Chapter 8

Jerry was the first one to wake up in the morning. He lay in bed thinking about Jill, who was lying beside him. The scent of her perfume lingered in the air. He continued to have the same thoughts he had about Jill before he fell asleep. She was a total package, and it would be stupid on his part to let her get away.

Jill stirred a little and opened her eyes to see Jerry looking at her.

“You look just as good in the morning as you looked last night,” he said.

She knew her makeup was smeared and her lipstick was gone, which had her respond, “Liar, but it is nice to hear you say that.”

They both could hear a few cabin doors closing as people left their cabins. Today was the day the cruise ship would enter and later turn around to exit the Panama Canal. Most passengers were excited to be doing this transit while he was somewhat laid back with this happening. Jill was excited and suggested they dress for breakfast and join the crowd.

As they dressed, Jerry thought he would go for the brass ring.

“You mentioned that you don’t care for your inside cabin. There is room here if you want to move into this cabin.”

It looked like Jill momentarily froze hearing Jerry making this offer. He could see she was weighing what he said. Her being that way did not last long. She stopped fastening her bra and put her arms around Jerry, giving him one long kiss. She said that was the best offer she had all morning and would be moving here once they were through the first set of the canal locks. Her agreeing to be his cabin mate brought a smile to his face.

He went with Jill to her cabin as she wanted to change her clothes and put on makeup. After leaving her cabin, they had breakfast and joined the passengers watching the ship transiting into the canal. Jerry will admit the ship crew and canal workers had this transit down to a science. It looked like there was only ten feet from the side of the cruise ship to the side of the locks. One of the assistant cruise directors was on the loudspeaker commenting on this transit, saying this was the original canal they were going through. He said they would later be exiting through the new canal that was considerably wider. Jill and Jerry watched what was happening from both the front and rear of the ship.

With the entry into the canal completed, they decided to have a cup of coffee. Jill continued to be excited about this transit into the canal.

They went to her cabin for her to pack and move to Jerry’s cabin.

Hearing her say she was packed up and ready to go, Jerry gave her a look.

Saying with a devilish look, “You know, I have never made love in an inside cabin.”

There was no immediate response from Jill because of what Jerry said. He did notice a slight smile as she reached for the tab on her shorts and pulled down a zipper. Seeing her doing this caused him to be not far behind her in his undressing. Making love with a sexy, attractive woman before noon was a first for Jerry.

The remaining days on this cruise were enjoyable for Jerry because of Jill.

They would have breakfast together, visit the shops located by the cruise ship when it docked, and spend the remainder of the day watching the entertainment or participating in the ship’s activities as trivia. The most enjoyable activity they engaged in was the nighttime activities in the cabin. Jill enjoyed making love, and that went double for Jerry.

Both of them expressed their disappointment when the cruise came to an end. At Jerry’s request, they exchanged contact information, and he promised to stay in touch. Jill said she was going to the airport for a flight back to Memphis. Jerry volunteered to drive her to Memphis since it was not far out of the way for him to do that on his drive home.

Jill thanked him for the offer but said she needed to fly back as she was due in court on Monday and needed to prepare.

After dropping Jill off at the airport, Jerry drove to Indiana. Many thoughts were running through his mind as he was doing this drive. One of those thoughts pertained to women in general. He thought in their maturing process, they were slow to learn of the enjoyment of having sex. That probably was in part because of their religious upbringing. Throw in their parents telling them to keep their legs closed, and the problem of an unwanted pregnancy would also be a factor in their attitude to having sex. That changed once they experienced the enjoyment of making love and they wanted to have their share. The various methods of birth control, for the most part, had put an end to the unwanted pregnancy possibility. That enabled women to have the full and frequent enjoyment of making love.

Another thought he had was that from an early age, females liked to dance. That desire or want, whatever you wanted to call it, continued throughout their life. He had tapped into that desire and could honestly say he benefited from it with his learning to dance.

Once back home, he went through his held mail and paid some overdue bills. He met with Dee and showed her his diary of what he did in establishing retail sales locations in Florida. She said a large portion of his trip expense, excluding the cruise, could be written off on his taxes. Her saying this gave him the idea of making more sales trips as an inexpensive way of seeing this great country.

Over the next two months, there were no significant changes in Jerry’s life. The shoe-selling business was doing well, but the sales of Bifty Shoes were not having the rapid rise in sales they initially had. That was shown by their being only small increases in his compensation. He was not complaining since he was making a damn good buck by sitting on his ass while his salespeople were doing the selling.

He received an email that he likened to the five in the morning phone call, which was always bad news. Jerry had been exchanging emails with Kari, the cruise ship doctor, every month. The email he received from her said she was ending her plans of seeing the world by working on a cruise ship. She was returning to her hometown to take over her father’s medical practice. Her father had a health problem that required her to do this. She had previously told Jerry she would join her father’s medical practice after “she had seen the world.” Her father’s health problem caused her to do it sooner than she had anticipated.