Charlie's Shoes

Kate and I are working on another crime story with Karin Roland, our private investigator; but during a recent road trip, Kate indulged my need for some old Country & Western music by setting the dial to "Willie's Roadhouse" on Sirius/XM. As many of you may know, at least half, if not more, old C&W songs lend themselves to the "Loving Wives" genre. A song came on the radio that planted a germ of an idea, Billy Walker's "Charlie's Shoes" is a song about a man who covets another man's wife and so...

...away we go -

Sally and I were having dinner at 'The Hen House' (or as it's known locally - "the Hen"), the best local hangout for steak, music and dancing, when she walked in the place; Henry Phillips walked in right behind her. Whatever caught my attention made Sally turn toward the door, then back at me. I didn't realize I was staring until Sally spoke up.

"Geezus, Dwayne; try sticking your eyeballs back in your head. And please close your mouth."

I was embarrassed to say the least. It's just that whoever was with Henry was the most gorgeous creature I'd ever seen in real life. She had to stand five-seven and she couldn't have weighed more than one-twenty, but with curves. To top it off, she wore clothes that accented all the right features; high heels, short skirt, tight sweater with a swooping neckline, beautiful hair. Definitely not your typical girl from this little town.

I hadn't seen Henry in at least seven years; that's when he took off to find his fortune in the oil fields half-way around the world. Word came back that Henry did all right for himself; not crazy ass rich, but enough to keep him in comfort for the rest of his life. It seemed to have also allowed him to attract the kind of woman that needed money. That's not to say Henry didn't have other attributes, he was our Homecoming King and voted best looking in our graduating class. Which pissed me off because I came in second.

I could feel Sally still glaring at me. I turned and apologized - really, I'm not an asshole and I realized how rude it was of me to stare at another woman while out with her.

"OK, Dwayne. She is beautiful. I think all the ladies in town are going to be calling for hair appointments and getting new outfits tomorrow; it looks like we're all going to up our game if she moves in."

"I didn't know Henry was back in town; did you?"

"Word is he came back last week with a wife and bought the Parker place down by the river. I heard his wife was pretty, but damn - that's just wrong."

While we talked and finished our steaks, Henry and his wife were seated across the room. I took extra care to avoid following them with my eyes. Just about then the band started up; one of our local groups, 'The Sidewinders' who play a decent combination of bluegrass, rock and enough songs we could either two-step or dance close to.

Sally and I ordered our usual's, her Margarita and my long neck Lone Star. Whenever the band played anything I could dance to without making a fool of myself or stepping on Sally's toes, I asked her and she said 'yes'.

I couple of the other guys came over to our table and asked me if they could take a spin with Sally; most of the time I said, "yes". The guys who hang out at the Hen House are good guys who'll treat your date with respect, with one notable exception. The one guy who I told, "no", knew the reason and didn't make a fuss.

While watching Sally on the dance floor I couldn't help but notice Henry's wife was out there, but not with Henry. I looked over at Henry's table and we happened to catch each other's eye. I raised my beer to him and non-verbally offered to buy him one. We were never close friends in school, but we were always friendly. Henry got up from his table and walked over.

"Dwayne"

"Henry; how the hell are ya?"

"Good Dwayne - you?"

"Doing all right. Sally tells me you're married and moved back to town."

"Yea, that's my wife in the red sweater; Ginny."

"Pretty girl. How long you two been married?"

"Six months now. I did all right in South America and decided to come back home. I was finishing up some business in Dallas when I met Ginny. Is that Sally I saw you with?"

"Yea, she moved back to town last year. We've been going out for the past few months."

"Serious?"

"I guess. We've had the 'exclusive' talk, but nothing about marriage yet."

Henry looked into the distance, remembering something, and chuckled. "I still remember her in that cheerleader outfit bouncing up and down with that big smile. I took her out once, her old man met me at the door with a shotgun and sat me down to talk. Said since I was two years older than her, it seemed to him I was thinking she'd be easy. I told him it was only a date and I'd have her home before eleven. He nodded and then called her downstairs. I was a horny goat back then and decided it would be our last date."

Henry smiled again. "No offense, Dwayne; but I think she's prettier now than when we were in high school - and she was damn pretty then."

