while insisting that I give them an apology for making them worry so much. They might have had a chance, if it weren't for two things. First, I'm not particularly ticklish. Second, I cheat: any time some interesting bit of anatomy got within range, I'd do something to it. Their plan pretty much came apart when Kelly tried to pin my arms over my head: doing so, she revealed a stretch of her tummy where her blouse had come loose; I simply stuck my face in it, and blew a 'fart' noise into it, tickling her and making her laugh at the sensation. No matter how she tried to avoid it, I kept going, and eventually, she gave up to hold her stomach and laugh. That left me free to do pretty much the same thing to Jan, leaving her in hysterics, since she was far more ticklish than Kelly. After that, all I had to do was to even pretend to come after one of them, and they'd collapse in laughter again, totally at my negligible mercy. Finally, though, I did give them a reprieve, and got up to get us some drinks from the kitchen. By the time I got back, they'd mostly recovered, though both still had bouts of giggles every so often, and both had tears running down their faces from laughing so hard. Even then, they were careful to sit out of my reach, and kept an eye on me.
When they'd finally gotten themselves back together – clothing excluded; we were all pretty disheveled – they looked at each other again for a few moments, before looking at me. I readied myself for another assault; I was completely unprepared for what actually happened.
Jan said 'Uncle Dan, it's been a while since Kelly has been over here, right?'
'Ye-e-e-e-s' I answered, puzzled, and more than a little suspicious.
'Then I think you ought to spend some, uh, 'quality time' with her.', she continued.
Looking back and forth between them, I could see that they'd already worked it out, and were simply waiting for me to concede the loss.
I did, as gracefully as possible: 'I'd be delighted. What's the plan?'
Jan spoke again, saying 'I really do have to go to the library to take back some books, and pick up some other ones. I'll just stay there for a while, and leave you two alone.'
That said, she got up, and headed toward the second bedroom, where her bags were still mostly unopened. A couple minutes later, she came out, and headed to the garage, where we heard the engine to her car start (apparently, Kelly had taken her home long enough to get it), followed a bit later by the sound of her heading down the street.
As we heard her leave, Kelly looked at me, and said 'She really is a dear, you know. This is supposed to be HER time with you, but she absolutely insisted that we have some time together after I didn't come over for so long. Not that I don't want to be with you; it's just that I don't want to intrude, you know?'
I smiled at her, and answered 'Yeah, I know. It probably won't surprise you to know that she keeps telling me how nice you are, and how she doesn't mind – even wants! – for us to be together. She told me that she thought we'd be a good couple.'
Kelly smiled back and said 'She tells me the same thing; and she really means it, too. Before Kathy and Mary Alice got here, she told me that as much as she loves you, she knows that you and her aren't really 'right' for each other. She really does want to go out and find her own guy and get married and have kids; she knows that if she ever spent too much time with you, it would get in the way of the friendship you have with her dad, and she loves both of you too much to want anything like that to happen.'
'She does seem to have a way of not letting what she can't have get in the way of making herself happy, if that makes any sense.'
'It does.', Kelly replied, smiling.
'But I don't know that I agree with her that we would make a good couple.'
Surprised, Kelly asked 'What do you mean?'
'I mean that I'm simply not as certain about it as Jan is. I think that we could make a good couple; I even think that we might make a good couple. But the difference in our ages worries me, as well as a couple of other things.'
'Such as?'
'First, as nice as we get along, we haven't spent all that much time together; we're comfortable with each other, and enjoy making love with each other, and all that; but there's still the problem that a couple of hours or a few days together at a time aren't really anything to judge a long term relationship on.'
'What else?'
'It's kind of the age difference thing: you're still young, and just don't have a lot of the experience with the world that I have; as much as I'd like to have you as a bigger part of my life, I'm really reluctant to push for it.'
'Why?'
'Because you are still young. There's a whole world of experiences out there for you to sample, and I worry that if I push for any kind of long-term commitment from you, I'll be making it harder for you to feel that you can go out there and find your own way in life.'
'And?'
'And you're 17 – barely! – and I'm 44. That's twenty-seven year's difference, more than you've even been alive. By the time I turned old and gray, you'd still be fairly young; by the time I died – say, at 80 – you'd still only be 53; young enough to still be able to enjoy life without having to deal with the loss of a husband. Even when you were middle-aged, I'd be old enough that the, uh, physical part of our relationship might be less than what you wanted. I mean, you've got to admit, you DO enjoy making love!'
She laughed a moment, and said 'Yeah, I do enjoy it – but it's not the only thing in my life. As much as I like making love with you, it's the other time we spend together that means so much to me. Like I told you before, you spend more time talking with me during my time here than my folks have, ever. And the stuff we talk about and do together is so much more interesting than what I can do with almost anybody my own age that it's ridiculous. Even when I come over here and all we do is sit next to each other and listen to music for a couple of hours, it makes me so happy that I can put up with the other nonsense for days.'
She went on, saying 'Maybe you're right, and there is somebody out there closer to my own age that I'd be as happy with as I am with you. But how long would it take me to find them? How many idiots would I meet before then? No, I figure I've got a damn good thing with you; and rather than lose you in the hope of finding what you might think would be a 'perfect' guy for me, I'd much prefer spending whatever time I could with someone that already makes me happier than I thought I could ever be. If I could get twenty-five years out of you, then I figure that's a lot better deal than wasting 10 years looking for 'Mr. Right', and spending thirty years with HIM. Besides, even if it didn't work out, for some reason – which I doubt! – then I'd still be young enough to go out see the world and enjoy new experiences. I mean, how much sense does it make? Assuming I've got 25 good years with you, do I give them up to waste ten to get an additional five? Or keep the ones I had to start with? Is that a bet YOU would take?'
I had to admit that she did have a point there; I mean, it had taken ME
25 years to find her, if you started from when I turned 18 and left home.
I sighed, and said 'Okay, Kelly. You're right: it's not a bet I'd take.
If you really think you want to take the chance, I'd be delighted if you wanted to spend more time here – or even move in with me, if that's what you want.'
She laughed, and said 'Now there's a romantic offer, if ever I heard one – but I accept. And I know just how I want to seal the deal!', with a twinkle in her eye.
Standing, she gestured for me to get up, as well. When I did, she took me by the hand, and led me back to the bedroom (big surprise, there).
Looking up into my eyes, she carefully and gently started undressing me, simply dropping my clothes at the end of the bed as she removed them.
When she was done, and I stood naked in front of her, she took a step back from me, and looked me over, slowly and carefully. When she was done, she looked into my eyes again, and began undressing herself, again, slowly and carefully. As each bit of her skin was uncovered, she caressed it a bit, as though feeling it for the first time. It didn't come as much of a surprise to me to find that she wasn't wearing a bra; what DID amaze me was that she'd apparently decided to go without panties, either. As a result, it didn't take long at all before she was as naked as me. She stood there in front of me for a couple of minutes, letting me drink in her beauty before taking my hand, and leading me onto the bed. Once there, she gently guided me onto my back, and then straddled my waist before laying down far enough to rest on her elbows, her breasts pressed into my chest. She softly kissed my lips,
