1. Into the Abyss--Chapter 9


    Date: 1/29/2016, Categories: Love Stories, Author: prairiedogg, Rating: 30, Source: LushStories

    Californian already. Come on in." Jan led me through the foyer and into her kitchen. She grabbed the pizza box and asked me to bring the plates and napkins. We made our way to her living room, which was sunken a couple of feet below the rest of the floor plan. We sat on a long, plush sofa, facing her fireplace. There was beer on ice atop the coffee table. She took a plate, opened the pizza box and took a very large slice of pizza and put it on the plate, which she handed to me, along with a napkin. As she got a slice for her plate, I took two beers and opened them for us. "Jan," I told her, "You have a very lovely home. Thank you for inviting me over. You might not believe this, but I thought about ordering a pizza tonight before I dozed off." "Really? It would seem that great minds think alike." She raised her bottle of beer. "Here's to great minds and hopefully to the start of a great friendship." As we ate and drank, we talked a bit about our backgrounds. I learned that Jan grew up on a farm in Northern California and loved horses. I told her that I grew up in a small town in rural North Carolina and mainly worked in the tobacco fields while growing up. We both laughed at how we both came from simple beginnings and now lived in the Bay Area. Jan told me that it was her hope to retire someday and live in the country, with a couple horses to tend to. I really hadn't given much thought to my retirement plans, but a slower pace would be just fine with me. After a couple ...
    slices of pizza we were both done, so I took our plates, along with the pizza box, and took them to the kitchen. When I returned, Jan was curled up on the sofa and patted the cushion next to her, beckoning me to sit closer to her. As I did, I found myself shaking like a nervous schoolboy. My mouth went dry and I was having trouble making conversation. I hadn't felt this way since high school, when I was on a date with the Homecoming Queen and didn't know what to do next. Jan could sense my nervousness and reached out to take my hand. "Frank, there's no need to be nervous. I'm not going to bite you or anything like that. If anyone should be nervous, it's me. I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but this is the closest I've been to a man in nearly 10 years." That broke the ice and I found my voice again. "I don't understand why you've denied yourself all these year, Jan. I get it that you wanted to raise Jennifer and maybe even be a role model for her, but surely there had to be times when you needed someone to be close to." "I told you before, Frank. No one has ever piqued my interest enough to bother dating or even having pizza and beer with. That is, until now." I looked at her. She was smiling, but there were tears welling up in her eyes. I raised her hand to my lips and gently kissed it. She responded by caressing my cheek and playing with my hair. I started to open my mouth to say something, but she covered my mouth with her index finger to shush me. I moved her hand ...
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