-11-
Spring had sprung in our part of the world; buds were breaking through the ground, the snowpack had melted from the city and its parks, birds of color were returning, and my winter coat was hung in the closet until next winter.
Brie announced that she was moving to Europe; accepting a promotion from her company, she'd be headquartered and living in London.
Our last poker night was a tearful night of farewells with Brie by the group; Jean and Ann didn't stay the night but did say their goodbyes to Brie before leaving. Brie had made arrangements to lease out her loft while she'd be gone so that wouldn't be a problem for her, thankfully.
Nat and I hooked up a couple of times after we returned from Hawaii and it was good; but she and her married little girlfriend were heading for serious, troubled waters and I really didn't want to be around for the fireworks that would surely happen when her husband found out.
She had already mentioned, Nat said, that he was beginning to get suspicious of all the time she was spending with Nat on 'school stuff'.
My girl-time had been spent with Dee and Janice, separately, and in a couple of threesomes when Dee had joined us at my place after meeting Janice. Dee liked Janice a lot, liked her lovemaking talents and was glad that she and I had met.
But spring had sprung and I was ready to play golf again, but that would have to wait a couple of weeks while I hit the driving range a few times.
~
It was Friday night and I left the office early; well, early for me is five o'clock, and drove to a double-stacked driving range on the west side. I lugged my clubs upstairs to the elevated tee boxes, purchased some tokens and picked a box to work from.
I prefer the elevated boxes because they are generally less crowded, thus making it easier for me to concentrate on what I had to do. If you play golf, you understand this basic tenant of this frustrating game; but I do love it so.
After about an hour and three buckets of balls, I was ready for a break and something cold to drink; unfortunately, there wasn't any beer available at this range, Damnit!
"Are you going to leave any range balls for the rest of us?" I heard from behind me, the voice tinged with a bit of laughter.
Turning, I faced an older woman, perhaps forty-five or six I thought, but attractive. Like me, she was dressed in a suit pants, but with golf shoes instead of dress flats; also, like me, she had shed her blazer and was in a long-sleeved, silk blouse that favored her body, nicely.
"Yep, I will; I've been here for an hour and I'm starting to get sore," I answered.
"I was just teasing you, "she said, "but I'd noticed that you hit two buckets to my one though you don't look like you need the practice."
"Thank you, but believe me, I do."
Her name is Marge, she's a VP at one of our local big-deal stock brokers downtown and she's divorced. She's also as nuts about golf as I am. We spent a nice twenty minutes or so chatting, some about ourselves, mostly though, about golf and our love/hate relationship with the damned game.
"Do you come hear often?" laughing when she realized how that old line sounded in this particular context.
Laughing with her, I answered her question.
"Only during the first few weeks of spring, then I like to work on my game by actually playing and keeping score, as screwy as that sounds," laughing afterwards.
"I hear you, Lynn? Was it? Anyway, hope to run into you again sometime; you're a delight to chat with."
Thanking her, I opted to give her my last bucket and pack it in for the night. My arms were really sore and the soreness made itself known.
~
Friday evening, and I was deciding what to wear for my jaunt over to Milly's for some Calamari and a couple of cold brews, not feeling like Scotch tonight for some reason.
Since my solo venture to Milly's a few months ago when I had met Janice, I had fallen into the habit of going there a couple of times a month, usually on Fridays.
I had picked up a couple of cuties in the last few months; nothing serious, hell no; it was just about getting into their pants as far as I was concerned. None of them left my house the next morning bitching or complaining so I thought it worked out nicely all around.
I got laid, they got laid, and no one got hurt, which is always a good thing.
The barkeeps at Milly's all knew me by now, and Sissie was the head honcho on this particular night but when I saw her reaching for my usual Scotch, I shook my head and mouthed the word 'beer' at her as I took my seat at the bar.
"Beer?" she questioned me as she put a napkin on the counter in front of me.
"Yeah, Sissie, a Corona seems like it'd go better with the half-order of Calamari you going to place for me.
"Gotcha," getting my beer and heading for the kitchen to put in my order.
I nodded to some of the regulars as I scanned the room, checking out the crowd. A couple of cuties in the corner caught my eye, but they were definitely into each other and not giving a damn about anybody else at the moment.
Good for them, I thought, as my eyes traveled on to complete my scan.
Sissie brought my order to me when it was ready, gave me a napkin and cutlery, and refreshed my dead beer with a new one, icy cold just the way I like beer. I dug into the Calamari, savoring its flavor; I was hungry I realized, hungrier than I thought.
"Looks good," I heard from my right.
"It is absolutely delicious," turning to face the voice.
She was in her thirties, I quickly judged, not bad looking, and all in all, a very nice package topped with a head of long, Auburn tresses.
"Slide down, and taste for yourself," patting the stool next to me. She hesitated just a bit but, picking up her drink and purse, she did join me.
"I'm Lynn," introducing myself as I put some Calamari on the unused salad fork from the cutlery and pointed it to her mouth.
"I'm Alice," she replied, shaking my hand as her mouth sucked the squid into it, her eyes closing in ecstasy at the taste.
"Oh damn but that's good," she exclaimed after she had swallowed my offering.
"Yeah, it really is, isn't it?" as Alice signaled Sissie to bring her a half-order like I had.
