Chapter 1: Mick Meets Keri For A Walk

It was Presidents Day weekend. I usually sleep in on Sunday mornings when I don’t have a competition and I was looking forward to sleeping in on Sunday and Monday because of the holiday. There is just something magical in getting to sleep until you wake up. No screaming alarms, no pesky obligations, no plans.

However, on this Sunday, Keri wanted to go for a walk. She called Saturday afternoon, just after I got home from work, and said that she really needed to walk and talk and asked if I was up for a walk on Sunday AM.

“I really need to get up and move and I think I am going to need someone to talk to!”

“Well, ok. What time did you have in mind?” I was hoping for a noon time walk.

“Like you always say, “get it in, get it done, and get it over so the rest of the day is free”, right?”

Sometimes I hate myself!

“Right. So when and where do we meet?”

“I’ll make it easy on you. Let’s meet at the 13th Street entrance to the Greenbelt at 7:00 AM.”

“I’ll be there. Um, are you ok?”

“Yeah, I just need to sort some things out. See you in the morning.”

I know what you are thinking. Why would I just agree? What did I owe Keri that I could not ask for a later time or just say no? Did she have great oral technique? No, to all of them.

Now don’t get me wrong, Keri is a good looking woman. She is as fit as a woman her age can be. She is just a few years younger than I am, with long, thick, black hair. She worked for a local investment company as an account exec; a very, very successful account exec, it seemed. Her figure is slightly full in the hips; the first time we went for a walk, I stopped and pretended to tie my shoe as she walked ahead and let me tell you that her ass moves really well.

We had begun to walk together once a week and then two and now we usually walked on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and on Sundays when I was in town. We always walked in the early morning so we could get the day underway. Get it in and get it done, right? We would walk for an hour or an hour and a half, then Keri would get in her black Lexus and drive home and I would walk the three blocks to my apartment, shower, have breakfast and start my work day.

My interest in her was strictly platonic. She and I shared a love of blues music and met at a jam session. Keri had never been married, as far as I could tell and I’ve been married twice. The first one I messed up being a workaholic and my wife fell out of love with me. The second should have never happened. I did not want to get into a relationship; I did not want to deal with the pain of a breakup. I was convinced that love was not an option for me.

I had not had sex in over seven years and had come to the conclusion that at this stage of my life I was never going to have sex again. However, it was nice, at my age, to be seen, even if only in my own mind, in the company of a beautiful woman. Besides she was a hell of a piano player. When we got to jam together it was always fun.

The alarm went off at 6:15 AM. Way too soon considering I had just set it at 3:00 AM! I was in the middle of a really cool dream having to do with flying around a city and enjoying the weather. I looked out of the window of my 3rd floor apartment to check for rain or snow or wind or blizzard or the apocalypse or anything else that would allow me to stay in bed.

Nope!

The early spring sky was bright black and full of stars. The American flag hanging across the parking lot was hanging straight down. It was a beautiful cool morning in the valley. I went to the kitchen and got a pint glass of water and downed it. I had been drinking rum last night and really felt dehydrated. I finished off one more glass as I put a cup of oatmeal in a bowl with some water and honey. I popped it in the microwave and nuked it while I poured and finished a glass of cranberry juice.

Back in the bedroom I looked at the unmade bed and decided to leave it unmade and hit it again when I got home. I walked into the closet and grabbed a long sleeved t-shirt and some fleece socks. Scratching my balls, I noticed that my dick was slightly chubby. Gave it a few whacks as it jumped to life. I pulled some underwear up over the semi-erection and walked out of the closet.

Out in the main room, I sat down in my computer chair and pulled on my fleece socks. Ahhh, feet warm, feels good. In the kitchen I grabbed the now rested and cooling oatmeal. My dick was now back to normal which made sitting at the table easier.

After finishing the oatmeal, I put on my pants and shoes, donned a pull-over fleece and a wool hat and headed out the door. I stopped for a second to put the headphones in my phone and set the buds in my ears and as the tunes kicked in I walked down the three flights of stairs to street level and kept step to “Come and Get Your Love” as I turned left to head for the Greenbelt.

