by Giselle Fox
“Insanity?”
“Shut up. She’s younger too.”
“Oh dear.”
“Not as young as yours but...”
“I don’t want to hear about it” I laughed.
***
I pulled my truck into the underground and parked. I sat and stared at the steering wheel for a moment as I pondered my conversation with Christa. The most important part had been how I’d felt more than what either of us had said. I smiled to myself and grabbed my phone off the seat beside me.
I took the stairs up to the fifth floor. When I opened the stairwell door, I saw Brenda, Rhi’s partner coming down the hall with a bunch of shopping bags.
“Need some help?” I called.
“Nope, I got it,” she said as she transferred them all to one hand and rummaged for her keys.
Rhi opened the door before she found them. “Hey sugar,” she said warmly.
Brenda’s eyes sparkled as she handed over some of the bags.
Rhi peered inside one of them. “You got ice-cream!”
I pulled my keys from my pocket and opened my door as they cooed to one another.
“When are you heading back to Saskatoon, Brenda?” I asked.
“We’re both heading back for Christmas,” she said. “Mom’s in a home now but we want to be with her over the holidays. I have to pack up her house.”
“Is she going to sell it?”
Brenda sighed. “In the spring, I think. We’ve got a lot to do.”
“We’ll get through it,” Rhi said happily.
I let Skip out of my apartment and he ran straight to Rhi. “Hello Handsome,” she said as she bent down to give him a scratch. “Where’s your other mom?”
“She’s upstairs,” I said. “We’re heading up there now.”
“Would you ladies like to come over for dinner tonight? I got some lovely halibut steaks on sale at the market,” Brenda said.
“Sure, that sounds great. Can I bring a salad or something?”
“If you like, but you don’t have to.”
Rhi held up the carton of ice-cream. “We have all the food groups we need right here.”
“Amen, sister,” I said.
“Oh,” Rhi said and slipped back inside the door. “I have something for you.” She came out holding a plastic bag. “Here.”
“What’s this?” I said as I peered inside.
“It was fun while it lasted but my graffiti days are over,” she said.
I pulled the can of spray paint out from the bottom of the bag and laughed. “Silver, hey? I should have known that was you.”
Brenda looked at both of us and shook her head. “I don’t want to know.”
I gave Rhi a hug. “Thanks for always being there right when I needed you,” I said.
“You are most welcome, Rocky,” she smiled warmly.
“Okay, we’ll see you in a little bit,” I said.
Skip and I raced up the stairs to the seventh floor. It had become a game for us though he always won. He tore off down the hall to Candy’s door and barked once he was outside. Candy opened the door and stuck her head out. “Hey baby cakes,” she beamed.
When I got there I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her. “Brenda invited us for dinner,” I said.
“Perfect, I was going to suggest we order in tonight. So… how did it go with Christa?”
“It was interesting,” I said. “It didn’t go at all like I expected. It felt really different to be around her without Sam there, you know? It made everything clearer.”
“It makes sense,” Candy said.
“We just went for a walk and I sort of realized that below that whole story about what happened with her and Sam was just the simple truth of Christa and me, and how we were just not right for each other anymore. It was so obvious.”
“You’re free,” Candy said and smiled at me gently.
“Well... free from that relationship. I’m completely caught up in you now and I don’t have a problem admitting it.”
Candy pulled my hand to her lips and kissed it. “I’m proud of you.”
“You’re an amazing woman. I really have to stop comparing you to Christa but I swear, if I’d told her that I wanted to go for a walk with my ex and get some closure, she’d have freaked out.”
“She had her good bits, I’m sure.”
“She did,” I said and pulled Candy close. “Thank you for being so amazing.”
“My pleasure.”
“So how was your afternoon?” I asked.
Candy looked around her apartment. “Well, I made some shortbread and finished cutting that stencil I was working on.”
I squeezed her tight. “You are literally perfect, you know that? You’re my favorite artist and you bake. Can I see what you did?”
“You want a cookie first?”
“Yes!”
Candy pulled me into the kitchen. The counter was covered in shortbread shaped into delicious orbs. “I couldn’t resist,” she laughed. “I was going to make snowmen but then the head broke off the first one and it came out looking more like a set of boobs. I just went with it.”
“They’re beautiful!” I said.
“I figured Rhi and Brenda would appreciate them. Do you think Shep would like some too?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I thought so.”
I grabbed a few of them and popped one into my mouth. “Shortbread should be a part of every seasonal celebration, don’t you agree?”
“Sure,” she said as she walked over to her work bench. I followed.
“So this is the first color,” she said as she lifted a section from the desk. “This is the second color, and this is the third. I’m still figuring out the fourth color but I’m almost there.” She opened her laptop and pulled up a mock-up of the piece. “Here,” she said and slid it over to me.
“It’s great, truly. Where are you going to put it?”
“Well, I was thinking you and I could take a quick trip to Toronto before we come home after Christmas. If not, I can go by myself.”
“Are you kidding me? Of course, I want to come. Skip can stay with Grandma. He’ll get spoiled to no end.”
