Week one

The first week of testing was over. Oscar was a dead dog when he crawled into his SUV after work. He picked up his phone to see that he had a text from Esther. Call me on your way home. Hope you had a great day. Love Ess

He sat in the parking lot while he talked to her.

“Hi honey.” Her voice was full of happiness.

“Well hello darlin’.” He smiled.

“You sound beat.”

“I am.”

“What ja want for dinner?”

“You.”

She giggled. He could envisioned her wigglin’ on the couch. “I was hopin’ you would say that.”

He started his SUV and pointed it in the direction of home. “What did you have in mind?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“It is?” He raised an eyebrow.

“When you get home, come to your house. And you don’t have to do a thing.”

“Ess?”

“Yes, my love.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.” She giggled.

When he got home, he shut the door and locked it behind him. There was soft classical music playing. He wasn’t paying attention to where Esther might be. As he walked toward the couch, she put her arms around his waist. He cupped his hand over hers, “there you are.”

She whispered in his ear. “Have you ever been blindfolded?”

“No,” his breath was already shallow in anticipation of what she might do.

The material was soft. She took off his blazer. He thought he could hear it being laid on the couch. Then with slow gentle movements, she took his hand leading him. He just knew she would caress him with her mouth but she didn’t. A small stab of disappointment rippled through him.

She whispered in his ear. “Take your shoes off, please.” He did so. Again, hoping that she would lick his ear; but she didn’t.  She continued leading him, “no peaking.” He was led to the bathroom? She guided him to sit, on the commode he thought, rolling up his pants legs. With meticulous care, she washed his feet.

When she was done, he felt socks get put on his feet before he was led to the bed. She laid him down gently. But left him there. He wasn’t sure for how long.

“Ess?” He called.

“Shhh,” came sweetly to his ear. Had she been beside him the entire time?

When was she going to touch him? He needed to feel her. Now would be a good time.

The socks were removed. She still hadn’t really touched him. It felt like, other than caring for his feet, she was doing all she could not to touch him. He needed to feel her hands caress his skin.

She whispered in his ear, “fight the urges to kick.”

Was that breath he felt? Warm breath on his feet. She took her sweet time just breathing on each toe. With each foot. His body was at full attention. With his hands, he pushed against the bed. Pulling at the comforter.

Why did she want him to be quiet? There was a desire within him to moan. To make some sort of noise. To relieve the pressure building inside.

When he felt her moist mouth engulf his big toe, his body shivered. It was all he could do not to hiss and moan. Pressing his lips together wasn’t helping.

How much more could his body take before he was overcome with desire. His body became even more electrified. All he wanted was for her to just take him. He couldn’t conceal another moan. She was killing him. He never knew feet could be so erotic.

Soon all he could hear was the pounding of his own heart. There were no thoughts in his head. It was just one mixed up whirl of confusion. He started screaming for some reason unknown. He felt her arms around his chest. Was she stroking his hair? Did she kiss the top of his head? His lungs burned. All he could do was pant. His vision was blurry when he finally opened his eyes. She caressed his face. Was she talking to him? He couldn’t focus on her words but they were soft. He thought he felt himself scream again but wasn’t sure. Then darkness over took him.

Winter Season

Live in a cave?

“When we get married, where do you want to live?” Oscar asked.

Esther was curled up in his lap as they sat on her back porch watching a storm roll in. “I’ve not given it any thought.”

He held her a little tighter. “I could move in here with you.”

“Could you really be happy? My house is so much smaller than yours. Haven’t you lived over there your entire adult life?”

“When you and I went down in the basement looking for Christmas decorations, that was the first time I’ve been down there since Karen died. I haven’t been in the attic.”

A clap of thunder tore through their conversation. Esther rose up to look at him, “ever?”

“What if we give it a try? It was for a horrific reason but those two weeks I stayed here with you were,” he stopped thinking of the right word. There wasn’t one. Peaceful? Liberating? Loving? Welcoming? Calming?

“You’ll loose the guest room. And the den.”

“I could turn the basement into a workspace.”

“There’s no heat or air.”

“That’s an easy fix.”

“You would need more light and plug ins.”

“Esther, we could live in a cave. As long as you are with me.”

“What about your gas fireplace?” He just smiled. “Do you really hate that house?”

“It’s a roof.”

“Alright.” Lightning lite up the sky. “When I get an answer to the thing I can’t talk about, I think we can start seriously planning. This needs serious thought. I would like for you to think about all the things you’d be giving up.”

“Planning for a future with you. I’m not giving anything up.”

She blushed, “a future for us.” As she spoke the full force of the storm broke.

“You know what we could do? Turn your back porch into a sunroom.”

She curled back into his arms. “I’d like that.”

Chet came to visit them. He brought knew news about the case. He made sure Oscar was sitting down. “I’m not really sure how to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it.” Chet paused for a moment. “Oat turned himself in today. He is saying that he shot into your house. He was able to describe the gun, the kind of ammo it had in it and where he disposed of it.”

Esther could feel Oscar’s body temperature rise and his hands shook slightly.

“Esther, you never did tell me how you wanted us to proceed with this.”

She squeezed Oscar’s hand. Through gritted teeth, he said, “throw the book at him.”

