Chapter 7

The next morning found Gwen preparing breakfast as David entered the kitchen whistling a tune.

“My, you sound chipper this morning,” she opined.

“And why shouldn’t I? I got to kiss the most beautiful woman in the world yesterday.”

“Uh, David, about that. We have to talk.”

“We certainly do,” he replied grabbing a couple of strips of bacon, “but right now I have to get to work.”

“But I thought Sunday was your day off.”

“It is, normally, but we’ve got a couple of guys out with the flu and Mr. Singleton asked if I could fill in. I couldn’t really say no.”

“Of course not. He’s been very good to you.”

“Yeah, he’s a great guy. He says I’ve been doing such a good job that as soon as there’s a vacancy he’s going to make me a manager. A little more money but definitely a step in the right direction.”

“I’m so happy for you. Maybe that photo studio is not out of the question after all.”

“Oh, that’s a long way off yet. I may have to own the store before I can afford that,” he laughed gulping a glass of orange juice and preparing to leave.

“David, we really do need to talk. Yesterday was...”

“Yesterday was the happiest day of my life,” he said clutching her to him.

“David, I...”

But just as with yesterday before she could say another word his lips were on hers and this time even more passionate than the day before.

Gwen felt her blood pressure rise, her breathing quicken and her nipples grow stiff. This wasn’t right. This just couldn’t be. Yet no one, not even Howard when they were younger, had ever aroused in her such intense feelings of not only love, but passion as well. She simply could not help herself. She surrendered her lips to him for a long moment before it was David who finally broke away with a huge smile.

“See you later!” he yelled back over his shoulder as he made his way out the front door.

Gwen was stunned. What had just happened? One moment she was about to tell her son that this infatuation must end, and the next she was not only accepting his kiss but returning it as well.

Since she would be leaving for her shift at the club before David returned she would not have to face him again tonight but it was obvious the situation was getting out of hand and she wondered if she had the strength to bring it under control.

Gwen busied herself with housework but her mind was abuzz with the feel of David’s hugs and those powerful and oh-so-sweet kisses. She found herself gravitating to the bedroom where unable to put such thoughts from her mind she was soon naked and writhing in ecstasy as her fingers worked their magic on her dripping wet nest.

The following week Gwen kept a wide berth from David, the only way she knew to keep her and his feelings from erupting. They spoke and joked and David tried twice to embrace her, but Gwen evaded him.

David informed her his photography class would be taking a field trip that weekend returning on Sunday. He mentioned that he would decline and stay as Mother’s Day was coming up Sunday and he wanted to spend some time with her.

“No, sweetheart, I want you to go. Besides you’ll be back Sunday afternoon. We can spend some time together then.”

Reluctantly he agreed and so Friday morning she bid him adieu, but at the door he turned and before she could react again kissed her.

“David, we HAVE to talk!” she said breathlessly.

“Yes we do!” he said smiling and was gone.

It was that afternoon when she was working herself into another naked adventure in masturbation that the phone rang breaking the mood and so it was with some resentment that she answered.

“Gwen, it’s Howard. I’m sorry to call like this but I need to see you.”

“About what?

“About the divorce. I ... I’d like to take you to dinner.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Had he come to his senses? Was he having second thoughts? Did he want to reconcile?”

“Of course, Howard. When?”

“Why don’t I pick you up about seven?”

“Seven it is. I’ll see you then.”

She called the club and got the weekend off. If they were going to work things out they would need to talk over a lot of things. She wondered how David would react to the news. But first things first.

Howard picked her up promptly at seven and they were soon finishing a meal at one of the nicer restaurants in town.

“So what did you want to talk about?” she asked coyly. She was wearing the dress that was his favorite and had styled her hair the way she knew he like it. She was angry with him, of course, but the truth was she was quite willing to forgive him if he would just return, put their family back together again.

“It’s about the divorce.”

“Yes?” she said waiting for the apology and the pleading for forgiveness.

“Gwen ... I ... I need you to sign the divorce papers now,” he said placing them on the table in front of them. Our lawyers have worked things out and the truth is Sherry and I want to get married right away. Obviously we can’t until the divorce is final. We’re moving to Colorado.”

A sledgehammer could have done no more damage to her than the news she had just received. Her world had come crashing down in an instant and Gwen’s heart sank. Tears misted her eyes.

“You ... you asked me here to ... to get me to sign the divorce papers so you can marry Sherry?”

“ ... Yes. I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just want to be with Sherry. It’s not that I didn’t love you, Gwen. It’s just that Sherry is so much more...”

