Upskirt

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UpskirtIt’s funny where you will find inspiration. I was driving down the street and happened to spy a young woman working in her flower garden. She wore tiny, tight short-shorts and was down on her hands and knees. She was displaying a fine little butt pointed at the street. Clearly, she was not aware of the little show she was providing to passers-by, or maybe she was… I could plainly see her panty lines and the idea for this story was born. This is loooong, longer than I normally write for one chapter. I became very wrapped up in the backstory and the romance. To be quite honest, there is little sex and it’s mostly at the end. I hope you stick with it and enjoy the journey of two pretty ladies. I’d like to thank my editor, drbob80. He took a story that was a mess in places and made it readable. I’d also like to thank leftylooo for reading and giving me encouragement. About ten years ago, I moved into a new home in the suburbs. It’s an average sized three-bedroom home on a cul-de-sac in an upper middle class neighborhood. I have a good job in a relatively stable industry so I felt confident this would be my home for a long time. The downside of my good job is that I work long hours and don’t really have much of a social life. Sadly, the majority of my social life consisted of attending the many block and house parties put on by the homeowner’s association. It’s not easy being the only single female in a family oriented subdivision. At the homeowner’s association parties, many of the good family men would sidle up to me, figuring that since I was single, I would be gagging for it (as the British say). I was not. At these parties, I tried to make certain that I always stayed clear of the men and hung out with the women. I didn’t want them thinking that I was after their husbands. For the most part, I succeeded in that endeavor. Marci from down the street became a particularly good friend. Occasionally, there was a new wife who took offense to her husband talking to me. It rarely happened, but when it did, it didn’t last long. The other ladies seemed to know that their men didn’t interest me and would talk to the offended wife. Eventually, I became good friends with all of the wives because I never failed to hold their men at arm’s length and beyond. Several years ago, the economy took a sharp turn for the worse. Many people lost their jobs and some were not able to recover. There were some families from our little group who lost their homes and had to move away. A few were able to find work locally, but others were forced to move away to distant cities. In any event, we all lost touch with the friends that left our little enclave. Homes that were lost had been foreclosed and sat empty. The lending institutions made certain that the grass was cut, but the lovely little flower gardens became overgrown from lack of attention. After a couple of years, the economy began to recover and house flippers bought some of the homes. However, there was one house on my street that didn’t sell to a flipper and was looking sadder and sadder. It actually sat empty and forlorn for more than three years. Then, some time ago I noticed a moving van parked in the driveway with movers carrying furniture and other items into the garage and house. I didn’t see anybody that seemed to be connected to the house, so I had no idea who had purchased the home. I was thrilled because there was somebody in it and I hoped that the rundown appearance would soon begin to improve. ++++++++++ I am an avid runner. Even though I work long hours, I make time every day to run; it’s my time, my sanctuary. Most days my run takes place early in the morning, but my schedule occasionally interferes with that. When that happens, I will run late in the day. This week I had had a series of meetings at six-thirty in the morning and I didn’t have enough time to run and get ready without getting up at an ungodly hour. So, I was relegated to running late in the day. It was about three weeks after the new neighbors moved in and I had yet to see them. I assumed that while the exterior of the house didn’t look bad, except for the weeds in the flower beds, the inside of the house must be much worse, therefore taking up most of their time. When I ran, my route took me past the house on the way out and then again on the way back. I would glance at the house each time I went by and didn’t see that anything had changed. One Saturday morning, I ran by, glanced at the house and didn’t immediately notice anything out of the ordinary. However, as I was turning my head back, I barely noticed a tiny movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked back and slowed down (almost stopping) because I didn’t see anything which would have caught my attention. As I was about to give up, thinking that the movement was a figment of my imagination, I saw the bottom of a young woman poking out from the weeds in front of the house. As my mind caught up with what I was seeing, I thought ‘Oh My God!’ and then stumbled over my own feet, nearly face planting in the street. I managed to regain my balance before I fell, but the image was burned into my retinas and my brain. It was only a split second look, but the image it left was mesmerizing. She wore tiny, tight, black short-shorts. Her butt was tight and I imagined it to be very firm. The most memorable part of the image was the panty line. Every inch of the line was clearly defined under the shorts. Even though it was just a split-second glance, I swore I saw the groove of her womanhood. I am in pretty good shape from running an average of five miles per day, but I was out of breath by the time I got to the intersection at the end of our street. I ran in place for a couple of minutes, trying to recover my breath. As I recovered, I thought about what I had seen. I became convinced that the vision burned into my memory was absolutely too good to have been true. I rationalized that I had been so surprised to see someone in the yard, that my imagination had run wild. My breathing now having returned to normal, I resumed my run, determined to shake off the ridiculously inaccurate memory as well as the stress of the week. I had two routes that I ran regularly; one was just shy of five miles and one that was about eight and a half miles. When I reached the intersection that determined my route, I never hesitated and took the eight and a half mile turn. I let the endorphins do their job and ran smoothly and effortlessly, letting my mind clear itself of clutter. I barely thought about the vison in the black shorts as I ran. Evidently, my subconscious had been working on a problem from yesterday’s meeting, because I suddenly had an inspiration. I had turned the idea over and over in my head when I realized that not only would my idea work, it would solve an upcoming labor crisis. I was overjoyed. It was then that I became conscious that I had been running on autopilot, because the turn for my street was just ahead. As I assessed my condition I realized that I was breathing normally and my heart rate was just as slow as it would have been if I was sitting at my desk. It made me smile. I wished I could bottle this feeling. I turned down my street and remembered the imaginary girl and her incredible bottom. I looked and was disappointed to see that she wasn’t there. To further my disappointment, I realized that she truly must have been a figment of my imagination. After I got home, I showered and then spent the next several hours on my computer firming up my ideas on labor. By the time I went to bed, the vision in the short-shorts was all but forgotten. ++++++++++ She was a distant memory over the next several weeks as I ran, but didn’t see her. I barely thought about her. On another Saturday morning, I glanced at the house. I didn’t see anything, as usual, and just kept running. I took my long route and felt really good as I turned down my street. Little did I know that I was in for a big surprise. I looked over as I approached her house and was awestruck to recognize the bottom in the black short-shorts. Not only was she real, but the vision was better than I remembered. As I passed, she got up from her hands and stretched her back, letting me see the whole of her butt and her back. The panty line that had tantalized me was revealed to me to be bikini style panties and, under the white tank top she was apparently braless for there was no bra outline. The pride I always had felt in having my breath after the run quickly dissipated, as I was suddenly breathless. I stumbled once again, but, this time, I was unable to regain my footing. I shrieked, “Oh Shiiittt!” as I went down, skinning my knees and my hands in the process. I stayed down for a moment, mentally assessing the damage. I was startled by a soft voice asking, “Are you all right?” My head snapped up and the wearer of the short-shorts was kneeling in front of me with a concerned expression on her face. I was mesmerized and speechless at the vision of Amy Adams in front of me. Of course, I knew it wasn’t Amy Adams, but she could have been her sister. The strawberry blonde hair, the startlingly pale green eyes, cute upturned nose, gorgeous face seemed to be all Amy Adams. I stayed down, staring at her, speechless, my mouth working soundlessly. She started to giggle. I frowned and it made her laugh harder. “I’m sorry,” she snorted,” you look like a baby bird, with your mouth opening and closing.” I still was unable to respond, her beauty overwhelming me. It should have pissed me off, that this person that I didn’t even know making fun of me, but it didn’t. “Come on,” she snickered, “I know you can speak, I heard you swear quite loudly!” I blurted the thing that was at the front of my mind, even though it didn’t answer her question. “You look just like Amy Adams!” I was stunned by her answer, “Of course I do. That’s ’cause I am Amy Adams!” My mouth started working again as I struggled with a response. She laughed aloud and her laughter was contagious and I joined in. “Of course, I’m not her; I just love seeing the reaction to me saying that.” I was grinning when I muttered, “Bitch!” She responded with mock horror, “You called America’s Sweetheart a bitch?!? Shame on you.” As I stared at her, it slowly dawned on me that we were still on the sidewalk in front of her house; me on my hands and knees and “Amy”, kneeling. I cleared my throat, “I ummm, we ought to get up.” I started to rise. She put a firm hand on my shoulder. “Not until you tell me if you’re all right!” I tried to hide a grateful smile at her words. I hadn’t heard that level of compassion directed toward me in a long, long time. “I honestly don’t know.” I grinned. “Maybe if you let me up, we can figure that out.” She snorted a laugh and stood up, holding out her hands. I took them and felt a surge between us. My eyes widened at the unexpected feeling. I looked at her and her eyes had done the same, as though she had felt it too. “Whoa…,” she murmured, confirming that she had felt it. “Ummm, yeah,” I agreed. As we stood there, she didn’t let go and neither did I. We stood quietly, searching each other’s eyes. I finally decided that I needed to say something. “Ummm, maybe I need to introduce myself, since we’re standing here holding hands. I am Kendall Jacobs, and I live in the brick ranch at the end of the street.” She had been looking into my eyes without much of an expression on her face, but after I introduced myself, she broke into a huge grin. “Do you mind that we’re holding hands?” I decided to see if “Amy” had a sense of humor. “I like that we are holding hands, but I’m not so sure that I like the dirt from the flower beds.” Her eyes got wide again, looked down at her hands and tried to jerk them away, but I had anticipated that and held on tight. I grinned at her when she looked back up at me. “Gotcha!” “Ooooh, you are quite the bitch too, aren’t you?” She said, grinning back at me. “Maaayyybee…” I smirked. “Do you have a name, or should I continue to call you Amy?” Her grin widened a little when she said, “My name is Reilly Hannigan.” I grinned back at her, “That’s a very pretty name, and really Irish!” She blushed, “Uhhh, yeah, my great-grandparents came over in the fifties and settled in Boston. My grandpa and my dad each married proper Irish-Catholic girls and here I am.” She giggled, “My full name is Mary Katherine Reilly Hannigan.” I cocked my head and grinned, “Mary-Kate?” The cute smile dropped instantly. The set to her jaw was firm and more than a little scary. “We’re new friends so you don’t know, but no-one will ever call me Mary-Kate again!” Her demeanor changed back almost as quickly and she was smiling again. “So, if you want to be friends, and I hope you do, you’ll remember that.” Frightened, I dropped her hands and stepped back. I did not need a friendship with a nutcase. Her smile fell instantly and her lip trembled. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve frightened you. I’m not crazy, I promise. If you’ll let me help you clean up, I’ll explain everything and then I hope you’ll understand.” She stood there, looking sad and yet hopeful. I hesitated and her shoulders drooped even further, the hopeful expression fading. She turned to walk away. “I won’t bother you anymore.” My heart broke at the vision of her sadness. I reached out and touched her elbow and she turned to look at me, the hope in her eyes a very powerful thing. “I’ll gladly take your help and listen to what you have to tell me. I’m not making any promises, though.” Her cute, shy smile returned and was more than a little heartbreaking. She hesitantly reached out to take my hand and I extended mine and placed it in hers, with a little more bravery than I felt. I wasn’t sure about this at all, but the poignant way in which she was acting now inexplicably moved me. We took a step towards her house and evidently the sc****s on my knees had already started to scab over because I suddenly felt searing pain surge through my knees. They buckled unexpectedly and I yelped as I went down again. Reilly shrieked in surprise, “Kendall! Are you alright?” I looked up sheepishly at her covering her mouth in disbelief. “Uhhh, that hurt more than I expected.” I struggled to stand while she was frozen in place. She suddenly realized that I needed help. She reached out again and took my hands. The surge that we had felt earlier was alive and well and it comforted me a little. I hoped that the electricity between us was a sign that everything would be alright. Reilly slipped an arm around my waist and took my left hand in hers. I smiled gratefully as I once again felt the caring feeling from her wash over me. Even though I really didn’t need it, I leaned into her a little more and she tightened her arm around me. I sighed happily and I felt her either shiver in appreciation or shake with a little giggle. I really didn’t care either way. Reilly apologized, “I’m sorry, we need to go around to the back door. The living room is a little torn up and I’m afraid that you might stumble and fall again.” This time she did giggle, “I wouldn’t want those long beautiful legs to get hurt again.” I flushed in embarrassment, but also in excitement. I teased he a little, “Beautiful, huh? Have you been spying on me?” I glanced up at her, grinning to myself. “Oh! No! I uhhh, I, oh crap! I…” Reilly flushed in embarrassment, stuttering along, not really able to answer me. I snickered and her head snapped around to stare at me, then she grinned, “Bitch!” I smirked in return. As we slowly made our way around the house, we weren’t watching where we were going. I was captivated by her lovely green eyes and I hoped she was similarly absorbed in my own brown ones. We stumbled over the hose that was stretched across the sidewalk and I went down, yet again. When I looked up from my now very painful hands and knees, her eyes were wide and her hands were covering her mouth in horror. I had to laugh. Her hands left her mouth and went to her hips. “Just what is so funny?” Reilly asked indignantly. I chuckled, “I just had a flash of the future. When people ask how we met, I will say, ‘After I had fallen at her feet, my angel of mercy helped me to my feet and to her home. Then she threw me to the ground.’ After that, my heart was hers!” She tried to continue frowning, but failed miserably. “What would make you think I want the heart of somebody so clumsy?” She started laughing, “My back would be sore all the time from picking your uncoordinated ass up!” When she said ass, my thoughts immediately returned to the vision of her ass in the shorts. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t keep my eyes from drifting to her hip, trying in vain to see her ass. When I looked back at her face, her eyes had widened again, then flashed and she had a little smirk on her face. She raised her hands above her head, raising her small, firm breasts into her tee shirt; her hard nipples pressed into the sweaty cotton and then did a full, slow pirouette. My eyes were drawn to her ass like a moth to a flame. When she came around, she stopped and I was staring right at her crotch. I noticed movement in the periphery of my vision and her hands had returned to her hips. My eyes returned to her face and her perfect lips were drawn up into another smirk. “Like what you see?” She whispered throatily. I was completely and utterly speechless. I simply nodded. “Good,” she whispered, “so do I. Let’s try this one more time.” Gently, she took my hands in hers and helped me to my feet. Silently, her arm returned to encircle my waist and into her hand went mine. It was comfortable and somehow felt as though that was how we belonged. Slowly, this time paying close attention to where we were walking, we made our way through the back door. I barely remembered this house from the previous owner’s, but the kitchen had been completely transformed. All of the cabinets were new, as were the countertops and appliances. A wall that had separated the kitchen from the rest of the house was gone, making an open inviting space. Beyond the kitchen, however, the house looked like it been hit by a tornado. There was no furniture, the carpet was pulled up and rolled up in the middle of the living room. The drywall had been pulled down from the studs and was piled alongside of the carpet, as were about half of the studs. I could see that a room at the other end of the house had what looked to be new studs and a layer of drywall installed. I assumed that was Reilly’s bedroom and it appeared to be finished. Reilly saw that I was looking around her house. She guided me to the table and had me sit on a chair. Then she explained. “Sorry, my dad and I have been working on this. I saw this house and fell in love with the neighborhood and most of the house, but there were things I wanted to change. Mostly, I wanted a fresh start. We tore everything out down to the studs, enlarged and put the bedroom back together and finished the kitchen.” I asked in amazement, “You did this all in three weeks?” She laughed, “Of course not. I’ve owned the house for six months. We’ve been working on it every day.” “But I run by it nearly every day, I haven’t seen anything.” I said. “We work between nine and three every day, no breaks. Then Daddy and I fill up his truck and are out of here by four.” She said. “I didn’t want my new neighbors to be unhappy with the construction. I didn’t move in until I had some place to sleep and eat. Now, we work the same hours indoors and I get to live in my house.” You could tell by the pride in her voice and the way that she stood up proudly, that she was very proud of her accomplishments. In the twenty minutes that I’d known her, Reilly had shown herself to be a very complex young woman. “Now, let’s see to your owies.” She said seriously and bent over my hand. I snorted in laughter. She looked at me, “What?” She had no idea what she had said. I laughed aloud, “Owies?” She flushed bright red. “Sorry, I used to be a pediatric nurse and it just comes naturally.” There was something in her tone that bothered me. “Used to be?” She visibly sagged. “That is part of my story.” She stood up and paused for a couple of moments. “Let me get you cleaned up and bandaged, get you a cold drink and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” She sagged some more. “Then if you want to run from me, you and I will know why you’re running.” She went into the other room and brought back bandages, antibacterial soap, water and saline solution. I smiled because I could tell by her touch that she was accustomed to working with k**s. She carefully cleaned my hands and knees then bandaged them. She put everything away and then she went and got me a bottle of Gatorade and herself a cup of coffee and sat down. She sat for a moment just looking at me. She sighed, slowly closed her eyes and began speaking. “As I said already, I’m an Irish-Catholic girl from Boston. I come from a large family; I have eleven brothers and sisters.” I giggled and said, “Wow!” She opened her eyes, smiled at me and then closed her eyes again. “We were very happy growing up. We were very spread out, age-wise and evenly split between boys and girls. It worked out that in our three-bedroom apartment there were never more than three of us in each bedroom at a time. As we graduated from high school, we got jobs and moved out or went to college and moved out. Mom and dad always had a crib in their room. When the oldest at home would move out, the baby was moved into their vacant spot in a bedroom.” She sighed, “Then mom and dad would begin working on another baby. Anyway, I was the second youngest, so by the time I was in high school, I had my own room. Way back when, mom had wanted to be a nurse and she encouraged me to do the same. So, I grew up dreaming of being a nurse. I wanted to go to Boston College, but we couldn’t afford a private Catholic school, even with scholarships and help from the parish. So I went to UMass. I did well and got my degree on time. I applied to a lot of hospitals and got my share of offers, but I was really excited to get an offer from the Franciscan c***dren’s Hospital and I jumped at it. Having grown up in a big family, I wanted to be around k**s, to help k**s.” Reilly got up and got another cup of coffee. She walked over and leaned against the granite countertop and looked at me. “This is where it starts to get ugly. Are you sure you want me to go on?” Even though I was apprehensive at the prospect of a terrifying story, I was also hooked. “I feel terrible,” I said, “but I’m nosy and want to hear this.” She gave me a little smile, “At least you’re honest.” She stood there for a minute, just looking at me and then closed her eyes again. I realized that closing her eyes took her back there. I also recognized that I didn’t want her to experience this obviously painful memory alone in her head. “Reilly?” I said softly. She opened her eyes. I held my hands out to her. “Please let me share this with you. Don’t relive it alone.” She froze and stared at me and I was concerned that I had angered her. Suddenly, she smiled and came over to sit with me and took my hands. “Thank you.” She whispered and then closed her eyes again. “I had worked at the hospital for almost a year and I had dated a couple of guys from the old neighborhood, but there was never anything serious. After four years of high school, four years of college and a year at the hospital, I was still a virgin.” She giggled, fortunately able to see the humor. “Then I met Dr. Anthony Riviera, a tall, dark, gorgeous, Italian-Catholic.” She rolled her eyes. “My mom was thrilled. Don’t get me wrong, Anthony, don’t call me Tony, Riviera was everything a woman could want, including me.” I frowned a little, “Don’t call me Tony?” She shook her head. “He would always say, ‘If my parents wanted me to be called Tony, they wouldn’t have named me Anthony.’ He was a little pompous about his name.” “Wow.” I said and she nodded. “We went out for a long time before we started fooling around. I was a classic nervous Catholic virgin.” She blushed and looked sad at the memory. I gently squeezed her hands and she smiled. “After a while, we fell in love and Anthony asked me to marry him. I was excited and said yes and my dad gave his enthusiastic approval when Anthony formally asked for my hand.” She stopped and took a deep shuddering breath. I could tell that this was a painful memory for her and I squeezed her hands, trying to convey that I was there for her. “My mom wanted to do this huuuge wedding and I wasn’t so sure about that. Anthony told me to let her have her fun and wanted his mom to be part of the planning, too. Anthony was an only c***d and his mom would only get to participate in his wedding. My mom was grateful for the help.” She opened her eyes and smiled a little. “I didn’t realize what all went into planning a big Catholic wedding. My older sisters had gotten married while I was at school. Even though I had lived at home, I was focused on my studies and had paid no attention to what they were doing. I went for fittings, went to showers and to the wedding and reception, but that was all I had done. Mom, my mother-in-law, and I looked at thousands of magazines; it seemed like hundreds of venues, visited dozens of bakeries. I wanted my bridesmaids, my sisters, to look as beautiful as they are, and I wanted all of the dresses to be the same color, so we looked at hundreds of dresses and an infinite number of colors. My sisters all have varying shades of the same red hair as me and there were colors that would make one drop dead gorgeous while at the same time making another one look like a corpse. It seemed to be impossible.” I giggled, “Sounds like a nightmare.” She opened her eyes briefly and smiled, “It was.” “I had kept resisting any variants of red, because any red washes my skin out, terribly. I just knew that any red was a horrible idea. Finally, my mother-in-law convinced me to let my oldest sister, Patty, show me a dark red dress that she had found. She was breathtaking in it. Then I said, ‘Patty looks spectacular, but what about the rest of them?’ My mother-in-law smiled and nodded to the salesgirl and my sisters came out, one by one and stood next to Patty. Each one had the same design of dress, but with a different shade of dark red that perfectly complemented their hair, they were all stunning. At first I was speechless, then I frowned at them and Patty got nervous. She said, ‘Mary Katherine, we were trying to help, we didn’t want to upset you.’ I said, ‘You have upset me, you will all be prettier than me.’ Patty looked stunned for a minute and finally realized that I was teasing. She said, ‘You brat!’ and came over and hugged me and it turned into a giant group hug with my sisters, my mom, my mother-in-law and the salesgirl.” Reilly smiled again, “That was a really, really good day.” She stopped and looked at me. “I know it seems like all of this is unrelated, but this is the only way I know to tell it.” I squeezed her hands again, “You tell me any way you need to tell me.” She smiled again, “Okay, thank you.” Then she continued, “There was never any question that we would be married in our church, so we reserved several dates and then went looking for a reception venue.” I interrupted her, “Did Anthony participate in any of this?” She actually laughed aloud. “No, he went to one cake tasting and bailed almost immediately. Among me, my mom, his mom and my sisters, he said there was waaay too much estrogen and he took off. He kissed me, told me he loved me and said he knew that I would make good decisions to have a beautiful day. Then he ran.” It was obvious that she had loved him and I laughed at her description. (My assumption of the past tense in my mind was automatic. Something had happened; I just didn’t yet know what it was.) She smiled before resuming, “After we had looked at the first venue on the Boston Harbor, I wanted the reception overlooking the water. I wanted it late in the afternoon, so that the sun would set and the lights in the harbor would come on and then the dancing would be overlooking the harbor. I pictured the scene in my mind and it was like it was out of a fairytale. My mother absolutely freaked at the cost. I asked Anthony about it and he said we would pay for the reception. Daddy tried to refuse but Anthony talked him into it. I got my fairytale wedding and reception. It was classy, it was beautiful and most of all, it was romantic.” She had a faraway expression on her face, her eyes still closed. It was a little sad, but I could tell this was a very happy memory. I said softly, “That sounds amazing.” She jumped a little, startled when I spoke. Opening her eyes, she giggled, “Oops! I forgot you were here.” I tilted my head to the side, “But, I’m holding your hands.” She reddened, embarrassed. “I was imagining it was Anthony, holding my hands.” I brushed my thumbs across the back of her hands. “I’m sorry that I’m not him.” She smiled warmly, “Don’t get me wrong, I miss him, but I’m not sorry you’re not him.” I didn’t respond, but blushed and lowered my eyes. We sat silently for a few minutes, holding hands. Finally, she slowly withdrew her hands. When I looked up, she had folded them in her lap, her expression flat and difficult to read. I looked at her questioningly. “This is where the story gets harder to tell and I understand that it gets harder to hear.” She said quietly. “Are you sure you want me to continue?” My heart ached for the sadness that seemed to envelop her. Nosiness aside, I felt a need to hear the rest of the story. I really liked Reilly and I wanted to get to know her. There is no reasonable explanation for it, but I had a feeling that telling me her story, a complete stranger, might be the****utic for her. I reached out and took her hands in mine again and her smile was sad, but grateful. “Evidently, when we ordered the flowers, one of the guys in the flower shop had seen me and decided that I really was Amy Adams.” Apparently, I looked a little shocked and my mouth fell open and Reilly reached up and gently closed it for me. She smiled, put her hand back in mine and then continued. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but he began following me. He followed me to work; he followed me home, to the grocery, on dates, to all of the wedding stuff, everywhere. In retrospect, I am guessing that I had seen him, but he didn’t make an impression; I was preoccupied.” My fascination and discomfort were building at every turn. I wanted to hear more to satisfy my prurient urges, but didn’t want to hear more because I was afraid of what was coming. Prurience won and I kept my mouth shut. Reilly continued, “Weird things started occasionally happening. I noticed a picture that had been hanging crooked and that I was meaning to straighten; was straight. I dismissed it, figuring Anthony had gotten tired of seeing it. A light bulb in the hall that had been burned out for a couple of months was replaced. Again, I dismissed it figuring Anthony had replaced it. There was a welcome mat on the porch of our townhouse that had been there when we moved in. It was suddenly replaced with a really pretty one. Again, I assumed Anthony. Those things continued to happen and I was thinking that Anthony was so sweet fixing all of those things and taking no credit. Then one day Anthony came out of the bathroom and said, ‘Hey, I see you got the landlord to fix the wall switch. That was great work, honey!'” She paused, having started to shake. I didn’t know her and didn’t know how she would react, but I drew her into a hug. She immediately stiffened, but I hung on and she relaxed, little by little and then broke into deep sobs. “Oh god, Kendall, I miss him so much.” She sobbed into my shoulder. I didn’t say anything; I just held her tight and let her cry. It was ten or fifteen minutes that she held onto me sobbing and then settling down and then resurging into deep, deep sobs. Finally, I felt her relaxing and she gently pushed me away. She blushed deeply, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have cried on you.” I took her hands in mine again and squeezed warmly. “You can do anything that you need to do. Crying has to make you feel a little better. But, do you want to stop telling me? I know this must be painful.” I grinned a little in embarrassment. “I hate to admit it, but your story has me fascinated. I do want to hear more.” I got a small smile in return. “Again, I admire that you’re being so honest.” I smiled, but got serious. “You don’t know me, but I will always be honest with you.” She squeezed my hands in return. “You’re right, I don’t know you, but I feel like I do and I know in my heart that you will.” She leaned forward and kissed my cheek, which made my heart flutter, and hugged me. “You’re right about something else.” She whispered in my ear. “I need to stop, for now. I can’t take any more of this, at least for the time being.” I was disappointed, but said. “That’s okay.” She laughed at that. “Hey! You said you’d always be honest with me.” She mocked my inflection, teasingly. It was good to hear her laugh again. I smiled and said, “Yeah, and I was honest, disappointed but honest.” “That’s better,” she grinned. “How about this, you come to dinner tomorrow night and I’ll tell you some more.” I thought about it for a moment. “Reilly, as much as I want to know your story, I don’t want to put you through all of that.” “Honestly,” she said, “after telling you what I have and crying, I feel better than I have in a long time. I think you’re right about telling a stranger my story. Please, I want you to come and I want to tell you some more.” I grinned happily. “I’d love to come, thank you. What should I bring?” She giggled, “Just your pretty face and banged up knees and hands.” I had completely forgotten my hands and knees. I looked at my hands and then down at my knees. “Huh! I was so fascinated by your story, I forgot!” With that, I stood up and wobbled at the sudden pain from the breaking of the newly forming scabs. I grabbed the table and flushed in pain, sweat breaking out all over my skin. Reilly quickly grasped my elbow and supported my weight. “Oh Kendall!” Reilly exclaimed. “Are you all right?” I grinned, embarrassed. “I am, but I was surprised by the quick jolt of pain.” “Are you sure?” Reilly asked; the concern evident in her voice. Again, I was taken by her concern, it was heartwarming and unexpected. “I’m fine, really,” I murmured. I glanced at the clock and realized that I had been here for nearly an hour and a half and it was past lunchtime. “I need to go anyway; I have taken up way too much of your time today.” She smiled shyly, “No you haven’t, it’s nice to have a new friend.” She paused expectantly; hope shining in her eyes. I reached out and took her hands in mine, the powerful surge comforting me. “It is, isn’t it?” Her returning smile was so radiant that it warmed my heart. Even though I was banged up, I felt more comfortable in her presence than I had with anybody in a long time; as though I belonged here, with her. I turned to go and unexpectedly, she grabbed me and hugged me. Her body felt wonderful against mine, compact, firm and we fit together as though we were two pieces of the same puzzle. I felt a surge of affection and lust as she clung snugly to me. She slowly let go of me, her eyes finding mine and holding them as I was mesmerized by the deep, green pools of unreadable emotion. She turned and led me to the door as I held her hand in both of mine. We stopped and she turned to look at me, grasping my hands with both of hers. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” she asked shyly. I smiled as sweetly as I could. “Without a doubt, but what time should I be here?” She opened the door and I stepped out, her hands only letting go when I reached the edge of the small porch. “Umm, about seven, okay?” I nodded and she said, “Bye Kendall.” I winked, “Bye Amy,” and she giggled along with me. “I mean Reilly.” She waved and watched me walk around the corner of the house. I barely thought about anything on my way home other than her cute nose, adorable smile and gorgeous eyes. I could barely wait for tomorrow. When I got home, I stripped and took a shower after caring for the bandages. After, I lounged around the house for the rest of the day and evening, not wanting to put any stress on my injuries. I didn’t want them to break open so that I could remove the bandages in the morning. I went to bed early and fell asleep quickly. My dreams were filled with Reilly and I slept deeply. ++++++++++ I woke early, feeling refreshed and eagerly looking forward to dinner tonight. Not only did I want to hear more of the story, I wanted to see Reilly again. I pulled the bandages off and saw that the sc****s were healing nicely. I took it easy all day, doing simple chores around the house. I spent several hours on the computer, catching up on some tasks from work. About five o’clock, I went into the bathroom, took a quick shower and washed my hair. I wanted to dress appropriately, but attractively so I pulled my brunette hair up into a high, tight ponytail. I dug through my drawers and found a soft cotton, pink skirt that stopped about two inches above my knees and paired it with a white spaghetti strap silky top. I couldn’t wear a bra with the top, so I went without and found a new pair of pink bikini style panties with tiny, white polka dots. I pulled out my white sandals and looked in the full length mirror. I thought I looked pretty good, maybe even hot. I realized that my contacts had been in for far longer than they should have been. I popped them out and rinsed my eyes and they felt better. I put on my oversized black framed glasses and went back to the mirror. My reflection wasn’t sexy librarian, but the look was sexy, nonetheless, but I needed something else. I went back into the bathroom and applied a little blush and light pink lipstick. I went back to the mirror and found that I liked this version of my look. I was too old to be a schoolgirl, but the look was definitely sexy schoolgirl. I figured that Reilly was straight and I had no illusions that I would be able to get her into my bed. But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t dream a little. She was beautiful, hot and made my heart quicken, but she was still straight and I didn’t need the drama that went along with straight girl experimentation. Then I remembered her little pirouette yesterday and realized that I didn’t know what to think. I looked at the clock and saw that it was about ten minutes until seven. If I left right now, I would be a couple of minutes early and that would be perfect. I was anxious to see her again. I grabbed a bottle of chardonnay and walked to her house. I went around back and before I could knock on the door, Reilly opened it and the vision of her knocked me out. She had also pulled her hair into a pony tail, similar to mine, but lower and looser. Her shorts were white and skin tight. She had paired them with a gorgeous, teal, silk camisole that brought out her eyes and displayed her curves. It was either cool in the house, or (I hoped) she was excited to see me as her nipples were poking the silk. My eyes popped and I smiled. “Wow, don’t you look dazzling!” She blushed and giggled. “Thank you, but so do you!” She surprised me by hugging me and holding the hug for a long moment. She whispered in my ear, “I am so happy to see you.” Then her lips brushed my cheek. A long contented sigh escaped my lips and she giggled and squeezed a little. She turned, took my hand, and walked into the kitchen. The first thing that I saw was that all of the construction debris from the living room space was gone. There was a dining room table set with two places in the place of the junk. “Wow!” I said. “Yeah,” she smiled, “I called Daddy last night and pleaded with him to come and get the junk out of the house. I told him that I had a new friend and I wanted to have her for dinner. He had been resisting until I told him that I had a new friend, he just turned about face and asked what time we would start. He wants me to find a new life, with new friends and the happiness that was taken from me.” I knew something bad had happened to her, but this was the first time she had directly said it. I choked up at that. She continued, “He was here at seven this morning and we filled his truck three times. I asked him where he took the stuff, because the dump isn’t open on Sunday. He’s got an old buddy that has helped us with some of the work on my house and he’s got a construction site downtown with a huge dumpster. Daddy made arrangements to use the dumpster to get rid of the junk. We did all of that and then got the dining room furniture out of the garage and brought it in here. Then I went to the grocery and bought the items I needed to make you a traditional Irish dinner.” She paused, blushing. “Is that okay?” I grinned, “Holy Crap! You did a whole lotta work today! You didn’t need to go to all of that trouble for me. But an Irish dinner sounds great! What did you make?” “It wasn’t any trouble because it was for you,” she whispered and blushed again. “I made shepherds’ pie, soda bread and Irish Potatoes for dessert.” She said, blushing more deeply and smiling shyly. “Huh?” I asked. “Irish Potatoes for dessert? Doesn’t Shepherd’s Pie have potatoes? Not to mention, potatoes for dessert?” She giggled, “Irish Potatoes are coconut cookies. I’m not sure if they are traditional Irish food or not, but they were in our house.” I just laughed, “Okay, can I help with anything?” She said, “Why don’t you pour the wine?” She handed me two wine glasses. She plated two servings of the pie and brought it to the table. It looked wonderful. She had cheese on top that was cooked to a golden brown. I noticed when I sat down that there were small bits of brown and gold mixed into the mashed potatoes. I poked at them with my fork, trying to see what they were. She saw me and sat down. She picked up her wine and said, “Figure it out?” I jumped, having been caught. I blushed and giggled, “What are those different colored pieces of, umm …” She laughed, “That’s my own twist on the family recipe. I topped it with cheddar cheese, though Mom does that sometimes. I also crumbled bacon and fried onions in the potatoes. I love fried onions and what food isn’t made better with bacon?” I laughed, “Ain’t that the truth!” She grinned with a little embarrassment. “Though I would never make it like that when Mom is here. She would be horrified.” I laughed again and she looked a little cofuseed. “You’re not living unless you’re horrifying and embarrassing your mother.” She relaxed and snickered, “I guess that’s true.” She sat and looked at me with a contemplative smile on her face. “Do you mind if I say grace? As a Catholic, I’m just not comfortable sitting down to a meal without it.” I sat for a minute and looked at her. “Reilly, I really like you and I want us to be friends. Friendship means to me that you and I are so comfortable with one another that we don’t need to ask permission to do things that make us happy. So, from here on, please do whatever you need to do to make yourself happy and I’ll do the same. Okay?” She got a big, warm grin on her face and nodded happily, “Okay!” She bowed her head and said a short simple grace. I bowed my head slightly, too. But I watched her; she had a small smile on her face the whole time. She crossed herself and looked up at me, catching me watching her. I grinned, embarrassed. “I like watching you.” She blushed from head to toe. “I like having you watch me.” She reached out and touched my hand before quickly withdrawing her hand. The statement and touch surprised and pleased me. “Please eat.” She said, looking into my eyes. “Okay.” I murmured. The first bite was heaven. “This is terrific!” I exclaimed. She smacked my hand. “Don’t sound so surprised.” “I, umm, uhh…” I searched for an apology. She laughed out loud. “Gotcha!” I glowered at her, teasingly, “Bitch!” “There ya go again…” She giggled. We settled into a nice conversation about her house and how she planned to finish it. We drifted into the homeowner’s association and the block parties that were a big part of life in our little neighborhood. We eventually got quiet; arriving at the elephant in the room, Anthony and Reilly’s life in Boston. But first, we decided to clean up. I helped her clear the table, clean up the kitchen and fill the dishwasher. We said little, just worked efficiently, side by side. It felt homey, comfortable. When we were done, I went back to sit down at the table and Reilly stopped me. “No,” she said, “go sit down on the love seat.”I hadn’t noticed that she had set up a cozy little arrangement in the corner. There was a leather love seat, a small coffee table with copper accents and a really cool arc floor lamp. It had three copper finished shades and a wood base. The lighting gave a warm, intimate feel. I took my wine and sat down. I watched Reilly fill her wine glass and then follow me over and sit down. Her shorts seemingly disappeared as she settled into the love seat. I realized that I was staring and jerked my eyes up. Her green eyes were twinkling in amusement. I could feel the flush start in my scalp and work its way down. I glanced at my arm and it was dark red, so I knew my face was scarlet. I don’t know what kept coming over me. I was normally more discreet in my ogling. For whatever reason, Reilly just unhinged me. I hung my head, “I am sooo embarrassed.” “Don’t be,” she grinned, “Like I said, I like having you watch me.” We sat quietly for a few minutes, both of us sneaking glances at each other, quickly looking away when our eyes met. Reilly finally held my eyes, took a deep breath and started speaking. “I asked Daddy about telling you my story.” She said. “He thought it was a great idea. He said that he noticed immediately that there was something different about me and after I had told him that I talked to you he thought the changes in me might be due to that.” She smiled softly. “He really wants to meet you. He wants to hug the person that got me to really cry and to laugh again.” I was speechless. She shifted in her seat and brought her knees into contact with mine. She set down her wine glass, then took mine and set it down. She turned back to me and took my hands in hers. “I hope you don’t mind,” she whispered, “but I feel better holding your hands when I talk.” I picked them up and kissed the back of her hands and said, “Of course I don’t mind. In fact, I love it.” (I know, I know. Reilly scared the crap out of me when we met. But, her natural sweetness and vulnerability had pushed away any negative thoughts I may have had about her. I am quite sure I’ll never have her in my bed, or hers for that matter, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be the best of friends.) She said, “I think the last thing I told you before I went to pieces was that weird things were happening in our home.” I nodded, “I think that’s right.” “Anthony had praised me for getting the landlord to fix the light switch,” she started. “I looked at him and said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He laughed and said, ‘You know what I’m talking about, that light switch in the bathroom. Sometimes it didn’t work at all. You got the landlord to fix it.’ I just stared at him and slowly shook my head. He frowned and said, ‘Didn’t you?’ I said, ‘No, I didn’t, I thought you did. Did you change the light bulb in the hall?’ It was his turn to shake his head. ‘The door mat? The picture in the living room?’ Again, he shook his head. ‘Anthony, what the fuck is going on?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.'” “You guys really didn’t have any idea that neither of you were responsible for the little repairs?” I asked. “No, we didn’t.” She said, shaking her head. “I told Anthony that maybe Daddy had done it to help out. He asked if I’d given Daddy a key and I hadn’t so I said no. Then he asked where Daddy might have gotten a key and I had no idea.” She took a deep breath. “I stopped at Daddy’s shop on my way to work the next day and asked him if he had done those things to help out. He smiled and said ‘A stór, I’d like to take a bit of credit, but I cannot.’ She saw the expression on my face and frowned. “Is something not right?'” I said, “Umm, uh store? What does that mean?” She giggled, “It’s something he called all of my sisters and me. It means, ‘my treasure’ in Gaelic. It’s something my Daddo used to say.” I grinned, “Daddo?” She stuck her tongue out at me, “My Grandfather…bitch! It’s spelled D-A-I-D-E-Ó with an accent on the o.” I laughed at her. “Uh-huh…” She shook her head, “Oh, okay, so that’s the way it’s gonna be…” I affected my most innocent expression, “What?” She snorted, more than a little exasperated, “Anyway…” I suddenly realized that she was having a tough time with this. She had worked her emotions to the point that she was ready to talk about this with me and I was screwing around. I was contrite as I said, “I’m sorry Reilly. I know this is difficult for you and I am not making it easy. I will stop messin’ around.”She suppressed a little grin, “It’s okay Kendall. I have missed the teasing that goes along with being close to another person…with a friend.” I smiled brightly, “Are we friends, Reilly?” She smiled illegal bahis shyly, “Yes…yes we are.” I kissed the back of her hands again, I couldn’t help myself. “Good,” I said simply. As she settled our hands back into her lap, a serious expression clouded her face. It was as if she had just remembered something terrible and couldn’t allow herself to have any fun. It pained me to see the transformation. It was sudden and complete. Her eyes drifted from my face to our hands and remained there. “Reilly?” I prodded her gently. “Are you okay?” She didn’t say anything for the longest time, obviously considering my question and her answer. “No, um yes, uhhh, maybe, ahhh, I don’t know…” She finally whispered. “What’s wrong?” I wanted to grab her and hold her close, to try and make whatever was wrong all better, but I wasn’t sure how she would react. So, I did nothing and it was killing me to see her in obvious pain. She looked up at me and tears were shining in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks. “I don’t deserve to have friends, especially one as nice as you.” She looked down again. I was stunned. Whatever had happened to her was obviously terrible, but whatever it was couldn’t be so bad that she merited the punishment that she was heaping on herself. “Reilly, come on, don’t put yourself down like that. You are one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.” I said sincerely. “Whatever happened can’t be as bad as all that!” The tears that had been threatening spilled down Reilly’s cheeks. She sobbed. “Yes it is!” I couldn’t stand this any longer; I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. “No, it’s not! I refuse to believe that it’s all that bad. I won’t believe that you’re as terrible as you seem to feel you are.” I gently kissed her forehead and Reilly gave me a tremulous smile. “Thank you Kendall.” Her sigh was strained and hesitant, but she settled into my arms and accepted the hug. We sat still for a few minutes; her head snuggled into my neck as I breathed in the fresh, clean scent of her shampoo and conditioner. Finally, she seemed to be ready to separate and started to draw back from me. But, it seemed as though she wasn’t anxious to leave my arms because she looked a little reluctant as she pulled away. She paused as she pulled away, just before burying her face in my neck, pecking me with a couple of soft kisses and hugging me tightly to her. We sat like that for some time, Reilly holding me close and occasionally kissing me on the neck. I tried not to think of this in a sexual context; knowing I was just comforting her, but my body had no desire to listen to my good intentions. My pussy was heating up and since I could smell my arousal, I knew that Reilly could as well. But, to her credit, she ignored my aroma. Finally, she gave me one last, lingering kiss on my neck and sat up. She turned to me, pressing her knees to mine and drew my hands into hers again. “Thank you again Kendall. I can’t tell you what it means to me to have a friend that believes in me so completely. I think I’m ready to tell you the rest of the story.” She snickered, “Like Paul Harvey, ‘And now, the rest of the story’.” I just shook my head and she giggled some more. She quickly settled into a more somber mood. “Umm, where was I?” “Your father told you that he didn’t make any of the repairs.” I said, trying to help. “Oh, that’s right.” She said. “When Daddy said that he hadn’t done anything, I got scared. I told him that somebody was coming into our house and doing things. He said he’d go out right then and get new door handles with new locks. He also said that I was going with him; he didn’t want me alone right then. I reminded him that I was on my way to work and that I would be safe there. I gave him my keys and tried to give him money for the locks, but he wouldn’t hear of it. I kissed him on the cheek and left for work. When I got out of my car in the parking garage it was a little weird because there were cars there, but no-one was around. It was then that I heard it for the first time.” She stopped and shuddered. I frowned, “Heard what?” “At first, I thought I was hearing things, so I kind of ignored it.” She said softly. “Then I heard it again and I knew that I wasn’t hearing things. It was very faint, like it came from far away, ‘Maaary Ka-ate’. I walked faster toward the elevator. Again I heard, ‘Maaary Ka-ate’ but, this time it sounded closer and I took off running.” She giggled, which seemed inappropriate, until she resumed. “I got to the elevator and started stabbing the down button over and over and over, just like in the movies.” I couldn’t help myself, I laughed, picturing the scene from a thousand movies and TV shows. She giggled and shrugged. “When the doors opened I burst through them, scaring the crap out of two nurses that I didn’t know and an older pediatrician that I did know. Just as the doors were closing I heard it again, this time it was very close. ‘Maaary Ka-ate’ and I turned to the other people in the elevator and said, ‘Did you hear that?’ The nurses ignored me, but Dr. Ellison said, ‘I didn’t hear anything dear. Is everything all right?’ I just nodded and didn’t say anything else.” “Oh my god, you must have been so scared!” I exclaimed and squeezed her hands for support. She smiled gratefully. “I was, I really was. I got up to the nurse’s station and called Anthony. He was very sympathetic and asked me if he needed him to come down. I hesitated and then said no. The further it was in the past, the less real it seemed. I felt like I was being silly and that’s what I told Anthony. He said, ‘It’s not silly, you’re not silly. You were scared and along with what’s going on at home, you need to be careful and a little scared.’ Before he hung up he asked, ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come down there?’ I told him that I loved him and, no he didn’t need to come down here. He told me to call him if I needed anything and hung up.” I smiled at her, “Anthony sounds great. So many guys would have minimized how you felt, but it sounds like he was very supportive.” She squeezed my hands, “He was, he really was.” She got up and refilled our wine; I think she was just gathering herself. She sat back down and took my hands in hers. “I didn’t think much about it the rest of the day, but when it came time to leave, I became frightened again. But, nothing happened in the garage and when I got home Daddy was waiting and he had changed the door handles and locks. He even had called a home security company and they would be putting in an alarm system the next day.” She stopped and took a swallow of wine. I smiled at her, trying to get her to smile and she did, but not for very long. “Wow, not only is Anthony amazing, it sounds like your dad is, too.” “Yes,” she said, “I am very, very lucky to have had special men in my life.” She paused again and closed her eyes. She started speaking again without opening them. “Daddy stayed the night because Anthony had an emergency and couldn’t leave. Daddy didn’t want me staying alone until the alarms were installed. I went to work and came home without anything else happening. Daddy was still there and Mom had come over and cooked for Daddy, Anthony and me. Anthony came in later, ate and crashed. The poor baby was exhausted. Daddy showed me how the alarms worked and then wrote out instructions for Anthony.” She got up again and went to the bathroom. I was astonished at how close she was with her family, how supportive they all were. I compared that to my life and just shook my head. When I had graduated from college and then with my Masters, my parents were like, ‘Cool, well that’s done, see ya, have a nice life.’ It had nothing to do with me or my lesbianism; they were just ready to move on with their lives. Maybe that’s the difference between being an only c***d and being part of a huge family. Until now, I hadn’t thought about it, and it made me a little sad and envious, that kind of closeness would have been nice. When she came back, she snuggled in under my arm, wrapping it around her, surprising me. She intertwined her fingers with mine, kissing each one. I did not object to any degree, but it was something that I didn’t expect. I was so content holding her like this that I was startled when she started speaking. “Anthony got up the next morning and I showed him what Daddy had written out. He was grateful and asked me to tell Daddy thank you. He kissed me and rushed out of the house talking on his cell. We didn’t have anything else weird for the next couple of weeks. I was watching for people following me, seeing if I saw anything suspicious, but I didn’t.” “So are you like Nancy Drew or Miss Marple? All detectivey?” I asked. She giggled, “No, and I’m not sure I would’ve recognized anything out of the ordinary anyway.” Then she got serious, “As it turned out, I didn’t see what I probably should have, anyway.” I looked down at her and tears were rolling down her cheeks again. “Hey, imagination aside, you were not trained to look for anything, let alone a danger to you or Anthony.” I said firmly. I felt, rather than saw her smile. “That’s what the detective said.” She took a deep breath. “Three or four weeks later, when I got home, there were a dozen orange roses in a vase in the middle of the dining room table. They were absolutely beautiful. I figured Anthony had done something sweet and romantic. I went looking for him and he wasn’t home. I just figured that he had run out to get something. He called about two hours later and said he was on his way home, there had been an emergency. I fixed something for dinner and waited for him. When he came in and I saw the expression on his face, I knew something was wrong. He said, ‘I’m sorry baby, I didn’t see him.’ I didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘See who?’ I asked. Then a guy that looked familiar stepped into the room. ‘Him.’ Anthony said. Then I noticed that Anthony’s head was bleeding. I started to run to him and the guy raised a gun. ‘Don’t.’ he said. He kicked Anthony in the butt and Anthony sprawled to the floor. The guy said, ‘Don’t you move.’ And Anthony didn’t. He looked at me and said, ‘I see you got my flowers. As soon as they came in I knew they were for you, Amy.’ It just didn’t occur to me that he was talking to me, that he thought I was Amy Adams. I looked at him and said, ‘Amy? Who the hell is Amy?’ He laughed, ‘Why you are, silly.’ I said, ‘What? What is wrong with you? I am Mary Katherine Reilly Hannigan-Riviera.’ He laughed, ‘That’s just the name you by so that your public doesn’t intrude. I know you’re Amy Adams.’ I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. When I gathered myself, I said, ‘You are fucking’ nuts mister.'” She took a breath and sat up. Then she jumped up and ran to the bathroom. I heard her throwing up. Then I heard her brushing her teeth. When she came back, she was embarrassed. “I’m so sorry Kendall.” I stopped her there and made her sit down, drawing her into a hug. “Don’t be. This has to be terribly hard. I don’t want you to tell me anymore. I’m embarrassed that I asked you to tell this, bringing up such a horrible thing from your past.” She pushed away from me and gave me a weak smile. “Honestly, even though I threw up, I feel better. I think this is good for me.” I sat there staring at her. “Okaaay,” I said slowly, “only if you’re sure.” “He aimed his gun at me and because he was focused on me, he wasn’t paying attention to Anthony.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Anthony lunged at him, but the guy saw the movement and hit him with the gun again. Anthony went down and the asshole shot him in the chest. Anthony grabbed his chest and the guy shot him in the balls. Anthony stopped moving then. The guy walked over and stood over him, pointing the gun at his chest. I grabbed a frying pan off of the stove and even though he must have seen me out of the corner of his eye and started to turn, he wasn’t quick enough and I hit him in the head. He dropped the gun, staggered and fell down; I snatched it up and emptied it into his chest. He fell onto Anthony and I threw the gun down and dragged him off of Anthony. Anthony was barely breathing and he struggled to open his eyes. He said, ‘I’m sorry babe’ and tried to say something else before he stopped breathing. I was screaming and crying and I started CPR and was still doing it when the police burst through the door. They had paramedics with them and they made me stop and they took over. The paramedics worked on Anthony for about fifteen minutes more before one of them looked at a cop and shook his head. I screamed, ‘No, please God, no,’ and that’s all I remember. I woke up in the hospital, handcuffed to the bed.” I was shocked, not so much that Reilly had shot the maniac, I actually kind of expected that, but by the fact that she had been arrested. I said as much, “I can’t believe they arrested you, that’s outrageous!” She actually laughed at my statement. “Yeah, that’s what Daddy thought and he told the cops in no uncertain terms what he thought every time he came into the room and saw the handcuffs. I kinda felt bad for the uniformed guys because they took the brunt of his anger, but they were actually pretty good guys. After I had woken up and been informed of my rights and the charges, every time I was alone, they took the cuffs off. They told me not to tell anybody. They explained to me what was actually going on. Because I was u*********s, the police and the prosecutor didn’t know exactly what had happened. Anthony was dead, the nutcase had seven bullets in him and I was covered in blood. They assumed they knew what had happened, but they had to be certain. I had gunshot residue on my hand, as did the nutcase. The problem was; the nutcase was not just an employee of the flower shop; he was the son of the owners. The flower shop is one of the biggest, if not the biggest in New England and these were, are, very powerful people. They wanted me hung. The police and the prosecutor believed me when I explained what happened. So they did a thorough investigation with all the “I’s dotted and T’s crossed” so that there would be no doubt what the nutcase did and of my innocence. They left me in the hospital under arrest and under guard so that I wouldn’t be subjected to jail.” She smiled and hugged me. “See, you shouldn’t be so outraged, they were actually taking care of me.” I was still grumpy, “Okay, I can see that, but it’s still bullshit!” She giggled, “Daddy’s right. I need to hang onto you; you’re a good friend already.” “Anyway,” she continued, “they sent the CSI unit into the townhouse…” I started laughing, “Was Gil Grissom there?” She punched me, “Stop it! I called it that because that’s all they call it on TV now. Anyway,” she glared at me and I giggled, “they found his fingerprints all over the townhouse, including my underwear drawer, all over the inside and outside of the light switch and the hall light. They also found several girls that were willing to testify that they had been harassed by him and had been paid off by his parents. The prosecutor explained to me that his past behavior would be difficult to get in as evidence; but they showed it all to his family. It was then that the family realized that all of their dirty laundry would be exposed for all of New England to see. They chose to withdraw the pressure from the mayor and police commission. All charges against me were dropped and I was allowed to go home.” I hugged Reilly again. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you went through all of that.” She looked up at me and smiled shyly. “You don’t hate me?” I frowned, “Why in the world would I hate you?” “Because I murdered a man,” She hung her head, “I broke the nursing code of ethics. I…” I interrupted her, “You did no such thing. I have no idea what that code says, but you protected your life and you tried to protect Anthony’s. You should be proud that you didn’t allow fear to stop you from doing just that.” She settled into my arms again and we sat for a very long time, cuddled together. She sobbed a couple of times, but wasn’t crying as far as I could tell. I could get used to this. I knew that she wasn’t a lesbian but that didn’t change the fact that I wanted to hold her and protect her from any more harm. At that thought; I chuckled to myself, not that she really needed my protection. She had proven that she could do a pretty good job on her own. After a while, I noticed her breathing had changed, she was obviously asleep. I’m sure the emotions had taken a toll on her and she was probably exhausted. I looked over at the clock and was shocked to see that it was after eleven. I wriggled around and got out from under her and then helped her to her feet. We stumbled towards the bedroom and in there was a huge bed. I carefully sat her on the edge of the bed and told her that I was going to pull her covers down. Then I would take her shoes off and tuck her into bed. She just mumbled something in response that I couldn’t understand. I pulled down the bedspread and then pulled back the sheets. I tossed the throw pillows aside and went back to her. She looked so cute, like a small c***d waiting to be put to bed. I knelt before her and took off her shoes. When I stood up she had her hands in the air. “Take my top off Kendall,” she whined, “I don’t wanna sleep init. It’ll get all wrinkly.” She sounded like she was about five. God, it was too cute and sweet. “Okay, baby, I’ll do it.” I said, not thinking. She giggled, “I like it when you call me baby.” I froze; did I just call her baby? Craaaap! I grasped the hem of her camisole, holding my breath. I pulled it up slowly, not wanting to hurt her, clearing her boobs, which bounced free as if in slow motion. I stopped pulling with the camisole unintentionally covering her face. I stared until she started struggling to get free. “Sorry,” I mumbled, “I was distracted.” True enough, I just didn’t tell her by what. “Come on, let’s get you in bed.” I said, pulling her to her feet. She yanked her hands free of mine and started fumbling with the snap on her shorts. “Want off!” I chuckled, “Okay, okay!” I unsnapped the shorts, unzipped them and then pulled them down. As I went down her body, I got a whiff of aroused female and was a little stunned and instantly aroused myself. I struggled to get the shorts off of her feet but managed to get it done. I stood up, fighting the urge to sniff the crotch of her shorts when I noticed that her bikini panties were pulled down, nearly exposing her pussy. After briefly noting that she was either shaved or very trimmed, I pulled her panties back up, reflexively patting her on her ass. She giggled, turning around. “Do you like my ass?” ‘Oh God,’ I thought, ‘please don’t ask me that.’ Instead of reacting like I wanted to, I smacked her lightly on her ass. “Don’t be naughty!” She giggled, wriggled her ass and put her hands in the air again. “Take me to bed, Kendall!” ‘Oh God,’ I thought again, ‘please don’t ask me that.’ Instead, I just laughed, “Be careful what you ask for little girl.” I grabbed a hand out of the air and led her around the end of the bed, and then making her lay down. I stood and turned to go. I heard a whimper and turned back. Her eyes were wide open and brimming with tears. “Please don’t go. Please stay with me tonight, I don’t want to sleep alone.” ‘Oh God,’ I thought once again, ‘please don’t ask me that. I don’t know if I can be that well behaved.’ “Reilly, I’ve got to go to work in the morning. I have a meeting at nine o’clock and I can’t miss it.” “Set my alarm for as early as you need. Please stay, pleeeze!” Reilly looked at me with those big green eyes, pleading. I sighed, knowing that I would give in, knowing too, that I shouldn’t. I flipped my sandals off and started to slide in beside her.”Nope,” she giggled, “I’m in my panties; you need to be, too.” I closed my eyes. ‘Craaaap!’ I set the alarm and then turned my back to her and pulled off my top and skirt. “Ooohh, nice panties,” she giggled, ‘and an even nicer butt.” ‘Please God,’ I prayed silently, ‘make her stop, while I still have my dignity and my sanity.’ I slid into bed and she scooted up right next to me. “Please hold me.” She whispered. “I felt so safe earlier when you were holding me. That’s why I fell asleep. I haven’t slept that well in months.” I raised my arm and she snuggled into my body. She threw her arm across my belly and tight to the bottom of my boobs. Then she pushed her mons into my hip. I was glad she hadn’t pushed her arm up higher because she would have felt my rock hard nipples. Though, she had to feel my heart beating at about a thousand beats a minute. I eventually fell asleep. I had begun waking up because I was having a very sexy dream and was becoming very aroused from it. That was when Reilly’s alarm scared the living shit out of me. I was on my side, facing away from Reilly. I reached over and turned it off before realizing where Reilly and her hands were located. Reilly’s left arm was under my neck and her left hand was holding my right breast. Her right arm was across my hip and her right hand was in my panties, cupping my pussy. Not only was she cupping my pussy, it was very, very wet and her middle finger was making tiny, light circles on my clit. As I recognized all of this, I realized my sexy dream wasn’t a dream at all. I turned my head to look at Reilly and she was sound asleep. I began to try and extricate myself from her arms and apparently her subconscious did not want to let go of me. She gripped tighter on my breast and pressed harder on my clit. Suddenly, I came and my orgasm soaked my panties. As I recovered from the amazing feeling, I was humiliated and ashamed. I felt like I had taken advantage of Reilly, even though she was the one that had fingered me to orgasm. She would wake up and find her hand crusty and smelling like me and think the worst of me. I squirmed away from her, grabbed my clothing and fled to the bathroom. I looked at my panties and I was soaked from my crotch to my waistband. I couldn’t go home like this, so I peeled my panties off and would do the walk of shame to my house, commando. Fortunately, it was only five am and there was probably no-one on the street. I pulled on my skirt and had my top over my head when I heard Reilly giggle. “Nice tits.” I jerked the top down into place and she was sitting on the toilet, grinning. “Sorry, I couldn’t wait and right now this is the only one in the house.” When she was done, she got up, washed her hands and came over and hugged me, still naked. She leaned up and kissed me on the neck. “Thank you for staying. I really needed that.” She giggled, “I’m really sorry for groping you. I woke up as you were pulling my hand out of your panties. I hope that wasn’t too embarrassing.” I was speechless. I stood there staring at her. She laughed again. “I’m really not sure how that happened. Except that I used to wake up with my hand in Anthony’s shorts, holding, ummm…” I didn’t let her finish, I snapped, “I get the idea.” I looked at the clock, “I need to go; I have a meeting first thing this morning.” She looked down, suddenly shy. “Could you come over tonight? I’d like to finish the story. I can’t explain it, but I feel so much better now. I feel like I’m close to feeling the way it was before all this happened and I’m sure it’s all because of you. I think it’s because you’re not judging me; I think you just want to be my friend. Don’t you?” She looked so vulnerable, so cute and so goddamned sexy that I couldn’t resist her. “Of course, but it’ll be late. Monday’s are always a bitch.” “Okay,” she said, smiling brightly. “If you would call me when you leave your office, I’ll make burgers on the grill if that’s okay? Can I ask Daddy to stay?” I glanced at the clock and started edging my way towards the door. “Burgers would be awesome, but know that you don’t have to do that. I could stop and get something on my way home.” She just shook her head. “Okay, then. It takes me about forty-five minutes to get home after work, so you can judge the burgers. As for ‘Daddy’,” she giggled at my use of his name, “that’s completely up to you, it’s your home.” I reached the back door. “I really need to go baby; I’ll see you tonight.” Without thinking, I kissed her on the lips and her eyes got very wide. ‘Craaap, I did something stupid again.’ Amazingly, her hand went to her lips and touched them and got a very dreamy look on her face. She smiled then and said, “Don’t you need my number?” I smacked my head and said, “Doh!” She giggled. I always carry business cards in my wallet, so I dug one out. “Please text your number to my cell phone. I’ll call you when I leave, okay?” She nodded and presented her lips for another kiss. When I just stared at her, she shrugged and said, “What can I say, I liked it.” I leaned in, took her in my arms and kissed her deeply, though without any tongue. I grinned, “How was that?” She fanned herself with her hand and said in a Scarlett O’Hara accent, “Oh, my…” and then touched her lips again with the dreamy look. I started to leave and she started to follow me. I stopped and looked at her, “Do you remember that you’re naked?” She looked down at herself, shrieked and dove through the door, slamming it behind her. I got a text a minute later with a blushing emoji. I sent a winking one back and immediately got a relieved one in return. I stopped and saved Reilly’s number in my contacts. I got home, took a shower, dressed in a long skirt to cover my knees and went to work. It was a day that was busier than most and I barely had time to think, but when I did all I thought about was Reilly. I felt badly for her, for everything she had endured, but when I thought of the kisses, I got warm all over. I kept warning myself that straight women were the path that led straight to a broken heart, but I felt myself falling for her. I threw myself into my work that day and about seven o’clock, I realized that I needed to get out of there and more importantly; I was starving. I packed up my stuff and texted Reilly that I was about to leave. I got a text back that said dinner would be ready and that Daddy was looking forward to meeting the person that gave him his daughter back. It finished with the wink emoji. I sent back the blush. Reilly repeated the wink. My heart was full of joy, but in the back of my mind I knew I was headed for disaster. I kicked the door shut on that part of my mind, choosing to ignore my brain for once and listen to my heart. As I was driving home, I debated whether I should go home and change or just show up wearing what I had worn to work. I decided that I needed to appear professional when I met ‘Daddy’, so I would wear what I had worn to work. I pulled my car into my garage and ran into the house to use the rest room, change my underwear and freshen up. I grabbed a big purse and threw some underwear, pajamas, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner in it…just in case. I was rushing around and soon I stepped out of the front door. To my surprise Reilly was about halfway between my house and hers. She started running when she saw me. I still was wearing heels from work, so I couldn’t run, but I picked up my pace. We covered the distance between us in less than a minute. She threw herself into my arms and we hugged. When we separated she presented her lips for a kiss, so I obliged. She sighed and hugged me again. My warning bells started clanging as that door started to open before I kicked it shut again. She took my hand in hers and started toward her house. She peeked at my bag, giggled and asked, “Is that what I think it is?”I smirked and said, “And just what do you think it is, young lady?” She giggled, “Stuff for another sleepover?” “It might be,” I said, “but I also have pajamas to keep me from being m*****ed in my sleep.” She snickered, “But I liked m*****ing you. I don’t want you to wear pajamas.” I stopped dead in my tracks, right in the middle of the street. I looked at her, “Are you telling me you knew what you were doing?” She laughed, “No, it was like I told you this morning, I woke up when you were pulling my hand out. The only difference from what I told you this morning is that I noticed how wet my hand was. I smelled it and realized I had made you come. I was curious so I tasted my fingers and you taste different than I do. I really like how you taste.” I was stunned and I didn’t know what to say. I was blushing madly. She kissed me again, “Come on, I’m sure the burgers are ready and I want you to meet Daddy.” We walked the rest of the way to her house and I was in a daze. I took a deep breath and gathered myself just before we walked through the door to meet ‘Daddy’. As we walked up to him, hand-in-hand, I noticed his eyes flicker from our hands, to his daughter’s beaming face, to my nervous one. He broke into a big smile. Reilly said, “Daddy, this is Kendall Jacobs and Kendall this is my Daddy, Seamus Hannigan.” I stuck out my hand said, “It’s very nice to meet you Mr. Hannigan.” He grinned bigger and said, “Here now, there’ll be none of that. Call me Da, Daddy, or Seamus, but don’t call me Mr. Hannigan.” He grabbed my hand and nearly jerked me off my feet while pulling me into a hug. He whispered quickly into my ear, “I don’t know what you did, but thank you, thank you for givin’ me back me little girl.” Before I could respond, he released me and I staggered away, escaping from the Seamus Hannigan whirlwind. I looked helplessly at Reilly and she was laughing. She grabbed my hand and her Daddy’s attention and laughingly said, “Welcome to the Hannigan clan, there’ll no goin’ back for ya now.” Her Boston accent was in full bloom, being around her father. I’ll bet she didn’t even notice it. Seamus went out and retrieved the burgers off of the grill. They were thick and juicy with a horseradish cheese sauce on brioche buns. That may well have been the best burger I’ve ever had in my life. Seamus had one beer, his burger and fries and got up from the table. “I need to go,” he said, “I need to call your Ma before it gets to be too late.” He hugged Reilly, and me, not that I had any choice, and was gone. We stood on the porch and watched him pull out. Reilly reached down and laced her fingers with mine and it made my heart flutter. ‘Jesus, Jacobs,’ I said to myself, ‘get a grip.’ We went in, cleaned up dinner and settled in the love seat. I noticed that the second bedroom and the master bathroom were framed. I looked at Reilly and said, “Wow, you guys got a lot done today.” She yawned, “Yeah we did.” I looked at her and said, “Are you too tired to do this?” She smiled tiredly, “No, I’m not. I want to finish this.” She sat for a minute before speaking. “Can I snuggle again?” “Whatever you want baby.” I said softly. She smiled and snuggled under my arm, holding tight to my hand. “Even though, it was over, the charges dropped, I did not feel like it was at an end. I went to Anthony’s funeral but couldn’t look at him. His parents tried to talk to me, but I couldn’t do it. I just hid in Daddy’s arms. I still had to go to work; I had to go back to the townhouse. But I couldn’t do it. I stayed at Ma and Daddy’s, in my old room. I didn’t come out for weeks, other than to use the bathroom. I lost my job. It wasn’t the hospital’s fault; they needed to replace me; so they let me go. Ma brought my food to me and I just picked at it. I finally decided that I had to do something; I got up one morning, got dressed and went to the townhouse. But, I couldn’t go in. There were bits of the crime scene tape stuck to the door and I suddenly had a vision of Anthony lying there on the floor with that asshole lying on top of him. I turned to run away and the asshole’s father was blocking my way. He was very angry and he really scared me. He threatened me, told me that he would make sure I paid for killing his son. I was scared, but I surprised him and me by punching him in the nose and he went right down. I felt it break. I stood over him and told him if he ever came near me or my family again, I would make sure he paid. He would never hurt us again. Then I ran away.” I said, “Oh my god. What was he thinking? He can’t do that!” “That’s just it,” Reilly said, “he wasn’t thinking. Apparently, he had been waiting outside Ma and Daddy’s apartment waiting for me to come out. Then he followed me.” I shook my head, “Like father like son.” She shrugged, “Apparently. Anyway, when I got home Daddy was there waiting for me, frantic. I told him I was fine, and told him what happened. He called the prosecutor and got a restraining order against the asshole’s father. Then I told Daddy to get rid of all the stuff in the townhouse because I didn’t want to see any of it again. I was starting all over, leaving Boston. I got out a map, and marked off everything west of the Mississippi River and threw three darts at it. Two ended up too close to Boston and the third one was here. We found this house, bought it and started working on it. Daddy and I had been living in a small apartment, until we got the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom ready. Now, Daddy’s staying there on his own.” She stopped and hugged me, “Then I met you and I think you and I were meant to be together, because right away, I felt like I could trust you. You would be my friend, no matter what.” I hugged her back. “And I am.” She yawned again, “I know I rushed through that, but I didn’t want to dwell on it anymore.” She looked up at me, “Can we go get in bed? I want you to hold me like last night, okay?” I kissed the top of her head. “Whatever you want, baby,” I grabbed my bag and went into the bedroom. I stripped down to my panties and so did she. We crawled into bed and she snuggled up to my side. She was out in a heartbeat. It took me a little longer. I thought about what I was doing, falling for a straight girl. I knew better, but as much as it seemed I couldn’t help it, I knew I could. Reilly and I could be friends, just as I was friends with the homeowner’s association ladies. I knew I could do it. As I lay there holding her, I realized that I didn’t want to be just friends with her. I wanted more. It was then that I made a conscious, serious decision. I had never pursued a relationship with a straight girl before, not that brief flings hadn’t happened. But, Reilly’s inherent sweetness had filled my heart and I wanted to be the focus of that sweetness, to be the object of her love and desire as much as she was already of mine. Reflexively, as I made my decision, I squeezed her tighter, drawing a contented sigh from her as she snuggled in closer. Having decided on my direction, I relaxed and fell asleep with my love in my arms. ++++++++++ Over the next couple of months, Reilly and her dad continued to work on her house. I helped as much as I could. They started teaching me how to do home improvement work. I learned how to finish drywall, how to plumb a sink, and started to learn how to set studs. That one didn’t work out very well. Evidently, I am a total klutz with a hammer. Two smashed thumbs and one broken finger later, they decided that I should never touch another hammer again. The best part of all of what we did together; was simply being together. Reilly’s dad, okay, Daddy as I came to call him, was amazingly patient and truly funny. We laughed and hugged a lot. On the weekends when Daddy went home to Boston, we worked in the yard. We eventually got all of the flower beds cleared out and planted with beautiful perennial flowers. I don’t know if Reilly knew or what, but more and more often when we worked in the yard, she wore those black short-shorts that I had first seen her in the yard. It drove me crazy, seeing her tiny butt showcased in the shorts. We settled into a routine of sorts. I would run as soon as I got home from work. Then I would shower and go over the Reilly’s house where she would have a light dinner ready for us. We spent most evenings sitting on the love seat talking or watching old movies. I would go home and spend the weeknights at my house. We generally spent the weekend nights at her house or my house. Other than the occasional closed mouth kiss, it was completely platonic. Well, as long as you count sleeping mostly naked as platonic. As the house got done, Reilly was spending less and less time worrying about it and working on it. Daddy eventually told her that enough was done in the house that she would be safe and comfortable and she (and me) could handle the rest. He was giving up his apartment and moving back home. Reilly was happy and sad. She would miss her dad, but was looking forward to being on her own again. Seamus had packed up, returned the rental furniture and was headed out of town. He planned to leave early on a Wednesday morning, so I said goodbye to him on Tuesday evening and then left to allow Reilly and her dad time together. ++++++++++ Wednesday morning, I got a call from Seamus asking if I could meet him for a cup of coffee. It immediately worried me because I thought something might be wrong with Reilly and so I readily agreed. I told him about a little coffee shop near my office and he said he’d find it and meet me there. I took care of a couple of small items that came up and went to meet him. Surprisingly, he was already there. He hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. He already had my coffee for me. I tasted it and it was perfect. I asked him how he knew and he blushed. “I remembered from when we were working on the house. You always fixed it exactly the same way. I figured I’d be safe fixing it that way.” I just smiled and thanked him. Then I asked him how he beat me there. He blushed again, “I wanted to speak to you before I left town, but alone, without Reilly. She has your card up on the refrigerator and I copied the address. I was on the street in front of your office when I called you. I was just hoping you wouldn’t be busy.” I patted his hand. “I would never be too busy to see you, Daddy.” He grinned and blushed again. The blushing, while adorable, was starting to worry me. “Daddy, you’re way too nervous, you’re blushing like a virgin bride. What’s goin’ on?” He blushed even harder and looked down at the table. He took a deep breath and looked up and into my eyes. As he held my gaze, I realized where Reilly had gotten her eyes. “Kendall darlin’, you know I think of you like another daughter, don’t you?” I nodded, blushing myself, “And I am so honored, Daddy.” He snorted and shook his head. He then returned to the serious expression with his eyes fixed on mine. “I never thought I would have this conversation, but I have a question for you. I have thought and thought about it and I can’t come up with an easy way to ask this, so I’m just gonna do it.” “Seamus, you’re scaring me…” I said nervously. “Kendall, what are your intentions toward my daughter?” Seamus asked firmly. I honestly don’t know what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t that. I was left speechless. “I, uhh, ummm…” He let me off the hook a little. “I have seen how you look at my baby; I have seen her look at you the same way. You guys are always touching one another, holding hands and sharing innocent little kisses. It is my belief that you are in love with Reilly. Am I wrong?” I smiled nervously. “No, you’re not wrong, Daddy.” Seamus never wavered. “Is she in love with you?” “I hope so, but I have no idea.” I answered. “Let me rephrase that,” Seamus said. “I think she loves you. She looks at you the way she used to look at Anthony. When you’re not around…” He paused, grinned ruefully and shook his head. “…she talks about you constantly, Kendall this and Kendall that and Kendall said the funniest thing… I got so sick of hearing about Kendall.” I giggled nervously. “Seamus, I know you asked me my intentions, but what is it you want to know? What is it that you want me to tell you?” Seamus sighed, “I know that you two have been sleeping together…” I was stunned, “Okay now wait…wait…we have been sleeping in the same bed. But nothing has been going on, nothing has happened. Sometimes, Reilly just needs someone to hold her. I am happy to do that for her.” Seamus looked at me hard. “But, you’re gay, aren’t you?” I just looked at him, “Yeah, and…?” Seamus started looking nervous again, “But don’t you want…aren’t you…” “Seamus, I would love nothing more than to make love to your daughter. I love her and want us to be together more than anything. But, she has to want the same thing. Otherwise, it’s just sex and not meaningful at all. That’s not what I want, I don’t want just sex; I want it all.” I smiled and took his rough hands in mine. “I want everything that anybody else wants. I want to be happy, with the white picket fence, two point five k**s and the woman I love by my side. If I could have all that with Reilly, I think I would be the happiest woman in the world. But, if my sexuality causes me to lose Reilly as a friend, then I couldn’t stand that. I would rather have Reilly as a friend and lock up my desire.” I paused to think for a moment. “I guess that is my intention toward your daughter. I will do whatever I need to do; in order to make her happy. Even stand aside if she finds a man to take the place of Anthony.” Seamus sat there and stared at me. He said softly, with a voice full of wonder, “You really love her, don’t you?” I nodded, “Yes, I do.” We sat silently for a few minutes, before he spoke. “My church would disagree with most everything I am about to say. Reilly has been happier since she has known you than I think I have ever seen her. I am including the time she was with Anthony. There were times she seemed to be going through the motions. But now she smiles all of the time, there is never a faraway look in her eyes. If she wants you the way that you want her, then you should be together.” He paused and looked intently at me. “But, I’ll trust that if she doesn’t want you that way, you’ll just be friends. Right?” I got up, went around the table and hugged him. “Daddy, I would never do anything to hurt Reilly. She’s experienced too much pain in her young life for me to add to it. You have my word that I’ll do anything and everything to make her happy, including just being friends if that’s what she wants. I will not push her…if she wants me, she’ll come to me.” I giggled, “That’s not to say that I’m not above romancing her with flowers, candy and romantic candlelit dinners.” Seamus put his hands over his ears, “Okay, okay, okay…I think I’ve heard enough.” He got up and hugged me. “I’m sure my baby is safe with you. Thank you for loving her like you do.” He turned and walked out. I was stunned. Again, I don’t know what I expected, but this conversation was certainly not it. I had to compose myself a little before I went back to the office. I got another cup of coffee and took a different seat, this one by the window. I sat, staring out the window and daydreaming about a life with Reilly. I guess I had a silly grin on my face because people, total strangers, were smiling and nodding at me. A young lady stopped and briefly stood by the table. She said, “I don’t mean to bother you but I just had to say something. I don’t know who the lucky man…or lady is, but I wish my husband would think of me the way you’re obviously thinking of your special friend. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an expression so filled with pure love.” She turned and walked away without waiting for me to respond. After a few minutes I went back to work. Seamus’ and the stranger’s words stuck with me all day and it was close to the end of the work day before I knew it. I was cleaning up my office and just beginning the process of shutting down my computer when I got a new email. It was from the homeowner’s association with an announcement of a block party celebrating Halloween. I thought that since Reilly’s house was nearly done, she might enjoy meeting the neighbors. I got excited and finished up and left the office. I couldn’t wait to see Reilly and rushed home. I changed into my running clothes and went to see if she wanted to go for a short run with me. I had gotten her out a couple of times and though she wasn’t in running shape, she seemed to enjoy it. Of course she wasn’t home. I was so disappointed, I wanted to run, but more than that, I wanted to see Reilly. I took off on the long route because I hadn’t been running as regularly as I normally would have and needed the endorphin rush. It took me almost a quarter of the way through to establish the smooth, easy rhythm to which I had become accustomed before I met Reilly. Once I settled in though, I was feeling amazing. My thoughts returned to Seamus’ words and my feelings for Reilly and I soon realized that tears were running down my cheeks. I was happier than I’d been in a long time and it was all due to Reilly. I turned the corner on my street and naturally turned my head to look at Reilly’s house, slowing to see if she was home. I had to smile when I saw the flower beds because of the memory of my first encounter with Reilly and those black short-shorts. The house appeared to be closed up and I didn’t bother to stop. I let out a big sigh and sped up, heading for home. I went in, took a shower, washed my hair, jumped out, dried off and put my hair up in pigtails. Then I put on a tank top and yoga pants and wandered out to the kitchen. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Until that moment I hadn’t realized how tied up I had become with Reilly. We were together virtually every free moment that I had. We had been working on her house; either inside or in the yard, talking at the table with coffee or running, or snuggled in in front of the TV, watching old romantic comedies. She had become my world and I was lost without her. I flopped down on the couch, stunned at my sudden realization. I was still sitting there about twenty minutes later when Reilly burst through the door, scaring the living shit out of me. I jumped and yelped, scaring Reilly in return. She stopped in the middle of the room, wide-eyed and breathing hard; when she started giggling. I glared at her for a moment before her infectious giggle got to me and I joined in. Before long, she was bent over laughing hard and I tumbled over on the couch. It really wasn’t that funny, but I guess you had to be there. She stumbled over and I sat up and we fell into each other’s arms. We clung to each other for a few minutes, getting over the residual snickers. She settled in, laying her head on my shoulder, snuggling comfortably on the couch. It was okay with me, holding Reilly close and just being still. After a few minutes, I began to wonder what had caused her dramatic entrance. Finally, I couldn’t stand it, I had to know. “Reilly?” She snuggled in deeper. “Hmmm?” “Why did you blast through the door?” I asked. She leapt off the couch, out of my arms, startling me again. “Holy shit! I forgot! I have the best news!” Then she paused, looking at me. I waited several moments before finally saying, “Oh come on! Spit it out!” She started giggling again, “I wondered how long I could make you wait.” I growled at her, glaring. “Okay, okay.” She said, giggling, “Miss Impatient. I got a job!” “What?!?” I exclaimed, “When did you start looking for a job?” I immediately realized how bad that sounded and started trying to explain myself. “No! What I mean, umm…” She leapt onto me and hugged me. “Stop it, silly! I got up this morning and got a cup of coffee. I sat in the kitchen and looked around at my house and I’m very proud of what we accomplished; Daddy and you and me.” I laughed, “Yeah, you and Daddy, me, not so much.” She nudged me, “Well maybe, but I feel like you were a big part of this.” I could accept that and smiled, “Okay, thank you.” “Anyway, I looked at the list that Daddy and I put together to finish the house. I realized that there wasn’t much left to do.” Reilly said. “I started thinking that with Daddy gone and you at work every day, I would be left inside my head an awful lot and that scared me.” I hugged her to me. “Oh, baby.” She pushed away a little bit. “Stop it! I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m trying to explain my decision process.” Chastised, I simply nodded. She looked at me and tilted her head to the side. “Did I hurt your feelings?” “No,” I said quietly, “I’m trying to be what you want me to be.” She punched me on the arm. “I need you to be the girl that you are, the girl with whom I fell in love. Stop pouting.” She said some more, but I didn’t hear a word after she said she fell in love with me. I was so unbelievably happy. Somewhere in the distance, I heard something. “Kendall! Kendall! Do you hear me?” Reilly was shaking me. “Huh?” I said. “Are you all right?” She asked. “Have you heard anything I’ve said?” “Umm…” I was lost. She sighed…not in a good way. “Anyway… What I said while you were in la-la land was that I thought I wanted a job. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go back to a hospital, but I really loved being around c***dren, helping them feel better. I decided that I would go to the c***dren’s hospital and see if there was anything for me. I found my nursing license and went down there. The lady at the reception desk looked at me like I had three heads when I said I was there to apply for a job as a nurse. She explained illegal bahis siteleri to me in no uncertain terms that all of that was done online.” Reilly delivered the last in a high pitched, nasally, condescending voice. She started giggling. “I felt like such a dumb ass. Everything is done online now. But, I was also crushed. I had made up my mind to get back to work as soon as possible and now I couldn’t. As I walked away from the reception desk a man stopped me.” She smiled as though experiencing a fond memory. “He reminded me of Anthony.” I froze, my earlier joy at hearing that Reilly loved me instantly turning to fear, though I just sat there listening. “Anyway, he asked me if I was a nurse. I told him yes and he also asked me if I had experience in a c***dren’s hospital. I told him that I had been a NICU nurse at Franciscan c***dren’s Hospital in Boston. He got really excited and grabbed my hand and started dragging me toward the elevator.” She paused and I was horrified and asked, “You didn’t go with him, did you?” She laughed, “Oh hell no! Not after what I experienced in Boston. I jerked my hand away and he looked shocked and then must have realized what he had done. He apologized and introduced himself as Dr. Michael Conroy, the chief administrator of the hospital. He explained that they were in desperate need of nurses, especially qualified, experienced NICU nurses. If my background checked out, they would be willing to offer as much as seventy-five thousand a year and give me a ten thousand dollar signing bonus if I signed a two-year contract. It was then that he looked around and realized that we were standing in the lobby of the hospital. He apologized again and asked if we could move our conversation to his office. I agreed and we went and got on the elevator.” I was surprised. “Wow! Just like that he gave you a job?” She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t that easy. We went and sat at a little table in his office. He had his assistant bring us coffee, and an IPad for me to fill out an application.” She snickered. “Do you know that don’t even have paper applications available? I just find that weird. Anyway, I filled out the application, they copied my license, and then Dr. Conroy and I talked. I suppose it was an interview, but it just seemed like a nice conversation. He even showed me pictures of his wife and three daughters and we talked about Boston.” I tried not to show my relief at this revelation about his family. “Did you tell him about Anthony?” I asked cautiously. “As we were talking, I realized that as soon as the hospital communicated with Franciscan c***dren’s Hospital the truth would be out there, so I explained the Cliff Notes version of my story. Dr. Conroy was extremely sympathetic and told me that my past would stay in my past. He was grateful that I had explained the story so that he would be armed with answers when questions arose. His assistant told me that she had started the reciprocity process for my license. I will start tomorrow and spend about a week going through the new hire orientation and some administrative stuff. By that time my ninety-day temporary work permit will be processed and I will be allowed on the floor.” She finished with a huge smile on her face. I hugged her, reveling in the contact. “I am so happy for you!” She pushed out of my hug, took my hands and got very serious. “Kendall, this would not be possible without everything that you’ve done for me.” She saw me start to protest and shushed me. “No, I’m serious. You listened, you didn’t judge, you loved me for me. You were there for me when nobody but my family believed in me. Okay, that may be a little harsh, but it’s mostly true. You may be the best friend…no that’s not right. You are the best friend I’ve ever had. I love you with all of my heart.” She threw herself into my arms. “Thank you.” I had tears in my eyes and my heart was beating a million times a minute. She had said it again; she loves me. I don’t know how that relates to my feelings of romantic love for her, but for now, I’ll take what I can get. She settled into my arms, snuggling deep, her head beneath my chin. I was in heaven, her warm body feeling wonderful to me. My mind drifted as we cuddled and suddenly I remembered the block party. “Hey!” I exclaimed. “I have news, too. It’s not as monumental as yours, but I think you’ll find it a little exciting.” She sat up and looked at me. “Okay, what is it?” I paused, with a great big grin. She punched me again, “Tell me!” I kept grinning and she stood, putting her hands on her hips and scowling at me. She was getting pissed, so I relented. “Okay, okay, I got an email from the homeowner’s association. There’s going to be a party for Halloween. Do you want to go? Honestly, they’re family oriented and not terribly exciting, but can be kinda fun, we can dress up! It’s a chance to meet the neighbors.” She surprised me, excitedly clapping. “Yay! That sounds different and fun.” She grinned, and said in a sing-song voice, “I know what I’m gonne be and I’m not gonna tell you!” I looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. She giggled again and, changing the subject, asked, “What should I bring?” I stared at her for a moment before answering. “Umm, the way it works is that I’ll respond to the invitation and will get back a list of things that they want. We’ll pick one and let them know. The homeowner’s association provides the meat, usually hot dogs and hamburgers, but sometimes they’ll have ribs. But that’s usually only on the Fourth of July.” I explained. “We bring whatever we want to drink, though sometimes one of the guys will bring a rum punch.” “Oh!” Reilly said, frowning and seemingly worried. I laughed, “It’s safe…” I hesitated and chuckled, “Okay, maybe safe isn’t the right word, but nobody is gonna spike it with roofies. It’s maybe not safe because the punch part of rum punch is an exaggeration. It is usually freakin’ loaded with booze.”She giggled, relieved, “Oh, okay.” I continued, “There’ll be lots of decorations and the homeowner’s association has lights on stands so that we’re not stumbling around in the dark. I love the Halloween block parties; the k**s are soooo cute!” I went and grabbed my laptop and fired up my email. I responded to the email from the homeowner’s association and said that I would be attending and I would be bringing a new member, Reilly Hannigan. I asked that they send the list of desired items for the party. Reilly said, “Okay, that’s done. What do you want to do now?” I said, “I have already run tonight and taken a shower and I guess I’m kinda hungry. Do you want to get something to eat?” She got an evil grin on her face. I immediately got worried. “What?” “I want pizza.” She said. ‘Craaaap’, I knew what that meant. “I just ran.” I whined. “I don’t care, I want Luigi’s!” She said triumphantly and I whimpered. She leaned over, grabbed my phone and dialed Luigi’s. “Delivery please,” she said when they answered. “I’d like a large…,” I groaned and she punched me once again, my arm starting to get sore, “deep dish, sausage, andouille, mushroom, onion, green pepper, jalapeno, mozzarella cheese and gouda cheese.” She paused and I hoped she was done…she wasn’t. “And breadsticks with nacho cheese sauce and garlic dip. Nope, that’ll be all.” She gave her credit card information and my address. “Oh my god,” I groaned, “I’ll never be able to move again, let alone run!” She stuck her tongue out at me, which despite the conversation, made me shiver with desire. “You don’t have to eat it!” She said defiantly. I snorted, “Yeah, like that’s not gonna happen.” She laughed, “I knew it. You just have a latent desire to get lazy and fat and lay around the house by yourself in a tee shirt and boxers.” I laughed and punched her, getting her back a little when she pouted and rubbed her arm. She then surprised me by looking up at me innocently and apparently flirting with me. “Or do you just want to lay with me?” I was stunned into speechlessness, my mouth flapping soundlessly. “You’ve got that baby bird thing going on again.” She laughed and went into the bathroom. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wasn’t sure if she was just teasing or if she was truly flirting. I am normally not this unsure of myself, but I wasn’t normally involved with a straight girl, either. The ones with whom I had been involved made it very clear they were interested in experimenting. Reilly seemed to be interested in me…in us and her Dad indicated that he thought she was, but I was in completely unfamiliar territory. After a little bit of thinking, I decided that I needed to stay my course of trying to romance Reilly and not succumb to the temptation to overreact to Reilly’s first steps toward a possible romantic relationship. Having reaffirmed my course of action, I felt surer of myself and was now confident that I wouldn’t fuck this up. I got up, went into the kitchen, and got us a couple of diet cokes. When I was in the kitchen, I heard Reilly go out the front door. I went to look and she was walking toward home. Instead of immediately reacting, I decided to wait and see what she was doing. About ten minutes later, the pizza guy showed up at the door. I signed Reilly’s name and gave him a cash tip. I started to get some paper plates out before changing my mind. Instead, I got out some nice dinnerware and a bunch of candles. I set the table, lit the candles, turned off the lights and put Norah Jones on the stereo. I sat at the table to wait for her. I had guessed right about not interrupting Reilly with what she was doing. She came back in with an overnight bag and took it into my bedroom. She was gone for a few minutes and when she came into the kitchen, I just stared at her. She was dressed in a black silk nightgown with a deep vee neck, highlighting her incredible cleavage. It was ankle length with a slit up to her hip and clung to her in all the right places. It was obvious she was wearing nothing else. Sitting on the couch, I was frozen in place, staring with my mouth hanging open. The only reason I knew that my mouth was open was because Reilly walked up to me, bent over, her breasts dangling freely in front of my eyes, and gently pushed it closed. Then she kissed me. A sweet, gentle kiss included a brush of her tongue across my lips. It was fleeting, but it most definitely not my imagination playing with me. Her smile when she pulled away was sexy, coy and full of promise. “Hi,” she said huskily. I opened my mouth to respond and nothing came out, I was simply stunned. She leaned back in and kissed me again. When she pulled back, she said, “I can keep doing this if I need to…at least until you can talk.” I croaked, “If you keep doing that, I won’t be able…” She cut off the rest of my response with her sweet lips. “Shut up…” She whispered, after briefly withdrawing. Again, she gently pressed her lips to mine. She snuggled onto my lap and into my arms. I was in heaven, but a little confused and nervous. I loved her lips on mine and the flickers of her tongue were absolutely thrilling. But, I didn’t understand what was happening. I didn’t want it to stop; although I wanted to be sure it was real. Reilly withdrew and looked into my eyes, her green-eyed gaze holding firm. She smiled at me but when I returned it, I saw a glimmer of doubt flash through her eyes. Our lips met again and though I was unsure of her intentions and level of desire, I returned her kiss with passion. I did, however, leave my mouth closed. I wanted to encourage her, not frighten her. As much as I wanted everything that her kisses implied, that glimmer bothered me. The next time Reilly came up for breath I eased out from under her, letting her settle on the chair. Her disappointment was obvious. I leaned in, gave her a quick peck on the lips and said lightly, “Why don’t we take a minute and eat some pizza? I am starving and I could use a drink.” Reilly still looked upset but she said, “Me too.” She whispered. Then, she looked down at the diet coke. “Do you have anything stronger?” I laughed, trying to keep it light. “Sure, what would you like?” She eyed me thoughtfully, “How about some rum?” “I can do that!” I said. I got out the rum, poured a splash into her glass and she frowned. I shook my head, laughed and hit it again as she nodded. I set the pizza, breadsticks and sauces out before excusing myself to go into the bedroom. When I came out I was dressed in a pink cotton tank top and white satin shorts. I sat next to her, making sure that my thigh brushed up against hers. I hid my smile when I felt her shiver. I served the pizza and breadsticks and laid my hand high on the inside of her thigh. “Do you want to say grace?” I asked her. Her eyes were huge, sliding up and over from my hand to my boobs and then to my face. Even in the semi-darkness of the candlelight, I could see that she was blushing. She nodded and said a quick, quiet grace, finishing with crossing herself. When she was done, her hand found mine and she squeezed gently. She continued to hold it. “Kendall?” She said quietly. “Mmm-hmm.” I said. “Why did you stop me?” She asked very softly. I really wasn’t ready to answer that, but I didn’t want to put her off. She was confused and I did want to help her understand what I needed. “Reilly,” I started, looking into her eyes. The expression on her face was so innocent, so hopeful, so longing that I almost didn’t say what I needed to say. I knew I had to say it anyway. “I think I know what you think you want…” She interrupted me, saying firmly, “No, I don’t think I want to make love with you…I want to make love with you. Because I love you Kendall, I love everything about you. I love holding you, I love kissing you and I love being with you. I can’t imagine my life without you. I know that you’re worried because I’m straight. I loved Anthony almost as much as I love you.” (That caused my eyes to bulge open in shock and she giggled.) “But I cannot imagine myself with another man. Maybe, that’s because Anthony spoiled me…just like you’ve spoiled me. I want you and you alone. Again, I can’t imagine my life without you. But, I’m not a lesbian, I don’t want other women; I just want you.” She stopped and got another evil grin. “So between you and Anthony there is nobody on the planet that I want or will want. So, if you reject me, I’ll be allll alone.” She outrageously faked pouting and I just rolled my eyes. She slipped across the chairs and back into my lap, sliding her arms around me and snuggled into my neck, kissing the soft skin there and melting the last bits of my resistance. I sighed and she giggled again. Her giggling made me happy because I felt like she was happy. We snuggled for a few minutes, our stillness occasionally interrupted by Reilly’s lips and tongue on the soft, smooth skin of my neck. Each time she kissed me, I would sigh and she would giggle. The contentment seemed complete, more than enough until the wind shifted through the open windows, and I caught a whiff of pizza and breadsticks. My stomach rumbled so fiercely that Reilly felt it as well as heard it. Her immediate giggle quickly escalated into a full-fledged laugh. “Jeez, Kenni, hungry much? I thought the rumble was gonna throw me off of your lap!” My breath caught, Reilly had never called me a nickname before. It felt, I don’t know, somehow special and right and it made my eyes well up with tears. She sat up, looked at me, and was immediately contrite. “I’m sorry Kendall, I won’t do that again.” I wiped my eyes and said softly, “Don’t you dare stop! That was sweet and awesome. I love it!” Then I kissed her and we melted together. Our lips parted and our eyes met. I said softly, “I know you think you want this, but I want you to cool down for a little while. I’m okay with whatever happens or doesn’t happen between us as long as there’s still an “us” after it happens. I would not be able to survive well if I hurt you and we weren’t friends anymore. I want you to be sure and right now, there is no way for you to be sure.” She started to object and I silenced her with my lips. “Until you can think rationally without the input of your hormones, you cannot be sure.” She sighed and snuggled into my neck. She sat there for a few minutes before saying quietly, “I understand. But, I just want you to understand that I love you and that’s never going to change for me.” We sat, her on my lap and me holding tight. I loved how the black silk felt; slipping and sliding on her smooth skin. I was content; well, mostly. My stomach interrupted again and Reilly started chuckling. “We need to eat before you decide to eat me.” Her unintended double entendre hung out there and she didn’t know what to do with it. Her face burned bright red with embarrassment. I started laughing. “Wow! That was a loaded statement. Let’s get something other than your foot into your mouth.” She slid off my lap and, predictably, punched my arm again. She started plating the pizza. She sat back down next to me, briefly laying her head on my shoulder. “I do love you, you know?” I kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, I love you, too.” It was an automatic response, but then again, it wasn’t and shouldn’t have been. I had just told the love of my life, for the first time, that I love her in an offhand, flippant manner. She froze and I felt terrible. I slipped to the floor to my knees in front of her. “Reilly, I am so sorry. That was rude and thoughtless. I want you to know that, like you, I love you with all of my heart. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I just told you that I love you like a TV actor on the phone. That was awful and I know it. This is as real as it gets for me. I…” Reilly grabbed my head and pulled me to her. “You love me…” She said in wonder. “Now shut up and kiss me.” She pressed her soft lips gently to mine and we kissed. We kissed for several minutes, sweet soft, gentle, kisses, each of us sighing in happiness. Then my stomach rumbled again. Reilly laughed happily, “Annnnd we’re back.” I was mortified and the flush of embarrassment showed it. She kissed me again, “Maybe this time you will eat me…” She got up and moved her chair away from mine. “We need some space and I don’t think your stomach will forgive me if I interrupt it again!” I hung my head in shame, but I was grinning the whole time. I looked up and Reilly was eating pizza and watching me with a little grin on her lips. “Oh, shut-up!” I huffed, but grinned the whole time. We ate our fill of pizza and breadsticks and then put everything away. By silent agreement, we went into the bedroom, hand-in-hand, but did not remove our lingerie. We slipped into bed and she came into my arms, putting her head on my shoulder. Her lips found my neck and I sighed. “I take it you like that.” Reilly whispered. “Mmm-hmmm,” I answered in a little moan. “Good, cause I like doing it.” Her lips returned to my neck, barely brushing the skin. She kissed up and down my neck, each time she dipped lower and lower, until she was brushing the tops of my breasts. “Reilly…” I murmured with a hint of an edge to my tone. She giggled and moved back up, only to return a short time later. “Reilly, pleeeze…” I moaned. I didn’t want to attack her, but my mind and my pussy did not agree. My brain was screaming at me and my pussy was flooded. She kept it up and finally, I pushed away. “Kennnniiii…” she whined and her new nickname for me clutched at my heart. “Reilly, I’m serious, we can’t do this, not yet.” I tried to be firm but the pleading in her big green eyes was almost impossible to resist. “I want you to be sure…” She huffed, but I plunged on. “I know you think you are, but this is a big step. Once we take it, we’re no longer friends that love one another, we’re lovers. That leads to basically two places, a couple that’re together for a long, long time or a decimated friendship. I’d rather be your friend than an ex-lover with no hope. Please, let’s take a tiny step back.” She sighed again. “Okay, I thought I could wear you down, but I’ll be good. Can we kiss, though? I just want to kiss you. I really, really like how your lips feel against mine.” I hesitated and Reilly said, “Please Kenni?” My brain had settled down and I thought, ‘If we’re under control, what could it hurt?’ I leaned into Reilly and gently pressed my lips to hers. It seemed like we were kissing wildly in a heartbeat, our hands exploring everywhere and then suddenly Reilly pushed away. “I think you’re right, we need to slow down.” I could hear the smirk in her voice. I took a deep breath, “Okay.” I snickered when she growled, “See how it feels?” “I know, baby.” I answered softly. She slipped down and nestled her head on my shoulder. Her arm reached across me and tenderly cupped my breast. She didn’t try to stimulate me, she just held it. Soon her breathing changed and as she relaxed, her hand fell away and she was asleep. I lay awake for a while longer, merely reveling in her close proximity. I gradually fell asleep, too, eventually dreaming of a life with Reilly. ++++++++++ We mostly settled back into our routine, but with Reilly working there were days where we didn’t see each other. Those days were more difficult for me than I could have imagined. I hugged her tightly every time we came back together; I just didn’t want to let her go. We made plans to go to the Halloween party, but she still wouldn’t tell me what she planned for her costume. I had no idea what I was going to be, but I couldn’t let her know that, so I teased her that if she wouldn’t tell me, then I wouldn’t tell her. She pretended that she didn’t care, but she kept asking questions. I loved that she was so intrigued, but I still had no idea what to wear. Reilly had begun working on the floor and because of the nursing shortage; she had shifts of twelve hours on and twelve hours off. We didn’t see each other at all during that time. She was working over the weekend and I was bored. I didn’t feel like working in the yard and I had already cleaned up the house, so I flipped on the TV. As I was channel surfing I ran across a Star Wars marathon. I hadn’t seen the original three in years, so I settled in to watch them. Carrie Fisher made her first appearance as Princess Leia and I couldn’t help but think how beautiful she had been as a young woman. I sat there watching and I started playing with my long, dark hair, twisting it around and pulling it into the side-buns that Princess Leia wore and I realized that I had my costume! I looked at the robe that she wore and got really excited. It was a simple design and I could make it! I jumped up, ran in and took a shower and then went to a fabric shop. I spoke with one of the clerks and she helped me find a pattern. I was shocked because it was about eighty dollars for the pattern, apparently a Disney tax, but I just thought that the look on Reilly’s face would be worth it. I had to decide which of the styles that I would use. The ceremonial one with the scoop neck was very sexy, but I thought the scoop neck on an October evening would be too cold. The simple one with the mock turtleneck was the one that most people knew, but I really liked the one with the mock turtleneck and the hood. It could be sexy, if done right. I bought the pattern, the sixty-inch-wide fabric, zipper and facing material. This was going to be a ridiculously expensive costume, but again, Reilly was worth it. The clerk suggested that I go online to find the rest of the pieces, because even though Star Wars is popular, some of the items are too specialized for stores to carry. I thanked her and took my booty home. I read a number of articles online about making a Leia costume. Nearly every one suggested that the robe be lined with the same sheer, white material as the outside of the robe. When I looked at the pattern, I realized that the makers of the pattern intended for it to be lined and the quantity of the fabric included enough to line it. I decided to get started, but the articles suggested that the fabric be washed first to make sure that any shrinkage take place before beginning the sewing. So, my start was delayed by about an hour. While I was nowhere near the skill level of a professional seamstress, I did okay. After three or four hours I had it all cut out and was beginning to pin it up. When I was done pinning it up, I took a break, got a cup of coffee, sat, and looked at all that I had done. I was excited that it was going so well even though it was early in the process. I started sewing and after another couple of hours, I had the body of the robe together and was starting on the arms. The phone rang and when I looked, I