ONE MORE CHANCE 
   Here I am, sitting in business class, on a 727 heading to Portland. 
This is just a normal business trip, clients to wine and dine, deals to
close.  Yet, I am nervous.  I open the book I brought along, trying to lose
myself for a while in a world where others are the focus of indecision and
strife.  I read the same paragraph three times and still cannot comprehend
the words.  With a sigh, I set their world aside, picked up my laptop and
returned to my own indecision.

   Billy,

   Could I come and see you next time you are in the area?  I really need
to talk face to face.

   Yours, Karen

   I had already answered her, telling her I would call on the next trip
and let her know where I was staying; offering her dinner and a chance to
talk.  We had not seen each other face to face in more than 15 years. 
After all this time, why was she so insistent that we meet?  I was content
with how things had been between us.  If I was honest with myself, I could
admit I wasn't happy about it, but I had come to accept it.

   I drifted back to the time when I had first met Karen.  I hung out with
the other car nuts during high school.  I had a black and red GTO that used
up most of the paychecks I had from my part time job.  Karen was a friend
of another member of the group.  A bit of a wild child, she just hung out
on the fringes.

   It took awhile, but we became friends.  I got to know her better.  She
had a troubled family life and being the way I was, I took it on myself to
make her life a little happier.  We started to hang around in school.  I
picked her up every morning and gave her a ride.  I was quietly falling for
her, but was too shy to say anything.  She was interested in Darren, a guy
that had dropped out earlier that year.

   We continued this way until a little before Thanksgiving.  I headed down
the road to pick her up and found her sitting at the end of her driveway
with a suitcase.  When she opened the door, I could see her eyes were all
red and puffy.  The streaks of her tears had run down her beautiful face.

   "Mama threw me out this morning.  I can't go back, and she won't let me
see my sister."

   That was all she got out before she broke down again.  We didn't make it
to school that day, but went to a park where I just held her.  She finally
asked to go to a girlfriend's house.  Sandy said she could stay.  I didn't
feel right about it, but left her there anyway.

   Things went badly for Karen for a while.  Her mother reported her as a
runaway and the police picked her up at Darren's house.  Placed in a group
home, she was to continue going to school.  I would leave for school early,
go and pick her up, so she would have a ride.  I bought silly cards for her
to cheer her up.  I did anything I could do to make her life easier.  I was
falling for her more and more.

   Any hope I had came crashing down the day she asked if I would drop her
off somewhere other than the group home.  With her giving directions, we
finally pulled up to a driveway.  Darren walked out of the garage as she
stepped out of the car.  She ran up to him and when they kissed, my heart
fell to my feet.  I just drove off, my heart breaking.

   I put up a good front and continued to take her to school, but it was
draining on me.  She was giving Darren what I so desperately wanted.  I
know she felt the distance that I put between us, but she didn't say
anything.

   She finally moved to the West coast.  I didn't see her off.  Darren was
going to take her to the airport.  I just couldn't take that pain.  Karen
had left, but in some destructive way, I missed her.

   Now I had to decide if I wanted to open up those wounds again.  I had
closed that part of my past for years until I received an email on my
personal account:

   Mr.  Gilliam,

   Are you the same Bill Gilliam that went to Franklin High School in 1975
and drove a red Pontiac?  If you are, please reply.  I have thought about
you a lot through the years.

   Love, Karen

   I answered it before I even thought about it.  I probably should have
ignored it, but something made me go ahead and write a reply.  The emails
flew back and forth as we told each other about our lives.  I was still
single and she was married, but having trouble with her husband.  When I
mentioned that I would be off-line for a week for a business trip, she
wrote that she had to see me.  The same email I had been staring at for
almost an hour.

   I checked into the hotel in Portland, unpacked, and then called to
confirm the first appointment for Monday.  Since it was Friday, I had the
weekend to look around.  I thought about going to get some dinner, but
instead sat staring at the phone.  I finally dialed the number Karen had
given me.

   On the third ring, I heard a soft voice say "Hello?"

   "Is this Karen?"

   "Oh God, is that you Billy?"

   "Yeah it's me.  How you doing?"

   "I'm okay.  Does this mean you are in Portland?"