I smiled back so Henry would know it was all right, we tapped the tops of our long necks in a toast.

"You and your wife want to join us at our table?"

"That'd be nice. Ginny hasn't had a chance to meet many people in town."

The band finished the song and Sally came back to the table. Henry went out to fetch Ginny and came back to our table where introductions were made. We four sat out a few songs to talk for a while before the ladies went out to dance again. I did my best to avoid fawning over Ginny and didn't ask her to dance, despite the fact I wanted to - more than I care to admit.

We split up around midnight and made plans to get together some time soon. Henry said something about having a boat on the lake.

Over the next three months we did get together now and then, couples only. Henry and I were still very different people with little in common; I liked to hunt and fish, Henry was still a jock who played softball, basketball and football, so we rarely spent any time together unless it was with the ladies.

But; every time I was around Ginny, she seemed to take pleasure in teasing me. The first (and only) time on Henry's boat is an example. Sally and I showed up that morning with a picnic basket filled with food and drinks; Sally was wearing a nice bikini under her sundress. We step onto the boat and Ginny walks up from the galley wearing one of the skimpiest bikinis I've ever seen; two small triangles of cloth barely covering her breasts, one small triangle of cloth covering her cunt and just a strip of cloth between the cheeks of her perfect ass. You could tell Henry was slightly embarrassed at her choice; but like any man with a trophy wife, held his tongue in front of company.

Later, when the two gals were sunning on the top deck, Ginny took off her top to get some sun on those perfect breasts. When I came over to hand the girls their drinks, I got an eye full; I had my sunglasses on, but I didn't fool Sally. It was the last time we ever spent any time on the boat with Henry and Ginny.

It was early December, Sally and I were down at South Padre Island, enjoying a weekend get-away when I asked her to marry me. Looking back, it probably ranks near the bottom of the list of all-time romantic proposals. We were eating dinner at a nice seafood restaurant. The couple seated next to us were recently engaged and it sparked something in me.

"Have you thought about you and me getting married, Sally?"

"What? Is that a proposal?"

"Yea, I guess so. We've been going out for over a year. I figured you're waiting for me to propose; so I did."

"No, Dwayne. You're still not ready to settle down and I'm not going to marry a man I can't trust every time he's out on the town. You need to grow up some."

I couldn't argue with Sally - and honestly, I sighed in relief at her refusal.

**********************

It was just under a year after Ginny and Henry moved to town when Henry up and left without saying a word to anyone we knew. Rumors swirled around town as to why he would leave so suddenly. Like I said, we weren't close friends, so I was in the dark as much as anyone else. I asked Sally if she knew anything; but she said she didn't know any more than the town scuttlebutt. A notice in the paper announced that Henry was no longer responsible for Ginny's debts, etc.; Henry had initiated divorce proceedings against Ginny before leaving town.

Ginny continued to live in the mansion down by the river and we'd see her from time to time. If anything, her flirting escalated, pissing Sally off even more than before. It all came to a head one day when I received a phone call at the office; it was Ginny and she asked if I could stop over to help her with some problem she was having with her air conditioner. "Henry always took care of these things." She practically cried over the phone.

I almost told her to call a HVAC repairman and I should have; but I didn't, and I drove over to the house. Ginny met me wearing a pair of yoga pants (camel toe in front, up her ass crack in back) and a t-shirt (no bra, of course); bare feet (even her feet are perfect), blonde hair in a ponytail. One look at her and my cock did its Pavlovian thing; I knew I was in trouble.

The air condition problem turned out to be simple; they had one of those smart thermostats and it needed to be re-programmed. I fixed the problem and accepted the cold beer Ginny offered. That's when she started the tears.

"Dwayne, I don't know why Henry left me. I've been a good wife. We made love almost every day we were married; I never refused him a thing. When he had trouble getting it up after the first or second time, I'd get him hard with a blowjob. If he wanted my ass, I gave it to him. I know I flirted a little; but that always turned him on. Now I sit in this big house by myself and wonder what I could have done to make him stay."

As Ginny spoke, she seemed to get closer to me on the sofa; almost as if she could move without moving; or was I just too enraptured by her beauty? Then, she was right next to me and it happened. Our lips were pressing against each other's and our tongues were playing together. The kiss lasted a minute before something clicked inside my head. I pulled back.

