Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
How the hell did this happen? After all, my niece Flora set me up on this blind date. She made it sound as if I was doing her friend a favor.
“Cindy’s cute but she’s had a string of bad luck and could really use a friend,” Flora announced. “You should go see a movie with her.”
I shook my head.
“I’m here to see you, Flora. I’m not here to hang out with your friend, nor to see a movie that I could catch just as easily in New York.”
But Flora babbled on, ignoring me.
“Cindy’s really amazing, but she’s just had the most awful string of bad dates, did I mention? The last guy she went out with was some kind of addict. He kept shooting up.”
I look at my niece with surprise.
“Drug use in public?”
“No, no,” my airheaded niece chortles. “Not shooting up as in drugs. It’s different, sort of. Evidently, he likes having really big muscles so he injects his biceps with a synthetic chemical called synthol. If you look it up online, prepare to be grossed out. It makes guys look cartoon characters with Popeye biceps. Why anyone would think that’s attractive is beyond me.”
I nod with agreement.
“That does sound bad, but still. I’m not going out with your friend. She can find another man on-line. Or what about school? You guys attend a college that has thirty thousand people on campus. Why can’t you meet someone in real life?”
Flora pooh-poohs my suggestion.
“Because the guys on campus are all idiots, that’s why. They’re pimply, disgusting adolescent boys who are just big babies. We don’t find that attractive. But Lonnie is different, of course,” she says with a dreamy smile. “He’s mature and soooo good-looking.”
I snort.
“Okay fine. Go on your date, and I’ll meet up with your friend. But don’t expect me to forget this.”
“Thanks Uncle Blake!” my niece says, giving me a big hug. “And don’t tell Mom, okay? She’d kill me if she found out I wasn’t a proper hostess.”
I merely roll my eyes and snort a little under my breath. After all, my niece has always been flaky. It’s a miracle she even got into college, and an even bigger miracle that she’s graduating in a mere matter of months. But the world is full of surprises, and who knows? Maybe Flora will even get a job after all of this is over.
So I got ready for the date without expecting much. I’m in town for business, and pulled out the only casual clothes in my suitcase: a green sweater and jeans. It didn’t matter. I was sure Flora’s friend was going to be ugly with coke-bottle glasses and a huge overbite.
But instead, Cindy is absolutely gorgeous. Her breasts are huge and soft, lovingly encased in the black wool of her sweater. Her hips sway with every step, and her long legs are slim and lovely. And that face is unbelievable. She has the big blue eyes of an angel; a pert, ski-slope nose; and a lush mouth that was made to be claimed by a man.
What? I shouldn’t be having these thoughts about my niece’s friend, for god’s sake. She’s probably twenty years younger than me, not to mention innocent and sweet. By contrast, I’m an old geezer who’s already been married and divorced with some bitter life lessons under my belt.
After all, my wife and I were married for a long time. Beverly was my college sweetheart, and we tied the knot right after graduation. At first, everything was okay. She had a job as an accountant, and I worked hard starting my own business. But Beverly never supported my career aspirations, and often denigrated it.
“Really?” she asked sarcastically. “You play video games for a living?”
Calmly, I put down my VR headset.
“In fact, I do. It sounds ridiculous, but there’s a niche market here. A lot of YouTube viewers like to watch me play, and I’m getting a decent number of responses. You can do really well so long as you stick with it.”
But my wife grew impatient. I didn’t make much money those first five years, and she got more and more peevish as time passed. Her comments became stinging remarks and soon, she couldn’t even look me in the eye.
“Do what you need to do, Blake,” she said dismissively in passing. “I don’t care.”
It was that remark that spelled the end of our relationship. Even though my little company grew big and began to thrive, Beverly had lost interest in me. She simply didn’t care anymore, even as money poured into my bank account. We divorced last year, and the separation was a non-event. To be honest, even though the divorce papers were signed only recently, our marriage was over long before that.
As a result, I’m a single man now. Maybe the ink’s still fresh on the divorce decree, but in my heart, I’ve been single for a long time. Of course, that doesn’t mean I was unfaithful. While I was married, I never stepped out on Beverly.