Chapter 34: Maria Cristina and Annette

July 29, 2000, St. Martin, Leeward Islands, Lesser Antilles

The doorbell rang just before 7:00am.

“Be careful,” I said to Maria Cristina as she started to leave the kitchen to let Annette into the house.

Maria Cristina smiled, “I think you have it exactly backwards! She’ll be seducing you!”

I chuckled, “Even if that’s true, caution is still important.”

“I know,” she replied, leaving the kitchen.

She was quickly back with Annette, who was dressed the same as earlier, although this time the t-shirt was black and she was carrying a bag which presumably had her bathing suit. I suppressed a chuckle recalling the scenes from Heartbreak Ridge where the Marines kept trying to match t-shirts with Gunny Highway. I got breakfast onto the table, and the three of us sat down to eat.

I’d prepared bacon, eggs, pancakes, and fresh strawberries. I avoided the pancakes, but both girls enjoyed them. When we finished, Maria Cristina shooed me away so they could clean up. I took the hint she wanted to talk privately to Annette, so I poured myself a cup of coffee and left the kitchen, hoping Maria Cristina knew what she was doing. I went out to the patio and sat down in a chaise.

The time by myself gave me a chance to think about my ‘transitional period’, as I’d referred to it to Maria Cristina. I wondered how, if things wound down with her and with Liz, the new dynamic would unfold? My relationship with Suzanne was essentially on hold until she moved to Chicago, though I’d probably see her when I went to Colorado Springs. She certainly seemed like a candidate for a true ‘long-term third’ as she had no specific interest in marriage or kids. Everything certainly seemed to point that way, and if her time away didn’t change her mind, I was reasonably sure that’s how things would go.

The question then, was about dalliances and ‘random deflowerings’. Certainly the latter were going to arise, I was sure, because they always did, and, being a sucker for virgins, I knew it was basically useless to resist if I was sure the young woman in question was appropriately discreet. There seemed to be no real shortage of those girls, despite the changing social conditions. That said, I fully expected that within no more than ten years I’d be ‘too old’ even for the most determined and adventurous girls.

Dalliances were another question, and I’d had exactly one in the previous three years - Harmony Howard in Los Angeles. That had been fun, but not nearly as fulfilling as being with Suzanne. And that pushed me towards the idea that the correct outcome of my ‘transitional period’ might be only being with girls with whom I had a strong intellectual and philosophical bond. That seemed to be the right approach, though again, knowing myself, there would be ‘that girl’ who would be interested in a dalliance and I’d agree.

All of that said, the lengthy time with no ‘random deflowerings’ and no dalliances, including Elena and Sari, neither of whom I’d managed to see during that time, hadn’t created any problems for me. I had talked about it with Doctor Mercer who suggested that, perhaps, I was ‘growing out of it’, and with Mary Whittaker, who thought, perhaps, stabilizing my bipolar disorder had changed my desire for dalliances. I felt it was probably a combination of both.

“Steve?” Maria Cristina called out, interrupting my train of thought.

“Yes?” I responded.

“Let’s swim and then get some sun.”

“Sounds good,” I replied.

I got up and went into the house. Maria Cristina followed me to the bedroom and we changed into bathing suits, and then went back out to the patio. Annette joined us a few seconds later, wearing a black bikini which showed off her sexy body, though, strangely, I felt the t-shirt and short-shorts were sexier. We got into the pool and I swam a few laps before Maria Cristina pushed me completely underwater when I swam by. That led to a contest between the girls and me trying to dunk each other, with them ganging up, but me winning because of sheer strength.

When the girls gave up, we got out of the pool and dried off. Maria Cristina asked me to put suntan oil on her, which I did, with Annette looking on. When I finished, Maria Cristina began putting sun screen on me, and after a moment, I felt a second pair of hands. When they finished, I wasn’t surprised at what happened next.

“Would you put suntan oil on me?” Annette asked.

I picked up the bottle from the table, poured some into my hands, then carefully began spreading oil on Annette’s shoulders, then worked my way down, enjoying the sensation of her soft skin, flat stomach, and shapely legs, being careful not to touch her breasts or too high between her thighs.

“That was very nice,” Annette sighed dreamily. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied.

As Maria Cristina and I had the previous day, we lay in the sun, though I moved to a chair under the umbrella to avoid the inevitable burn that I’d get if I stayed in the sun too long. I admired the two beautiful bodies, then read the copy of The Economist I’d brought with me. I kept glancing over at the girls, realizing that Maria Cristina had made serious progress towards her goal - I was VERY interested in Annette, and the images of having both girls at the same time flooded my mind.

When the girls had enough time in the sun, we all went inside to shower, Annette using one of the other bedrooms while Maria Cristina and I went to the master bedroom. We quickly showered, dried, and dressed, then met Annette downstairs. At her suggestion, we took a taxi to the Dutch side, visited a number of shops and walked along the beach before having lunch. After lunch we returned to the house to relax.

