Author’s Note: This story is a complete work of fiction from the get go and is intended solely for the readers to enjoy. My thanks to EasySpeak for the work of editing this story so that it makes sense and makes it easier to read and understand.

Author’s Note: The title of this story takes its name from a line from a song by Ray Price. The title of his song is “I Won’t Mention It Again”. His song can be found on the internet.

The fall after I graduated from high school I went to State College and after four years I got my BS Degree. Just before I graduated with my degree I interviewed several companies and was presented with an offer of a job with the company I am presently working for now.

From my entry level job I was promoted to higher positions and greater levels of responsibility with increased rates of pay. Some of my promotions involved moving to new cities where my new job was located.

During all of my promotions and the new job locations I had been assigned to, I was always so busy I didn’t have much time to visit my hometown and consequently, I lost track of most of my high school class mates except for one.

That one class mate was Lee Settle. Lee and I had been good friends all through high school and he made it a point of keeping track of me and where I went. Needless to say, I never had the time or the opportunity to return to my hometown to attend any of our high school reunions.

On my second promotion and my first job relocation, I met a beautiful, vivacious young woman by the name of Judy Green. Judy and I dated for only about a year before we were married.

Judy was the love of my life and I told her how much I loved her more times than I could count. In turn, Judy returned her expression of her love for me in a similar manner. Judy and I had been married about a year and she delivered our Son, Greg, for us. About a year and a half after that she delivered our Daughter, Shirley, for us.

After a couple of more promotions and relocations to another city about 400 miles from my hometown we were settled into our new home. Our Kids had done well in our new city and home where I still live and work and they did well in school, too.

On graduation from high school they both went to the State College and they each got their degree. On receiving their degrees both of our Kids were married after graduation. They have both quickly started families of their own.

Judy and I were happy with our kids marriages and we were elated with the arrival of our first Grandchildren. Judy and I just loved our Grandchildren and were happy to have them visit with us.

Then tragedy struck our family. My beloved wife, Judy, was inflicted with a rare type of illness that the doctors couldn’t manage to help her overcome. Within a couple of months the infection took her away from me and our family.

I was totally lost without the love of my life and my Son and Daughter were very worried about me. I continued to go to work and my Daughter and Daughter-In-Law often brought the Grandchildren over to see me.

Having my Daughter and Daughter-In-Law and their Kids come visit me was really great except that I knew that Judy would have loved to be there to see them and the Grandkids, too. And it was always a little bit sad to see the Grandkids and know that Judy was not there to visit with them and enjoy them, as well.

One evening I had come home from work, fixed myself something to eat and then I went into turn the TV on and I also flipped my computer on to check my EMAIL. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an EMAIL from my old high school buddy, Lee Settle.

His message read, “Eric, I don’t know if you have received this info yet but, I wanted to make sure you got it. Our 30^th high school reunion is going to be held in about three months.

Since you haven’t been to any of our reunions in the past, I along with a bunch of our classmates would like for you to attend this one. The date, time and place are listed below. If you would like to stay with me and my wife while you are here we’d love to have you here visiting with us in our home.

Since our Kids are all grown and gone we have plenty of bedroom space to accommodate you and we’d really like to have you attend this reunion, Eric. All of our old high school friends keep asking me when you are going to attend any of these reunions.

Please let me know if you can make it this time. Several of our classmates have already passed away and we would really like to see you again and catch up on old times.”

I got to thinking, ‘Lee is right. I really haven’t been to any of our reunions and it was about time I did that before I kicked the bucket or any more of them passed away, too.’ I hit the reply button and sent Lee a message saying, “Lee, got your EMAIL this evening and I know I haven’t been to any of our reunions and I’m going to make plans to drive over there to attend this reunion.

Thank you for your offer to stay at your home with you and your wife, Lee. I think that would be a really good time to visit with you and your family. I am alone now since Judy passed away a couple of years ago so it will just be me you’ll have to put up with. I’m looking forward to the reunion and spending some time visiting with you and your wife.”

That next day at work I made out a form for my vacation to be two weeks with the week before the reunion and the remainder after the reunion. That way I would have plenty of time to make the 400 mile drive over there and 400 miles back again.

That would provide me plenty of time to visit with Lee and any of the other classmates who wanted to get together. But, I wanted to spend the better part of the second week at home relaxing after my trip and visiting with my Kids and Grandkids.

Three days before the reunion I called Lee to let him and his wife know again I’d take him up on their offer for me to stay with them during the reunion and what day I planned to make the trip over to our hometown. Lee told me they would be waiting for me to arrive at their home. Two days before the reunion I got up and left my home early so that I could arrive before nightfall.

