Maybe Later 03: Download

Maybe Later

A tale of three fantasies: a rewarding life can be lived without a partner, a satisfying life can be lived without sex, and deserved rewards always await those who are patient.

*

Louann Freeman was surprised to find herself excited -- and nervous - as she drove down the busy freeway. She thought about the scoop-necked blouse she had chosen for the occasion. The blouse displayed her cleavage in a conservative way, but as she selected it, she was afraid it showed more than she was comfortable with. Now she giggled to herself,

Louann, you vixen!

Louann glanced at her watch. She didn't want to be late to meet her brother-in-law, Brett, and it still appeared she would be plenty early. Still, late on a Friday afternoon, there were ample chances for traffic to be snarled. Even so, she found parking well before their four o'clock target, at the Marriott where his conference was held.

Brett was sitting in the lobby, engrossed in USA Today's sports section, trying to learn how his Red Sox fared in the American League playoffs. Louann escaped his notice as she entered. Standing now directly behind him, she bent down and hissed in his ear, "Hey, big fella! Buy a girl a drink?"

Startled, Brett spun around, quickly enough to catch a flash of Louann's attractive cleavage as she stood back up. "Hey, babe! Great to see you!" he roared.

Louann replied as they hugged one another, "You're looking good." Then, with a grin, she added, "For an old-timer." Brett started to whack her bum with the newspaper but thought better of it in the crowded lobby.

Agreeing that an early dinner might be a good idea, especially in the face of the on-going rush hour, Brett suggested the Arcadia Restaurant there in the Marriott, saying, "I've had pretty good luck with it for the couple of days I've been here."

Over wine and small talk, Louann watched her brother-in-law across the table from her.

Time has been good to him,

she thought. Indeed, though his waist was a little bigger now, he still appeared fit and trim. Where many others his age looked old and gray, Brett's gently lined face and graying temples spoke of mature confidence and wisdom. Louann liked the man she saw.

Brett, too, was impressed with his table mate. He had always found her attractive, and her advancing years had mellowed her. Far from the "old woman" many her age had become, her whole being exuded enthusiasm and worldly sagacity.

Yes,

Brett thought,

she's still a damned attractive package!

>>>>> 0 <<<<<

"

Hey Brett," Louann said brightly as they sat in her den over wine, "you know something about computers. Perhaps you can help me. I can't figure out how to download some recipes from my cousins' e-mails."

"Lady, I can help you out with

any

thing you want," Brett replied with a leering grin and a lifted eyebrow.

Louann smiled coyly. "I'm sure you can!" She, too, raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you get on line and I'll see what I can do?"

She offered him her swivel chair, but he refused it, saying, "You go ahead and drive. You'll remember what we did better that way."

As she brought her system up, Brett stood behind her. He became aware she was wearing a fragrance he didn't recognize.

Nice,

he thought.

Nicely understated, subtle.

Louann felt Brett's hands on her shoulders as he stood behind her. They felt strong.

"OK, open one of the e-mails that has a recipe in it," he suggested.

As she clicked on one of the e-mails, Brett began to knead the muscles of her shoulders, at first through the fabric of the blouse, then working up the skin nearer her neck. Glancing down, he couldn't help but see her shapely chest again, and he stared unabashedly at the topside of her abundance.

Louann warmed to the touch of his hands and she sensed a thrill at his attention. She waited for Brett's next suggestion after she pulled up an e-mail. After a moment, she surmised a reason for the delay.

Hmmm,

she thought with a sly grin,

is it the blouse that's got his attention? Or me?

With that, she shrugged her shoulders forward, as if enjoying the back rub -- which she was - and offering him a view of her bosom obstructed only by her lace-trimmed black bra.

Louann, you scamp!

she scolded herself.

"OK, here's one," she reported. "And get your eyes back on the screen."

"Oops! Busted," Brett confessed, red-faced. Then he thought,

Interesting choice of words, dummy!

Louann chuckled, letting him off the hook. "Hey, cowboy, one project at a time! Let's get on with

this

project. What should I do next?" And suddenly she gulped when she realized how forward her comment sounded.

Whoa,

Brett thought as he noted what she said, but chose to play it straight. He prompted her, "Now show me where the recipe is." He continued his massage, working his thumbs and fingers towards her neck. When she displayed the recipe part of the e-mail, he leaned forward to read it, resting his cheek against hers. As he did, he tried to discretely adjust in his pants what was becoming an uncomfortable distraction.

"Open a new document in Word," he whispered, his lips touching her ear.

Louann fought to concentrate on the download. Besides, Brett was now massaging her neck muscles. Her body tingled at every motion of his electric fingers, and she shivered inadvertently as his fingers approached her temples. Despite a little voice within her that said,

Hey, hey, hey, better stop this!

she didn't resist as Brett tipped her head back and placed a tentative kiss on her forehead.

With that, Louann stood and turned around to respond to Brett in kind. In her brief, fleeting dream, a thousand violins soared in passion as she rose, turned and they embraced one another with infinite fervor.

In her stark reality, she lost her balance and fell in a heap on the floor. Brett tried to grab her to break her fall, and the two ended up nose to nose on the carpet.

