Chapter 3

I was on cloud nine the morning after I formally "met" Sarah. All thoughts of Heather were out of my mind. The issue with Ashley still nagged at me, but I was in such euphoria that it was on the back burner a bit too.

I whistled cheerfully as I showered and got ready for my day with Sarah. Sarah had arranged for Brianna to spend the day at one of her friend's houses so we could spend the day together out and about. I asked, rather I demanded, that I plan out the day.

The order for the day was casual, with swimming attire in tow. I wore a nice tan herringbone polo with olive khaki shorts and nice tennis shoes. I was going for casual, but a nice casual. It was something a man that was that same age as her with some amount of cash would wear. I was sure she was going to come dressed like a million bucks and I didn't want to embarrass her out in public.

After I got dressed I went out to the Sea Ray and started prepping it for a day out on the water. I loaded up some soda and made sure the liquor cabinet was stocked. I also packed a few snacks in case we got hungry. I then took the boat over to fill it with some gas and then parked it on Sarah's dock and gave the air horn a real good blast. I stood out on the deck and saw a concerned looking Sarah marching towards the dock. She looked absolutely stunning in her white short shorts and white button up shirt that was tied at her tummy. She looked absolutely delicious. When she saw me standing out on the deck she smiled at me.

"Jesus Christ Greg, you nearly scared me to death with that horn," she laughed. "Probably got the attention of the entire neighborhood too."

"Are you ready to go my dearest?" I said with flair.

"Actually no, Brianna hasn't left yet," she said.

"Can she not stay home on her own yet?" I joked suddenly realizing that I probably shouldn't be making fun of her parenting skills.

"You are absolutely right. I will run in and tell her I am going and we will be off," she said giggling at me.

I cursed my sense of humor as I waited for her to come back out. She came back out of the house, jogging up to the boat. I got out of the boat and held the line so she could get in and then climbed back on board once she was in.

"Hello sexy," she said as she took me into her arms and gave me a lingering kiss.

"Oh my, are you trying to seduce the captain?" I asked in mock horror.

"Yes I am because I love him," she purred.

I was so tempted then to tell her I loved her but I really didn't, not yet. I liked her a lot, but it wasn't love and I realized I shouldn't tell her it unless I meant it.

"Have a seat right here m'lady," I said gesturing to a captains chair right next to the driver's seat. I had laid a towel on the seat so it wouldn't get hot for her.

"Oh my, aren't you the polite boy," she said giggling.

Her comment kind of took the wind out of my sails. It reminded me that she was thirty-one and I was only nineteen and there was a huge difference between us. I suddenly wondered what she wanted from a "boy" so young. Was she just using me like Heather did?

I stood over the driver's seat and put the boat into gear and eased it out into the channel in front of our houses. It was shaping up to be a very hot day, the sea breeze the only comfort against the oppressive humidity. I didn't realize it but I purposely looked away from her as we made our way through the no wake zone on the way to the Intracoastal Waterway.

"Is something wrong," shouted Sarah over the noise of the boat engine.

I looked at her and forced a smile and shook my head at her. "I'm fine."

Sarah got up and came up behind me and put her hands on my shoulders much like she did the day before. Her touch was so warm and so comforting.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked me in my ear.

I shook my head again. Then I paused. "I know this isn't a good question to ask on a first date, but is this all just about sex? I mean you are eleven years older than I am and..."

"No Greg," she said in my ear again. "I want you to be my man. I fell in love with you yesterday. I really think I fell in love with you earlier, after what you did for Grace I mean. You are such a kind and loving man and I need that in my life so much."

"I really like you Sarah," I said slowing the boat down to a crawl and turning to her. "I could even grow to love you."

"I know you aren't in love with me yet. You haven't had the chance to worship me from afar like I had with you," she giggled.

"Look, I am still a bit wary about things. My last girlfriend used me and I don't want that to happen again," I said seriously.

"I am not going to use you, Greg," said Sarah, equally serious. "Funny, most guys just used me for sex, never stopped to think that a woman would do that to a man."

I kissed her gently on the nose. "Thank you," I said. I smiled at her and then returned to piloting the boat.

Once I hit the end of the no wake zone I motioned for Sarah to sit down and then I sat down and threw the boat in high gear and opened it up all the way. As we went down the Intracoastal Waterway, I glanced over to Sarah every once in a while to see how she was doing. She was having the time of her life. She was smiling, almost giggling the whole time. I also noticed that most of the time she was watching me pilot the boat.

