A young close friend becomes a travel partner like no other…
An Interesting Ride Across Country.
This is starting out to be a slow burn. I am working on part two now…
After my wife passed. I used the insurance to pay off the house and retire. I wanted something to do and supplement my income so I talked to a few of the car dealers around and started driving for them. IT was easy work, they would send cars to auction or purchase cars or deliver cars to clients. It was pretty steady one or two days a week. Not a bad gig, driving new or really nice used cars a day or two a week. I enjoyed it and it kept my mind busy.
One day the boss asked me to fly out to a place out in New Mexico to pick up a really nice, practically new Corvette. The new owner wanted this car and was going to keep it for himself and didn’t mind the highway miles for me to drive back. He told me that he knew I was very careful and wanted me to take my time coming back stop over at least three nights and if I wanted someone to ride with me I could invite a guest.
I hadn’t thought much about who I could ask but wasn’t too worried about it. I was getting ready to go on the night before when Kay came in the house, “ Hey old man where are ya?” “I’m in here you darlin brat” I responded. She bounded in my room and jumped and bounced on my bed. I asked, “What are you doing here?” “Oh I was passing through and wanted to see how you were doing? What ARE you doing? Why are you packing?” She always made me smile. “I am running away from home.” I said as I smiled at her.
Let me tell you about Kay, she is actually my daughter-in-laws niece. She will be going to college in the fall and is bouncing around visiting everyone and just having fun her last year at home. She has a good head on her shoulders and has been very sweet to me since losing my wife. She checks on me from time to time. We go to the mall, I helped teach her to drive, watch movies. She is a really good kid. Not to mention she is a looker. I may be old but I am not dead.
“Where are you headed, really” she asked. I explained that I have a car to pick up in New Mexico and will be flying out to pick it up tomorrow.”Wanna ride along and keep me company?” “For real? Don’t tease me.” She said, grinning and getting more and more excited. “That would be awesome but I can’t afford a ticket.” She said as she went from high to low in a split second. I then said, “yeah, it sucks to be poor like me, but I have a buddy that is flying me out in his small plane, it will take about 6 hours in the air, but he was going out there anyway. I am sure we can squeeze you in a suitcase or something.” She was beside herself in excitement, “Are you kidding me? Let me run home and pack and I will be back here in 40 minutes!” She kissed me on the cheek as I started to say something but she was out the door and speeding away. I laughed a little and finished my packing.
40 minutes later she comes in dragging a big suitcase with her. Huge smile on her face. “Where are you planning to go Europe for a month?” I asked. She looked at me and saw my backpack sitting by the door? “Oh, geez, I forgot to ask about your friends plane, I guess I overpacked. Do you have a spare backpack I can repack.” “Sure hon, let me go grab one for you.” I said heading down to the basement. I came back up and she was in my room and had taken everything out of her suitcase and had the contents laid out everywhere. “What, did your suitcase explode?” She looked up at me with her big beautiful blue eyes and said, “Well I was so excited I didn’t know what to bring so I brought about everything. So I figured you would help me figure out what to take.” She turned and sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at me. I said, “Well, it doesn’t matter to me what you take. Just a lot less of it. It is a casual driving trip. We will be stopping and staying at hotels along the way. We will be flying tomorrow morning and then on the road for 3 nights. So we should be back here by Friday.” I handed her the backpack and told her I will go and start something for supper while you pair down. She looked around and then asked, “Will the hotels have a pool?” I responded well I don’t see why not,” and left the room.
I went to the kitchen and prepped some burgers and went out and started them on the grill. Not long after that she came out and joined me. I told her all about the deal and why I was going. She was very excited about the corvette and driving cross country. We talked and ate dinner, watched a little TV and then settled in for the night. I went back to my room where she had cleaned up her clothes that she was leaving behind. Her suitcase was still in my room and open on my bed. I didn’t plan to snoop through it but as I was closing it to set it off my bed I glanced down and there were a few pairs of thong underwear laying on top. I reached out and touched a pair and they were silky and soft. I picked it up and smelled it. They were clean of course but they smelled so pretty. I put them back and out of the corner of my eye I see a shadow in the hall. I thought or hoped that she didn’t see what just did. I turned and she was coming in my door. “I’m sorry, I wanted to grab my suitcase and move it to the guest room.” I studdered a little and told her that I will take it upstairs for her. I picked it up and took it upstairs. I hoped that I had not been blushing too much. After I sat her suitcase down and turned to go she jumped up and hugged me around the neck and said “Thank you. I am really looking forward to making this trip with you old man.” I smiled back at her and said, “I am too sweetie. get a good night sleep, we are out early tomorrow.” I gave her a little peck on the cheek and was pulling away while she was trying to kiss my cheek and caught a little bit of my lips. I responded, finishing that little kiss. She smiled and blushed and turned away. We said good night and I went downstairs and to bed. I went to sleep with a little smile on my face.
