Brighter Days Ch. 04B Sarah's Ending

Brighter Days: Sarah's Ending

In the weeks after I left the mill and had begun my preparations to move back to Denton, I had noticed a growing rift between Daisey and Jimmy. I wasn't alone; the rest of the staff had also noticed. Jimmy hadn't been at the diner much since Charlie took over, but when he was there, the tension between him and Daisey was palpable.

A week or so before I was leaving, Jimmy and Daisey threw me a going-away barbecue at their house. There were dozens of people in attendance and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

I immediately noticed that Daisey seemed to be drinking a bit more than usual. In fact, before the night was over, I overheard someone tell Jimmy that his wife was passed out in the kitchen. I told Jimmy I'd see to her so that he could continue hosting duties.

I went in and began guiding Daisey to the bedroom, when she said, "Not that one, the other one."

Puzzled, I led her to the room I had used when I stayed with Jimmy after I got out of prison. The room was obviously Daisey's. I didn't spend much time wondering about it. My grandpa had snored like a bulldozer, so my grandmother had kept separate bedrooms so she could get her sleep; I assumed maybe that was the reason Daisey had a separate bedroom. I held her hair while she puked, then helped her into bed and removed her shoes. As I was tucking her in, Jimmy came in with a small basin, in case she needed to puke again.

The party began breaking up soon after, and Jimmy rebuffed my offers to help him clean up. "This was your party, Jeff; I can't have you doing that. Besides, Charlie is coming in the morning to help."

I didn't give their situation much more thought.

*****

I had sold my 4Runner to the busboy at the diner, and on the day before I left Elko I took it over to give him a final walk around and to turn over the title and keys. After that was concluded, I joined Charlie and Mrs. Rosales for a coffee.

I said my farewells and was about to leave when we heard a loud commotion from the office area. I looked over in time to see Daisey come out of the door to the office with a face, I was sure, only Ramon had seen.

Jimmy came out closely behind her, and screamed about her being a thankless ungrateful shrew. Daisey, at this point, doubled back and called him a spineless asshole, and slapped him across the face.

I crossed the room and quickly guided her out the front door before any other physical action could occur. "Come on, Daisey, let's get you out of here before there's any real trouble."

"You're right, Jeff," she said, appearing to be instantly calm. "Let's go for a ride."

She started towards the 4Runner, and I told her that it wasn't mine anymore, so we'd have to walk to my place and get my bike.

"I have a better idea," she said, tossing me the keys to Jimmy's old Bronco. She had gotten it for him as a wedding gift. She jumped into the passenger seat, and said, "You drive."

I drove around aimlessly for what seemed like hours before either of us spoke. I finally asked, "Is Jimmy gonna be upset that we've been gone this long with his ride?"

"Fuck him," was her reply. "That sanctimonious prick can't say shit about anything I do."

I drove on for a while, until I came to the old county road.

"Let's go up to the old mine road," she said.

The old mine road led of course, to an old abandoned mine. About four miles in, the road forked into two tracks. The left led to the mine, which was heavily patrolled after some kids had gone through the gates and had gotten trapped in the mine. The other branch led to a big pond. I knew that the local kids used the pond for an area to ditch school, drink, have sex and smoke weed.

Sure enough, when we got there, there were some teenaged girls smoking pot in a car. They hightailed it out of there soon after we pulled in.

"So, may I ask what is happening with you and Jimmy? You guys have always seemed to be so good together."

She sighed, and said, "We seemed to be a lot of things, Jeff. The keyword is 'seemed'." She stared off at the pond, as she pondered what to say next.

"You know how Jimmy and I have always said that we met in a support group?"

I nodded, then she continued. "That was only partially true. I had been going to a support group to help get past all the bullshit that Ramon had pulled on me for so long. I actually met Jimmy through a friend in the group.

"Jimmy had a different problem. His father and grandfather were concerned that he might be gay, and they didn't want to hand the diner over to him if he was. Jimmy isn't gay, but he is fixated on a girl he knew way back in junior high school.

"He has spent countless hours and dollars trying to track her down. So many private detectives have taken money from him, only to come back with no results.

"Just between you and me, I think half of them took his payment and never bothered looking for her, but who knows. He even sold the diner to Charlie in order to finance more detectives. He's even been traveling to places where he's heard rumors of her being."

"Now that's fuckin' insane," I said. "Just wow!"

"Anyway, since I never intended to get into another romantic relationship, I agreed to marry him so that he could get his diner. He paid me like I was an employee, and as you saw, I slept in a separate bedroom.

"He told me that I could have discreet sexual liaisons if I needed to since he was saving himself for her. I had actually contemplated starting something with a certain someone, but they met another before I could get my courage up.

"Then another opportunity arose. Do you remember Tanesha Jackson?"

