To say she was unusual would be a bit of an understatement, but she had been very helpful over the last year and a half. I'm talking about my neighbor, Alyssa. She's only thirty-five, a full twenty years younger than I am, and single, after two failed marriages. But she's surprisingly sweet, though somewhat unusual in her choices. I'd call her Goth, but that doesn't quite fit. She likes black. Black lipstick, black hair, which I'm darn sure isn't her original color, black eye highlights, and of course black clothes. Not the usual Goth style of heavy clothes with chains and heavy boots and such. But black just the same. Black dresses, black micro skirts and micro shorts, black blouses, black tank tops and bare midriff crop tops, and yes, even black bikinis. Not one, but a substantial collection that I had seen her wear over the last four years.
Before the accident almost a year ago, my wife and I had been over to her house frequently for small gatherings and dinners, just as she had been over to ours for cookouts and dinners. Many times, those dinners and gatherings at her house ended up with all of us in her hot tub. Before her divorce almost three years ago, those instances usually included her husband, who had a penchant for hitting on my wife, though unsuccessfully. While she never allowed anything to happen, I always thought she kind of enjoyed the attentions of a twenty-year younger man telling her how hot and sexy she looked.
After the divorce, those dinners and gatherings had rarely included any male friends that weren't already married to one of her female friends. Still, we were always, by a good many years, the oldest of the group, which didn't seem to bother Alyssa or her friends. I had to admit that I enjoyed the views I got from the younger ladies in their bikinis and was surprised on a number of occasions when Alyssa talked my wife into wearing one of her many, tiny, black bikinis instead of her usual, quite conservative, one-piece suit. Many times, there were dares, some taken and some rejected, to lose one piece or another of a bikini, which gave me some pretty spectacular views of Alyssa and her friends. My wife, though, never accepted those dares, only going as far as to put on one of Alyssa's skimpiest thong bikinis, which had barely enough coverage to hide her pussy and nipples, and little of her rather large hairy bush.
I was surprised that my wife never seemed concerned about me being in such close proximity to such voluptuous, curvy, sexy, younger, women wearing damn near nothing, at least while we were in or around the hot tub. I'd even asked her once why she wasn't concerned, getting a kiss and a simple statement that she and Alissa had an understanding, and that I was free to look as much as I wanted, but if I needed to touch anything, all I had to do was ask and she would give me all I could handle. I knew what she meant, but was still surprised, and on a few occasions was tempted to try out her promise in the hot tub, instead of waiting until we were home in our bedroom.
Our time hanging out with Allyssa was a very different dynamic than we'd had most of our married life. Looking wasn't to be obvious, though she knew I'd look if the chance availed itself. Even Janet, my wife's best friend, who was only two years younger than we were, seemed a little surprised at my wife's easy acceptance of Alissa's attire, or lack of it, around me, as well as her friends scanty attire.
Janet had been invited to a number of these gatherings as well, and being as conservative as my wife, never quite allowed a dare to leave her naked, at least in view of me, though one time she did go as far as to get into the jacuzzi wearing nothing but a towel, which unfortunately stayed on the whole time, even in the water. How did I know she was naked under it? Because Allyssa told me that was the dare.
Suzanne and Alyssa had become quite good friends shortly after Alyssa moved in, which wasn't surprising. My wife had always been a very outgoing and friendly person and was friends with all the neighbors around our house. It was fortunate for me that she was, especially after that asshole hit Suzanne while she was riding her bike.
On that day, in a matter of moments, I lost the love of my life, my future, my partner. Quite honestly, if it hadn't been for all her friends rallying around me in those first weeks and months, I honestly don't know what I would have done. Oh, I know how to make a menu, and shop, and cook, and do laundry. I KNOW how to clean, but quite honestly, it's not my strong suit. What I didn't know how to do was to be alone any longer. I'd been married to Suzanne for more than half my life.
All Suzanne's friends worked to help me out, bringing meals, stopping by to hang out with me, all those important things that a person needs to start the long road to recovery. Though a total recovery wasn't even in sight. I simply didn't know how to move past the loss my heart felt.