“More woman for you,” Gwen finished it for him, the tears now flowing freely.

“Let’s don’t make a scene. It’s over Gwen. Please just sign the papers so we can both get on with our lives.”

“There was anger, but more than the anger was pain, the realization that she had been right all along. She wasn’t enough woman for him ... or any man. How could she have thought she could make any man happy?

Always possessing low self esteem from her days in school when she was ignored if not ostracized had long since cost her any real sense of self worth.

Acknowledgement of her worthlessness brought numbness. She was hardly aware of sighing the papers and Howard paying the bill and leaving.

As if on autopilot, she took a cab home and it was then that the tears commenced in earnest. If it weren’t for David, Gwen Clayton might well have considered ending it all. Instead she drank herself into stuporous oblivion and passed out on the couch.

The following day brought even more devastating news. She received a call from the bank indicating that now that the house was in her name her mortgage payment, now three months overdue, was to be paid immediately. Apparently Howard had secretly taken out a mortgage, used the money to buy extravagant gifts for Sherry and walked away from responsibility having told Gwen he was “giving” her the house and car. With the car needing work, the water heater in need of replacement and now an unexpected mortgage payment Gwen was totally distraught. Add to that she wanted so very badly to provide the photo equipment David needed for his studio and it was simply overwhelming.

Dressed only in a heavy terry robe, in her drunken stupor she glanced at a magazine on the coffee table advertising Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day,” she thought. I’m no wife and now I’ll never be able to get David’s photo studio. A failure as a wife and a failure as a mother as well.

Another drink and she fell onto the couch in a stuporous fog.

David had urged an early return from the trip so as to have time to stop at aa florist and pick up the flowers he had ordered earlier. He bounded up the walk anxious to see this woman with whom he wanted to make plans.

“Hey, is there a good looking woman in the house?” he yelled cheerfully.

Gwen was totally surprised by his early arrival.

“David! I ... I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

One look at the eyes with dark circles and the disheveled hair told him plenty.

“Mom! What’s wrong?”

She did not want to upset him. “I ... nothing, Honey, nothing.”

But he would have none of it and after a couple of rounds of denials she finally broke down and told him everything, the meeting with Howard, the call from the bank, the household repairs. She couldn’t bring herself to admit to her son that she couldn’t get him the photo studio he so wanted.

“Mom, we’ll get through this ... together.”

“I ... I must look a mess. Let me go run a brush through my hair,” she said stumbling a bit through the alcoholic fog.

“You look beautiful,” he called from the living room. “You always do.”

“You’re so sweet, Honey,” she called back trying to make herself as presentable as possible.

“You’re going to be a lot better off without him,” said David as she reentered the room.

“I ... Oh David, I guess I’ve never been much of a wife ... or mother.”

His mouth dropped open. “How can you say that. You were the best wife a man could have and the most loving mother of all!”

“You’re sweet to say so, but I can’t seem to make a man happy.”

“He’s supposed to make you happy too, you know. When’s the last time Dad made you laugh ... really laugh?”

“I ... can’t remember. I guess I don’t laugh much anymore.”

“What makes you happy, Mom?”

“You make me very happy, David.”

“I mean what did you used to do that you really liked to do?”

Thinking though the fog was a chore but her face suddenly lightened and there was a slight smile. “Dancing. Your father used to take me dancing when we were first married. Slow dancing. Romantic dancing. I so enjoyed that.”

David went to the stereo, put on some romantic instrumental music and returned.

“Dance with me, Mom.”

“Oh, Honey, I haven’t danced in years.”

“No excuses. Come on, dance with me, “ he said as he pulled her into his arms and the two began swaying to the music.

He pulled her closer and despite her earlier misgivings about their relationship she offered no resistance, taking comfort in his strength and warmth, their bodies melding.

She felt his arousal through both his own pants and the terry robe. She knew where this was going, knew she should stop, yet could not bring herself to break the moment, the warmth, the love and the need she felt as well as he.

“You’re making an old woman very happy,” she said smiling up at him.

“I hope I’m making a very beautiful woman very happy.”

He leaned down so she could put her head-on his shoulder. She sighed contentedly for the first time she could remember in what seemed an eternity.

“I love being with you,” she whispered.

“And I feel the same. The truth is, Mom, I’ve been around and dated lots of girls at school, but none of them make me as happy as you do.”

“Oh, David, you need to be around girls your own age, not someone as old as I...”

“They’re girls Mom. Why should I be content with girls when I have a woman right here. The most beautiful and desirable woman alive.”