I was sitting at the kitchen table sipping my third cup of coffee and looking out the window at the backyard. The grass was ankle high, weeds were taking over the flowerbeds and the roses were in bad need of pruning. That was all stuff that Dan was supposed to take care of.
The front door squeaked when you opened it, the showerhead in the upstairs bedroom leaked, my car needed the brakes relined and it was due for an oil change; more stuff that Dan usually took care of. There were a hundred other things that Dan usually took care of, like holding me in his arms until I fell asleep and snuggling up close to me in the mornings.
Dan had built in radar that sensed my moods. I can't even count how many times I had come home from work whipped to a frazzle and found that he had dinner on the table and a pitcher of margaritas chilling in the fridge.
And the touching. He never walked by me without reaching out to touch. Sitting on the couch reading or watching television one hand would end up touching me somewhere. His kisses made me go weak in the knees and his smiled warmed my heart.
The grass doesn't get cut, the weeds don't get pulled, the rose bushes don't get pruned and I don't get touched anymore because Dan is gone. He is gone and I could just die.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dan burst into my life just when I had reached the point that I thought that I had everything settled and arranged. I had just gotten my degree in marketing and had landed a job at one of the top ad agencies in town. My steady of the last three years had proposed and I had accepted. I had it made. Mark was handsome, smart, and a tiger in bed (it didn't hurt that he packed a nine-inch cock in his boxers). I was set. All the T's were crossed and the only I left to dot was the one in marriage. And then Dan came into my life.
It was my first day at my new job. I had gotten on the elevator and had pushed the button for the third floor when a voice called out:
"Hold the elevator please."
I caught the door with my hand and it retracted as a man hurried onto the car.
"Thanks. I'm running late this morning and these elevators are so slow that it could have been five minutes before it came back down. Five please."
I pushed five and then turned to face him and looked into the deepest brown eyes I had ever seen. He smiled at me and my world turned upside down and inside out. If there had been anyone in that elevator with us who knew me and had seen the look on my face and understood it and had said, "But what about Mark?" I honestly believe that I would have answered, "Mark? Mark who?"
Until that exact instant I had never believed of 'love at first sight' and how gaa-gaa it could make you. I just stared at him for several moments and then said in a rush:
"My name is Kathy and I just started working here today."
The elevator stopped at the third floor and the door slid open and I just stood there looking at him as the door started to slide closed. He reached out a hand and stopped it, "Your floor I believe?"
"Oh? Oh yes, thank you" and I tore my eyes away from him and got off the elevator.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It took a supreme effort on my part to put the brown-eyed man out of my mind and pay attention as I set out to learn my new job. One of the girls took me under her wing and spent the morning showing me around and introducing me to people and at lunchtime she invited me to join her. We were sitting in the basement cafeteria and I was working on my salad when Mary said:
"You sure are a fast worker."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You've only been here half a day and you have already made your first conquest."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that Dan hasn't taken his eyes off of you since you walked in here."
"Dan? Who is Dan?"
"Over against the wall; the table next to the candy machine."
I looked over that way and right into the eyes of the brown eyed man. He smiled and I quickly looked away and Mary laughed and said:
"I sense something here. Is there something you would like to tell me?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Oh no? How about we test that out. You can stop with us girls after work tonight. We usually stop at Antonio's for a wind down drink. It just so happens that Dan and a few of the guys he works with stop there also."
I couldn't stop that night. I had to meet Mark to go and look at some furniture. I spent most of the afternoon thinking about Mark and Dan, Dan and Mark and at four I called Mark and lied to him for the first time. I told him that my first day on the job was being a bear and I was going to have to work late. At five I left work with the girls and by six I was dancing with Dan. To shorten the story I broke up with Mark and seven months later Dan and I were married.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was a great marriage and I thought that I was the most fortunate woman in the world. Dan was the yin to my yang and we were perfect together. Dan's job involved some travel and he was usually gone about twice a month for anywhere from two to four days. With my job I couldn't get away to go with him so on nights he was gone I would usually stop with the girls I worked with for drinks and we would have dinner together and sometimes catch a movie.
One night, in the sixth year of our marriage, Dan was on a two day trip to Kansas City so I stopped at Antonio's with Mary, Sylvia and Toni for a couple of drinks. We had been there about an hour and I had spent my time sipping a margarita and watching the other girls dance. I didn't dance even though I got asked a lot and would have liked to, but I was a married woman and I didn't think it would be right.
I was watching Mary with the guy who had asked her to dance when someone sat down across from me. I looked over and saw that it was Mark.
"Hi Kathy, how have you been?"
"Fine Mark. What are you doing here? I thought that you had moved to Seattle."
"I moved back here about a month ago."
We made small talk as I sat there and felt guilty over what I had done to him. After I'd met Dan I had started looking for some way to break it to Mark that I had found some one else. I couldn't find the courage to just go to him and do it straight out. One night at a party he'd had a bit much to drink and he was flirting with another girl and I could see that she was interested in him so I just watched until what I knew would happen happened. She stood on her toes to kiss him and as soon as her lips touched his I moved in from where I'd been watching.
"You cheating asshole" I snarled at him as I took the ring off my finger. "Here! Give her this; I won't be needing it anymore."