Chapter 1
Never in her life had she felt so filled up. With her back arched and her hair flinging about, Katy looked back over her shoulder at Fabian. Purposely, she stared into his eyes; but she hadn’t realized how seductively she’d been licking her lips. The 6’3, tall dark and handsome Italian man, who she had met at a coffee shop down in the city, gripped her waist even tighter while he stroked into her. Katy allowed her head to fall forward, bobbing around uncontrollably. Before she could even process her thoughts, she felt Fabian’s tight grip around her neck. Next thing she knew his strength crooked her head up toward the ceiling. Screams slipped over the edges of her lips like water coming to the cliff of a waterfall.
Fabian chuckled, said something in Italian, then leaned over. He kissed the 25-year-old on her ear, took a big whiff of her feminine scent, then announced that he was about to cum. With his grip, still tight on the back of her neck, he held the 130-pound woman in place. Even if Katy did want to be free of Fabian’s grip, she would’ve been helpless if she had tried. Katy enjoyed Fabian's last pummels before his body tensed up and he came, as he said. She herself already had two orgasms that she was sure of. After the sex stopped, her body was in a constant trembling state. When Fabian finally stopped stroking into her, he leaned over and nibbled on her ear once again. Their sweaty bodies practically stuck together for the long few moments before the Italian man finally rolled over to lay down next to Katy.
Katy, nearly dizzy from the experience, cursed and then turned over herself. She looked into Fabian's eyes as she scooted closer to him, resting her head on his muscular chest. She closed her eyes and smiled when she felt the tips of Fabian's fingers stroking her brown hair. For the first time, this was quite a show. She glanced through the windows of the bedroom’s french door – out at the cityscape; the architecture; the steeples. There, at God-only-knows what hour, Katy drifted into a deep slumber after a session of ravaging lovemaking...next to an Italian lover she never would’ve thought she would encounter.
Katy woke up rubbing her legs together. As usual, her cell phone alarm was way too alarming. Normally, she would wake up on her own – her body’s way of getting ahead of the startling sound. But Katy’s dream had been too good to wake up. Unlike many mornings, she slid out of bed and could remember so much detail from her dream that in a way she felt guilty. She was a virgin – and proud to be. Based on that alone, she shouldn’t have been having that kind of dream.
Katy lay in the bed a few minutes more in thought and then slid out from under the sheets. “Who was that in my dream?” she asked herself, pondering on the Fabian guy. “I don’t even know anyone with the name Fabian...never have. Now that I think about it, I don’t even know anyone from Italy.” She then wondered what city it had been she was looking out at through the terrace french doors. It looks European, even though she’d never been to Europe.
The 3rd grade teacher went on about her morning routine as she came down off of the high, her very-real-seeming dream had given her. She showered, ate a small breakfast, then brushed her teeth. Once her mind was ready to move on from thinking about the Italian lover, she picked back up on the train of thought where she’d been for the last few days: the next step in her life. She was coming up on her late 20s and felt as if she’d done alright – graduated from college and had successfully found a job teaching in a decent-paying school district. However, now that she was settling in with the pros and cons to being a teacher, naturally the ambitious woman had started giving thought to her next move. Living with her parents wasn’t something she wanted to do forever.
By 6:45, Katy walked out to the driveway. A light haze hovered low to the ground on the rolling slopes fanning away from their rural 5-acre property. She pulled out onto the road then headed towards the interstate. It led into the city. Like any other morning, she looked over the sides of the interstate at the improving neighborhoods as the busy freeway curved into downtown.
After a few stop-and-go traffic blockages, she finally pulled into the parking lot at Parkview Elementary. As Katy made her way into the building, she took note of the young mothers walking their children to the school’s back entrance. She stared at them for a few seconds and thought about how she certainly had a lot more to do with her youth before she had children. However, the idea was certainly creeping up on her.
Around 7:30, the morning bell rang. The school buses had all unloaded at the side of the school and children flooded into their classes. “Good Morning, Miss Miller!” came her way countless times, each time from bright and hopeful faces. Katy started teaching class, the innocent glow of the children keeping her spirits up. She loved when they asked questions – loved when they expressed opposing points of views.
Eleven thirty came rather quickly – quicker than Katy imagined, shortly after she finished the video about volcanoes. She walked the class to the cafeteria then returned back to her class room so she could decide what she would do with lunch. Just as she’d been browsing nearby restaurant options on her phone, a call came in and startled her. It was Eve, her best friend. Katy sighed, rolled her eyes, then chuckled as she answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, what’s up?” Eve asked. “What are you up to?”
“Just walked the kids down to the cafeteria and trying to figure out what I would do for lunch,” Katy answered. “You? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“I am, Katy,” Eve said.
“Well, then, how are you calling me?” Katy asked, chuckling. “If you’re at work, can you be on the phone?”
“I don’t know,” Eve said. “I guess there’s probably a rule on that. I’m getting stuff done while I talk to you. I thought it might be your lunch hour, so I just figured I would call you.”
