It was from behind, where she moved his hand, up her skirt to settle on her buttocks. She placed it there and then removed her hand, placed it on the bed next to him. She kissed him, not a long romantic kiss but a soft closed-mouth one on the lips. She rested her head next to his so they were cheek to cheek.
Bill let his hand stay there, on her buttocks, didn’t do much with it at first. He simply pressed at her, pushed her so she was tighter against him. He thought. He didn’t really know what to say but he knew what to do and he didn’t really want to do it, at least not yet. So he let her snuggle against him with her cheek, took his other hand and placed it in the small of her back. This way he could keep her tight top to bottom.
“I don’t know how much longer she has to live,” said Arlene. “Sometimes I don’t sleep at all, I worry so much. They’ve said they can do pretty well with chemotherapy and surgery, that at least maybe they can give her some years. I just don’t know.”
Bill was fully aroused now and could not hide that. Given that she only wore the skirt and her panties, he knew she had to feel him. He knew she had to feel him because she pressed against him and moved herself comfortably about him. He was almost embarrassed, not because she made him hard, but because of what they were talking about and the set of circumstances in which they had come to be like this.
“I know it sounds stupid,” said Bill, “but you’ve got to stay positive. Think of all the positives. Years is better than days. Knowing in advance what’s going on and having a chance to work on it is a positive. You’re young and so I suspect she’s probably pretty young too. Am I right?”
“Fifty-one.”
“See that’s young, not bad at all. My mother was only forty-four and there was no warning at all. So the way I see it, there’s two things you have to do. First is take care of yourself because you can’t take care of her if you’re not taken care of. Second is stay positive, especially in front of her. And take care of her of course. One step at a time, one thing at a time, follow what the doctors tell you.”
Having said all that, Bill took his hands and moved them to her cheeks then moved her face so he could kiss her. He kissed her softly and placed her head so they were once again cheek to cheek and she could once again nuzzle him.
“I know that’s easy for me to say and hard for you to do. If I were you I know it would be hard for me to do. I’m a worrier. Maybe the only time I’m not worried is when I’m on drugs, which is maybe why I stay on drugs all the time, although if you really want to know, I don’t think about it too much.”
“I can’t picture you as a worrier,” Arlene said. “I see you as Mr. Carefree.”
Bill nudged at Arlene to give her the idea he wanted her to move off him. He helped her shift so that she lay next to him. Then he sat himself up and sat her up too so they were both sitting there in the middle of the bed not quite facing each other but almost.
“Girl,” he said, “if that’s what you really think about me, then we really have a lot to talk about. So let’s take that shower and we can start talking.”
