Nina 

Chapter 2

I finished my laundry before lunch. At one, I was pulling up into the park near the kiddie playground. I got out. No Nina. I started walking. Fifteen minutes later I had a mile under my belt and had completed a circuit. And Nina's car WAS there. And Nina was walking her charges to the swing set. She released them to go play and then she came to sit beside me. I was sipping on a fountain drink.

"Did I bum you out last night? Dan?"

"No, Nina. You needed to talk. I listened. 'S what friends do."

She eyed my drink. "Can I have a sip?"

"Sure," I said, "if you don't mind drinking after me."

"I'm too thirsty to worry about boy cooties," she giggled, and she sucked on the straw. And before she finished, she looked at me and sucked it one more time, then released it and licked her lips. And handed it back to me. And grinned.

"It's not nice to tease old men, Nina," I said.

"Was that teasing? I didn't think it was teasing." She giggled. "You know," she continued, "I really enjoyed last night. It was a perfect first date. Well, almost perfect. I got all sad there, but it was a good first date." She looked at me a little more intently than I expected. "Can I call it a date?"

"You can. If you want. I had a good time, too, Nina. It's been a long time since I had a day with somebody as pretty as you. You were stunning."

"Uh," she feigned hurt. "I'm not stunning now?"

"Of course you are. You're enough to melt hearts."

She changed the subject. "So where's your Kindle?"

"I left it at home," I said. "Thought that since you were here, I'd have somebody to talk to."

"You do," she smiled. "I like talking to you. So what do you like about being an engineer?"

And off we went on career discussions: what my day was like, what I used from school, how I learned, who I worked with, and all sorts of things about engineering.

"So what made YOU decide to take up engineering?"

"I like learning stuff and doing things. Our guidance counselor gave me one of those aptitude tests, and it said that I had the personality traits to be an engineer. And he said that with my grades, I was smart enough."

"No,"I said. "You're gonna be a lot smarter than a lot of other engineers."

"You think?"

"Yeah, I think..." And looking over her shoulder I saw two little blonde kids approaching. I knew our time was up.

Little Haley whined, "Miss Nina! We're hungry. And thirsty."

"Okay, you two," Nina said. "We'll go home and feed you." She turned to me. "Bye, Dan. Can I call you later?"

"Sure," I said.

And as she walked the kids to her car, I heard little Haley singing, "Nina's got a boyfriend" in a teasing song.

I thought that silly. Flattering. I'd known Nina for a week. Seen her four times, counting today. And there was that twenty years disparity in ages. But what red-blooded guy wouldn't look at her and entertain a thought or two ... I pushed those thoughts away. Since that pretty teen with the striking hair was gone, I headed to my own car and drove home.

Kicking myself. I had a pretty good world going for me up until a few days ago, and now all of a sudden I was feeling alone again. I walked in the house, headed straight to the shower, and performed my evening ablutions. I popped open a can of chili for supper and put some dried beans to soaking for tomorrow.

Dinner behind me, I retired to my recliner and flipped on the TV. I flipped through the channels and found nothing interesting enough to occupy my attention, so I left it on the most interesting of the rejects and put my laptop on my lap and started surfing the net. Remembering that I'd left work abruptly, I remoted into my company email server and checked the email. Nothing new there, but I saw that email from NinaS8421. I copied the address to my personal email program and did a new message.

"Nina- Here's my personal email address. It goes to my cellphone, too. Just in case you need to get hold of me when I'm not at work. – Dan."

And I hit "send". And immediately asked myself "why". I went back to surfing the web, looking at curiousities and funny videos and things. No. No porn.

It was a few minutes after eight when my cell clanged. I looked at the display, hoping that it wasn't work. I have some horrible stories about "Uh, Dan, we need you out here right away. Half the plant's dark..." The display had four letters on it: N-I-N-A.

"Hi, Nina," I said.

"Hi, Dan!" In my mind's eye I could see the smile that accompanied that tone. "I just got in the car. I'm on the way home. Just wanted to call you."

"Be careful while you're driving, Nina..."

"I am, Dan. Uh..."

I beat her to it. "What's your day look like tomorrow?"

