Chapter 35

I woke in the morning before Ginger, and she reminded me of the picture Michelle sent me that morning from Las Vegas, what seemed an eternity or two ago. Ginger apparently sleeps on her back; her hair was spread wildly around her, and the sheet was down to nearly to her waist. I thought I should take a picture for her to send to Eric, but couldn’t pull myself away from her.

I snuggled my lips up to her neck, and she purred softly in her sleep. I felt I could lay like this for hours, smelling her perfume and feeling her soft skin against mine, my arm draped across her breasts. It wasn’t nearly long enough until she woke up, and I knew my dream come true had to have an ending as we’d both be home with our spouses that night.

That thought made me smile, but with a little fear thrown in. Michelle was coming back today, and after her fourteen days with Shaun I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I’d find out later that night.

When Ginger finally woke up, she rolled over toward me, and we lay in bed looking at each other. The tips of my fingers were gently caressing her skin, making little circles around her nipples and breasts. I looked into her eyes and couldn’t help but ask, “Ginger, why are you here?”

She smiled sweetly, “Because you asked me and I like you ... a lot.”

I thought to myself that ‘like’ is a pretty mild word for how I felt about Ginger, and I knew there had to be more than that. “No, seriously, you’re married and in love with your husband. Why are you here in bed with me?”

She hesitated a little while and finally started to speak. “You remember the Christmas skit, when you said you almost asked me out? Do you know how badly I wanted you to? I was the tall, skinny, gawky, flat chested girl who could play basketball and jumps hurdles in track.”

I started to disagree, to tell her how pretty she was but she put her finger to my lips, “No, let me finish,” then she went on, “Do you know how many boys asked me for a date?” She hesitated a few seconds, “None. That’s how many dates I had in high school.”

I was utterly confused. “I didn’t know. I thought probably always. You were so beautiful.”

“Then when I went to college, my junior year a guy asked me out. He wasn’t very exciting, but it was a date, and he was nice. That was Eric. We got married after we graduated. I’ve never regretted marrying Eric; I love him, and he tells me I’m beautiful too, but I know he has to because he’s my husband.”

“Then when you kissed me in the parking lot something happened. You made me feel pretty that night, like a woman who someone desires. I know you shouldn’t have done that, but it felt so wonderful to me that someone else thought I was pretty.”

I had to break in, “Ginger, you are beautiful. I thought so in high school, and you’re so much more so now. Last night you were the sexiest, most beautiful woman in the building!”

Ginger had a kind of a dreamy look and apparently wanted to finish telling me what she’d started. “The night you kissed me I told Eric about running into this guy who used to have a crush on me. I didn’t tell him about you kissing me right away because I was afraid of how he might react. After we went to bed that night, he brought it up again, and I told him about the Christmas skit when you said you almost asked me out.”

She paused a little bit, but I could tell she wasn’t finished, so I waited. “I finally told him that you’d kissed me. He asked if I meant at the skit and I told him no, earlier that night. Then I told him I kissed you back. We made love that night, and it was the most exciting that I can ever remember.” She smiled, and I could tell she was thinking about that night with her husband.

“Eric loved it too. When we finished, Eric said that maybe I should kiss you again.”

I was fascinated by what Ginger was telling me, and I took that last little cue that maybe she should kiss me again now. I nuzzled her nose with mine until our lips met for another jolt of electricity through my body. We kissed for a few brief, wonderful seconds until Ginger broke away and continued, “When you and I flirted with each other I knew it was exciting Eric that another guy had a crush on his wife. The more we flirted, and especially those little goodbye kisses, the better our lovemaking was. Eric and I were having the time of our lives in bed. Everything was more fun.”

“Finally, Eric told me that maybe I should go even further with you. I asked him what he meant, and he asked me if I wanted to sleep with you. I think he noticed my eyes getting a little full and my mouth drop open, so he told me it was okay, that he wanted me to too.”

Smart man, this Eric, I thought! “He told me that he could see how much you loved Michelle, but could tell you were drooling over me.” She giggled a little, “Yes, that’s exactly what he said, that you were drooling over me! Then when you asked me to come to this dance with you, I was so excited. I told Eric I wanted to, and he told me to go for it. So here we are.”

When she finished, she asked me, “I told you about Eric and me; now I want to hear about you and Michelle. What’s up with you two?”

I talked for at least fifteen minutes, telling her about Michelle’s story of her and Mike in college then my obsession with her and him. I told her how I met Jacqui, then about Michelle going to Victoria’s Secret with me to ask her for a date. That started Ginger’s giggling all over again. Then I told her Michelle has a boyfriend, Shaun. I left out a lot of the little details; about Michelle’s stripping, our brief affair with Trisha and red-shirt guy at Wallowa Lake.

I told her where Michelle was now, with Shaun for the last two weeks. Her eyes were wide in disbelief. When I finished, Ginger asked, “So Michelle has a boyfriend now? And you had a girlfriend?”

“Well, yeah, Michelle is probably in bed with him right this minute. To be honest, Michelle is very much in love with Shaun.”

“That doesn’t bother you, that Michelle’s in love with another man?”

I thought about the video that still had me scared but didn’t want to mention that to Ginger, “No, I’ve been encouraging her with him. I’ve decided that if she’s going to have an affair I want her to enjoy it as much as possible. What can make it more enjoyable than being in love with the man?”

When Ginger didn’t answer for a little bit, and I dearly wanted to tell her something, I went on, “Do you think it’d bother Eric if he knew I’m in love with you?”

