Page 42 of One Last Chance

I grimaced at the bed, but then he winked at me. He whipped a blanked out of his jacket and flicked it out over the bedspread. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“You planned this!”

“You bet your ass I did,” he said with a grin. “You said you wanted it in a bed, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but…this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.” Even with his blanket on it, I was leery of the bed. How many rodents had made their home in there over the years? I shuddered at the thought of squishing a mouse’s nest accidentally. Or having one try to make a surprise entry mid coitus.

Kash grabbed my hands and kissed them, one after the other. “We don’t have to,” he said, but I could hear his disappointment. “I just wanted to give you what you asked for, that’s all.”

I looked around the dingy room and smiled at him. “I did want to see this old place,” I said. “And it is wonderful. I’m not sure it’s as haunted as you two made it out to be—but it’s nice and creepy and beautiful. And I did want to make love to you on a bed—but not that one.” I held his face in my hands and kissed him. “Thank you, lover.”

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight against him. “You are welcome, my love.”

We spent a few more hours exploring the nooks and crannies of the house (though I refused to go down into the basement). I fell in love with the space exactly the way it was. I liked the fact that nature was beginning to reclaim it, breaking up the flooring and pulling down shutters. Squirrels, owls, and mice had left their mark throughout the house, and at least one band of coyotes had been through there recently. It was a bittersweet notch in mother earth’s bedpost.

“I’m glad nobody’s tried to restore it,” I said dreamily when we were back in the car. “It’s perfect.”

Kash smiled at me, his eyes soft and warm, and squeezed my hand. “I love the way you see things,” he said. “I don’t always get it, but I love it.”

I snuggled up to him and kissed him. The car was still full of our scents from the night before, weaving a sensory spell which drew us irresistibly together. I was out of my clothes in moments, straddling his thighs and pressing against his soft, warm chest. Mouth pressed tight against mine and his hands venturing lower, Kash slipped my panties to the side. His cock had come alive, teasingly pressing against my dripping center. I didn’t hesitate to push up and angle myself just the right way to make it easy for him to slide inside of me. Our breaths hitched, our mouths fighting for each other, our bodies slippery with juices of pleasure, exhaustion and lust, we rode bliss into the darkness of the night.

We made love at the top of the hill, under the shadow of the old house, across from the water tower. Over the next weeks, we did the same at the drainage ditch, under the defunct railway bridge, out in the desert beyond the last set of tire tracks, everywhere in town I always wanted to go but could never find on my own. I was addicted to his touch, but I was also reveling in the closure. Our outings were a long goodbye to my hometown, one stop at a time, closing the doors on the last bit of intrigue and curiosity this town held for me.

It seemed to affect Kash oppositely. Everywhere we went, he would reminisce about being a boy here with Hunter, exploring abandoned mines and other spaces that humans had lost interest in. One night, when we were lying on top of his truck watching the stars, he took my hand and smiled at me.

“Imagine coming out here like this five years from now with a flatbed trailer and a pile of blankets. We could build a bonfire over there—we’ll bring marshmallows and hot dogs and let the kids roast them while we teach them about all these constellations.” He sighed—maybe it was supposed to be a happy sigh, but it sounded melancholic to me. “What do you think, two boys and a girl?” he asked, his thumb carelessly stroking mine.

I thought about it for a moment. “I guess if we live close enough we could take a day trip out here, but I like to think we’d be living somewhere with plenty of sky to explore anyway.”

He sighed again. There was no question that this one was melancholy. “Think about it, Daisy,” he said softly. “If we move somewhere else to start our family, how will we know what’s safe? They could go out in the wilderness alone and find something we would never even dream of. Bear traps or land mines or something.”

“Land mines?” I laughed. “Where do you think we are, the middle east? They won’t run into land mines no matter where we live. And there’s no reason you and I can’t go exploring alone before the kids come along.” I walked my fingers up his chest as I rolled over to kiss his cheek. “There will be plenty of new places for us to christen, after all.”

I kissed his ear and his throat, moving my body until I was pressed against him, until my heartbeat thundered against his. He hesitated for a moment, then gave in. We made love under the stars, my head full of hope and plans for the future.

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