"Nothing," she said. "Well, Grandma and I go to church. But we're home at noon. Why don't you come over and meet her?"

"Meet your Grandma? You sure? I mean, HOW are you going to introduce me?"

"My friend. My mentor. She knows about mentoring. Why? Should I tell her something different?"

"Oh, no, Nina. That sounds good."

"And then if you want, we can go for a ride or something..."

"That works," I said. She dutifully gave me her grandma's street address and I wrote it down.

"12:30, okay?"

"Okay, punkin," I said.

"Uh, Dan..."

"Yes, Nina?"

"Is "Punkin" a good thing?"

"Yes it is. EVERYBODY loves punkins..."

"Okay ... I'm pulling up at Grandma's. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Thirty minutes, maybe forty-five, and the sound popped up on my computer's speakers indicating incoming email. I clicked the email program to the top of the stack and there was, indeed, an email from NinaS8421. With an attachment. A picture.

Nervously I clicked the message open.

"Dan—

Thank you for giving me your personal address. Maybe there are things you shouldn't get at work. Like jokes and links. I know Grandma can't get some of those things.

So now I can send you stuff. Like this picture. Grandma took it. Says it's one of her favorites.

I hope you like it.

Nina"

I clicked on the picture. Nina. Pre-blonde banded hair. Not quite a profile, she was caught turning toward the camera, her eyes and mouth formed into a smile, her hair swinging, the motion caught, trapped, the freckles a whimsical punctuation to a bit of photographic perfection. I opened the picture in my photo editor and printed it on 5x7 photo paper. When the picture came out of the printer, I stuck it in my briefcase.

And the email dinged again.

"Dan—

I thought you might like these too...

Nina"

And three more, one of them a longer shot, giving her whole body, another delightful face picture, a third of her sitting, wearing a dark sweater, her face like the sun...

"Okay," I said to myself. "I can do this." I opened up my picture folder and selected a few for her: Me at work, crawling out of a transformer, a smudge of oily brown on my cheek. Me behind my desk at the office. Me kayaking with my friends last summer. And I sent them.

Ding.

"Dan—

Thanks. The one with you in the kayak, that's going on my desktop...

Nina x"

And I caught the "x". But surely, I thought, that was just reflex to a teenaged girl ... But desktop?

Phone clanged. Nina.

"Hi, punkin," I said. Okay, "punkin" was as innocent a pet name as I could come up with. Like a little sister or something ... I was trying, wasn't I?

"Hi, babe," she said. I was "babe" now. But that was just friendly, right? Right! "I just wanted to talk to you one more time before I go to sleep."

"I like hearing your voice, Nina..." True, I would have probably liked hearing ANYBODY'S voice on some Saturday evenings. Sometimes loneliness was tougher than other times. But this was MORE true.

"I'm listenin' to Beethoven," she said. "But I want more. From you ... uh, your collection. You said you'd let me load some on my iPod."

"Oh, sure! We can do that. Tomorrow, if you want."

"Maybe," she said. "Either that or we do that riding around you talked about."

"Whatever YOU want to do. Tomorrow's your day, okay?"

Sigh. "Okay, Dan. I better go to sleep," she said. "G'nite, babe."

"G'nite, sweetie." I hung up. "Sweetie". Like in little nieces and such, right?

I closed ... started to close the laptop, but I went back to that directory that said "Nina". And I looked at the pictures. I closed my eyes. Okay. Shut the stupid computer down, Dan.

I went to sleep after the nightly round of cat-petting.

I didn't sleep too late. I was up, breakfast out of the way, a cup of coffee, and catching up on current events, that kind of Sunday morning routine. And the clock crawled. Finally, about a quarter to noon, I did a quick shower and then dressed up. Not too dressy. A good pair of jeans. A polo shirt. Sneakers. With socks. I holstered my cellphone and got in the car. At 12:28 I pulled into the drive behind Nina's little Honda. "Okay, "I told myself, "Here goes."

I got out of the car, walked up and knocked on the door. Nina opened it. "Hi!" she grinned. She turned and said loudly, Grandma, he's here!" And she escorted me into the house with her hand on my bicep.

