Amy Finds Her Muse

John pondered what Lynn had just said and replied, "I have really enjoyed out times together Lynn but I think we both know we'll never be more than good friends. I really appreciate your company but I don't think the spark has been there for either one of us."

"I really hoped you'd feel that way John, as it seems apparent ours was mainly a physical relationship between friends.

John caressed the side of her face and gave her a quick kiss. He said, "Besides enjoying every minute I've spent with you, you have really helped me recover from Amy. I still think of her often but the hurting is pretty well gone."

The two of them got up and dressed and walked to the kitchen hand-in-hand. Lynn poured them both a cup of coffee and they sat at the table.

After taking a sip from her cup Lynn said, "I've had a lot of long messages from Amy lately. She doesn't directly say so but I think she's beginning to have serious second thoughts about what she did. There's something wrong over there but she won't tell me what it is."

John frowned and replied, "Not too many months ago that kind of news would've caused my pulse to pick up and I would've wanted to know more but now..."

John remained quiet for a while, apparently contemplating something. Finally, he looked up and said, "One thing I've never mentioned to you; the day she left, when 'her professor' came up the walk to help her with her bags, he turned and gave me the most smug, self-satisfied look you can imagine. I've wondered ever since what his motivations may truly have been."

Lynn looked at him seriously for a while before saying, "I'm not really trying to suggest anything but I thought it was interesting that Amy's confidence level seems to have dropped. She asks about you and Amanda more often now and I've told her that you and I have gone out at least once a month. She hasn't asked for details but I did tell her you stayed overnight the last time you were here."

"You told her that did you? Did she have anything to say about it? I can't see how she could be jealous considering what she did to me. I mean, she did divorce me," John said.

"She never brought it up at all. It's as though she pretended I never told her. She's been my friend since forever and she knows I would never have given you a second glance if you two were still married. Well, I gave you lots of second glances but you know what I mean," she laughed.

They drank their coffee and John left just after 1 a.m. He gave her a kiss at the door as he left and said, "Be sure to come in for coffee or a visit when you can. And bring Mark with you. He must be a really nice guy if you prefer him to me." They both laughed.

-- Sunday, May 18.

John was having coffee in the morning, waiting for Amanda to wake up, when Barbara came up from working out on the exercise machines downstairs. She said, "Do we have any orange juice in the fridge this morning?"

When John answered in the affirmative she went to the fridge and poured herself a glass. She sat at the table and joined John. He noticed she had worked up a good sweat so he asked her, "How is the exercise program working out?"

"Great," she said, "I've lost 7 pounds and a lot of inches."

"I thought you looked a lot fitter," John replied, "not that you were unfit before." He laughed.

"So, John, how was your date last night? You weren't out as late as the last time you were out with Lynn," Barbara said.

John replied, "We had a great time. We went out to dance for a while and then had a coffee at her apartment. She had some real news for me though. She's met a man she really likes so she and I won't be going out anymore."

Barbara thought for a moment and then said, "You really seemed to like her. Are you real upset you two broke up?"

John laughed and answered, "I really like her as a friend and I'll miss getting out with a woman but she and I were never destined to be romantically connected. Neither of us had a partner so we were good company for each other."

Barbara reflected on that for awhile and then said, "I'm glad she didn't hurt you like Amy."

Barbara emptied her glass and put it in the sink. She headed upstairs and as she entered her bathroom she pumped her fist in the air and said, "Yes!"

Downstairs, John was still at the table with his cup of coffee. He was right where he had been seated, turned to face the stairway and watch as Barbara went upstairs.

-- Saturday, June 21.

Today was the day Barbara had worked towards for four years. She was graduating from high school and her parents, John and Amanda were all there to attend the ceremony. Her mom and dad had left their motor home in a state park in Minnesota and had driven home in the car. They were driving back later in the week to spend the summer there.

