Beside You

I got married straight out of high school, to my high school sweetheart. We went to the same college, and graduated with good GPA's. And we found steady, although not spectacular, employment with a local company. For two years, things were normal.

And then she decided to take her dad out to a local restaurant for Father's Day. I couldn't begrudge her that.

Unfortunately, the police tracked down a wanted criminal in that restaurant. Screaming that he'd never be taken alive, the criminal pulled out a semiautomatic rifle with a "bump stock" and started blasting away at the police. They, of course, responded in kind.

When the bullets stopped flying, ten people, including the criminal, three police officers, and my father-in-law, were dead. My wife's body was alive, but she was in a coma. The doctors said she may never wake from it, and if she did it would take years.

I met my mother-in-law, Sherri, at the hospital. We were both crying our eyes out.

"Tim was my everything," she whimpered between sobs.

"Lisa was mine," I murmured.

"Paul... I'm sorry."

"And I'm doubly sorry, Sherri. You lost your husband AND for all intents and purposes, your daughter."

We stopped talking and held each other, crying and in a state of shock.

After several hours, we recovered enough to get up and go to our cars outside. There was nothing we could do at the hospital, since Lisa was in a coma.

"Paul?"

"Yes, Sherri?"

"Come back with me. I can't deal with this by myself. I'm afraid I might do something... drastic."

I drove over to her house and helped guide her inside.

"Please stay."

"All right, Sherri."

We collapsed onto her couch and cried some more. Eventually the two of us fell asleep from sheer fatigue.

*

"Oooof."

I blinked my eyes open. Sherri was struggling to lever herself off the couch.

"Need a boost?"

"Thanks."

I helped push her upright, then slowly untangled my limbs and climbed stiffly to my feet.

"You'd better call your work. I doubt you're in any shape to go in."

I pulled my phone out and dialed my manager's number.

"Hi, Paul. I figured you'd be calling in. Take a week off. I suppose I'll need to hire someone to replace Lisa."

"Yeah. She ain't coming in again ever." My voice was bitter.

"You know what? You take TWO weeks off. With pay. Even then I doubt you'll really be yourself."

"Thanks, boss."

He hung up, and I turned to Sherri.

"What about you?"

"I don't work. Tim's job paid all the bills... not that we have many. The house and car are already paid off, so it's just utilities and Internet/TV. Plus shopping for food."

"I don't know how I'll pay mine."

Lisa's income was paying for half of everything. And we had been living month to month. Now that was gone.

"Move in here with me. I could use the company. I don't trust myself to be alone."

"What about when I go back to work?"

"Your company does now have a vacancy..."

*

My boss is a nice guy. He hired Sherri to fill Lisa's position and told her to start on the day I returned to work. In the meantime, I had moved my few possessions into Sherri's house. We still cried a lot.

"Paul."

"Yes, Sherri?"

"Would you mind sleeping in the bed with me at night?"

"Surely you're not -"

"No, no. Sex is the furthest thing from my mind right now. I just want the comfort of having someone next to me."

"I feel the same way. I'm so used to Lisa being on the other half of the bed."

"Then it's settled."

I have to admit, having Sherri nestled against me that night gave me the first truly restful night's sleep I'd had since everything went down. And we had three more of those nights before I started back at work.

"You two are more functional than I anticipated."

"Thanks, boss. Sherri has been a great boon in that respect."

"And Paul has done the same for me."

"Well, I'm glad. I think you'll both fit in here quite nicely."

Working kept my thoughts away from what happened while I was doing it, but evenings and weekends were still a real trial. Sherri and I would go home, eat, and collapse into the bed and just wordlessly lie with our bodies against each other. On weekends we would spend most of our time huddled together, either crying or thinking sad thoughts.

