Simply Complicated (32 page)

Before knocking on the door she took a deep breath. When he opened it she wanted to hug him very tightly. He was looking just as handsome as ever. It seemed as if it had been forever since they last saw each other. Two months seemed like eight.

“Hey sweetheart, I’m glad you made it. You look beautiful. Come on in and get comfortable,” he said as he hugged her and gently kissed her lips.

“Thanks baby—you look as good as before,” she said while they hugged.

“Are you ready to order lunch?” he asked.

“Yes! I’m starving,” she said.

After going through the menu and ordering lunch they sat on the sofa to continue making up for lost time.

“So Kristie, have you thought a lot about me since our last meeting?” he asked, hoping for a yes.

“Mmmmm...let me think. Have I thought about you? Let’s see. Yes silly, I have done nothing but think about you. Thoughts of you will not get out of my head,” she smiled mischievously.

“Oh really! So what kind of thoughts are you having? Do any of them involve us being intimate?” he asked as he moved closer to her.

“Maybe and maybe not—you may never know. I know you’d better leave me alone, Ted. I thought you were going to be a good boy. Seems like you’re trying to get the both of us in trouble,” she replied nervously.

“I’m being a good boy. I’m simply asking you questions. Am I making you uncomfortable? Do you want me to stop? I’ll stop if you want me to,” he said while laughing.

“Okay Mr. Attorney with your twenty questions. No, you are not making me uncomfortable. But you are making me think about a dream I had about you a few weeks ago,” she said. Being in the room with him was beginning to make her reconsider her notion to remain platonic. Before she began sharing her dream she started rubbing his back.

“You better be careful doing that to me. You know I want you. Stop teasing me. Tell me about the dream,” he said eagerly.

“Well, I had a dream that you and I were in a hotel room similar to this one and you carried me into the bedroom and laid me across the bed. For some reason I was wet as if I had taken a shower.

“Anyway, you started massaging my thighs and then you slid your hand between my legs.

“I instantly became excited and then you started kissing and gently biting me on my neck like you used to. Then you began caressing my breast. After about thirty minutes of foreplay, we made love for what seemed like hours.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and discovered that I had an orgasm in my sleep,” she said trying not to show her excitement.

“Wow, baby. That dream sounds amazing. Now you got me thinking about making love to you. Come here—can I kiss you? I have wanted to kiss you since our first lunch date. Please, for old times sake?” he asked, moving in closer to her.

She leaned over and gave him a gentle yet long kiss on the lips. He sat there speechless. It was everything he thought it would be. His heart raced and he wanted to grab her and make love to her just as he did in her dream.

But before anything else could happen, their food arrived. Kristie was relieved. She found herself getting lost in him just that fast. She knew she was in trouble and thought about leaving but her heart would not let her.

“You’re saved by the knock on the door. What timing,” Ted laughed as he opened the door.

Once the food was set up and they were alone again he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

“What was that for?” she asked innocently.

“That was for not changing. You are the same sweet person you were back in college. I only wish we had reconnected before either of us were married. I know that sounds crazy but it’s how I feel,” he said leaning closer to hold her tight.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing. Of course I love my children and Donald, but what we have doesn’t happen all the time. Some people never find their soul mates. Unfortunately for us we didn’t fully understand our connection twenty years ago.

“It seems like it’s too late now. You have your family and I have mine. Do you think maybe it was never meant to be? Maybe our lives turned out exactly how they were supposed to—me with Donald and you with Lynn. Perhaps we should let go of what we shared in the past and be satisfied with the lives we have now,” she replied sadly.

“I knew that I loved you and was in love with you twenty years ago but I was too stupid to say it. I don’t think it’s too late. We were brought back together for some reason and I don’t think it was by coincidence. I believe there is a reason; I just don’t know what it is.

“I understand fully what you’re saying, Kristie, but I cannot simply walk away from you knowing I have a chance of getting you back; even if it is only as a friend. That’s better than not having you at all.

“As I said before, I do love Lynn and my children, but I now realize that I love you, too. I don’t want to let go of our past because doing so means letting go of you. If I let go of you then I am letting go of my heart. I believe one day we’ll be together as husband and wife and it will be done respectfully without anyone getting hurt.

“Of course I don’t know how or when but I just know it’s going to happen and when it does, our lives will be complete. Since you’ve been back I feel like a changed man. I constantly imagine a life with you. At the end of our phone conversations I anxiously anticipate the next one. You have come into my life and have changed my world,” he said as he looked her in the eyes and held her hand.

To his surprise she leaned over and kissed him passionately on the lips.

“I love you, too. Wow—that was easier than I thought. I wanted to tell you that for some time but I didn’t know how to say it. Now that we know how much we care about each other, what are we to do about it? I don’t want to let go of our memories either but I would hate for us to try and duplicate them and end up tarnishing them forever. So I repeat, what we are going to do?” she asked as she laid her head on his shoulder.

“We keep doing what we are doing now. We keep on loving each other and talking to each other and supporting each other. I will never ask you to leave your family and I’m sure you will not ask me to leave mine.

“As much as I want to make love to you, I won’t ask you to do anything that will make you uncomfortable,” he said.

“I appreciate that. You have no idea how much I want you but the truth is, I haven’t been with another man since Donald and I have been together. We dated for two years before getting married. So it has been seventeen years since I’ve been with someone else.