Samantha had stocked the house with just about every DVD imaginable, and the girls took ten minutes before selecting Cruel Intentions. I strongly preferred Dangerous Liaisons, which I felt was a much better telling of the story. That said, the kissing scene between Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair was HOT, even though it only lasted a few seconds. And Reese Witherspoon was flat-out gorgeous! The only downside for me was that she didn’t show enough skin. She had in a movie I’d seen on HBO - Twilight - and, despite not being a perfect Steve type, she still stirred my imagination!

Maria Cristina and I settled on the couch and she snuggled close, while Annette sat on the loveseat. As the movie started, I remembered something I’d forgotten - Reese Witherspoon’s character’s name was ‘Annette’. I didn’t see any parallels between the girl in the room with us and the character in the movie, so I simply chalked it up to coincidence.

“They’re making love the way you like,” Maria Cristina whispered in my ear during the sex scene between ‘Sebastian’ and ‘Annette’.

I nodded in agreement and she snuggled even closer. When the movie finished, the girls asked to watch another before we made dinner, and I agreed. Annette went to use the bathroom and Maria Cristina held up Eyes Wide Shut with a smirk.

“That might be a bit over the top,” I replied.

Next she held up American Beauty.

“Maria Cristina,” I said in a tone that was meant to evoke mild reproof, and shook my head, though I certainly wouldn’t have minded seeing Mena Suvari’s gorgeous body.

She put it back on the shelf and a moment later, just as Annette came back into the room, she held up Pulp Fiction.

“I haven’t seen that one,” Annette said. “I hear it’s really good.”

“It is,” I agreed.

Maria Cristina put in the player and pressed ‘Play’.

“Come sit with us, Annette,” Maria Cristina said.

I knew, right then, that the suntan oil had been the setup, and now we were at an inflection point. Obviously, there were no guarantees about what would happen, but this was a serious step towards what Maria Cristina had suggested the previous night. I asked myself if I was confident enough about Annette’s state of mind, and I couldn’t be sure. That gave me pause, but I knew I could always say ‘no’, if things went the way Maria Cristina hoped and I was uncomfortable about going through with it.

I sat down and Maria Cristina took the same spot she had before, on my right, while Annette sat down on my left, though not quite as close. Maria Cristina snuggled close as ‘Honey Bunny’ and ‘Pumpkin’ robbed the diner. When ‘Jules’ and ‘Vincent’ drove to visit ‘Brett’, Annette leaned against me and I put my left arm around her in the same way I had my right arm around Maria Cristina. Annette snuggled close and stayed that way for the rest of the film.

“What shall we have for dinner?” I asked.

“Could you make pizza?” Annette asked.

“Indeed, I could,” I replied. “There’s a stick of fresh pepperoni as well as several kinds of cheese. I will have to use canned tomato sauce and paste because otherwise it would take too long to make the sauce.”

“How long would it take if you used fresh tomatoes?”

“A few hours,” I replied. “If you want, we could have pizza tomorrow and something else tonight.”

“Can we do that?”

“Sure. Then what about tonight?”

“How about Chinese?” Maria Cristina suggested.

“That would be great!” Annette agreed.

I went to the kitchen to start dinner and the girls went out to the deck. An hour later, we sat down to eat.

“Wow!” Annette exclaimed after tasting what I’d prepared. “This is awesome!”

“I’m glad you like it,” I replied.

“Where did you learn to cook?”

“I taught myself,” I replied. “Well, my little sister and I worked together to teach ourselves. My mom was a terrible cook.”

“How old is your sister?”

“Thirty-three. She’s four years younger than I am.”

“Is she the only one?” Annette asked.

“No, I have a brother as well, he’s right in the middle between us. Do you have siblings?”

“No, and my grandparents and cousins are in France.”

“How many people live here?” Maria Cristina asked.

“In St. Martin? About 30,000. That’s a lot more than when I was born, when it was around 10,000.”

“And on the Dutch side?”

“About the same, I think.”

If the population had been so low when she was born, I could understand why she might have a limited number of friends - there simply weren’t that many kids in her age group, and tourists or people like Samantha and her family were only visitors. I wondered if what she needed was the same kind of opportunity Winter had seized when she chose to leave rural Ohio for Chicago. For Annette, the solution likely would be found when she went to college in Paris or London.

“What are we doing after dinner?” Maria Cristina asked.

“I figured I’d leave it up to you,” I said.

“We can’t really go out to a club.”

“Sorry,” Annette replied. “I can go home so you can go out.”

“I wasn’t complaining or trying to send you away,” Maria Cristina said quickly. “We can watch a movie, or listen to music, or go for a walk, or all of those.”

“But you want to go dancing,” Annette protested.

“We can dance here,” Maria Cristina said. “I’m sure Steve will take turns dancing with us. It’ll be like the parties back home where we put on CDs and dance.”

“If you’re sure,” Annette said.

“I’m sure! Do you have a time you have to be home?”

“Not really. You know I was out until after 3:00am the other night.”

“But we didn’t know if that was OK with your parents,” I replied.

“I’m sixteen, so they basically let me do what I want.”