"Dan," Nina said, "This is my grandmother, Helen Sayers. Grandma, this is my friend, Dan Gleason."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Dan," Helen said. "Nina has been going on about you for a week."

"Nina is a bit of work," I said. "I'm pleased to meet you, too, Mizz Helen."

Helen smiled. "Don't do "Mizz Helen" with me. I'm not THAT old..."

"Okay," I said, but my poor ol' momma would beat me if I hadn't started out that way."

Helen laughed. "So Nina tells me you're an engineer?" She motioned toward an overstuffed chair. "Sit!"

"Yes ma'am. I am an engineer."

"There you go again. And you're helping her with her school work?"

"Uh, she doesn't need much help. We're just reviewing. And I'm showing her what she's in for next year."

"That's what she tells me." She fixed her gaze on Nina. "Nina, could I have a couple of minutes with Dan, please, dear?"

I was nervous now. Hadn't done a darned thing but send her grand-daughter a few pictures of me, fully clothed, but I was nervous.

"Don't be mean to Dan, Grandma. He's a nice guy." And Nina left the room.

Helen fixed me in a serious stare. "She thinks you're a nice guy, Dan. She's known a whole lot of guys who weren't nice. Her mom's uh, friends."

"I AM a nice guy, Helen. I have helped Nina with schoolwork, and taken her to dinner once, and we've talked about everything under the sun," I paused, "including the Sun. She's a terribly bright girl who's given me only the tiniest idea of what's gone on in her life. And she says that the past two years, living with you, are the best she's had."

Helen sighed. "Lord knows I've tried, Dan. I'm surprised she made fifteen without being on drugs and pregnant. Did she tell you about her mom?"

"Was she not supposed to?"

"No," Helen said. "I didn't know if she'd open up to anybody about that. What'd she tell you?"

"Prison. Drugs and prostitution."

"That's the truth. And some more truth is that she's lived with me on and off all her life. Her mom would get a home, bring Nina there, some guy would move in, and Nina would end up back here. Last one before her mom went to jail, I had HIM picked up for tryin' to molest Nina. He tried. Spent a week in the hospital with a stab wound in a very uncomfortable place."

"Really? Nina?"

"Slept with a knife under her pillow. He crawled into her bed naked, figuring she was her mother's daughter, and she took a couple of whacks at his, uh, his manhood."

"Wow." And I cringed a little bit, as any man might. "But Helen, she's sweet and bright, and funny. It seems, just from what little I've seen that she's good with kids. And she's very well-mannered, from what I saw at the restaurant Friday evening."

Helen sighed. "I've tried to teach her right from wrong. Church. How to get along with others. "She's a good girl, Dan."

"That's the side I see, Helen. Are there bad sides?"

"Dan," she said, "the only bad side is that she is very hard-headed and she will stand up for herself. That's the only trouble she's had at school. Two years ago when she started at this school, some girl made some comment about how her mom was in jail and Nina was the same thing. Nina put a fist in the girl's face. Fortunately a teacher saw it and knew that the girl had been goading Nina for a week. Nina got 'counseled'. But they don't mess with Nina, either. Boys neither. One of the football players decided that she needed his special attention. He got HERS. Missed two games with bruises to, you know..."

"Remind me not to get Nina mad at me," I said.

"Yeah," Helen said. "I can laugh now ... But Dan, she's ten days shy of her eighteenth birthday, and two weeks from now she's going to graduate from high school, and she wants an education. I've done my best with her so far."

"It appears to me that you've done darned good."

"I like to think so. But here's the deal. You came along."

"Me? What'd I do?"

"If I believe her, you've done absolutely nothing but be a friend. Frankly, I'm more than a little surprised. She hated men. Until YOU came along."

"B-but ... I didn't do anything."

"That's what she said. Said the first day she met you, she was watching you walk and you walked past a bunch of women and didn't turn and stare at them. Then you were sitting there reading and the same thing: women would walk by and you just looked up and then went back to reading."

"Okay. I don't do that leering thing that some guys do."

"Impressed our Nina, it did. So you're her friend now. She said Friday was her first date, ever."

"She told me that, too."

Dan," Helen said, "Do you have a girlfriend, a significant other, a whatever they call them these days? A woman in your life?"

