My Valentine From the Past

When I walked into the pancake house, I didn't see her at first. I didn't see her until she stood up and waved at me, but the woman waving wasn't Ronnie. That's what I thought anyway, but when I looked closer, I saw the same face. That was all that was the same.

She'd changed from her uniform into a snug top and jeans, and while they didn't fit as tight as what I saw the young girls at the mall wearing, there was no doubt Ronnie had a pretty nice figure. She'd also let her hair down, and the waves of golden blonde were long enough to cover her shoulders. When I got closer, I could see she'd also used at least lipstick. Her lips were a pale pink and shiny.

When I sat down, Ronnie chuckled.

"Didn't know who I was, did you?"

"No, not at first. You're a lot different."

Ronnie smiled.

"Well thank you. I tried."

A waitress walked up and sat a cup of coffee down in front of Ronnie and then asked if I wanted something to drink. When I said I'd take a cup of coffee, she walked away to get it, and I turned in my chair to watch her. I turned back to Ronnie and she was grinning.

"You men just have to look at a woman's butt, don't you?"

"I wasn't looking at her butt."

"Yes you were."

"Well maybe I was, but she's too young for me so that's all I was doing, just looking. Now, how did you get those Valentines on my desk."

"I had help."

"Who? Mrs. Robbins?"

Ronnie shook her head.

"No, it wasn't Mrs. Robbins."

"Then who was it?"

"Oh, here she comes with your coffee. I'll tell you when she leaves again."

As I was stirring three little cups of creamer into my coffee, Ronnie sipped hers and then put her cup down.

"You know that security officer who let Mrs. Robbins into the office the night you stayed over, Officer Barnes?"

"Yes."

"He's my sister's husband, James."

"So you convinced him to give me your Valentines."

Ronnie swirled the coffee in her cup.

"No, not exactly. My sister worries about me all the time because I'm alone. She said I should be looking for another man. I told her I didn't know any men well enough to talk to them about anything like that. She said there had to be somebody at work I liked.

"You're the only man I really like at work, Mark, and I told her that, but I said I never saw you very often. She said I could write you a note, couldn't I. I said I probably could, but I didn't have any way to get it to you. That's when James said he could.

"Well, I thought about that when I went home and decided you probably wouldn't pay any attention to a note. That's when I remembered the Valentines in my closet. I thought maybe if I gave you one but didn't tell you who I was, you might be interested enough to try to find out. If you did, I'd tell you who I was. That night, I gave it to James on my way out of the plant.

"When James told me you'd called security and asked who'd been in the office, I sort of got my hopes up, so I gave James another one to give you, this time with a poem.

"You probably think I'm being pretty bold and that I want something from you. That's not the way it is, Mark. I just wanted to talk to you. I haven't talked to a man except my doctor and the clerks at the grocery store in over a year. What my doctor and I do together isn't exactly fun, and the clerks at the grocery store...well, I'm old enough to be their mother."

I had to smile then.

"Ronnie, there are a lot of men out there who'd like to talk to you. You dress up really nice, and you were fun that time we worked together."

Ronnie frowned.

"Yes, you'd think so, but you don't know how those men out there are. They're either drooling over some young girl with perky boobs and a tight little butt, or they're looking for a woman who'll...well, I'm not jumping into bed with any man I don't know really, really well."

"You don't think I'm the same way?"

Ronnie grinned.

"Well you did look at the waitress, but then you said she was too young for you. You haven't asked me to sleep with you yet, so I haven't decided about that part."

"You think I might do that?"

Ronnie grinned again.

"I don't know. Would you?"

"It's been a while, but if I remember right, that usually requires a little seducing first."

Ronnie sipped her coffee.

"So, are you going to seduce me, or are we just going to talk?"

I'd forgotten how Ronnie was, but I was remembering now. When we'd worked together on the rocket machine, she'd never said anything leading or risqué, but she'd always been quick to reply to some joke I made. She'd also been quick to admit she didn't know something but really wanted to learn. That was different than most of the other women in the shop. They were working because they had to, and most of them didn't enjoy it much less want to learn anything more than they absolutely had to.