saw that it was Reilly. It startled me that she was calling so soon, but was thrilled to hear from her. I picked up the phone. “Hi baby!” I said excitedly, “Are you off early?” She snorted, “Early? Are you into the wine already?” I looked at the clock and was stunned to realize that it was ten o’clock. “Wow!” I said, “I’ve been so busy that I didn’t realize the time!” “Busy?” She asked, “What are you doing?” Silently, I cursed my carelessness. “Ummm, none of your business?” She chuckled, “Oh, okay. Hey, I’m off the next couple of days, I was hoping to come over and get some Kendall time. Would that be okay?” Now I really was excited. “Yes, absolutely. When will you be here?” As I thought about it, I realized she was supposed to work for several more days before getting another day off. “Wait, how did you get time off? Weren’t you supposed to be on for three or four more days?” She yawned into the phone. “Ummm, yeah. My supervisor realized that I had worked like twenty days in a row and she rearranged the schedule.” She giggled. “Apparently, the other nurses have been taking advantage of me and my…let’s say gullibility. I am not to agree to switch days off without the supervisor’s approval. Anyway, I’m on my way home now and I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” Looking around my dining room, I started to panic. “I want to go home and take a hot shower and then I’ll be over. Say somewhere between forty-five minutes and an hour? Would that be okay?” I breathed a sigh of relief. “That would be great; I can’t wait to see you. I’ve missed you so much.” I could hear the smile in her voice as she said softly, “I’ve missed you, too. But, I need to warn you, Kendall time is gonna be in bed, probably with me asleep.” I said softly, “That’s okay, as long as you’re here.” Another yawn followed, worrying me. “Are you all right to drive, baby? Do you want me to come and get you?” “You’re so sweet.” She sighed into the phone. “No, I’m fine. I’m only about ten minutes from home.” I had a better idea. “How about I meet you at your house? That way when you get done in the shower, you don’t have to get dressed and you can fall into bed. Maybe into my arms, does that sound good?” I heard a little gasp, “That sounds amazing. I’ll see you in a few minutes. I don’t want this to sound trite, but I love you, you know that don’t you?” Hearing her say that made my heart soar. “I do know that and I love you, too. Please be careful and I’ll be waiting with a big hug and kiss for you.” “Mmmm, sounds heavenly…” She said dreamily. “I can’t wait. Bye, babe.” “Bye, sweetie…” I answered to a dead phone as she had disconnected already. I shook my head and went into the kitchen to get the fixings for grilled cheese. Reilly needed something to eat before she went to sleep. I packed up the food, my toiletries and some clothes and started toward Reilly’s house. As I was walking, I saw her turn into the driveway. About a minute later she was running toward me and I could see the big grin on her face. She collided with me at almost full speed. I staggered back, laughing. “Geez, Reilly, miss me? Actually, no you didn’t…” She was clinging to me. “No, I didn’t, I hit you pretty square…” She snickered and then looked at my load and asked, “Can I help you with that?” “I actually think it would be harder to transfer than to just keep going. Let’s just go.” I didn’t have a free hand, so Reilly just linked her arm in mine and we walked the rest of the way to her house. I dropped all of my stuff on the table and Reilly was on me again. Her face was in my chest and her hair was in my face. I breathed the scent of her hair in and while it smelled slightly of hospital, it smelled deeply of Reilly and I could never get enough of that. We settled in each other’s arms and just stood there, gently rocking. After several long moments, it might’ve been a minute, it might’ve been five minutes, and Reilly drew slightly away and looked up at me. “I’m gonna go take a shower.” She said and then added, “Don’t fix me too much, okay?” She kissed me quickly, and turned and went into the bedroom. I smiled at her as she walked away. I got out the Panini press and put together a sandwich with mozzarella, provolone, prosciutto and tomatoes. I heard the shower stop and checked the sandwich and found that it was just about done. Then I heard Reilly’s phone ring. I thought I heard her sob and then silence. I pulled the sandwich out of the press, gave her half, and took half for myself. I heard something rustle and Reilly was standing there quietly watching me and her eyes were red. I went around the island and she stepped into my arms and suddenly started sobbing. I just waited, knowing that she would tell me when she was ready. She stood there for a few minutes before the sobbing slowed and then stopped. “That was Kim from work,” she said, speaking so quietly that I had to strain to hear her. “There’s been this tiny baby girl who was born about a week ago. She has been struggling to stay alive. We’ve all been working extra hard to make sure she was okay. I mean, it’s not like all of the babies aren’t important, but this one was really fighting. Then yesterday, she seemed to rally. She got stronger and seemed to be more alert. Before I left, it was looking like she was getting strong enough that her parents could start to think about getting her out of the hospital and start having a normal life.” Reilly stopped talking and sobbed once again. I asked as gently as I could, “What happened?” “Her heart stopped.” Reilly said, “The doctors and nurses did everything that they could, but she was gone.” Reilly took a deep, hitching breath. “I know this happens, it is NICU after all, but this was the first time we’ve lost one since I started back. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to experience this again. But, I was wrong.” I hugged her tighter. Then I said, “Reilly, I can’t imagine what this feels like for you. But, I know that you and your coworkers did everything you could to make that baby’s life and her parent’s lives better and easier. Other people like her and her parents need you. I…” I ran out of momentum, I didn’t know what else to say. Reilly looked up at me with sad eyes, but with a twinkle of amusement in them. “It’s okay, Kendall. I’m not going to quit. I’ve experienced this before and I’ll experience it again. I’ll be sad for a little while, but I will move on.” She smiled and kissed my cheek. “Wow, that Panini looks great.” She looked at my stunned expression and giggled a little. “Are, you okay?” I shook the surprise out of my head and got out some potato chips and some milk. We sat side by side at the island. Reilly took a couple of bites of sandwich and ate a couple of chips and sipped at the milk, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it. “I’m gonna go to bed,” Reilly said. “This is really good, but I’m not very hungry. Could you spend the night? I don’t want to be alone.” I smiled tenderly, “Of course. You go on and I’ll clean up and be in there in a few.” She protested, “It’s okay, leave it for the morning.” I answered, “Okay, I’ll leave everything but the Panini press. I am not going to try and clean that up after the cheese sits overnight.” She laughed, “Okay.” Then she kissed me on the cheek and went into the bedroom. I took the press apart and got all of the cheese off and then wiped it down and let it sit out to air dry. I piled all of the rest of the dishes in the sink and wiped down the island. After turning out the lights, I went toward the bedroom and I could hear Reilly’s steady breathing, she was already asleep, poor baby. I stripped down to my panties and slipped on an old tee shirt. I slid between the sheets and almost as soon as I had settled in, Reilly scooted over to me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders as she nestled into the crook of my neck. “G’night,” she mumbled, “love you.” I just chuckled and tightened my grip on her shoulders. “I love you, too, baby.” I whispered. “Mmmm…” escaped her throat as she relaxed and settled in. I lay there quietly, simply enjoying the contact with Reilly all along our bodies. Reilly shifted and brought her hand up to cup my breast, but otherwise didn’t move. Eventually, her hand dropped away as I drifted off to sleep, content and comfortable. ++++++++++ I awoke to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and bacon. I breathed in deeply, enjoying the scents of the early morning. Bacon! Is there anything better to which to awaken? I scrambled out of bed, went to the bathroom and flew to the kitchen. Reilly was standing at the stove in a hot pink crop top, the black short-shorts and a frilly little white apron. Her hair was wet and combed straight back. She looked like a housewife from a porn film. The only thing missing was ridiculous stripper heels! God she was hot! I crept up behind her, slipped my hands under the apron and onto her naked tummy. I kissed her neck and then rested my chin on her shoulder. “Mmmm…” Reilly hummed, her head lolling back to rub her cheek against mine. “Morning Kenni. That’s a nice way to be greeted.” I kissed her cheek. “Well, that’s a lovely view you’re presenting. I love those shorts.” I laid my cheek back against hers. I could feel her smile. “I know you do.” I stiffened and she giggled. “Whaaat!?! Did you think you were being sneaky?” I stammered while turning bright red, “I…ummm…uhhh…” “Yeah, uhhh, not so much…” she said while chuckling. “I saw how your eyes popped out of your head every time I put them on. I really got a charge out of teasing you. Oh, by the way, nice blush.” I had nothing to say in response. My blush simply intensified. She pulled the pan with the bacon off the stove, spun around in my arms and threw her arms around my neck. She snickered a little. “Wow! That’s a real blush.” Then she kissed me deeply, no tongue, but slowly and softly. Then she pulled slowly away and rested her forehead against mine, looking into my eyes. “I love you, Kenni.” She whispered before slipping away. “Let’s eat before it gets cold.” I was stunned and breathless. I went over and sat down, not really in control of myself. I sat down and tried not to stare at her, but was failing…miserably. Every time she looked up, she caught me. Finally, she said, “What?” “I’m sorry.” I whispered. She grinned a little, “For what?” “For staring at you. For ogling your ass when I thought you weren’t looking.” I said, miserably. “I feel like I was being a dirty old man.” She smiled, “Don’t be sorry. I was…am very flattered every time I see you staring. It makes me feel loved and wanted. It’s especially nice when it’s a woman as beautiful as you that’s staring.” I blushed again. “Stop it! I’m not beautiful! You’re just being nice.” She laughed, “Yeah! That’s what I’m doing; being nice!” The sarcasm was so thick you could cut it with a knife…or maybe a chain saw. I sighed, “Anyway, what do you want to do today?” “I don’t feel like working either in the house or on the yard.” She said. “Can we have a girl’s day and just go shopping and get lunch?” I grabbed my phone. “I have a better idea! Let’s get a couple’s massage!” She frowned, “A couple’s massage?” I faltered as I was excitedly dialing. “Don’t you want to?” Then an even darker thought crashed into my brain. “Or don’t you want to be part of a couple with me?” I stopped dialing, deleted the number and set the phone down. “Huh? What? No!” She said and I sank. Then she must have realized how that sounded as she saw the expression on my face. “No, no, no, that’s not what I meant, Kenni! You surprised me, that’s all. I think it would be awesome to have a couple’s massage with you!” I grinned and picked up my phone again. I said, “Hey, Cassandra, it’s Kendall Jacobs and I am wondering if you guys have time for a couple’s massage today?” Cassandra answered, “Wow, Kendall this one must be serious if you’re bringing her here for a couple’s massage!” I immediately reddened. “Ummm, yeah.” She laughed out loud. “She’s sitting there, isn’t she? I wonder how red you already are and how red I can make you before you break.” “Cassandra…” I whined and she laughed and so did Reilly. I looked at Reilly and she said, “Whoever Cassandra is, she knows you and knows how to tease you. Doesn’t she?” I just turned redder. Cassandra heard Reilly over the phone and started laughing again. “Ooohhh, I like her. You’re not gonna stand a chance!” “Great, just great!” I muttered. Cassandra was still laughing when she said, “Okay, if you can be here at two, we can squeeze in a two-hour massage.” I looked at Reilly, “Can we be uptown by two?” “We sure can!” She said excitedly. I started to answer Cassandra when she said, “Cool! We’ll see you then! Bye Kendall!” She was gone before I could respond. I looked at the clock and it was just after ten. Reilly went back to cooking and said over her shoulder, “We have plenty of time. We’re gonna sit here and have bacon, scrambled eggs and English muffins. Then you’re gonna take a shower and then we’ll head uptown. Does that sound good?” I slipped up behind her again and slid my hands onto her tummy. I started kissing the back of her neck and shoulder and hummed, “That sounds awesome.” Her hands dropped the cooking utensils that she was holding and reached around to cup my ass. Her head lolled back as she opened her neck to my lips. “Ohhh, Kendall, if you keep doing that, breakfast is gonna burn and then we’ll miss our appointment.” “Mmmmnnn…” I breathed, “sounds okay to me.” I slid my hands down to the front of her short-shorts, just above her pussy. She immediately spun around, finding my lips with hers. She pulled back after a slow sexy, kiss. “Now, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She murmured. “I want to make sure we do this just right and we’re not there yet.” I kissed her nose before stepping back. “You’re right, I’m sorry, I’m pushing too quickly. I want you to be happy, that’s all.” She stepped back into my arms and snuggled in under my chin. “And I am happy, Kenni. I love you so much and I want everything to be storybook perfect.” I chuckled, “Okay baby, I love you more so, storybook it is.” I kissed the top of her head and stepped back. “Is there anything I can do to help?” She looked puzzled for a moment and then realized what I was asking. “Oh! Yeah, put the English muffins in the toaster.” She turned back to the stove. She plated everything and we sat next to each other. I folded my hands in my lap, bowed my head and waited for her to say grace. She nudged me and I looked up at her. She grinned and said, “We’ll make a good Roman Catholic out of you, yet.” I wrinkled my nose, stuck my tongue out at her and bowed my head again. She giggled and then said grace. We ate breakfast in silence, occasionally touching hands and playing footsie. It was a pleasant, relaxing start to the day. When we were done eating, Reilly told me that she would clean up and that I should go get in the shower. I spent long enough in the shower that Reilly knocked on the door and asked if I was all right. I replied that I was fine; I was just enjoying the hot water streaming down my body. I washed my hair and got out of the shower. After towel drying both my body and my hair, I put my hair up in a ponytail. I walked out into the bedroom naked and Reilly was bent over in front of me, pulling on a pair of purple floral yoga pants to match her purple and black sports bra. God, she looked hot. She evidently didn’t hear me come out because when I approached her and caressed her cute little butt, she shrieked and jumped. It made me laugh and then I got a case of the giggles. She glared at me briefly before starting to giggle herself. She said between giggles, “That was mean.” I replied, “I’m sorry, I thought you knew I was here.” She finished pulling her pants up and looked at me. “You know you’re naked, right?” I tried to look shocked, looking down at my body. “Oh no! What happened to my clothes?” She giggled, “Yeah, right…” She shook her head, “Just get dressed, would ya?” I frowned, trying to look sad, “If I have to…” She walked out of the bedroom. Over her shoulder she said, “You’d better hurry, it wouldn’t be a couple’s massage with only one person.” I pulled out a cute frilly thong and a pair of black, skintight jeans. I also put on an electric blue, off the shoulder long sleeved tee shirt and finished off my outfit with black Skechers. I looked in the full-length mirror and thought I looked pretty hot. I hoped Reilly thought so, too. Since we were at Reilly’s house and her car was here, she drove. She had a cute little Mazda MX-5, red with a black interior. It was a warm day for October and we put the top down. I loved to watch her drive her car. It was obvious she loved the car and drove it like she was part of the machine. Smoothly, she darted in and out of traffic, not wildly, but under control. Her red ponytail was blowing in the wind and she looked very happy. I liked to think that I was a big part of that happiness. She read my mind at that point, turning and smiling at me. It seemed like we weren’t in the car but a few minutes and we arrived at Massage Heaven. We were a few minutes early, so we sat in the lobby and they gave us green tea. We sat there sipping our tea and Reilly was looking at a magazine and I was just watching her. She glanced up and caught me. She smiled, “What?” “Nothing,” I said, “I just like watching you.” She reddened, “Stop it.” But I could tell she liked the attention, she was glowing. Just then, a pair of girls came from the back and walked up to us. They were obviously twins, with long dark hair, nearly identical tiny bodies and the same facial features. “Hi,” the one on the left said. “Are you Kendall Jacobs?” Before I could answer, the other one said, “Oh my god! You’re Amy Adams!” To her credit, Reilly with a completely straight face, said “Yes I am, and you are?” The girls started stammering and I couldn’t help it; I started laughing. The girls then looked insulted which made me laugh harder and Reilly finally cracked a smile. She said, “No, I’m not Amy Adams, though I’m told I look a bit like her.” She continued to smile, “What are your names?” The one on the right, who had blurted the Amy Adams line, said, “I am Chloe and this is my sister Zoe.” As you already know, sometimes my filter is nonexistent. “Seriously?!?” Reilly smacked me, “Kenni, be nice!” I was immediately contrite, “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.” Chloe smiled, “That’s okay, I figure we’re even. Let’s start this over, I’m Chloe Lee and this is my sister Zoe Lee. You are Kendall Jacobs and who is your guest that happens to look exactly like Amy Adams?” Reilly smiled, “I am Reilly Hannigan and I am pleased to meet you, Chloe and Zoe.” Zoe smiled and took my hand, helping me to my feet. Chloe did the same with Reilly. “Let’s go get comfortable, ladies.” Chloe and Reilly took the lead and Zoe held me back a little. “This is a couple’s massage; do you want anything special?” I knew what she meant, having experienced special, off-the-menu items, before. “No, I just want the standard hot stone massage. Reilly has never done this before and I don’t want to frighten her. I also just want to work on the back. I’m afraid that if we ask her to turn over that she might freak out.” Zoe looked pensive and stopped walking. “Are you a new couple?” “Yes we are, but we are not completely a couple.” I said while blushing. Zoe smiled, “We can give you a spectacular massage, Chloe and I know what to do.” We followed Chloe and Reilly into a large room which had a fireplace, low lighting, intimate couches, a very intimate hot tub with two seats and two massage tables with the heads touching and the foot ends spread apart. The room was very warm and the ambience felt amazing. Chloe and Zoe instructed us to remove our clothing and Reilly hesitated. Chloe instantly recognized that Reilly was uncomfortable getting undressed in front of strangers and took her hand and lead her to a screened off corner of the room. She instructed Reilly to remove all of her clothes and put them on a small table and then to put on the robe which was hanging on the wall. Chloe came out of the area and stood with her back to Reilly. In the meantime, as an old pro, I stripped off and lay down on the massage table where Zoe indicated that I should. Zoe leaned over and whispered, “When Reilly comes out and Chloe has her arranged on the table, take her hand so that she will relax. That would help both Chloe and Reilly and I suspect that you would enjoy it.” I grinned, even though she couldn’t see it. Zoe then covered my bottom with a towel. Reilly came out in the robe a few minutes later and shyly stood beside Chloe. Chloe gently took her hand and led her to the other table. She had Reilly lay down, covered her bottom with a towel and then helped her take off the robe. She arranged Reilly’s arms and I reached over and took Reilly’s hand. I immediately felt Reilly relax and I was grateful for Zoe and Chloe’s foresight. They were really in tune with their client’s needs. I genuinely felt that this was going to be an incredible experience and would bring Reilly and I closer. The twins started by using warm oil to loosen us up and relax us even more. The gentle rubbing felt heavenly on my back and I heard Reilly sigh in pleasure, so I knew she was feeling it, too. After ten minutes, or an hour, I don’t know, they introduced the very large stones to the base of our spines. I heard Reilly moan in pleasure and it made me smile. The twin’s hands left us for a few moments and when they touched us, their hands were very warm. I knew that they had warmed their hands on the stones, but I didn’t know if Reilly knew what was happening. Though, by her moans and groans of pleasure, I’m not sure that she cared. Their hands roamed our backs and as they cooled, they warmed them again. Finally, the stones were cool enough to put directly on our skin and the girls placed them directly over our spines. In what was becoming a regular occurrence, Reilly moaned. They repeated the process of warming their hands and then placing the stones on the spine until our spines were covered with the stones. Then, they went to work on our shoulders and upper arms, further relaxing us, especially Reilly, judging by the moans and groans issuing from her. They began using what felt like the smooth, rounded edges of different stones to work our spines. Reilly had stopped making noises except for the gentle snoring as she had fallen asleep. I guess I did, too because I heard Zoe telling me to wake up. I looked over at Reilly and Chloe was doing the same to her. Chloe helped Reilly into her robe and lead her to the little shower as Zoe did the same for me. The warm shower felt amazing as I washed Reilly’s back and she washed mine. We got out and patted each other dry. Reilly had a dreamy expression on her face that I found adorable. Chloe and Zoe asked us if we wanted to get into the hot tub or snuggle on the love seat. I looked at Reilly and she didn’t hesitate. “Love seat,” she murmured. Chloe led us to the love seat as Zoe lowered the lighting even more. I sat down and Reilly snuggled into my arms, her head on my shoulder. She leaned up and kissed me on the neck, “Thank you,” she whispered. We drifted off to sleep again and the twins woke us up once more. I had to laugh; Reilly was so relaxed that she seemed boneless. She got her panties on, but that seemed to wear her out. I had to help her into the rest of her clothes. I quickly dressed and helped Reilly out to the large lounge area and sat her down. I went and paid and included a generous tip before scheduling a return trip in a month for a half-day session with the twins. I got Reilly another cup of green tea and I got a cup of coffee. I went out and sat next to her and she tried to snuggle back in. “Reilly,” I said. “You need to wake up so that we can go home.” “Don’t wanna.” She said in that little girl’s voice that just melted me. I smiled, “Okay, but you’re gonna have to let me drive your car so that we can go home.” That woke her up. “Hey,” she said, “I don’t let anybody drive my car.” She stopped and considered what she had said. She reached into her pocket, got out her keys and handed them to me. She said, “But you’re not anybody, you’re my Kenni.” I hadn’t expected that. I immediately teared up and hugged her fiercely. She giggled. I finished my coffee and helped her to her feet. I shook my head; she was still boneless. I got her out to the car and as I was bent over belting her in, she kissed my neck a couple of times. I said, “If you keep canlı bahis siteleri doin’ that, we’re never gonna get