You Never Forget Your First

Once again, I want to thank Blackrandl1958 for inviting me to take part in this fun project. I always enjoy these theme stories because they challenge me. I hope you enjoy the story and please leave a comment.

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My dad once told me, "You never forget your first." And all that time, I thought my secret was safe but we both knew who he was talking about—Kathy, blond hair, blue eyes, Kathy...

We both turned eighteen within a week of each other and to celebrate... yeah, she was my first, and the love of my life until she moved away with her parents soon after graduating high school. Talk about a broken heart... for two weeks after they moved, I sat by the phone waiting for her call but it never came. I thought my life was over; there was simply no reason to continue living. Now... twenty-three years later, I'm going through it all over again.

*****

It was a beautiful Chicago fall day and a light warm breeze rustled the leaves; I, however, was trapped in my office going over some purchase orders for a new project when my cell rang with my wife's ringtone. "Hello, gorgeous."

"Hi, Honey, how's your day going?"

"About average, what's up?"

"It's been a hard week; some of the girls are going out for dinner and a few drinks and I thought I'd join them. There's still some of the roast beef from the other night in the fridge. It's wrapped in tin foil on the second shelf."

"Is there enough for both Stacy and me?"

"Stacy's having a sleepover at Audry's house tonight. I'm sure she'll be gone before you get home."

"That's news to me," I protested.

"Tom, she's sixteen years old. You can't keep her as your little girl forever. What are you going to do when she goes to college in a couple of years?"

"Yeah, I know. When will you be home?"

"I don't know, it depends on how talkative everyone is I guess. I shouldn't be too late though."

"Okay, you should take a cab home if you're going to have more than a couple of drinks. I can take you to pick up your car tomorrow."

"I doubt that I'll have more than a couple glasses of wine but if I do I'll take your advice.

"I have to go, Honey; I'll see you later tonight." We said our goodbyes but as we disconnected, I had a thought—just out of courtesy, Claire would usually ask if I would mind that she went out, or say, 'You don't mind, do you?'" It was a little out of character for her to simply tell me like that. Of course, she's a grown woman and doesn't need my permission, it's just nice when a wife lets her husband think he's in charge.

After eighteen years of marriage, it felt a little weird to be alone in the house. It doesn't happen very often and I wasn't used to complete solitude. After heating up dinner and relaxing in my recliner with a Budweiser, however, I was starting to enjoy myself. I closed my eyes laid my head back and just bathed myself in the peace and quiet for about ten minutes.

Okay, that's enough of that, I thought. Both my wife and daughter were romantic comedy buffs so rarely did I get a chance to watch anything with blood and guts. I picked up the remote and scrolled down the list of movies I had pre-selected but never got a chance to watch.

For the next two hours and ten minutes, I'll bet my neighbors thought world-war three had broken out in my living room. There were enough shootouts, explosions, and car chases to fill three movies. After good conquered evil, I turned the TV off and looked at my watch, it was nine-thirty. I expected Claire to come through the door anytime. I didn't want to get interested in another movie and then have to turn it off so I picked up my "Golf Digest," to see why I couldn't seem to break ninety.

The trouble I have with reading at night is that it puts me to sleep. Sure enough, the next thing I remembered was Claire shaking me by the shoulder. "Honey, Honey, come on, it's after midnight, let's go to bed."

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and caught a glimpse of Claire ascending the stairs in her robe. I followed, "Are you just getting home?"

"No, I've been back for a couple hours. I got undressed and read for a while in bed. I thought you'd wake up on your own and join me but I got tired so I figured I'd wake you."

"Thanks, I'd need a chiropractor tomorrow if I'd slept there all night." The last thing I remember was Claire turning her back to me and sliding toward the middle of the bed. I turned on my side and spooned her.

I suppose like most married couples, Claire and I had fallen into several routines, Saturday mornings was one of them. The first one up threw on their robe and went downstairs to start the coffee. If it was me, I'd wait until it was done then pour a couple of cups and bring them back upstairs. If it was Claire, I'd lie in bed until I could smell the fresh brew then throw on some sweats and join her at the kitchen table. The sweats were to guard against our teenage daughter's mortification of seeing her dad in his robe. When Stacy would make her still groggy appearance Claire would start breakfast, after which, we'd all go back upstairs, shower, and get dressed to face the weekend chores.

