The Valentine's Day gift that changed my life
Author's note:
To anyone put off by the first paragraph of this story, I urge you to please stick with it. -N2P
Something incredible, improbable, and life-altering happened to me recently and I still have trouble believing it. I, a 63-year-old man, had sex with an extremely attractive 21-year-old woman. No, I know what you're thinking. I didn't pay for it. I don't have the kind of money it takes to be a sugar daddy or to have the young hotties chasing after me just to get their hands on my cash. And no, she's not my daughter's friend or my friend's daughter or anything like that. Oh, I'm also not a rapist, of either the Cosby variety or any other. Just want to make that clear. Nope. None of that. This is a girl I met in a coffee shop. So how did it all happen? Well let me tell ya...
My name's Dan. I'm retired. I've got a pension from my time in the Air Force and a little 401K money from a few years in Real Estate, so a couple years ago I decided to just hang it up and spend the rest of my time doing what I like, instead of what other folks want from me. I was married for almost 32 years until she got cancer and passed away eight years ago. I've got a couple of kids from that marriage and I do enjoy visiting them and helping out when they need it, but that's not too often. They're grown and pretty independent. So mostly I spend my time now playing golf, helping out as a volunteer handyman with County Senior Services, and reading. I like to read. Always have.
For the last year or so I've done most of my reading at a small local coffee shop. The place is cozy, has good light, and it's not too busy, so they let me sit there pretty much as long as I like. I'd rather be there than sitting at home by myself. Plus I can sip a cup and maybe gnaw on a pastry or a sandwich now and then while I read. I like to think of myself as a friendly enough guy, but I'm not particularly outgoing. I'm not a big talker, and there've been plenty of days when I just sit there for 3-4 hours without saying anything more than telling the workers my order, and saying thank you when they hand it to me.
About 4 months ago, Suzanne started working there. I noticed her right away. I may be old, but I'm not blind and I'm not dead. She had dark, kind of tussled, shortish hair, piercing blue eyes, and nice, full lips. My wife had the same basic combo, and I've always gone for it. Suzanne didn't really look like Brenda, but that look was definitely "my type." She was medium height, trim, and although her apron kind of covered up her figure, when it wasn't pulled too tight and she was walking away, her ass looked just about perfect.
So she wasn't just cute, she was my kind of cute. And it got even better. After she'd worked there a few weeks, just from what I could overhear and observe and notice from my brief interactions with her, she had more personality than probably the rest of the staff put together. She was also smart. She was quick with a quip and little comments trying to make conversation with the customers, or interacting with the staff. For me, after she noticed I was a regular, she was always trying to get me to try some new coffee drink, not even ones on the menu, just stuff she made up.
Our little conversations were always brief and fairly professional, but with that tiny extra dose of friendly that keeps customers coming back and feeling good. Often she would notice the book I was reading and ask me about it. It started out with a simple, "Whatchya readin' Dan?" and then it took off from there. I didn't know anything about her personal life, how old she was, whether she had a boyfriend, or even if she dated guys or girls. I didn't know if she was in college or was a high school dropout, but I knew she like Vonnegut, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Raymond Chandler and Raymond Carver, could speak intelligently about them, and she also had a real dislike for self-help books and pop psychology.
Suzanne was damn cute, funny, smart, well-read, and I liked her a lot. It's not really fair to say I had a thing for her though. True, I liked looking at her, and talking to her, even briefly, was often the highlight of my day, but I was three times her age. She was younger than either of my kids. Even when I was her age she'd have probably been out of my league, looks-wise. I never really thought she was flirting with me, not even a little bit. The thought of my getting together with her in any kind of way outside the coffee shop was basically too far-fetched to even waste time thinking about.
"You wouldn't happen to have a mother that's single, would you?" I asked her once. That was the closest thing to flirting I ever tried with her. I know that sounds a little creepy, but trust me, in context it was mostly funny.
She just laughed to herself a little, got a far away look for a second, and replied, "I did, but she's dead now."
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! My fat mouth"
"That's OK. It was a few years ago. She probably would have liked you, though, Dan," and then she had to duck back behind the counter to wait on some customers.
It was another one of my stupid little comments that sort of marked a turning point in our relationship. I'd just watched her be especially caring and patient with an elderly woman who, due to tremors in her hand, had just spilled her coffee for the second time and as she passed me after cleaning it up, not annoyed in the least, I said, "You know what's different about you, Suzanne? Unlike all the other people who work here, you actually give a fuck."
"Uh...thanks...I think." She smiled at me in a kind of amused way as she paused, and then took the sopping towel back to the sink to wring it out.
The next time I saw Suzanne was only a couple of days after I'd made that comment. It was actually Valentine's Day, which also happened to be my old anniversary, although I didn't celebrate that anymore. I came in about 9:15am, after the morning rush had died down. The place was fairly quiet. I got my usual order and was lucky to grab my favorite table, which was small and round, with just two seats, near a window, and in the most secluded corner of the place. A few minutes after 10:00 Suzanne came and sat down across from me. Despite seeing me there nearly every day for the last four months, she had only sat down to chat with me twice before, and both of those times it was about something I'd been reading. Today, although I had a book in my pocket, I was just scrolling through my phone.
"Hey Dan!" Her tone was cheery as she greeted me, but there was something different about her expression. I couldn't quite place it yet. She looked at me directly in the eyes, looking a little more deeply than a person normally would, really looking. "Did you know you have really kind eyes?"
"Huh. Funny you should mention that. That's what my wife said to me on our first date."
She smiled. "Smart lady. She knew. She could see it. You try to come off all crusty sometimes but it's there. I bet she fell for you right away, didn't she?"
"Oh I don't know. She wouldn't even kiss me until the 4th date, but I think we both felt right away that there might be something there."
"I bet she knew. I'd really like to hear about her if you'd be willing to tell me more."
This was definitely out of the ordinary. Like I said, we had never really gotten personal, although she did know I was a widower. I liked her. She probably knew I liked her. And I felt like, at least as a crusty but basically kind regular customer, she enjoyed me too. "Sure. I could tell you about her sometime."
"Good. I'd like that." She smiled very sweetly. Sweet and sincere was not her usual. She usually had her wisecracking guard up. She was silent for a moment, then she spoke again. "You know today is Valentine's Day."