"You mean the best athlete ever to come out of Denton High School? Of course, I remember her. She got us days off school to celebrate the volleyball, and basketball championships she won for us," I said. Last I had heard Tanesha had been playing professional basketball.

"Yes, that Tanesha Jackson. She dated my brother Juan, for a while and we became somewhat close. Well, she retired from basketball and she and her husband opened a restaurant in San Diego. She and I have talked on and off over the years. She's known for a while about my situation, and she knew I wasn't happy in it any longer."

At that point I knew why the tensions had been evident since Jimmy left the diner full time. I only wondered why she hadn't confided in me. "You couldn't tell me?"

"Jimmy had made me promise him that I would tell no one around us about our situation. Tanesha didn't count," she said, with a grin.

"She called me a month or so ago and told me that her general manager was going out on maternity leave and asked if I would consider coming to San Diego and filling in. When her manager comes back, she said I could run her second location that she's opening up soon.

"When I told Jimmy this, he got angry and said I was jeopardizing his future with this girl. This girl... he has never shared her name with me, but Charlie believes her name was Rhonda... anyway, he fears that without me around, his oddball activities might be noticed and people will find out about our marriage was a sham."

She sighed, and said, "I filed for divorce a week ago, and am leaving for San Diego in three weeks. We have a prenup so I keep everything he has paid me. Today, he told me I had to stay because he is going to North Carolina in a couple of weeks to check out a lead that one of his PIs got him."

"Well, I never figured anything out," I told her, feeling kind of stupid. "I just figured you had separate rooms because he snored. That's why my grandma had her own bedroom. You'd think prison would have taught me to be more observant."

"Nobody was allowed in his room," she told me evenly. "He didn't want all of her pictures to be seen. He had her school photo on several posters plus computer photos of what she might look like all these years later."

"Wow. All I can say is wow," I said.

We sat for a bit, just looking at the pond. "Do you know what this reminds me of?" she asked.

I thought for a moment, and said, "Mr. Zeigler's pond?"

Old Man Zeigler had a large plot of land that had a pond on it. There were many days when, as teens, we'd sneak onto his land and swim in it. Some days we could swim for hours; others, he'd run us off within thirty minutes.

"Yes," she said, with a laugh. "I was thinking of that day you guys got busted skinny-dipping up there."

I laughed. "You do know that story is mostly legend, don't you?"

"What do you mean mostly?" she asked.

"Well, the truth of things is we were up there swimming when Tammy Schneider bet Billy Gill twenty dollars that he wouldn't get naked and jump in. You know Billy; he never backed out of a bet, so he stripped and jumped into the pond. She then made the same bet with me and I had my shorts halfway down, when Mr. Zeigler came and ran us off."

"I should have known the story wasn't all true," she laughed. "Tammy was definitely not someone who skinny-dipped with guys."

"Well, after he ran us off, we went to Hollman Lake and we did go skinny-dipping in the northern lagoon."

"Damn, Ramon never wanted me to go with you guys when you ditched school. Mostly, he was afraid that you would steal me from him."

"Some friend," I said, ruefully. "He must have thought that I was as low and corrupt as he was."

"Of course, he did," she said. "There have been many times that I have wished that you would have. Maybe, we'd all have been better off."

"At least you made it out there with us a few times, even if nobody got naked."

"I do remember that time we were at Tahoe," she said. "I always wondered what happened that made you fall off of the boat dock."

I shook my head, and laughed. "Oh shit, I forgot all about that." I paused for a moment. "The truth is, I was distracted by you, Sarah, and Cara Nichols in your bikinis and wasn't watching where I was walking."

"I fucking knew it!" she squealed, with laughter. "You were definitely a master at hiding your horn-dog self." She seemed to think for a moment. "I never realized that you were attracted to me."

"Please. I have eyes and a pulse; of course, I am attracted to you. You were just always off-limits."

"Am?" she asked with one eyebrow raised. "I like that."

"Now, aren't we full of ourselves," I joked, bringing gales of laughter from her.

We sat there laughing for a few minutes before she threw open the door, and said, "Let's go swimming!"

It took a moment to dawn on me what she'd said. By the time I turned to tell her that my swimsuit was packed up, her shirt was on the passenger seat and she had her jeans down past her knees. Within minutes, she was stark naked and heading toward the pond. I just sat there, gawking at the most spectacular ass I had ever laid eyes on.

She turned and yelled, "Are you coming, chicken shit?" shaking me out of my stupor, and minutes later, my clothes were on the driver's seat and I was going to join her in the pond.

Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that I would ever see Daisey naked, and yet there I was, playing in the pond with her. We dove under and splashed and were having a great time. I have to admit I dived under a few times, hoping to catch a peek at her fabulous pussy.

Once, I stood up to catch my breath for a moment, and she submerged. I suddenly remembered her doing that back in our school days. She'd go under and eel her way around you and then pop up and squirt you in the face.

