Chapter 9

We fell asleep like that until about 3 in the morning when I had to get up to pee. I worked my way up without waking her and I covered her. I went back to sleep in my own bed because I didn't want to get into the habit of sleeping together every night. I wanted that to happen, and not be forced. Better to wake together when we could stay in bed together. Our relationship was at the point where we still needed time to be each other. I hoped she understood.

In the morning after my radio went on I lay there thinking about how awesome last night was. I heard her shower go on and remembered that I had to show her the bus route to work today. I got up and went down to start coffee. Then I went back upstairs and got in my shower when I heard hers go off. As I washed I heard a knock at the bathroom door and it cracked open.

"Can I come in?" Her little voice said as I saw her through the glass door.

My smile said yes as I looked at her in her big towel and head wrap.

She sat on the toilet across from me.

"Thanks for covering me up when you left. You were so sweet last night. I'm falling in love with you, you know. Don't stop what you're doing if that's what you want." She said softly, honestly.

I stopped washing and pressed myself up to the glass saying, "I know what I'm doing, what I want to do. You couldn't be any sweeter."

She got up and kissed me through the glass and walked back to the door. Before she went out, she let the towel drop and smiled at me so sexy I thought I might shoot right there. I am falling in love.

One of the signs I'm falling in love is that every time I look at her she gets prettier and each little feature becomes more distinct. But I'm really falling in love with HER, the Gail that's inside that beautiful little horny body. I love so many things about her it's hard to pinpoint what brings it all together. I guess the sincerity is the string that ties it all up. If she thinks she's hurt my feelings or made me think less of her she cries real tears. It's not the pouty shit that some girls or women use to get their way, it really hurts her. She really wants to live up to a standard that I hold her up to, I guess. All I've ever told her, or demanded of her was when I was trying to get her to stop the dour Morticia Addams act, was to the point. I simply asked her if she had any pride or self-respect. I must have looked at her in a way that drilled through her hardened exterior.

She looked back at me like I must be an idiot if I didn't see the dedication she had to being sad poor Gail, the girl God forgot.

I ripped her head to toe telling her that no one respected her for what she was doing, especially her Mom and Sis. Wouldn't THEY want her to be happy? But I drilled her again on having PRIDE and SELF-RESPECT. In any event I must have hit the right chords because she came out of her cocoon pretty fast, wanting to adapt to real life.

I chuckle now when I think back to last week and how I was going to send her to Rita for a make-over if I thought she kept to her word to me to reconstruct her life. I thought my offer for that was a few weeks away until she said her pubic hair was almost to her belly button and growing up her ass. I think I dialed the phone for Rita within minutes of even envisioning that. I don't know who talked her into going total commando "downstairs", but who ever it was they had to be thinking that she would wake up sexually by exposing herself there. As my mind raced about our possibilities I dressed and ran down to get the coffee she poured for me. It was fixed how I like it, in my favorite mug. She only smiled as I lifted the mug to my lips and uttered an "ahhh" at the taste and rush the brew gave me.

She sat there wanting to jump out of her skin in excitement over us, fiddling with the finger loop on her cup.

"Soooooo, how was your night last night?" She said, adding a long giggle as an exclamation point.

I would have tried to play it cool, but I felt my face turn red instantly, so I just let out the laugh I tried to stifle for the moment.

"It wassssssssssssssss pretty damn nice. No, even better than that. It was unforgettable. It was... the most fun I ever had with any woman at any time. HOW ABOUT YOU?" I asked loudly.

Involuntarily her lower lip quivered and she looked at me and said, without words, what I already knew. She went to say something and then just mouthed it and choked with emotion. I got up and went to her across the nook and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I heard her whisper little squeaky words like, "So happy, like nothing before I... uhhhh". I stopped her and just kissed her.

"We'll find the words and ways while we get to know each other. I'm falling in love with you too." I said searching her eyes for reaction and I just saw unspoken joy.

"Come my little school girl, I have to whisk you to the bus." I said offering her my arm. She got up and we walked out the door to the street to the corner where 2 other neighbors waited by the mail box for the bus.

In the little sub-division where I was housed a lot of people who worked downtown and in the industrial parks just on the outskirts. Parking in the city was as tough as anywhere and even some of the biggest executives rode the bus to the MARTA station where fast commuter rail brought you deep into the city. The complex where our offices were sat almost at the end of the bus loop before it dropped the bulk of its passengers. A second smaller bus ran a short loop every 7-10 minutes to each of the companies in the office park rather than have the big bus turn in and add to its trip. It's only a twenty minute ride door to door for me. I easily drove it everyday with parking for my company van there.

I got off the bus with Gail and rode the office shuttle with her, buying a monthly pass from the driver. When it pulled up in front of AmeriGas I checked that there was no one I knew looking and kissed her a goodbye quickly. She was off to start her second day at work. I rode the loop of the shuttle and got back to the main road just in time to catch the other bus on its return trip.

"The first day in the big city for the wife?" The driver said, recognizing me.

"Something like that, she was nervous. I held her hand today." I said smiling at the prospect that she could end up my wife if all was as rosy as it is now.

"She gets on early enough to always get a seat. Don't worry about her." He reassured me.

Back at the house alone I thought about my feelings for her and how I could nurture this relationship if I kept getting such good feelings and vibes from her. Her character was unquestioned, and that made all the difference to me, because character rooted trust, and trust is the 5 letter word that makes the four letter word, love, work.

While I waited for my toast to pop I realized that I was thinking about her virtues that made me want to love her. With most other girlfriends I would be thinking about the blowjob of a lifetime I got last night, but this was different. The sex took on a different meaning. Gail was no longer the droll troll who followed Haley around the campus and we kiddingly called "Haley's Comet". She was front and center and leading her own parade.

The rest of her first full week at work at a regular job seemed uneventful for Gail, but things were different behind the scenes. Iggy Cooper took me aside on Thursday saying he had to speak to me.

"Rob, I know you a while now and think of you as my closest friend, and certainly my most trusted confidant. I think there is no way this woman has never worked in an office before and most definitely for a petroleum company. When I ran her Social Security number I get a welfare person in the State of Florida who is AWOL from a Seniors Aide program. They're people the state feeds and provides shelter for as long as they look in on Senior Citizen clients they are assigned. I think she pulled the wool over your eyes." Iggy told me with conviction.

"Ig, come on down to the media room with me." I said as I led him down the hall to the room where we saw Safety update videos, new equipment instructional videos, etc. Each of us were required to see them and allotted a few hours a month to stay updated. They also screened the latest national ads so we knew what the company was telling the customer if we were asked to comment on something. I signed out the latest ad we were running nationally that almost looked like a PSA.

The ad was called, AmeriFuel-AmeriGas, Your Good Neighbor. The ad featured a lot of clips of my work in Florida in the clean-up sporting my company uniform and company van assisting in keeping people safe at time of crisis. It included the clip of me helping rescue Gail and her client as I freed some debris after the winch lifted a wall, and me helping her from the "tomb" she had been in. I froze the picture where she is pulled out.

"Recognize anyone?" I asked.

Iggy looked close at the screen.

"Ummm, that girl you're pulling out of the wall?"

"Yes, her!"

"For God's sake, that was Gail?"

"Iggy, that's why I'm pretty sure she's all on the level, she dressed that way in college, just not so dramatic." I explained.