When I drove into town I stopped in a florist shop to buy a bouquet of roses for Lee’s wife, Karen, and I walked across the street to the liquor store to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels for Lee.

It had been many years since I had been in town and since I had a little time I drove around town to see the changes that had been made since I had last been there. The town hadn’t changed all that much. It still looked pretty much the same way I had remembered it.

When I arrived at Lee and Karen’s house I was met at the door by the both of them. After the pleasantries of our greetings I handed the bouquet to Karen saying, “Thank you for inviting me to stay with you during the reunion. Karen’s eyes got big and she hugged me thanking me profusely.

Then I handed the paper sack containing the Jack Black to Lee and his eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas. He said, “How did you know what we were going to do to entertain ourselves during your stay here with us, Eric?”

“Lee, I know it’s been 30 years since we graduated from high school but, I knew full well you couldn’t resist sipping out of a bottle of this joy juice.” I responded with a big smile on my face.

Karen quickly said, “You two high rollers will have to postpone your drinking until after we have eaten our supper. Then you can crack open that bottle of ‘Who Hit John’. Now come on it’s ready to set on the table and it’ll be getting cold pretty quick if we don’t get to it.”

We went in to eat and during our meal Lee asked, “Eric, Karen and I thought you would bring your wife with you when you made the trip down here to see us and go to the reunion?”

I know my eyes got kind of sad as I tried to cover my grief but, I replied, “Lee and Karen, I guess I haven’t told you I lost Judy not quite four years ago to an nearly untreatable illness and I have been living alone ever since that time.”

They both expressed their condolences saying, “Oh, we’re so sorry to hear that, Eric, the word has never gotten to us.”

After we had eaten and the kitchen was cleared we all went into the living room to talk and visit. Lee got a glass of wine for Karen and two fingers of Jack with a couple of ice cubes in a glass for me and one for himself. We had a really good visit talking about all the good times we’d had together when we were in high school.

Lee told me that there were a number of classmates who had asked him if I was going to come to the reunion this time. He went on to say, “That’s why I sent you the EMAIL earlier. Since that time, other people have asked about you, too. I think we are going to have a really busy night visiting with our old classmates tomorrow night, Eric.”

“Yeah, it sure does, Lee. I hadn’t really thought much about this but, I think you’re right it’s shaping up to be a very busy reunion.´

The next evening Karen, Lee and I left their home and went to the reunion together. When we arrived at the hotel meeting room there were two couples sitting at a table enjoying drinks and having a conversation with one another. They waived us over to their table to sit with them and greeted all three of us warmly.

We sat down at the table with them and visited with them about all of the things we had done while we were in school. Many of them were surprised to see me in attendance at the reunion since I had never attended any of the previous reunions in the past. They had asked me about myself and what I was doing now and why I had not brought my wife with me.

There was a succession of couples and individuals who stopped by the table to chat and reminisce with us about our high school days. I enjoyed seeing, talking to and visiting with all of our old classmates and I know that Lee and his wife did, too.

With the number of people who stopped to visit with us I knew that there were others who would have liked to visit with us. At the end of the evening Lee and I could see that Karen was ready to call it an evening and return to their home.

Of course, I knew there were other classmates I would have liked to have visited with but, they were not in attendance and it was getting late. All of us were getting pretty tired and since other people were beginning to filter out we decided to leave the meeting room and return to Lee and Karen’s home. When we returned to their home we relaxed in a comfortable chair or couch and visited a little more before bedtime.

The next morning I said my goodbyes to Lee and Karen and began my long return trip to my home. Since I still had vacation time remaining I slept in each day, puttered around the house, read, surfed the net and enjoyed the Grandkids when my Daughter and Daughter In Law brought them over to the house.

Late that week I received an EMAIL from a person identified as Tanya Reed. I almost deleted it until I saw that it was addressed to me rather than to my EMAIL address. Stopping to read the message, it read, “Eric, you probably don’t recognize my name because that is my married name. When we were in high school together my name was Tanya Bishop.” After a little thought I remembered the name as one of my classmates.

Tanya Bishop Reed was a very pretty and shapely blond headed girl who I had dated a few times our junior year and who I have not seen since I left for college the fall after our high school graduation.

She was a very popular girl when we were in high school and she was going steady with another guy all during our senior year. I never got the opportunity to date her during our senior year and I figured she would marry the guy she was going steady with.

Her EMAIL message went on to say, “I saw you from across the room at our reunion but, the circumstances prevented us from visiting with one another. I got married after I graduated from college and I now live in a small city only about a hundred miles from where you presently live. I’d love to talk to and visit with you and if you would like to visit with me please give me a phone call.”