“Perfect.”
A little while later, we were lounging on the sofa back in my apartment. Skip was stretched out in front of the fire warming his belly. Candy and I laid wrapped in each other with a blanket over our feet. It was approaching dinner time and we would soon be heading across the hall to Rhi and Brenda’s place.
“So what are some of the things that you are thankful for this year?” Candy whispered.
“You, Skip, Shep, my health, my family, my business, the roof over my head, the beautiful city that I live in, the two wonderful ladies across the hall that invited us to dinner. How about you?”
“I am thankful for being exactly where I am. I’m thankful for everyone and everything that played a part in it.”
I sighed. “Everything feels perfect, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does.”
I looked over at Skip who looked completely blissful and warm. “I feel so lucky sometimes.”
Candy smiled gently. “You’ve come a long way in a short time.”
I turned to face her again. “I am so in love with you.”
“I know you are. I feel it every time you look at me.”
“I love you too, Skip dog,” I called over to him.
He lifted his head and groaned and then laid it back down again.
“Marry me, Rocky,” Candy said suddenly.
“Baby… seriously?”
“I am serious. My father told me that when the right one came along I should grab them and never let go. Pinky promise me right now that we’ll stick it out through anything. I don’t need a priest or a license or even a ring, even though I love rings and totally encourage you to buy me as many as you want. Right now, I just want you.”
“You have me Candy. I’m yours, pinky promise.”
“And I’m you
rs, Rocky. Pinky promise.”
We curled our pinkies around each other’s and Candy started to cry. “Okay, now we have to consummate to make it official,” she whispered and then giggled.
I snuggled into the cushions with my young wife. Whether it was fate or just blind luck, there we were. It felt silly, girly, crazy and brash. It felt bold, unapologetic, and completely naive. But deep down in my gut I knew, I just knew that everything would work out exactly how we had imagined.
Three years later
“Hey, Rocky!”
I looked behind me in the long line-up and saw a face from the past.
“Troy! Wow! Great to see you! Are you in town from London?”
“Yes, just here for the awards. Thought I’d come visit some old friends. Are you living here now?”
“No, same as you. Just here for this and a little break. Drove down the coast last week.”
“I heard Candy is getting an award,” he said. “Must be all the mentoring.”
“She is,” I beamed. “She deserves it.”
Troy smiled. “I loved your Headscapes cover, by the way. That was killer.”
“Thanks, yeah, it turned out well.”
“I thought it should have gotten nominated but I guess they couldn’t give you everything, Miss lifetime achievement award.”
“Well,” I said and looked down at the ground. “I have to save something for the rest of you.”
“Right!” Troy laughed. “I got mine last year, remember?”
“Where are you sitting?”
Troy scanned his ticket, “At the back. You?”
“Fifth row,” I said.
“Nice. Well, congratulations to the both of you. I’ll maybe see you after.”
“Sounds good.”
Candy rejoined me in the lineup. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“Hey baby,” I said. Candy’s hair was chestnut brown with her signature pink streak in the front. She wore a long pink gown with a high slit up one side.
“Your ass looks incredible in that dress,” I whispered in her ear.
She looked up at me slowly. Her long lashes fluttered gracefully. The pink sapphire on her ring finger sparkled in the lights. “I’m not going to make it if you keep looking at me like that.”
“Looking at you like what?” I asked, knowing full well the sort of look I was giving her.
“You know,” she said with a smirk as she looked around at the other guests. “Like you want to eat me.”
I lowered my voice again. “The problem is I know what you taste like under that dress.”
Candy’s eyes dipped closed. “Stop,” she whispered. “I have to give a speech.”
“So do I,” I said. “And when we’re done...”
“We have a two-hour drive to Monterey?”
“No. Well, yes. But not right away.”
“We have to stop for gas?”
“Yes, that too. But...”
Candy was grinning now that she’d made me fumble my seduction. “Baby, do you have a diabolically dirty plan up your sleeve?”
“Oh, I do, very diabolical,” I said.
She curled her hands around my waist and pressed herself against me. The sensation of her breasts against my abdomen made me shiver.
“Go on...” she grinned knowing what she’d just done to me. “Tell me about your plan, Rochelle.”
I swept my hand up and down her back slowly. “I have this fantasy and I was wondering if you could help me with it,” I whispered.
“Oh, I’ll help. I love to help,” she said as she glanced around us. I knew we were probably being watched but it didn’t matter at all at that moment.
I pressed my lips to her ear. “I want you right now, my love. I want your pussy to be silky and wet when you walk up to accept your award. I want you tingling from my mouth.”
“I’m tingling right now,” she whispered. She gripped my hand. “Come on.” She pulled me from the line.
“Excuse me, pardon me,” I said as she weaved us quickly through the lobby. I watched her beautiful full ass wiggle in front of me and weighed the possibility of tasting her from every angle. Then she led us down a long corridor and down a flight of stairs.
“The bathrooms are back that way,” I said and pointed behind me.
“There’s something else down here,” she said.
“How do you know?”