"No, I don't."

"You're not gay, are you?"

"Uh, NO! Just celibate. Single in a big way."

"Nina. She's almost eighteen. I can't stop her from doing what she wants any more. I mean, I'm not going to let her do anything in these four walls. It's MY house. But it's HER life. And since you seem to be her friend, I'm asking you to be careful with my, with OUR Nina."

"Wow ... sounds like Miss Nina's ... I don't know, Helen. I've been single for a bunch of years."

"Well, son," Helen said. "Looks like you just might have collected a girlfriend."

"B-but ... I'm thirty-eight..."

Helen smiled, "Boy, I know guys who'd die to have an eighteen year old girl falling for him. And stranger things have worked." She sighed. "But, Dan, if you're ... be careful. Let her down easy..."

"Helen," I said, "I didn't even pick her up. But I would NEVER hurt her. A week. That's all I've known her. And..."

"Okay, Dan. I believe you. But if you hurt my granddaughter, I will personally hunt you down..." Her gaze was stern, resolute.

"I believe you. And I won't hurt her. But she's eighteen. What if I'm the one that gets hurt?"

"You will learn about my granddaughter. She's not the hurting kind..."

"You just told me three people who would differ with you..."

"Keep that in mind, Dan." She raised her voice. "Nina, you need to come in here."

Nina was back in the room, and this time she perched on the arm of my chair. Her hand sat on my shoulder, like she was marking me as her possession. "Were you hard on 'im, Grandma?"

"No, I wasn't, Nina. I told him a little background stuff. And how much I loved you and wanted good things for you. That's all. I think you said you two were going out driving this afternoon?"

"Yes, ma'am," Nina said. "I guess. Since he didn't run screaming out the door." She stood up and tugged at my bicep. "Come on, babe. Let's go."

I stood up. "Helen, I guess that Nina and I are going to go for a ride. I will have her back home ... what time?"

"Eight. She's got school tomorrow."

"And I have work. Okay. We'll see you then." And we, yes, "WE" walked out. Buckled in the SUV, I backed out of the drive and headed up the residential street. Once on the road, I rested my right arm on the console, as was my habit. I felt a soft, warm, feminine hand take mine.

"D'you mind this, Dan?" she asked in a soft voice.

"No, Nina, I don't. Are you telling me something?"

"I heard what Grandma told you. All of it."

"And what I said, too?"

"All of that, too..."

"This is scary to me, Nina ... I've known you for a week. It's..."

"Special?!?"

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?"

"I just sort of know..." Her hand left mine and touched my cheek. "How about we just be friends ... And we'll see..."

"I'd ... Just friends ... Okay..."

And the afternoon was just that, holding hands, the occasional caress of face or arm the seemed to be transmitting so much more. We ate dinner at a country barbecue joint, laughing at the mess we made, walked a nature trail at a park, and finally headed back into town. I walked her to the front door. Before she opened it, she turned.

"Thank you for a wonderful day, Dan." And she kissed me. Chastely. Lips closed, but soft, so desirable. "I'll call you tomorrow. Homework. Okay?"

"Okay," I said. This time I got a little bold. I touched my hand to her waist and gently pulled her toward me and kissed her back. "I'll see you tomorrow, baby." And I left.

I don't remember Monday. I did remember a photo in my briefcase. I put it in a frame, camouflaged by being in with a bunch of other pictures of me, co-workers, friends. But a thousand times during the day, I looked up at those eyes.

I was out the gate at four. Home by four-thirty. Bathed and shaved and thinking about supper when the cell buzzed. I was hoping ... Nina!

"Hi, sweetness," I said.

"Hi, boyfriend," she answered. "You busy?"

"Not in the least. Waiting."

"Me too. I'm on the way."

"Come on."

Fifteen minutes later she walked in. "I didn't even knock."

"So I noticed." I reached onto the counter. "Here's something, just in case."

"A key?"

"Yeah. In case I'm not here and you need anything."

"But you're ALWAYS here," and then she smiled. "I guess you're not worried about me walking in on you and some other woman."

"There ARE no other women, babe. And there will BE no other women."

"Serious friends, then, huh?"

"Serious," I affirmed. "Uh, got any homework?"

