Air Possum

She wrapped a black shawl over her shoulders and her arm around me, and we were off.

We went to the new Thai restaurant near the Center. Amy loved spicy food, as did I, but my stomach didn't. She got two sample platters, one spicy and one mild. She gave me small bites occasionally, and as I would wipe my brow I wondered how she could stand it.

We were a block away from the venue and it was a warm night, so we strolled over. I was getting very used to the feel of her hand on my arm.

The performance was very good. We were in a box, some of the best seats in the house. Her hand was in mine and I don't think she let go the whole performance.

"Thank you so much for tonight! I really loved the show."

I was sad.

"As did I, and the company. Too bad it's over."

She stopped dead on the sidewalk.

"Over? Who said it was over? I plan on keeping you up past your bedtime. If you're very nice and very lucky, I may tuck you in."

I flamed red again and she laughed. Boy, did I like that sound.

She gave an address to the driver, and in due course he delivered us to a club that catered to our age. They had a Beatles tribute band playing, quite good. They even wore the suits and had the moptops.

"Order us a pitcher of something light, darling. Excuse me for just a second while I powder my nose."

She came back five minutes later. Her hair was down, the first time I had ever seen it like that. I couldn't believe how long it was.

We sipped a glass and listened to the band. She was squirming in her seat. I sucked at dancing but wanted to please her.

"Wanna dan..." was all I got out before she dragged me onto the floor. For the first time in my life I understood the expression 'poetry in motion'. As foolish as I felt, the slow dances made up for it.

She molded to me, pressing more of her body than I thought possible into me. Her three inch heels put her at the perfect height. I had an instant erection, I know she felt it, and when I tried to apologize she shushed me and pressed a little harder.

We took breaks occasionally so I could get my breath. She took pity on my condition and just danced the slow ones for awhile.

A friend and her husband stopped by to say hello and check me out. I had noticed them, an attractive couple that really knew how to dance.

We invited them to sit and I got them a round of drinks. Their names were Jerry and Skye.

The band started "Twist and Shout", and Amy started squirming. Skye was complaining about some ankle pain and didn't want to move for awhile.

I got his attention.

"Jerry, would you do me a favor and dance with Amy? I'm recovering from a health issue, and Skye wants to sit this out."

Amy looked at me and I nodded, and they were on the floor in a second. I watched her shimmy and shake, happy she was happy. They stayed on the floor for two more fast ones, but when a slow one started they came back and got us.

"Thank you. Most men I'm with get jealous if I dance with others."

"They're your friends. I suck and he doesn't. I want you to enjoy yourself."

I paused.

"But if he had been a stranger, I would expect you to say no. If you're with me, you're with me. Understand?"

She giggled in my ear.

"I'm with you, honey."

Well, that could be interpreted to mean all kinds of things.

We had a coffee with them when the club closed, and I praised their abilities. Skye smiled and handed me a card. They owned a dance studio. Before we left we were signed up for lessons.

"I don't think you need lessons." I told her in the limo.

"I used to be a part time instructor for them when I was younger. Can't hurt to brush up on my skills. Plus, if you're with the same partner all the time, it makes you both better. It'll get you in shape, and it beats the heck out of bowling."

I didn't screw it up by trying to come in after I walked her to her door. I got several very nice kisses, though. It was enough, for now.

.................................................

Of course I got the third degree Sunday before Ros got there.

There was a lot of oohs and ahhs from the girls. The guys just wanted to know if I scored. Their wives pummeled them good, laughing while they did.

Ros came in and saw the smiles.

"Well, it's nice to see everyone smiling. Anything special to spark it?"

Jerry laughed.

"Pop went on his first date in over two years. Apparently he had a REALLY good time."

It was a lie and everyone knew it, but nobody corrected it.

For some reason Rosalind didn't think it was funny.

Her presence put a damper on the proceedings for awhile. It only lightened up when Ashley, their two year old, woke up from her nap. Debbie brought her in, still clutching her possum. It was her safety blanket.

Rosalind commented on how cute it was, and how it looked familiar somehow.