Claire sat up and put her back to the headboard when she saw me with a cup in each hand. "Ummm, thank you, Honey," she said with her first sip.

I climbed into bed beside her and turned to kiss her forehead, "You're welcome, Honey," I said while enjoying my own first sip. "I'm surprised I didn't hear you come in last night. You must have walked in only minutes after I fell asleep."

"I don't know but you looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you." We sat enjoying Columbia's best and talked about what chores we each had planned for the weekend before I felt Claire's hand under the sheet.

"I don't expect Stacy back for at least a couple hours and the chores can wait. We don't get many opportunities like this."

I didn't need any more encouragement... I knew Claire's erogenous zones and started kissing the back of her ear. That gets her motor going in seconds. I worked my way down her body until I was faced with the entrance to heaven. Her moans started in earnest as I started slowly licking up and down her tight little pussy lips. When she was wet, I drove my tongue as far inside as I could. I was expecting her to come and did she ever. She grabbed at the sheets as her back arched up in amatory response.

I allowed her only a short respite before driving into her. I was so hard by that time, I thought the skin on my cock was going to rip open. In no time, I had her twisting her body like a pretzel as we came together.

After cooling down a little we were at it again only in the doggie position. After that, we tried some other positions we hadn't been able to do for some time. I lost track of how many orgasms she had; I know I had three. I was willing to try for one more but we'd been at it for a couple of hours and we both agreed we had to shower and start the day.

We did conserve our water supply and showered together. What we saved on water though we used up in soap. By the time we were done, we were the two cleanest people you ever saw.

With the weekend in my rearview mirror, Monday was as mundane as ever. It was the only day of the week when I could get in some daydreaming. There were a variety of subjects; what I'd do if I won the lottery, things I'd like to do with my wife in bed but was too chicken to bring up, what to do on our next vacation, Kathy... yeah, I loved my wife to pieces but even after twenty-plus years, Kathy still held a place in my heart. My dad was right, I'd never forget my first love.

I even tried to find her on FaceBook a few times but had no luck. I'm sure she's married by now with a slew of kids at her feet. We talked about having between three and five—no less than three, no more than five.

I still remember our tear-stained goodbye; it was the last time I saw her. I sometimes wonder what she looks like now. I know Claire looks pretty much the same as when we were married, would Kathy still look the same? Who knows, I'm sure I'll never see her again.

Later that week, I and some co-workers were called into a meeting. We were all part of a team that had been working on a new valve system for a water filtration plant located in Southern California.

Our project manager stood up and congratulated us on a job well done, then said we were going to be visited the following week by a delegation of big shots from the Golden State. He wasn't sure how many were coming but he knew a state senator was among them. They wanted to see just how the valves would work and where they would be manufactured.

I had run a couple of seminars in the past and was also fairly proficient with a camera, so I was asked to put together a PowerPoint presentation showing the valves in action. After the presentation, we'd all pile into a couple of cars and go to our plant a couple of miles away for a tour.

I appreciated the company's confidence in me but I wondered where I was going to find the time. We were already working on several new projects. Mondays were always slow; I could shoot the stills and video during the day but writing the script and putting it all together was going to take time.

I called Claire and told her I would most likely be working late for a few nights. "Who is she?"

"What... who?"

"The woman—the reason for your late nights."

I was stunned. Claire had never been the jealous type. I started to stutter at her accusation when I heard her laugh.

"Relax, husband, I'm only kidding."

"Damn, Honey, you had me going for a minute there," I replied with my tension dissolving.

"Don't be silly, I know you better than that. Do you know how late you're going to be?"

"Not really; I'm busy as heck with my regular work. I probably won't even get a chance to start working on the presentation until after hours."

"Okay, well just keep me informed so I know how to plan dinner. Will you be late tonight?"

"No, I'll write the introduction tonight but I can do that at home. The rest of it will have to be written around the photography though, that I have to do here."

"Okay, Honey, just keep me in the loop."

