Starting Line - Day 3

The fork felt foreign in my hand. It wasn’t that I hadn’t used a fork before, I had many times. Its not that I wasn’t use to this restaurant’s silverware, I was since I had eaten lunch here many times. Maybe it was what was happening at the table today – something which hadn’t happened for a long time.

“Dave, can you excuse me for a couple of minutes? I have to answer this phone call.”

She actually waited for me to answer.

“Sure Jane. Go ahead. I’m in no hurry.”

I watched her walk away. Wow. It was all I could do to keep my hands from wiping my brow. She really knew how to walk.

I had been working with Jane on a project for the last three months. We hit it off great from the beginning. She was smart, cute, and very friendly. Did I mention she was cute? She was way cute – long legs, enough curves to invite inspection, dark wavy hair down past her shoulders, and deep dark eyes.

For some reason one recent afternoon we started sharing our stories. She was married to a defense lawyer. They only saw each other when ever his office was having a social event. I’m sure she dressed up really nicely.

It was her idea to go to lunch today. I eagerly agreed – maybe too eagerly. But as we sat and talked over the Thai Chicken salads, the mutual attraction became as thick as the dressing that laid so innocently on the greens in my hardly touched bowl.

I let my eyes wander out the window to the busy sidewalk. My mind was enjoying that special feeling that I had not felt for a long, long time. If any corners of my conscience was trying to get my attention, they were failing. I must have been smiling in a lecherous way, for a mother on the sidewalk grabbed her two children and bustled off, shaking her head at me. Even that didn’t bother me.
In the absented-mindedness of a summer Sunday afternoon under a shade tree, I interlocked my fingers and stretched my arms out. I locked my knees and stretched my legs out. I must have looked like a runner getting ready to approach the starting line.