Before the diplomas were given out the principal and department heads handed out awards for the top 10 students. Barbara was shocked, and her guests extremely pleased, when she was given an award as the third best student graduating this year. She had not known it was coming.

Later, after the diplomas were handed out, Barbara joined her guests to receive their congratulations. Her parents were extremely proud of her and wanted to get pictures of her with her plaque for academic achievement.

"Be sure you get some pictures of me and the plaque with John," Barbara said. "He is the reason I got it as without his assistance I would never have done so well in my maths." She walked over to John and put her arm around him. Amanda was standing in front of the two of them as the pictures were taken.

"John, pick up Amanda and we'll take a few more pictures of the three of you," said June. John was holding Amanda with his right arm while he put his left arm around Barbara shoulders. Barbara put her arm around John and the pictures were taken.

"Boy, you three look like a real family," said June.

As more photos were taken, most including Barbara, John considered June's last statement. He was really beginning to think of Barbara as a part of his family and now began to wonder what she would think of such an idea. He knew she had been accepted into her desired program of graphic design at the University. It was a four year program and a lot could change in that time.

As he watched Barbara posing and laughing with her parents she was no longer a schoolgirl in his eyes. She had become a woman in appearance and actions over the last year. She would soon be an adult, starting University in the fall, and John was beginning to fear she would be moving on with her life and living in his house and caring for Amanda would not necessarily be part of it.

He thought about how he had managed to get past the one year anniversary of his divorce from Amy without major problems. How that night he had shed a few more tears as he sat alone in the living room late into the night, sipping on a stiff Scotch and thinking about how his life had changed.

He realized that little more than a year and a half ago he had still been married to Amy, unaware of the problems in his marriage. Now he was here celebrating Barbara's high school graduation and thinking about how he wished he would be able to include her in his future. He hoped he wouldn't soon be sipping a late night Scotch lamenting the loss of Barbara.

-- Sunday, August 17.

It was Barbara's 18th birthday and she was several hundred miles away from John and Amanda. On Friday morning she had flown to Minneapolis to meet her parents and the three of them were going to spend the next week and a half traveling to some of the popular parks in Minnesota.

When Fred and June called to ask Barbara to join them she had been concerned about who would be able to watch Amanda. Since John wanted her to be able to spend some time with her parents he made arrangements with Vicki Pierce to babysit Amanda as necessary during the time Barbara would be away.

Barbara had only been gone two days and already John was really missing her. Amanda had also really missed Barbara as well, fussing and crying often each day. She had grown very dependent on Barbara and was now very insistent that she wanted Barbara to feed her.

Amanda was talking quite well now and John was able to finally reason with her and get her to accept that Barbara would be back later. It was fortunate that she really liked Vicki Pierce as Amanda eventually settled down when she came to babysit. A woman's touch seemed to work wonders with Amanda.

During the week that Barbara was away John was able to get quite a bit done at the office. His business had continued to grow, as they now had won a statewide contract to supply menus and advertising brochures for a chain of restaurants. The work had come about as a result of hard work by Mary and their part time graphics designer. The two women had submitted the winning bid when the chain requested proposals.

This new job now kept his staff quite busy and there were few slack days any more. In fact, John was often kept busy in the evening doing print jobs they couldn't tackle during the day. He felt he would soon have to hire another employee. With the increased printing work had come more paperwork for him to handle.

He had been unsure of what to get Barbara for her birthday and had settled on getting her a laptop computer to use in University. He had given it to her before she left and she was excited about getting it. She knew it would make things easier for her at University. With the computer he had given her a half dozen roses.

As the week wore on John missed Barbara more and more. During the summer he had begun to join her for workout sessions in the morning before Amanda woke up. Now, with her away, he enjoyed the sessions much less. He kept at them though as he could see they were having the desired effect on his body. The soft muscles and extra pounds were disappearing.

On Thursday afternoon he phoned Lynn and asked her over for coffee. While she was there she took some photos for Amy including several of Amanda on her new tricycle. After taking the photos she and John sat on the patio while Amanda played in the backyard.

