Chapter 59

We slid easily back into the routine of daily life. Cindy was back in school on a final slide to graduation.

"Dan," she said, "I collected a few students that the teachers will let me work with to help them get along in math. It gives me something to do. And I spend a little time in the computer lab, too."

"Doing what? I asked. Cindy was computer-literate. MORE than computer-literate. She knew quite a bit about what was under the hood. After her foray into programming the control simulator at the project, she tagged me about the idea of programming in general, so we played with that a bit.

"I see something," Cindy said. She looked at me.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Like when Mister Philip showed me how to program on the simulator. Naming things, then performing operations. Looking at inputs and evaluating them. This is the same."

"It is," I said. In my mind, I noted how many people had to go through months of schooling to make that little connection. I smiled.

"Oh, come on, baby," she said. "It's obvious."

"Not to everybody, little one," I said. "Matter of fact, not to MOST people. You pick up on things a lot faster than normal people."

It was true. I saw more and more of it each day. Sometimes it scared me. I was not without experience in working around some powerful minds in my past, but here I was married to one who was fourteen, and with every passing day I saw more of what she was.

She smiled, her green eyes soft and happy. Any misapprehension I held was washed away.

"You're thinking too hard again, aren't you, baby?" she asked.

"I guess," I said sheepishly.

"Stop that," she said. "It's supposed to be fun!"

"What's supposed to be fun?"

"Life," she said. "School's like nothing I ever imagined it to be."

We'd been talking about that. Jim and Ann had given their views, too, as Cindy approached the end of her eighth year of school AND her high school graduation. "What's new with that?" I asked.

"I try to keep out of the way when I go to class, but so many people want to talk to me about graduating. It's silly. I guess a lot of 'em still think that I know some special trick that got me into this position." She sighed, cute face looking a bit sad. "I feel bad for 'em, really. What kind of benefit could you get from some trick that gets you through school? I mean, isn't the whole idea to learn?"

"Not to some people, baby. Some of 'em just want to do their time and get a piece of paper and then whatever job they can work. Some of them will pick up skills along the way, others will forever be at the bottom rung of one ladder or another."

"But still..." she started.

"And remember, you're talking about eighth graders."

She bumped her hip against my thigh. "That's a good point. Some of 'em will get a clue between now and high school graduation."

"I'm glad you got a clue when you turned fourteen."

Giggle. "I had this special guy pick me up and put me on the path to the stars, Dan."

"This guy fell in love with you, that's all. And when I started finding out how smart you are, it was just a happy extra."

She smiled broadly, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me. "Are you up for dinner with the Hardesty's?"

"You apparently talked with Jim," I said.

"Yep. He says they have a bodacious casserole and salad lined up for dinner. He said bring your guitar. And me. But if you have to choose one, bring me!" She grinned.

I couldn't stand it any longer. The grin put me over the edge. I swept her up in my arms, her giggles a melody in my ears.

She planted a kiss on my lips. "We have time for a power cuddle before we go, but we should hold off the rest until we get back home. No sense going over there smelling like an orgy," she said. "I admire your sense of propriety and decorum," I said. "Still..." I carried her to the bed at the end of the trailer and softly laid her down. Her arms were still around my neck and she pulled me down with her, a not unpleasant thing at all.

We kissed and hugged playfully for a while, whispering the kinds of things to each other that marked the happy way we fit together. I can't help it. Nine months of having Cindy in my arms and I still do not tire of the sight of those green eyes and that breathy little sigh when our kisses break. And she knows that a nip on my ear causes ME to disintegrate in her arms.

Her hand slid down past my belt and her fingers closed over the mound pushing against my khaki work pants. "Ooooo," she squealed. "If I had only a tiny bit less self-restraint I'd be unzipping you right now."

I kissed her.

Giggle. "That's enough. I get a little bit of it." Her fingers worked the zipper down as she pushed me onto my back, then her fingers went inside the open fly, fishing my erection out.

My breath caught as her lips encircled me and I was lost. Gone. The world ceased to exist but for indescribable pleasures, one of which was the red head bobbing at my groin. "Baby," I gasped, "I'm not gonna be able to take much of THAT!" The "THAT" was squeezed from my lips in response to a particularly efficacious nip.

Her head came up, her lips releasing my dick with an audible pop. "Now that's the point, guy!" A suck. "I love being able to make YOU lose yourself, Mister Always in Control." Her head went back down, tongue swirling. All I could do was stroke that pretty head as she did what she knew would push me over the edge.

It happened, just as she planned, and just as I dreamed. Her fingers played with my taut scrotum, gently tugging, rolling my balls, as I pulsed my orgasm into her eager mouth. I honestly don't know what dimension I was in as she giggled satisfaction with her success.

Finally she released me from her mouth and gently tucked my now-flaccid dick back into my pants. After zipping me back up, she climbed on top of me, resting her chin on her folded arms.

"So when are we gonna go look at our new building?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

I stuttered, "You little THING! You just turned me inside out, and you ask me about THAT?"