Tanya listed her name, address and phone number at the bottom of the message. I thought, “I wish I had known that Tanya was at the reunion because I would have loved to have seen and visited with her for at least a little while.’ It was not a hard decision to make up my mind to call Tanya and visit with her.

The next day I called Tanya to talk to her. When she answered the call I identified myself and she greeted me very cheerfully with, “Hello, Eric. I’m really glad you called.”

“Tanya, I’ve been looking forward to talking to you since I received your EMAIL. It’s really good to talk to you after all of these years. I wish I had known you were at the reunion since I would have loved to talk to you and got caught up on our lives while we were both there.”

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you, too, Eric, but, when I was free to come over and talk to you, you were occupied and then I was occupied with other visitors, too. Since we live so close to one another I’d like to come over and visit with you. Would that be Ok with you if I drove over there to see you, Eric?”

“Sure, it would, Tanya. When would you like to drive over here? I’m just finishing up my vacation and Monday I have to go back to work again. I do have this weekend free and if you would like to drive over here tomorrow I’d love to have you here for at least the weekend or longer if you would like to stay longer than that.”

“That would be great, Eric. I’ll make plans to leave here tomorrow morning and since it is not much more than a two hour drive I should be there well before lunch time.”

I gave her my address and phone number and told her, “Ok, Tanya. I’ll be here when you arrive. So take your time and drive safely on your trip over here.”

The next morning nearly lunch time, Tanya pulled up in my driveway and I went out to welcome her to my home. When she got out of her car I greeted her saying, “Hello, Tanya, it’s so nice to have you here. You look like you haven’t aged hardly at all since I last saw you.” And she did look very much like she did the last time I saw her.

Tanya stepped over to me, put her arms around me, hugged me and kissed my cheek. “Well, Eric, you look pretty much like the last time I saw you, too, except for the distinguished looking grey hair at your temples.”

I brushed that comment off, grabbed her luggage and brought her into the house. I had made a light lunch for us and I served us lunch with a cup of coffee and we sat and began to discuss all of our good times in high school.

Tanya said, “I kind of kept track of you as best as I could when we were in college but after that you kind of dropped out of sight, Eric.”

“Tanya, I reasoned that since you were going steady with that guy during our senior year, you two would have gotten married and I so no reason to pursue that old arrangement and aggravate you.”

“Yes, that’s what we had planned to do but, I went to college in the state and he chose to go to a college up north out of state and as you know, long distance relationships like that don’t fare very well. We called and wrote each other for a while and then our calls and letters dwindled off and at the end of our first year in college the calls and letters just stopped.

Since I hadn’t heard anything more from him I started dating a guy I met there in college and I eventually married him. We moved to his hometown where I now live. We had two Daughters who have gotten their college degrees and are now married and off on their own. Now I’m living alone in that house by myself and trying to keep busy since I lost my Husband a couple of years ago.”

“Oh, Tanya, I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your Husband. My family suffered a similar loss about four years ago with the loss of my Wife, Judy. It hit me pretty hard and I can only say that my Kids supported me during that time and still do. That’s especially true for my Daughter and Daughter In Law. They bring the Grandkids over here to see me quite often.

Of course, my Daughter who looks and acts so much like her Mother and she has been so sweet and loving to me especially with her Kids. Every time she brings the Kids over here I can’t help but think how much Judy would have loved and enjoyed seeing and holding those little tykes in her lap and talking with them. If it hadn’t been for my Kids and Grandkids I really don’t know what I would have done with myself, Tanya.

Let me pour you another cup of coffee and then let’s go into the living room and have a seat in more comfortable chairs.” We each took our coffee cups into the living room to sit on the love seat where we continued to visit with one another the remainder of the afternoon.

After a couple more cups of coffee and our afternoon visit I asked Tanya, “Since I’m not much of a cook let me take you out to eat this evening at a local restaurant?”

“Yeah, I’d like that, Eric. I can’t believe just how hungry I have gotten as we have been visiting this afternoon.”

“Ok, since you have never been here before there is a nice Italian restaurant I have taken Judy and the Kids to many, many times in the past. They have always enjoyed their meal and I’m certain that you will like it, too, Tanya.”

We ordered our meals and I ordered a bottle of wine to go with it. It was easy to see that Tanya really enjoyed her meal especially with the wine we had to go with it. During our meal we continued our visit about many of our classmates.

She said, “During the reunion I saw that you were sitting with Lee Settle and his wife. As I recall you and Lee were pretty close friends while we were in high school, Eric.”

