Chapter 9

“It’s not like I’m some weak, helpless girl.” She put her coaster on top of her empty glass to show Willis she didn’t want another drink. I finished my beer, and we went out to her car.

When we got out of town, she said, “I didn’t answer your question well. I’m better off without a man trying to run my life. That was the problem between Joel and me. He was furious at first when I said I wouldn’t change my last name to his. I explained that the name I was born with was part of my identity, part of me, and I wasn’t going to give it up.

He got over it eventually, but he thought he should make all the decisions. He felt it was his place to dictate what I wore to work, how much money I should spend, what I should make for dinner, everything. We were doing okay thanks to my paycheck, but he actually resented the fact that it was as big as his. When I got my first raise, he made insinuations about what I did to earn it. I started getting visions of my parents and knew I had to leave.”

“I’m sorry.”

She patted my knee. “Don’t be. It sounds worse than it was. Joel and I were reasonably civil. No one got badly hurt, so it was a learning experience. Maybe we weren’t really adults emotionally when we got married, but I believe I am now. With this new job, I can pay off my student loans early, get a little apartment and a decent car, and even start saving for my future. I don’t need a man for any of that.”

“True.”

We drove a few miles in silence. “There’s one reason I wish I had a man in my life again.”

“What’s that?”

She turned off the main road into a new housing development under construction. None of the homes were completed yet, so the place was deserted. She backed the car into a space between two large piles of gravel at the end of an unfinished street and shut off the engine and lights. It was a clear night, and the moon was almost full, which meant we could see fairly well. “I’m not ready to go home yet.”

“Okay.”

“I asked if you had a girlfriend, because I wondered why you didn’t make a move on me. I see you looking sometimes. We were good together before.”

“You’re married.”

“Not really. When I went back to the apartment Joel and I shared to get the last of my stuff, another woman’s hand-washables were hanging in the bathroom. Marriage is a moral and emotional contract as well as a legal one. Like any contract, when one party breaks it, the agreement becomes null and void. Yes, technically, I’m still married. At this point it’s a piece of paper.

When another piece of paper comes in the mail, probably in a few days, the marriage will be over legally. It’s the last detail in the divorce. I don’t want to wait for the mailman. You don’t have a place of your own, and neither do I, so this will have to do.” She put her hand on my thigh. “Do you remember what we did in the back seat of this car the night we agreed to break up?”

“Yes.”

She opened her door, so I did too. We climbed into the back, locking ourselves inside. She started on my thigh again and moved to my crotch. Her fingers traced the outline of my hardness through my slacks. “You want this as much as I do, don’t you?” She took my glasses off and laid them with hers on the package shelf behind the seat. Her kisses were familiar but started hot and intensified from there. Her boobs still fit my hands perfectly.

I tugged her pullover sweater off over her head and finger-combed her waves from her face to kiss some more. Still only one clasp on the back of her bra – the lacy garment fell from her shoulders to reveal her compact nipples, so pale they would have been difficult to see in the dim light if they had been soft.

“I guess my tits are done growing. I always hoped they’d get bigger.”

“I like them the way they are.” To emphasize my point, I opened my mouth wide to suck her entire right breast.

She moaned, pushed her petite chest into me in response, and busied herself with my belt. I shoved my hand inside her slacks and panties and felt her soft hair. We helped each other with our clothes until we were nude, a pile of discarded garments on the front seat. She was already wet, slickness glistening in trimmed reddish blond pubes in the moonlight coming through the windows.