Readers, I can only hope that I NEVER take six months for another chapter again!
Sunday, May 3rd, 2020
Dani left earlier in the day for Montana, to begin filming her movie. I knew that I wouldn't see her again until the Calgary Stampede, July 11th, over two months away. This, I hadn't foreseen in my coma dream world.
That evening and night were the loneliest I think I've ever experienced. I guess I could have called Elle, Jenny, or even Jon, just to have someone to talk to, but I kind of wanted to wallow in my misery alone. I'd already talked to Dani earlier, she'd arrived safe and sound in Montana and was likely back in the arms of her costar. More practicing?
Things were a little better Monday morning, I had things to do, it was store opening day. I was at the store by seven-thirty, making sure that everything was ready to unlock the doors and light the 'OPEN' sign at eight. Jon was already there, and his five employees, two new and three from the other store, arrived, one by one, not long behind me.
At eight, sharp, Jon took a picture of me out front, a key in the lock, the 'OPEN' sign in the background, unlocking the door. Our second store was now a reality! We'd been advertising our opening the last week and had a steady stream of customers, lots of congratulations on the new store. It was a wonderful day, all seven of us busy from eight o'clock until closing at six.
If this kept up, I figured we'd be in the seven-figure club in a matter of months, not that it would. Wishes!
At the end of the day I was exhausted, it'd been the first day I'd worked the full day since my recovery. Even though it'd been fun, the other type of exhaustion was a hell of a lot more fun.
I called Elle that evening, again told her how much I'd enjoyed our Friday night, and asked her if she'd like another date.
"I'd love it," she said, "and I enjoyed Friday, too... a lot. Hoping we'll get a repeat before too long."
"Umm..." I wasn't too sure how to broach the subject of Dani's one rule, 'pants on, zipped up'. God, just the thought of what she'd said, what she wanted me to do with Elle... even what she said we couldn't do, was making me hard. "Dani said she still wanted to watch again the next time, too... and that won't be for a while," I told her.
"Oookay," she answered, "I admit I liked her watching her husband fucking me in front of her, but that's going to be a while, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I doubt we'll see each other until the movie's finished filming, probably July 11th in Calgary."
"Calgary? What...?"
I hadn't told her about it, "Dani's learning to be a barrel racer, that's how she meets her husband in the movie, she's going to be made up to look like a twenty-year-old and do a real barrel race in the Calgary Stampede."
A long silence ensued, before, "Calgary Stampede... wow! Now that's gotta be exciting for her!"
"Yeah, she said she's scared to death of it... and so looking forward to it." I chuckled, "She said it's going to be the last scene filmed... so they can get a stand-in if she gets killed. I think she was kidding about the getting killed part... but it is dangerous and she's been learning on a real barrel horse."
"But... we were talking about us, you and me. Dani's made it crystal clear that we can do other things, just not...'it'. So, maybe... could I take you out a week from Saturday? I'd love sooner, but the new store..." One tiny, little white lie wouldn't hurt too much, I didn't think. Besides, I did want to take her out sooner, like maybe tomorrow. I think Dani's calling should have been psychology, she knows that long before a week from Saturday I'll be crawling the walls. That night's going to be sweet torture, I know.
"Hmm, let me check my calendar and get back to you... Yep, okay, that night's free, no hot date, I'll be looking forward to it. Oh, and by the way... what kind of 'other things'?"
I chuckled, remembering Elle's naked body, the images of what I'd love to do to her filling my mind, "Oh, I don't know, just have to wait and see how it goes," I told her, remembering what Dani had told me she wanted me to do to Elle.
"Week from Saturday, pick you up at seven?" So, Elle and I had a date.
I never got far from my computer after that, waiting for Dani's evening Skype call. It was after nine my time when I heard the little ding-ding on my laptop.
