A big thank you to blackrandi1958 for the invitation to her "
When A Man Loves a Woman
" writing event and for her editing talent.
Griff Watson sipped the last of his champagne from his flute and looked over at his beautiful wife, who was sitting in the chair next to him on the deck outside of their hotel room. It was a fantastic week on the big island of Hawaii for him and his bride of 25 years.
He wondered if any man could be so lucky. The trip to Hawaii was to celebrate their anniversary. Imagine being married for 25 years to this goddess and having two great children in college back on the mainland.
The woman looked over at her husband and caught him looking intently at her. It was a look she had seen a lot over the years. She had asked the question probably 1,000 times over the years, but asked it again, anyway, already knowing his answer. An answer that always pleased her.
"What? What are you thinking, Griff?" she asked.
"That I'm the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet. I've got a beautiful sexy wife, two great kids and I'm living the dream. I know I don't deserve this, but Lord, if this is a dream, I don't ever want to wake up," he asserted.
His wife got up out of her chair, leaned down and gave him a kiss that melted his heart... half innocence, half burning desire. God, he loved this woman.
"How about I refill our glasses, then we get dressed for our last dinner on the island?" she said to her husband.
"Great idea," he said as in his mind, he drifted back to the beginning...
She was absolutely beautiful, he thought, the first time he laid eyes on her: pale complexion with a smattering of small freckles across the bridge of her nose, bright, almost glowing green eyes, long red hair down to the middle of her back, 5-9, maybe 115 pounds, much of it in her chest and long, well-proportioned legs. She was with three other girls, all of whom were good-looking in their own right, but he was instantly smitten with her. She smiled in his general direction as the four made their way to the bar at the club just off the edge of campus. He needed to go introduce himself, but for the first time ever, he was tongue-tied; his brain no longer getting enough blood as it was all flowing much lower.
"Griff. Griff. Griff!" yelled Billy Mayfair, Griff's roommate and friend.
Griff snapped back into the real world and looked at his friend.
"What?" he snarled.
"That's four fine babes, bud. What say we go introduce ourselves? There's two for each of us," Billy said.
"Sounds about right, but what say that tonight I go for the redhead only and you take the other three somewhere?"
"Seriously? You'd give me three and just take the one? You feel good, bud?" Billy asked.
"Serious as a heart attack, dude. I'm pretty sure I was just looking at the future Mrs. Griffin Watson," Griff related.
The two young men made their way over to the four women, who were standing in a small circle. Griff visibly gulped, then introduced himself to the redhead.
"Two-fisted drinker?" asked the redhead as she looked at the beer in each of Griff's hands.
"I'm ambidextrous. Don't like to show favorites," Griff said.
The redhead smiled brightly, her eyes seeming to glow as she did. Griff watched transfixed. He could tell she was debating with herself whether to give him her real name or invent one.
"Reece. Reece Davidson. I'm a junior at U-Dub," she announced.
"I'm a junior there, too. How come I've never seen you on campus before? What's your major?" Griff queried.
"Actuarial science. I'm shooting to be one of those boring people who sits in a cubicle and figures mortality rates and stuff like that," she said.
Griff raised his eyebrows and nodded.
"That's probably why I've never seen you before. I spend my time over with the math geeks. I'm an accounting major. I thought I was going into a boring existence, but accounting seems like a party compared to ac sci."
"I'd slap you a good one, but in reality you're right," she said.
Just then Billy walked up to Griff and handed him his half-filled beer, making it three beers that Griff was holding in his hands, and went off to dance with one of the other three women. Reece looked at the beers and frowned. After a few more minutes of talking with the woman, Griff forgot which beers were his and which one was Billy's, so he began drinking and rotating the bottles. Reece rolled her eyes and started to head back to her friends.
"Shit," Griff said out loud to himself before finding a table and putting down all three bottles. He walked over to where Reece was now standing and tried to re-engage with the woman.
"Umm... would you go out on a date with me next Friday?" he asked.
The woman gave him a look that he interpreted as disgust, then shook her head.
"Nah. Not happening," she said.
Griff walked away silently.
Spring was just starting to blossom around campus three months later when a familiar face pulled up the chair opposite Griff's at an area Starbuck's. He looked up from the book he was reading to see Reece smiling back at him.