Now, she was just as quick witted, but she was leading me on like crazy. I kind of liked that. She was the first woman I'd talked with who didn't seem embarrassed about anything and I liked that too.

"Well, I think we'd better just talk, but not here. Have you had dinner yet?"

"No, but I'm dressed for a pancake house, not for dinner."

"Nah, your fine. Let me pay for our coffee and then let's go to that steakhouse over on Tenth."

When I got to work the next morning, I had another Valentine on my desk, but this one was different. It was about normal size and was a sketch of a woman with her finger on her cheek. The front said "I was wondering what you could get me for Valentine's Day. In the inside, it said, "I think getting lost with you would do it".

On the back was another poem.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

You finally found me,

I loved talking with you.

P.S. Can we do that again sometime?

Most men would probably have been irritated because Ronnie was basically asking me for a date. I wasn't. I admit I was a little amazed, but I wasn't irritated. Our conversation at the steak house had been great. I learned a lot about Ronnie I hadn't known before.

Ronnie had two kids, but both were grown and married. She still lived in the same house, though she said it was too big for her.

"I should probably move to a smaller place, but that house is where I raised my kids, and it's where they come back for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I just keep the upstairs closed off until then and live in the rooms on the first floor."

The conversation had somehow turned to what we did in our spare time. I told her I liked to fish and she grinned.

"So did Marty. He'd have had me out on his boat every weekend if we hadn't had kids at home. I don't fish, so when I did go with him, he fished and I sunbathed. Before the kids, I wore a bikini. After my son was born, I changed to a one-piece. Marty didn't like it, but I wasn't showing my tummy to anybody."

It surprised me that Ronnie would be that frank with me, but then, she'd already surprised me a lot. That was another thing I liked about her. She was like getting presents on my birthday. I'd get a present from Mom and Dad and two others from my grandparents. It was fun opening them and finding out what was inside. That's how Ronnie was. She'd tell me something I'd never imagined she'd tell me, and before I got that all resolved with what I originally thought about her, she'd tell me something else I didn't expect.

She grinned when I walked out to the rocket machine that afternoon.

"Get my card?"

"Yes, I did. What would you think of dinner at Disio's tonight?"

"I've never been there. How fancy is it?"

"About like the steakhouse. You could wear anything from jeans to a nice dress."

She smiled.

"About six?"

I said six would be fine and I'd pick her up at her house.

Ronnie smiled.

"You mean like we're having a real date? I haven't had a real date in twenty-five years."

"Yes, like a real date. You'll have to tell me where you live though."

Ronnie surprised me again when I knocked on the door of the two-story house out on the edge of the suburbs. I figured she'd be wearing pants and a blouse again, but she'd put on a blue dress that her curves filled out well enough I was wondering what those curves looked like naked. She also looked like she'd spent a lot more time on her makeup. Her lips were that pale pink again, but she'd done something with her blue eyes that made them look really sultry. I was wondering if she'd done that for me or if it was what she always did when she dressed up.

Dinner was more talking about what we'd done over the years. Ronnie listened quietly when I told her about my marriage and divorce, and then put her hand on mine.

"Mark, I can't imagine what you must have gone through. I'm so sorry for you."

"Well, that's all in the past now. Like you said about your husband, I'm over it."

Ronnie smiled.

"I don't think you are. You might tell yourself you are, but deep down, I think you really aren't. If you were, you'd have found another wife by now."

"I don't miss her, if that's what you're thinking."

Ronnie stroked the back of my hand.

"No, I'm thinking you're probably afraid of what might happen if you find another woman you like. You're afraid it might turn out the same way."

Her soft hand was sending little tingles down my back. I shrugged so she wouldn't see me shiver.

"Maybe, a little."

Ronnie looked down at the table then.

"I'm the same way. I'm afraid if I find another man, he won't be like Marty and love me. He'll just be a man I live with. I don't want that anymore than you want another woman like your ex-wife."

I pulled my hand out from under Ronnie's to pick up my coffee cup. I would have normally used my other hand, but Ronnie's fingers were giving me thoughts I probably shouldn't have been having so soon.

I put down my cup after taking a sip, and grinned.

"Ronnie, all you have to do to find that man is keep dressing like you are tonight and then sort through all the guys who ask you out until you find the one you want."