"So tell me Lynn, how are you making out with Mark?"

"Oh, he is so great. We are really getting along. We have a lot of the same interests and I'm really hoping we can get together permanently one day."

She continued, "He's a bit insecure though and probably would worry about me visiting you here. He knows we were seeing each other. He was engaged a few years ago and his girlfriend did pretty much what Amy did to you."

"Well," John said, "I don't want to create any problems for you so how about I email you photos of Amanda each month until he's ready to meet me and can see I'm not his rival?" They agreed this was a good solution and decided that John would email Lynn 6 or 8 photos of Amanda around the middle of each month. With this taken care of they continued their conversation.

"So, do you still hear from Amy as often as you did? You haven't mentioned her lately," said John.

"Actually I don't hear from her as often. You remember how I said I thought something was going on? Well, I'm sure of it now, as she has flat out said that Peter deceived her. I asked her what she meant but she told me to forget it."

"It's hard to say what she meant by that," said John. "It could be something relatively unimportant. In any case I think her hold on me is just about broken. Between Amanda and my business I have enough to keep me occupied."

"You mean you haven't found someone to replace me yet?" Lynn laughed.

"You are irreplaceable Lynn. I haven't even gone out anywhere looking for your successor," John said. They both laughed.

-- Wednesday, October 8.

Barbara's last class of the day ended at 2 p.m. and John was waiting for her when she got home. He was ready to head in to the office but as had become their habit intended to have coffee with her first and find out how her day had gone.

As she came in she said, "You'll never guess what I found on the Internet today. I had time at lunch to Google a few things. One of them was the name 'Amy Bridges' along with 'artist'. Let's go to your computer and I'll show you what I found."

John followed Barbara to his office where she set up the search. There were only a couple of results and she clicked on the first of them. A web page for a Parisian newspaper came up and on the page was a photograph. On the left side John could see Amy standing in front of a large painting while on the right side was her husband. A young woman stood beside him, holding his arm with both of hers.

Beneath the photo was a caption, 'Artist Amy Bridges with her work Amanda and her Nanny. On the right are her husband, Professor Peter Bridges and his assistant.'

The portion of the painting that was visible showed a child and an older woman standing in front of a home. In the doorway of the home someone was visible. The image was too small to see any further details.

"Well," said John, "It looks like Amy is achieving what she set out to do. I don't imagine that the French newspapers put every artist's work on their pages."

Barbara then said, "Once I found this I searched for the name of the painting, Amanda and her Nanny." Barbara then set up a new search and selected one of the results displayed. A page appeared that showed the painting in its complete form. It was still rather small so she clicked again, this time on the picture itself. It enlarged to fill the full screen.

John could now see the full painting quite clearly. The child figure was clearly Amanda but he was surprised to see that the adult with her was Vicki Pierce. In the background the shadowed figure in the doorway appeared to be him. On the left of the painting was the portion previously obscured by Amy. It was the figure of a woman dressed in black, a black shawl over her head. She was facing away from the viewer and towards the child.

"I see Amanda and Mrs. Pierce and I'm sure that man in the doorway is you, John, but this woman in the front I don't get," said Barbara.

John was silent for a while and then said, "I think that is your sister. That figure is Amy. I think this painting is one of sadness, maybe even regret."

Barbara thought about what John has said and replied, "You could be right, you can see a bit of the side of her face and it could definitely be her. I don't understand though why she would paint this with Mrs. Pierce as the nanny and not me."

"I think she painted this from a photograph. Lynn was here one day when Vicki had taken Amanda for a walk and she met them in front of the house. She took one picture that probably became the model for this painting, with me in the background. Amy must have just decided to portray Vicki as the nanny. Sort of artistic license I guess."

John printed several copies of the painting as he intended to give one to Vicki. She was immortalized now and he thought she would get a kick out of it. After taking Vicki her copy he and Barbara sat down in the kitchen and had their now customary coffee and conversation.

