Chapter 6

During the flight back to Northern Illinois, Dan Casey continued his thoughts about the wonderful women he had become involved with since he had the misfortune to become a widower. He knew that he was very fortunate to have met these women. He also knew that things were going so well that they just couldn’t get any better and he was right, they didn’t. Not only did it not get any better, but some of these relationships also made an unexpected turn in the wrong direction.

The first speed bump in his love life came in an e-mail he received from Dee saying that her church had second thoughts about organizing outings to take a group of their parishioners to a casino for them to gamble. In their opinion, it wasn’t a Christian thing to do so they canceled any further bus trips. Dee said that she was disappointed that she couldn’t meet Dan at the casino in the Dells any longer. She said that she would be going down south after the first of the year and would see Dan then.

This was troubling to Dan since his anticipated summer trip to the Wisconsin Dells wouldn’t happen as there was no reason to go there. Dee was an exciting woman to be with for three and a half hours of uninhibited sexual activity. He hoped this void in his love life would be filled by Dana and Kerrie while he was back north.

Dan was seeing Dana for dinner every two weeks. After dinner, the evening would end at Dan’s townhome where Dana would spend the night. She was not shy when they made love and she had started getting quite vocal in expressing herself when they went about it. Dan enjoyed hearing her encouraging him and describing what he was doing to her. She became very descriptive in the words she used when the ‘2-fer came into play. The language she used was not what you would expect a prim and proper high school Principal to use and it excited Dan when she talked that way. Her kneeling on his bed in presenting her exposed backside to him was not an uncommon occurrence.

The only thing about Dana that bothered Dan a little was that she was unavailable every other weekend. She said it was either a family thing that she needed to attend or that she had been invited out by her lady friends, or that something else was going on which prevented Dan from seeing her. He had started to wonder if something else was going on because of her excuses. That being said, Dana was a great love partner when she was available.

Kerrie had layovers at O’Hare every third Tuesday which was a bright spot in Dan’s life. It struck him that there was something highly erotic about picking an attractive flight attendant up at the airport who you knew you would be taking to bed and making love to. As he had thought before, it made him feel young to be doing that since it was a fantasy he thought most men had about making love with a beautiful flight attendant.

He didn’t forget about Molly who was back in Columbus and exchanged e-mails with her. Dan didn’t ask her about how her open marriage with her husband was going because he thought it wasn’t his place to do that by e-mail. He was unable to judge how things were going in her marriage by what she said in her e-mails.

The summer months flew by. Dan thought that the years and months seemed to be going by faster the older he became. That was an impression he had when he would note the date on a calendar.

It was now late September and he would be flying down to Tampa and then over to St Pete Beach to start his fall-winter hiatus next weekend.

Kerrie had flown into O’Hare the Tuesday before Dan was leaving. She seemed more aggressive when they made love than she ever had been in the past which was fine with him. They had just finished making love for the second time that night with the assistance of the ‘2-fer.’ Both of them were coming down from their highs letting their heartbeats return to normal. Cuddling in Dan’s arms Kerrie was telling Dan that he knew how to push all her right buttons when they made love and she was going to miss that.

“This is the last time we will be together.”

“Yes, I know since I’m heading south and you can’t get layovers in Tampa.”

“That’s not what I mean. What I’m trying to say to you is that Ralph has finally realized that our marriage is on shaky ground. He didn’t see that it was for a long time but he has finally opened his eyes. He wants to be a better husband and wants to try counseling to see if it will help our marriage. He also went to a doctor and asked for a prescription to try and correct his ED problem. I owe it to him to see if we can save our marriage. It would be hypocritical of me to be going to bed with you and going to counseling with Ralph at the same time. Can you understand what I’m saying?”

Dan was quiet for a while absorbing what Kerrie had just said and he said, “Yes I do and that isn’t news that I wanted to hear from a selfish point of view. Saying that I enjoy being with you is a gross understatement. I honestly do hope that the counseling works out for Ralph and you. You are a wonderful lady and you deserve to be happy. You must have had some happiness and love for Ralph or you wouldn’t have married him in the first place. I hope you can find that happiness with him again. I would be less that than honest if I didn’t say that I will miss you and remember you.”

