Cheaters Never Prosper

"No thank you," they both said as she laid the check on the table.

Neither of them spoke as she drove them back to his place. When she pulled into his garage, she turned off the engine then said to Luke, "So...what is the next step in...whatever this is we're doing?"

He reached over and touched her pretty face and said, "Is it too early in...whatever this is...to ask you to come inside?"

She reached up and took his hand and pressed it against her face and quietly whispered, "No."

Luke opened the car door and the door to his house for her and once she was inside he asked her, "Would you care for another beer or maybe some wine? I have a vintage year in this box right here."

Maggie laughed and said, "I have heard of wine in a box."

"It's what people who go to Red Lobster drink after dinner. They have cheap beer with dinner and save the good stuff for later.

He poured her a Scotch and water and fixed one neat for himself. "Okay, I deserve all of the snob comments, but could we call a truce since I've already pleaded guilty?"

He sat next to her and said, "You know I'm only teasing, right? And I'm pretty much done doing that. It's just so easy to make snobbery jokes."

"Unfortunately, it is. Just as it's easy to make jokes about those who don't have much in the way of material things. It just never occurred to me how wrong it was to make fun of the hard-working people who make life possible for the rest of us."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Mags. It's human nature. All of us, to one degree or another, pick on those different from ourselves for various reasons. We've done a pretty reasonable job policing up the cheap shots on race in America, but it still happens. Same with virtually every aspect of life. It's 'us vs them' whether it's politics, religion, race, sex, or class. It doesn't make it right, but it does still happen."

He sat next to her as she looked at him and said, "You're not just smart, Luke Miller. You're wise beyond your years. What other pearls of wisdom can you share with someone who's turned a deaf ear to sound advice over the years?"

Luke laughed quietly as he took a first sip. "I know money can't buy love or happiness."

"Amen to that," Maggie said.

"No other person or thing can 'make' us happy. We either are or we aren't. In other words, happiness is a way of living life, not some place you get to—when. As in—when I get out of high school or when I get married or when I get the job or..."

"Keep going," she said.

"Okay. How about love being a verb rather than just a noun? When you say 'I love you' does that mean you have feelings for someone or that you will actually love them? Not to be crass but it's the old 'money talks, bullshit walks' thing."

Maggie almost spewed her drink as she was taking another sip. She caught herself then smiled at Luke. "So you're smart and intelligent. You already understand love more than I probably ever will, and you're a happy, confident, well-adjusted guy who just may be the nicest-looking man I've ever met. So why is a guy like that kissing someone like me?"

Luke pulled a leg up on the coach and turned toward her. He sat his drink down and said, "That question implies that showing interest in you indicates a lack of thought or good judgment on my part. It says if I were just a little bit smarter, I'd be interested in someone my own age. I don't accept the premise of your question, counselor."

"Why not? It's true," she told him.

"Truth is relative."

"You can't be serious. Try telling that to a judge."

"I have. People often don't get justice, Mags. They get the law. Whoever makes the better argument often wins regardless of guilt or innocence. It gets even worse once we get outside the courtroom because nearly everything is completely subjective. Sure, plenty of hardcore zealots will claim they know things to be true, but that just isn't the case. The may truly believe them, but many things just can't be known and that makes their 'truth' relative."

"Such as?" she asked as she turned toward him.

"You can't know what makes another person happy. You can only apply your own standards, wants, and wishes, and project them on other people. So when it comes to my life, you can only make assumptions about what makes me happy."

She took another sip and countered by saying, "I'm going with the odds. I tend to be a big believer in Occam's Razor which says the simplest solution is often the best or most correct one."

"In general, I agree with you. But when it comes to any one specific thing, it may well be that there's more to it than meets the eye."

"True. I can't argue with that, I'm just curious to know how a man like you could possibly be interested in a woman like me when the probability of that is so extremely low."

He slid closer to her and took her drink away and set in on the table. He reached out for her hand and said, "Do you like classic cars?"

"Um...not particularly but then I'm not much into cars in general. Why do you ask?"

"Okay, but you'll admit some guys prefer a classic car to the hottest new model on the showroom floor, right?"