"Oh, jeez, Louann, are you OK?" Brett asked.

Louann couldn't answer, as she burst into laughter at the absurdity of the fall. Seeing she was unhurt, Brett joined in her laughter. After a few moments they regained their composure.

"What do you say we continue this download thing tomorrow," Louann suggested.

Brett chuckled. "Yeah,

this

download wasn't very artful."

Soon their laughter subsided, and as silence enveloped them, both sighed.

Louann and Brett each felt a sense of relief that a moral issue, still a very important one to each of them, was resolved, at least for the moment.

"We probably ought to call it quits for the evening," Brett suggested. There was more than a hint of disappointment in his voice. Louann just as reluctantly agreed, and they helped one another to stand up from the floor.

Brett gathered Louann in an awkward hug, awkward because neither of them knew what was an appropriate way of parting for the evening. "Thanks, Louann, for putting me up these couple of days," he said quietly, and he struggled to say more but couldn't come up with the right words.

"It's you that deserve the thanks," Louann replied as she wrapped her arms around him. Their eyes met, and for another awkward moment each wondered if a kiss would be the right thing to do now.

However, they broke the hug, wished each other a good night and trudged down the hall, she to her master bedroom, and he to the guest room.

Brett,

she thought as she made her way to her bedroom. Louann sat on the side of her bed, staring unseeing at the mirror above her dresser. She was lost in thought, marveling at what had happened over the last twenty-four hours or so.

As late as yesterday afternoon she had considered herself to be an older woman, well on her way to spinsterhood. Not long before, idly noodling on the internet, she googled 'Spinster.' "Single, childless, middle-aged, 'proper'" read one definition, and she winced to hear herself in those four words. Another author had said, "living somewhat depressed, and longing to be like other 'normal' women."

She was quietly amazed at the moment at hand. On the one hand, she was exhilarated to be so obviously appreciated as a woman by no less a man than Brett.

Could this 'spinster' indeed become a 'normal' woman?

For years she had sought to be appreciated as a colleague, as an equal in a man's world. She distained the deprecating comments and remarks her male counterparts usually made. But this evening she sensed Brett accepted her not only as an equal intellectually, but as a something far more significant than a mere sex object. This man she respected

and loved?

found her stimulating as a woman! But the

'and loved'

part stuck in her throat. It could not be true. If it was, it was scary as Hell.

On the other hand, Louann was heartsick to have been so appreciated -- and that she wanted Brett's desire for her to continue, and, dare she think it, perhaps even to deepen. This is the sinfully forbidden fruit.

This is your sister's husband!

she scolded herself.

Brett. Sincere, reliable, gentlemanly Brett. Brett, the unattainable,

she mused.

Idly gazing into her mirror, she spied a small framed photo beside it. Two sisters looked back at her, giddy with laughter

Still lost in thought, she slowly undressed, then she stopped, looking again at Linda in the photograph.

Still staring at the photo, Louann put on her pajamas and collapsed onto her bed in tears.

Brett absent-mindedly opened his suitcase and pawed through it, looking for his bag with his toothbrush. His thoughts were still on the woman so recently in his arms, so temptingly near to his touch. Despite the knowledge that he shouldn't be, he knew he was drawn to her. And further damning was the thought that she had responded, that she, too, felt something more than family kinship.

Beneath the rubble of dirty clothes was the couple-of-days-worth of clothes Linda had packed for his stay with Louann.

Aw Linda,

he thought,

why is this so damn difficult! You don't care any longer, you haven't responded to me for years. All I am to you is a damn paycheck. Why do I still feel so guilty that I'm attracted to this woman?

In the quiet Brett thought he heard a sob. He sat up, alert now, listening. That would be so un-Louann, he thought. She was always strong, composed. He could never remember seeing her crying.

After several minutes he knocked softly on her bedroom door. "You OK, Lou?"

"Yeah."

"Do we need to talk?"

"In the morning."

"You sure?"

After a long moment, Louann replied, "Yeah. But in the morning, just the same."

"You crying, Louann?"

"No," she lied. "Shut the lights off when you head off to bed, would you?"

"OK," Brett replied. "Can do. Goodnight, and thanks."

"Goodnight Brett, see you in the morning."

Neither guest nor hostess slipped quickly to sleep, each keenly aware of the electricity between them not long before. Each was very aware that an opportunity had slipped away, perhaps never again to recur. And truth be known, each was disappointed.

Louann had wondered over the years if this moment might ever happen, and if it did, what she would feel. That Brett found her physically attractive was keenly exciting, and as she thought about his touch and his rather obvious reaction, her whole body tingled in ways she had almost forgotten. Her resolve to give fate a chance during the rest of Brett's visit became a commitment.

>>>>> 0 <<<<<

Three thousand miles away, Linda Bailey smiled. Then soberly she wondered. And doubted...

I wonder if I should have told them,

she wondered.

Should I have told them it was OK, that as far as I was concerned I released them from any bond or vow or whatever.

Naw, they'll figure it out,

she concluded nearly aloud to the fat ugly image she tried to avoid in the mirror.