I watched Ginger after telling her that. Her eyes got teary, she wrapped her arms around me and said, “Thank you for saying that.”

“I mean it, too. I wanted to tell you. I love you, I love you, I love you! Ginger, I don’t want this to end. I know we can’t ever be together, but I hope we can see each other ... as lovers, not just friends.”

She looked at me with a smile on her face. “I want that too, but I won’t if Eric says no.”

“I understand that. Michelle and I have the same understanding. If either of us says no, the affair is over.” I wondered about that. I honestly didn’t think Michelle would end her affair with Shaun if I asked her to now.

Ginger climbed out of bed to go to the bathroom, and I watched her naked body walk across the room. When she closed the door, I found the TV remote and turned it on for a few minutes until she finished in the bathroom.

I scrolled the TV channel over to KNDU in Pasco and watched the news in fascination. Interstate 84 both ways out of Pendleton and I-82 between Umatilla and Kennewick were both closed due to the heavy snow storm. The report said they didn’t expect them to be reopened until at least sometime Monday.

In our excitement last night and this morning, I’d completely forgotten about the snow storm. I slipped on my boxers and went to open the blind. I was in utter shock when I looked out the window. It wasn’t snowing anymore but there must have been at least eighteen inches of snow outside! Our view overlooked the Blue Mountains off in the distance, and it was beautiful.

I was anxious to show Ginger, but then realized that we weren’t going home today. I pulled the easy chair around so I could look out the window at the beautiful wintry scene. When I heard the bathroom door open, I looked and saw Ginger with a towel wrapped around her body, tied at the top, another wrapping her hair. I asked her over to see the scene out our window, and she agreed with me that it was beautiful. I couldn’t even remember the last time we’d had snow like this.

I gave her the news. “I just heard a report that all the freeways are closed at least until tomorrow.”

Her lovely eyes got huge when she realized what that meant. “We can’t go home then, can we?”

“No, we can’t.” Then I realized I better call the front desk and get the room for another night. When I hung up with them, I told Ginger they said they’d got dozens of calls asking for rooms, but were saving them for the guests they already had. Unless we checked out, they presumed everyone already here would need to stay.

I was a little disappointed because I was anxious to see Michelle, but spending another night with Ginger wasn’t a bad consolation prize.

I suggested we get dressed and run down to their restaurant for breakfast. Ginger agreed, so I grabbed my bag and showered while she was dressing. When I came out of the bathroom, all spic and span, Ginger was on the phone explaining the situation to Eric. I thought she might want to talk to him in private, so I grabbed my phone, stepped out in the hall and called Michelle to let her know I wouldn’t be home. She said the airport is closed too so they were having to stay another night as well. We talked briefly, and when she asked about my night, I told her I’d tell her about it later. I hoped Michelle wasn’t too disappointed having to spend an extra night with Shaun.

Thankfully, the hotel had a restaurant. While we were eating, Ginger brought up the fact that she didn’t have anything else to wear tomorrow, and wondered if there’d be a store open. I was concerned that the local roads might not be open.

I admit that I found it a little humorous; to a woman, wearing the same thing on two consecutive days is a violation of a deeply held sacrament. It wasn’t bothering me in the least that I’d have to wear the same thing the next day.

I asked her, “How’s Eric this morning; is he okay?”

“He said he was pretty nervous last night and didn’t sleep very much, but he’s anxious to hear all about it. He was disappointed about today, but he understands there isn’t anything we can do about it.”

I felt a lot relieved that he hadn’t had second thoughts about letting Ginger spend the night with me. Hopefully, he’ll enjoy her telling him about it. I thought back to Michelle telling me about her first weekend with Mike, especially how she’d shown me, very explicitly, what they’d done over the weekend. That was fun!

Before going back up to our room, we took a quick peek outside and saw someone was plowing the parking lot, so hopefully later we could get out. I presumed it’d take the city quite a while to get the main roads cleared up enough to drive on them.

Ginger and I sat on the bed. I found the TV remote, and we scrolled through to find a silly movie on HBO, Inspector Gadget. Ginger snuggled up beside me with her head on my shoulder and our fingers intertwined while we lay and watched the movie. About halfway through, I glanced down at my lover’s face and discovered she was sound asleep. I squeezed her hand just a little more and tried not to bother her while I closed my own eyes and dreamed of the coming night.

Later, when we both woke up, we decided to try the great outdoors and see if we could get anywhere for her to buy some clothes. I suggested to Ginger that she wait in the lobby while I checked on the car. The parking lot was pretty well scraped off and it looked like the street in front of the hotel had been plowed so it didn’t look like we’d have a problem. I was so glad that I’d put on the snow tires earlier! I didn’t have a broom so used my arm to wipe as much of the snow off the car as I could, then drove under the porte-cochère to pick her up.

Surprisingly, the city already had the roads in decent shape. They probably had plows out all night. None of the stores on Main Street were open, so we decided to try Maurice’s in the outdoor mall. Luckily, it was open. It was the Christmas shopping season, so I wasn’t too surprised. When I dropped Ginger off at the front entrance, I told her I’d wait in the car and drive back over when I saw her come out. I couldn’t help but laugh at her crow-hopping through the snow between the car and the door.

It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes a woman to buy two or three articles of clothing. I can wait for Michelle an hour when all she’s buying is a blouse or pair of pants. Forty-five minutes later, I saw Ginger step out with her bag so drove over and picked her up, being careful not to be laughing at her crow-hopping when she got back to the car.