Chapter 3
Tina wiped her mouth with a napkin and pushed her chair back. "Damn, that was good." She sighed and put her hands on her stomach in the universal sign of having eaten too much. "I've been in this house for twelve years and have never had someone make me dinner."
I looked down at my plate and slid my chair back. I couldn't help but think of what a shame it was that someone had never done that for her, but I kept it to myself.
"Well, the fridge and the pantry are full. I took the liberty of buying a few small appliances and a set of cooking knives that I will need." We both stood and she walked over to the fridge.
"Holy Hannah and her sisters! Are those vegetables? And fruit?" She closed the fridge and opened the pantry. "Wow! Spices!" She grinned at me. "In my house. Who'd have thunk it?"
We both laughed.
***
We sat in the living room, and I walked in with two wine glasses and a bottle of a very decent Lambrusco.
She held both glasses as I poured. "Wow. A bottle of wine. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to seduce me," she smiled slyly.
I laughed. "Nope, I'd be better dressed if I was in seduction mode."
Tina laughed merrily and handed me my glass and was about to take a sip when I raised mine in a toast. "To you, Aunt Tina, for helping me when I really need it. Thank you very much."
She smiled sweetly and raised her glass. "You are very welcome." We both sipped our wine. The sweet berry flavors added a taste of dessert to the evening.
She lowered her glass with a pleased look on her face. "Although too much of that good cooking and I'll be moving up some dress sizes. I'm gonna have to step up my workouts at the gym."
I saw her look my body up and down with a slight smile. I'm of medium height and build, with brown hair and eyes. I didn't date the prom queen, but I've never had a problem getting a date.
"Looks like the Coast Guard keeps you in shape. Is it hard being a cook? To stay in shape, I mean."
I laughed. "Not yet." I knocked on the wooden coffee table. "Ask me again in ten years."
Our evening stopped short of a second glass of Lambrusco. When I offered, she rose and sat on the edge of the couch next to me. "No thank you. I think I'm going to grab a shower and hit the sack. But thank you so much for tonight. It means a lot to me." She stood up and took a few steps. "As I said, we hardly know each other, but you seem like a really decent guy, Gabe. I'm glad you're here." Then she smiled and walked into her room and shut the door quietly.
***
Around ten on Saturday, we ran into one another at the coffee pot. Her eyes flew open wide, and she flinched when she saw me.
"Ho jeez, Gabe, you startled me. I totally forgot you were here. I guess there's going to be an adjustment period, isn't there?" Tina said with a big exhale.
I smiled widely at her and looked down at her body. "Yes, very clearly there is." Tina was wearing a short cotton nightgown that was probably not supposed to be sheer but after years of washing, it had become so.
She looked down and noticed the same thing I was enjoying. I could clearly see the outline of her full breasts and the darker skin of her areola. To her credit she didn't act embarrassed, she just frowned deeply and turned around, and headed back toward her bedroom. I could see the outline of the panties she was wearing, and I admired her shapely legs. "Pour me a cup, will you?" she asked loudly with a slight edge to her voice.
She returned a couple of minutes later dressed for the gym in jogging shorts and a halter top over a sports bra. I handed her a mug of coffee. She met my eyes. "I'm ah ... sorry about that."
I smiled and took a sip of my coffee. "Don't be. I quite enjoyed it."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "That's not something a nephew usually says to his aunt."
I turned and headed down the hall to my room. "You said it yourself. We don't really know each other that way. Do we?"
I was being quite serious at that moment. Because of the separation between us my whole life, it was impossible to see her as anything other than what she was, a very beautiful and shapely older woman. I could already see that being around her was going to be very distracting.
***
I spent that weekend learning the area. Port Canaveral is on the east coast of Florida and a stone's throw from Cocoa Beach, which has some of the best beaches and surfing anywhere on the east or gulf coasts.
Monday morning Tina and I met at the coffee pot again. I was wearing my tropical dress blue uniform as I knew I had an early quarterdeck watch that morning. The tropical uniform is a light blue, short sleeve dress shirt with ribbons, name tag, and rank insignias. A pair of dark blue dress trousers and black shoes with a high shine.
Tina smiled when she saw me. She was wearing a conservative skirt and blouse and was carrying her shoes. "Now that I could get used to." She said as she reached up and adjusted my name tag. "A handsome man in a uniform." Our eyes met and we held that gaze perhaps a trifle too long.
"You look terrific yourself. I'm sure you get lawyers handing you their numbers every day."
After Tina's first divorce, she took a stenographer's course and has been working full-time at the local county courthouse ever since. She makes a very decent salary. She has the added skill of being fluent in Spanish which makes her indispensable in Florida. With the house paid off, she's doing pretty well, even in this lousy economy.
She frowned. "Occasionally. But I throw them away. You know what they say about mixing work and pleasure, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, the Coast Guard has some pretty strict rules on that as well. Fooling around with shipmates is a quick way to become a civilian again."
She looked down at the floor. "It's a lesson you only need to learn once."
***