"It's our company logo, Mom" Jerry explained. "We manufacture them at a facility located near our shirt factory. We sell them online and in certain retailers that carry a lot of our clothing. We've sold quite a few."

She rolled her eyes.

"Great. Something else to swell your coffers."

This offended Jerry greatly. The toy line was his project and he was proud of it.

"Well Mom, so far we've sold over five hundred thousand, at a profit of a dollar fifty each. It isn't part of Pop's other businesses, it's a stand alone, charitable foundation. Every dime after expenses goes to the Wounded Warrior Foundation, to held disabled veterans resume a normal life."

"They build ramps, make houses handicapped friendly, pay for guide dogs, private counseling, anything that can make it easier for them to live normal lives."

I wish he hadn't told her that. We didn't do it for publicity, we did it because we wanted to. Jerry's best friend lost both legs to an IED in Afghanistan. It shook Jerry to see how hard his life was. He came to me to see if we could help, and we built ramps for his house. It got me thinking, I really didn't need the money as much as they did. Gail had insisted I make it a separate business, so she wasn't losing anything.

Bob, his friend, went to school and finished his accounting degree, and we hired him the day he graduated. Part of his duties is to oversee the donations. I liked him, but he made me nervous. Not because of his disabilities, but because he kept thanking me.

Rosalind was suitably chastised, and apologized.

All told, it wasn't a bad afternoon, compared to, say, a root canal.

..................................................

Monday morning I got an email, with a detailed list of functions I would be attending to represent the company. Looked like my Fridays and Saturdays were going to be tied up for awhile.

I was still going home at lunch time. I liked it, and was seriously considering making it permanent.

Amy had lunch at the house with me and Mavis, and didn't mention the past weekend. She did ask if I got the memo about more community involvement, to which I assured her I did, and it sounded like an excellent idea. Mavis was a pretty sharp old bird, and when Amy kissed me good bye and called me honey, her eyes got huge.

Amy didn't have her car door shut before she was on me.

"So, you and Amy. About time. You're too good a man to be single. You need someone to love you, and she does."

I held up my hands.

"Whoa there! We're just friends. Nobody has marriage in mind."

She just looked at me with her hand on her hips.

"Ummm huh. If you say so. Well, when this wedding that nobody is talking about happens, I expect to be sitting on the grooms' side of the church."

I just looked at her as she walked back to the shop, smiling.

............................................

Mavis told me she and the girls were working on something, but they would only tell me when it was ready.

She made sure Amy was with me Friday at lunch. I knew something was in the wind, they had been whispering and giggling for days.

Mavis asked me to come into the shop after lunch. All the girls were grinning when we came in.

"You told us to experiment, and we did." said Mavis.

"Get ready for a fashion show. Bring them out, girls."

It was mostly grandchildren, ranging from eight months old to six years. All wearing bright clothes, all with our logo. I had often thought about launching a childrens' line, but never had the time to develop it. Mavis beat me to it.

I was really impressed. When I looked closely at the logo on the jumper of the eight month old, I noticed it was wearing diapers. One six year old had a dress on that had a mother 'possum with four juveniles hanging onto her back.

Debbie was there with Ashley. She had on a little pair of red overalls with two 'possum heads sticking out of the bib.

Baby Possum was introduced on the internet, with a limited run. We sold out in two weeks.

Everyone was happy except Gail.

She stormed into my house while Amy and I were having lunch.

"You asshole! I'm supposed to be the designer here!"

We sat there with our mouths hanging open. I tried to be reasonable.

"Nobody is undermining you here, Gail. If you remember, I asked you two years ago about a childs' line. You wanted to concentrate on your jean line. You got it up and running, now design to your hearts content."

She ranted a little more and then stormed back out. We looked at each other.

"She's losing it." said Amy. "That husband of hers is spending money they don't have on foolish things, and she doesn't know how to say no. He knows she has millions, but he doesn't understand the difference between working millions and spending millions. To top it off, he talked her out of a prenup."

I sat up straight, feet hitting the floor.

"Is she insane? There's a clause in our partnership agreement stating that if either of us marry their spouse has to sigh a prenup excluding the business. It was for her own protection. What was she thinking?"

