Chapter 3: A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

Boxing Day, 1983, Chicago, Illinois

It was just before 1:30pm when I arrived in Hyde Park. I parked in front of my house on Woodlawn Avenue, got out of the car, and stood for a moment in the frosty air, looking around at the barren trees and the ground covered with a light dusting of snow. So far, it had been a cold Winter and, if the long-range forecasts were to be believed, it threatened to be even colder in the coming months.

I pulled my two small bags from the trunk and carried them up the steps to the front porch. I fumbled with my keys, eventually removing my right glove so that I could unlock the door and get inside. It was only 8°F, but the wind from the southwest made it feel quite a bit colder. I shut the door behind me and took my bags up to my room. With about an hour before I had to leave for the airport, I put a load of laundry in the washing machine and then went into the study to check my messages.

A beep.

Another beep.

I heard the double-beep signifying the end of the messages and pressed the erase button. I made a note to return all three calls on Tuesday, then picked up the phone to call my sister and let her know that I'd arrived safely. After speaking to her, I called Bethany to let her know I was home, and then bundled up again to walk next door to get my mail and my newspapers.

Alice Nichols opened the door, greeting me with a smile, "Steve! You're back! Merry Christmas! And come on in, it's far too cold to be standing outside!"

"Merry Christmas, Alice!" I said, stepping into the toasty warm foyer.

Alice shut the door behind me. I took off my hat and gloves and waited while she called Penny to come down from her room. Penny came bounding down the wide staircase, followed by Pete, her Jack Russell Terrier. Pete was his usual hyperactive self, which, it dawned on me, kind of matched how his mistress was at times. Fortunately for both Pete and me, he wasn't yipping and yapping, just running around me in circles. That usually didn't get him banished to Penny's room the way the barking did.

"Hi, Steve! Merry Christmas!" Penny said, smiling as she came to a stop in front of me.

"Merry Christmas, Penny! I came to get my mail and newspapers."

She brought me the stack of six newspapers and about a dozen envelopes and handed it to me.

"Do you want some hot cocoa?" Alice asked.

I checked my watch and didn't really have enough time because I had to leave for the airport.

"I'll have to take a rain check on that," I said. "I have to pick up a friend at the airport, and I need to leave fairly soon."

"Awww! Can't you just stay for one cup?" Penny whined.

"Penelope Margaret!" Alice reprimanded her. "Stop whining!"

Penny sulked and looked daggers at her mom. The double whammy of being corrected AND called by her formal names, which she didn't like, had her instantly in a foul mood.

"Penny, I promise I'll have a cup of cocoa with you. It's going to be hectic for me the next few days because I have some friends visiting, but I promise I'll come by for a cup of hot cocoa. Or if you want, you can stay longer on Saturday and we can have one then."

"Saturday is fine, I guess," she said.

I saw Alice smirk and roll her eyes. Penny was precocious, but there were times when she still acted like a little girl. She was still only fourteen, and it was entirely possible that the 'little girl' side would keep her from making the request that Anala had predicted would come soon. I was still on the fence about what I would do when she made the request, a dilemma made more difficult by the two very different sides of Penny's personality.

"Good. I'll see you on Saturday at 8:00am as usual," I said with a big smile.

I went back to the house and quickly went through the mail. There were a couple of Christmas cards from Sweden, a few bills, and a letter from Tina Hoff, who was still the most regular correspondent of all my Swedish friends. I set the mail aside and skimmed the day's newspaper headlines, then looked at the weather forecast. It was going to be bitterly cold for the rest of the week, with snow forecast for Wednesday.

I moved the laundry from the washer to the dryer and started a second load in the washer, then made a grocery list. I hoped Jen was up to stopping at Jewel on the way home, but if not, I'd just order a pizza from Connie's. I needed quite a few things, as I'd done my best to use up all the perishables before I'd left for Ohio. I finished the list and stuffed it into my pocket, then bundled up again and went out to my car.

The car was already ice cold, despite having been toasty-warm during my drive from Milford. I let the engine warm up for two minutes and put the heat on full before putting the car in gear and heading along Woodlawn. I made my way to the Dan Ryan Expressway, then north on the John F. Kennedy Expressway to O'Hare. I parked, as I usually did, in the short-term lot and walked into the terminal. I checked the arrival board and made my way to the gate.

The airport was quite busy as it was the day after Christmas, and it didn't surprise me when the arrival board changed to show that Jennifer's flight would be about twenty minutes late. In the end, her flight was almost forty minutes late and even after the flight arrived; it sat on the ramp waiting for the plane that had just boarded to leave the gate. Twenty-five minutes after that, a clearly frustrated Jennifer Block walked from the Jetway into the gate.