As she came around in front of me and began to come up, I moved forward and caught her as she popped up. She squealed, as I caught her around her waist and pulled her into a bear hug. "Hey! No fair!" she exclaimed mockingly, like a petulant child.

We laughed for a brief moment, and then I realized our faces were mere inches apart. I was looking deeply into her dark brown eyes, and suddenly I kissed her. As soon as our lips touched, I expected her to get angry and slap me or worse, but was pleasantly surprised when she kissed me back.

We broke the kiss suddenly, both of us, surprised. We stood there, staring into each other's eyes, and then we embraced and kissed again. As we kissed, my hands, of course, found their way down to that fantastic ass. She kissed me harder as I kneaded her fleshy cheeks.

She started swiveling her hips, as I played with her ass. After a short time of her doing so I slid my right hand around to the front and began playing around her pussy. Her sharp intake of breath when I touched her clit, let me know that my attention down there was not unwelcome. When I managed to get a finger inside her, she really began grinding on my hand.

She reached down and grabbed my cock. "Ooh," she breathed, as she began stroking my shaft. I moaned, as I realized it was really about to happen. Never did I ever believe I would ever fuck Daisey, and there I was, with a finger inside her and my cock in her grip.

Looking back, I really don't know what we were thinking. I had my finger moving in and out of her, and she was rubbing my dick. Then she hiked her right leg up and I hooked my elbow under her knee. We rearranged ourselves until my cock was at her entrance, and she attempted to guide it into her. Moments after we achieved penetration, it happened.

My footing had been precarious, at best, during our make-out session. As I lifted her to gain full penetration, my left foot slipped on the slimy rocks I had been standing on, and the next thing I knew, we were underwater.

We broke the surface almost simultaneously, coughing and laughing. "Somewhere dryer?" I asked. She nodded, and we headed for an outcropping of rock on the shore. We lounged there for a bit, kissing and fondling each other. At first, I focused on playing with her beautiful tits.

We weren't quite dry yet, when I started playing with her clit. "What are you doooo.." her sentence ended in a long and throaty groan. She pulled me to her and kissed me deeply as I continued manipulating her pleasure button, and within a few minutes, she threw her head back and called to God and her body was wracked by spasms as she came.

"Enough," she said huskily, as she came down from her orgasm. "I want you now! But not on these hard-ass rocks."

We got up and hustled back to the vehicle. When we got back to the Bronco, I picked her up and set her sideways in the passenger seat. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. As we kissed, she reached down and gripped my rock-hard cock.

"I want that in me, Jeff," she panted.

I repositioned myself and pushed the head into her sopping-wet cunt. She gasped and moaned, as she guided me into her. Her arousal was obvious as my shaft slid deep into her pussy. She was tight and wet, and I feared that I was going to cum faster than a teen, if I didn't settle down a bit.

One thing that helped my staying power was the fact that as we fucked, the swaying motion of the Bronco made the passenger door keep swinging and hitting me in the leg or the ass, depending on the position of my feet. It wasn't as painful as it was distracting.

I kept looking down, fascinated, seeing my shaft disappear into her sweet hole. I noticed a pool of goo building on the seat as I pounded into her. For a fleeting second, I felt like we were disrespecting Jimmy a bit, but when she let out a loud shriek and dug her fingers into my back, I forgot about everything, except for the feeling of her exquisite pussy.

The feeling of her pussy convulsing and gripping my cock was too much to overcome. I got four or five more strokes before I shot my load deep into her. She squealed and her orgasm intensified when she felt my hot cum go into her.

It then dawned on me that I had just cum into her without a condom. I had even gotten so caught up in the moment that I hadn't even remembered to pull out.

As if she had read my mind, she kissed me deeply, and said," Don't worry, baby. It's too early in the month for that and even if you did make me pregnant, I'll have someone to remember you by."

*****

Luckily, my rented trailer had come furnished so the fact that almost all of my earthly possessions were in the moving truck didn't hamper our night at all. It turns out you really don't need much more than a blanket on a bed when you are going to spend most of the night fucking.

My bathroom had a small window through which I could see the moving truck and the bright orange Bronco parked in my driveway. I didn't live on a main thoroughfare, but I was sure enough of the townsfolk had seen Jimmy's Bronco parked outside my place and would have questions.

I also wondered how many of my neighbors had seen us when we got back to my place the previous evening. She had only been wearing my shirt and I was only in my shorts. Whether they saw us or not, I had no doubt that at least a few of them had heard a very vocal Daisey in the throes of one or five of her many orgasms. I don't know how many times I asked myself how Ramon could cheat on this woman.

Since neither Daisey nor I would be in Elko in three weeks' time, we really didn't give much thought that the entire town might have thought that Daisey was stepping out on Jimmy. Neither of us worried about the possible gossip.