Ronnie blushed.

"That's what you told me last night, but it hasn't worked so far."

"Well, how often do you dress up and go out?"

She looked at me and grinned.

"It's kind of hard to get dressed up and go out if nobody asks you out. I can't just dress up like this and go grocery shopping, now can I?"

I chuckled.

"The store clerks would probably appreciate it if you did."

Ronnie waved her hand.

"They wouldn't give me a second look, not with all those young girls running around in their leggings and skin-tight tops."

It's funny how sometimes you say things without realizing what you're saying.

"I would."

Ronnie grinned then.

"So, if you saw me in the grocery store dressed like this, what would you do, just look or try to introduce yourself?"

"Well, since I wouldn't know you, I'd probably just look."

She chuckled.

"If that's all you'd do, you probably don't have to worry about finding another woman. We can't do it all, you know. It's not ladylike."

I chuckled too.

"So sending me Valentines was ladylike, but introducing yourself to me in the grocery store wouldn't be?"

"Well, that was different. I already knew you."

We talked some more over coffee and when Ronnie said she should probably be getting home, I realized I didn't want to take her home. The more we talked, the more I liked her.

I did take Ronnie home, but when I walked her to her door, I asked if she'd like to have dinner again the next night. She smiled.

"You mean like another date?"

"Yeah, I guess we could call it another date."

Ronnie stroked my arm.

"I'd like that, but I have to go see my sister tomorrow night. We could on Thursday though."

"OK, Thursday it is. Any place special you'd like to go?"

Ronnie patted my arm.

"Wherever you decide will be fine, but if I have to dress up more, you'll have to tell me. I don't want you to be embarrassed to take me somewhere."

On my way home, I was thinking Ronnie was still a riddle I hadn't yet solved. As confident as she always seemed to be, when I'd asked her if she had a favorite restaurant, she said I should decide. She wasn't bashful about telling me she wanted another man to be with, but when I told her that shouldn't be a problem for her, she wasn't confident anymore. I decided I liked both sides of her.

Thursday afternoon, I walked out to the rocket machine and asked Ronnie if she liked Chinese food. When she said she loved egg rolls and about anything stir-fried, I said we'd go to The Royal Mandarin, and she didn't need to dress up.

When I picked Ronnie up that night, I figured she must not have understood what not dressing up meant. Her black dress was cut low enough in front the swell of her breasts was showing, and the hem was high enough I figured she had to be wearing pantyhose. She was almost as tall as I in her shiny black heels, and like before, her face and hair were beautiful.

That night would have been about like the other dinners we'd had together if the young, Chinese waitress hadn't said what she did when she took our order.

"Would you like to order separate selections, or would you like to share our sampler? Many married couples like to share."

Ronnie chuckled.

"We're not married. We're just having dinner together."

The girl blushed then.

"I'm sorry. It just looked like you were a man and his wife."

After the girl took our order and walked back to get our drinks, Ronny grinned.

"I wonder why she thought we were married. Do we look married?"

I shrugged.

"I don't think I know what looking married looks like."

The subject didn't come up again during dinner, but I didn't forget about it. I kept asking myself why the girl would have thought that. I didn't think I was acting any different than if Ronnie was just a friend. Yes, sometimes when she looked at me, she looked a little different, but in my experience, all women change their facial expression depending upon what they're talking about. It was just the way women are. They tend to let their thoughts reflect in their faces a lot more then men.

Maybe that was it. Maybe the girl had seen Ronnie smile some way that was probably innocent enough, but looked to the girl like Ronnie was smiling at me. Ronnie smiled all the time, so yeah, that was probably what it was.

When I took Ronnie home that night, she was pretty quiet until I walked her to her front door. She started to unlock the door, but then turned back and smiled.

"Mark, I had a nice time tonight, but I can't let you keep spending money on me."

Well, that made me feel pretty low. The money wasn't anything to me. Being with Ronnie was, and it sounded like she was saying she didn't want to go out with me again.

"Ronnie, I'm not spending more than I can afford to spend, and I can't think of any way of spending it I'd like more. I hope you're not saying we can't do this again."

Ronnie put her hand on my arm.