"Hi, Jen!" I said happily.

"Hi, Steve! We sat there forever! Ugh!" she grumped.

I pulled her into my arms and hugged her, then took her carry-on from her and we walked to the baggage claim, where more frustration ensued when it took another thirty minutes for Jennifer's bag to arrive. We engaged only in small talk while we waited. Deeper conversations, including what had happened with Kara, had to wait until we were alone. Jennifer's bag in hand, we went out to the car. I decided to simply head home. We'd do the shopping in the morning.

"Was there a reason you didn't kiss me?" Jennifer asked.

I chuckled, "Not in particular. Was there a reason YOU didn't kiss ME?"

She laughed, "Uhm, good point. We're going to dance around being physical, I guess."

"So it would appear," I said.

"Typical Steve Adams," Jennifer replied. "I suppose you want to talk?"

"I do indeed," I said. "There's a lot to talk about."

"You know, in the past, we always talked better AFTER sex, not before."

I chuckled, "Very true. But is that the right thing to do? I think there is at least one thing we need to talk about before that happens."

"Something about the way you said that and your tone of voice concerns me," Jennifer said warily. "You may as well just start talking now."

"Can we just wait until we get to the house, please? I'd much rather be able to look in your eyes when we talk."

She sighed, "OK."

We were silent for the rest of the drive. When we arrived at the house, I made a point of taking Jennifer's things up to my room, because I didn't want to give her the idea that I was trying to avoid physical intimacy. I just wanted to make sure we talked about Kara before anything else happened. We went from my room to the kitchen where I made some Earl Grey tea, and we took the pot and two cups into the Indian room.

"So, what's the big deal?" she asked.

"I saw Kara on Sunday evening," I said.

"Sunday? On Christmas Eve? Why do I have a feeling this is going to be a very long week?"

"Relax, Jennifer," I soothed. "Yes, we spent the night together. No, we're not getting back together and there's no prospect of that I can see at this point, nor is it something I'd really consider any time soon, if ever. But she snapped out of her funk and she's ready to work through her issues with Doctor Mercer. The only thing she asked me is that I let her back into my life — not as my girlfriend, or even as a lover, just back into my life."

"Did you sleep with her?"

"Yes, both literally and figuratively. But it was clear beforehand that it was part of her healing process, just like her making love with me right after I confessed to her about Becky."

"I'm not sure I like this," Jennifer said.

"Jen, you gave me a list with exactly one name on it who was off limits. And that name wasn't Kara Blanchard. You have nothing to worry about."

"If that's true, why did you think you needed to tell me about it before you even kissed me?"

"Because we promised to be honest, Jen. Nothing hidden. Remember?"

"That's true as far as it goes, but your caution speaks volumes."

"In what way?"

"That you think that Kara might figure into your future. And that future would be a monogamous relationship with Kara. I don't think she can share. Kind of like Bethany."

I chuckled, "You're wrong on at least one account, if not both!"

"I think being 2,000 miles away has me at a disadvantage! And either of those girls agreeing to something long-term like I talked about would really surprise me, even though I suggested it for Bethany."

"Bethany told me last week that she'd accept the situation you proposed — that I marry her, have kids with Elyse like Elyse asked, and have you as a permanent, long-term lover. And it would be OK if you and I had kids."

"And Stephanie?" she asked.

"Bethany would tolerate that. And believe it or not, Kara asked me about Stephanie, having assumed that we'd started up again given I really only stopped at Kara's request. And she seemed OK with that."

"I'm too damn far away from you, Steve! And you don't tell me everything in our calls."

"Both of those things happened in the last four or five days! Because I knew we'd be together today, I decided it was better to tell you face to face. I would have thought you would agree with that!"

Jennifer sighed, "Oh, I do. It's just the damned distance is going to make things so much harder!"

"Is it? Honestly, I think it's better in the long-run, even if it's frustrating in the short-term."

"How could you say that? You don't want me around?" she asked sadly.

"That is NOT true, Jennifer! Not even close. What I'm saying is that we need to finish school, and it's too late for either of us to transfer. We both have to work on our challenges as well, though I think I have more work to do than you do. I have a lot of things to figure out, and if you were here, we'd be living together and I'm afraid I'd just let inertia decide for me. Is that what you want?"

"No, I want you to be sure of what you want," she said.

"And if it's marrying you and being monogamous for the rest of our lives?" I said, arching an eyebrow.

