None Of Our Own?

Looking back, I would say that I reached an all time emotional low just before Christmas of 2015. I'll try not to drag you too far down towards where I was, but it's important to know where I started from. A couple years earlier, I had been enjoying life. The kids were growing into adulthood, with one about to get married, and the other about to graduate college. Another promotion at work put me in a good place to handle the financing of both kids' goals. My wife and I had a great, loving relationship. And then, for no reason at all, the bottom fell out. My wife decided she didn't love me, and she left me. The kids blamed me and sided with their mother. I got a new boss at work, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could take it. I did know I couldn't afford to move on. As Christmas approached, I was teetering near the edge. Our company has an interesting holiday plan. Because Christmas and New Years fell on Fridays, I only had to take two and a half vacation days to get off from noon on the twenty-third until Monday the fourth. It seemed like a good idea when I filled out the paperwork. I was depressed when I realized I was probably going to be alone for almost two weeks. The obvious answer, at least for me, was to find a reason to get out of the house. A quick check of social media led me to discover that one of our favorite bands was playing at a bar near my house that very night. The bar was only three blocks away and the weather was forecast to be unseasonably warm. With no need to drive and no commitments, all I had to do was stay sober enough to make it home. I actually don't drink all that much, but it's the thought that counts. The band draws a pretty good crowd, so there was likely to be some eye candy. Maybe a couple of drinks would help me forget that my life was crashing down around my ears, and I could hit on some good looking woman. Maybe it would lead somewhere. I doubted that would happen, but it's the thought that counts. I helped myself to a shot of whiskey for the road, and then decided it was lonely, and sent another down to keep it company. I figured, the stuff I have at home is a lot better than the stuff they have at the bar, and I was saving myself money. With only a TV dinner to buffer it, I was already feeling it by the time I walked into the bar. I ordering a cola instead of liquor. The band was already set up when I got there. My wife and I had been friends with the guys for a bunch of years. They know better than to bring up the 'ex' thing, so they thanked me for coming out, and then they got ready to play. I found a comfortable seat and sat back to enjoy the music. I nursed my cola for most of the first set. I decided that I wasn't really going to get drunk, and I figured I would have a whiskey and cola with the second set, and then call it a night. It didn?t seem likely that I was going to pick anyone up. There is always a run at the bar when the band finishes a set, so I decided I would get my drink before that. As I stood up to go to the bar, a woman caught my eye. She didn't just catch my eye. She made eye contact with me, and held it. She blushed when she realized that she was staring, and she had a playful smirk on her lips as she looked Erenköy escort away. She was one of the best looking women in the place. She looked to be in her mid thirties. She had chestnut brown hair and smiling blue eyes, and a figure from heaven. I couldn't begin to imagine what a woman like that would want from a schmuck like me. I had a great one liner to start things off. What happened next happened so fast that it was probably over even before it started. All I know is I stood up and started to walk toward her. Two really big guys jumped up from a table, facing each other. The guy with his back to me pulled his fist back faster than I have ever seen. I didn't even see his elbow before it errantly slammed into my forehead. The world went black. There were stars flashing before my eyes when I opened them. It took me way too long to realize it was really just the band's lights flashing on the ceiling. An older and very motherly figure was leaning over me. She looked worried. "Don't let it go to waste," she muttered. She grabbed my shirt and shook me a bit. "Get up, get up," she demanded. I almost would have stood up, but as she shook me, the world doubled. It was very hard to see straight. I heard her sigh loudly, and then she muttered, "Well here's a fitting end to it." She reached out and caressed my forehead. The world righted itself. "Now hurry," she chided me. I was able to stand up. For the life of me, I had no idea where I should be hurrying off to. The two fighting guys were long gone, and I didn't know anyone else there. The drummer saved me. The band had finished playing while I was still lying on the floor. While I was standing up, the bass player raced by to head outside for a smoke. The drummer sauntered over. He was totally checking out the woman that had rescued me. "Hey John, who's your friend," he asked amicably. I couldn't answer, so the woman supplied, "Hi, I'm Celeste." The drummer introduced himself, and then said, "It's good to meet you Daphne. Are you from around here?" Before I could correct him, Celeste answered, "No, not really." The drummer looked surprised and excitedly said, "Wow! I have an aunt that grew up near there! Most Youppers don't stop down here. This time of year, they're too busy trying to get to Florida." For those of you who are not from the mid-western states, a Youpper is someone from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I understood the words he was saying, but the conversation didn't make any sense. I watched Celeste's eyes follow some woman with reddish brown hair as the woman left the bar. Celeste muttered, "That's perfect. What a waste." The drummer answered, "Only once or twice a year. It's a bit out of the way, but we like the food." He allowed himself to look away from her. "Weren't we here for your birthday last year?" he asked me. Again, something wasn't quite right, even if I heard him right. "Uh, yeah," I answered. His eyes flickered back and forth between us. Somehow he decided he was intruding, and he made an excuse to head to the bar. As he turned to go, he gave me a look like I was the luckiest guy in the bar. The guys in the band are all married, but, as they say, they are içerenköy escort bayan not dead. The drummer and the bass player always have hot chicks