"So, Barbara, how are your classes going now. I know you were feeling overwhelmed the first couple of weeks but I bet you're feeling better about things now."

She sighed and said, "You were right; I don't feel nearly the pressure now. It's still difficult and it's going to take me a long time to feel totally comfortable but things definitely are better. I'm really enjoying the classes even though this semester is all about the compulsory subjects. I'm sure next semester will be more interesting as there will be classes dealing with actual design work."

Later, as John got up to leave for the office, he leaned over to give Barbara a quick hug, smiled and said, "Hang in there Barbara, you're going to do well." She smiled back at him.

-- Saturday, November 15.

A week earlier Barbara asked John not to plan anything for the evening of his birthday as she intended to take him out. She told him she made supper reservations at the Sheraton again as they both had enjoyed his last birthday there. John looked forward all week to their dinner together.

About 5:00 Vicky Pierce arrived to babysit Amanda. Barbara was already in her room getting prepared to go out so John went upstairs to get ready. After he showered, shaved and got dressed in his new suit he took a look in the mirror and decided he didn't look too bad for 32 years old. His exercise routine had helped trim almost 20 pounds off his body and that had forced him to replace most of his wardrobe. He decided he hadn't looked this fit since he played high school sports.

Barbara was already waiting for him when he went downstairs. He couldn't get over how lovely she looked and he told her so. She said he should thank Domenico's and the dress shop. His reply was that the credit was all hers and she shouldn't be so modest.

John told her how much he liked her new hairdo. She had been letting her hair grow longer and it was now done in loose curls. The dress she had chosen was green satin with a low neckline and hugged her figure.

As they prepared to leave John offered Barbara his arm but instead she took his hand. They walked out to the car hand-in-hand and John thought to himself it seemed like such a natural thing to do. During the drive to the Sheraton they discussed Barbara's university classes and how she was coping with the work.

When they arrived at the Sheraton they were seated closely together in one of the alcoves that provided them with a degree of privacy. John noticed that several of the male diners had given her the once over as they were escorted to their table and asked her if she had noticed the approving looks she had received. She replied, "Women always notice them," and laughed.

They ate a leisurely meal and followed it with a light dessert as neither of them wanted to start undoing the good work of their exercise programs. By the time they finished eating the band was already playing. When John realized the band had started a nice slow song he abruptly stopped what he had been saying and said, "We can't waste music like that. Would you like to dance Barbara?"

"I would love to," she replied.

John took her hand and they walked out to the dance floor. As he took her in his arms she moved closely against him and as they began to dance they were firmly joined from chest to hips. This was a new sensation for John, as in all their previous visits to a dance floor they had kept some distance between themselves.

"Mmmm, this is nice," Barbara said, as they danced around the floor.

"It sure is," John said softly in her ear. After he said that John noticed that Barbara pulled herself even closer to him and he became very aware of the firmness of her breasts against his chest. As they continued around the floor he became concerned he was beginning to be aroused by the touch of her body as they danced. At the end of the next song he suggested that they sit for a while.

They sat and talked until the start of the next set of slow songs. When the first slow song started Barbara said, "Come on, John. They are playing some nice music. Let's dance." She took his hand and led him back to the dance floor.

Again they danced as closely as it was possible to dance. John decided there was nothing he was going to be able to do about it so he continued to dance even when her closeness and the sensuous movements of the dance had him aroused. He did his best to keep his erection from pressing against her but it was difficult.

They continued to get up to dance whenever the band played the slow music they both seemed to enjoy the most. Finally near midnight they decided to leave. They walked out hand-in-hand and both agreed that they had enjoyed the evening immensely.

As they drove home Barbara said, "My mom and dad used to tell us how when they were young there were no seat belt laws and mom always snuggled up against dad as they drove home from a date. I've always wanted to try that so drive carefully." She proceeded to undo her seat belt and moved beside John, her arm around his left shoulder and her head resting on the right one.