Chapter 5

It was a GOOD kiss. A very good kiss. I don't know if I should be proud or not, having known Jenn for two days, but I kissed right back. I didn't know what her deal was, but mine was bunch of things: I hadn't kissed in a long time. Jenn was pleasantly pretty in an understated, 'girl next door' way. And this kiss, illuminated by God's own lightshow, the moment just seemed right.

We finally pulled apart.

"That's the one you should've gotten in the river, Chuck," she said.

"Jenn," I said, "Not too soon?"

A shake of the head. "Nope. Friends. Kissing." And she landed another one.

Resolve? Just a dictionary entry. Many a man's resolve has disappeared in the presence of a female with her arms around him, pressing her lips against his. I was one. I kissed back. Was rewarded with positive feed back, a tongue teasing its way into my mouth to play with mine.

My hand strayed up to cradle her head. Her hair felt perfect and the movement stirred wisps of perfume to augment the sultry summer evening's scents.

Full length body hug. So very welcome. And arousing.

The wiggle against the evidence of my arousal was welcome. Not subtle, but welcome.

She pulled back from our kiss, smiling. "I guess that's a sign that I haven't frightened you too badly."

"Surprised? Yes. Perplexed? Yes. Confused? Yes. But not frightened."

"Are you sure you're not an axe-murdering psychopath?"

"Nope. My axe is unsullied by human blood other than my own."

"Great. Kiss me."

"Okay."

After that one ended, I started to say something.

"Dammit! Chuck! Don't overanalyze this. Shut up and kiss me."

Kiss.

"Jenn, I really like kissing you."

"You do a good job. Professional? Or talented amateur?"

"Enthusiast, coming in from a long dry spell." I was going to say something else equally witty but my mouth became occupied again. In the back of my mind was a little message flashing "Warning! You could lose control at any moment." In the front of my brain, somewhat deprived of blood supply at the moment, neurons were firing that said "Wow! This is niiiiice!" I felt less guilty about my participation here since I had done nothing overt to initiate the act.

The guilt came back when we parted lips and I saw a tear on her cheek in the illumination of the light of a flash of lightning. It went away again when she smiled a little and moved back in.

We held onto each other like this was just the way things were supposed to be, kissing, not saying a word, idyllic situation, developing.

Developing, that is, until a sudden blast of a cold downdraft brought large wet, cold drops of rain. Jenn squeaked. I let her out of my arms.

"Into the truck," she said. Her blurt was emphasized by a blast of wind bearing more of those big, cold drops.

Two doors slammed shut. I glanced sideways at her as I turned the key. She was grinning. "God's trying to tell me something."

"Yeah," I laughed. "Stop giving your friend a heart attack."

"I could feel your heartbeat. I think it works just fine." She was grinning.

"Jenn, you do realize that I haven't kissed a woman like that in a while."

"Then we're even. I haven't kissed a man like that in a while, either..."

The rain was coming down in buckets now, the wind blasting it sideways, rocking the truck. The windshield wipers couldn't keep up, even on the high setting. I pulled to the side of the narrow road. We weren't in a hurry and I knew that downpour would be short-lived.

"Oooooo, parking," she giggled.

"No, just don't want to run off this road in the downpour," I said. "Besides, this damn console takes the fun out of parking..."

"Unless..." and she unbuckled and stretched over the offending console and kissed me again.

"You're serious about this..."

"I'm enjoying this. I feel like it's all new and wonderful and happy and I'm free and you better be enjoying this as much as I am." And another kiss.

"You're gonna pull a muscle in that position," I said.

"So take me home."

"Jenn," I squeaked after another kiss, "Home might not be as safe as it was last night."

"It'll be just as safe as we need it to be," she sighed breathily before landing another kiss.

I held onto her, keeping in mind that she was stretched over the console between us. My mind was hanging on that 'we' in her last statement. All I could get out of my mouth was "Jenn..."

To which she replied, "Chuck..." and landed another kiss.

Oh, well...

That rain on the truck softened enough to make a noticeable difference.

"One more. Then I think I can drive," I said to her. I kept the 'with a massive erection' finish to that sentence to myself.

When she sat back in her seat and buckled her seatbelt, she looked happy. I don't know why she was so damned happy. I had thoughts swirling around in my head like marbles in a centrifuge, chief among them 'What have I gotten myself into?' followed by "What's the rest of tonight look like?'

I put the truck into gear and pulled back onto the narrow road.

"Tell me, Mister Chuck LeBert," Jenn said, "are you overthinking this?"

"I dunno what I'm thinking, Jenn," I replied.

"Okay, let's try this from another angle. What are you supposed to be thinking?"

"I am," I spoke, "supposed to be understanding that you are at a vulnerable time in your life, having just exited another relationship, and a man of honor would not impress himself upon you."

She giggled. Actually GIGGLED.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, Chuck," she tittered, "Don't you see?!? I mean, who impressed themselves on whom? Hmmm?"

"Welllll..."

"Chuck, I WANTED to. Kiss you, I mean. You didn't act like you expect it from me like it was your due."

"Look, Jenn," I said. "You're smart. Definitely. Pretty..."

Little squeal. "I'm pretty?"

"Yeah. You're pretty. Got that All-American Girl Next Door thing going. Pretty. Definitely. I'd have to be absolutely dead not to be attracted, Jenn, but 'attracted' is one thing. Doing you is another..."

