Hello Readers! This is Part Three of a Three-Part story. All three parts are written and will be posted in order.
Chapter 3: The Good Things
The answer to Autumn's question, as it turns out, was 'as long as I wanted.' I could stay in town as long as I wanted.
It turned out that the my alma mater housed the personal papers and sketches of one of the artists that was prominently featured in the museum where I worked. The archivists at the University had not yet had the chance to go through the documents and properly organize them. My boss had heard about this and, knowing where I went to school, offered to allow me to go out and sift through the documents. If we organized the documents, the University was willing to loan us any items we wanted from the collection. My boss had made this offer at the very height of my divorce, when the stress was the greatest. At the time, I had declined. I didn't want to be back east and I didn't want to give my husband the satisfaction of thinking he had chased me out.
But the morning after my first night with Autumn, I had immediately called back into work. I had only taken a week of leave off and I didn't had any left after that. But I asked if I could stay in town in the deal with the University was still on the table. Suffice it to say that both my boss and the university were thrilled with the idea. And just like that, I had bought myself an indefinite stay with Autumn (and I do mean indefinite! The artist was a prolific sketcher, letter writer, diary writer, angry screed writer, and everything else! I had no idea what I was getting myself into, from a professional standpoint. Or, I guess, a personal standpoint).
A lot had happened that first day. I think that Lisa had expected me to be a little upset after she rejected me, and that morning she walked on eggshells. But, to be honest, I felt like a new woman. Completely transformed. I was even happy to see her husband (who was, I think, happy to see me). I surprised her again when I told her that afternoon that I would be temporarily relocating to town. And then I think I nearly dropped her on her ass when I actually took her up on her (merely polite) offer to save money by staying in the "rumpus" room indefinitely.
Though, if Lisa was concerned that I hadn't given up on her or that I was planning on making some sort of big scene, I think I quickly put her at ease. I, obviously, never raised the issue again. I just sort of melded into the background of family life. I ate breakfast with Lisa and Ray nearly every weekday and most nights I had dinner with them. I was actually a little bit surprised by how easily I slipped back into my close friendship with Lisa. We talked and laughed and remembered old times.
But honestly, I spend very little time with the "old people." In a lot of ways, it felt sort of like I had fallen back into college again. Every day I drove from Lisa's house out to the University, what I called "class." I went down into the basement of the library and sifted through documents while young students bustled about doing...whatever it was they were doing. But, much like in college, I had a lot of down time where there was no one watching me or making sure that I stayed on task.
And I spent all that extra time with Autumn. When we were at school together, well it was like having a college girlfriend. She would swing by the library with coffee and sandwiches at lunch and we would eat and talk and she would give me a kiss when she left. And when she was done with classes for the day, I would meet up with her and we'd go to a bar or a coffee shop with her friends. In the evenings, after dinner, I'd meet her downtown and we'd play pool, or go to a show, or sit around on campus and bullshit. And after Lisa and Ray were asleep, we'd come back home, pile into the rumpus room, and have sex. We planned day trips on the weekend and would end up having sex.
Okay, so we had a lot of sex. It as like dating in college again, what can I tell you? But it was amazing sex! By far, the best sex that I had ever had in my entire life. And I knew that Autumn was having a good time too. And, I mean, it wasn't just sex! We had a lot of fun together. Walking through campus at night, holding hands. Eating greasy pizza at 3 a.m. to stave off a hangover. Creating inside jokes to the point that I could make her laugh just by making as specific look at her. I had never had a relationship like that in my life.
Though, I do admit, it felt strange to be 'hiding' the relationship. Autumn and I had mutually decided that we would be...discreet while we were at home. Neither one of us wanted to talk to Lisa about what was going on. I know that I felt guilty about it for so many different reasons that it was hard to pin them down. In fact, I essentially chose not to consciously think about those reasons, afraid of what I would uncover. Instead, I barely spoke to Autumn at home, because it always made my cheeks turn bright red and it tied my stomach into knots. Still, it was tough to avoid saying to doing something that would raise unpleasant questions. Especially as Autumn and I grew closer and closer. Luckily, Lisa and Ray saw no particular reason for me and Autumn to be close, and I don't think they notice anything.
Still, I think that we both felt relief at those times when, for one reason or another Lisa and Ray wouldn't be out of town. Then we would draw the blinds, pop some popcorn and snuggle up n the couch. The upstairs couch. Like we were grown ups. And then we could go downstairs to my room at a decent hour and take our time, make as much noise as we wanted to make.
It was one of those nights, about two months after I'd moved in, that it happened.
Lisa and Ray were going to her mother's place a couple of hours away, and they were going to to be gone all weekend. Autumn and I had been giddy with anticipation from the time we first heard about it. It was all I could do not to push the "old folks" out the door. When they left, I cooked dinner, we found some horror movie on Netflix and and then made out on the couch, like we were high school kids. I don't even think we finished it before we ended up downstairs on my rickety pull out couch. And then we had sex.
Afterwards, we laid in the bed, my arm around Autumn's shoulders. It was terribly hot in the room and we'd kicked all of the covers off onto the floor. Autumn was resting her head on my breast and running her fingers around my abdomen.
"Well, I don't like basketball either," I said, "but the school is good at it! I went to a couple of games when I was a student. The atmosphere is fun, even the game isn't. Get nachos and stuff. You have to go once, just so that someday you can say you did it!" I said. Autumn giggled.
"I need something to say in case I need to bore a girl I tricked into bed someday?" she said.
"Bored? Tricked?" I said, reaching across my body and poking her rib, "And what other girls are you trying to get into bed right now anyway?" I asked. Autumn raised her eyebrows.
"I am literally getting propositions from cute girls all the time," She said, wiggling away from my pointing finger.
"Cuter than me?" I asked, pouting cutely. Autumn rolled her eyes and responded dramatically.
"Oh my lover! That simply isn't possible," she said, shaking her head emphatically.
"Gross, lover," I said in response and Autumn laughed.
"You brought this on yourself!" she said and now I laughed.
"I really did," I said and kissed her forehead. And then I heard a creaking sound.
"Rays mom got food poisoning but didn't call us to...Oh Holly! I didn't know you had someone in here. Autumn! What the fuck is going on!" I could hear the words as Lisa walked into the room. I could sense the escalating realizations that hit her. That I had someone in my bed, that that someone was a woman, that that woman was her daughter. But the words sort of came to me as though they were from a great distance. I could hear my blood rushing in my ears, my heart fell into my stomach.
"Christ what am I doing?" I asked myself under my breath. It took, I don't know, thirty seconds, for my brain to regain control of my body. I noticed that Autumn had jumped out of bed and was clumsily putting her t-shirt over her head. Lisa had closed the door behind her (I guess to keep Ray out) and she was running her hand through her hair. They were both saying...something, but it took me a minute to even be able to understand.
"We are, like, kind of in a relationship, mom," I heard Autumn saying and Lisa tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms in front of her chest. I had never seen her so upset in my entire life.
"A relationship?" she asked.
"Yeah, we didn't just like...fool around...We have kind of been dating. Tell her Holly," Autumn said as she quickly slipped on her panties. She turned and looked at me, her cheeks a deep crimson,"Christ, Holly, cover up, this is bad enough!" I mechanically sat up on the bed, reached down onto the floor and found my sports bra and underwear. I slipped them on silently. I didn't know what to say.