hitting on them. I don't know how they manage to avoid the temptation. Avoiding it is probably one of the downsides of being a performer. I have no doubt about his ability to spot a looker. I didn't think he would even notice an old lady in a track suit. I am sure I looked confused as I gave Celeste another once over. My first assessment of her was dead wrong. She was not older or motherly at all. She was about around my age, but probably a little younger. When I had been lying on the floor, her hair had appeared shorter and gray. It was actually past her shoulders, and mostly blonde. I'm sure the color came from a box, but it looked good on her. In fact, she wasn't all that bad looking at all. She ignored the glance, but acknowledged my confusion. "Are you still dazed? I may not have had enough left." "I'm having trouble following the conversation," I admitted. She scowled at me. "That sometimes happens when I stretch it too thin," she explained. "It's hard to get it right when you try to be too many things for too many people. I didn't think that would happen now that it's gone." If that explained anything, I wasn't following at all. "What's gone?" was all I could think to ask. "There's no use in explaining to people who won't remember," she answered. I wondered if she knew she was being obtuse. She saw the look I was giving her, and she gave a dramatic sigh. She started to say something, but the bass player interrupted. "Hey John, it's good to see you're still alive," he said as he joined us. He totally checked out Celeste. He didn't even try to hide it when he stared at her bust line for far too long. "Are you going to introduce us?" he asked. I suppose I should have said something, maybe an introduction, or a word or two about how forward he was being. I had been more than a little distracted by Celeste's bust line. I didn't know how I could have missed noticing before. Her bodice was very low cut, leaving her ample cleavage nicely displayed. Celeste ignored our stares. She stuck her hand out to him and said, "Hi. I'm Celeste. It's nice to meet you." He jumped back in dismay, as if her hand were a hot poker. "No, I'm sorry," he proclaimed. "No disrespect intended at all. I hope you like our next set," he said as he scrambled away to get a drink. I was very confused again. "What the heck," I blurted out. Celeste turned and looked at me like I was an alien. My brain struggled, and without thinking, I asked, "What did you say to him?" She gave me a sad smile. "It's not what I said, it's what he heard. Without the magic, I can only guess." "Magic?" I echoed. As laughable as it sounded, I almost believed her. She repeated her dramatic sigh. "Look," she said, "you've hit your head pretty hard. Why don't I walk you home, and I'll tell you about it along the way. I'm going to warn you now, though, that tomorrow you'll only remember all of this as a hazy dream, and you probably won't remember at all the day after that." "You don't have a car?" I asked smartly. The look she gave me Escort Tuzla made me wonder if we were both hearing the same words. "No," she answered succinctly. "But, how did you get here?" I asked. "How did you plan to get home?" "Let's walk, and I'll explain. Hopefully my friends will help get me home." I nodded, and she turned and headed toward the door. I couldn't help but notice how shapely her backside was, and how nicely her jeans showed off her hips as she walked. The drummer and the bass player both saluted me with big grins on their faces. I didn't think I was going to get lucky, but they didn't need to know that. As soon as I stepped outside, Celeste stopped me and inspected my forehead. It didn't hurt, but she still looked concerned. She slipped her arm around my waist as we started walking. I changed my thinking and hoped that I would get lucky. "Let me know if you get dizzy," she instructed. "I'm only close like this so I can catch you before you fall." I had no doubt that what she said was true. I also felt how nicely we fit together. She was just a couple of inches shorter than me, and I could feel the strength in her curves. A fantasy of her using that strength to push me onto a bed and then ride me almost caused me to swoon. She steadied me and we headed up the street. "Do you remember that first time you noticed your wife?" she asked. I didn't answer. First off, it was presumptuous of her to assume that I had a wife. Secondly, I didn't want to talk about my wife. And for thirds, it was painful to think about what she asked. The first time I met my wife, I had just started high school and she was just a kid. I barely noticed her. Later, she started hanging out with my younger brother and his friends, so she was always around. I didn't care. One day, long after I had left for college, my brother asked me to stop by the high school to help him set up some stuff for the theater. I'm pretty sure we did whatever it was that he wanted. She was on stage, applying makeup to one of the actresses. There were a dozen shades of face paint on her hands and on her smock. I always wondered if she knew how beautiful she was with her hair curling off her face and her intense blue eyes. Right then and there, I knew that I wanted that woman to be a part of my life forever. She caught me looking, and suddenly, she wanted that as well. It still hurt me to know that her idea of forever was a lot shorter than mine. I didn't want to talk about it at all. Celeste seemed to know that all of that would flash through my mind. "People everywhere want that moment to happen for them, but in truth, it rarely happens," she stated. "Real life fairy tales just don't happen, or it's so rare that it's fair to say it doesn't happen. That's where we come in. My friends and I give people like you a little boost so you can feel the magic. You don't have any of your own, so we give you some of ours." When we turned the corner for the last block up to my house, we turned into the wind. We both sort of laughed as her long hair blew into my face and blinded me while her skirt swirled around my legs and almost tripped me. We switched sides and kept walking. She was short enough that she could tuck her head in against my shoulder and let my body block the wind for her. "It was one of the happiest days in my long life when I was asked to take up this task," she said with a smile. "I have always loved watching the magic do its work." That may have been true, but I watched the smile fade from her face.