"Hi Babe," Dani started. She was sitting Indian fashion on her bed, just a very thin nightshirt, nipples poking through. Somehow, it seemed more erotic than naked would have been. "I'm exhausted, I never imagined pretending to be someone else and trying to act natural could be so hard."
I chuckled, "Tough work, huh, how's it going? You keeping them happy?"
"Oh yeah," she answered, "Tony's a gem, so nice. He's the film's director if you don't remember. He's a perfectionist but seems happy with me so far. I just hope I can keep him that way."
"I have no doubt, love, and by the way, the store opening was fantastic, we were busy with customers from the minute I unlocked the door until well past closing."
"I had no doubt. Soooo, what about... you know...?"
Dani's smile was so fucking infectious, even tired as she said she was, "We, umm, have a date set up for week from Saturday," I told her, "just like you suggested."
"And you're taking her to The River's Edge?"
"Uhuh, you suggested it, sounds good to me, unless something better pops up 'tween now'n then. So, how'd your first day of acting with Alan go? You get to use any of your practiced skills yet?"
"Not yet, not sure when we might get to that point. But even so, he has my panties so wet! That man is just... he just oozes sexy."
"No more practicing tonight?"
She frowned, "No, with the filming, the house has turned into a movie set, equipment, and people everywhere. I can't believe how much equipment they've moved in, between the house and outside, there's truckloads of stuff."
We talked another half-hour before Dani said she had to go to bed, her days were starting early. We told each other how much we missed and loved each other, and closed the program. I took a deep breath, wondering how I was going to manage the next two-plus months without her. That first little stint had been a month and seemed forever. Now, it was going to double that, mid-July before we were together again, me wondering the whole time about Dani's already wet panties... and what she might do about it.
I had to admit, though, that the only one to 'do anything' was me; Jenny... Elle...
The next days at the store were hectic, keeping my mind occupied. Dani and I talked every evening, she seemed to be becoming much more at ease with being Lynn Matteson, retired barrel racer and rancher's wife. She still hadn't met her 'husband', Christian Bale, though. She said he probably wouldn't be on the set until their last few weeks filming in Montana, right before Calgary.
Wednesday morning, I got another email from the Alvarezes regarding the farm. I didn't get a chance to open it until that evening, a 'Letter of Intent' form. I forwarded it to Dani, and when we were on Skype later, she suggested that I put no later than September 1st as the actual date of the sale, "Amanda told me that our 750 thousand will be in our bank on the last day of the shoot, presumably July 11th, so we should be able to write a check for it." I figured the extra month was 'just in case', but it still gave us the option of closing earlier.
I contemplated what Dani had just said, write a check... for three hundred twenty-five thousand freaking dollars! We've never seen that much money in one place in our lives. And to just nonchalantly write a check?
Then she went on to tell me that she's really starting to get into her part in the movie, having fun being someone else, even though it's still hard work. "We've finished several scenes, Tony's happy with my work so far, guess he still thinks I was the right choice for the part."
"Nice to hear that," I told her, "you still practicing for the barrel racing?"
"Little bit every day, not like that first month, though," she answered, "I can't believe how fast my barrel horse is."
"A little more than Honey?" I asked her.
She laughed, "Just a little, but it's still Honey that I've fallen in love with."
We talked another fifteen-twenty minutes until Dani said she had to get up early and needed to get to bed, nothing about Alan was said in the whole conversation. After we disconnected, I wondered about that, was she purposely avoiding the subject?
The next few days were uneventful as far as our love lives went. The new store stayed busy as hell, which left me tired in the evenings, and Dani was tired as well on our Skype calls. She was loving the business of acting, although still no love scenes, nothing sexy at all the way she described it. Plus, there were film crews in the house nearly all the time, preventing her and Alan from any 'practicing'.
"Tomorrow's going to be a short day," Dani told me Saturday evening, "Tony just has one scene he wants to shoot, and he said we could do whatever the rest of the day. Think Alan and I might go for a ride. There's a trail they've told us about that sounds beautiful."