"Ginny, I'm with Sally and we made a vow to be exclusive. I can't do this."

"Oh Dwayne; I'm sorry. I wouldn't ask you to break your word; but it's obvious we belong together. I won't try to seduce you again; at least not until you break up with Sally. I'm sorry." The tears were really coming down now.

And that's all it took for me to turn into the dumbest person I knew.

When I told Sally that night that I was breaking up with her; she completely stunned me by her reaction.

"It's Ginny, isn't it?"

I didn't answer her; I didn't have to.

"You're an idiot, Dwayne. I love you but I'm not going to beg you to stay with me. This is the reason I didn't marry you when you asked. You're still a little boy in a man's body and ever since that woman came to town, you wanted her. Well, now you can have her."

Sally didn't cry; she just left my house, got in her Jeep and drove away. (Some time later - and I'll get to that - I found out Sally drove to her dad's house and cried like a baby.) Within a few weeks of our breakup, Sally moved to Austin, working in the Governor's office on one of his staff committees.

I guess I should stop here to explain why I might be Ginny's choice to replace Henry (besides my good looks). My family happens to own a few thousand acres of ranch land in this county and a majority ownership in the local community bank. Dad is the bank president; I've been working there ever since graduating from SMU and being groomed to take Dad's job when he retires. In other words, we're well off.

The day after my split with Sally would find me at Ginny's place, ringing the doorbell.

Ten minutes after ringing the doorbell, we were naked and I was kissing every square inch of her body. I'd seen almost everything her body had to offer when we were on Henry's boat; but this was different. Now I could touch and kiss her lips with passion, kiss and nibble each one of her nipples, and best of all, finally see what was hidden behind the tiny bikini bottom she wore that day on the boat.

It didn't disappoint; like everything else about Ginny, it was a perfect cunt. Shaved smooth, full lips, and a clit that just peeked out from between those lips. My mouth left her breasts and traveled down between her legs. Ginny's hands pressed on either side of my head and pulled me deeper into her sex. My tongue played with her clit, making it grow, that's when I raked it lightly with my teeth - Ginny moaned and lifted her legs to give me a view of her perfect asshole.

While nibbling on her clit, I put my little finger in her ass and my thumb in her cunt, moving my thumb back and forth over the spongy area of Ginny's g-spot. This technique never failed to give any of my previous partners an orgasm; Ginny was no exception; her hands and thighs squeezed my head as her sweet mucus came in waves filling my mouth.

Ginny released the grip on my head; then brought me up for a deep kiss by pulling me by my ears.

"Fuck me, Dwayne."

My cock was hard as a steel bar and leaking fluid. She didn't have to ask twice. I did take a moment to look down on that perfect cunt, rubbing my hard-on between the lips, just to see what I dreamed about for so many months, now it was finally happening. After a few strokes I leaned in to sink inside.

Is there any better feeling in the world? I know a great blow-job feels very special, and anal sex can be a real treat; but for my money, nothing feels quite as wonderful as sinking into a woman's vagina.

I did everything I could to hold back from cumming too soon. I'd go in and out for a couple minutes and just before blowing my load, I'd pull out and tease Ginny with my mouth. Kissing or biting her nipples the first time, her clit the next time; for as long as it would take to feel the tension decrease in my balls, then back inside her for another couple minutes of fucking. This is the only way I knew how to make certain she'd cum at the same time I did. When I felt her release, I grabbed both cheeks of her ass and pulled her to me, pumping my seed as deep as I could.

Ginny and I never bothered to get dressed the rest of the weekend. We ate, swam, watched TV, everything we did that weekend, we did totally nude - except for when I put a couple steaks on the grill wearing an apron. I never met a woman so comfortable of her body. Every other woman I've known would find some imperfection about her own looks. Even Sally, who I couldn't find one flaw, would see something she wished was different - more perfect. Not Ginny, she knew she was perfection; if asked, "What would you change about your body or looks?", Ginny would reply, "Not a thing." And I couldn't argue.

