Winchester 1.3

Dr. Landau was the Chief of Staff at the hospital where I worked. Most afternoons he could be found in the cafeteria surrounded by interns and other staff members as they either bombarded him with questions or haggled for something that the hospital needed.  To tell you the truth I was intimidated by him. He was smart, successful and in the position that I hoped to have some day. Imagine my surprise when I was standing outside after work waiting on my taxi and he offered to drive me home.  I couldn’t pass this oppurtunity up to bend his ear so I eagerly hopped into his car.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that he was just a normal guy. Yes, he had happened to have made the elixir that seemed to increase your lifespan but he was so down to earth.  Before I knew it we were tossing a baseball in my front yard as we talked about any and everything that came to mind.  As I lobbed the ball at him I noticed that he had the most penetrating green eyes that I had ever seen. Shaking my head I thanked him for the ride and told him I had to check on my son.

“You have a child?”

“Yes. He’s about two months now.”

“I love children.”

I paused on my way to the door as I noticed the wistful tone in his voice. “Did you…did you want to meet my son?”

I blinked as he darted past me and into the house where he proceeded to fawn over Neil. After about an hour he said he had to go.

“But, seeing as you don’t have a car and I live near here, I’ll pick you up after work okay?”

“Well, I-”

“I’ll see you Tonya.”

Weeks went by and we spent more and more time in each other’s company. I could have prevented it, I should have prevented it but I didn’t. I knew I was attracted to him but I was married. I warred with myself day after day.

“So, how long have you been married?”

“Umm…” I did a quick calculation. “About six months.”

“Still newlyweds then.”

“Something like that,” I replied. He stared at me and I stared unblinkingly back before I leaned toward him. “To be honest I don’t love my husband,” I whispered in his ear keenly aware of the large, warm hand he had placed on my shoulder.

“Then why did you get married?” he whispered back, his breath smelling faintly of the cinnamon tic-tacs he was always popping.

I shrugged and his hand seemed to caress my shoulder. I shivered. “I love him but not how I should.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

I sighed and without thinking nestled my forehead against his shoulder. ” Gordon is a good man. I-”

“You don’t need a good man. You need a great man. Someone who can challenge you and support you.”

I leaned back. “Do you have someone in mind?”

A fire seemed to race through my veins and all the passion that I had bottled up broke free and roared out a HALLELUJAH! This is what I had been missing, this is what I needed. I had felt an instant connection to Dane and this kiss just intensified the connection. As heat raced through my body my lips parted under the sure pressure of his and the taste of cinnamon invaded my mouth as his tongue dueled with mine. My eyes burned as I held back tears.  Not tears of guilt. No.

They were tears of joy.

When we broke apart we were both breathing heavily. Dane had a stunned look on his face as he stared at my lips before bringing his eyes eyes to mine.

“I’m-”

“Don’t say you’re sorry. I’m not,” I whispered huskily. “And I should be.” I turned my back on him and suddenly I felt his hands on my shoulders as he started to give me a massage.

“I wasn’t going to say I was sorry. I was going to say that I’m stunned. I’ve never been this aroused from a kiss before. Tonya, believe me when I say I’ve always honored the bonds of marriage but to know you’re not happy, to know that you don’t love your husband…you’re not married. You’re caged.”

“Gordon is a good man and-”

“You’re not in love with him.”

“We have a son!”

“And even if you weren’t together you’d still have a child together.”

“I-I-”

He rubbed a hand over my shoulder and then turned me around. “Say you’ll see me again.”

I looked away. “This isn’t a good idea. We work together. People will talk. I don’t want to risk your job or mine.”

He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “You’re giving me excuses yet you haven’t said no. Say you’ll see me again. Say yes.”

I looked into his eyes and fully intended to say no. It wasn’t right.

“Yes.”

We continued to meet strategically all over town. Gordon and I kept different hours so it was fairly easy to slip out of the house when he left and met up with Dane. Sometimes I would even bring Neil along and, God, I know this is going to sound awful but, but I’d pretend that we were a family. We didn’t have sex for months than one day, without planning or even paying attention to the time, we tumbled into bed.

And as we stared at each other across the pillows my wedding band flashed mockingly at me.