The air had that great fresh chill to it that early spring mornings in the valley are known for. The sidewalk took me past the Post Office and towards the park entrance. Rounding the corner, there was the black Lexus and the tall, black haired, woman that had called me the night before.

“Morning Mick.” Keri sounded less than enthusiastic and she did not look “right”. She was not wearing her usual tight yoga pants and instead of a low cut top she was wearing a hoodie with the zipper pulled up to her neck. Something was wrong.

“Morning. You ok?” My hopes for a short walk and a long sleep back in bed were fading as concern for my friend rose.

“After I called you last night, I told Ryan that he needed to be gone.”

“What?! Who is Ryan?” She had never spoken of other guys or relationships before; we always talked about music or our work.

“Oh. I’m sorry. This is so embarrassing. He is the guy that has been living with me for the past 10 months.”

She went on to explain that he had gone from a hard working professional to a leech. For the past few months she suspected that he was sleeping with another woman; someone his own age, but Friday night she came home early and found him banging his girlfriend in her bed; in her own home. He hadn’t seen her so she left and got drunk.

After a few shots of courage, she had called his cell phone and told him that she had been home and seen him and that she was tired of him. I told him to get out before I got home and to have all his stuff out by noon today.

“When I got home her was gone and I called you and asked to go for a walk. I figured that if things went badly with him, and I didn’t show up this morning, that you would call me or look for me or check on me.” She looked at me with a weary expression and let out a sigh. “You were my emergency plan.”

“Do you still want to walk?” I was asking out of concern for her now. My selfish needs had just gone out the window.

“I don’t know. I’m pretty hung over.”

She seemed very worried, almost scared, and looked like she needed a walk and a friend.

“Well I do! I was drinking a lot last night, rum! And I need to walk it off. Let’s start easy and see what happens. East or West?”

Keri smiled and nodded. Her expression changed and she seemed to have found a calmer place.

“West.”

“West it is. Let’s walk to the bridge and when we get there we can figure the next step.”

We turned left and headed towards the bridge that crossed the river to the university. It was a quiet and beautiful morning. The sun was not going to come up until close to 7:45 so we walked in silence on the path lit only by the solar powered pathway lights that were beginning to fade as their batteries ran down.

Keri’s hoodie and baggy sweat pants were a far cry from her usual yoga tights. I loved it when she wore the tights. She was 60 yrs old and had the ass and thighs of an athlete. She had a little swish and sway to her stride that made her ass dance when she walked. But her ass was not her best feature and if she had not been wearing the hoodie, I would have been happy to walk backwards in front of her.

One night at a music jam, she was playing piano when I was singing. She was wearing a low cut top and every time she hit the keys her tits would jiggle and shake. I almost popped a hard-on right on stage. Her breasts were not the firm hard breasts of a young girl and they were not filled with silicone. They were the soft natural tits of a 60 year old woman that had the time and money to take care of herself.

We walked in silence, but my mind was screaming. Who was this Ryan guy? Was Keri going to be safe? What could I do, after all shouldn’t a friend do things to help? After a few hundred yards I had to say something.

“Um, if I can ask, what is the next step for you?”

Her expression returned to one of worry and concern.

“Well, when we get done walking, I am going to go home and make sure that he has moved out. I told him he had until noon. Then I am going to call my cleaning staff and have the place fumigated. Then I am going to sit down and have a glass of wine and a nice long cry.”

I placed my hand between her shoulder blades, “Keri, can I do anything to help? I mean I don’t know what you need right now or what a slob like me could do. But if you need me, call me.”

She smiled and stopped walking. Her eyes filled with tears and she held out her arms for a hug. We had never hugged in all the time we had known each other. We were friends, but I think that the idea of squeezing those wonderful breasts against my chest intimidated me.

She released me from the embrace and stood there looking into my eyes through her tears until I broke the silence.