"In principal, I guess that's true. But I'm not exactly a classic car. I'm just a model—no pun intended—with a lot of miles on it."

"But the age of the car is what makes it so unique and so desirable. It speaks to timeless beauty and in your case, you have that in spades. And you've undergone this amazing transformation, Mags. In car parlance—a restoration. When I see you, I don't see an age. I see classic beauty. And as I said, that was never in question. But now...now I see not only the outside of truly classic car like a 1963 Corvette, I know that the engine and all of its part of incredibly amazing. So why would I want to drive a 2016 model car when I could have something much more beautiful and desirable—to me?"

"Can't I be a 1973 Corvette instead? You know, so I can be my age rather than 10 years older than I already am?" she said trying to be playful while very much aware of her age.

"The '73 Corvette is also a thing of beauty, Mags. But as you said, you're not a classic car. But you are a very beautiful, very desirable woman."

Maggie looked down at her hand in his and said, "You know Luke, I've lost track of the number of men who've flirted with me over the years. But I can count on one hand the number of men with whom I've flirted back." She looked up at him and said, "And since I married Keith, I can count them on one finger."

"I'm flattered," he said.

"It's just that I can't help but think I really am like a classic car to you. You know, something you tinker around with, drive on the weekend, but find impractical as your primary means of transportation." She saw him smile and said, "I'm taking this metaphor way too far, aren't I?"

"It's okay. I get it. I understand. But if you're interested in me, couldn't I make a similar assumption about you? Wouldn't it be fair to think I'm just a 'boy toy' or a fling to make you feel young again until you come to your senses and find a more um...practical choice?"

"Okay, point taken," she said. "Maybe we should try talking without metaphors or analogies and be honest with one another."

"I believe I did just that at your favorite new restaurant—Mom." Maggie laughed at his bringing up the Mother's Day discount and poor Tiffany. "I told you I'd like to get to know you better. And if you knew me, you'd know that's something I almost never say to any woman." He brushed her hair back and smiled at her.

"You don't?" she said weakly.

"Uh-uh. I tell them I'd like to hook up with them and I let them know they'll need to find a way home when um...we're done."

"You do?" she said barely above a whisper.

He slid closer and looked directly into her eyes. "Maggie, I've gone through a kind of recent transformation myself. I'm sick of the hook ups and the meaningless sex without love or commitment. I'm ready to settle down—with the right person."

"But doesn't that imply children? That's not something..."

"Nope. Not for me. I've never wanted kids and I never will. I had two fantastic, loving parents, but I have no interest in raising any child. I was a teenager and I know what's ahead after they stop being sweet and adorable and even that's overrated in my book."

"Luke, I just got our of a relationship with a lying, cheating man who saw me only as a prop. As some kind of means to an end. I love being married, but I don't love being hurt or used or..."

"I'll never hurt you, Maggie. Nor will I ever use you. Finding girls or women is easy. Finding one who completely captures your heart and your imagination and your dreams is quite another."

"So...kissing me and bringing me here. It's not because you just want to...hook up?"

"Hardly," he said. "As much as I'd like to make love with you, I'm willing to wait as long as it takes because you're so much more than that to me. I really do want to get to know you. Sex can wait. But spending time with you can't."

He leaned over and kissed her again and after a moment of hesitation, she kissed him back. Passionately. Hungrily. One kiss became two and two became many before Maggie found herself saying shyly, "We don't have to wait, do we?"

Luke pulled back from her and said, "You have no idea how badly I want to undress you and make love to you right now. No idea. But I want this relationship to be different. I want it to be special. I want it to be different because you're very special to me, Mags."

"Why do I feel like I'm in high school and being kissed by the cutest boy in school?"

"I can't answer that, but I have a pretty good idea seeing as how I feel like the cutest girl in school just let me kiss her."

"And you don't want to make love to me?" she said as though she'd failed to hear a word he'd said.

"If I don't ask you to leave right now, I won't be able to stop myself and while I don't want to stop myself, I want this to happen at the right time for the right reason." He kissed her again but only briefly before saying, "I think I may even be falling in love with you, Maggie. And as you well know since Bay is your daughter, I also just got out of a relationship very similar to yours. I'm ready to settle down and get married, but you may need time—a lot of time—to date other guys."

