Forty Fucking Years Pt. 01

Reality bites: No sexy lover in her bed! The phenomenal sex-filled weekend was over - banished as just a sweet memory at the back of her brain!

The restaurant kitchen was Catt's responsibility. Everyone worked hard and put in long hours. The kitchen was getting back to normal. The goal was in sight: to reopen and serve dinner guests the expected creative, delicious and well-executed menu.

At the end of a second fourteen-hour day Catt struggled home, exhausted. Numb from fatigue and covered in grime, Catt went to shower and slip into a T-shirt. Heading toward her kitchen to search for something to eat, Catt saw there were six phone messages on her machine. Who on earth?

She seldom received a phone message, but six - in one day? The first message had been left earlier in the morning:

First message: "Where are you, My Sexy One? I thought you'd still be asleep - it's the middle of the night, well really very early in the morning. I'll call again later."

Second message: "Catt, are you alright? I called yesterday too, several times, but didn't leave any messages then. Now I am getting really concerned. The number for your restaurant says it's closed, but doesn't explain when it will reopen. Where the hell are you? I'm worried." Tom's voice had a tinge of anger mixed in with his concern for her.

Third message: "Catt! I've called this number and hung up a dozen times. I can't find you at home, and the restaurant is still closed! Dammit, Catt - you're scaring me!"

Fourth message: "Catt, please call me as soon as you get this message! Please! I'm concerned about you! Please call!"

The fifth message was simply a long recorded silence followed by Tom's angry voice saying, "Call me when you get this message." He didn't leave a number, but Catt knew the name of the hotel where he was staying.

The sixth and final message was left when she was in the shower, just a few minutes earlier. It was simply "Hello, hello, Catt? Please call me!" There was real fear and concern in his voice.

Catt realized he was afraid she was upset about the weekend. Did she have second thoughts and regrets? His voice sounded distraught with fear and concern.

She quickly found the hotel's telephone number in her address book and waited while the switchboard operator put the call through to his room.

"Lo?" Tom had either been asleep, or was drunk. It was both.

"Tom? I'm okay, but are you?" Catt was as worried for Tom as he appeared from his messages to be for her.

She could hear the rustle of the bed linen as Tom sat up and focused on the caller. "Catt? Oh Catt, thank gawd! I was so afraid you had regrets and didn't want to speak to me anymore. Then I began to worry that something had happened to you. Are you... okay?"

A sweet smile of relief pulled at the corners of her mouth. Tom was worried about her! "I'm fine my wonderful lover! Even better than fine, hearing your sexy voice! Because of the kitchen fire at the restaurant, I've been working crazy long hours, to restock and prep so we can reopen at the end of the week. It's been exhausting, but what kept me going was thinking about the wonderful weekend we had together."

Catt was silent for a moment and then asked, "Are you okay?" The implication was clear - Tom could have regrets too.

"I'm fine. I'm fine now that I hear your voice and know that you are okay. I was so afraid for you - that you had..." He was unsure how to proceed; what words to choose to convey his feelings.

"Tom, it was the most wonderful weekend! It was just the two of us together in a lost weekend. I'll always remember it. I have no regrets about what happened and I hope you don't either. It was amazingly wonderful to have been with you!" Catt wanted to say so many more things, but they all bordered on saying something that sounded like she had developed a deeper affection and feelings for him that bordered on love. And they both knew that the 'L' word could not be in their vocabulary. Tom was married and neither of them could ignore that fact.

"Catt, I am so relieved you're okay. I was really getting worried when I couldn't reach you. I didn't realize the extent of the fire you mentioned as the reason you had the weekend free. You didn't have to torch the kitchen to get a weekend off with me, but now at least you have something to keep you busy and distract you from missing me! I've been pretty useless at work, these last couple of days - so worried when I couldn't talk with you, but I've replayed every moment of our weekend together over-and-over in my head - a thousand times - it was more than I could have ever imagined and you know I have imagined us together ever since that first meeting in your apartment all those years ago." Tom wanted to talk more about the weekend, to revisit everything they had enjoyed together exploring each other's sexual preferences, but he sensed he was losing his audience. "Catt, why don't you get some sleep and I'll call you tomorrow. I'll find you wherever you are. It was a wonderful weekend, wasn't it?" Tom smiled at the memory of Catt laying naked on her bed while she sucked his cock so very seductively - and enjoyably for him.

"G'night, Tom. Can't wait to talk with you again."