"'Doing me'? You haven't 'done' me. We kissed, Chuck. I really enjoyed kissing you." She smirked. I saw it because I am discovering that Jenn's smirks are audible. "Whether our future includes any doing, that's some distance in the future. I will promise you another kiss before bedtime, though."

"Why?"

"DO I have to say it, Chuck? I guess you want me to just say it, huh?"

"Yeah. Say it. Why?"

"Because you're cute. Good enough? How about 'It's nice to kiss a nice guy for a change?' Or maybe it's a regression to my childhood when a kiss before bedtime was just part of being secure."

"I dunno how to deal with smart chicks," I said.

That noisy smirk again. "'Smart' is a compliment. I dunno about 'chick', though."

"Just a phrase. Meant to convey my confusion." That's what I said. In my mind, though, was more turmoil. The lady was charming, disarming, alluring, attractive, desirable, her turns of phrase and her looks flipping back and forth between schoolgirl and woman of substance.

"Just so I'm not being classified as a piece of meat or an accessory."

"Never."

"Never?"

"You know, Jenn, you don't ACT like a piece of meat. I don't understand how you got into the situation you tell me you were in."

"I wasn't always who I am today. I didn't know what I know today. I wasn't experienced in life."

"You grew."

"We all grow," she said. "I'm sure you grew in a lot of ways, too."

"I acknowledge that truth," I said. "Life forces such things. You grow, or you go crazy."

"I'm not crazy."

"No," I said. "You're subject to philosophical excursions, though."

Giggle. "I do that sometimes. Bothers my co-workers to no end."

The rain changed to 'downpour' status as we drove through the storm. I slowed down, the wipers beating hard to subdue the flood on my windshield, losing the battle. When the taillights of the car ahead of me almost went invisible, I reached over and punched the emergency flasher button. Jenn's hand touched mine briefly.

"You need both hands to drive right now," she said.

"Jenn, what are you doing to me?" I asked.

"I dunno, Chuck. What are you doing to me?"

"ME?!? I'm all innocent here. I saw your car blow up on the Interstate. Stopped to help."

"My poor old momma would tell you that God killed my car."

"And exactly why would God take time out from managing a universe to toss a rod through the crankcase of a ten-year old SUV?"

"To make me meet a decent guy."

"Your mom wasn't fond of what'sisname?"

"No. Not at all. Of course, he wasn't fond of her, either, for that matter. She thought he was a lazy windbag, a set of characteristics I apparently overlooked. He thought she was a lazy windbag, a set of characteristics that I find to be somewhat off target." She sighed. "I learned she was correct about him. I wish I'd learned it sooner."

"Would've saved God the trouble of blowing your car up."

"Then he'd've had to cause an earthquake or something equally startling to bring us together." That loud smirk again.

"You're attributing our meeting to..."

" ... a direct action on the part of a deity."

"You SURE you're not crazy?"

"Nope. I worked a psych ward. Doctors all over the place. None of 'em ever looked at me and said 'You should be a client, not the staff.' Am I frightening my benefactor?"

"No, you KISSED your benefactor. Turned him into something else."

"A good something? Or a bad something?"

"A confused something. I'm trying to be all noble here..."

"And I recognize and appreciate that, Chuck. Wouldn't have been as much a quandary if you were obnoxious..."

"You need to put that question to my co-workers before you assign a value..."

Giggle. "And not bad looking."

"You're making me blush."

"I can't see that. It's too dark. You could be leading me on."

"Wasn't trying to lead you anywhere."

"As I've seen. I pushed you here after dinner. I pushed you into kissing me."

I saw a set of headlights approaching in my rearview mirror at a much higher speed than I thought prudent. The road was now four-laned, so he had plenty of room to pass, but that required he change lanes. On a dry road, that would be no problem, but in the downpour, the depressions left by a million passing tires held water.

Rodney Ramjet swapped lanes and as his tires started hydroplaning and lost friction, the car kept swapping, one end for the other, then hit the median, nosed down, then up and over onto its roof.

Jenn gasped. I hit the brakes and the emergency flashers and pulled over. "Call 9-1-1." She already had the phone in her hand.

It was still raining when I pulled off on the shoulder and got out. I didn't give a thought as to what I'd find. The car was upside down, front wheels still spinning. The driver's side door was popped open and I could see a figure piled up in a lump on the headliner. No seatbelt. I was stepping towards the wreck when Jenn passed me up.

"I'm a nurse, dammit," she hissed. "D'ya have a first aid kit?"

"Yeah."

"Get it!"

"Be careful," I told her as I turned back to the truck.

In a matter of seconds I was kneeling on the soggy ground beside her, opening my first aid kit.

"Big dressing," she said to me. "Wanna hold this skin off 'er face." To her patient she said, "Hon, don't try to move. I can't tell you what all is wrong. An ambulance is on the way. Let them move you."

There was indeed a female lying there, bloodied, as I used my flashlight to illuminate the scene as best I could. It was, as I supposed, a mess. No seatbelt, the overweight woman had tumbled freely in the car as it flipped. Somewhere in that trip, she'd torn a huge patch of scalp loose. Jenn was gently pulling it back into place with my biggest dressing.

"Just keep you eyes closed, hon," she said softly. "Chuck, dump some saline on this dressing."

I poured the solution on a second dressing and Jenn carefully wiped the woman's face, all the while speaking to her softly over the woman's moans. "When the ambulance gets here they can help you with the pain, hon. Just hang on with us."