The skies above Ludington Street had a fuzzy brightness as the sun sought to penetrate the clouds, but there was still a crust of snow along the curbs. I was passing one of the earnest-looking brick buildings that housed apartments plus a few shops on the ground floor, taking in the sights, getting acclimated to my new home.
I had recently moved to Escanaba on the Upper Peninsula (or "U.P.", as the native "Yoopers" prefer to call it.) It had been over two decades since my last visit to the U.P., under very different circumstances. In those days I was in the music business, traveling to Marquette from time to time to perform at the night spots there which cater to the teeming crowds of summer tourists. Now I was in a much different line of work, editing trade publications for an organization which was inexplicably based in this little community.
It was Monday of my third week in town, and I was wandering around the rustic city center on my lunch hour. Impulsively, I walked into a local coffee shop. This was no Starbucks - the names of the beverages were less grandiose, and the decor less impersonal. There was a nautical motif, relics of ships that I suppose must have sailed Lake Michigan at one time or another. I ordered an espresso, and I didn't need to go to a holding area to receive it. The very same clerk who took my order, a placid blond gal with apple cheeks and an old-school apron, made the espresso and handed it to me. I thanked her and turned to walk to my table, and almost ran into Hannah.
Hannah had changed a bit in more than 20 years. She was heavier, which was fine with me, and wore glasses now. Instead of wearing her dark hair long, she had it in a short bob. She was dressed conservatively, which was the most dramatic change in her appearance. When I used to see her in clubs where I was performing, her attire was always on the provocative side, showing lots of thigh and cleavage. In those days I was married, and Hannah was my secret indiscretion.
She gave me a deer-in-the-headlights look for an instant, then quickly regained her composure. "Why hello, Andre, it's been a long time," she said. "What are you doing in Escanaba?"
"I just moved here. I'm working for SportsTech."
Her face was impassive, but as I studied it I thought I recognized a familiar tension in her jaw, and slightly unfocussed look in her eyes. Perhaps she was remembering those glorious marathon sessions in motel rooms in Marquette.
As if to warn me, she announced, "I'm married now, and I'm working. And I'm on the city council." That was a warning, too, that she was a respectable woman and I must behave myself. It was accompanied by a quick, prim smile of pride at her achievement.
"I'm impressed!" I said with a smile. She looked uncomfortable for a split second, then nodded and said, "Great to see you again." She hesitated for a moment before turning to join a group of women at a table nearby. During that moment she looked up and met my eyes, and I thought I saw that old smolder, although I couldn't be certain.
I drank my espresso alone, then made my way back to my little cubbyhole office and my computers. I busied myself with work for the next few days, but I kept remembering my relationship with Hannah back in the day, and how I watched her on the dance floor in her short skirts and diaphanous blouses, knotted about her midriff, her bra-less tits bouncing to the music. She would make eye contact with me frequently as I played, sending messages of molten lust. At the end of the night I would leave with my bandmates (they all knew I was married, and none suspected that I was cheating.) But the next morning I would check into a different motel bright and early, and Hannah would show up around 9 AM with fire in her eyes.
Thursday night I was cleaning up the kitchen in my little rented townhouse when those images welled up in my memory again, and I found myself climbing the stairs to my bedroom where I took off all my clothes and lay on my bed. As I tickled the underside of my engorged cock, I thought of those Sunday mornings, but instead of the image of the youthful nubile Hannah, I substituted the mature Hannah. I imagined her with glasses, with bigger tits, softer and more responsive to gravity, more ample thighs, and a sexual appetite seasoned with many more years of experimentation and the sort of hunger that strikes women in their 40s and 50s. I imagined the mature Hannah doing all the things we used to do, as well as some new, surprising things, and soon I was spurting semen all over my belly, chest and face.
The next day I returned to the coffee shop, but Hannah was nowhere to be seen. Over the next few weeks, I stopped in there frequently, but fruitlessly.
One night we were in the early hours of a blizzard. The town was largely shut down and very peaceful, with big snowflakes tumbling down in a steady stream. I could hear the soft crunch of my shoes in the snow as I walked across the parking lot to one of those big box stores to buy some groceries and a sweater. The place was almost empty. just a few employees going about their business with a faraway look in their eyes. I went to the clothing section first, passing through the women's clothing on the way to the men's, and suddenly there she was, holding some blouses on hangers. We both stopped in our tracks, and neither of us spoke. As I met Hannah's gaze, I got the distinct impression that she had been thinking about old times, just as I had been. But she didn't smile or speak.
She looked confused for a moment. I imagine that I did, too. Then she turned and began to carry her blouses toward one of the dressing rooms. She stopped after a few strides and turned to look at me. Her face was blank, but her gaze was intense. Then she continued to walk. I paused for a moment, then followed.
She entered a dressing room and closed the door. There was no one near us in the store. I walked up to her dressing room with my heart pounding, and tried the door. It was unlocked, and I went in and closed it behind me.
I turned to her, and she was silently facing me. She was wearing a classy gray suit, with a knee-length skirt. She reached out her hand. I extended my hand in return - for some odd reason, I thought she wanted to shake hands. But instead, she seized my wrist and brought it up under her skirt, placing my palm against her thigh. It was slick with her juices.