I knew that Barry was going to have a field day with this.

................................................

Things progressed between Amy and I at a nice pace. We went to concerts, plays, sporting events, anything she could fit in to 'company functions'. I wondered how all the romantic movies she made me go to fell into that category but wisely kept my mouth shut.

We had rights to the owners' box during race season. I wasn't much into racing per se, but Amy really seemed to enjoy it. Mary and Alice were almost always there, Jamie loved racing. They were often called on to help distribute goodies to the crowd, especially kids. We had added kid size t shirts, a big hit.

Will was winning and placing in the top ten on a consistent basis. The principal owner wanted to jump to NASCAR next year, and we were along for the ride. Will was a lock for rookie of the year if he kept his pace.

We had to add another building of monogramming machines and expand the shirt factory, which meant our cloth supplier had to expand.

Forbes Magazine did a story on us. We were on the cover. Jerry, Greg, Ralph, Amy, Debbie, Maria, Mavis[at my insistence], and of course, Gail.

The caption read "Grinning like a..., the Redneck Chic Clothing Company story, a true American success story".

As things got better between Amy and I, they degenerated between Gail and her new husband. I could see storm clouds on the horizon.

................................................

We had gone South as a family to attend the shirt factory annual picnic.

The food was excellent, the meats and side dishes done professionally. The desserts were made by the employees.

Eighty percent women, the competition was fierce. The desserts were divided into categories. Cakes. Pies. Cookies and Brownies, and another for anything stray that didn't fit anywhere else, like refrigerated items.

First prize in each category was one hundred dollars, second fifty, third twenty five. Overall winner two fifty. Bragging rights, priceless.

I knew better than to be on the panel of judges. We invited the local mayor and county commissioners, and pressed them into being judges, along with a half dozen employees chosen at random.

We enjoyed the games for the children, Ashley was old enough to participate for the first time. Horseshoes, badmitton, and other games were played by the adults.

It took three hours during the festivities to judge the desserts. The winners were announced at the end of the night, and the cash was awarded. Grand prize was a coconut cake made with freshly shredded coconut. The woman, in her forties, cried like a baby. They all got their pictures in the local papers, along with the politicians, of course. There were more pictures of the event throughout the event, highlighting local people. There was a couple of Amy and I, goofing around.

In the first, I had just shoved a piece of coconut cake into her mouth, smearing the icing all over her face. In the second, they captured her revenge, locking me into a big kiss while she rubbed the icing all over my face. The photo identified us as the principal owner of the company, and his wife.

The kids got a real kick out of it.

I got a surprise when we went to check in to our hotel. We had gone straight from the plane to the event, and when we got our keycards they handed one to me and one to Amy, with the same number.

Before I could object she thanked the clerk and hustled me off while the kids snickered.

"I got tired of waiting. If it was up to you, you wouldn't make a move until we were in walkers. Now be quiet, and don't screw this up."

It had been a long dry spell, as I said before. Amy tried to catch me up in one night. I was fifty five, and she only got two performances out of me, three if you count the one that happened at six a.m.

I'm glad she made me take those dance lessons, it got me into better shape.

Both my former wives were pale shadows compared to Amy. I had never had a woman throw her body and soul into our mating like she did.

Fifty now, she was still trim and beautiful. She made me wait in the living room of our suite while she changed. I don't know why it took so long. A sheer teddy under a sheerer robe, and high heels.

She twirled, enjoying the sight of me with my mouth hanging open.

"Do you like this on me?"

By the time I regained my ability to speak she was on my lap. We kissed and stroked each other for a few minutes before I drew back.

"I can think of only one thing that would make it look better."

She had a questioning look in her eyes before I laughed.

"As good as it looks on you, it would look even better off you."

She giggled.

"Well, I did all the work putting it on, so it's only fair you take it off of me."

I was all about being fair.

She had great breasts. Full,supple, with just a bit of sag brought on by maturity. She blushed while I praised them, in between nibbles and sucks that had her nipples standing straight out.

She stiffened when I went farther down, grabbing my head.

"You don't have to, you know."