"Nope. Just reviews."

"Do you need any help? I mean, I'm supposed to help you, you know..."

The grin was enormous. "You DO help, babe," she said. She produced her iPod. "Can we do this?"

"Oh, yeah. Here! Let's get it started. I have most of them on a hard drive. I got the transfer started. It's gonna take a while."

She smiled. "Then put this on." She handed me a CD, Beethoven. Pastorale. I put it in the player and then accepted her tug onto the sofa. This time we were NOT at opposite ends.

"Turn the lights down," she said. I turned down the lights. And she nestled back into my arms and that's where we stayed. No groping. No heavy breathing.

"Mmmmm. You smell good, babe," she said. She nestled her face into my chest.

That presented me with her hair, brushed to perfection, smelling clean, soft to the touch of my lips. I kissed the top of her perfect head and she responded by pulling my arms tight around her. On top of a pair of small but wonderfully firm breasts. But she had my hands captured in hers, and there was no way I was going to make a move to touch things that needed touching, caressing, fondling ... No way.

Her breathing was even, regular ... asleep in my arms. Oh, well. If she wanted to sleep, I'd let her sleep. Finally, a cramp in my leg required, insisted, demanded movement. I tried not to disturb her, but was unsuccessful.

"Mmmmm" escaped her lips. "I thought I was dreaming, babe." I adjusted my crampy leg and she rearranged herself in my arms again. "This is better."

"You were asleep, Nina."

"I know. I didn't sleep good last night. Just tossed and turned for hours it seemed. I don't know how I made it through school today. But the music ... You holding me ... It's perfect. Uh ... I'm sorry I'm not much company, babe."

"Oh, it's horrible, it is ... Lounging on the sofa with a pretty girl in my arms. I am perfectly happy, little one."

"I am, too, Dan. Uh, what time is it?"

"'Bout time for you to head home, babe ... as much as I enjoy this..."

"I know," she said.

We untangled and she stood. I stood with her and then went and retrieved her iPod. "Here," I said. "You'll have good music." I escorted her to the door and got another chaste, tender, lips closed kiss. And a hug. And I kissed the top of her head and breathed the sweetness in, and I let her go.

Tuesday was different. Nina was excited. "Don't forget tomorrow's the day you're supposed to give me my tour," she reminded me.

"Like I could forget. How's that gonna work? Am I supposed to pick you up at school?"

"Can you get off to do that? I can ride the bus, and then you can come get me at school and bring me home at the end of the day..."

"I can do that," I said. "Do they know what we're doing?"

She smiled. "Just ask for Mr. Simpson. He's my counselor. I talked with him and I got a permission slip signed by Grandma and everything's cool."

"I'll be there at twelve-thirty," I said. "Wear something comfortable."

"I can do that," Nina smiled. "I'm looking forward to seeing your world."

"Not just my world, babe," I said. "You're wanting to be an engineer too, you know."

"I know."

"I want to help you." I picked up my car keys. "Let's go for a ride..."

"Where?"

"I don't know," I said. "Just ride around..."

"No," she said. "I liked last night. We just sat and listened to music. It was nice, just to not worry about tests and lessons and school for a while. And be held..."

"Okay," I said. "Just didn't want you bored. What do you want to start with?"

She reached in her purse and picked out her iPod and punched at the touchwheel. "Moonlight Sonata. For starters."

I took the suggestion and lined up her first choice and several others of similar vein on the playback queue of the computer I used to manage my sound system and started the music.

"Dim the lights, babe," Nina said. "And come sit in your chair."

"My chair" was a big recliner. Many a night I'd fallen asleep in its comfy confines. But last night Nina and I had snuggled on the sofa. The recliner wasn't wide enough for both of us. But I followed her instruction and sat. And she slid onto my lap.

"Am I too big to sit on your lap?" she purred.

I answered by encircling her in my arms and kicking the recliner back to deposit her on top of me. "Is this okay?"

And she kissed me. Not the safe, chaste kiss from the evening before. No, her lips, while closed, were hot, soft and searching and I responded in kind.

"Mmmmm," she said.

