One of the best amenities to my last apartment was my next door neighbors. They consisted of a mother and her two daughters.
Veronica, the mother, was a teacher, around my age and, like me, was divorced. About my height, she was on the taller side for a woman, and very attractive. You could tell that she had been very beautiful when she was younger, but had gone through a lot in life, and it had all taken it's toll on her.
Her oldest daughter, Beth, was in her junior year at a local college and drop dead gorgeous. The best part about her, though, was that she either didn't realize just HOW gorgeous she was, or didn't care.
Lastly, there was the youngest daughter, Meghan. She was in her first year of college, and a younger, thinner version of her mother. She gave me a good idea of what Veronica must have looked like in her teens and early twenties.
All three women helped me when I moved in, and I helped them when things needed repairing in their apartment. We all got to be pretty good friends, even to the point of having a few holiday dinners together.
The apartment complex had a pool, and during the hot summer days, it wasn't unusual for them to ask me to go with them, so that they had a male figure to ward off any unwanted attention. Not that I minded, having three beautiful women to accompany. The girls always wore bikinis, and Veronica was usually in a tight one-piece that showed off quite a bit of her fine figure.
One day, all four of us were there, and Veronica was sitting next to me, sunning herself, while the girls swam. I watched as she looked over at her daughters, and then sighed.
"Why the big sigh?" I asked.
"Oh, I was just remembering when I had that kind of body," she replied. "That was a long time ago."
"Well, at the risk of being too forward, or sexist, I think that you still have a great body," I told her truthfully.
"Please," she responded. "I'm twenty-five pounds heavier that they are, and at least twenty years older. Gravity's been a bitch on my body."
"You've also had two kids, and, as you pointed out, have twenty years of fighting the elements of aging," I told her. "As I said, in my not-so-humble opinion, you look great."
"Well thank you," she said. "But I've also seen a couple of the women that you've brought home, and I can't even compete with them, much less my own daughters."
"If I may be so bold," I told her, "you can not only compete, you can put up a hell of a fight."
"Believe me," I continued, "if I thought I had a chance, I'd ask you out in a heartbeat."
Before anything else was said, her daughters started yelling to her to take a dip in the pool to cool off. "That sounds like a good idea," she said quietly, as she got up and dove into the water.
I silently thanked the inventor of dark sunglasses as I watched her and her daughters moving around in the water.
The following Friday, I was getting out of my truck in the parking lot when Veronica pulled up next to me. We started talking as we walked into the building together, and I sensed that something was bothering her, so I asked her about it.
"It's nothing, really," she told me. "I've just got a lot on my mind, and it's been a long week. Between teaching summer school, and dealing with my ex, I just need some 'me' time."
"Well, if you're not doing anything later, why don't you come over tonight, I'll mix up a batch of Margaritas, and we can sit on my balcony and get nice and drunk," I suggested.
She looked at me for a long second, and then smiled, replying, "That sounds nice. I'll stop by after dinner."
A few hours later, Veronica was knocking on my door. As I let her in, I took a nice, long look at her and smiled. She was wearing a light sun dress and a pair of sandals, and she had let her long, auburn hair down, something that I had only seen her do a couple of times.
"Wow. You DID lose some weight," I told her as I led her to my balcony.
"You can tell?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah!" I replied. "I thought you looked different when we were talking earlier, but I can really tell, now. With your hair down, you look even thinner, too!"
"Thank you," she responded, blushing lightly. "I've got to do something to compete with my daughters."
"Honestly, you don't have to do anything to compete with them," I told her. "Hell, I think that they've got to compete with you."
"Oh, stop," she told me, as she sat down. "But, thank you, again."
I brought out a pitcher of Margaritas and we started working our way through it as we sat and watched the sunset.
"So, what's bothering you?" I asked finally, as we were about halfway through the pitcher.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked, as she took off her sunglasses and looked at me.
I had never noticed just how beautiful her dark eyes were until then, and I was speechless for a second.
"You can ask me anything you want," I told her.
"Did you mean what you said the other day, about asking me out in a heartbeat, if you thought you had a chance?"
"Absolutely," I told her.
"Well what makes you think that you don't have a chance?" she asked.
"Well, as busy as you are teaching, and with your daughters, I didn't think that I had much of a chance, and to tell you the truth, I didn't know if I was your 'type'," I said.
"Well, first off, I really don't have a 'type'," she started. "Second, the girls are old enough that they have their own lives."
"What about those women that I've seen you with, though?" she continued. "One of them had to be at least fifteen years younger than you."
"What about them?" I asked.
"Well, looking at them, I wouldn't think that I was YOUR type," she said.
I laughed, and replied, "Well, just like you, I don't have a type, either. I look at each woman individually and decide whether or not I like them."
"That's a good, and unfortunately unique, policy to have," she said, sipping on her drink.
We continued to knock off the pitcher of Margaritas and talk, and I watched her. She truly was a beautiful woman, and it almost seemed like she was getting her youthful looks back as she lost weight.
We soon finished off the pitcher, and I asked her if she wanted me to make another one. "Why not?" she replied. "I like sitting out here, and I'm not going anywhere tomorrow."
"Good answer," I told her, as I stood up and grabbed the pitcher.
She walked inside with me and told me that she wanted to run next door for a second. As I was finishing mixing the next pitcher, Veronica walked back in, looking very happy. "Well, both girls are out for the evening," she said. "So, I don't even have to worry about getting home anytime soon. I'm glad that you invited me over tonight, otherwise I'd be sitting there all alone."
"I'm glad you took me up on my invite," I told her, walking her back onto the balcony and handing her a full drink. "Because It would really be a waste for both of us to be sitting alone tonight."
"To not being alone on a night like this," she said, raising her glass.
"Especially when there's such a beautiful woman so close," I added, clinking my glass against hers.
I saw her blush as she took a drink, and she replied, "Well, thank you."
As I looked at her again, I noticed that she had undone two more buttons on the front of her dress, and I could now see a little lace peeking over the top.
"What?" she asked, seeing me look at her.
"Nothing," I answered. "I'm just enjoying my view."
"Stop it," she said, blushing again.
"Am I making you feel uncomfortable?" I asked, not wanting to scare her off.
"Uncomfortable?" she responded. "No, not uncomfortable."
"At least, not in a bad way," she added softly.
"I'm making you uncomfortable, in a GOOD way?" I asked, teasing her.
"Kind of," she replied. "Between the Margaritas and your smooth talking, I'm getting a little...warm."
"Well, we have a whole pitcher of Margaritas, and we can't let those go to waste, so would you like me to stop my 'smooth talking'?" I asked, smiling at her.
"Not at all," she replied, smiling back. "It's been a long time since a man's complimented me like this."
"That's a shame," I told her.
"So why haven't I seen any of your 'friends' around lately?" Veronica asked, trying to change the subject. "Honestly?" I replied, "I just decided that I wanted more than just a momentary fling. Don't get me wrong, the 'sex simply to have sex' concept has it's upsides, but I still think that it's more enjoyable when it's with someone that you care about, and want to be around for more than just sex."
"The 'friends-with-benefits' type of relationship?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"That's one way to put it, yes," I answered. "At our age, we can get to be too busy to have a 'traditional' relationship, but I don't see any reason why we can't still make love with a friend, but not be IN love with them."
Veronica didn't say anything while she sipped her drink and looked at me.
"I've scared you," I said after a couple of minutes.
"Not at all," she replied. "To tell you the truth, I'm intrigued."
"Oh, really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. "Intrigued, how?"