Chapter 19

Sweet Sorrow

“Yes, Karen. Yes, darling. Come for me.”

“Oh, Jeff ... More.”

“More of this? ... Or more of this?”

“Yes ... Yesss ... Ahhh!”

“Good girl. Oh, darling.”

...

“Now, you.”

“Take me. So warm, so smooth.”

“So solid.”

...

“Oh, darling. Come for me. Come around me.”

“Yes? ... Yes?... “Yesss! Ahhh!”

“Karen! ... Fuck!”

...

“Mmm. You, Jeff.”

“I love you, too. You’re going to miss this in a month.”

“And you aren’t? Do you expect me to believe that a soapy hand in a shower will really feel as good?”

“Never claimed that at all. As a matter of fact, you have the smoothest, warmest, snuggest cunt in all the world.”

“And you’ve tried them all.”

“Only a tiny fraction. You think that’s an inadequate fraction, and I should test a much greater number?”

“No. Not now. Though you probably will after graduation.”

“Or...”

“Or what?”

“Or we could stick together.”

“Drop out of a couple of classes and take them over in summer school? I don’t think Dad would be happy, let alone future employers.”

“Or...”

“Or what?”

“Or we could get married.”

“Didn’t we get into this on the proposition that we didn’t love each other, and that, consequently, my heart could never be broken?”

“More or less. I think it was that you didn’t love me. You still don’t, but you love what I can do to your vulva. I still could if we were married, and I could do it every night without all this business of going on a date and finding a parking spot. And you could tell your parents that you’re on the Pill.”

“Mom already knows.”

“But she’d approve. And when any insensitive guy pushes you too hard, you can say, ‘I can’t; I’m married.’”

“Only one Insensitive guy ever pushed me too hard, and I don’t think that marrying him would solve that problem.”

“Well, it would preserve your lucky streak. You would give me the monopoly on pushing you too hard.”

“You’re crazy, you know.”

“But in a sweet way.”

“Well, I ... Mmmm. You’re a sweet kisser, at least.”

“You, too. Lie back.”

...

“Oh, Jeff ... Oh? Yessss!”

“Oh, darling! Mmmm.”

...

“That didn’t count, you know.”

“It sure looked like a climax from here, and I didn’t know you were counting them.”

“Saying yes then didn’t mean that I was accepting your marriage proposal.”

“Well, I might embarrass you to have my hand there in front of the justice of the peace.”

“A marriage in front of a JP? Why not a fancy church wedding?”

“Well, plan it out, and we can talk about it on our next date.”

“Jeff!”