"Then you ask me to marry you and I'll have to decide on my answer. Isn't that what your friend Anala suggested?"

"Yes, it is. For me to tell you, or anyone, for that matter, what I wanted and let them decide if they could accept the situation or not. It does make a lot of sense. She wants to meet you, by the way."

"Oh really?" Jennifer smirked. "Knowing you, I suspect it's safe to assume she's hot!"

"She's as heterosexual as I am," I chuckled. "She's coming for dinner on Friday."

"Too bad! She doesn't know what she's missing! Speaking of which, Josie really wants to meet you. I assume it's OK if I bring her for the wedding as my date?"

"So long as you're OK with me bringing Bethany as mine! I'm assuming our agreement for the wedding isn't necessary at this point?"

"That depends, Mr. Adams. Are we going to fuck each other unconscious while I'm here or not?"

"We can certainly try!" I grinned.

"Josie is going to want to try you out. From her perspective, it could be perfect — me as her girlfriend and you as a convenient, safe fuck when she needs it."

"Same as you?" I laughed.

"Do things my way, Steve, and you'll be fucked senseless on a regular basis for the rest of your life!"

"That's a hard offer to pass up!" I chuckled. "By the way, I need to order a pizza at some point — I didn't have a chance to do any shopping. We'll need to do that tomorrow. I was going to do it today, but I thought you were too frustrated with your flight to do it on the way home from O'Hare."

"You thought right! Go order the pizza. We can use the sauna and see if we can work out my two-and-half-years of frustration!"

I went to my study and called Connie's to order a Chicago-style pepperoni pizza, then went back to the Indian room and asked Jen if she'd like to play some chess while we waited. She agreed, and we went to the great room where I lit the gas logs in the fireplace, then we sat down to play.

Jennifer hadn't played much in the previous few years, so we both played pretty badly. We each won two games before the pizza arrived. We chose to eat in the great room by the fire, so I grabbed a couple of TV tray tables and we dug into our pizza and washed it down with Dr Pepper. When we finished eating, we took our dishes to the kitchen, and then headed down to the basement.

I turned on the sauna and then stood and watched as Jennifer undressed, taking in the gorgeous body that I remembered so well. Her firm, full breasts were just as I remembered, as was the strawberry-blonde pubic hair. I smiled when she put her hands on her hips and cocked her head, obviously waiting for me to undress. I did, and she smiled and nodded approvingly.

I took her hand, and we went into the sauna and sat down on towels next to each other. A couple of minutes later, when the stones were warm enough, I ladled water onto them from the bucket. When I sat back down, Jennifer put her hand on mine. I turned my hand palm-up, and we interlaced our fingers.

"How do we avoid screwing this up, Steve?"

"I think it's what we've said — just being totally honest with each other. And that means on everything."

"Is it really that easy?"

"No. But it's where we have to start, Jen. We blew our relationship apart because neither of us was fully honest with each other. If we can do that, I think we'll be just fine."

"But you're not sure about the future yet, are you?"

"No. I'm not. I know what you and the other girls think. I'm not sure I agree with you, nor am I sure that it will work out the way you all think it will. Right now, for the next eighteen months, I'm focusing on school and making sure that I don't fuck things up with you."

"Now that I can get behind!" Jennifer said, sliding close to me.

I put my arm around her and she leaned against me. We sat quietly together for a while and then moved to the whirlpool. Jennifer sat between my legs and leaned back against me. I put my arms around her and we relaxed in the swirling water.

"You know, you still haven't kissed me," Jennifer said.

"I could say the same to you, Jen," I chuckled.

"When we get out of this tub, Mr. Adams, you are going to take me to your room and fuck me like it's the last time you're ever going to fuck. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, dear!" I sighed theatrically.

"Oh please!" Jennifer giggled. "Like it's torture?"

"I'll show you torture!" and I slipped my hand between her thighs, pressing quickly against her button, making her squeal and squirm!

"You just wait, Buster!"

We laughed and settled back down, making small talk, enjoying the feel of our bodies pressing together, calming ourselves for what was soon to come.

About twenty minutes later, I turned off the water jets, and I helped Jennifer out of the tub and led her up to my room. Water dripped from our bodies onto the hardwood floors as we made our way up the two sets of stairs. I pulled down the duvet and pulled Jennifer to me. We exchanged a soft kiss that quickly became intense. We laughed as we fell into my bed.

"What can I do for you, Jennifer?" I asked, amidst the laughter and kisses.

"Anything," she sighed. "Everything."

Chapter 4 »