Candy looked at me over her shoulder. “You’re not the only one with fantasies, my love.”
Down another corridor and a short flight of steps and it looked like we were at the back of the building by the loading bay. There was a limo parked there.
“Ummm,” I said and looked around.
“It’s open,” she said with a grin. “I checked.”
“Here? Where’s the driver?”
“I don’t know. Not here,” she said and reached for the door handle.
“What if he comes back?”
“We’ll say we thought it was ours, I don’t know. What’s he going to do?”
“You’re crazy, you know that?”
“You started it,” she smiled. She leaned against the side of the car. “You still want me to tingle when I walk up to get my award?”
“Uh, yeah... but.”
Candy pulled the rear door open. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes. Let’s go.”
I looked at Candy and shook my head. She was right, I’d started it, and I couldn’t very well chicken out. So I took a deep breath and climbed in.
Candy slid in behind me. “Nice car,” she said. “I bet it has champagne.”
“Okay, you can’t drink someone else’s champagne. That’s just bad karma.”
“I’m kidding. We don’t have enough time anyway. She sat back on the back seat. “Comfortable,” she said and looked up at me. “Take off your jacket and shirt.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to get wet and I don’t want to stain your nice suit, that’s why,” she said matter-of-factly.
I knelt down on the carpeted floor of the Limo and stripped off my jacket and shirt. “This is totally nuts,” I said and laid my clothes along the seat behind me.
“But you’re doing it anyway,” she grinned and spread her legs wide in front of me.
“Where did your thong go?” I asked.
She glanced at her clutch on the seat beside her. “It was bothering me. I thought I’d go commando. I’ll put it on after.”
I slid her dress up her thighs and was enveloped in her warm scent. Candy reached her hands down and stroked my face. “I’d love to grab you by the hair right now but it looks so nice I don’t want to mess it.”
“Later,” I said and slid my arms under her legs.
“Rocky?” she said softly as she gazed into my eyes.
“Yeah, baby?”
“I fucking love you.”
“I fucking love you too,” I moaned and plunged my tongue between her thighs.
Candy’s hand shot up to the ceiling of the car and pressed back against it. “Fucking fuck,” she moaned.
She was swollen and sweet, tangy and flowery and wildly feminine. She was all mine and it suddenly didn’t matter where we were.
“I’m going to…” Candy gasped.
I stopped everything I was doing. “No, you don’t, not yet. Roll over.”
Candy groaned. “Why?”
“Because I want to look at your gorgeous butt. Roll over.”
Candy flipped over onto her knees. I scooted back to give her some room. “That’s it, baby, against the seat, tush in the air.”
“You’re dirty,” she giggled.
“If you can pull me into a Limo that isn’t ours and make me strip down to my bra, you’re bending over the back seat.”
She bent forward and reached back. I swept my hands over the smooth globes of her ass and dipped my head down.
“Oh, fuck yes,” Candy groaned. “Right there baby... yeah.”
She rocked her hips back against me as I dragged my t
ongue from front to back. When I reached my hand around and stroked her softly with my fingertips, I felt her knees tense and her breath stop. She made her little squeaking sound, the one that told me she was ready. So I hung on tight to her hips and let her fly.
A few minutes later, after Candy’s breath had relaxed, she reached a hand over to her clutch. “We should check the time.”
“I think we should just go,” I said as I looked around for a towel.
Candy kissed me. “Hmm, you smell like coochie. Only air kisses for you for the rest of the night.”
I reached for my black tuxedo shirt and slipped it on. Candy helped me button it low over my breasts. “Gorgeous,” she said as she adjusted my collar.
After a final check, I opened the door to the Limo and peered out. There was no one around, which was lucky since the front of the building was crawling with people. We both stepped out into the loading bay and I shut the Limo door behind us. As we walked back down the corridor toward the lobby, we saw the driver up ahead on his cell phone. He nodded to us as we walked by.
Candy was a couple of steps ahead of me. She looked over her shoulder and grinned as we walked past. I noticed a little extra wiggle to her walk.
“Feeling good, baby?” I whispered near her ear.
“Better than good,” she said and curled her arm through mine. “I’m tingling.”
***
When I was twenty-three years old, I took my ‘75 Honda Super Sport down the West Coast and took a left at highway 40. Since then the desert had always been a special place for me. There was something magical about it, the red and yellow hues and the smells of sagebrush, the patterns of the rock and the wide open sky. It was the polar opposite to the Pacific Northwest but I loved it just the same.
Candy sat in the passenger seat with her bare foot up on the dash of the truck. The windows were open and her chestnut brown hair swirled around her beautiful face. This was a much deserved holiday for both of us. We’d held hands and drove along the dusty desert roads. Whenever she looked over and smiled at me, I could feel the love radiating from her heart.
Skip was hot in the back seat but loving the drive anyway. Every stop brought a new world of smells to explore. I reached back and gave his chin a scratch. The fur around his muzzle had turned silver but his amber eyes shone as brightly as ever.
Candy opened the big road map and folded it again to the section of highway we were on.
