Chapter 6

Irma led Nancy to the last seat in the bus. She stepped aside to allow Nancy to take the window seat. It was eleven in the morning and it was cold for Seattle. Of course this was Thanksgiving week, and the bus quickly filled up from the front to the back. The window was chilled so she put her pillow to it to cushion the cold.

"It's nice to have a person to talk to while traveling," Irma smiled.

"Yes it is, but I do have to take a nap now and then. I don't want to insult you any but there are time I can't keep my eyes open."

"Well when you nap, I'll nap too," Irma beamed.

"It's a deal," Nancy replied.

Lowering her voice, Irma asked," Did the breakups of your affairs hurt you?"

"Yes, all three," she said.

"Three! I thought you said you only had two."

"Let me explain the last one..."

Phil met Nancy after work that day. They walked down the block and across the street to the eatery across from the lesbian bar where she had spent some nights just sitting there, dancing when offered, but never going home with anyone. Losing Erin was still in her mind and her body ached for her.

"Okay, Phil. Wassup?" she asked with a smile.

"I might as well not beat around the bush, I just learned yesterday that I have in operable cancer."

"OH NO!" her voice could be heard throughout the restaurant. "How long do you have? What kind?"

"It's in my pancreas Six months to a year. I wanted to ask you something very important. You'll probably not go for it but I have to ask anyway."

"What is it?"

"I've never been married, not much of a love life... in fact none. Funny now that I'm facing my own demise that I've finally worked up the courage to ask you out. But the main reason is... can you move in with me? Take care of me until I die? I have no one that I can think of except for you."

"Oh Phil," tears streaked down Nancy's cheeks. "It isn't fair!"

"No one ever said that life is fair. I just need a companion and someone I can trust to give me pain shots when I need them. Shop for little items like milk, eggs, and bread. I have an extra room you can stay in. It's not much but I can pay you for your time."

"Do you own a house or something... my reasoning is this. You can move in with me. You won't have to pay anything but half the rent. I have to work a whole week to get enough to pay the landlord. It would be very convenient for me. I can take care of you, go to work, and then come home to take care of you."

"I have money, not a whole lot but I can pay your rent, utilities, and other expenses. You won't have to work."

"What happens if you die?" she put her hand on the back of his. She didn't notice what she did but Phil felt a wonderful sensation slowly streak from her touch up to his shoulder.

"It isn't if, but when. Nancy, I've never been with a girl in my life. All of it has been lonely for me. Since I started work at Hall's Nuts and Bolts until now. I was always too afraid to ask women out for dates. I never got up the nerve. So it's been a solitary existence for me. You are the closest I have been to a woman in my entire life."

"Can you give me a day to think about it?"

"I don't think I'm going to die tomorrow," he gave her a weak smile.

Nancy quit Hooters to take care of Phil Slyers. He moved into her flat. He had an auction house sell off all his things except his baseball card collection. He showed her his Mickey Mantle rookie card telling her that it was worth over sixty thousand dollars. She was amazed just looking at it in a thick plastic embossed case closed shut tight with four of Phillip's screws he got from work. Plus others that were valuable.

Phil settled in nicely. Except for meals, giving him pain shots, and going to doctor's appointments, they sat around and read. He liked history so all his books were nonfiction. Nancy started getting into romance novels.

At nine each night, they both retired to their individual rooms. After a month Nancy started to think how better she could serve him. It was two weeks later that she got up in the middle of the night, and slipped in next to him. She was naked. He was sleeping deeply due to the medicine so she cuddled up behind him and put an arm about his waist.

When she awoke, it was Phil who had an arm over her. She felt his hard penis poking against her asscheek. It felt both strange and pleasureable.

Nancy lay there perfectly still. By his breathing he was still asleep. She lifted his arm and slid out of bed walking to her room. Moments later Phil awoke and felt the warm spot just vacated. He had dreamed she was in the bed with him. He sniffed the spot and smelled a faint odor of her perfume.

Phil didn't know what to make of it. He felt happy that she shared the bed with him but he was sound asleep at the time so he didn't have a chance to enjoy his bedmate.

"Good morning," Nancy smiled, bringing in a glass of orange juice. She wore a see through gauze smock. He could see her nipples and a trace of hair at her crotch. "Sleep well?"

"Very well. Best in a long time," he blushed. "I dreamed of you sleeping with me."

"Would you like me to?"

Phil was so flustered he couldn't answer. Nancy smiled and left his room heading for the bathroom. He sat up in the bed contemplating what she had just asked. Then he heard the shower running. He drank his juice then got up feeling the pain of his cancer. He took a pain pill, walked to the kitchen and took the pain killer with a glass of water. Grabbing his robe, he turned on the television with the remote to watch the news. Not that it mattered to him any longer. After a while he heard the shower shut off.