   "Sure am.  You said you wanted to have dinner.  Would you like to meet
tonight at 7?  We can eat at the restaurant just off the lobby."

   "Seven's great.  I'll be there.  Billy?  I have really missed you."

   "Me too.  I'll see you at 7 then."

   I had 2 hours so I took a shower and then dressed for dinner.  I wasn't
sure what I was expecting, but I did know that I wasn't going to have my
heart broke again.

   I stepped off the elevator and there she was, standing in the lobby
watching the other guests as they milled about.  Her hair was now shoulder
length, but she still had the same beautiful face.  He body, wrapped in an
evening gown of blue satin, had matured, gaining fuller curves and making
her even sexier than before.

   While I was musing about the changes, she spotted me.  Almost running,
she crossed the space between us and wrapped me in a bear hug.

   "Billy, it is so good to see you again.  I missed you so much when I
left."

   I returned the hug, very aware of the firmness of her body against mine.
I untangled myself before my erection became an embarrassment to us both.
Holding her at arms length, I looked down then back up until I was looking
in her eyes.

   "You are as pretty as ever."

   She looked down and whispered a quiet "thanks".  Taking her arm, I led
her to the restaurant, catching the envious looks of the other male guests.
They seated us in a quiet booth and left us to look over the menu.  Dinner
was good, and we made light conversation until we were finishing up our
coffee.

   "How about we get out of here and find some place we can talk.  I want
to know what has been going on."

   My little head had an answer in place: up to my room so I could fuck her
brains out.  The big head prevailed and I suggested we take a walk around
the area.  As we headed out, she reached out and took my hand.  I felt a
jolt going straight through me.  Her hand, small and soft, seemed to match
mine perfectly.  I kept telling myself I was not going to become involved.
Unfortunately, that resolve was slipping.

   As we walked, she told me that she and her husband had separated and
that he had left for California.  She knew he had been, in her words,
"fucking that blonde haired cunt from the coffee shop" and that they had
left together.  She was still working in the real estate market.

   I told her of my rise in our software company and what I was doing out
here.  We headed back to the hotel and, at her request, my room.  Once
inside, I draped my jacket over a chair and offered her a drink.  I finally
settled on the couch and she took the chair closest.

   We talked a little more of the people we both knew in school.  Finally
she asked, "Did you ever hear what happened to Darren?"

   I stopped for a second.  "I thought you kept up with him." I tried, but
the strain in my voice came out.

   She looked confused.  "After I left, I never heard from him."

   "Last I heard he was busted for carjacking and assault."

   "I'm sorry to hear that, but he was headed that way.  He was either
drunk or stoned most of the time."

   I only mumbled an agreement and took another drink.  My glass was empty,
so I went to the bar and refilled it.  When I got back, Karen was looking
at me closely.

   "Billy, just before I left, you were so distant.  I felt so lost.  Can
you tell me what went wrong?"

   I tried to just gloss it over, but she would not let it rest.  Finally I
just let it out.

   "I just couldn't take watching you and Darren together.  Taking you to
his house and watching you two kissing, his hands pawing your boobs and
your ass, just tore me up.  I couldn't take it anymore."

   The shock on her face was evident.  I was on a roll though and the words
just kept on tumbling out without my brain doing a check first.

   "I am.  I mean, I was madly in love with you.  When I thought about him
having your body, I was sick.  I gave up."

   I finally stopped talking and looked over at her.  She was in complete
shock.  It dawned on me that she never realized.  Her look turned to horror
as she thought back.

   "Oh my God.  I was so wrapped up in my problems I never saw it at all!
All those little things you did for me.  I was so stupid."

   "We were both young and wrapped up in our own problems."

   "Yeah, but your problem was me and I just made it worse.  God, I am so
sorry.  I felt so lost without you around for me to lean on.  You must have
hated me."

   I put my arm around her and pulled her against me.  "I never hated you.
I was angry, sick, and a hundred other things, but I loved you too much to
hate you."

   The next half hour or so was spent with her crying and me holding her,
stroking her back.  When she finally lifted her head, her makeup was
smeared and her eyes were red.  She was still beautiful.

   She struggled to sit back up and then to finally stand.  "I must look a
mess.  I'll be right back."

