Waiting to fall

“You look chipper,” Dave said during a commercial break. He stuffed chips into his mouth and watched his cousin-in-law shrewdly.

“Do I? Must be because I don’t care if the Broncos lose,” Mark retorted smirking.

“You’re getting some, aren’t you?” Dave asked grinning. “About time. It’s been two years since Patty died. Good to know you didn’t die along with her.” He saw Mark’s grin vanish and replaced with his usual disapproving scowl. Dave knew he considered him a cretin. You’d think he’d get used to it by now. They’d known each other since they were kids. Dave had been a cretin then, too.

Mark gnashed his teeth together, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled counting to ten before he answered, if he chose to answer. Sometimes he didn’t. He learned this trick from Patty who always had to deal with disagreeable people.  Dave could be disagreeable without even trying.

 “No, I’m not,” Mark replied stoically.

Dave stuffed more chips into his mouth getting crumbs all over the sofa and said,   “Come on, Mark. Cindy told me about you and Trudy. You've been dating her for what? three weeks?”

“And how does that equate with...how did you so crudely put it? Getting some?” Mark asked irritably.

“Trudy’s a librarian,” Dave said as if that explained it all.

Mark frowned. “So?” he asked.

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” Dave asked, incredulous.

“You might have to....unfortunately,” Mark muttered. He already wished he’d just ignored the first question.

“It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch out for. They’re wild in bed once the glasses come off and the hair is let down,” Dave said wisely.

Mark groaned inwardly. He truly didn’t want to get into that with this guy. Dave could turn a Disney movie into an erotic flick without even blinking. “She doesn’t wear glasses and I’ve only ever seen her with her hair down,”he replied calmly.

“See? I knew you were getting some,” Dave retorted carelessly.

“We’re just friends,” Mark said sternly.

“She must be good. Charlie couldn’t keep his hands off her. Not that I blame him. She is hot,” Dave said completely ignoring his friend. “You should get on that before someone takes your place. Only so many good ones out there and you can’t expect her to wait forever. Girls have needs too.”

“She’s not like that,” Mark snapped.

“Sure she is. She’s just playing hard to get so you don’t call her a ....”

“I would never call her anything except a wonderful person still grieving over her husband,” he cut in brusquely.

“It’s been over two years for her, same as you.”

“And yet it feels like only two months and sometimes, two weeks,” Mark said sadly.

Dave sighed. He felt bad for the guy. Would he ever get over his wife’s death? Well, not if he didn’t get some!  “Don’t you think she’s pretty?” he persisted.

Mark could see Trudy before his eyes as if the game on the huge flat-screen TV had been replaced by her image. She was beyond beautiful, from her  honey-colored head to her pretty little feet and everything in between. Her baby-blue eyes haunted his dreams. He awoke caressing his pillow and wishing it was her soft, creamy skin instead of the 400 thread count sheets. Her sweet smile ignited a flame deep in his gut whenever he thought of it. Her laughter delighted him. And oddly enough she liked to listen to him babble on incessantly.

It baffled him. She was so different from Patty.  He was used to Patty’s constant chatter and his need to fight to get a word in edgewise. It wasn’t like that with Trudy. Cindy had told him Trudy was quiet but he never imagined just how quiet and yet it didn’t matter. She could communicate without speech. He could tell what she meant with the slightest gesture, a subtle look and a scant few words. It was startlingly simple yet vastly complex.

She was fascinating, she and her silent language.  He wanted to study her like he had done with his medical books at school. Just watching the various expressions float across her face riveted him like a new surgical procedure.

 Patty had kept him centered and focused but when she died his world shifted precariously. A part of him had died along with her. Trudy had brought a balance back to him without him realizing it until now. He knew it was due to her, this feeling alive again. Just being in her presence eased the dull ache Patty’s death caused. If he didn’t know better he’d say he was falling in love. Yes, love did that.

He wished he could do the same for her but that wasn’t likely. He caught her with that far-off look in her eyes that he recognized as his own longing for Patty. She was surely thinking of her Charlie, the love of her life.

“You’re going out with her, so, you must like her,” Dave said, cutting into his thoughts.

“What?” Mark said, distracted.

“Trudy. Don’t you think she’s sexy?” Dave asked impatiently.

Sexy didn’t even begin to cover it but he wasn’t about to say that to a cretin like Dave. “She’s very nice.”

“Nice?” Dave shouted, incredulous.

“Yes, she’s attractive,” Mark relented.

“So why aren’t you getting it on with her?”

Losing his temper he blurted,  “Because I’m not a neanderthal. I can control my urges.”

“Yeah, but why would you want to?” Dave asked, baffled.

Mark had to count to fifteen that time before sternly saying, “Let’s just say I’m not fond of diseases. Comes from being around them all the time I suspect.”

“Trudy doesn’t have any diseases,” Dave retorted triumphantly.

Mark couldn’t argue with that. Trudy was as old fashioned as he was, perhaps more so.  If anyone didn’t carry a virus of some sort it was she. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to start having sex as exercise. I’ve only ever had sex when I was in love and that’s not changing now,” he stated firmly.

Dave got a funny look in his eyes all of a sudden.  “Sex as exercise,” he muttered slowly to himself. “Like instead of jogging or racket ball. Sweet!” 

He abruptly got up, went into the kitchen and shouted, “Cindy, how about a quicky? It’ll make me live longer. Doctor’s orders!”

Mark gaped at him and shook his head exasperated. Then he laughed when he heard Cindy shriek, “Are you insane? Mark’s here, you crazy loon!”

Mark was still laughing when Dave slumped back into his potato chip strewn seat.  “Maybe I’ll get some tonight,” he said before taking a swig from his beer bottle. “You should try it. It’ll be good for  both you and Trudy. Can’t be sad when you’re getting some,” he said wisely.

Mark couldn’t argue with that either, but it had only been a month since he started dating Trudy. There was no rushing things like this especially when he was waiting for love and not just the go ahead on sex.