When we finished eating, the girls once again chased me away so they could clean up, and then came to join me on the deck. They brought a pitcher of lemonade for themselves and a bottle of San Pellegrino with lime for me. They also each had a small dish of ice cream.

“No sweets at all?” Annette asked.

“No,” I replied. “I have a weird health issue, and so long as I limit carbohydrates, it doesn’t present any problems.”

“You appear so very healthy!” she protested.

“He is,” Maria Cristina teased. “I’ve checked!”

Annette laughed softly and I got a very positive vibe from her for the first time since we’d met.

“His doctor has been very kind to let me participate in his physicals,” Maria Cristina continued, “even though I’m not even a medical student.”

“It would seem that knowing him has given you some very nice benefits.”

“Besides the obvious one?” Maria Cristina teased.

“He must be a wonderful lover,” Annette said wistfully.

“He is,” Maria Cristina replied.

“Was he your first lover?”

“And only,” Maria Cristina replied. “We made love for the first time right before I started college.”

“So you were eighteen, then?”

“Yes.”

“And you knew everything about him?”

Maria Cristina laughed softly, “It was difficult to miss, given I was living at their house. But I knew all about him before I moved in, because he’s completely open about his life. And I knew I would make love with him before I moved in, too.”

“Why did you move in?”

“To be close to the university, and because it saved me the money for the dorms. I have a wonderful place to live, a professor and a medical doctor to help with my studies, Steve to be a mentor, and, of course, a lover. I love his family, and all his kids are great.”

“So why give that up?”

“I want to marry and have kids. He’s already married, and he can’t give me children.”

“Can’t?”

“He had an operation.”

“I figured after seven kids, I’d had enough!” I added with a grin.

“That is a lot of kids! Most people I know only have one, or sometimes two.”

“There aren’t a lot of kids your age here on the island, are there?” I asked.

“Not really. The people who moved here in the late 80s and the 90s have children, of course, but mostly they’re under age ten. My grade in school only has about thirty-five students. The earliest grades have well over one hundred now, and there are other primary schools, and some go to private schools on the Dutch side.”

“And all the money is made from trade, right?”

“Yes. We don’t really have industry, and farming is out of the question, obviously. But lots of Americans like to come here.”

“Present company included,” I replied. “Though this is just my second time.”

“I think I’m going to come back next summer before I start medical school, then take my two one-week breaks I get during the four years here,” Maria Cristina said. “I already discussed it with Samantha!”

But not with me, which confirmed that she was already thinking past our sexual relationship. It was sooner than I’d expected, but, if I was honest with myself, not really a surprise, given her goals. The only concern I had was what might happen if she did get serious with Lieutenant Knox and he ended up on sea duty or with an overseas assignment.

The girls finished their ice cream and Maria Cristina suggested we go inside and put on some music. I was totally unsurprised when she selected a CD titled ‘Twenty Classic Love Songs’. The first song was (They Long to Be) Close to You, by The Carpenters, and Maria Cristina beckoned me to dance with her. We danced close, but not too close, and when the song finished, she released me.

“Your turn!” she said to Annette as Up Where We Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes began playing.

Annette came over to where I was, and not wanting to press things, I opted for what I called the ‘High School’ distance, with my hands on Annette’s hips and hers on my shoulders. That lasted for about thirty seconds before she moved a half-step closer, such that her breasts occasionally touched my chest lightly as we swayed to the music. She obviously enjoyed the contact, as her nipples hardened and pushed outward on the tight cotton material of her t-shirt.

When that song finished, the girls changed places and You’re the Inspiration by Chicago began playing.

“Uh, sorry,” Maria Cristina said quietly. “I can skip the song.”

“I don’t think Kara or Jessica will mind,” I replied.

Maria Cristina smiled and melted into my arms, pressing her firm, young body against mine. I hadn’t danced to this song with anyone except my wives in fifteen years, and it felt a little strange, but it actually fit right in with the comment Maria Cristina made about the one thing she couldn’t have. This was, I was sure, a poor substitute, but it also conveyed much more about our true relationship. When the song finished, Maria Cristina gave me a soft kiss.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

She stepped away so Annette could have her turn and when You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker started playing, Annette moved very close and I wrapped my arms around her. She wrapped hers tightly around me and pressed her wonderful teenage body firmly against me. I had the distinct impression, based on more than two decades of experience, that if I simply took her hand and led her upstairs, she wouldn’t resist. That thought stirred my hormones, which were already more than a bit roiled, and I struggled against what Mary Whittaker had called a ‘natural, physiological reaction’.

The song ended, and Annette didn’t move, except to raise her head from my chest. She looked deeply into my eyes and communicated quite clearly that she, too, wanted a soft kiss, just as Maria Cristina and I had shared. I bent my head and our lips touched, hers, soft and pliant, clearly inviting a deeper kiss, but I felt that was moving too fast, so I kept the kiss simple. She sighed deeply when I broke it, and then swapped places with Maria Cristina.

The next song was I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder, and Maria Cristina held me tightly, but didn’t put her head on my chest, rather she moved it so our cheeks were together.