"No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying...well, could I make dinner for you tomorrow night?"

I didn't know what to expect when I drove into Ronnie's drive Friday night. She'd surprised me again. I knew she liked me, and maybe she liked me a lot, but inviting me into her house for dinner was maybe more than just liking me.

Over the past week, I'd discovered I liked Ronnie a lot too, more than any other woman I knew. It was an odd feeling. After the first two dinners, I found myself not wanting to take her home, but afraid that if I told her that, she'd just laugh and say we were just friends.

I did consider us to be friends, but I was starting to think we could be more. I just didn't know how to tell her something like that.

When Ronnie answered the door, I just stood there for a couple of seconds, and she noticed.

"Are you going to come in, or do I have to drag you in?"

I laughed.

"I wasn't sure I got the right house. You look fantastic."

She did look fantastic too. Her dress was red and scooped so low at the neck, the cleavage I'd always imagined was right there, an inviting cleft between the two soft mounds of her breasts. The bottom of the dress was pretty great too. It wasn't that it was so short because it wasn't. It was the slit up both sides that ended so high I wasn't sure how Ronnie could be wearing anything underneath. The creamy skin of her nylon encased thighs that peeked out of the slits just made it all even better.

Ronnie grinned.

"I got this for a party years ago. Marty thought I should look sexy and I thought this dress would do that. He did too. It still fit, so I thought, hey, it's almost Valentines Day and the color fits the season so I'll dress like a valentine."

I grinned back at her.

"Well, I've never seen a valentine this sexy in my life."

"Well, thank you. Now, come on in. Dinner's almost ready."

Besides looking absolutely fabulous, Ronnie was a good cook. She'd made a roast with potatoes and carrots, one of my favorites. After we ate, she asked if I'd like a cup of coffee, and when I said I would, she got up to start the coffee maker.

"While I'm making coffee and cleaning up a little, why don't you go in the living room and have a seat on the couch. When our coffee's done, I'll bring it in there."

Ronnie's living room showed the touch of a woman, but not overly so. I didn't have little pillows on my couch like she did, but my layout was basically the same -- couch with a coffee table in front of it, one chair on either side with a table and a reading lamp on each. There were a few pictures on the wall, and one caught my eye so I walked over for a closer look.

What had caught my eye at first was the picture of what looked like a bass boat sitting in the water. When I got closer, that picture was a lot more interesting. It was a woman stretched out on the casting floor of the bow. The woman in the white bikini was a lot younger and didn't have as much figure, but the face was Ronnie's.

"That was me when I was young and skinny."

Ronnie had slipped up behind me without me knowing anybody was there.

She smiled when I looked at her.

"Marty took that picture of me and hung it right there. I should take it down, but somehow, I can't. When my kids come home they always kid me about it, but it brings back memories, so I leave it up there."

"You should. You were a really good-looking woman then. Not as good as now, but still pretty good."

"That's what Marty always said. After the kids were born, my boobs got bigger and he liked that."

She frowned then.

"So did my butt. Marty said he liked that too, but I didn't believe that part."

"Why not?"

She shrugged.

"Why did you watch that waitress walk away at the pancake house?"

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Ronnie, just because a man looks doesn't mean he wants what he's looking at. Some us like women to be soft and round."

"Is that why you looked at me like you did when I answered the door?"

I grinned.

"Well, you surprised me."

"So you didn't like what you saw?"

I shook my head.

"No, Ronnie, I liked what I saw a lot. You're a beautiful woman."

Ronnie took a step closer and stroked her index finger down my cheek.

"If a beautiful woman asked you to do something for her, would you?"

"I guess that would depend on what she asked me to do."

Ronnie put her arms around my neck.

"What if she asked you to kiss her?"

"I could probably do that."

Ronnie stepped close enough her soft breasts pressed into my chest. Her voice was soft, low, and a little husky.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

I hadn't been waiting on anything. I'd been ready to kiss her when she put her finger on my cheek. That feather touch had sent a shock down my spine that ended up in my cock.

I thought kissing Ronnie would be nice. It was a lot more than just nice. By the time she broke the kiss, I was ready to pick her up and carry her off to bed. I didn't, of course, but I was ready to do that.