“My life was set and simple and then I came across you again and now I’m having urges to make love to you. But despite this desire, I keep telling myself that it’s wrong to even think about cheating.

“I probably shouldn’t be here with you now but I needed to see you. I needed to be close to you and to hold you,” said Kristie as he stroked her hair.

“Baby, I completely understand because I needed to be with you too. I have never cheated on Lynn in the nineteen years we’ve been together and that includes the two years we dated. Tell me, if we made love today, would you be able to ever forgive yourself?” Ted asked, kissing her forehead.

“I’m not sure. Since we have lust in our hearts for each other we’ve already cheated on our spouses and I have forgiven myself for it. Do you think you would be able to forgive yourself?” she asked.

“I think I can. Although I know it’s wrong for us to be together, I feel it is wrong not to love you. When I asked to meet here I wasn’t trying to get you into bed, although it is not a bad idea...I really wanted to just hold you and look at you without worrying about who may be looking at us.”

He looked into her eyes, then remembered something, “I almost forgot—I have a surprise for you. Wait right here,” he called as he went into the bedroom.

“What are you up to Ted?” she asked as she heard him fumbling though a briefcase.

He put a CD in the player.

“Do you remember this song?” he asked as the song played.

Inseparable that’s how we’ll always be

Inseparable, just you and me.

It’s so wonderful to know you’ll

always be around me.

“Do you remember what took place while we listened to it? It was our song. I was listening to the radio and when I heard it I immediately thought about the love we shared then and the love I hope we share now. I went to the store and found it,” he said while smiling.

“Of course I remember this song—“Inseparable” by Natalie Cole. I cannot believe you still remember that this was our song. I haven’t heard it in a long time. You’re going to make me cry. This was the song we made love to for the first time,” she said as her eyes filled with tears.

“I know, baby. That night you gave yourself to me was the best night of my life. I knew then that you trusted me with everything you had. And look at us now, back into each other’s lives after all those years. I guess it is true—we are inseparable,” he said as he leaned over to kiss her passionately.

To his surprise she responded wholeheartedly. He took her by the hand and led her into the bedroom as the song continued to play over and over again. He laid her across the bed and they continued to kiss and explore one another.

He wanted to make love to her so desperately but needed to be true to his word.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this, baby? We can stop if you want to,” he asked as he continued to caress her.

“I think I’m sure,” she said softly.

Although he wanted to make love to her that afternoon, he decided instead to hold her as they lay across the bed and listened to their song play over and over again.

When they left the hotel that afternoon they realized that though they both desperately wanted to make love to each other, what they shared instead was what they both needed at the time.

Later that day when Ted arrived home, Lynn and the kids were not there. He tried to work, but had a difficult time concentrating. He started to regret not making love to Kristie when he had the opportunity.

He was only able to work for brief moments. His mind was on Kristie. He wanted to call her but decided not to. Instead he called his best friend Paul, who lived in Los Angeles. He needed someone to talk to. He and Paul became friends nearly twelve years before and spoke regularly.

He had not told anyone about his reunion with his college sweetheart. It had grown very difficult not having anyone to talk to about it. He knew Paul wouldn’t say anything to anyone.

“Hey man, what’s going on? How’s business?” asked Ted.

Paul was obviously happy to hear from him, “Nothing, man. I haven’t spoken to you in a while. Business is great. I have no complaints. How are Lynn and the kids doing?”

“They’re doing great. So are you seeing anyone serious yet? The last time I spoke to you, you were in love with Camille. Are the two of you still involved?” he asked.

“Let me just say that we’re still in each other’s lives. She is still engaged to someone else. We still talk every day and she knows how I feel about her. I must admit, Ted, it’s hard being in love with someone who belongs to someone else.

“I still believe that we will be together. I’m sure he’s still cheating on her and one day she’ll wake up and leave his dumb ass. But that is another story,” said Paul.

“Well, if you’re happy with that situation then so am I. Listen—I need to talk to you about something very important. You’re the only person I can trust with this so don’t say anything to anybody,” Ted lowered his voice instinctively.

“All right, I hear you. What’s going on? Is everything okay?” asked Paul, sounding worried.

“Yeah everything is okay,” Ted took a deep breath before continuing, “But I think I’m going to cheat on Lynn.”

“What? I can’t believe you’re thinking about cheating. You are the most honest dude I know. This woman must be very special to get you to consider cheating. Who is she and where did you meet?” Paul was stunned.

“Do you remember I told you about a relationship I had a long time ago while in law school? I thought she was my soul mate but we lost touch with each other?” he asked.

“Yeah. I remember you saying something like that a few years ago,” said Paul.

“For the past five months she and I have been talking. It was weird how we ended up reuniting but it has been great. We have actually seen each other and it was just like old times. Kristie is as beautiful as ever—inside and out.

“I just can’t get her out of mind. I had to talk to you about it,” said Ted, smiling at the memory of his afternoon with Kristie.

“Wow man; I’m glad the two of you are talking but do you think it’s a good idea to see each other? What about Lynn and the kids? I hope you’re not thinking about walking out on them,” warned Paul, obviously concerned.

“I’m not going to leave my family. Besides, she’s married with two children of her own. But seeing her and being with her was wonderful. We both agree that although we have come to realize that we still love each other, it wouldn’t be right to walk out on our families.

“But she is in my every thought. I’m trying not to think about her so much but it’s difficult. I feel like a new man since she has come back into my life. I feel so happy. Sometimes I think I’m a little too happy.