Daisey was awake when I returned from the toilet. She looked so gorgeous in the morning light that I felt a pang of sadness that she would soon be in California so far from me. It seemed fucked up to me that we had 'found' each other, just as we were parting ways. We made slow and gentle love and we clung to each other as we climaxed together one final time.

An hour later, Daisey had gone home and my landlord had inspected the trailer and handed me the check for my deposit. I chuckled inwardly, as I wondered if he could smell the sex in the bedroom. I had flipped the mattress since I had no sheets on it the night before.

As I shook his hand and handed him the key, I could see that my travel partner was rearing to go. I however would require a few cups of coffee and a few energy drinks to make the drive back to Denton; I was exhausted.

*****

Because the couple who had rented my cabin had been such good tenants, my parents told them they could take all of the time they needed to find a new place. In the meantime, I would stay in my childhood home.

When my parents moved to Arizona, they had rented out their home. The latest tenants had moved out a month before I left Elko. My parents were in the process of hiring someone to get the house ready for new tenants, when they decided that I could stay there until my cabin was vacated and in return, I would do the necessary work to get it ready to be rented out again.

I soon realized that my bike wouldn't be the best transportation when the weather changed so I went and bought a new Chevy Tahoe. Scooby, of course, approved of the roomy vehicle.

I had been there for about three weeks when the couple renting my cabin told us that they had taken a new job and were moving to Wisconsin. Within a month, they had gone and I went to see how much the cabin needed before I could move back into it.

They hadn't really done much damage to the place, but it was clear that maintenance had been sparse. As I walked through, I was mentally spending money on everything that needed attention and was starting to wonder if I wouldn't be dollars ahead to tear the place down and build a new structure.

As I left my property and turned toward town, I saw a vehicle in the driveway where many years ago my insulation truck had sat as I took revenge on my cheating spouse and her paramour. The cabin itself looked uninhabitable, so out of curiosity, I stopped.

The guy who owned the vehicle was the son of the man Ramon and Daisey had rented the place from. It turned out that the guy had rented the place to some 'party dudes,' who had destroyed it, and for the past six years, it had been basically a wildlife sanctuary. His father had died and he'd inherited the derelict property.

When I asked him what he planned to do, he told me that was washing his hands of the place and selling it. I made him an offer, and he accepted it on the spot. Sarah's mom Claire and sister Jennifer ran a realty office and they handled the paperwork; within six weeks, I owned both properties.

Since my grandfather's land adjoined both properties I decided to remove the fences dividing the three. As I was removing fences that separated the properties I found a big clearing and had an epiphany. I immediately fell in love with the view from that spot and decided I would raze both cabins and build my home there.

I had found an old bulldozer and backhoe in a barn on my grandfather's land, and in a few weeks, had both running so I would do the earthmoving on my own.

During my exploration of the property, I discovered an old logging road that had been there since the fifties. My grandfather had leased the timber rights on the land to a company for years. After he passed, my dad had refused to renew the lease. I was surprised that the road hadn't been overgrown and lost, and was still passable on an ATV or bike.

I followed the road and found that it ended at the backside of an old quarry. The quarry had been in operation while I was in high school, but they had broken into an artesian and after not being able to keep the water at a manageable level, they abandoned the quarry, leaving it to become a large twelve-foot-deep pool.

The only accesses to the quarry was from my land on the hidden road and through the old Zeigler property, owned by Mr. Zeigler's daughter Tamara, and her life partner, neither of whom had any interest in any of it. They had leased their pasture to a cattle rancher who had also put boundary fences around the quarry to keep their cattle out of it, so I basically had a private pool. Of course, my furry companion approved.

Billy Gill, an old friend from school, had a contracting business and agreed to be my general contractor. Most of the lumber needed would come from my own land and be cut on a portable sawmill, saving a fortune.

I had already become disenchanted with the local dating scene; it seemed like all of the available women were either emotional basket cases whom you needed to have a PhD in psychology to navigate any relationship with them, or they were only seeking a guy to pay their bills and become a daddy to her children.

The only women who seemed to not fall into either category, ran in the other direction when they heard why I had been incarcerated. I get it though, because I'm not sure I'd be so quick to date a woman who told me her relationships had ended because she had a habit of seeking out strange dick.

I had bought a dump truck and had been doing some earthmoving work and wood hauling on top of the work I was doing at my place, so it really didn't bother me too much that the occasional outing with Sarah was the sum of my social life, but that was about to change.

One Tuesday afternoon, I was hauling gravel and road base for the driveway on my property, when Sarah called me and invited me to dinner. "Dress nice and I'll pick you up at seven," she told me.

"Dress nice." I took that to mean that we weren't going to Floyd's Diner or Mario's Pizza, so I had to wear something other than my usual t-shirt and jeans. I decided to go to buy a new pair of Levis and a decent collared shirt. I hoped that she didn't expect me to dress 'black tie' nice.