We hit another no-wake zone by John's Pass. There were several dolphins in the area so I had to be extra careful piloting the boat through there. I always considered Johns Pass one of the best places in the Bay Area to see dolphins. Sarah marveled at the animals playing in the water as if she had never seen them before.

"I have lived in Florida for my entire life and I never get to see these beautiful creatures enough," she lamented as we went through the pass and out into the open ocean.

"These dolphins are almost always here. There is a really nice market area on the northern shore of the pass, which is good for viewing them," I pointed out.

"I always drive over that bridge we just went under and never realized there were always dolphins down there," she said in shock.

"Don't you ever get out on your boat?" I asked.

"Not my boat," she replied. "I let one of my friends keep her boat tied up at my dock. I haven't used the dock since Brett died."

"... and I take you out on a boat," I said sullenly. "I am sorry."

"I'm not sorry," she said smiling. "I am having a wonderful day. I don't let the past get to me."

"Ready to hit the big waves?" I said, changing the subject.

"You betcha!" she exclaimed.

"We are going to be out there for a while so if you need a break just let me know. I am planning on going pretty far."

She nodded with understanding.

I kicked the boat back into gear and headed into the Gulf of Mexico. We had a ball as I was hitting the big waves at full speed and launching the boat out of the water each time. I hugged the shoreline at about a quarter mile out to avoid shallow water. My boat had a pretty shallow draft but I still didn't want to take any chances. We passed by gleaming hotels, high-rise condominiums, and miles of beautiful white sand beaches. The further south we went, the whiter the sand got.

After passing Fort Desoto I started making course for where the Intracoastal picked up near Bradenton. When I hit the first no-wake zones near Sarasota Bay we had traveled for almost an hour and a half. We were both tired and hungry.

"You ready to get something to eat?" I asked Sarah. She nodded in reply.

"I know of a really good place near here called the Salty Dog. Mostly just the boat crowd that goes there. I hope there will be some dock space available."

It took me a few more minutes to get there and to my relief there were several dock spots I could slip into. There was a boy working the dock to help us moor the boat to the dock. We quickly got tied up and headed into the restaurant. One of the reasons I liked the Salty Dog was because the place was quieter than most of the restaurant's and bars that boaters normally stopped at. Most of the boaters that came to the Salty Dog had a bit more disposable income. That is also another reason why I came dressed as I had.

A hostess sat us right away in a cozy corner table with a view of Sarasota Bay.

"Are you having fun today?" I asked Sarah as we sat down at hour table.

"I am having an absolute blast," she said beaming at me. "It has been too long since I have been out boating. I can tell that it is something you love to do."

"I use Aunt Grace's boat every chance I can get. She never uses it so at least it is getting some use. I think that sometimes she buys stuff for the sake of buying it and having it and that she never considers whether or not she is going to actually use it."

"Yeah, I have seen that in her too," replied Sarah nodding.

"You keep saying I saved her life," I said, suddenly serious. "What did you mean by that?"

"Your aunt was a mess before you came out here. She hadn't been able to get over Frank's death. I would like to think I had something to do with her staying alive all those years but it was you Greg. Your cards and letters and phone calls are what kept her going for the four years following his death. You were the only family that would even talk to her. When you agreed to come to school down here, she was a changed woman. She loves you so much Greg. You are all she has. I am just her friend. To her, you are family and a friend. I don't know how many times I heard her say 'I would kill myself if I didn't know how much it would hurt Greg.'"

I looked at her, too stunned to talk. A waitress coming to take our drink order forced me to talk.

"Welcome to the Salty Dog. My name is Amber and I will be your server. What can I get for you to drink?"

"I will have iced tea; unsweetened," I said. The fact that they had unsweetened iced tea was another reason I came to the Salty Dog. Every other place in Florida only had nasty sweetened Iced Tea.

"Diet Coke," said Sarah.

"I will be back with your drinks in a moment," said the cheerful Amber.

"I never realized she was in such a deep depression," I said, returning to our conversation.

"That is because when she talked to you there was no depression. Whenever you called she would be happy for a couple of days," said Sarah looking into my eyes.

I looked down at the table, suddenly unable to look at her.

"I just don't get how I could make her so happy," I said.

"You were the only one who took her for face value. A lot of it had to do with your youthfulness at the time, but you kept looking past whatever your family could not. You also were the only one who would just listen to her. One of my problems was I kept offering her advice. She didn't want advice, she just wanted someone to listen and you did that for her. She always knew you would grow up to be a man of good character. I know now that she was correct."

