and wading out to waist level, they stopped, looked into each other’s eyes, ever so briefly, and then reached out, simultaneously, to embrace one another. Their glistening, warmly wet bodies remained fused together for several minutes while their lips consummated an impassioned kiss.
When they finally broke, they began pecking again almost immediately, lip to lip, before returning again to a deep, full-fledged, wraparound kiss.
Melissa felt only minor excitement initially, except for the comforting strength of Joe’s arms and the quivering motion of the muscles in his lips. Further into the second kiss, however, when his tongue massaged hers, Melissa’s mind was triggered into fantasy, drifting off into short, rocket blasts of thought scattered among remembrances of the popping of champagne corks, autumn leaves at their golden finest, and sunrise on a clear mountain lake.
When they released each other, turned, and headed back toward Joe’s car, Melissa flooded her brain waves with a strong wish that this idyllic day, so full of promise, would never end—as if it were the ultimate twenty-four hour period that could never be equaled, and anything that dared to come afterward would be doomed as anticlimactic.
On the drive back to Melissa’s room, Joe apologized for having to return so quickly to his police work. He was scheduled to start a double shift later that evening.
“I’d love to spend the rest of the day—and the night—with you,” he admitted. “But I really must work sixteen straight hours beginning at six o’clock tonight. Then I get a few hours off to sleep before working another shift—from tomorrow afternoon to tomorrow night. I’d like to make a suggestion, though, that I think you might like.”
“Try me.”
“Day after tomorrow we trek on down to Key West for two days. We’ll do some sightseeing along the way, find a place to stay in the southernmost town in the continental United States, then toot around the historic sites the following day.
“Are you game?”
“That’s the best offer I’ve had in years.”
Chapter 5
Three deliverymen came to Mary Ann’s door on Friday afternoon.
When she unwrapped the bouquet of roses and carnations, it was as if she’d turned on a light to illuminate the semi-darkness of her kitchen. Flowers that were brightly colored and aromatic had always fascinated Mary Ann. She loved to smell them, having pressed her nose to thousands of petals ever since childhood.
Just last year, she had planted petunias, snapdragons, and portulacas outside her apartment, next to the walkway, but a group of neighborhood boys had trampled on some of the young growths and had uprooted others.
The additional gifts from Paul that awaited Mary Ann included a bottle of Chanel No. 5 and a terry cloth bathrobe.
“A lady must always have a robe,” Paul had recently told her, after she’d admitted to not owning one.
Paul and Mary Ann were planning a weekend tour of nearby Delaware, stopping at museums and perhaps spending an evening at the racetrack near Wilmington.
“My last out-of-town trip was back in October,” Mary Ann told Paul. “I took the girls on a bus ride to New York City, and then we got on a boat to visit the Statue of Liberty.
“I’ll never forget the look on Melissa’s face after I gave her the money to pay for our lunch at that little restaurant in Manhattan. I was already out on the sidewalk with the rest of the girls, waiting for her, when she ran up to us and said, ‘Mommy, the man at the cash register must have gotten me mixed up with somebody else. He didn’t take my money, and he gave me $17. He said it was my change.’”
“You’ll like what you see in Delaware,” Paul advised. “After we stop at the Hagley Mansion and walk along the Brandywine Creek, we’ll visit the gardens at Winterthur. I know you’ve called me a ‘rich’ person several times already, but this DuPont fellow who designed the gardens had so much money
When they finally broke, they began pecking again almost immediately, lip to lip, before returning again to a deep, full-fledged, wraparound kiss.
Melissa felt only minor excitement initially, except for the comforting strength of Joe’s arms and the quivering motion of the muscles in his lips. Further into the second kiss, however, when his tongue massaged hers, Melissa’s mind was triggered into fantasy, drifting off into short, rocket blasts of thought scattered among remembrances of the popping of champagne corks, autumn leaves at their golden finest, and sunrise on a clear mountain lake.
When they released each other, turned, and headed back toward Joe’s car, Melissa flooded her brain waves with a strong wish that this idyllic day, so full of promise, would never end—as if it were the ultimate twenty-four hour period that could never be equaled, and anything that dared to come afterward would be doomed as anticlimactic.
On the drive back to Melissa’s room, Joe apologized for having to return so quickly to his police work. He was scheduled to start a double shift later that evening.
“I’d love to spend the rest of the day—and the night—with you,” he admitted. “But I really must work sixteen straight hours beginning at six o’clock tonight. Then I get a few hours off to sleep before working another shift—from tomorrow afternoon to tomorrow night. I’d like to make a suggestion, though, that I think you might like.”
“Try me.”
“Day after tomorrow we trek on down to Key West for two days. We’ll do some sightseeing along the way, find a place to stay in the southernmost town in the continental United States, then toot around the historic sites the following day.
“Are you game?”
“That’s the best offer I’ve had in years.”
Chapter 5
Three deliverymen came to Mary Ann’s door on Friday afternoon.
When she unwrapped the bouquet of roses and carnations, it was as if she’d turned on a light to illuminate the semi-darkness of her kitchen. Flowers that were brightly colored and aromatic had always fascinated Mary Ann. She loved to smell them, having pressed her nose to thousands of petals ever since childhood.
Just last year, she had planted petunias, snapdragons, and portulacas outside her apartment, next to the walkway, but a group of neighborhood boys had trampled on some of the young growths and had uprooted others.
The additional gifts from Paul that awaited Mary Ann included a bottle of Chanel No. 5 and a terry cloth bathrobe.
“A lady must always have a robe,” Paul had recently told her, after she’d admitted to not owning one.
Paul and Mary Ann were planning a weekend tour of nearby Delaware, stopping at museums and perhaps spending an evening at the racetrack near Wilmington.
“My last out-of-town trip was back in October,” Mary Ann told Paul. “I took the girls on a bus ride to New York City, and then we got on a boat to visit the Statue of Liberty.
“I’ll never forget the look on Melissa’s face after I gave her the money to pay for our lunch at that little restaurant in Manhattan. I was already out on the sidewalk with the rest of the girls, waiting for her, when she ran up to us and said, ‘Mommy, the man at the cash register must have gotten me mixed up with somebody else. He didn’t take my money, and he gave me $17. He said it was my change.’”
“You’ll like what you see in Delaware,” Paul advised. “After we stop at the Hagley Mansion and walk along the Brandywine Creek, we’ll visit the gardens at Winterthur. I know you’ve called me a ‘rich’ person several times already, but this DuPont fellow who designed the gardens had so much money
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