I'm Chris, a fifty or so naval officer working and living near our nation's capital (Canberra). I'm also recently estranged, having been happily married for 20 years, or so I thought. You see, my wife met someone else shortly after we met, when she travelled to the US to visit family. I thought we were serious back then but she declared her new love when she got back - a short lived romance. Months later she decided to stay with me (I was persistent!) and we married a year later. Roll forward 20 years and they find each other again online - the only reason I knew about it was a slip up when he sent an email to our family email account. A little detective work and I had the social media channel they were using and I kept track of their comms - basically I was still a friend but she loved, and yearned for, him.
Three years ago we came into some significant money. After a short pause and some planning we invested and spent moderately, knowing full well that spending big now would not help us in the long run. I stayed in the Navy, just for fun in some respects, she retired and enjoyed her earlier than expected freedom. Maybe I was naive, but that soon turned into her revelation that she loved someone else and that she was joining him again to see if they could make a future together. Even though I had been keeping an eye on their rekindled love I was still devastated. I told her that I saw the email from a number of years ago but thought nothing of it - I did not mention my detective work, which proved useful as I saw the subsequent discussion between them. I told her that I still loved her nonetheless and that I was hurt, but understood. I would still be here for her, always - I meant it and still do mean it. I also knew from their communications that it was a hard decision for her, little comfort that it was for me.
I have always been a shy, withdrawn person. I'm not overly handsome, not athletically built, rather on the slightly chubby side. I do look after myself, though, and have often been told that I look five, sometimes ten (I wish!) years younger than my age.
I'd had a couple of girlfriends but they didn't last long - basically I didn't know what to do and went too quickly - scared them off. I had had a number of quick flings - again nothing came of them. Meeting her in my early thirties I was a little more mature, but this time my persistence paid off. I have always been a bit of a ladies man, flirting etc - sometimes that came off creepy but most of the time I was completely innocent and nothing happened - I just like the look of a female that looks after herself and is confident. My wife in fact encouraged it, pointing out young ladies, confident - correctly - that I was just viewing with no further outward actions. I did sometimes fantasise but that's as all.
Caitlin worked in the local Chemists as a pharmacy assistant. When she left school she literally became an adult, her look and dress changed, for which I instantly complemented her - elegant but not over the top - a beautiful, confident young lady. We would always end up chatting when I went in, her uni studies, hopes for the future, holidays as well as general stuff. Through pure observation, I worked out that she was indeed 18, she lived with her mum and three sisters; I was able to store away tidbits of information about this lovely young lady. Turns out I also knew her mum, Linda, from work - 10 or so years younger than me; Linda was a stunner from what I remember and I later saw that her four daughters clearly had their mother's genes.
Yes I fantasised about Caitlin, and probably lusted after her; I made sure I didn't do anything to put her off, let alone creepy, yet I did not have any illusion that it would go anywhere. She certainly had my attention, and I would take every opportunity to speak with her - I would later learn that it was clear that I sought and made a beeline for her every time I went in the Chemists and the happiness in my face when I saw her was something she looked forward to - she made a point of smiling back and was happy to go the extra mile and chat with me. She didn't think that I was a dirty old man or anything like that - she enjoyed the attention. Why not - get the attention that is - after all she was 5'5, blonde, quite slim but not an undernourished waif, great breasts, not too large but accentuated by her tight fitting chemist branded shirt, a lovely shapely ass, again accented, lovely engaging smile and she was great to talk with.
Looking back, my demeanour was completely different in the Chemists, depending on whether Caitlin was there. Dirty old man if the cap fits, definitely infatuated. Again, your honour, I didn't do anything ...
After my wife left to join her boyfriend, and see if that could work out, I still visited the Chemists to pick up small items and drop off my dry cleaning - previously it was mainly to get her prescriptions. Being behind the Prescription counter, I had less innocent reason to talk with Caitlin, but I would always seek her out (again this was obvious to Caitlin), and say hello. I did also meet and strike up discussion with her younger sister Brooke - taller and less sexily dressed than Caitlin but clearly blessed with the same genes. I had to be really careful though as she was jailbait - being 16 when I first met her! Stop it Chris!! They would latter both confirm that my interest in, or at least attention to them, was obvious and they would talk about it, but only between themselves. Brooke knew that I was smitten with Caitlin. Here was me trying to be discrete.
Extremely few people knew that my wife had left - it was not final as far as I am concerned, and I said nothing to the people at the Chemists. In hindsight they knew that something was up - at least the people that mattered or cared, Caitlin and Brooke. I didn't try and get back on the horse, so to speak, or drown my sorrows.
One Friday my team and I had a night out, dinner at a nice place in the city. We adjourned for after dinner drinks but even that petered out pretty quickly. Even the two single youngsters, who talked me into another nightcap, retired or moved on early. I nursed my last drink before leaving myself, but I did quietly scan the bar and observe the fairer sex, while trying not to look like a creep. It's was a 'uni' bar so the clientele was appropriately young; even with my youthful looks I knew I would look look like a creep.
Suddenly I felt two arms wrapped around my neck, a squeeze of a hug and a kiss on the cheek - more prolonged than a peck, a very moist kiss. 'Hi, fancy seeing you here', the hands withdrew and off she went; Caitlin, looked back with a coy smile and blew me a kiss. She joined a larger group, all female, at the other end of the still crowded bar - looked back at me again with a smile as she slowly, and I'm sure for my viewing, swallowed the end of her beer bottle. I smiled back and returned to my drink, trying very hard again not to look like a creep.