"Sorry." Smile. One quick kiss. Then a second, longer, soft, searching. "Better?"

"Better. And maybe if I can get you out of school Wednesday."

"Not like they're gonna teach me anything else this year..."

"We can see what Jim thinks, baby, but I need to get up there and look at the building and report to the rest of the gang."

"The pictures look good," she said.

Susan's mom had seen to it that we had an extensive set of photos starting with the construction, up to and including the bare walls, and we had drawings from the architect. Those had circulated and been the subject of several conference calls. We had numbers for the purchase process. Still, there's nothing like walking the place out yourself.

"One more kiss and then we'll go," I said. "We'll talk in the truck."

Took several more than ONE kiss. I was still feeling pleasant twinges as I stood up.

Leaving the park we waved at Mizz Helen and Judge Charlie.

"She's almost as excited about me graduating as I am," Cindy said. "And Mister Charlie ... Why couldn't I have a parent like that? Or a grandparent? I missed so much..."

"If you had, little one, then you wouldn't be sitting here beside me right now. What we live through is some of what makes us what we are."

She wrapped her arms around my bicep. "My husband, the engineer-philosopher."

"My wife, a bundle of everything a man could ever wish for, and then some." Yes, I realize that some people would think "Yuck! Too mushy!" But those people would be just somehow wrong. What's mush to some is perfectly correct and appropriate and happy to two people in love.

Yes, I remember being like this when I was married before, but with Cindy beside me, it was almost like life before Cindy was in monochrome.

She reached for the stereo. "What'd you listen to today while I was gone?" A Mozart clarinet concerto came rushing out. "Oh, I LIKE this one," she smiled as she punched the buttons to restart the piece at its beginning. "Especially this part coming up!"

We drove along. "Baby," she asked, "Don't you think they'll have some good music programs around Auburn?"

"I certainly hope so," I said.

"We'll find out. And they'll see us ALL the time." She had a satisfied smile on her face. "And kayaks. Nikki said we need kayaks!"

"Oh yeah," I laughed. "Mozart and kayaks. What else does Mizz Nikki have to say?"

Giggle. "She says she really likes Debussy for lazing around in the afterglow. Says her Dan hasn't complained about her choices in music."

"I can only imagine." I could imagine. My namesake's young wife was a cutie, and from his conversations, more than a bit like my redheaded angel in intelligence. Was I surprised? Damn right I was surprised. My life had been one surprise after another since the first time that young redheaded cutie walked up to me at the pool and started talking.

"Oh, you might NOT be able to imagine. She can cook, too. I'm looking forward to us being neighbors so I can learn from her."

"I'd be able to teach you more if we had a real kitchen," I sighed.

"That's something we need to attend to, baby, when we look at the building. Our new apartment. Gotta have a good kitchen." Her eyes lit up, the tip of her tongue protruding from between her lips, a harbinger of a memorable comment, I'd learned.

"And a shower. Big, RECREATIONAL shower."

We were a block away from the Hardesty house. "Okay," I laughed, "Now let me get the image of a naked, soapy Cindy out of my mind so we can meet our friends."

"You can't do that, and you know it," she giggled. "Just like me. You don't know how often I close my eyes during the day and think of all the ways WE have together. People wonder while I smile so much."

"I know I smile more since Cindy came into MY life," I said. "You're my happiness, little one."

When we pulled into the Hardesty's drive, Teresa and Billy were tossing a softball at each other. Billy was more of a baseball type, but Teresa played on a girl's softball team and it was that time of the year. I waved my hand at Billy when he caught Teresa's pitch.

"Okay, Mister Dan," he said, tossing me a lobbing ball.

I caught it with one hand. Lots of days playing ball were behind me. I might've not gone out for the teams, but young boys in the South cannot escape learning to catch a ball, at least not when I was a kid. I tossed it underhanded to Teresa.

"Wow, Cin," she chirped. "You married an athlete!"

Cindy giggled. "First time I ever saw 'im do that."

Teresa turned and walked with us to the door, opening it and hollering, "Mom! Dad! Cindy 'n' Mister Dan are here!"

"I'm in the kitchen," Ann said loudly.

"I'm comin'," Cindy said. She and Teresa headed back to help with the meal prep as Jim worked his way into the living room with a beer in each hand.

"You look thirsty," Jim said.

"I got you a case in the truck, buddy," I said. "I can't be freeloading all my life."

"It's worth a beer or two just for the conversation," he said. "Cindy tell you about what we talked about today?"

"Nope, what'd you talk about?" Cindy's relationship with Jim was such that she often waited until HE explained some event or idea having to do with her education. I assumed this was no different.

"We'll wait until she's back in here, then." He looked at my face. "Oh, don't get concerned. You KNOW Cindy. It's a GOOD thing."

"I suppose so," I said. "I just wonder how surprising it's going to be. I never know with Cindy."

"You know about the proctored testing we did with her last month, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "Auburn wanted her to do that. She was laughing about some of it, concerned about some of the other parts."