"Will do, Hon, love ya."

"Love ya too." With that, we hung up.

That night, after dinner, I retired to our home office and started on the introduction. Claire made half a pot of coffee and brought me a cup. She knows me so well. I know it sounds stupid but I can't work without a cup of java nearby; even if I'm not drinking it, just to know it's within my reach is like my security blanket. I thanked her before returning to the Intro.

I finished about an hour later and joined Stacy and Claire in the middle of one of their rom-coms. It wasn't Schwarzenegger but I had to admit to getting a few good laughs.

Unfortunately, that would be the last time I'd share an evening with my family for several nights. I finished at eleven o'clock the night before the delegation was due. It was eleven-thirty by the time I pulled into my garage. As I walked past my wife's car, I heard the pinging of a cooling engine. I felt the hood and was surprised that it was warm. Claire must have just pulled in a few minutes before me.

As usual, she greeted me with a hug and kiss. "You look beat."

"Yeah, I'm glad to be done, that's for sure. Are you just getting home?"

"No, why?"

"I heard your car engine cooling down as I walked in."

"Oh, I figured you'd probably work through dinner so I ran out and got some Chinese. I stuck it in the oven to keep it warm. I didn't think you'd want anything too heavy at this time of night."

"What would I do without you? You're right, I did work through dinner and I'm starving." Stacy was already in bed but Claire joined me for a late-night snack.

The next day was show-time. They were all due to arrive at ten. My presentation would take almost two hours, then we'd treat them to a business lunch before going to the plant.

I spent the morning in the large conference room going over everything to make sure the production would be flawless. I was returning to my office when I saw the gang from California being led from the elevator into our CEO's office. I was a little surprised to see one of them in a wheelchair with a nurse pushing from behind. I was too far away to get a good look at her, but from where I was, she looked to be a fox.

About twenty minutes later our CEO's voice came over my intercom, "Tom, is everything ready in the conference room?"

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Statler."

"Very good, we'll meet you in there in five minutes." I immediately headed down the hall to fire up the laptop. While glancing over the presentation one last time, I looked up to see the wheelchair in the lead with the nurse right behind. As she got closer, I recognized her right away. She was looking down talking to the man in the chair but stopped dead in her tracks when she looked back up and saw me. The rest of the group almost ran into her.

"Hi, Kathy," I said with more feeling than I wanted to reveal.

The guy in the wheelchair looked up at her as she almost whispered my name. "Tom."

The guy in the chair looked back at me, "You two know each other?"

Kathy looked back down at him. "Honey, this is Tom Rhyland, we kind of grew up together."

I didn't know why, I was a happily married man, but hearing her address him as Honey, made my heart stop for a beat. Mr. Statler was behind them with everyone else behind him. He cleared his throat.

"Oh, I'm sorry," begged Kathy, as she pushed the chair through the doorway. Once everyone was inside, Mr. Statler started the introductions. "Tom, you obviously already know Mrs. Shriver, this is her husband, Mr. Charles Shriver. He's the mayor of Bridgeton, California. The filtration system isn't inside his city limits but it's close enough that he wanted to come and see what impact, if any, it would have on his town."

I greeted everyone with a smile and a handshake before getting into the presentation. Even with all the preparation and practice I'd put into it, I was having a very difficult time keeping my mind on what I was doing. The fact that I couldn't talk to her was killing me but I had to remain professional, not to mention that her husband being there also presented a barrier.

Despite the distraction, my presentation was a hit. Afterward, we all walked out to the parking lot. I saw Kathy and her husband had rented a van with a wheelchair lift. I was going to volunteer to go with them as their guide to the restaurant but Mr. Statler already called dibs.

The restaurant had several tables pushed together for all of us and I was seated so far from Kathy I never got a chance to say a word to her.

At the plant, it was the same situation. I got the impression Mr. Statler was deliberately keeping us as far apart as he could. I was a happily married man with a wonderful wife and child, yet those words my dad said twenty years ago were very true; you never forget your first. I felt almost like a kid again, pining for the love of my life. I was extremely disappointed when we returned to the offices. After more than twenty years, the most I got to say to Kathy was hello and goodbye.