Now Sarah was a true walking juxtaposition. She still drove the old Nissan Pathfinder that her parents had given her for high school graduation, and she lived in a small two-bedroom apartment with limited furnishings; she didn't own anything fancy. The way she lived one would think that she was a secretary or maybe a grocery clerk, except for her wardrobe.

Sarah was the general manager of one of the most prestigious hotel and casinos on the shores of Lake Tahoe, and she definitely dressed the part. Her closet only contained big-name designers and the second bedroom of her apartment had clothing racks, like a store, and was basically a closet for her clothing and her tons of shoes. Other than her clothes, you would never know she was probably the highest-paid person I had ever known.

"You look really nice," she said, as I got into her vehicle at precisely seven o'clock.

"Thanks," I said. "Of course, as always, you look impeccable, my dear."

She blushed and we were on our way. We made the usual small talk as she drove toward Reno. Thirty minutes later, we pulled up at the valet station of Tivoli, one of the newest and most trendy Italian restaurants in Reno.

We sat at the bar, as we waited for our table to open up, since neither of us drank alcohol, she had a Pepsi and I had Dr. Pepper. After we sat and had begun looking through the menu, Sarah told me, "I'm paying. No arguing about it and do not order the cheapest meal on the menu."

"But what if I want the cheapest thing?" I asked, defiantly.

"Zip it, mister," she told me. "We are celebrating, so I want you to enjoy."

"Ooh, celebrating. So what is the occasion?" I asked. I wasn't ready for what I would feel when she told me.

"Mark has asked me to marry him," she said.

I was crushed. I had always been afraid that she'd meet some guy that would make her choose their relationship over our friendship, and I always felt like Mark regarded me with more suspicion than trust. I don't remember much else about that night. I couldn't tell you what I ate, or what she ate. I think I went through the proper motions.

"Oh I'm so happy for you guys!" I told her, definitely not feeling what I was saying. "You deserve every bit of happiness, hon; I know he'll be good for you." I even proposed a toast.

It was all bullshit. I knew in a few days, I would truly be happy for her, but right then, I just hurt. I did my best to hold up my end of our conversation, but I was so relieved when we got back to my parents' house and I could just hang out with Scooby.

I was starting to contemplate selling my place when it was done, and moving to San Diego. I thought maybe Daisey and I could give it a go, but my next phone conversation with her squashed that plan. She had met and fell for a guy named Simon. I could hear it in her voice, as she gushed about him that maybe she'd found the right guy. The next call I got, didn't help a lot, either.

It was Saturday afternoon, when Charlie called me. I could tell he was upset and when I asked him what was wrong, all he could get out was, "Jimmy's gone," before he broke down sobbing. His girlfriend Anne got on the phone then and filled me in on the details.

Jimmy had gotten a lead on Rhonda in Nashville, so he had flown to Tennessee to find her. When he found her, he discovered that she had married her high school sweetheart, who was a retired Marine Captain. She had four children and three grandchildren. The real crusher was that she didn't remember Jimmy... at all.

He had spent his entire adult life seeking this woman and she'd forgotten him after her family left Nevada. Apparently, when he returned to Elko, he talked to Charlie about coming back to work at the diner. Of course, Charlie welcomed him back with open arms.

The next morning when Jimmy didn't show up, Charlie went to his house to find that Jimmy wasn't there. He had left a note on the door for Charlie saying goodbye. Several hours later, sheriff's deputies found Jimmy's Bronco parked outside of the gate to the old mine, and his footprints leading through the gate onto the property.

They followed his tracks up the hill and into the woods. They came to one of the many air shafts that dotted the hills. Years before, fences had been erected around these shafts to prevent accidents. Jimmy's prints showed that he crossed a fence and then they disappeared at the shaft.

They lowered a camera down into the shaft and confirmed that his body was there. They also concluded that it would be too dangerous to attempt to recover his body, so in a way, Jimmy had chosen his final resting place. His name was to be added to a plaque in front of the mine, memorializing the many others who had met their fate in the mines.

Sarah went with me to Elko for Jimmy's memorial service. Daisey and Simon were there, as well. I instantly liked the guy and was genuinely happy for them. At least, I could use the solemnness of the situation to cover up my less than jovial attitude as Sarah and I drove.

She might have also attributed my demeanor to Daisey and Simon. I had told her about Daisey and me on my last day in Elko, and that I might have had feelings for her. I just kept hoping that she didn't think that her news had done it. I wanted her to be happy, and I wouldn't want to have her happiness dampened ever by my feelings. I would rather die alone than ever have her know that she'd hurt me.

*****

As I had done after the previous disappointments in my life, I threw myself into work. Daisey's brother Juan owned a landscaping company and he hired me to haul the soil and such for his jobs.

