“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry about starting or sorry about stopping?” I asked, out of breath. My heart was still racing a mile a minute, and my body was burning up with desire.
“Sorry to you for the first and sorry to me for the second. Sex on the couch is not a first-encounter kind of thing. It’s a third or fourth encounter kind of thing.”
“There’s going to be a fourth encounter?” That was the best news I had had in years.
“I’m supposed to wine and dine you before I jump your bones,” he said into the cushion.
“But you don’t wine and dine. I would be wined and dined while you ate a chicken breast out of a Tupperware.”
Hudson lifted his head off the cushion. “When I get back, I’m going to wine and dine you. Then, I’m going to feast on you.”
“Oh,” I breathed and squirmed against him.
“Don’t do that,” he groaned. “A guy can only take so much.”
He sat up and looked down at me for a moment and sighed. I sat up, too.
“I’ll be back in two weeks,” he told me.
“I’ll be here. I’ll get a facial before then. Maybe a chemical peel. I wonder if I can get liposuction before you return.”
He shook his head. “No. Don’t change. I want you to stay just as you are.”
Hudson had helped me move in, but since I had such few belongings, it didn’t take long. He, meanwhile, had to get organized for his top secret trip, so he said goodbye to me before noon with a small kiss and another promise to see me in two weeks.
When he left, the bungalow was quiet, but I didn’t feel lonely. It may have sounded crazy, but I felt so at home that it was like the bungalow was keeping me company. It was a beautiful day and I opened all the windows. Then, I took another tour of my new home. I had draped my quilt over my bed and put my clothes in the armoires in the hallway. In the kitchen, I poured a glass of water from the tap and sat down to a meal of delicious bread and butter.
Joe came to see me and brought me a Delivery Happiness gift bag of staples for my kitchen, and then he left to make his usual rounds. In the aftermath of the big kiss, Hudson had completely forgotten to meet Joe and give him the third degree.
“I’m happy you’re here,” Joe said. “It’ll be nice to see you every day. Later, Paul, Jenny, and I are going to sit by the fire outside and drink a glass of Jenny’s homemade beer. Are you in?”
It sounded wonderful, and I said I would love to join them.
“Good,” he said, obviously pleased. “There’s a friend of mine coming, too. I’d like you to meet her.”
I perked up. “Her? A special her?”
He laughed. “A very special her. I hope you’ll like her.”
When he left, I sat on my couch and made two phone calls. The first was to my son. I gave him an abbreviated story of what had happened. I told him that his father and I had grown apart, and I had moved out.
“You mean he was cheating on you,” Jamie said, surprising me.
“You knew?”
“I thought you knew, too. I thought you knew all these years, and you two had an agreement.”
“I had no idea,” I told him. “Never. I thought he was faithful.”
“This wasn’t the first woman, Mom. He’s had other women all my life. Once he brought one of them to my Little League game.”
His news hit me like a sledgehammer to the side of my head.
“I had no idea. I’m sorry that I was so blind,” I told him.
“I’m sorry that I blurted it out. I assumed you knew,” Jamie said.