*****

With only hours to go before the soft opening on Thursday evening offering a limited dinner menu, the restaurant pace quickened as the grand reopening loomed on the horizon. The restaurant manager had placed a 'news worthy' call to a local restaurant critic reassuring that the restaurant was accepting reservations and offering a complimentary bottle of wine to guests at first seating. The tension in the kitchen was palpable - they had to pull this off successfully or the restaurant was doomed. The Head Chef was unaccountably delayed returning to Washington. Catt would be in charge of the re-opening.

Just after the usual staff dinner, where the menu for the evening was tasted and discussed, the restaurant manager appeared through the kitchen swing door with a tall vase filled with a dozen yellow roses. Every male head in the cramped space turned to look admiringly at Catt as he walked toward her and presented the beautiful arrangement into her hands.

Catt was shocked that the flowers were for her and for a moment couldn't imagine why, or who would have sent them. It must be a mistake. Then she read the card and blushed.

'Thanks for the wonderful weekend!' It wasn't signed.

Two of the Hispanic dishwashers watched as Catt opened the card and blushed. One whispered to the other, 'I told you she got laid...' in Spanish. They chuckled and nudged each other - saying lucky guy!

Catt understood enough Spanish to know what the two men had said and she smiled at them saying, "Nope, I'm the lucky one."

Both men turned red with embarrassment because they had been caught out.

Catt moved the flowers to the Chef's office, so the vase couldn't be knocked over, and then went back to work. Her mind kept wandering back over the past weekend, reviewing every erotically sexy moment with Tom. As she stirred the béchamel sauce - Tom's gorgeous naked body appeared in her mind's eye as he had hovered above her body when he had been inside Catt. As Catt wiped a plate for service presentation, she remembered their dinner conversation over a plate of lasagna at the Italian restaurant. She was in a fog of lust but it kept her moving through the dinner service. Everyone in the restaurant was nervous about the successful execution but most especially the kitchen staff. They executed flawlessly and they knew it: meals left the kitchen hot and perfectly plated. Waiters returned to the kitchen with comments from the patrons: 'Compliments to the Chef!' They had recovered and it was a success!

It was a slower night than usual, fewer guests in the dining room, but that was to be expected. Congress was in recess and the soft re-opening was intended to allow the pace to work out any kinks after being closed for several days. Everyone was pleased with the results, especially Catt. The restaurant manager expressed his gratitude to her, as well as the kitchen staff at the end of the shift.

Catt struggled home after midnight, elated that all had gone well at the restaurant. However, she was dragging her feet with exhaustion mental, as well as physical. She wanted a hot shower and a soft bed. There was a message on her answering machine, from Tom:

'Hello Sexy! I hope the re-launch was successful - I'm sure with you running the show it was! If you want to talk when you get home, call me and we can talk about it... or anything else you might want to... discuss."

Catt looked at the clock and tried to decide how tired she really was, she knew Tom was two hours earlier than she, but it was late either way. He probably assumed she would have been home hours ago. She washed her face, poured a glass of wine, and placed the call. It took a long moment for him to answer, and Catt was afraid she's awakened him.

"Hey There Sexy! Glad you decided to call me... I was just sitting here playing with myself, thinking about you, me, and us. Catt?"

She smiled at his bold remark, but certainly wasn't offended by it, she now knew intimately the sexy, horny Tom.

"Yeah?" She held her breath waiting for his question.

"Whatcha wearing?"

Catt was ready for the question: "Nothing but a smile, my love."

And they were off! For almost an hour they talked: about her grand re-opening at the restaurant. She thanked him for the flowers and told him about the dishwasher's remark which made Tom worry about her safety. She reassured him, but privately she very pleased that he was protectively concerned about her - he cared about her.

Catt was fading fast when Tom asked, "So would you ever think about coming here to visit me?" It jolted her awake.

"I... I... sure I want to, but do you think that's a good idea?"

"Just think about it, Catt. I want to be with you again. That was a wonderful weekend and you are a wonderful sexy partner. Let's talk about it tomorrow. I'll call you later." He said goodnight and terminated the call before Catt could respond.

Suddenly Catt was no longer sleepy - she was wide awake considering Tom's proposition. Could she, would she? How complicated, how dangerous, would it be? There were so many pitfalls as well as possibilities. They might have had one glorious, harmless tete-a-tete but was it even possible to consider another without it blowing up in their faces. And then there was Giselle to consider. It frightened Catt just to think of the possibilities. But she would, - just daydream about them, nothing else.