“Yes, we were and he has kept track of me all through these years. He sent me an EMAIL telling me about the reunion. He invited me to stay with him and Karen for the reunion, also. Lee has been and remains a great friend over all of these years. He really wanted me to attend the reunion since I had never attended any of the previous class reunions.”

On our return to my home I got a bottle of wine and poured a glass for each of us. Tanya and I sat on the love seat with our wine and visited. She said, “Eric, my Husband, Foster, has only been gone for just two years and I have really been lonely for him without receiving any of his intimate love.

When two people have intimate love it is really tough not to have it any longer. I can believe that you have suffered from the same loneliness, too. My Daughters, Janet and Joy, told me that I needed to date and look for another man for companionship.”

“Yes, I have had that same loneliness even though my Kids and Grandkids have done what they can to help me as I’m sure that your Daughters have done for you, too. But, they can only do so much as I know you have found. I have not really wanted to start out on the dating scene again at my age. I just don’t think I can go through that again.”

“Eric, we both have come to the same conclusion. No one can ever replace my Husband as I’m sure that no one can ever replace Judy for you either. When I saw you at the reunion and later Lee told me that you had lost your wife I thought that was a great opportunity for us to help one another with our mutual problem of loneliness for our lost spouses.

You and I knew each other well when we dated in high school. We pretty well knew who we were and it was a golden opportunity for us to get together again. That’s why I originally sent you the EMAIL and wanted to visit with you.”

“Tanya, I think you are right. This is a golden opportunity for us to get back together again but, I think we need to take a little time to get reacquainted with one another again after all of these years.

We are far past our teen age years and very much mature adult individuals. We don’t have to make a quick decision about this. I think we should take our time and let each of our families know what we are thinking about doing.”

By that time, I could see that Tanya seemed to be getting very tired and sleepy. I said, “Tanya, we are both very tired from our busy day and I think we should get some rest and begin to reflect on what we are thinking about committing to doing.”

I told her, “I have put your luggage in the guest bedroom.” and I showed her where it was. I also told her, “There are night lights in the hall, the bathroom and each of the bedrooms so you won’t run into a wall if you have to get up during the night.”

“There’s a lock on the inside of your door and you can lock that if you would like. I’ll leave my door ajar if you need anything from me during the night, Tanya. So feel free to wake me if you need anything during the night.”

I hugged her and kissed her cheek but, that wasn’t enough for her. She immediately kissed me on the lips and went into the guest room to get ready for bed. Knowing that she would need to use the bathroom before she went to bed I went into the kitchen to prepare a pot of coffee to perk in the morning when I got up.

When Tanya came out of the bathroom I used it and went directly to my bedroom to go to bed. As usual I woke up about the time my alarm normally went off. I went into the bathroom and then into the kitchen to start the coffee perking. It wasn’t very long before the whole house was filled with the aroma of fresh brewed coffee.

Sitting on the love seat I turned on the TV watching cable business news waiting for the coffee pot to finish perking. About a half hour later I heard the bathroom door close indicating the Tanya was up and about. She left the bathroom and returned to the guest bedroom to finish dressing.

Tanya soon came out of the bedroom and said, “Do I smell fresh brewed coffee, Eric?”

“Yes, you do, Sunshine.” I replied. “Come on into the kitchen and I’ll pour each of us a cup and I’m sure you would like to have something for breakfast, too.”

Tanya stepped over to me, put her arms around me and kissed me like we were an old married couple. I thought, ‘It is good to have a loving woman back in the house with me even though it isn’t my beloved wife, Judy.

Then she took my hand as we went into the kitchen to fix our breakfast. After breakfast and cleaning up the kitchen I poured us another cup of coffee and we went into the living room to sit on the love seat and talk as we had done last night.

Tanya looked me in the eyes and said, “I thought about this a whole lot before I ever came over here. Then before I went to sleep last night, I thought over what we had talked about and I think I’m ready to commit to our relationship, Eric. My Daughters have suggested that I get into contact with you when I told them about you. Have you given any more thought to what we have discussed, Eric?”

“Yes, I have, Tanya. I don’t see that my Kids will have any problem with it but, I do want to run it by my Kids first. As far as getting re-acquainted with one another again I think that will be a little bit of a problem.

Since you live about a hundred miles away and since I’m still working that will present a problem for us. It would be different if you lived here in town and we wouldn’t have to be driving a hundred miles each way every weekend to see one another.”

“I have thought about that, too, Eric and I think that the solution to that problem is if I were to move here or even move in with you if you were to agree to it.”