home!” “Okay!” She said happily and kissed me again. I just sighed, got in the car, belted in and took us to her house. We got home and spent the rest of the day snuggled on the couch watching silly comedies and eating popcorn. It was a struggle getting her into bed because she was still so relaxed. I stripped her down to her panties and rolled her into bed. I did the same and crawled into bed, set the alarm and pulled her to me. She wanted to lay on her side facing away from me, her butt in my lap and I was okay with that. She squirmed a little, got comfortable and passed out. My sleep was not too far behind hers. ++++++++++ I got up about five and went to the bathroom. I pulled on my jeans and a tee shirt, kissed Reilly on the forehead and went home. I took a shower and went to work. I got there about six thirty and had just settled in front of my computer when one of my guys raced into my office and told me about an issue that had started over the weekend and had quickly escalated into a near disaster. I asked why I hadn’t been called and was told that they thought they could handle it. I sighed and dug in. The time for recriminations, if necessary, would be later. We just needed to fix this. I was buried in my computer going through the code line by line, trying to find the glitch along with all of my department. As we went along, I got frantic phone calls, emails and texts. Each problem we found and fixed seemed to spawn ten more. As we were nearing a resolution, my phone rang and I thought it was another problem and I about shit. I looked at the phone and saw that it was Reilly. I smiled, realizing that I needed to hear her voice. “Hi baby,” I said softly. I heard her sigh in contentment. “When are you coming home?” She asked softly. “I miss you.” I had to smile. I glanced at the clock, horrified to find that it was after ten pm. “Ummm…” I said, “I didn’t realize how late it is…” Reilly was silent for a moment. “When was the last time you ate?” She knew that I had a terrible habit of ignoring my stomach when I was covered up. “Ummm…” I said, not sure. “Was it the popcorn yesterday?” She asked sternly. “Probably.” I answered meekly. “How much coffee have you had?” She asked even more sternly. “Uhhh…” I said, not wanting to answer. “I thought as much.” She said curtly. “Do you know when you’re leaving?” I sighed, “It’s probably going to be a couple of hours.” She matched my sigh, “Okay, I’ll meet you at your house.” “Okay…” I started to agree before I remembered the costume. “No!” I nearly shrieked. She sounded startled. “What’s wrong?” “There’s a surprise there and I don’t want you to see it.” I said. She giggled, “What is it?” “It has to do with Halloween.” I confessed. “Oooohhh…” She snickered, “I’m gonna go peek…” I knew she was teasing, so I teased back. “Okay, but then I’ll change it.” “Okaaayyy,” she conceded, sighing, “I won’t look. But I expect you at my door before midnight so that I make sure you eat before I tuck us into bed.” I tried to avoid committing to a time and she wasn’t having any of it. “Kendall Ann Jacobs! You will be at my door before midnight, is that clear?!? You have people on your team to do some of the work! You don’t have to do it all!” I sighed, knowing that I would not win this disagreement. “I know. Okay, okay, I’ll be home.” She was stern, “You’d better be…” I said softly, “I love you, I’ll be home soon.” She softened, “I love you, too. Please be careful…” She hung up. I gathered my team and asked for the status. We had one sticky item left that it seemed like we were approaching from twenty different directions. I listened to all of the ideas and selected the one that seemed the most likely to resolve the issue and we attacked it from there. With all of our efforts focused, we cracked the problem quickly and the systems were back on line before eleven. I called the troops back together and told them to take the next day off. It made me smile when they actually cheered. I was in the car before I called Reilly. I smiled as she answered in a firm tone, “Kendall, you’d better be on your way.” “I am baby.” I replied. I felt her change in attitude as much as I heard it. “Oh, I’m so glad. Are you okay?” “I am, now that I’m on my way home to you, baby.” I replied. “How long will you be?” She asked. “It’ll be about twenty minutes, so I’ll beat your deadline by about twenty to thirty minutes.” I teased. She took the teasing well. “I’ll be watching the clock, so I’ll be the judge of that.” I smiled, “Okay, I’ll see you in a little bit.” “Be careful, don’t rush. I love you.” She whispered. “Me, too.” I hung up. I pulled into my driveway about ten minutes later. I went in, went to the bathroom and then packed my sleep things and fresh underwear. I was walking to Reilly’s about ten minutes after my arrival home. I smiled as I saw Reilly’s front door open and she flew out of the door. We met in the driveway with a big kiss and a hug. She took my little bag and snuggled in under my arm as we walked the few feet into the house. I kicked off my shoes as she took my bag into her room. I smiled as I approached the table; she had fixed little grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with a big glass of milk. As I sat down, she was at my side. I started to nibble on the sandwich and she immediately objected. “No nibbling! You need to eat!” I chuckled, “Okay, okay.” I took a big bite, consuming most of the sandwich. I looked at her, “Happy?” I asked with my mouth full. “Ewww,” She complained, “You can be so gross.” I just laughed and slipped my hand in hers. “You love me and you know it.” She just grumped, “Hmph.” But I saw the grin that she tried to hide. I yawned just then. I was hitting the wall; big time. I finished a half sandwich and a couple of spoonfuls of soup. I drank some of the milk and looked at her. “Baby, I am toast. I gotta go to bed.” “Okay sweetie,” Reilly said, “just go to bed and I’ll clean up.” I objected, much as she had before. She smiled, “Okay, I’ll just make sure the cheese doesn’t turn into dried lava. You go ahead and I’ll be right there.” I went into her bedroom, stripped down to my panties and threw on a tee shirt. I was already asleep by the time I felt her slide in behand and spoon me. I sighed when I felt her hand burrow into my panties and cup my pussy. I wanted to respond, but couldn’t; I was too far gone. ++++++++++ I was alone when I woke up. I checked the clock and while it wasn’t terribly late, it was later than I usually slept. However, the house felt empty, I didn’t hear or smell anything. I went out to the kitchen and Reilly was nowhere to be found, but I did find a note. ‘Babe, Apparently there are four nurses out with that really nasty flu that is going around. My supervisor called to ask me to cover and of course, I said yes. Soooo, I’m not going to be around for a little while. I may end up sleeping at the hospital for a few days. I’ll call when I can. I love you, Reilly’ I sighed, but my heart swelled with pride that Reilly stepped up to help. But, I was disappointed that we wouldn’t have any time together. It was frustrating to have our jobs interfere. Reilly seemed ready to take the next step with me, for us and because of outside influences, we were completely out of synch. I cleaned up the kitchen so that she wouldn’t come home to a mess. I gathered up my stuff and went back home. I took a shower, put on shorts and a tank top, and sat down to finish my costume. I had to look at it for a little while, trying to figure out where I had quit. As I looked at it I remembered that I was about to start on attaching the arms. I settled in to do just that. I got the arms attached, finished the collar and looked at the hem at the bottom of the robe. It was the last thing I needed to do. I put it on over my clothes and I couldn’t tell if it looked right. I pulled it off, then pulled off my clothes and put the robe back on. I looked in the mirror and was extremely proud of myself. It looked great. I started to pin up the hem and realized that I could have used some help, but I didn’t want Reilly to see it. It was the middle of a regular workday and I wasn’t sure if anybody was available. It was then that I thought I might be able to ask Marci to help. I called Marci, who lived farther up on my street and she was thrilled to help. She asked if it was okay to bring everything to her house, as the baby was asleep. Being grateful for the help, I immediately agreed. I put everything I needed into the bags from JoAnne Fabrics and went down to Marci’s house. I laughed as she opened the door and then rushed away to chase a naked three year old. The little boy was laughing as he deftly avoided his mom. She was getting frustrated and chased him my way. I dropped my bags and grabbed him as he flew by. I tickled his ribs and he collapsed in a fit of giggles. His mom stepped up and gave me a grateful smile. She took him off to another room and when they returned, he was dressed, her hair was brushed, and both of them looked much more composed. “Kendall, I am so sorry that you walked into that.” She said as she returned to the living room. I laughed, “Actually, I found it to be pretty funny. Little Simon is pretty quick!” She shook her head ruefully, “Yeah, no shit!” Immediately Simon echoed, “No shit!” Marci groaned and I couldn’t help it, I had to laugh again. “I’m sorry, that’s just funny, but I’m glad it’s not me.” Marci grinned, “You should be…” She took Simon by the hand and settled him in front of the TV with some snacks and cartoons. Simon grinned, looked at me, pointed at the TV and exclaimed, “Mickey!” I laughed and clapped and he grinned again and turned back to the TV. She looked at my bags and asked, “You need help with some sewing?” I followed her glance, “Yeah, I’ve got this thing about done and I’ve tried to pin it myself, but I’m afraid I’ll ruin it.” Marci chuckled, “Been there, done that. Let’s see what we can do.” I stripped to my underwear, put on the robe and stood on a chair. She pinned it up and then examined the rest of the robe. “Wow! You did a really good job.” I stepped down. “Thank you.” I said proudly, “I really tried. There is someone I want to wow.” Marci grinned, “The hot redhead down the street? You’ve been spending a lot of time down there. Is there anything juicy you want to share?” I scowled playfully, “Hey! You just watch it Missy, I saw her first!” She said drily, “Name’s Marci not Missy, Missy’s my sister.” Then she laughed and so did I. She took my hands and looked into my eyes, “You look happier than I’ve seen you in a long time.” Then she paused and said pointedly, “Not that we’ve seen you in a long, loooong time.” I flushed, not just because thoughts of Reilly always made me flush and feel good, but because of the guilt that came from ignoring nice people and good friends. I looked down, “I’m sorry, it’s, umm, well, I, uhhh…” Marci started laughing again, “Wow, Kendall you’ve got it bad, don’t you?” My blushing intensified and while keeping my eyes averted, I nodded. “I love her Marci; I just love her so much. I don’t know that I’ve ever been happier, but…” I just trailed off. She squeezed my hands before lifting one of hers to my chin and gently raising it. “But she’s straight,” she said, finishing my thought. I just nodded. “But?” Marci just left it out there. “But, she has said that she loves me. She even said that she loves me more than she loved her late husband. Differently, but more.” I said. Now that I had said it aloud, I understood less of what it meant than ever. Marci was trying to help me get to the root of my feelings by gently prodding me. (Did I tell you that Marci is Dr. Marci Howard, a psychologist? She took a break to have Simon.) “Has anything happened between the two of you?” “Yes, ummm, no, ughhh, yes, arggghhh…” I mumbled. Marci started laughing, “Gee that was helpful.” I stuck my tongue out at her. She snorted, “Mature Kendall, really mature. So what has happened?” I looked at her for a very long moment. “We sleep together all of the time.” Marci’s eyes got huge; I really surprised her. She seemed to be speechless. I giggled, “Not like thaaat! We strip down to our panties and snuggle together. She says she feels safe with me that way. We end up cuddling and kissing a little, but when it comes time to get serious, she backs down. To be fair; she tried coming on to me one night, implying that she wanted to go further but I shut her down. When I saw the doubt in her eyes, I didn’t want her to do something of which she wasn’t sure and lose her later. I even told her that if we needed to stay friends and nothing more than that I would accept that rather than lose her from my life.” When I finished talking, I realized that I was treating her like a shrink. “Oh, geez Marci. I didn’t mean to come down here and dump on you. I’m sorry; just forget I even said anything.” She started laughing. “Seriously? This is awesome! I get to use my skills to help a friend and I also get to have real adult conversation that doesn’t include Steven’s clients!” I shrugged, relieved, “Oh, okay.” “First of all, you did the right thing by shutting her down. She needs to fully commit to a physical relationship in order to have peace with herself. Otherwise, you probably will lose her like you fear. Secondly, you must be ready to accept that she may never commit. Though, without having met her, your description of your relationship sounds like it’s headed in the direction that you want, in my opinion. Just keep doing what you’re doing; you just have to be patient.” Marci said, smiling. Suddenly, I was crying and I hugged her, surprising her. She just held me until I stopped. I slipped out of her embrace, embarrassed. “I’m sorry Marci; I don’t know where that came from.” She chuckled again, then said gently, “You need to be around people, like friends, more, you know?” I had nothing, so I shrugged. She suddenly stood up. “Okay, that’s enough of that! Do you want help sewing that hem? Or, do you want a cup of coffee?” I wiped my eyes, “Coffee would be great.” I sat and watched Simon watching TV and playing. Marci brought the coffee back and watched me watching Simon. I turned and looked at her, “What?” She nodded toward Simon, “Have you thought about one of those?” I answered too quickly and too stridently, “Absolutely not!” “Uh-huh…” she responded drily. I reddened, “Well maybe… But, I need to have my life with Reilly settled before I think about anything like that.” She smiled, “Fair enough.” We talked for a while; she fed Simon and fixed us some sandwiches. I looked at the clock and realized that I had taken up almost her entire afternoon. I jumped up, “Marci, I am so sorry. I was having such a good time that I didn’t notice the time. I know Steven will be home soon.” She looked up at the clock and chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, adult conversation is a wonderful thing.” I gathered up my things and gave Marci a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for listening.” She got an evil grin on her face. “No problem, that’ll be a hundred seventy five dollars.” Then she stuck out her hand, but then laughed when she saw my stunned wide-eyed expression. I grinned, “Not nice Marci, funny, but not nice at all. Thanks again, though.” She walked me to the door and gave me another hug. “Don’t be such a stranger and bring Reilly around, okay?” “I will, I promise.” I said sincerely before walking out of the door. I walked home, finished the costume, hung it in my closet and then cleaned up the mess. I looked at the clock and realized that I had time to get in a short run before it got dark. I changed, took off on my short route and got back just as it was getting dark. When I walked through the door, I immediately took the costume out and steamed out all of the wrinkles. I hung it back in the closet and took a shower. It had gotten to the point where I was a little hungry. I scrambled a couple of eggs, added some cheese, onions and peppers. It made a nice light meal. I settled down in front of the TV and promptly fell asleep. I woke to an infomercial about the wonders of some kind of cleaning machine. After blinking at it for a few minutes, I went to bed. ++++++++++ Over the next several days, the grind of work kept me occupied. I hadn’t heard from Reilly and began to worry that something was wrong. I kept what Marci said in the back of my mind, but, as always, my imagination began to run wild. I imagined that Reilly had fallen for one of the pediatricians, and then I imagined that she had fallen for one of the nurses and worse yet, I imagined that she had actually fallen and couldn’t call me. I was nearly beside myself with worry when, after about a week of this, my front door burst open and Reilly flew in and straight into my arms. I was giggling and crying as she hugged me as hard as she could. I was so happy that she was there that I hadn’t noticed that she was crying. When she loosened her grip and pushed away from me, she looked up and I saw the tears streaming down her face. I recognized by her expression that these were not only tears of joy; this was something else, something more. I got nervous again. “Reilly?” I questioned. “What’s wrong?” Her expression changed from nervous to guilty and then she looked down. “I’m so sorry Kendall.” She whispered. “I got scared and wondered.” Her hesitation turned into a long, long pause that terrified me. I took a deep breath. (Don’t panic Kendall.) “Wondered about what?” I asked; a whole lot more calmly than I felt. She kept her eyes cast down. “About us, about what we’re doing, about where we’re going.” “Okaaaay,” I breathed nervously, my heart beating madly in my chest. She still would not look at me. I could see the tears dripping from her chin. At this point, I tried to steel myself for what was coming. I couldn’t, tears forming in my eyes as I imagined the worst. I stayed silent, trying to will her to say what she was trying to say. Suddenly, she grabbed me again, squeezing me so tightly that I was having difficulty breathing. I could feel her heart pounding madly in her chest, knowing that she could feel the same from me. “I, I, I…” she stopped and took a deep ragged breath and then it all came out at once. “There’s a nice doctor that works in the NICU with me. He kinda reminded me of Anthony. He’s sweet and attentive and he’s sooo good with the babies. A couple of times in the past couple of weeks he’d been in the cafeteria when I’d been there, so we sat together. You know, coworkers having a meal.” She looked up at me for the first time. I knew my expression was frozen in a frown, but I couldn’t help it, my heart was breaking. She sobbed in response, but continued. “So then, it quickly became a thing, where we ate together. Then a couple of days ago, my boss told me that the nurses that had been sick were starting to come back, so I could go home. She gave me a week off with pay. The doctor, (It was then I noticed that she didn’t refer to him by name and I wondered what that meant.) asked me if I’d like to go out for a nice dinner and some dancing. I thought that sounded fun after so many hours working, so I said yes. I came home, got dressed up, and met him downtown in the steakhouse in the Westin. I wasn’t suspicious because he said he had a friend that could get us reservations at the last minute. We had some wine, a nice meal and some after dinner drinks. Then we walked to the dance club a couple of blocks away. We walked right in without a wait and got a table. We got some more drinks, danced, and laughed a lot. When we sat down, we got more drinks. Don’t get me wrong, Kendall, it’s not an excuse, but I got drunk, very, very drunk. He noticed and took me out of the club and back to the Westin. We went right to the elevator, his arm wrapped around me. We got in and he pressed a button. I was coherent enough that I realized that he must have had a room already. I tried to push away and told him that I needed to go home, but he held me tight and said I had no business being out in public. I didn’t really fight him, but I kept trying to push him away. We got to his floor and he took me into his room. I…” She stopped, the tears flowing uncontrollably. I was stunned, “Reilly, were you ****d?” She moaned, “No…no, nothing like that…” She hesitated, looked up at me again, sobbed deeply, her breath catching in her chest and then ripped my heart out. “I let him fuck me.” I pushed away, stumbled to a chair and collapsed into it. I am not given to dramatics, but I was completely overwhelmed. I knew what was coming and held out hope that something, anything else would come and yet, her admission staggered me. I didn’t say a word, cradled my head in my hands and cried. “Kenni,” I heard Reilly’s soft voice, my heart clutched at the sweet nickname, but didn’t look up or respond. “Kendall? Kendall, I’m so sorry. I know I’ve hurt you. You’ve been so patient with me and now I’ve been cruel. You can’t know how much I regret what I’ve done. I love you with all of my heart and it kills me to see you in so much pain, but I wasn’t going to lie to you, even by omission. I love you and maybe, someday, you can see your way clear to forgive me, just a little. The last thing I’m gonna tell you before I leave you alone is that I quit my job. I wrote a check to the hospital for the signing bonus and I hope they don’t come after me because of the contract. I don’t want to see him again and I hope that you’ll come back to me. I’m so, so sorry, Kendall.” I could tell she stood there for a minute, waiting, but when I didn’t look up she moved away. I heard her sob again, my brain telling me to go to her, but my heart wouldn’t let me do it. The door closed gently and she was gone. It was several minutes before I looked up. The house didn’t look any different, but it felt different. Reilly wasn’t there and my behavior nearly assured that she wouldn’t be back any time soon. I wandered from room to room and saw something in each room that reminded me of her. I ended up in my bedroom and after a few moments dropped face-first onto the bed. I lay there for a long time; my mind switching between racing and numbness. I needed to do something, anything. I eventually chose to keep doing nothing. I wriggled out of my clothes and dropped them on the floor. I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, hearing the ticks of the different clocks in the house and nothing else. I guess I fell asleep because the alarm clock startled me out of my sleep. My first thought was ‘Reilly’s home!’ but then I remembered what she had told me. I felt devastated once again. I lay there for a few minutes before realizing that nothing would be accomplished by wallowing in self-pity. I got up, took a shower and made myself get ready for work. I went out to the car and drove down the street, trying, unsuccessfully, not to look at Reilly’s house. I looked wistfully at her house as I drove slowly by. I noticed a curtain flicker and sped up, leaving her house behind. When I got to work, I took a deep breath, steeling myself for my day and then went in. Thankfully, things were mostly quiet all day and I was able to leave on time. I changed into my running things when I got home and went for a long run. I drifted into the mindless repetition of putting one foot in front of the other. I turned on my street and though I had avoided looking at Reilly’s house on the way out I couldn’t on the way back. I had to look. When I did, she was standing at the open front door, looking forlorn. She raised her hand in a little wave and without thinking; I waved back. She smiled a little, but I turned away and continued on to my house. ++++++++++ The next couple of weeks passed by uneventfully. At home, alone at night, I pined for Reilly. Every time I would think of her and I would smile and then, the memory of her telling me that she had allowed the nameless, faceless doctor to fuck her would come roaring back and tears would stream down my face. I had talked to Marci several times and never said anything about my troubles with Reilly. I went to see her on the day of the Halloween party and she asked if I was excited. I sighed, “I don’t think I’m going. I made the brownies, since we committed to taking them, but I’m staying home.” Marci seemed stunned, “What? Why? You worked so hard on that costume and it’s beautiful!” I didn’t say anything and an uncomfortable silence grew between us that Marci eventually broke. “Is there trouble in paradise?” I still didn’t want to say anything and the silence stretched again but this time I broke it. “Something happened with Reilly,” I said quietly. Marci pressed me right away. “What? What was it that happened?” “She