Alyssa and Janet went that extra mile. They both worked tirelessly to try and build me up, be there for me to cry on, to help me work through the pain and loss to find some form of normalcy in my daily life. And it was starting to work. After almost a year I was getting closer to that point so as when I heard a noise in the house, I didn't look over expecting to see Suzanne walk down the hall, or complain that I left my socks hanging out of the hamper, or that I needed to take the trash out. No, I was finally getting past that state of grief and looking towards what life was going to be like moving forward.
Like I said, I know how to clean, but what to me is clean doesn't even begin to pass muster to either of them or my adult daughters. To that end Janet took it upon herself to hire me a maid. Yep, that's right, a maid. She comes in three times a week and cleans from top to bottom, leaving the house practically spotless. The only thing I have to clean is my dishes. Alyssa was also still in my house daily, checking on me, hanging out, just being there. Some days I'd walk in from work and dinner would be cooking on the stove and she'd be lounging in the family room, watching TV.
It hadn't escaped my thoughts that maybe Allyssa had a desire to be more than just a friend, but I wasn't anywhere near ready for that. When I suggested this to Janet, she protested, asking why I was so sure that I wasn't ready for someone to be more than my friend? Janet, herself, had made the roundabout suggestion one day, that if I wanted, she could move in and then I wouldn't have to pay a maid. I laughed it off, but couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't meant completely as a joke.
"You do know that it's time for you to start to think about life moving on, right? I mean it's almost a year now and you know damn well you aren't good at living alone." Alissa said quietly as we relaxed in her hot tub late one June night.
"I thought we talked about that. You think I need to, I really don't."
"David, have you always been so stubborn?"
"All my life. Just ask Suzanne...Shit." I replied. "Damn, did it again." I whispered to myself.
"There's nothing wrong with thinking about her. You two were part of each other's lives for more years together than apart. So, it's natural. You just need to learn to accept that there are other women in the world and that you don't have to stay mired in the past." She said softly, pushing away from the other side of the hot tub and moving across it toward me. I felt her press her hip against mine as she settled back into the swirling hot water next to me, her hand settling on my thigh. "Look, David. You don't have to forget her. That's not going to happen. No one expects it to. You just need to open your heart up again and realize there are other women out there. If you let yourself, I think you can find a comfortable place in your heart for someone else."
"Like you?"
She leaned a little further into me, her fingers stroking my leg. "We've joked about this, but to be honest, I wouldn't mind, but I also know that I'm not the first thing that pops into your head when you think about a wife. Janet maybe, but not me. You know she want's you, right?"
"You're right, we talked about this. I don't want to date. I don't want to replace Suzanne. I'm fine alone."
"The hell you are. You forget that I see you every day. If it wasn't for coming over here, you probably wouldn't go anywhere. You don't hardly. When was the last time you did anything you loved? Fishing? Camping? Anything?"
"I just don't feel like it."
"That's because you always did it with Suzanne. Now you're afraid to do it alone. Well, I told you I wouldn't push you until summer. Well, in two days it is, summer that is. It's time to pick something to do and take someone. Take Janet. Take me. Take...oh, take someone from work. Hell! Take Rachel if you want."
"You want me to take the maid? Camping?"
"Why not. She's single. She's cute."
"She's the maid. I pay her to clean the house, not go camping."
"That's just an excuse and you know it. I've seen you checking out her big black boobs!"
"I have not!"
"You have too! I saw you. And I saw what watching her did!" She giggled. "You can't hide that."
"Hide what?"
She reached into my lap and grabbed my dick through my swimsuit. "This. It was hard as a rock watching her boobs wiggle around inside that shirt yesterday. Amazing what a pair of tits like that without a bra can do to a man."
"Come on. Really?" I asked, moving her hand off my dick a little reluctantly. I had to admit, it had been a long time since I'd done anything with anyone, and while she had grabbed me more than once in the last few months, all playfully of course, I sorta didn't want to move her hand. "You want me to take the woman I pay to clean my house, camping? What do you think is going to happen? I'll suddenly decide to start having sex with whoever is close by?" I said to her, rolling my eyes.