"Oh, Nina," was all I could do. I sucked in a breath, trying to clear my head, thinking, "Dan, what did you expect? You have her in your arms."

Another kiss. Her lips parted, her tongue tentative, almost frightened, touched my lips and I parted my lips and lightly touched my own tongue's tip to hers. Feeling that, her tongue became emboldened and she probed my mouth as I tasted her for the first time. She broke the kiss after long moments, sighing.

"Mmmm, Dannnnnn..."

"My Nina." My words drew another kiss, her body twisting to put us face to face, her arms between us, her hands grasping my shirt.

"Dan..."

"Nina ... baby. Oh, god..." I breathed in, the scent of a hint of her perfume in my nostrils. "another, baby." And she turned her face to me. This one was hotter than the last. My hands stroked her hair, sleek, soft to my touch, my fingers brushing the bare skin of her neck. When she raised her lips away from me, I touched her face, enraptured.

"Dan ... you..."

"Me? Me, what..."

"No, never mind. You'll think I'm a silly young girl."

"I haven't thought you were silly from the first time we talked, little one. What are you thinking..."

"Stuff that I probably shouldn't..."

That intrigued me. There was a single part of my anatomy that was a long way past any intrigue. My dick was hard, almost painful, because it had gone hard while pointed in the wrong direction. But I didn't think with that. I wasn't going to LET myself think with that. I knew in my head and in my heart that I could not be the kind of man who'd take advantage of Nina. "Babe, I'm your friend..."

She put her fingertip to my lips, shutting me up. "That's just it! You ARE my friend. But..."

"But, what..."

"No, I'm being silly..."

"Try me. I can evaluate silly. I'm an engineer." She kissed me again, almost like she was slaking a thirst.

"Okay ... Dan, is it silly to believe in love at first sight?"

"It's not silly to believe in love," I said. "And I guess it can happen fast, and it can happen ... I don't know, why not? With who?"

"You." she said, simply. "Who am I kissing? YOU!" She sighed, "Dan, you're the first guy I ever kissed because I wanted to KISS him. I mean, I was a little girl and I kissed little boys, like little kids do. But since I was old enough to get over the little girl, little boy thing, I have never kissed a guy. Like since I was ten." She brushed her lips across mine like she was testing, then they melted into mine, her tongue brushing my lips as I opened my mouth to her.

A thousand heartbeats later, it seemed, I was gazing at her perfect face in the dim light of the room, the music of the masters adding to the perfection. It was my turn. "Nina, baby, dearest..."

A brief kiss before she answered. "Yes, Dan..."

"How can I ... I've fallen in love with a dream..."

Giggle. Sigh. "You too?"

"Yeah. And your grandma said..."

"I heard what Grandma said. You hear what Nina says." She sat up a little straighter, out of kissing range. "I am a week short of my eighteenth birthday. I have NOT had a good life except for the time I spent with my grandmother. And at school, even though I have been an outsider. Kids at school know about my mother and they know me, and I don't put up with getting the two of us confused. I am NOT my mother in any way, shape or form. And I am different from other eighteen year old girls. I don't have any illusions about knights and shining armor and castles and princesses and pretty ponies. None of that crap. I am logical and mature and intelligent. And at THIS point, Dan Gleason, I think I have found myself to be in love. With you."

"Wow. That's quite a speech," I said. "Now, do you want to hear mine?"

"You've got one?"

"I didn't PLAN one, but since YOU started it, I am thirty-eight years old, I have been badly hurt by several women in my life whom I've, in each case, committed to spend the rest of my life with. One has my daughter, and the way things are going now, I will never get to be a father to her. I do not easily fall in love, and I do not sleep around or do one night stands. I find that my tastes are different than most people's especially most women's and I had decided that unless some bolt of lightning out of the blue dropped a lifemate into my lap, I would just as happily spend the rest of my life with a cat as a companion." I paused. "And YOU'RE in my lap. Thirty-eight year old guys are NOT supposed to be in love with eighteen year old girls. Especially after knowing them for a week and a half. But I am in love. And I like it."

"Shut up," she said, "and kiss me. Lots."

I ignored the discomfort in my crotch. I wasn't about to break this mood. I complied with her order and provided her with kisses. Lots.