Ginny and I became an instant item and within two months she had me convinced we needed to get married as soon as her divorce from Henry was final. I bought her a two-carat diamond engagement ring and moved into the mansion. That's when I found out Ginny was house rich and relatively broke. The house had a steep mortgage, the monthly payments were thirty-nine hundred. Ginny was given the house and a lump sum payment of one-hundred thousand dollars in the divorce, which between the mortgage payments and other bills, wouldn't have lasted two years at the rate she spends money. Maybe Henry wasn't as well off as people assumed.

Henry left lots of personal items behind in the house. As I cleared out his closet to put my things in, I couldn't help but notice the names on his suits and other clothes; all top of the line designers in the best materials. Too bad Henry was a few inches shorter and a few pounds thinner than me - nothing of Henry's fit me and they all went in the plastic bags that Ginny took to a consignment store in Dallas.

All but one pair of shoes. While loading the bags, Ginny picked up a pair of shoes and held them up to my eyes. "What size shoes do you wear?"

"Eleven - why?"

"So did Henry. These cost over five hundred dollars and he only wore them once. I picked these out, they're beautiful."

I had to admit Ginny was right, the shoes were beautiful and would go well with my grey dress suit. I tried the shoes on and found out Henry was an eleven D width, when I'm an eleven E width. But; they looked so damn good, I decided to keep them even though the shoes pinched my feet.

Another thing I found while cleaning out his closet was Henry's Berlitz Portuguese language tapes. I wondered if that meant old Henry took off for Brazil. I didn't say anything to Ginny; just left the tapes where I found them.

**********************

A week after her divorce was finalized, Ginny and I flew to Vegas and were married. Mom and Dad were a little disappointed we weren't having a local wedding; but my little sister had the whole country-club/bridezilla wedding last year; so, I think Mom was silently OK with the elopement. She said we'd have a reception for family and close friends soon.

Ginny and I spent a week after the wedding in Vegas. We were married in a nice chapel, Ginny wore a fantastic white dress, the top cut just above her nipples and the skirt just below her ass. I wore my good suit and Henry's shoes, the damn things pinching my toes the entire time we stood there. We hired a limo to take us around, so I didn't have to walk too much; but every step became more painful. It pissed me off because I couldn't dance that evening at the night club; I ended up drinking too much and watching my brand-new bride dancing with other men and a few women while I nursed my drinks.

All during that week Ginny put on one sexy outfit after another. I didn't make the same mistake with the shoes. We hit the clubs and I danced with Ginny. I was so puffed up having such a beautiful woman as my bride, if you stuck a pin in my ass, I would have burst; and Mike Tyson couldn't knock the smile off my face. Vegas is full of gorgeous women who dress to impress; it's not an exaggeration to say Ginny was at the top of the top one-percent.

We even hit a high-end strip club. We bought each other a lap dance. The girl doing me was a thin Asian woman; one of those women who just reeks sex. When she finished her dance, I pulled Ginny up and rushed her to our hotel. Within ten seconds of entering our room, I had Ginny stripped of the single garment she'd worn and I was fucking her. Foreplay wasn't necessary; Ginny was wet and I was hard. I was still dressed; with my pants and boxers down to my thighs. We both came and I rolled off her, trying to catch my breath.

Ginny got up off the bed, she still had her CFM heels on, and used the toilet. She came out of the bathroom, put her dress back on. "Let's go gamble."

"Give me a minute, I need to use the head and get cleaned up."

"I'll meet you down there." Ginny picked up her little purse and left the room. I hurried and was downstairs within three minutes. I found Ginny sitting at the bar playing the poker machine. Some Italian looking guy was already hitting on her; trying to get a glance down her top. I walked up behind her and put my arm around her waist, acting casual. "Hi babe." I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

The guy looked pissed; so, I tried to defuse the situation by explaining, "She's my wife." He had the good manners to excuse himself.

"Sorry; didn't see the ring (yea - right); you're a lucky man."

As he walked away, I smiled at Ginny and replied to his back. "Don't I know it."

Wednesday morning, after a casual morning of room service, a nice shower together scrubbing each other's backs and a rare session of lovemaking (not fucking, but quiet, missionary-style, kissy-face lovemaking), Ginny decided to run down to the pool while I finished my coffee and the Times crossword puzzle. She had on a nice cover-up and a pair of those platform sandals, broad hat and her Foster Grants. She did that thing women know how to do, lowering the sunglasses down her nose, peeking over the rims.