I kissed her hard before answering.

"Oh yes I do."

That's when I discovered she was multiorgasmic.

When she finally begged me to stop I couldn't stand it any longer. I entered her soaking, closely trimmed bottom slowly, trying to will every nerve ending I had into my dick. She sighed, happily, then started making little eeks and groans as I gained speed and force. At the end she was crying begging me to stop and go faster in the same breath. I did both, pistoning until my climax left me light headed.

I collapsed onto her for just a second before slipping sideways and gathering her in my arms. We lay there quietly until I felt her tears.

"Are you all right? You're not hurt are you?"

She thumped my chest lightly.

"Shut up, you idiot, and let me be happy."

I shut up.

We dozed. I woke up spooned to her, her hand reaching back, stroking me to erection.

"It wasn't fair, you know" she finally said.

"What?"

"You got to play with me, and I didn't get to play with you."

I smiled in the darkness.

"I apologize. I had an urgent need to take care of. If it makes you feel better, I promise to make it up to you later."

She shoved me onto my back and rose above me, grabbing me and guiding me in. When she was fully seated she smiled down at me.

"I'll hold you to that."

I let her set the pace, until the urge hit me and I grabbed her hips, slamming upwards. She gave a little squeak and slammed back. I came right behind her second, and she collapsed on me. I held her like that, refusing to let her move, until she fell asleep.

At seven the next morning I awoke to her washing me with a warm cloth. When she saw I was awake, she tossed it to the floor.

"Good, you're awake. My tun to play with the toys."

Twenty minutes later it felt like my head imploded. I lay there gasping while she giggled. She tried to get me up to take a shower, but I held her for a few minutes until I got my breath back.

We took a shower together. Washed each others' back. And fronts. And everything else we could reach. With one arm locked around her waist, I found her g spot and stroked her until she squirted all over the shower. She told me later it was the first time she had ever done that.

We made it to the dining room in time to have breakfast with the family.

Debbie grinned and told Amy she was glowing. Greg told me I looked like shit, I must not have gotten enough sleep last night. They all giggled and snickered at my expense for the rest of the meal, while she just smiled.

I surprised them by announcing we were staying down for a few more days. I wanted to visit the toy factory and the cloth plant. Mostly what I wanted was to get Amy back in bed. I'm proud to say I accomplished my goal.

We didn't talk about the future until we were on the plane home. I didn't dance around.

"So, how long do you think it'll take you to close out your apartment before you move in?"

She took my hand.

"I intend to spend a lot of time in your bed, but I'm not moving in right away. We need to get comfortable, make sure there's no little quirks that will drive us apart. And just so you know, while I'd love to live with you, I'm an old fashioned, marriage kind of woman. Does that scare you?"

I took her hand.

"The only thing I'm afraid of is that I'm not the one you want. I'll be more than happy to live with the rest."

It must have been the right answer because she never let go of my hand for the rest of the flight.

I was miserable the first night at home. After spending four nights with Amy, I would wake up reaching for her, until I remembered. She didn't look like she got much sleep either, the next day.

We struggled through lunch with Mavis. She looked back and forth between us before breaking into a grin. We were in the bedroom before the door closed behind her.

Later, as we cuddled, she told me she would be back with a suitcase later.

"Just so I have a change of clothes if I decide to stay over."

She went back to her apartment a week later, to get more clothes.

.................................................

Everyone was happy with our relationship except for two people. Gail and Rosalind. I was surprised at both.

Rosalind showed up at my office just as I was going to lunch.

"Can we talk?"

I glanced at my watch.

"I'm due somewhere in just a bit, but if it won't take long I'll wait."

She sat and fidgeted for a few minutes before I finally spoke.

"You're running out of time, Ros. Spit it out or I'm leaving."

She took a deep breath, drawing my eye to her cleavage. That was a really lowcut top to be wearing to work. And the skirt was kind of short, I could almost see the top of her stockings, I was sure it wasn't pantyhose. I got a really bad feeling.

"We were good for each other for a lot of years, weren't we? Right up until I did something stupid. You've changed, I've changed, do you think we might..."