We met back up at a place called Trailer Ranch, near Santa Fe. A truly beautiful setting with the Sangre de Cristo mountains making a backdrop in the pictures we took. Ashley and I got to the place two days before the appointed meeting date, so we set up and did a little sightseeing.
I couldn't help but wonder how Paula would be after her year and a day with Fred the Priapist, Ashley's grandson and Paula's year-long lover. I wondered if she had reached the point of familiarity I had with Ashley or if I would still see that Lieutenant Dish-smile on her face.
And, honestly, I'm not sure which I was hoping for.
Ashley and I spent one last night together and for a while she was, once again, my Earth Goddess and I was her paramour. I took milk from her breasts and pleasure from her body. It was a love fest, not a fuck fest, and a fitting last night.
I think we both had mixed feelings. Okay, I know we had. I had nothing but fond memories of the past year but there was that whole "familiarity breeds" thing. Not "contempt," but certainly being used to each other.
At last, we saw the big Class A motorhome pull in and like a couple of overexcited kids, we walked hand in hand to where it parked. Fred and Paula waved through the windshield as he got the big rig parked and pushed the button that started leveling legs extending. I was always fascinated with the way these big buses settled when they parked. So different from the labor I went through getting our smaller travel trailer set up.
Eventually, there was the loud hiss of air brakes releasing and the door opened.
Paula squealed and ran to me, looking like some scene in a silly rom-com. I braced myself and caught her, swinging her around to absorb some of the momentum.
"God I've missed you," she was saying between kisses.
And I was laughing with her.
Ashley and Fred embraced more calmly but, then again, this was not their first time with a year and a day adventure.
There really wasn't much to say after that. I shook hands, a strangely formal encounter given what we had been doing for the past year, with Fred and then kissed Ashley, a kind of chaste goodbye kiss, like I might give my grandmother. Paula kissed Fred in much the same way, more a peck on the lips than a kiss, hugged Ashley, and took my hand.
"Take me home, David," she said.
We held hands on the way back to the trailer.
Inside she turned to me, a pensive look on her face.
"Take your time, David," she said, "undress me, make love to me, slowly, gently, and then we'll talk."
She had my face between her palms, and the word "beseeching" came to mind.
I smiled and kissed her.
"I'll be happy to," I said, "I've missed you."
She was crying then, not bawling or sobbing, but crying, a gentle thing really.
I kissed tears away, tasting her salt, subtly different than Ashley's, and tasting the salty mucus on her upper lip from where she was crying and her nose was running, again subtly different than Ashley's.
I started on her buttons, smiling to see she still insisted on wearing a bra something she did not need, this one was new to me, lacy and sheer so I could see her pink nipples through the material. I kissed the line where her bra met skin and I liked the familiar way she responded with little shivers and sharp gasps when my tongue probed.
In that few minutes, I fell in love with my wife all over again.
Her blouse and bra were on the floor before her tears turned to sighs of pleasure.
The shorts she wore were loose and fell away as soon as I got the button and zipper undone, and I just looked.
She giggled.
"God, you are so beautiful," I said.