“Oh, I see,” Katy said. “Well, when are you taking your lunch hour?”
“I don’t know,” Eve said. “Whenever I want to. You think we could meet somewhere for lunch really quick. You know I work downtown and you’re not too far from downtown. Would you be up for meeting up?”
Katy looked at her computer screen to get the time and quickly did the math in her head. She grabbed the keys, her jacket, then headed for the door. “Remember that place we went to on Market Street? You wanna meet there?”
***
Katy griped as she pulled down the narrow street. Traffic had been moving slower than usual. Once she finally got to Amerigo’s, she turned down the alley and parked at the back of the small brown brick building. Eve’s car was already in the parking lot, so she headed inside. “Hey there,” Katy said, sneaking up on Eve. Her back had been turned toward the door.
“Oh, hey, you!” Eve said. She slid her tall figure – dressed in a nice pantsuit – out of the chair and quickly hugged Katy. “I went ahead and ordered that one drink you always get. Hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Katy said, sitting down. “So, tell me about how your day has been so far. I know there’s probably something going on at your office.”
Eve laughed then went into explaining some of the looming scandals going on at the marketing firm where she worked. The CEO was still messing around with his secretary, Shaquanna. His wife had started making a habit of coming up to the office just so she could have lunch there, even if the CEO – her husband – was nowhere to be seen. The janitor was doing some kind of money-making scheme with some security guards who worked across the street in the City-County Building. Eve watched it from her office window regularly, but never really cared enough to do anything about it. From the looks of things, they were selling weed...harmless as far as Eve was concerned.
“Okay, so, enough about me,” Eve said, waving her hand dismissively. “I know we’ve both been busy lately, but I know you haven’t forgotten what we were talking about the last time we talked.”
Katy couldn’t help but to blush. She sipped her drink, looking away. Thank you, Jesus, she thought. The waitress suddenly zipped out of nowhere and came back by their table to take their order.<
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The plump waitress hurried back away. Eve turned to Katy then tapped her shin under the table. “Katy?” she said. “Don’t act like you forgot what I asked you. So,” she smiled, “are you getting yourself out to meet people or what?”
Katy sighed because she feared this very question would be coming when she pulled out of the school parking lot. “Eve, you know we talked about this. I’m not really looking to be doing any kind of dating. I’m still deciding if I might want to go back and get my Masters so I can be a principal or not.”
“Okay, okay, Katy,” Eve said. “That’s all well and fine, but that still doesn’t mean you can’t date. You have to be getting lonely and desperate, Katy. I mean, look at you.” She gestured across the table.
Katy’s forehead scrunched up. “Huh? What do you mean look at me? Desperate? Eve, seriously, I’m fine.”
Eve glanced around the small restaurant then leaned in across the table. “You still haven’t gone out and gotten any yet have you?”
Katy purposely pretended to not know what Eve was talking about. “To get any what, Eve?”
“You know, Katy,” Eve said, smiling like a teenage girl. “Seriously, you’re not going to become that ole spinster lady who lives in that dark house at the end of the block with her two cats, are you?”
“Stop saying that, Eve,” Katy said. “And no, I’m not. I told you I’m not going to have sex until I’m married. That was always my goal and I’m going to stick to it.”
“Yeah, that’s great, Katy,” Eve said. “But, well, that’s kind of based on you getting married.” She leaned back, crossed her long legs, and sipped her drink. “And from the looks of it, that’s not going to happen. Why are you so scared to date, Katy? I told you about some guys I know that I think would be great for you. You could even go on a date with each one and have your pick. You’re a pretty girl, when you wanna be, anyway. I don’t see why you would choose to just keep going on being so desperate.”
Katy rolled her eyes and sighed again. Her head shook as she realized Eve just wasn’t hearing what she had to say. “Just drop it, Eve. You don’t get it… Just drop it.”
“Okay, okay,” Eve said. She glanced away, looking out at meaty construction workers working on a sidewalk across the street and down the block. “Geesh, I can tell you’re really frustrated.” She giggled under her breath. “You’re probably having crazy dreams that just make stuff even worse. Well, I would tell you about this guy I hooked up with, but God knows how you might react. I’m not looking to say a prayer or anything.”
Katy laughed then shook her head again. “Eve, I’m not even in to church like that.” And how did she guess I was dreaming about wild, passionate sex – the kind of sex I imagined I would be having with my future husband when we make love?
“Yeah, you say that now,” Eve said, sipping her drink again. Her head shook disapprovingly. “You’re going to be that old church lady by the time you’re forty. I don’t know why you’re doing it to yourself.”
Katy sighed once again as a show of her frustration. She continued pleading her case – arguing that she wasn’t lonely and that she wasn’t doing “anything” to herself, as Eve would like to suggest. Their food came, they ate and talked the entire time. When they had paid and headed out to the parking lot, they stood on the sidewalk for a moment to close out their chat. Eve kept stealing glances at the construction workers across the street, toward the end of the block.
“Eve, well, damn,” Katy finally said. “Do you want to go over there and just drool right in front of them?”
