his money, but for how he treated me. He was kind and caring. Eventually I stopped taking his money. We got married, and I became a respectable stay-at-home mother."
"That's a beautiful story. You deserve a memory like that."
"It's ironic. A couple weeks before his heart attack, we talked about reliving the night we met. I bought this dress because it is like the one I wore that night. Obviously, it can never happen now."