slept with someone. A doctor with whom she used to work.” I paused. “A man.” Marci didn’t miss a beat. “Used to? Like in Boston?” I sighed, “No, here. Then, she quit her job right after it happened.” “How did that happen?” Marci pressed. I sighed again. “They got to know each other at work and he asked her out and she went out with him. They had dinner, a few drinks, went dancing and had a few more and then she let him fuck her. She quit the next day.” “So she used the alcohol as an excuse?” Marci’s response was a little icy. “Nope, she took full responsibility for her actions.” I responded sadly. “She knew what she was doing. She came to my house the day after it happened and confessed.” “Okay, let me make sure I’ve got this straight. Your girl slept with a man; and the first thing she did afterwards was come running to you and confess, telling the whole truth. Is that about right?” As usual, Marci got right to the heart of the matter. I nodded; my tears started to roll down my cheeks. Marci took my hands and looked me directly in the eyes. “I’m gonna ask you some questions and I want you to think about it before you answer. Okay?” I just nodded again. “Do you love her? What is it about her sleeping with the doctor that makes her not worthy of your love? Is it something physical or something emotional?” Marci asked quietly. She stood, “I’m gonna get some coffee while you think. You want some?” I nodded once again. I sat there, thinking about how I felt up to the moment that Reilly confessed. She had been the best thing in my life. Actually, she had absolutely been the best thing to have ever happened to me. I had been stunned and hurt by her revelation. It occurred to me that I never considered how difficult it must have been for her to come right to me and tell me everything. Then I rejected her and that must have been devastating to her. My heartless rejection of her made me sob, which was evidently Marci’s cue to return with coffee. She had kind of a smirk on her face when she sat down and pushed a cup across the table. “So, do you have answers for me?” “God, I’m such a selfish bitch!” I moaned and my face fell into my hands. Marci actually laughed aloud. “Wow! That didn’t take long.” She reached across, gently took my hands and asked softly, “You already knew that, didn’t you?” I raised my head and nodded slowly. “I guess I did; I need to apologize to her. I need to go right now.” I stood up. Marci never let go of my hands. Her eyes sparkled as she said, “No, don’t. I have a feeling that you’re gonna have the opportunity tonight.” I sat back down, my eyes narrowing as I looked, no glared, at her. “You knew all of this, didn’t you?” “What I knew was her side of the story.” Marci explained. “I also needed to hear yours. She came to me and told me everything. Evidently, you had told her that I am a psychologist and that you and I are friends. She hoped that you would come to me and that we could talk about it. Your stories match up exactly, as does the pain each of you are experiencing. I really feel that you two are meant to be together and you need to get past this. She’s going to be there tonight and she’s really excited for you to see her costume.” She looked at me sternly, “Are you ready to grovel at her feet?” I grinned through my tears, “You bet I am.” She came around and I hugged her. “Thank you for being such a good friend and kicking my ass.” She raised an eyebrow, “Somebody had to do it.” I looked up at the clock. “Oh, shit! I need to go start getting ready.” I squeezed her again, “Thank you, Marci. I’m glad I came down to talk to you.” She squeezed back, “I’m glad I could help.” She released me and swatted me on the butt. “Now you go get her!” I blushed like a schoolgirl, “I will!” Then I hesitated, once again, my irrational fears getting the best of me, “If she still wants me.” Marci scolded me, “She does, trust me. Now, like I said, go get her!” I rushed home and jumped in the shower. I had to wash my hair in order to style it like Princess Leia. I had been practicing and for whatever reason, it helped to be perfectly clean first, it didn’t want to stay with any remnants of hairspray or gel. It was a painstakingly slow process. It also took a shitload of hairpins. I got it done and looked at it from all angles in the mirror. I didn’t think it was great, but it was acceptable, especially since we were going to be outside in the dark.Since I had saved some money by making the costume myself, I had spent a ton of time and money finding and buying all of the accessories. The belt, the white knee-high boots, and a gun. When I made the costume, I made a little change. I split the skirt of the robe on the right leg, about halfway between the knee and my hip. So, as part of the costume I had bought white, lacy topped, thigh-high stockings. When I was completely dressed and standing still, you couldn’t tell that the slit was there. But, when I walked, my silk-clad leg and my naked thigh were on display. I felt sexy and I hoped that Reilly would find me sexy, too. I glanced up at the clock and it was time to go. I pulled the hood up, grabbed my gun, (gee, that thought was weird) and the brownies and headed out the door. When I got to the cul-de-sac, I saw little Simon dressed as Mickey Mouse go racing past with the Bette Midler witch from Hocus Pocus, presumably Marci, though her makeup was so awesome that I wasn’t completely certain, in hot pursuit. I set down the brownies and went to find Steven, Marci’s husband. He was dressed as Mr. Spock, ears and all. He looked pretty good and was even in character. He raised an eyebrow as he turned to face me. “Long way from home aren’t you, Princess?” He deadpanned. “I could say the same thing about you, Spock.” I answered. Then I raised my hand in greeting in the Vulcan salute. “Live long and prosper, Spock.” He raised his hand in return, then broke character and grinned, “Damn, Kendall, you look great.” He grabbed me and hugged me. I giggled, feeling pretty good about myself. Just then, Marci came back with Simon in tow. She brandished her wand at us. “You’d better watch it! I’ll turn you both into toads if you don’t take your hands offa each other.” I stuck my tongue out at her and slipped my arm around Steven’s waist. “I dare ya!” Simon grabbed her arm and shrieked, “Mommy don’t!” Marci bent down and hugged him. “Mommy wouldn’t do that to Daddy, I love him and you too much.” He relaxed and his attention wandered, spotting a bunch of k**s. He pointed, “Mommy?” Marci let him go, “Stay where I can see you.” He grinned, “Okay!” He scooted off and joined the group. Marci turned to look at me. “Get your hands off my husband and show me your costume.” I turned slowly and ended up facing her with my leg out of the slit. Steven’s eyes bugged out of his head. Marci didn’t even look at him when she smacked him on the back of the head. “Hey!” He yelped. “Knock it off!” She growled. I laughed, “So, you like it, then?” She hugged me and whispered, “More than that, you’re gonna knock her socks off.” Then she glanced at Steven, who was still staring. “If you don’t knock it off, I’m gonna use the Vulcan nerve pinch on you!” Steven pouted, “You’re the one in a passionate hug with a hot lesbian. I’m just having thoughts.” He brightened and slipped back into character, “Perhaps madam, you wouldn’t mind showing me the mating habits of earthly witches later?” She sighed, “If I must.” Then she giggled as she whispered to me, “This’ll be fun.” Marci looked over at the group of k**s and didn’t immediately see Simon. “Uh-oh, I’m gonna go find him. I’ll see you later Kendall.” Steven had wandered off and I was alone. I was feeling a little out of place and idly looking around when I saw Reilly walking through the crowd. She took my breath away. She was dressed as Amelia Earhart from the Night at the Museum movies. She wore a brown leather bomber jacket, unzipped deeply between her breasts, a lavender ascot, brown leather knee-high boots and the tightest pants I had ever seen on a woman, let alone Reilly. As the crowd parted, I noticed the men of the neighborhood frozen with their eyes glued to Reilly’s ass, their partners obviously irritated. I felt oddly proud; this was my love that had brought the party to a standstill. The best part of it was that she was completely unaware of the effect she was having on the party, she was staring at me and me alone. As she approached me, I could see that she was not as confident as she appeared to be from a distance. She looked nervous and I was a little afraid that she might bolt. She stopped, just out of my reach. “Ummm, hi Kendall.” My heart broke a little that she had reverted to my full name, though I deserved it after my reaction to her news. She seemed uncomfortable and seemingly wanted to say something. After a few seconds that seemed like hours, she started to talk, “Kendall, I’m really…” I stepped up to her and put a finger to her lips, “Shhh, don’t say it. It’s my fault. I didn’t remember that you had to be struggling with the whole lesbian decision. It was natural for you to be scared and go back to what you knew.” I wrapped my arms around her and she laid her head on my shoulder. “I am so sorry, Reilly. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. If we need to just be friends, we can do that, I just want you to be in my life.” Even though we were in the middle of a block party with tons of people, it felt like we were in our own little world. We didn’t see or hear anything going on around us. Reilly’s lips found my neck. “I’ll tell you what,” she whispered, “let’s forgive each other. I love you too much to be without you. I know exactly what I want, now. I want you, I want you in every part of my life and I want us to be together in every way.” She pulled back and looked up into my eyes with her expressive, emerald green, eyes. “I love you Kendall Jacobs and if you don’t kiss me right now, I think I’ll die.” I didn’t think, I didn’t hesitate, I just kissed her deeply and with as much passion as I could muster. We were so lost in the kiss, forgetting where we were, that our hands started to roam. I heard someone clear his or her throat behind me. I reluctantly withdrew my lips from Reilly’s and twisted my head around. Marci was standing there grinning. “I am so happy for you two. I really am, but unless you want to give the neighborhood lessons in how lesbians make love, I’d back off a little.”We stepped apart, our hands naturally slipping together, not wanting to separate at all. I looked around, and realized we had, once again, brought the entire party to a screeching halt. Some of the women looked as though our display had thoroughly turned them on, some looked disturbed, and a few of them were trying to shield the eyes of their c***dren. The men, however, reacted as men do when confronted by a girl-girl display, every single one of them were trying to hide their erections. I turned to Marci, “I’m so sorry, I can’t believe we did that in public.” I was blushing madly. Marci laughed, “Don’t worry about it. Although, this’ll be the highlight of discussions about this Halloween party for months.” She snickered, “That’ll be fun…” Marci grabbed our free hands, “I am really, truly happy for you guys. You two were meant to be together.” She laughed again, “Now go mingle and try to breathe some life into the party again.” We started walking together, hand-in hand, stopping by little knots of people. I would introduce her as a new neighbor and most importantly as my girlfriend. Reilly participated in the conversations, although she was a little shy. There were many movie or television themed costumes, from the Walking Dead to Star Wars to any number of vampire movies. We had a good time and the neighbors seemed to take to Reilly right away. The only times our hands parted were when we ate, shook hands or hugged neighbors or went home to use the restroom. Otherwise, Reilly’s hand was locked in mine and her other hand was either on my arm or wrapped around the other two. We didn’t drink much, just a couple of small glasses of wine. The association gathered everyone together to hand out prizes for costumes, one for the men, one for the women and one for the c***dren. Reilly won for the women, although I think her pants unfairly influenced the voters. One of the guys with a Walking Dead costume won. His costume had a terrifyingly realistic appearance. Even though there seemed to be dozens of little girls with Elsa costumes; one little girl actually looked just like her and she won. All in all it was a pleasant evening and soon people started drifting away, taking their k**s home. We helped the organizers clean up and before ten o’clock; everyone either had gone home or were on their way home, as were we. Reilly snuggled up to my side, her head on my shoulder, as we slowly strolled up the street. She murmured, “Would you mind coming to my house?” She blushed, “I’d like for our first time to be in the home that we made together.” I sighed happily; it was a romantic gesture and one that was sooo Reilly. “Of course baby, I just need to get some things from my house.” We detoured to my house where I threw my toothbrush, some underwear, jeans, a top and a jacket in an overnight bag. “There,” I said, “all done and ready to go.” Reilly slipped her hand in mine and we left, slowly resuming our leisurely walk to her house. It was chilly out, but we didn’t feel it, we were wrapped in the warm cocoon of our love. When we walked in the house, the phone was flashing with a voice mail message. Reilly said, “Oh leave it until tomorrow, it can’t be anything important.” That’s just not me, I can’t stand for a message to go not listened to or unread. I turned to her, “Really?” She laughed; she knew it would drive me crazy. She went to the phone and pushed the replay button and a man’s voice came through the phone. “Reilly, it’s Dr. Michael Conroy, from the hospital. I know it’s been a couple of weeks, but I have been out of town and just found out that you left.” He paused and we could hear him take a deep breath. “I spoke to several of the nurses on your floor and I know what happened and I know why you left. I would like you to come back. We haven’t cashed the check. The staff was waiting for me to return to decide what we would do about your contract.” There was a several second pause while he apparently was deciding what to say next. Then he resumed. “I can’t do anything about Dr. Goodland, we need good pediatricians like him just like we need good NICU nurses like you. What I can do is ask him to respect your space and make sure you two are assigned to different floors. But, you know as well as I do that you’re going to bump into each other. Please think about it and give me a call.” I looked at Reilly, “Well?” Her eyes filled with tears, “I don’t know what to do, Kenni! I love that job, but I don’t want to see him!” I was thrilled to hear her use her nickname for me once again. It amused me that she still wouldn’t say his name. “Maybe, you should ask Conroy to set up a meeting with the three of you and clear the air. Make it clear that whatever happened won’t ever happen again. It wasn’t his fault or yours, it happened, but it’s over. That way, if he starts to bug you, you can complain to HR.” She beamed, “That’s really good idea. I’ll call Dr. Conroy on Monday. But, I don’t want to think about that anymore. I just want us in our bedroom, alone, together and naked.” She blushed cutely and giggled. She took my hand and walked to the bedroom but the door was closed. She stopped at the door and asked me to wait. She slipped in and didn’t let me see inside. She was gone for about ten minutes and I was getting a little nervous. The door slowly opened and Reilly’s room was aglow in candlelight. She must have had fifty or sixty candles in there. There were all different shapes, sizes and aromas in there. The atmosphere was amazing. I reached out and hugged her. “Reilly, this is beautiful!’ She blushed in the candlelight and whispered, “Thank you.” She reached out, took my hand again, and drew me into the bedroom. We approached the end of the bed and she turned to face me. “Kenni, I love you and I can’t tell you how much I want to be with you. I’ve missed you so badly and mmmpphh…” I didn’t let her finish as my lips met hers. I teased her lips with my tongue and she opened up to allow me in, her eyes fluttering and then drifting closed. I continued to tease her, flashing in and out until she moaned in either desire or frustration. I withdrew and asked, “You were saying?” Her eyes slowly opened and her dreamy gaze met mine. “I have no idea…” I reached for the zipper on her bomber jacket and looked into her eyes for permission. She nodded and glanced down at my hand. I started sliding the zipper down and that zzzzz was the sexiest sound that I have ever heard. The zipper reached the bottom and the jacket parted. I slipped my hands in and found the warm skin of Reilly’s tummy and it made me tremble. My hands crept to her back and slithered up and what I didn’t find surprised me. When I leaned back and looked at her, she grinned shyly. I moved my hands in the opposite direction to cup her butt. I felt around, keeping my eyes on her face. She immediately started blushing. “Why Miss Hannigan, I believe you have completely forgotten your underwear!” She giggled and whispered, “I didn’t forget. I loved the way Amy Adams ass looked in the movie. I tried thongs, I tried g-strings, I even tried bikinis, but none of them looked right. I finally tried naked and that’s when my ass looked the best. It cracked me up when I realized that Amy Adams must have gone commando in that whole movie.” Reilly hesitated before saying, “Besides, I wanted you looking at my butt and I wanted your hands where they are right now.” Her blush deepened at her little confession. Like all things Reilly, I found it adorable. “I kinda figured if I wasn’t wearing panties, I shouldn’t wear a bra.” I laughed and lowered my lips to hers. “I love it,” I murmured against her lips. I raised my hands up and pushed the jacket down her arms until it dropped to the floor. Reilly was nude from the waist up, except for her ascot. She shivered and I wasn’t certain if it was from the cold or excitement. I got the answer when I withdrew and looked into her eyes; they were shining in excitement and anticipation. I gently pushed her until her legs met the bed and she sat abruptly. I knelt at her feet and started to remove her boots. I wanted our time to be smooth and sexy; it was anything but smooth and sexy. Those boots were tight! I pulled and pulled on one until it suddenly released and I fell back onto my butt. Reilly tried not to laugh and failed miserably. She snorted before laughing aloud. The snort embarrassed her and she blushed again. “I’m sorry, Kenni,” she said softly, “that wasn’t funny.” I laughed, “Oh, yeah it was, it was like something from the movies!” She looked relieved and then laughed again, “Yeah, it was pretty funny.” I repeated the process on the other foot…literally. It wasn’t as funny the second time, but we laughed anyway. It was actually the perfect way to cut the tension. Reilly was ready, even eager for us to make love, but she had been nervous. The laughter lightened the mood and made it the way it should have been all along; fun. I helped her to her feet and looked her in the eyes. “Do you want me to take those sexy, awesome pants off or do you want to wait?” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Would you mind if we waited a little while?” I smiled and kissed her, “No, I don’t mind; this is not a race. I want us to enjoy every minute of our being together.” I started to take my robe off and she put her hand on mine. “Could I do that?” Then she blushed again. God, I love that blush. I dropped my hands to my sides and waited for her. “Baby, I want you to do what you want to do.” She kissed me quickly and then her shaking hands went to my waist and started fumbling with the belt. I asked gently, “Do you want help with that?” She said sharply, “No!” Then she softened, “I want to do this, okay?” I smiled, “Sure.” It took a minute or so, but she finally figured out the belt and got it undone. She walked over and d****d the belt over a chair. She walked up behind me, unbuttoned the hood, removed it and repeated the process of laying the hood on the chair. Then she came back, walked around me and inspected the robe, evidently looking for a zipper. I chuckled; evidently, I had done a good job of hiding it. I don’t know if she was doing it on purpose, but the slow, deliberate manner in which she was undressing me was driving me insane. I could feel myself getting wet at her attentions. Her fingers finally found the zipper at the back of my neck and slowly drew it down to my waist. She reached up and pushed the robe off my shoulders. The robe fell gracefully to the floor. She had me step out of the robe, picked it up, walked over, and hung it on a hanger. My eyes were glued to her ass the entire time. When she turned around, my eyes drifted to her perfect breasts. I was totally enthralled by her. I heard her laugh softly, “Kenni, my eyes are up here.” I smiled, my eyes never leaving her breasts, “Yeah I know…so what?” She laughed harder, her breasts jiggling wonderfully. “Oh, okay.” As she approached me again, she said, “I love the lacy white bra, lacy boy shorts and I especially love the silky stockings.” She stopped in front of me, her fingers tracing over the silk of the stockings. She smiled sexily, “I really, really like these stockings; they feel so nice and sexy.” She knelt in front of me and giggled, “No fair; your boots have zippers.” “I suppose you could try to get them off without undoing the zippers, but I’ll bet you’ll end up on that sexy ass like I did on mine.” I chuckled. She laughed, “Not a chance that I end up sprawled on the floor like your clumsy ass.” “Hey!” I chirped and then laughed. She reached around and unzipped both zippers before starting to remove the boots. Gently, she raised my leg, pulled the boot off, and then ran her hand up and down my leg. Her hand traveled beyond the stocking and moved up onto the bare skin, stopping centimeters from my pussy. She repeated the process on my other leg and left me panting and certain that my boy shorts were soaking wet. She stood, picked up the boots and set them next to the chair with my belt and hood. She came back, wrapped me in her warm embrace, and put her head on my shoulder. “Kenni, I love you. Please take me to bed.” Wrapping my arms around her, I laughed, “Isn’t that what we’re doing?” She giggled, “Yes, but I have always wanted to say that.” “Oh, okay…” I breathed. I stepped back, took her hand in mine and walked her to the side of the bed. Stopping, I kissed her deeply and, pressing my forehead to hers said, “I love you Reilly and I want us to be together always. If you don’t want this, any of this, tell me anytime and I’ll stop.” She shook her head and my heart stopped. She said, “You dummy, I love you, too and I want this more than anything. I’m ready and I want you. I want you so badly that I can’t think of anything else. I know you’ll be gentle and loving with me and give me everything that I desperately want. Soooo, I say again, Kenni, I love you. Please take me to bed.” With that, I sat down and buried my face between her breasts, kissing her chest softly. I heard her sigh and tremble. “Ooohhh Kenni!” She whimpered, “That feels so good.” I had touched her breasts and held them on numerous nights of sleeping together, but had never touched them with my lips and could wait no longer. I nudged the ascot out of the way and touched her nipple with my nose before circling it with the tip of my tongue. I felt her tremble and moan, her hand rising to rest on the back of my head, not pressing, but making it clear; she wanted more. I raised my hand to her other breast, caressing her nipple, teasing it, making it swell and grow. I did the same with my tongue and lips on this one, the turgid rigidity filling my mouth and making my excitement grow with it. I blew gently on the wet nipple and Reilly’s shudders grew more pronounced. I switched my lips to the other nipple while dropping my hands to her bottom. I don’t know what material was used to make the pants, but it felt like her bare butt was in my hands. It was so silky smooth that I had to confirm that she was still wearing her pants. She was, to my mild disappointment. I ran my fingers between her cheeks and lowered them until I was between her thighs. My lips and tongue were switching back and forth, as I continued to tease her

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