Esther repeated what he said, “throw the book at him. You have everything from me that you need.” She paused. “I would like to add, you can hear Oat’s truck a mile away. Even though we did have music playing, I don’t remember hearing his truck.”

Oscar looked at her, “you’re right. No matter how hard he could try, you can’t hide that. Unless he pushed it past the house.”

Chet added, “he could have parked at the tree line and walked over.”

“Possible but we aren’t taking into account that my brother is lazy. He wouldn’t breathe if he could get someone else to do it for him.”

Chet left.

Oscar set on the couch and didn’t move for a long time. Esther wasn’t sure how to help him. So she made up the bed, cleaned up the kitchen from the dinner they hadn’t eaten and was getting ready to take a shower. She had only taken two showers in the last two weeks.

Oscar put his hands around her waist, lifting her shirt, removing her sports bra. The doctor hadn’t let her wear a real bra yet. He rubbed his hand over her back. The two deepest wounds were still sore and she flinched as he moved over them. He kissed her neck, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know.”

Sunday evening they were wadded up on the couch, “tell me about your week?” Esther played with his hair.

“We have testing for the next two weeks. Two more weeks of normal classes, and then summer vacation. God I can’t wait.” He pulled her to him.

“What kind of testing?”

“It’s a standardized test that we have to give the students. It determines our ranking and what kind of money we will receive.”

“No stress there.”

“None,” he said sarcastically.

“I love you Mr. Patterson.”

He smiled a great big smile as he let his fingers do the talking. It didn’t matter what he did, he could get to her.

“I love you Miss Morrison”

Monday after Oscar had gone to work, she called Chet.

“Good morning, how are you feeling today?” He asked.

“I’m almost healed. How about you? How are you today?”

“Great. Thanks for asking.”

“I know you’re busy. But something has been eating at me all weekend. The Patterson’s all live in that house. I have no doubt that Oat knows what that gun looks like and what kind of ammo it has in it. Do you think it is possible that he is covering for someone?” There was silence on Chet’s end of the phone. He didn’t know what to think. She continued, “I have no love of his family but I also don’t want the wrong person going to jail over this.”

“Honestly, I’d never really thought about it. I know what his family has done to him and as his best friend I wish they’d all move to Mexico.”

“If you don’t care, just keep your ears open because, I don’t think this is over.”

“You got it.”

Winter Season

The fall?

If you read my work, you might be scratching your head thinking, ‘I read this’. You did. I got out of order. Sorry about this. The other post has been deleted so that we can keep the story in order.

The fall?

Two weeks after she had been shot, the wounds were almost healed. Oscar was the best nurse ever. She assumed it was because of all those years of being a caregiver. So every morning she made sure he had breakfast, and every night, she cooked him dinner. If he could take care of her, she could take care of him. Plus the fact he had been staying with her made it easier to make sure he was eating right.

It felt nice having someone around. She really liked having him in her life. She was trying so hard not to fall head over heels in love. It was obvious that she loved him. But she wanted to keep her feet on the ground. She didn’t want to get swept up only to be pulled away. It scared her to no end.

It was Friday, and she had fixed a big meatloaf. Oscar looked like a dead dog when he walked through her door. She wrapped him up in a big hug. He melted in her arms.

“Rough day?”

“I don’t want to think about school or students. All I want is lots of you.”

She smiled as he caressed her face, “is that a promise?”

“Oh, you better know it. You are going to get so sick of me.”

“How do you figure?”

He kissed her, gently at first but as the kiss progressed it was filled with fierce unspoken passion.

“Does that mean my meatloaf is going to be a midnight snack?” She panted.

“It might even be breakfast.” He continued kissing her.

They spend the night wrapped up in each other. He loved talking to her. Just laying on the bed, in the floor, on the couch, as long as she was in his arms.

“May I ask you something?” She was wrapped up in the warmth of his body and was almost asleep.

“You may ask me anything.”

He kissed her shoulder and then hesitated.  “How’s your back feeling today?”

“Good.” She snuggled closer to him. “That wasn’t your question I presume?”

He took a deep breath, “no. I have noticed that when I get close you pull away. These last two weeks have been the most time that we have spent together consistently. And I must say it has been amazing.”

She rolled over in his arms. “You are right.”

She kissed him, “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

It was her turn to let out the long sigh. “I very much love you. And like I said, depending on the outcome of the thing I can’t talk about, I do want to marry you.” She paused, sighing again. “What if the outcome of that thing I can’t talk about is bad? I might never see you again.”

She felt his breathing stop. “Is that a possibility?”

“A very real one.”

“Then why not love like there’s no tomorrow?”

“It’s not in me. That saying, ‘it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’ Tell me how that works. Tell me how the loosing isn’t more painful than never having known love?” There was a moment of silence between them. “I’m sorry that you are able to since my hesitation. I in no way want to hurt you.”

“I love you.” He whispered in her ear. “I don’t know what this dark cloud hanging over your head is but I do know that I want you. I have never felt like this and I like it. I love the way you feel. The way my stress melts away when you touch me. The sound of your voice lightens my heart. I like me better. Esther, I’m so in love with you.”

She held him tightly and cried into his chest, “please don’t give up on me.”

He held her has she cried and his heart broke. He wished she could tell him about this cloud. About this weight holding her down. But he loved her and would wait as long as it took.

Winter Season