"You have only really known me for about 24 hours," I said.

"It already seems like I have known you for an eternity. You are such a gentleman and so polite. The way you made love to me yesterday was so caring and full of emotion. From what Grace told me about you and Heather you were a real gentleman with her too. Grace was so upset with the way Heather always treated you."

"She was?" I said surprised.

"She never thought Heather was good enough for you. She felt that Heather never cared about you. She was surprised your breakup didn't happen a lot earlier."

"Why didn't she say anything to me?" I asked incredulously.

"Because you wouldn't have listened and you would have only gotten angry at her, which would have solved nothing. You needed to learn from that relationship. You learned not to let women walk all over you," she said.

Amber came back and gave us our drinks.

"Are we ready to order?" said Amber with a smile.

"Haven't even looked at the menu yet, can you come back?" said Sarah in an apologetic tone.

"No problem," she said cheerfully and went off to take care of another table.

Sarah scanned the menu, found something and then put it down.

"Can I ask you a personal question about Heather?" said Sarah when she was finished.

"I guess," I said warily.

"Was she your first?" she asked. She looked down at her menu, not able to look at me.

"Yes," I said evenly. "She taught me how to please a woman. I guess it was just her selfishness that motivated that."

"I am happy she did," said Sarah looking at me and smiling. "You are the best lover I have ever had."

I felt me cheeks heat up. "Awww shucks ma'am," I replied in my best John Wayne voice.

Sarah giggled like a little schoolgirl. "You are so damned cute."

"Can I ask you another personal question?" asked Sarah.

"Well questions about my virginity are about as personal as you can get so I don't think it could get any more personal."

"You mentioned that you had sex with your best friend and that ruined your relationship with her. Can you tell me more about her?"

OK, she found something more personal to me than my virginity. Still, I felt compelled to answer her.

"Her name is Ashley, Ashley O'Rourke. She was a freshman just like me. I met her on move-in day and we hit it off as friends ever since then. I tried dating her once and it just didn't seem right then. Her and I just found we could talk about anything. She sure as hell made Heather jealous but she really didn't have to worry much about us. The only thing she might have had to worry about is that Ashley has a bit of a nudist streak in her and she was never shy about being naked around me but it was never sexual... well... that is until a couple weeks ago."

"Why won't she talk to you or why won't you talk to her now that you have had sex?" she asked.

"Well we really didn't have sex. I mean I was inside her but I pushed her off of me and she landed on the floor really hard. She is so mad at me that she won't call me, won't take my calls. I feel so bad about what happened."

"Do you ever think that maybe she is just too embarrassed about the situation and cannot face up to the situation?" said Sarah with a serious look.

"I don't know. I can't even talk to her to find out," I said sullenly. "I guess it probably wouldn't be a good idea to start seeing her as a friend anyways now that I am in another relationship."

"I wouldn't be jealous of her at all," said Sarah. "I think you need her back in your life. She makes you complete. I think I would like this girl a lot if she likes you so much."

"But there is now going to be sexual tension between the two of us if we do get back together," I said.

"You two probably need to let it happen and then you could be friends again," she said. She turned her eyes to her drink and took a sip.

I was stunned. Had she just told me to have sex with Ashley? "Excuse me?"

"You two need to have sex and get it out of your system. Then you can continue to be friends," she said matter-of-factly.

"I can't believe you are suggesting that seeing we are dating," I said, just a bit angry.

"Hey, you made no commitments to me whatsoever. Even if you did, if it would make you two happier together as friends I would be all for it."

"Let's just change the subject," I said angrily.

"Greg, I know how much she means to you as a friend. I am willing to forgo my jealousy over you having sex with another woman if it is going to make you happier in the long run. It is obvious to me that you aren't romantically interested in her."

"Just drop it," I said firmly.

"I am not going to drop it," said Sarah firmly herself. "Listen Greg. I am not like Heather. I actually care about you. I am also not a jealous little bitch. We have dated once and had sex once. I am not going to get all bent out of shape if you sleep with another girl, especially if it is out of friendship and not out of true love. We have made no commitments to each other so technically you are still welcome to do as you please and there isn't much I can say about it."

"I really don't think that will happen," I said trying to calm down. "I want you to be the one in my life."

I couldn't believe I had said that. I don't even know where it came from. That was as close to an 'I love you' without actually saying it.

"Greg, like you told me yesterday, slow down. Let's take the emotional side of things slow for now. I am ready for it and I know it will take you some time."

"Does that mean that you regret yesterday?" I asked.