Billy's father and a couple of other local contractors purchased a large plot of land and were building ten new houses on it. I had already been contacted by them asking for an estimate to do all of the dirt work for them. I knew if I took the job I'd need a couple more pieces of equipment and another employee or two.

As I was coming out of a bank one afternoon after doing a bunch of paperwork to get a small business loan to finance the expansion I needed to do, I ran into Sarah. She just happened to be in the same part of town, dealing with hotel stuff.

Since neither of us was in a rush, we got a coffee and chatted for a bit. We were talking about some movie she'd just seen and we were reminded of how we used to have movie nights at my house when we were teens.

Feeling better than I had since she'd broken the news of her pending nuptials, I offered, "Well, if you're not busy Friday night, would you like to relive one of our famous movie nights?"

She made some lame joke about maybe having tea with the Queen, but she could get out of it.

"I've got a better TV this time. Plus a ton of our old favorites," I told her.

She agreed, but said she was supplying the pizza. I was happy that I was able to keep my lifelong friendship intact.

Friday night arrived. While Sarah never spent money on her personal comfort or entertainment, I enjoyed nice electronics and I had bought a seventy-five-inch LED TV when I returned from Elko. I had also splurged on a killer soundbar and Blu Ray player. I also had a nicer love seat in front of the TV than when we were young, but I had it all set up the same.

Sarah arrived with a large pizza from Mario's. It would be a Mario's Porker Special if I knew her as well as I thought. I was correct. It had pepperoni, Canadian bacon, bacon and Mario's own Italian sausage on it. She also brought two-liter bottles of Pepsi and Dr. Pepper.

Sarah was dressed in a similar fashion as back then; she wore white shorts that highlighted her sexy legs and ass. Of course this night they were some designer brand, as was her pink hoodie that seemed to accentuate her chest, rather than hide it. White ankle socks and pink high-tops completed the ensemble. Me? I was wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt and board shorts with a Hawaiian pattern.

We had watched both American Pie and Jurassic Park and had put away half of the pizza. I surprised myself at not being able to out eat Sarah. We had put in Scream and, as usual, we started talking shortly after Neve Campbell was doing some PG-13 stuff through the window.

"Do you remember when Billy Gill's mom caught us making out in his tree house?" she asked me.

"How could I forget? The sound of her scary mad scream has woken me from many nights' sleep over the years," I said, laughing. I had actually been surprised that nobody came to see what her scream was about or had called the police to investigate.

"Then she called our parents," Sarah reminded me. "My mom was actually happy about it. She's always thought you and I were destined to be together."

"Yeah," I said. "My dad just said not to knock anyone up."

We laughed and Sarah said "Oh God."

"Could you imagine how she would have reacted to one of her son's spin-the-Bottle parties?" I asked her.

During our junior high and early high school years, we'd all played 'spin the bottle' in Billy's basement. That basement had basically been party central in those days.

"Oh God," said Sarah. "Yeah, I'm sure a virgin or two were deflowered at those parties."

"I don't know about that, but I got to second base at one of those parties," I said with a grin.

"Oh my God! I knew it! I knew you spent too long down the hall with Cara Nichols."

"Down the same hall where you and I played 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours'?"

Reminding her of that never failed to make her blush, so I was taken completely by surprise when she stood and yanked that pink designer hoodie over her head, exposing her fantastic tits. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours," she said.

I just sat there dumbfounded as she began straddling me.

She wrapped her hands behind my neck and pulled me to her hungry lips. That first time she kissed me, I swear I saw stars. We had made out as teens, but this was so much more, I couldn't really grasp what was happening. It felt surreal.

Our mouths met and our tongues danced together. Just when I felt like she was going to suck my soul right out of me she broke the kiss long enough to send my Pink Floyd shirt to the floor. We rejoined at the lips and she held onto me, like I was going to float away.

She started running her fingertips up and down my sides. "Ooh," she cooed, when I got goosebumps. She began kissing my neck and then started working her way down my chest and stomach.

"Oh, what do we have here?" she asked, as she reached the growing bulge in my shorts. "Well, I guess you'll just have to show me yours first."

In moments, my shorts were in a puddle by my feet, and my best friend had her mouth just mere inches from my dick.

It was at that point that the angel on one shoulder and the demon on the other started in. "Oh my god, just imagine how awesome that mouth is going to feel on your cock, buddy boy," exclaimed the demon. "Yee haw! You're gonna enjoy that shit!"

"She is engaged to someone, Jeffery," interrupted the angel. "Just imagine how you'd feel if someone was railing your fiancée. You've been in his shoes. Do the right thing."

"Damn angel has to come in and ruin shit," I said just before Sarah was about to inhale my cock.

"Angel? What?" asked a bewildered Sarah looking up at me.

