Love?

The opera was every bit as boring as

I imagined it would be. I tried to put my arm around my wife a couple of times as we watched, but she brushed my hand off and gave me a look that told me how inappropriate I was being.

In fact, I couldn't remember the last time she smiled at me, or laughed with me. I couldn't remember the last time we had a conversation that didn't entail her bitching at me for something.

I had been resigned to my fate for a while now. The marriage wasn't all bad and there had been glimmers of hope that it might get better and then of course there were the children. We had tried counseling, but hmy wife wouldn't do any of the actual work once we got home. She refused to talk to me about any of the issues that were raised in our

sessions. She had the opinion that she was right about everything and wasn't open to the chance that she could be wrong.

I found myself thinking about Rachel during the opera and cursing myself for my thoughts. At last the show was over.

"That was an excellent performance, don't you think?" my wife

asked as we made our way out to the car. "Much better than that awful Foo Fighters

rubbish you listen to."

I thought it better to keep my thoughts to myself, and we drove home in silence..

As we pulled into the driveway, I reminded Kathy that I had to give Rachel a ride home.

Kathy snorted and then told me that I better not forget to pay her and not to wake her up when he got back. She grabbed her coat and went into the house, said quick good-night and disappeared up the stairs.

I followed her in the door, fished some cash out of his pocket and handed it to Rachel.

She was just slipping on her flip-flops and smiling at me. She wasn't wearing her

cardigan.

"How were the kids?"

"They were perfect angels, just like always."

"No problems?"

"Of course not, Mr. Adam," she said. "They love me and you know that I love them."

I thought that an odd response.

"Well...you know we both adore you and thank you for watching them. Kathy was exhausted or she would have told you herself."

"Oh, there's no need to apologize for her, Mr. Adam.," Rachel answered.

That was another strange response. I was tired, though and didn't let my mind linger

on it. "Are you ready?"

"Oh, yes. I'm totally ready." Rachel grinned at me.

I tried not to stare. Was she thrusting her chest out further on purpose? Her flat

stomach was showing between the bottom of her shirt and her tight pants. I wondered if she was ever able to tuck her shirts in.

I looked away and opened the door letting Rachel exit first and got into the car.

We got in the car and I started the long drive to Rachel's house.

It had been awhile since I had been alone in the car with her and I was having trouble finding something to say.

Rachel saved me the trouble. "How was the opera?"

I could feel her gaze on me. "Oh it was fine," I lied. "Well, Kathy enjoyed it a lot more than I did."

"I bet," Rachel replied. "I'm sure you would have been much happier at a Foo Fighters or Def Tones concert."

"How...really...you like the Foo Fighters?" I asked, wondering how she had come to mention two of my favorite bands.

"Yes. I love both of them, and I know you do too. You're really funny."

"I try," I replied, feeling out of some kind of loop.

"You always get nervous around me."

There, she had said it. Rachel had come out with one of those cold hard truths that most people don't talk about openly.

"Don't say that. I...I don't," I fumbled over my words. Who was the adult here?

"I'm just kidding with you. You're turning all red by the way," she replied.

I knew that i was turning red. This conversation was making it hard to concentrate on driving up the winding country road to Rachel's house. A flash of movement to one side, my eye and I realized I should have been paying more attention to the road

A deer darted out from the trees and in front of my moving car. I barely had time to caught hold of the brake and steer to avoid it. I managed to miss the deer but slid my car off of the road and into

some brush on the side.

Rachel screamed as the car came to a stop. My heart was racing. I reached across to grab Rachel's arm and accidentally brushed one of her enormous boobs.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, breathing hard and looking over at me.

"Are you okay?" I asked, staring into her big blue eyes.

"Yes," Rachel mouthed, without making a sound, staring back so hard at me that

almost hurt me to turn away.

My eyes drifted down to Rachel's heaving chest as she fought to control her breathing. It was mesmerizing.

"We're okay," I said, lifting my gaze back to her eyes. I squeezed her hand a little too hard. "We're okay," I said again.

Rachel nodded and squeezed back. Her little hand felt so warm and her skin felt electric against mine. I pulled my hands away as if they were burned.

"Let's see if I can get us out of here." I looked away from her, placing all of my

concentration onto restarting the car. I was certain that if I had kept gazing into Rachel's eyes and squeezing her hands, I would have leaned over and kissed her, or even do more than that.