I saw Helena again, for the first in 15 years, ten days ago.  A lot about her had changed.  Yet some things were constant.  For instance, she still had that beautiful long red hair but this time she’d straightened it.  She still had that great smile but time and circumstances has softened it. Even her eyes shone with uncanny wisdom. She was still in great shape but this time her curves were softer.  She’d filled out a little more but in all the right places.  She was still a wonderful woman but now she was beautiful.  You know, the way only a woman can be.  Something about her spirit was more inviting.  Not naïve or adolescent, but more mature, experienced. 

We had  both been through the ringer, hung out, left out, kicked out.  But both of us now were on the other side now.  We’d made it. 

It was a funny thing to see her out shopping in my neighborhood.  Especially considering that I’d moved to another state and had been there for the past three years.  But it was also nice.   

She recognized me immediately, came, and gave me a big hug.  I wasn‘t expecting that.  Not that our breakup was dreadful, it was just a combination of our inexperience, coupled with a need to see what else was out there.  I was surprised because I realized how much of a healer time can be.  It was almost like the first time we met.  Two kids open for anything and everything, pure, innocent.  Promising. 

We stood in front of a boutique and talked for a while and then I invited her to lunch.  Although she couldn’t make it that day she told me to give her my number and we would have dinner.  I did and then I left, thinking that that would be the end of things and that we would go back to living our separate lives. 

A week and a half passed by.  It was a Saturday.  As I was lining up my movie rentals in the order I wanted to see them, my phone rang.  Because I’d planned to relax and watch movies that day, I almost let it go to the machine.   However, figuring it might be important, I answered. 

“Hello?”   

“Hi, Dominique?   It’s Helena.”  Helena spoke so quietly, I almost missed it.  I held the phone for a few moments and then found my manners. 

“Hi Helena.  How are you?”   

“I’m good.  Thank you for asking.”  Then she hesitated. “I know its last minute but I wanted to know if you would like to have an early dinner with me tonight?  I just moved here so we can dine out wherever you’d like.  It’ll be my treat.” 

“Helena that sounds great, but you don’t have to treat me to dinner.  What time would you like to meet?” 

Helena gave me the time and I gave all the details on how to get to the restaurant once we decided on a time. It was difficult trying to play cool because I was truly hoping for this.  However, I managed to keep my breathing regulated while I told her all I needed to know.  Afterwards, I hung up and started to get ready.  I only had three hours. 

I arrived at the restaurant on time and met Helena in the foyer and we took our seats.  As Helena looked over her menu I took the opportunity to steal a few glances at her.  She was still beautiful and I found myself staring.  Just before I had time to look away she glanced at me.  Our eyes locked and she smiled.  I had the good grace to blush and was, thankfully, saved by our waiter.  

Once our order was taken, we commenced with small talk.  She told me she’d just transferred here because of her job.  It was a promotion.  I told her about my business as a graphic artist and the new account I landed.  We asked about each others families, laughed, and cried a little at all the changes they’d been through.  Battles with cancer, heart disease, departed loved ones, our old loves and the heartaches they brought us.  In general, the daily occurrences of life that shapes us and makes us who we are. 

The evening progressed smoothly as appetizer, dinner and dessert came and went.  Even the empty glasses on the table told a tale of time well spent.  A lot had happened to both of us over the past decade and a half, but the ease we had with one another was still there. 

“What would you like to do now?  Have you had a chance to see the city?”  I asked, not really wanting the evening to end. 

“No.  I haven’t.  That would be lovely.”  She said as she smiled softly.  And although we argued over the tab, she paid it only after I made her promise that the next time would be on me. 

Because she lived only 20 minutes from the restaurant, we dropped her car off first and took off through a tour of the city.  The night was brisk and the air clear.  A lighting storm had just passed through the night before and everything seemed clearer.  It my have just been my attitude.  Even now, Helena had a way of bringing out the romantic in me.  Not that I wasn’t anyway, but it was just more innate with her.  

Our tour took us around the major hot spots, some of my favorite hiding places and even outlying areas.  As midnight approached, I decided it was time for both of us to head home.  

When we arrived back at Helena’s house she invited me in for a tour.  Her home was magnificent.  A two story streamline modern house with sharp angles that she touched up with a huge oval rug covering her cherry stained hardwood floors, couches and throw pillows with rounded corners.  It was very much her style.  Smart and gentle all at the same time. 

I commented on how much I loved the place and what she’d done with it in such a short time and she blushed shyly.  She poured me a cup of coffee and switched on her fireplace.  We sat in silence for a long while as we watched the flames jump and dance and then she spoke. 

“I had a great time with you tonight.  I’ve missed you.” 

“Me too.  On both counts.  I guess I didn’t realize how much until I saw you last week.”  I said as I took a sip of my coffee. 

“Me either.  You look great by the way.”  It was my turn to blush. 