"Oh, just my conscience," I said. "Aren't we forgetting that you are engaged?"

"I said he asked me to marry him, Jeff. I never said yes." She paused to let her words sink in.

"I have wanted somebody else... you, for a long time and I'm not passing up what might be my last opportunity. Relax and enjoy. We'll have plenty of time for chit chat later."

She would later tell me that Mark had proposed, but she was on the fence about accepting when she told me about him asking her. She had mainly been looking for advice on what to do. When she saw the look on my face that I had hoped that I'd kept hidden better, she knew right then she couldn't say yes, but she'd feared that she had hurt me too deeply.

Fate played the biggest hand though, it was by pure accident that we were both downtown at the same time, so she saw her chance and took it.

I was hoping that I wouldn't do anything embarrassing our first time together. I think I blew that when I sucked in my breath, like I'd just stuck my foot into subfreezing water. She took me into her mouth and I was sure the room was spinning. I just sat there, mesmerized, as she worked my cock in and out of her mouth.

Way too soon, the feeling that signaled I was about to cum started to hit me, so I figured I'd better give Sarah a 'heads up' so to speak. "Oh shit! I'm gonna cum soon if you keep that up."

"Good," she said, taking my cock out of her mouth. "I want the first ride to last as long as possible. I have waited for too long for this to have it be quick."

With that, she bottomed her nose out on my groin. It only took her two more strokes to get me off and when I came, I felt the force of it leaving my dick. I filled her mouth, and it felt like my balls had deflated when I came.

She swallowed every last drop and then said, "Your turn," as she stripped off her shorts and lay back on the love seat. I rolled over onto my knees and got ready to lick her into oblivion.

I paused just for a moment to admire the view. Sarah had what I would say was the most beautiful pussy I had ever laid eyes on. It was smooth, hairless, and the lips didn't look like strip-steak curtains. Almost every other vagina I had ever seen, mostly in pictures, had some unappealing quality to them, but Sarah's was absolutely flawless.

As she pulled her knees back to give me better access, the lips parted somewhat, revealing a pearly pink opening gleaming with moisture. Her scent was intoxicating, and she tasted just as good as she looked.

Several times during that session, I thought she might crush my head with her thighs. I had never known just how orgasmic my lifelong friend was. By the time I licked her to her third orgasm, she was so wet that I knew there'd be no trouble sliding into her honeypot.

"Get up here, damn it," she said, as she pulled me up for a kiss. "Oh my God, Jeff, I have never wanted ANYTHING as much as I want this right now!"

I reached down and guided my cock into her sopping-wet pussy. I gazed into her eyes as I started pushing forward. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened as an 'oomph' sound escaped her.

There was a lot more resistance than I had expected for the amount of natural lube oozing from her. I made several strokes before I had gotten the entire shaft into her. When I finally bottomed out, I held her for a moment, and kissed her deeply.

It seemed so surreal to me as I began stroking in and out of her. Although on some level, I fully realized just how sexy and attractive my best friend was, I had never imagined that I would ever actually fuck her.

As we fucked, everything was in a perfect rhythm. On the out-stroke, her lips would purse forming an 'O' shape, on every in-stroke, her mouth would open followed by a staccato, "Ah," that seemed to come from the deepest part of her lungs, and her eyes would widen ever-so-subtly.

We continued like this until she'd cum three or four times, then she pushed me to the floor and mounted me. "Now you are going to find out what I can do," she said huskily, as she guided my dick into her pussy.

I would love to say that I heroically weathered the assault, but there is only so much a guy can take. She seemed to know tricks with her hips and internal musculature that I had never dreamed of.

When she reached back and put her hands on my ankles and threw her head back in the throes of another orgasm, I was fucked. There was not a single thought I could have had that would have stopped the inevitable climax that I was about to have.

When I came, I knew I was addicted to her. I had never had such an intense orgasm. I had only thought I launched hard when she blew me before. It was almost painful how hard it shot out of me. She squealed and shrieked as I came inside her. I almost laughed, when Scooby sat up and barked.

*****

We really hadn't left my bed since Friday night except to occasionally take Scooby outside and for food. We finished the pizza on Saturday afternoon and had John Wills, Denton's answer to delivery service, bring us burgers from Floyd's late Saturday evening. So when I woke up Sunday morning, I knew I had to make us a real breakfast.

I was making us steak and eggs with homemade biscuits. She sat at the table, powering up her phone so she could see if her underlings had 'burned the place down' in her absence.

After she looked at her messages and e-mails, she got up and went into the bathroom. Just as she'd gone in, her phone rang. "Who is that?" she asked, from down the hall.

I walked over and saw that it was Claire calling. "It's your mom."

She told me to answer it, so I did. "Hi mom."

For a moment, there was an awkward silence on the other end. "Um... Jeff?"

"Yes mom," I answered.