Eve squinted at Katy then shrugged her shoulders. “See, this is exactly what I’m talking about, Katy. Prime example. You’re getting so used to being alone, that simply noticing a few strapping construction workers guys is seen as being lustful or a sin or whatever church people would call it.”
Katy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I’m not churchy, Eve. Just because I’m a virgin and not chasing after guys in bars doesn’t mean I’m churchy.”
Eve squinted suspiciously then nodded. “Yeah… Okay, Katy. Anyway, I better get going. I’ll let you know if what’s-his-name’s wife comes up to the office today. I might even go strike up a conversation with her. I need more pay and that time of the year is coming up. Hmm.”
Katy quickly said bye to her childhood friend then rushed back to her car. She looked at the time, realizing she’d been out for lunch a little longer than she had anticipated. The kids’ lunch and recess only lasted for so long. She zipped back down Market Street, went under the highway, then zigzagged through the older neighborhood’s tight, quaint streets. When she rushed back into the building, she headed for the cafeteria and got to the doors just in time. The teacher on cafeteria duty was lining the students up to be picked up by their teachers and taken back to the classroom. Katy put on her best smile and went back to being Ms. Miller. Yet, Eve’s words swirled around at the back of her mind, their backs into a corner. She was starting to hear them louder and clearer.
***
Katy pulled into the gravel driveway at home then curved with it as it walked up a slightly wooded incline to a clearing that circled around in front of the garage. She looked up at the 1900-built house, Victorian, and thought about it’s history. Her parents had been married nearly 35 years, which she thought was amazing. This was especially true when she looked at some of her mother’s cousins...women who had been married three and four times.
Katy admired the way her parents’ house had become the family home. Marriage was something she wanted – she envisioned herself being a wife and a mother as a little girl. Her lips curled into a slight smile in the mid-afternoon sun as she pulled her bag out of the backseat and headed up toward the wrap-around porch. She let herself into the house, tossed the keys onto the end table against the wall, then dropped her bag.
There had always been something about the late afternoons at home – the house in which she grew up. So much of the furniture was still the same...and still in the very same places they’d been when she was a child. So many of her friends had moved out of their parent’s house years ago – gotten their own places, their own lives. Katy, now biting her bottom lip in thought, wondered what path was right for her. She was so comfortable at home, but there was a swelling loneliness from not really having a love life.
As Katy headed up the stairs, the phone rang. It echoed around the 5-bedroom Victorian as she quickly dashed back down the steps. She slid out of her shoes at the bottom then zipped into the living room where she grabbed the phone off of the base. “Hello?”
“Whew, glad you’re home, Katy,” Linda – Katy’s mother – said. “You didn’t forget about the gathering this evening, did you? It’s not going to be a big thing, you know, but we still have some things to do.”
“No, Mom, I didn’t forget,” Katy said, giggling. “You always ask me if I’ve forgotten and I never have. What do we still have to do?”
Katy leaned against the wall while her mother explained what all needed to be done around the house. She finished by saying that she was just calling to make sure Katy was home and didn’t forget. “I’m leaving work now, so I should be home in about thirty minutes or something like that. You know there’s that construction going on at the interstate, but it’s early enough in the afternoon so I should be okay.”
“Okay, see you in a little bit, Mom,” Katy said.
When Katy hung up with her mother Linda, she chuckled as she pressed END then placed the phone back on the charger. She looked around the house – the home her mother and father had built on family and love. Eve’s words came prancing back through her mind as she headed upstairs to change into some cleaning clothes.
Chapter 2
“Wow, Katy! It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. You still look so good...haven’t gained a pound.”
Katy blushed, smiling ear to ear, as she hugged her aunt and uncle. They lived in Northern Indiana and had been so busy with their car
eers while she was busy with getting through college that it’d been a while since they spoke to one another. Katy couldn’t deny that she missed them; she hugged them tightly as they stepped into the foyer then asked who had already shown up.
Katy directed they take their jackets off so she could put them on the hook then led them around to the back of the house, where the family that had arrived congregated and talked about any and everything. Just as Katy had been heading back around to the front of the house, her mother called out for her. “Okay, Mom! I’m coming! Don’t yell like that.”
When Katy walked into the kitchen, she found everything to be calm and in order. She looked around wondering what her mother called her name for. “Yeah, Mom? What is it?”
Katy wound up helping her mother get some things together and carry more meat out to the grill. Her father was supposed to be home any minute and he would finish. In fact, the family probably wouldn’t eat any of the grilled meat unless it was done by Richard. It was a given fact.
“Mom, why do you call my name like it’s really an emergency?” Katy asked as they stepped back into the kitchen. “You make me nervous.”
Linda waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, Katy. You always say that. You know how you get to wandering off and forget what you’re supposed to be doing in terms of helping your mother. You know, Katy.”
Katy looked at her mother with a confused face. “Mom, what are you talking about? I don't...” She quickly cut her words off, shook her head, and giggled. “Okay, Mom. Whatever...”
The Valentines Day Proposal Page 19
