Chapter 5

The weather had turned cooler and Thanksgiving had come and gone. Ralph did celebrate that day by taking Nancy to the Redwoods restaurant. During the meal, he asked Nancy what her plans were for the Christmas Holidays.

“I usually drive down and spend Christmas Eve and Day with my parents. They are getting up in years so I don’t know how much longer I will have them. I’ll come back after the first of the year. I would like to spend those holidays with you but I can’t and I hope you understand.”

“I do and family is family so have a good time.”

She asked him about his plans and said since he didn’t have any family he said he would just stick around the area and watch the sports that are on the tube.

Ralph’s college course was ending about a little more than a week before Christmas. He was in class and had just completed taking the final exam. One of the students had turned in her exam and left the room. It looked to him that Aria was grading the exam sitting at her desk Since Ralph had completed his exam he walked up to Aria and turning in his exam said, “If you are grading papers I would appreciate it if you could do mine next as it is somewhat important I learn my grade asap. I will come back when everyone leaves. He went out and took a seat in the hallway and wished his fellow students a Merry Christmas as they left the classroom.

When all the students had left he walked back into the classroom and asked Aria if she had graded his exam.

“Yes I did and you received an A on the exam and will receive an A-grade for the class.”

“Now, since that no longer makes me your student can I take you out to dinner?”

“I will say that you are persistent..., but sure, why not. When do you want to do this?”

“Is this coming Saturday convenient?”

It was and she wrote her address and phone number on a slip of paper she handed to him. With Nancy leaving to go to her parents, it was an opportune time for Ralph to be taking Aria out to dinner.

When Ralph installed the whole house fan in the ceiling he noticed the insulation or lack of it that was there. He had forgotten to do anything about it but now he made a phone call to have some additional insulation blown in. After this was done he noticed a warmer temperature in the house.

The substitute teaching he was doing had an interesting aspect to it. It wasn’t in doing the teaching, it was in doing the lunch. Ralph one time had walked into the teacher’s lounge and purchased a can of soda and a bag of chips. He was looking for a place to sit when at a table that had four ladies sitting there one of the ladies waved a hand at him and said he could sit with them.

Ralph accepted the invitation and took a seat. The lady who waved her hand was probably five or six years younger than him introduced herself as Marci Hendricks. She introduced Ralph to the other three ladies there. These other ladies were in their late twenties or early thirties and they all seemed friendly and were interested in wanting to know more about him. He gave a capsule history of who he was, where he lived, and what he had done before he retired.

Marci seemed to be the ringleader of this group and directed the conversation. That she had a prominent rack did catch Ralph’s attention. He was not going to be the only one answering their questions so he asked these ladies about themselves. He caught their attention when he asked for suggestions as to where a single man could go in the immediate area if he was interested in meeting single women. Their suggestions didn’t impress him since he had already considered all of what they suggested. He did however get an interesting look from Marci when he asked that question which had him questioning why she gave him that look.

Saturday finally did come and Ralph had his dinner date with Aria. She looked nice in the black dress she was wearing. There was a change in this relationship in that it was no longer a teacher-student one but rather it now was a man-woman one. He could honestly he had a nice time dining with her.

He did ask her what she was going to do for the Christmas Holidays in the hopes he could have some female companionship but she dashed those hopes when she said she spends that time with her parents. His disappointment was short-lived because she asked him if he would be her escort to a New Year’s Eve affair at the country club. She was a member there and some friends of hers had asked her to join them at their table. With Nancy still expected to be away he told her it would be his pleasure to do so.

He then he could see he surprised her when he said, “But let me ask you this, what will your fellow teachers say when they know your escort is a not so long ago a former student of yours that you gave an A grade to in your class?”

“That bit of information I expect you to keep to yourself. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes, but it might cost you.”

“Cost me what?”

“We can talk about that later,” he said and laughed noticing what was a quizzical look on her face and maybe it wasn’t so quizzical since he noticed her having a small smile.

It was a typical Christmas day for Ralph with him watching an NBA game on the television and having a TV dinner consisting of slices of turkey breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans to which he had added cranberry sauce. In having this meal and thinking about his circumstance Ralph had a positive thought. He thought, “That it could be worse,” since he could be having this meal in another State that is known for its hot summers.

Things took a turn for the better when he picked up Aria to take her to the club for the New Year’s Eve celebration. She looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine wearing a dark green cocktail dress that was cut tight enough to show her slim figure and short enough to show a pair of gorgeous legs. The low square neckline gave a glimpse of the tops of her breasts. Ralph complimented her on her looks.

At the club, the three other couples at the table were a few years younger than Ralph and were fellow professors at the university. They were cordial and were surprised Ralph had retired at an early age. They asked and Ralph explained what he did before he retired.

The dinner was standard banquet fare with the entrée being a prime rib. The two cocktails both he and Aria had consumed gave each of them a rosy glow.

One of the highlights of the evening as far as Ralph was concerned was dancing cheek to cheek with Aria. She fit very nicely in his arms and her body pressed against him was stimulating. The other highlight was when the clock struck twelve and after singing Auld Lang Syne, well wishes and kisses were exchanged. The kiss Ralph and Aria exchange was not a quick peck but rather was a lengthy kiss in which she surprised him when she slipped him some tongue.

Ending the kiss they backed a little away from each other and gave each other a look but that was all. The band started up playing a slow-tempo song. Aria came into his arms pressing her body tightly against his. Nothing was said and nothing needed to be said.

At about one this event was breaking up and Aria suggested they leave. There was some talk about the people they met but not much else on the drive back to her condo. He was not surprised when she invited him to come with her into her condo since it seemed things were building up to her extending that invitation.

Inside her condo, Aria came easily into his arms and they were exchanging some torrid kisses. She was a damn good kisser in his opinion.

Ending a kiss she moved a little back from him and summarized what was going to happen when she said, “Will you spend the night?”

Ralph brought her back in his arms for another kiss and while doing it, he pulled down the zipper on the back of her dress. She let the dress fall to where she could step out of it and taking his hand led him to the bedroom. After he undressed with her help they lay on the bed and made love.

Making love with Aria was pleasurable but he soon found out that it was a little different. Ralph did what he normally does in making love by giving oral sex to her most sensitive and private parts as well as making comments about how sexy and enticing she looked. Aria seemed to enjoy what he was doing and saying but at the same time, she wasn’t big into the giving. She wasn’t doing much other than laying there and seemed to be content that Ralph was servicing her. Ralph had the impression that making love with her was a one-way proposition.