As she was telling me that, Tanya moved over on the love seat and took my hand in hers. Her hand was soft and warm and I thought, ‘I kind of remember how her hand felt all those years ago when we were still in high school dating.’ I felt like I was back in high school again on a date with her. Tanya leaned over and kissed me very softly on the lips.

I immediately leaned over, put my arms around her and kissed her on the lips in return for her kiss. it was a long passionate kiss like we had done on most of our high school dates. Slowly breaking our kiss I held her tightly and looked into her eyes. Following that I said, “Tanya, you are still just as pretty and loving as you were all those years ago when we were in high school.

I’d love to have you move in here with me, Tanya. I have often wished that Judy was still here with me as I’m sure that you have wished that about your Husband. I think it would be very sweet to have a beautiful woman living in my home with me again. If you feel comfortable about moving in with me, I think it would be wonderful to have you here with me.”

“Eric, before I started the trip to come over here, I made up my mind that if you were to invite me to stay with you I wouldn’t have any hesitation in accepting your invitation. I think we could both do each other a world of good if we were together. I’m looking forward to being with you, meeting your Kids and your Grandkids, too. And I would like for you to meet my Daughters as well.”

“You have had a little more time to think this through than I have, Tanya, and I haven’t had quite as much time as you have but, I know I’d like to visit your home and meet your Daughters when I can get the time off from work to come over to your home. Maybe I can come over there on a long holiday weekend to meet them.”

Tanya put her arms around me, kissed me and then she laid her head on my shoulder. She was softly crying on my shoulder. Then she said, “Since my Husband died I have longed to have someone in my life that could fill this empty lonely feeling I have had in my being and in my soul. This makes me very happy, Eric.”

“I have had that same empty lonely feeling, too, Tanya. And I am very happy to have you here with me. I think that this is going to cure the lonely feeling I have had since my Judy has been gone. I see her in every room in this house and that continually adds to my loneliness and as Ray Price says in his song, I Won’t Mention It Again, where he sang about, ‘This hunger in my soul’.”

I feel my life has reached an early sign of autumn

In my heart the leaves are falling love is cold

And everything that once was warm and new is gone now

Leaving nothing but this hunger in my soul

“Since I thought I would only stay here with you for the weekend, Eric, I figured I would leave tomorrow but, I brought enough clothes to stay here through next week if you wanted me to. So if you agree, I’ll extend my stay until a week from today.”

“Oh, certainly, Tanya, I’d love to have you here during this coming week if you are comfortable being here with me.”

She wrapped her arms around me holding me tightly and said, “I’m comfortable and very happy to be here with you now and this coming week, Eric.” Then she kissed me again. “And I hope that we can see our way clear to possibly making it a permanent thing.”

By that time I realized that we had not had our showers and it was nearing lunch time. I said, “Tanya, neither one of us has had our shower yet. Do you want to take your shower and then I’ll take mine and then we’ll go out to lunch.”

“Yes, I would like to take my shower and put on fresh clothes before we go to lunch. Since you offered I’ll take my shower and then the bathroom will be all yours, Eric.”

Thirty minutes later Tanya had taken her shower and returned to the guest room to finish dressing and I went into the bathroom to take my shower. Just before noon we left the house to go to lunch. Tanya said, “I like what I have seen of the city and the area where you live, Eric. How long have you lived here?”

“This is the house Judy and I bought when I was transferred here and this is where we raised both of our two Kids. They were both just little tykes when we moved into this house.

There are so many good memories here and the Kids just loved it here with us. I don’t think they would be very happy if I decided to move out of this house and sell it because they have so many good memories of Judy and them growing up in this house.”

“I think my Daughters have the same feelings about the house I’m still living in. It is the one and only house my Husband and I bought after we were married. Since we brought them home from the hospital to live in that house and raised them there they are both very attached to it like your Kids are to your house.”

We arrived at the restaurant and went in to have our lunch. As I sat across the table from Tanya during our lunch, I continued to look at her and marvel at how pretty she still was for a woman with two grown Daughters.

I thought, ‘I really don’t know but, I don’t think I’ll have much of a problem to convince her to ultimately move in with me permanently. But, would she later want us to get married?’

Then I thought, ‘Would I have any objection to getting married to this beautiful woman and would it even matter if we didn’t get married at all? Would she not want to make love unless we were married?

Looking back, we came close to making love when we were dating in high school. But, Tanya stopped us saying, she didn’t want to because she wanted to wait until we were married.’

That night we went to bed as we had done the previous night, each in our own bedrooms. I had to set my alarm to get up for work on Monday morning and I expected that Tanya would sleep in and get up after I had gone to work. When my alarm went off I got up, started the coffee pot perking and went into the bathroom to take my shower.