“Look, I gotta ask. I have been wondering this for a long time. I know from the way that you dress and the car you drive that you make a lot more money that I do. I never really thought about it because you never acted like a “rich” person, but when you say things like “my cleaning staff” I begin to wonder.”

She smiled and dropped her gaze to the ground for a bit before turning and walking again. After a few yards, she opened up.

“Mick, one of the things that I like about you is that you are just you. You never carry the world with you when you walk. You talk about your work with a passion and I can tell that you wake up every day happy to be who you are and doing what you do. I did my job but not with your kind of passion and I’ve enjoyed the products of my efforts. But since we have been talking I figured out that the money does not make it better.”

“These walks with you have been just what I needed to remind me that I do what I do because I love what I do; just like you, and I think my clients have begun to notice. I hope when all of the dust settles that you and I can keep doing these walks.”

“Keri, I don’t see any reason to stop unless you want to. I mean, I really enjoy the time away from the pressures of my team and it always brightens my day to see you.”

We continued on, at a pretty good clip and arrived at the bridge to the university. We decided to cross over to the campus side and head back East along the other side of the Greenbelt. As we approached the 13th Street bridge that would return us to our starting point, the sun began to come up.

The sky was a nice clear blue and the air was still clean and crisp. As we walked and warmed up, our tempo increased and our breath quickened. Soon our breathing made us look like some old railroad engines. We crossed the park bridge to our original side and walked the remaining few hundred yards to Keri’s car in silence.

“I needed that, thanks.” Keri said, her warm breath still steaming in the cool air.

“No problem. I gotta admit that I was not eager to walk this morning, but I needed to do it as well. I think I sweated off at least five of those eight rum drinks I had last night. I think I am going to head home, snag a shower and crawl back into bed for a few more hours. Are you going to be ok? Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m ok. I am going to stop for breakfast on the way home and then stall a little and hopefully when I get home he will be gone.”

She hit the button on her remote key fob and I opened the driver side door. Another hug.

“Thanks, Mick.”

She got into the Lexus and I closed her door. Looking at me, she smiled, and drove off. I stood there for a moment and fantasized that a guy who made about $35K a year could get together with a woman who made what, hundreds of thousands?

A chill ran through me, that I ignored, and I just watched her Lexus turn the corner. When the second chill ran through me, I started walking home. Keri was my friend. I don’t know if I was hers, but she was mine and I was concerned. The walk home was much slower and thought filled. I ignored the tempo of the music in my ears as I walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor and walked to the end of the building.

My one bedroom apartment was the last one on the floor. The entrances were all on the outside of the building as opposed to being in a hallway. I put the key in the door, let myself in and closed the door behind me. I never locked the door when I was home. No one was gonna come all the way down the length of the apartment to bother little old me.

I pulled the fleece over my head. The sleeves were sweat soaked at the wrist and neck. I stripped off my jeans and removed the sweaty t-shirt, socks and underwear. I put all straight in the washing machine, who really needs a clothes hamper, right?

I pulled on the t-shirt I had slept in last night. I seldom wear clothes around the house outside of winter and in the winter I usually just wear a t-shirt. I think that I might be a nudist at heart. There was something relaxing about having my cock and balls exposed to the cool air. In the evening I like to sit on the patio with a cup of tea and feel the cool winter air on my balls. Yup, I must be a closet nudist.

Pushing a few buttons started the wash cycle and I walked out to my desk to check emails. While the computer booted up, I nuked a cup of green tea in the microwave. When the computer had booted up, I opened the music file and played some slow blues. I began reading emails from the week and seeing which ones needed more in depth attention.

The washing cycle was drowned out by the music and after about 7 or 8 songs I paused the music to listen for the wash cycle, there was the sound of water running, the washer was apparently filling again. I didn’t think that I had hit the heavy wash cycle. My brain processed the sounds but nothing made sense.

It almost sounded like the shower was running or, what? Had a water hose to the washer broken? I jumped out of the computer chair and headed for the hallway to the bathroom/laundry room, and after rounding the corner, came to a screaming halt.