"I wasn't expecting, um... is my daughter available?" I had to laugh because I had never seen Claire flustered.

Sarah came out and I handed the phone to her and kissed her. "Good morning, mother," she said, smiling at me.

She put the phone on speaker and sat down. "I've been trying to call you all weekend. I was getting a tad worried."

"No worries, mom, I'm more than fine," Sarah said, winking at me.

"Are you at home?"

"No, mom, I'm at Jeff's."

"Have you been there all weekend?" I could hear something like hope in Claire's voice, as she asked.

"Yes, mother," answered Sarah.

"Does that mean..."

Claire's squeal of joy was probably loud enough to wake the neighbors when Sarah said, "Yes."

"It's about damn time you two hooked up," she said, joyfully. "You two enjoy your day and you can call me and fill in with details later."

For the next hour, Sarah was getting congratulatory texts from everyone her mother knew.

"I guess we have to make a go of this," she said later after we'd made love."

"I have never wanted to make a go of anything more in my life," I answered. "I love you, Sarah."

"I have waited years to hear you say that. I love you too, Jeff."

*****

Even though she didn't actually move in, we never spent a night apart after that weekend. Most nights, we'd stay at my parents' house and a few nights, we'd spend at her apartment.

After our first weekend together, I had Billy and the architect make some changes to the master suite at the house. A planned third bedroom was split and part of its area went to give Sarah a closet that any girl would be jealous of, and there was even some room for my wardrobe.

We'd been together six months, when I bought her ring. I had smuggled one of her other rings to the jewelers so that we'd have the correct size. Two weeks after I ordered them, they were ready.

I'd been battling the county for a few months over some forced improvements on my land. An investment group had built a dude-ranch-type resort up the road from my land. In order to qualify for their various licenses, they had to have the public water, electric and sewer extended the five miles to their resort.

Because my house was new construction, I had to connect it to the same utilities at my own expense. I had to get permits to run trenches for the water lines, sewer lines and I opted to run a third trench for the electricity.

The battle was because the guy who'd inspected the other trenches and hook-ups refused to sign off until I had removed the septic systems from both of the cabins I had razed. That wasn't a big deal, but they wanted me to get a permit for each system.

My attorney had argued that since it was all contained on my land I shouldn't need to remove them or get permits. The county attorney, citing some environmental bullshit, disagreed and in the end I had to buy permits. On the day I went to get the permits, Sarah had agreed to meet me for lunch and afterward we'd go together to get them.

I picked up the rings that morning and then met Sarah for lunch. As we were walking into the courthouse to go to the building code enforcement office, an elderly couple was coming out.

"Oh look, Walter," the old lady said. "When two young-uns look that much in love, you just know they're going to see the justice of the peace."

After we had gotten the required permits, Sarah turned to me, and asked, "Did you hear what that lady said when we were walking in?"

"I did," I said. "I'm just not sure Walter did."

She chuckled, and asked, "Should we?"

It took me a few minutes to figure out exactly what she meant. "Go to the justice of the peace? Now?"

"Yeah, why not? We've had weddings before, do we really need all of the trappings?" she replied.

I had no problem with it, especially since I had the rings and hadn't decided exactly how I was going to propose to her. I stepped ahead of her and turned to face her then dropped to one knee. "Sarah will you make me the happiest man on Earth and become my wife?" I asked, as I produced the ring box from my pocket.

She teared up, and said "Yes, baby! Oh yes, baby!" as she presented her left hand for me to put the ring on her finger. I stood and people clapped as we embraced.

We started walking toward the justice of the peace office, and I asked her if she wanted to call her mom and sister so come down and see it. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Mom would kill us for even considering this," she said. "She's been planning our wedding since we were in grade school."

Two months later, we exchanged our vows in the Grand Ballroom at the same hotel Sarah managed. Her sister Jennifer was her maid of honor and a quite pregnant Daisey was one of her bridesmaids. Billy Gill was my best man, and my cousin had served out his sentence and was one of my groomsmen.

Neither of my parents was surprised, they had figured, much like Claire, that Sarah and I would end up together, and their gift to us was a week in Hawaii for our honeymoon.

Many months later, we were at the quarry, swimming. It was early fall and the water was starting to cool off, so I had sat on some rocks to let the sun warm me. Scooby and Sarah were paddling around in the water.

Sarah dove under, and the view of her naked ass gave me a realization. When she came back up, she saw me smiling and came out to see what I was thinking about.

"What's with the big grin, mister?"

"Oh, I was just watching the sexiest pregnant woman I have ever seen skinny-dipping and I realized that I really can't ask for anything else in this world. My life is better than I ever dreamed it would be."

She sauntered over and took my dick in her hand. "It's about to get a lot better," she said, as she took my dick in her mouth to begin proceedings.

She wasn't wrong.

Fin