Too Clever by a Mile Ch. 05

He never thought anyone so simple, so unadorned could be so beautiful. She exuded the kind of raw untrammeled beauty he loved more than anything else. Sexy no, pretty, not really, but just downright lovable. He wished he'd never heard about the two husbands.

He held out his left hand, "May I take you to lunch?"

She coolly accepted, "Yes, please."

They drove to the restaurant in silence. He didn't know what to say, and she had no intention of letting him off the hook. The restaurant he chose was a classic Mom and Pop type of place, a local family owned eatery that had been around for forty years, it provided good home cooking, no elaborate foreign sounding entrées, a menu with the actual prices on it, and a simple wine list.

They were seated and the waitress came around.

He asked, "Would you like a drink?"

"I'll have a white wine."

Steve told the waitress, "I'll have the same."

As the waitress left to fetch their wines he started, "Look I'm sorry for...back there."

She wasn't sure if he meant back there as at the house or back there as in her behind, "I didn't feel like it was me you were hitting."

He heard what she said. She used the word hitting. It would have sounded better if she'd said spanking; hitting sounded meaner, "I know. I think I was mad at the woman I thought you were."

"Look that woman's dead, but I don't think you were beating her either."

He was exasperated! Now she said beating; he hadn't meant it that way. This was all wrong. She was really hurt. He felt like a real piece of shit. He was so sorry. His lips started to quiver, "Hey I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to be that way." Then he recovered a little, "Look you tell me then. Who was I spanking?"

"Another dead woman."

"What, who do you mean, Leah?"

Cathy believed Leah was his problem, "You never talk about her. Tell me about her."

He hesitated, "She was my high school sweetheart. We got married. She got Leukemia, and she died."

"You mean she loved you and she left you."

The waitress came back with their wines, "Are you ready to order?"

Cathy answered, "I'll have the salmon, and a salad."

The waitress asked, "Baked potato?"

"No, I'll just have the fish and a salad."

The waitress looked at Steve, "And you sir?"

"I'll have the same."

The waitress smiled, "It'll only be a minute. The salmon's on special tonight." She left.

Steve looked at Cathy, "The man usually orders for both."

"You're not my man."

"I thought I was. I'd like to be."

She stiffened, "You were, you could be again. Look I'll let you tie me up in ribbons. I'll wear any special clothes you want me to. I'll pretend to be the maid for your friends. I'll even let you chain me up. But I won't be beaten, spanked, or hit, not ever again."

There it was again. Steve squirmed, "I didn't mean..."

"Yes you did. You meant every stinging slap. But if I thought it was me you were spanking I might put up with it, but it wasn't me you beat."

Steve didn't want to get into how things had been with Leah, but Cathy wasn't going to let him off. He studied her face. She was such a little person, physically small and weak, but there was steel there too. He could see that now, "OK, I was mad for a while, mad about losing Leah, mad at her for dying. I guess I thought of you and your husbands. I got mad, and I thought how you left them."

Cathy heard the pain inside the stalwart visage. She reached across the table and took his hand, "I never left them. I couldn't have, because I was never really with them. I married them to steal their money. They were targets, not people. But Steve, I'm not like that anymore. That part of me is dead." She patted his hand, "I..."

The waitress was back with their meals. For the next several minutes they ate in silence. They had another wine, declined dessert, and left.

As they drove back to his house he suggested, "Would you like to stop by the reservoir? I have a blanket. We could sit by the shore, look at the water, maybe talk some more."

She answered, "That would be nice."

A few minutes later and they were by the water, on a blanket, looking at the tiny wavelets ripple in from the lake. There were a few other people about. The sun was weak in the sky. The day had been abnormally warm for that time of year, and it was still quite comfortable.

Steve looked at her, "I don't deserve it, but I'd like to marry you."

That was what she wanted, but she realized he wasn't ready, not yet. "I'm not ready to marry you yet."

"What do I have to do to get you to say yes?"

"We just need more time. I'd like to see more of you at the hospice. I want to become a bigger part of that part of your life."

"You are already."

"No, I mean in other ways. I want to be there in some sort of official capacity, and I have money. You know that. Your lawyer has been investing it for me. I don't know how it's doing, but I'm sure it's good. I want to take my money and put it in the hospice."

He listened at first with a sense of prideful happiness, but it quickly turned to dread. She had no money. When he'd found out about her, he and his lawyer had manipulated her. They'd gotten her money and it was all a part of his estate. Though she didn't know it, she was penniless. He had to come clean, "Cathy."

"What do you think of what I just said?"

"Cathy you have no money."

"Don't be foolish. I'm rich."

"No you're not."

She looked at him through tightened eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I thought you were a swindler. We tricked you. Remember the papers you signed? I got all your money. You have no money. In fact, you don't have anything. Technically you don't even own the dress you have on."

"Nothing, you took all my money?"

"Well no...Actually you gave it to me."

"I'm penniless?"

"Flat broke. You have nothing."

She sat there for a few moments. She stared out at the water, "Broke, nothing. Not even this dress."

He kept his eyes fixed on the water too, "Nothing."

Cathy took off her shoes and socks.

He looked over, "What are you doing?"

She slowly unbuttoned the dress, one button at a time. She started at the hem and worked her way up to her neck. She slipped it off. She slipped out of the camisole. She pulled down her panties.

"Cathy what are you doing?"

"These clothes, they're yours. I'm giving them back."

He started to get up, "No wait."

Cathy stood up. A cool evening breeze fluttered through the loose fronds of hair that had escaped her pony tail. She was totally naked. There were a few people, not many, a few; they had all watched her undress.

Cathy handed Steve the clothes. All she had on was the locket. "If it's all right, I'll be back at the car. You can take me home. I'll decide what to do from there." She started walking up the grassy knoll to the car.

Steve grabbed her clothes. Pulled the blanket off the grass and ran after her. He tried to cover her with the blanket, but she shrugged it off, "Cathy!"

She walked toward the car. She didn't run she walked steadily and deliberately. The grass felt cool on her feet. There was a slight breeze. She felt it as it blew her hair. She felt the air waft around her denuded vagina. It was the second time that day she'd been barefoot in grass, the second time she'd been naked, and like the last time, she was trying to get away from Steve.

As she walked she started to think. He's going to pay for this. She wondered what she could do.

They drove back home in silence. Steve had a million things he wanted to say, but her demeanor precluded any attempt at comment. This was the second time in a few short hours he'd been stupid. He didn't have to tell her about her money. He could have lied. He could have simply gotten his lawyer to fix it. He just wanted to be honest, but all he'd done was hurt her.

She sat stiffly in the passenger seat of the car. The leather felt cool and clammy. It bothered the scratches on her legs, her rear end, and her back. The leather was sticky, and when she moved her ass hurt. The cool air had stimulated her vagina, and she knew there was a damp spot where it touched the seat. Any other time she'd have touched herself down there, but with Steve beside her she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her doing something like that.

They reached Steve's house. Cathy got out of the car and looked through the open window. "I'm going upstairs. Don't follow me." She started to walk away but stopped and looked back, "It's your house. You will let me in won't you?"

He ran ahead and unlocked the front door. He whimpered, "Cathy I..."

She ignored him. She walked by as though he weren't even there.