Chapter 11

Chuck's turn:

Weekend. I've known her for a whole week and a couple of days and I'm sure that most people who know that fact and correlate it to the fact that now we've been married half that time, they'd think that one, or more likely both of us are crazy.

I like being crazy. Like Sunday morning. Woke up without the alarm clock going off, rolled over, found Jenn, wrapped her in my arms. She twisted her head to check the clock. "Okay, buster," she said. "We have forty-five minutes, then we get ready for church.

I'm thinking that going to church is kind of iffy. I say so.

"Nope. We go. You and me. Holding hands, just like we belong there, because we do."

"You're going to turn me into a better person," I told her.

"We'll turn each other into better people. That's what couples are supposed to do. At least so I've heard. I've never actually succeeded." She kissed me. "Darned blue eyes. You're like Jenn's cocaine."

"You're beautiful in the morning," I said.

"And you're blind."

"Maybe. Maybe there's a difference between 'blind' and 'blinded'. Whatever. You're beautiful in the morning."

Her hand explored, found me hard. "Is that because of me?"

"Yes it is." I've never been much affected by that 'morning wood' thing. But then I'd never hand Jenn in my life. "You're like some sort of fantasy to me."

"You're strange."

"Used to think so myself. Then I found this brown-haired girl who floats my boat."

Giggle. "And she thinks you're strange, and she thanks God that you are." Her tongue moistened her lips, something I took as a sign. I kissed her. She started pushing the waistband of her panties down.

"You know, Chuck, this all started when you gave me a ride. I wanna a ride right now." She paused. "What have you DONE to me. I'm all wet, and ... we just woke up together."

I responded by hauling my own drawers down as she cleared the covers out of the way. Up until this point in my life I have never made love to a woman wearing a T-shirt. Can't say that now.

We showered together, got out, attended to personal hygiene. I finished shaving. She was drying her hair.

"Let me help you with that," I said. She looked sideways at me, questioning. I took the dryer from her, then her brush, and took over for her. She lolled her head back, smiling.

"You're gonna spoil me, Chuck."

"Why? You think this is a one-time thing?"

"It isn't?"

"You're my habit, rabbit," I said. I thought I was finished. "Did I do it right?"

She stood up and kissed me. "Absolutely." Wrapped her arms around my waist, pulled me against her. We're both naked. The effect of this contact was obvious.

"Oh. Look!" she said, smiling. "Watch this." She knelt. I honestly tried to watch. My vision blurred.

She was smiling when she stood back up and kissed me on the lips. "That, my dear, is a promise." And she headed out of the bathroom, smiling seductively over her shoulder.

Which I misread. Started easing her towards the bed.

"No! Church!" Giggle. "We're not subject to our baser instincts."

"Yes I am, baby."

Giggle. "Then I shall be your stabilizing influence."

"Yes, ma'am."

"If you get dressed all by yourself, I will kiss you again before we leave," she said in a mothering voice.

"Yes ma'am."

"And if you're good in church, you'll get a special prize afterward." The twinkle in those eyes...

We drove to church, parked, got out. "Don't smile too big. Everybody will think something's up," she whispered.

"They'll find out that we got married Thursday and KNOW something's up," I said.

We ran into the pastor's wife in the back of the church. "You two," she said. "Didn't figure we'd see you two for a couple of weeks."

Jenn fielded that one. "We both have work in the way. We're going to wait a couple of months and do a proper trip."

Several others stopped us. Word gets around. I was congratulated and clapped on the back by men who were standing there in the presence of their wives. Yeah, I caught more than one doing a quick scan of my Jenn. She dresses well. Simple. No glitter or miles of filmy fabric. Knows the 'little black dress' trick, except she's more diverse in her spectrum. Today it's royal blue, simple lines, not too tight, but definitely following the curves of what I knew to be a sweet body. The fact that other males eyed it, well, it IS church, and one is better served NOT getting into fist fights. Besides, wives were there. None of those guys was going to go near the precipice of being too obvious at checking out another man's wife.

We participated in the Sunday School and in the service, like good Baptists, then filed out afterward, shaking hands with the pastor and his wife.

"I didn't expect to see you two here this Sunday," he said. His wife laughed.

We drove off along with the majority of the congregation. "Gonna hit the restaurants like a herd of locusts, aren't they?" Jenn noted.

"Yeah. We can fight the crowds..."

"Or go home and have something light for lunch and do a bigger dinner."

"There are HOURS between lunch and dinner," I stated.

"Why, sir, you're correct." And a smile that melted almost everything. Except this one part.

Ten o'clock at night. Jenn's propped on one elbow beside me in bed. My breathing and heart rate are almost back to normal. "Work tomorrow," she said. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"Forgive me for being coarse, but I now understand the term 'fucked silly'. That last one? I was giddy!"

"You! This is something of a fantasy, Jenn. I never imagined..."