“Thanks.” I said shyly. “I guess I’d better go and let you get some rest.” 

“No Dominique.  Stay.”  I had wanted to hear those words but was truly unprepared when they were spoken. 

“Helena, I would love to stay with you tonight.  But if I do that, I won’t want to leave in the morning, or ever.”  I said with a laugh even though I wasn’t joking. 

“Dominique, I have shared more with you tonight than I have with any one I’ve been with over the last few years.  It just comes easy to talk to you and be with you.  I’ve made many choices in my life, some I’ve regretted.  I have a feeling that if you stay with me tonight, neither of us will regret it.  And to be completely honest, the idea of you not leaving ever, is one I really like.  Please Dominique.  I’ve had a lot of time to think about this.  Why do you think it took me so long to call you?” 

“I just thought that you wouldn’t.  I was really surprised Helena.  And now that I’m here…”  I let my words trail off realizing that I was talking myself out of being with the love of my life.  Thoughts flashed in my mind of all the women I’d been with and the reasons that they never worked out.   All the things that I was looking for.  I guess I must have had a strange look on my face because Helena reached out and put her hand on my arm.  

“Dominique?  What are you thinking?”  She looked at me with those beautiful soft gray eyes and I smiled.

“I was thinking about what an idiot I am.  There’s a reason I’m with you now and it’s not to turn you down.  I haven’t just missed you Helena.  I’ve been missing you.”  She furrowed her brows with confusion.  “We’ve talked all night about our relationships and the heartaches we’ve encountered.  I know that what I’ve been looking for is another you.  And I’ve had enough experiences to know now, that you are irreplaceable.  So I’ll stay on one condition.” 

“Tell me Dominique.”  I’d bared my soul this much, all the way didn’t seem that much farther, so I went out on a limb. 

“That this not be a one night stand.  That what happens tonight between us be the first in an infinite amount of nights for the both of us.  Do you think that’s possible?  I mean really.  Do you think we have what it takes to try again?” 

Helena didn’t respond.  At least not in words.  She took my hand in hers and placed it on her cheek.  I ran my thumb across her lips and then let my fingers run through her hair.  I placed my hand on the nape of her neck, pulled her close to me, and kissed her on the lips, gently.   

Our kiss intensified and she leaned into me.  I broke the kiss for a moment and whispered in her ear. 

“I love you Helena.  I always have.  I always will.”  Tears came to her eyes as she admitted as much to me and then we kissed again.  This time with more heat or passion that I think either of us had felt in a long time.  Not just lust, but more.  It was like love to the nth degree.   

I traced her lips with my tongue and then sucked her bottom lip into my mouth and let my tongue slide inside or her mouth.  She put her hands on my back and let her nails scratch down my back.  I shivered when she did this and pushed her back on the couch.  I kissed her harder, allowing my tongue to taste her thoroughly.  Helena pulled me into her just as reverently but we kept it long and slow.  I ran my hands down her waist and back up to cup her breasts.  She moaned into my mouth and parted her legs in response.  I moved my leg inside of hers, accepting her invitation.  We continued this way for a while then I stopped. 

“Where’s your bed.  I want to get to know you all over, again.”  She looked at me with desire in her eyes and led me upstairs to her bedroom.  I quietly undressed her, my hands steady and sure as I undid the buttons of her top, even though my mind was racing.  She returned the favor slowly.  Tasting and nipping at me along the way. Then I picked her up and placed her on the bed.  

I let my hands roam over her from head to toe.  Then I let my mouth take the same route.  Kissing her forehead, lips, chin, sucking at her neck, her pert breasts, and stomach.  Then I moved down past the private treasure that I would later make mine and kissed her from the bottom of her feet back up to the middle.  She appraised me with a look of love in her eyes so pure, it made me cringe to think that I almost lost it.   

I parted her legs gently, laid myself inside of their warmth, and unfolded her nether lips as if I were uncovering an archaeological find.  Reverently, I worked my fingers over her slick folds and then once I sensed that she could take no more, I slid my tongue down and over her lips and tasted her essence.   

It’s amazing what you’re mind recalls at what seems like odd times.  But I remembered that she tasted even better than she had all those years ago.  And I delved inside of her with zealous enthusiasm.  I sucked, nipped and tasted every ounce of her, taking her clit into my mouth as I did so.  Humming on her clit as I flicked my tongue back and forth with abandon, letting my fingers find their home inside of her love canal.  I could feel her hands pulling at my hair as she got closer to her release.  I slowed down because I wanted to see her.   I moved up to kiss her, so that I could taste the fruit of both her lips.  Positioning myself so that our passions could meld together. 

“Look at me.”  I commanded.  She did.   We rode against each other until both of us were brought a level of release neither of us had felt with anyone else.  It was inexplicable, beyond words.  When it was over we held each other close.  Words weren’t necessary.  We already knew we’d found home.

The End