Both of us of course slept naked. I sometimes think that during that time, the flesh-to-flesh contact was the only thing that kept us both sane. On those rare occasions when we weren't still overwhelmed by emotion, I noticed she had a nice body. Womanly curves without weighing 400 pounds, C-cup breasts, lovely legs, nicely rounded butt. She would sometimes comment that mine looked nice, too. But most of the time we still were too overwhelmed to notice things like that.

This went on for months. Gradually, we started crying less and talking more. We got along well, brought together by tragedy. Fall came, then winter, and now we were also snuggled together, under the blankets, for warmth.

"Paul, I'm cold."

I pressed up more firmly against Sherri. "Let me help."

"Put your arms around me."

I did. Sherri shifted them so I was cupping her breasts.

"Sherri?"

"I know you like them, Paul. And I've grown to really like you."

She accentuated that by rubbing her rump against my groin, causing my pole to stiffen.

"I thought you said -"

"I did. Six months ago. I'm lonely, Paul. Tim and I used to make love three times a week."

"And you're enough over what happened that your normal womanly desires have returned."

"Yes. I assume you're enough over what happened that your desires have returned."

"Well... yes."

She pivoted in my arms, so our faces were inches apart. "Kiss me."

I placed my lips against hers, and we kissed. Her tongue slipped inside my mouth. She was a good kisser.

"Mmmmm."

Sherri broke her lips away from mine and kissed my neck. I shivered. She slowly kissed her way to my chest and nibbled my nipples.

"Your turn, Paul."

She slid her body upwards and I kissed her neck briefly before taking my time about kissing every inch of both her luscious orbs.

"I'm glad you like them."

I wrapped my lips around a nipple and suckled while teasing her other nipple with my fingertips. Then I switched off, giving both nipples equal time in my mouth.

"My legs need attention."

I pivoted my body around and began slowly kissing my way up Sherri's long, lovely legs. She was caressing mine and tracing delicate patterns on my flesh with her tongue. As we eased our way upwards, we were moving closer and closer to a 69.

"How are you at eating pussy?"

"I like to think I'm good at it."

I finished kissing my way up her thighs. We ended up with her on top of me. I ran my tongue along her slit and she wrapped her hand around my pole, kissing the tip of it.

I slipped my tongue inside Sherri and began swirling it in circles to drink her flowing juices. Her lips sealed around my cockhead and she gradually moved downwards, taking more of me in her mouth.

Very quickly, she let out a gusher of nectar. I blasted my load into her throat almost equally quickly. She continued to lick my shaft and I was very soon hard as a rock again. In the meantime, my tongue had given her a second climax.

She lifted herself upwards. "After that long without, I figured we'd both cum right away. Now that some of the edge is off, let's make love."

She lowered her box onto my rod. "Mmmm. You feel wonderful inside me."

"Thank you."

She placed her hands on my chest and began sliding up and down, squeezing me with her pussy muscles on every downstroke.

"Sherri..."

"Shhh. Kiss my breasts."

She leaned forward and pressed her chest against my face. I obligingly took a nipple and suckled. She rhythmically slid up and down, and my hips began moving to match her. Her legs locked around me as she shivered through first one, then a second orgasm.

I felt my legs stiffen as my balls filled. "Sherri..."

"I had my tubes tied several years ago. Go ahead."

She climaxed again, and I squirted within her. She milked me until she had every drop of sperm extracted from my balls, then climbed off and lay next to me.

"I needed that, Paul. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Sherri. I enjoyed it too."

"So are you willing to do it three times a week?"

"I'm willing to do it more often than that if you need me to."

"H'mmm. How about every night, for a while?"

"Okay."

"It's very comforting and I'm sure I'll sleep well."

"I'm sure I will, too."

"Come here."

I nestled against her, rested my head on her ample chest, and closed my eyes.

*

That was ten years ago. We did it every night for a year, then tapered off a bit. But she still wants it at least five nights a week.

Lisa passed away last year, never coming out of her coma. We buried her next to her dad. Sherri and I leave flowers on the graves twice a month.