"This really is high school." She put his hand over her heart which was pounding out of her chest. "I'm so confused now, I can't even think, Luke. I'm happy, excited, scared, worried, and...I'm afraid to even say this but I think I just may be falling in love with you, too."

"Then let's give this some time and see, okay?"

"I hate being practical," she said as she pulled him close for another kiss.

"Yeah, it pretty much sucks, doesn't it?" he said with a smile.

"Right now it totally sucks," she told him. She smiled and said, "I don't think I've ever used that word in that way before."

"You're well on your way to becoming a full-fledged commoner, Mags. First Red Lobster then saying something sucks. I really will have you drinking wine out of a box in the very near future."

Maggie sighed and said, "Then I guess I should be going. You know, if you don't want me to suck...you." The threw her hands over her mouth and said, "I cannot believe I just said that, either!"

Luke burst out laughing and said, "I'm not only falling in love with the new Maggie, I really like her, too."

He walked her to the door and then out to her car. "I had such a nice time, Luke. I really did."

"Me, too," he told her. "Have you ever been to a Mariner's game?"

"Um...since I don't know who they are I'll have to say 'no.'"

"Oh, wow. We have a lot of work to do, Mags. That's our baseball team and I'm taking you this Saturday afternoon. And I'm gonna buy you a hot dog and some Cracker Jacks and another cheap beer. Oh, and you're gonna love it."

Maggie smiled as she put her arms around him and said, "As long as I'm doing it with you, I will love it. It's a date." She looked at him and asked, "It is a date, isn't it?"

"It is," he told her. "The first of many, I hope."

"Me, too," she said softly as they kissed goodnight.

For the next month, Luke and Maggie dated. The went to a baseball game, he took her dancing, she took him antiquing—something 'poor people' did that she couldn't wait to try and ended up loving it. He taught her how to scuba dive, and although a little concerned about repeating an event he'd done with Bay, he managed to convince her to go skydiving with him.

As they were getting ready for the jump he told her, "Don't worry. It'll be a tandem jump and you and I will be attached."

"Attached. As in connected?" she teased making reference to the fact they still hadn't slept together even though her divorce became final two weeks ago.

"Yes, as in connected," he said as he kissed her. "Why? Are you in some kind of hurry to...connect with me?"

"Well, I wouldn't say waiting almost six weeks is being in a hurry or anything, but come on. Have I told you how long I've been waiting between you and Keith?"

"Um...only about 50 times," he said knowing it was more like four or five. Still, he knew it had been a very long time she'd had any real physical contact with a man, let alone sex.

"So...what's a girl gotta do to get some attention from her gorgeous, much-younger boyfriend with whom she's dying to...connect?"

"I told you I wanted it to be special. That's important to me."

"If I wasn't so crazy about you..." she said.

"Are you? Crazy about me?"

"You've asked me twice since Red Lobster if I wanted to date anyone else and I told you no. You asked me if I was sure two more times. Luke, I'm sure. I'm really sure! Can we please do it soon? Please?"

She was cute when she begged and the fact of the matter was he didn't think he could hold out much longer, either. He'd never dated anyone before that hadn't started with sex on the first date and that included Bay. He really did want this to be different because Maggie was indeed a very special woman.

"That depends," he said as he put his arms around her waist.

"On what? A full moon? Venus in the seventh house? What does it depend on, Luke?"

"Whether or not we survive this jump," he said knowing she was already afraid.

"Oh! That was so mean!" she said as he ran off as soon as he said it. "You know how scared I am right?"

"Get your gear on! We're going up in ten minutes."

He helped Mags get into her harness which he'd hook to his before they jumped. He made sure his helmet cam was working and once everything checked out he said, "Okay, let's do this!"

When they got up to 5,000 feet, Luke told her to stand up and hollered, "You ready?"

Maggie looked too cute in her helmet and goggles as she said, "I guess so!"

Luke took a quick look out of the window and saw what he was looking for. "Okay, I'm gonna hook you up to me and then we're going out."