“I’m going to miss you as well as you are such a nice guy. I do want my marriage to work but you will be the first to know if it doesn’t.”

There was some kissing and cuddling before they fell asleep, and each was lost in their thoughts about the ending of this relationship. They both sensed some sadness in the other because of it.

Both Kerrie and Dan had tears in their eyes as they said their goodbyes at the airport the next morning. He was at a loss for words about how he felt about ending his affair with Kerrie. The picture of her walking into the terminal in her flight uniform pulling her small suitcase was forever frozen in his mind.

The following days and the flight down to Florida were a little bit of a bummer for Dan because he was still thinking of the nice times he had with Kerrie. She was a classy lady he would miss but he sincerely hoped that she would find the happiness she deserved in her marriage.

Back in Florida, he did some household chores and food shopping. He checked his e-mail when he had time and decided to send Molly a note since she could be in Florida now.

The e-mail said, “I’m now back in St. Pete and wondering if you’re here as well? If you are how are you doing and what’s new with you? Are you available for me to see you tonight?”

He received a response from Molly about two hours later that said, “Yes, I’m in Florida and will tell you what’s new when I see you tonight. I’ll bring some carryout over to your place.”

Her response was interesting thought Dan and he was looking forward to her visit.

Dan answered the door when he heard the chimes. Molly was standing there, carrying a bag in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other. She had a smile on her face and seemed happy to be here. She was wearing those tight white slacks and black silk blouse she had worn before that she looked so good in. He also noticed that she had let her hair grow longer and was wearing it up in a ponytail which gave her a different look.

She stopped to give him a short kiss as she entered his condo and continued into the kitchen to put the food on the counter.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes Molly. I like the long hair and it looks good on you. So tell me, what else is new with you?”

“I’m a free woman.”

“What do you mean?”

Molly told Dan to take a seat and give her a minute. She opened the food cartons and secured some plates and utensils before she sat down.

She said, “I gave a lot of thought to what my husband said about him wanting an open marriage. The only good thing I could see that came from it at the time was that it allowed me to be with you, which I can honestly say was very enjoyable. I talked with my husband when I went back to Columbus. I told him that his idea of an open marriage negated the whole purpose of marriage and was something that I didn’t think was right. There was no discussing this with him because he said that was what he wanted to do and as far as he was concerned, that’s what he was doing. I then told him that I wanted a divorce if that was his attitude. My saying the ‘D’ word didn’t seem to shock him and it seemed to me that was what he wanted to hear from me all along. He immediately said it should be a no-fault divorce and that we should file the papers right away.”

“His quick response to agreeing to the divorce just infuriated me. I didn’t know him anymore. The papers have been filed and the divorce should become final shortly. Splitting our assets with me getting and continuing to get a fair share of the business wasn’t a problem. He knew better than to try and screw me in splitting the assets, a pissed-off CPA who specializes in evaluating the value of businesses. What’s done is done and twenty-four years of marriage have gone down the drain. I can only guess he has some chickie on the side that he fancies more than me.”

Dan could see that Molly was bothered because of the divorce and also that her husband thought that some woman who was probably younger, was more appealing or attractive than Molly. He put his fork down even though his plate was still half full, stood up, and extended his hand to Molly. She saw him do this and took his hand as she stood.

Dan picked her up and started carrying her to the bedroom saying, “Your soon-to-be ex-husband is either blind, stupid, or both, and he doesn’t know when he has a good thing. He may not know it but I see an intelligent, beautiful, desirable, sexy lady who I have in my arms.”

There were tears in Molly’s eyes as she hugged him and pressed her head against Dan’s head saying, “You always seem to know the right thing to say. I missed you when you were up north and thought about you a lot.”

Dan made love to Molly trying to make it last as long as he could. He tried to be very caring and tender with her as they made love. He was quietly telling her how beautiful she was which was a little unusual for him since he normally didn’t say anything when he was making love. Molly just clung to him and he could feel the tears on her face when he kissed her.

They cuddled in bed afterward and Molly said, “You should know that I never cheated on him until he said that he wanted an open marriage.”

“I believe you and thought that you were a lady who never would. You should know that I never cheated on Jenny while I was married to her either. Now, I’m not saying that I didn’t appreciate looking at and having some thoughts about an attractive woman that I would see but I never cheated.”