Claire and I never really spoke about our previous lovers so I saw no reason to talk about it when I got home, but I struggled not to cry while watching one of their romcoms with her and Stacy later that night.

I was still a little depressed the next day when my secretary told me I had a call. I picked up the phone, "This is Tom Rhyland, can I help you?"

"Hi, Tom." I would have recognized her voice even if I hadn't seen her the day before.

"Kathy... wha... a... are you back in California?"

"No, we're still here. Would you be able to get away for lunch? I'd... I'd really like to catch up some; we didn't get a chance to talk at all, yesterday."

"You name the time and place and I'll be there."

"We're only a few blocks down the road from you. I saw a little restaurant not far away called Plato's Place, do you know it?"

"Yeah, I've eaten there many times; they have great food. They're pretty packed at noon, can you make it one o'clock."

"That'll be fine. I'll see you then."

I knew I had no right to feel like I did, but I couldn't help it. The whole world seemed brighter as I hung up. She was already there when I walked in. As soon as I approached her table, Kathy stood up and hugged me like she missed me as much as I missed her. She turned her head and kissed me on the cheek then hugged me again even harder.

We finally broke our embrace and sat down. "God, Tom, I couldn't believe it when I saw you yesterday. When I knew we were coming to Chicago, I thought about looking you up but I didn't even know if you still lived here."

"You know what they say about taking the boy out of Chicago," I replied with a smile. I couldn't believe how my heart was pounding from sitting so close to her. I had one question I had to ask before we started talking and I forgot it. "Kathy, why didn't you call? For two weeks, I barely moved six feet from the phone while waiting."

"I'm sorry, Tom, my dad convinced me not to. He said long distance relationships never worked out and we were two-thousand miles apart. He said one of us would eventually find someone else and it would break the other's heart. He told me it was better to just go cold turkey. I... I shouldn't have listened to him but I did. I'm sorry, Tom."

"You don't have to apologize, Kath, he was probably right. You obviously did find someone else... a Mayor no less."

"Yeah, Chuck; we went together for two years before we were married. He was a local policeman with four years on the force when I met him. Five years later he was named Chief of Police. Then one night he unknowingly walked into a robbery in progress. They recognized him and shot him before he could even reach for his gun. The bullet pierced his spine and he lost the use of his legs."

"Jesus, Kathy, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, things were pretty bad for a while. He didn't know what to do with himself. Then a friend of his who was on the force told him the Mayor wasn't going to run for re-election and encouraged him to run. He was elected overwhelmingly."

"He sounds like quite a guy."

She smiled, "Jealous?"

"Yeah, a little. Is there someone taking care of him while you're with me?"

"His sister; before we left, I said I'd like to look up a few old friends while I was here so she came along. She's been a great help through the years. What about you; are you married?"

"Oh, yeah, I have a loving wife and wonderful daughter. What about you... kids?"

"We had two boys before he was shot, that ended the prospect of any more."

"Damn, that's got to be rough."

"Don't get any ideas," she said with a smile, "I would never cheat on him."

"Kathy, I'd never ask you to, nor would I ever cheat on Claire."

She was still smiling. "I was joking, Tom. It's been more than twenty years but I haven't forgotten that sense of right from wrong of yours. You had it even as a kid."

We continued to talk and reminisce for the next two hours. God, how I hated it to end but I had to get back and so did she. I think we were both holding back tears when it was time to say goodbye. We hugged but the farewell kiss was on the lips instead of the cheek. We hugged again in the parking lot. As she drove away, I couldn't hold them back any longer and had to wipe tears from my eyes before driving back to work.

I wasn't much use for the rest of the afternoon. I couldn't get over how it felt to be in her presence again knowing it would be the last time I'd ever see her.

I also struggled with the thought of telling Claire that I kissed another woman. I debated back and forth and finally asked myself what purpose it would serve. Yeah, it was on the lips and yes, it didn't lack passion, but it wasn't a romantic kiss or a—we're going to have an affair kiss--it was a goodbye kiss; a kiss that had to last both of us a lifetime. Telling Claire would needlessly make her angry... yet it seemed like the right thing to do.