He saw that look most first-time jumpers have in Maggie's eyes as he hooked her harness to his and double checked it. They walked to the door, Luke grabbed the sides then said, "Here we go!"

He heard her shriek as they fell. He let her free fall for a few seconds just to get the feel of it, then pulled the ripcord. Maggie shrieked again as the canopy deployed and filled with air breaking their fall. As they drifted slowly toward the ground Luke yelled, "I want you to see something." He pointed to her 10 o'clock and Maggie's eyes followed Luke's finger.

When she saw it, he saw her hands cover her face. "Oh, my God!" she said as she read the banner being pulled behind the single-engine plane. WILL YOU MARRY ME, MAGGIE?

He heard her say, "Oh, my God" again twice in a row.

"So will you?" he hollered.

He watched her helmet bob up and down as she strained to turn around. "Yes! Yes, I will marry you, you crazy, wonderful man!"

When they landed he ran them to a stop and unhooked her then shed his own gear. She turned around and threw her arms around him and he kissed her and told her he loved her. "This was the most perfect and amazing proposal ever!" she told him through tears of joy.

"It isn't over," he said dropping to one knee and pulling out a small blue box. "Maggie? You've taught what it means to have grace and dignity and what it means to beautiful from the inside out. We've waited and gotten to know one another and I love you more than I can say. So..." He opened the box and said, "Will you marry me?"

She was crying freely and said, "Yes! Of course I will! I love you too, Luke." He slipped the ring on her finger and she said, "And you've taught me what real character is and shown me that money has nothing to do with happiness and that each individual person is important in their own right. You are the smartest, funniest, most handsome man I've even known and I will be happy to be your wife. I love you so much, Luke Miller!"

He kissed her again then turned her around. She hadn't heard the limo pull up near the landing zone. "What are you doing?" she asked as he picked up their gear.

"Taking you somewhere we can spend our first night together alone."

"So this isn't a hook up?" she asked almost making it a statement.

"No, no hook up because I don't ever want you to leave me, Maggie. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

The limo wound its way north through Seattle's ever-present traffic until it was out of the city on Interstate 5. When they passed through Everett and Marysville Maggie had to ask, "Where are you taking us?" Maggie was curled up with him in the back seat and didn't really care as long as they were together.

"Someplace nice that isn't swanky or pretentious, if you must know," he told her.

"I'll love it, wherever it is."

"How can you be so sure?" he asked as he kissed the top of her head.

"Because no matter where you take me, the wait is finally going to be over." She looked up at him and said, "And I don't think I could wait much longer."

He kissed her and said, "Me, either. I just had to know we had something more than a rebound relationship or one based on sex. Now that I'm sure..."

"We can finally have sex?" she cooed.

"Unless you'd prefer to wait," he said trying to sound serious.

She pulled him on down on top of her as she told him, "Don't even think about trying to pull that on me." As much as she was enjoying being kissed, Maggie was imagining Luke's full weight on top of her, looking into his gorgeous eyes and feeling him penetrate her for the first time. She was so wet she was glad she was wearing jeans but even they might not be enough to prevent a warm, dark stain from spreading out from her forbidden place. God, she wanted him!

The sound of a ferry's horn caught their attention and roused them from their moment of passion. Based on the length of the drive, Maggie guessed they were in Anacortes.

"Good work, detective," Luke told her as they sat up and looked out of the darkly-tinted windows.

"Are you taking me to the San Juan Islands?" she asked hopefully.

"I am," he told her.

"I love that place! It's so beautiful and quaint and rustic."

The limo driver pulled onto the ferry and once he was parked the happy couple jumped up and went to the upper deck to enjoy the view and the unusually nice weather. It was clear and warm and one of those days where they could see Mount Rainier in one direction and the Olympic Mountains in another.

"This is perfect!" she told him as Luke stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her. At about halfway across they went inside and grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at one of the little tables.

"Luke? I've never been happier in my entire life. This has been the most amazing day I can every remember."

"I'm kinda liking it myself," he told her as they held hands and sipped coffee.

"I love my ring. It's beautiful. Thank you, Luke," she told him as she admired it. "I just want you to know I don't need stuff to make me happy."