   Within moments, I heard the toilet flush and the water running in the
basin.  She came back out with her makeup gone and her face freshly
scrubbed.  She looked very much the young woman that I remembered.  Her
face and body had matured, but in my mind we were still back in 1975.

   We sat next to one another, talking and cuddling up.  During a lull in
the conversation, Karen reached up and put her hand behind my head, pulling
me down into a kiss.  It started out platonic, but started to gain
intensity.  Her lips felt soft and warm against mine.  We both opened up to
allow our tongues to touch and intertwine.  My erection was quite evident
by now and as my hand moved to her breast, hers was busy feeling the bulge
in my pants.

   I broke the kiss only to move to the side of her neck.  I started
nibbling on her ear then moved down placing kisses over every inch of
exposed flesh I could find.  She was moaning and calling out my name.

   Pushing herself up she looked into my eyes.  "Take me to your bed.  I
really need you." There was a look of need in her eyes that overrode the
lust that she was feeling.

   We stumbled into the bedroom, and she quickly stripped.  Her need for
the feel of skin against skin was greater than the desire to tease.  I
followed suit and we were soon lying side by side on the bed, our naked
bodies tightly together.  I could feel her nipples pushing against my chest
as we continued our kiss.  My hand was roaming over the smooth expanse of
her back, finally coming to rest on her ass.  We were writhing against each
other, our moans lost in each others' mouths until I was on my back.  My
cock, which had been pushing into her tummy, was now being coated by her
juices as she moved her pussy along its length.  She was thrusting her
pelvis down hard against my cock, moaning as her passions continued to
rise.

   Finally, I moved so that her next backward movement planted the head of
my cock firmly into her opening.  She stopped for a second to enjoy the
feeling of her pussy starting to open to surround me.  Then she started
pushing slowly back, driving me deeper.

   She stopped again when our pubic hair was intertwined.  I was savoring
the velvety tightness of her pussy as the walls around it rippled.  She sat
upright with her hands covering my nipples and started the slow movement
that would result in her climax.  Her strokes brought her almost to the
head of my cock until she would slide back down.  She was increasing the
speed of her strokes and I reached up and palmed her swinging breasts,
pinching the nipples until they looked like they might burst.

   This brought her even closer to her orgasm and she was losing control of
her movements.  I moved my hands to her ass and started guiding her as she
started her rise to the peak of her orgasm.  I touched the tip of my finger
to her ass and that pushed her over the edge.  With a loud groan she
started shaking and bouncing around, completely lost in the feelings of
pleasure she was experiencing.  The contractions in her pussy took me over
the edge and I thrust up hard against her as I emptied not only my semen,
but my years of pent up emotions into her waiting womb.

   As I started coming down, I was aware that Karen's arms were trembling.
I reached up and guided her down until she lay fully against me.  We lay
that way for a long while catching our breath and basking in the afterglow.

   Karen finally propped herself up on her elbows and looked me in the
face. "That was the most wonderful feeling I have ever had.  You know I
didn't plan on this to happen, but I sure am glad that it did."

   "So am I.  You know I always wondered what making love with you would be
like, but I never imagined it would be this intense." I paused for just a
moment, enjoying the smile on her face.  "Do you have to leave tonight?  I
want to snuggle up against you tonight and feel you here when I wake up."

   "I would love to." And with that she kissed me, this time tenderly.

   I awoke the next morning to find my arms full of a sleeping Karen.  I
gazed at her for a few moments before I started to wake her by nibbling on
her already moist slit.  As she started to wake from the stimulation, I
increased the pressure and soon brought her to orgasm.  We made love again
then shared a shower.  After a light breakfast, Karen left to check on her
house, but promised to come back later that day.

   When our time together ended, she took me to the airport for my flight
back.  We promised to get together as soon as we could.  And with many hugs
and a few tears, I walked down the gangway to my seat.  I smiled at the
attendant as she checked my boarding pass and showed me to my seat.  I
settled back in and closed my eyes as the plane began to move out toward
the runway.

   I thought about how much more at ease I was now than when I went out to
Portland.  I had settled much from my past, but had also brought some new
twists.  Maybe I should talk to the boss about opening a branch in
Portland.