"Me too, Chuck. Turn off the light. We'll get up early enough for a quick shower." I turned out the light. Turned towards Jenn. She slipped up against me, her hand grasping my dick, then my balls.

"Does that bother you? I'll stop."

"Don't stop. Please don't stop."

"It's kind of relaxing to me, Chuck. Like one of those squeeze things they sell for stress relief. You're my stress relief." She raised up enough to kiss me. "G'nite, baby. I love you."

"I love you too, Jenn." And went to sleep.

Monday morning alarm. Quick shower. Two of us. Together. Small amount of hanky panky. I slipped into my work togs: khaki slacks. Knit shirt. Safety shoes. I noticed Jenn bent over, her butt giving delightful impression to the cotton fabric of her hospital scrubs.

"You're gonna make me have a nurse fetish," I said.

"Since I'm a nurse, that's a perfectly acceptable aberration," she smiled. We both hit the kitchen, two bowls of cereal, two travel mugs of coffee, a kiss in the driveway, and we're off to make the wheels of industry spin.

Several times during the course of the day my dedication uncharacteristically flagged. I'd find myself leaning back in my chair, closing my eyes, thinking of Jenn, wondering how her day was going. I had no idea what it was like being a nurse, never gave it much thought., but Jenn had me wondering.

Finally I gave up on the office, ran out to see how a couple of projects were going with our crews in the field. Grabbed a friendly client and took him to lunch, dropped him back at his office, then went back to mine.

Celia caught me coming through the door. "You didn't even say 'hi' this morning. You mad?"

"No, not in the least. Distracted."

"Newlywed," she said. "I'd've taken a couple of weeks off. Let ol' Ron just suck it!"

"Gee, Celia," Ron's voice came from his office, "Glad you have our best interests in mind."

"Silliest thing I can imagine," Celia returned. She looked at me again. "Well, it's your life. She looks like a sweetheart. Deluded beyond my kin, but a sweetheart."

"She is," I smiled, thinking of that kiss this morning in the driveway. "I wonder how her day's going. First day. New hospital."

"Sounds like fun," Ron interjected.

"She's an agency nurse," I said. "Like us being contractors. Always on the outside, no matter how competent."

"I know how that feels," Ron commiserated. "It's the story of our lives. Never thought of it for a nurse, though."

"Jenn says it's a fact of life. I think it works better for the two of us. If she wants to take off so we can go on vacation or whatever, she just takes her name off the roster for a while at the agency. If she was on the staff at a hospital, she'd have limited vacation days in the first place, and in the second place she'd have a schedule according to their whim."

"So, did you two do something romantic this weekend?" Celia asked.

Okay, here's where I build on my legendary persona. "We sure did. We both shot in a rifle match Saturday. Went to church yesterday."

"Wait! What?"

"She wanted to shoot, so we shot."

"Like, GUNS?"

"Paperclips and rubber bands won't do six hundred yards, Cee." I looked up at Ron. He had a bemused expression on his face. "Did I tell you she's a veteran? Army?"

"Still..."

"She's not your standard delicate little flower," I said. "Might be why I tumbled so hard."

Celia's eyes softened. "You admitted it. I never heard a guy admit it." She cast her eye at Ron, skewering him. "But ... shooting?"

"She went through the whole course. First time for her. I let an old Marine coach 'er, and she outshot three guys who shoot there twice a month."

"You ... you sound like you're proud..."

"D'you have an idea how hard it is to find somebody who shares my weird hobbies?"

"Yeah," Ron said. "You kayak. Shoot. Those are kind of off the wall."

"Off the reservation," Celia said helpfully.

I reached in the candy jar on Celia's desk and took a mint. "I could stay here all day and talk happy about Jenn," I said. "She's sort of my favorite topic. But I have to finish reviewing those drawings..."

"Oh, sure! Act all dedicated when the boss is standing there..." Celia laughed.

"Yes, please do," Ron tossed back.

So I went back to the office and flipped through pages of esoteric lines and wording, extracting information, occasionally eyeing the clock. Finally the hands were in the vicinity of the magic four. I killed my computer and got up, gracefully exited, and headed home. I was just turning off the main road, heading into the residential area when my cellphone rang. Bluetooth in my ear. Touched the button without looking at the phone – company safety policy, you know.

"This is Chuck. Can I help you?"

"You can tell me you'll be home when I get there. I need cuddles and pats on the head 'n stuff."

"I'll be there. Bad day?"

"No, exactly what I expected for a first day at a new hospital. The faces change. The geography changes. The assholes are a constant."

"Assholes are almost as widely distributed as hydrogen in the universe, baby," I said. "Come home. I will hold you and squeeze you..."

"And call me 'George'?" Giggle.

"And call you George. Even though you don't look anything like a 'George' to me. Drive carefully. I'm turning onto our street."

"Our street. I like our street. I like having anything that's 'our'."

"I love you, doll. See you in a bit."

"I love you too. Bye."