I got up early and made some breakfast and she came down right now on time and ready to go. “Did you sleep okay?” I asked. “It took a while to go to sleep, I was a little excited." She said as she looked down at her breakfast. “Me to.” I said, with a little smile on my face. She looked up smiling and blushing. “Well let’s finish up and get out to the airport, you can sleep a little on the plane. She finished and jumped up and ran upstairs. “I gotta grab something real quick, I will be right back.” She ran upstairs and was back down and had the backpacks in the truck and sitting in the passenger seat when I came out of the house. “Okay! Let’s go fly to New Mexico.” I said as I started the truck and put it in gear.
We met Jim and introduced Kay. “I picked up a patsy to go with me to keep me awake on this trip.” I said. “Hey I am just hitching a ride. I may just leave you when I get to New Mexico and head out to Cali.” She said and winked at Jim. “I can see why you asked her. She is fun.” Jim said. “no you don’t kid, your mom would kill me on the spot if I let you run away.” I reached to slap her butt and she dodged it. “Too slow old man!” “Well if I catch you I will spank that little ass of yours.” She grinned and hid behind Jim. We went through Jim’s preflight stuff and took off.
Kay was like a kid in a candy shop. It was the first time she had ever been in a small airplane. But after a couple of hours she was getting tired and was asleep when we made our first fuel stop. “Are we there yet?” She asked as she woke up. Jim piped in and said no, my plane isn’t that fast. Just time to fuel up and take a potty break.” She looked out as we were coming in for the landing. After a 30 minute stop we were up and in the air again. After 2 more stops we made it to New Mexico. We thanked Jim and he took off on to his destination.
”How do you like flying in a small plane?” I asked, “ It is fun but it still takes a long time to get here.” It will be longer going home for sure.” I told her as we grabbed our backpacks and grabbed a ride share and went to pick up the vette. We looked the car over and I checked all the fluids and made sure it was what my boss was expecting and it was. We pulled away and went to the hotel for the first night. I had ordered a suite so Kay could have a bedroom to herself and I would sleep on the Sofa.
We dropped our bags off and then went out to eat. We went to a steakhouse and had a great meal and even greater conversation. We talked about life and what she was going to do for college. She had just dumped her boyfriend and I asked her about that. “Well, it was sort of a mutual thing. We both knew that college is not the place to be tied down. Well not that way anyway.” She winked at me and I do believe that she blushed a little. “I know that it wasn’t going to work out with him anyway. He just wasn’t a good fit. Almost all the guys I know are jerks or stick in the muds. I hate trying to date at this age.” “You are talking like an old lady. I am sure you will have a good time in college. Enjoy it while you can.” I said. “Oh I plan to have a lot of fun, you can count on that, but contrary to what everyone thinks, most guys are looking for the one to marry and I don’t think I want to settle down just yet.” She looked at me and a grinned and then winked at me. “You are full of surprises girl.” I said. We finished our meal and went back to the hotel.
Up until this point our little flirty banter was just us kidding around, we both never took each other to serious, but after that little kiss the previous night I had been watching her and catching some little subtle changes in both of us. Taking my hand and holding it. Hugs that lingered a little longer, something in her eyes when I looked at her. A naughty little grin on her face. We went out to sit outside and I opened a bottle of wine and gave her a glass. I know, she is only 18 but we had an understanding, not too much and self control. As I said, she has a good head on her shoulders. We sat and talked about everything. She never held back and I appreciated her candor. She knew I would never say anything to her mom and she is good at keeping secrets too. She told me about her first times and other things that were very interesting to know.
While we were sitting watching the sun go down watching over a beautiful desert landscape she asked me, “Do you miss your wife, I mean well, sexually?” I was in the middle of a drink and almost choked because it came so much out off the blue. I paused for a second and thought about how I want to respond. I then spoke, “There are a lot of things I miss, but truthfully sex doesn’t come up first in my mind. Don’t get me wrong, at times sex was good between us, we had 3 kids so I have to say it was good. But it was never great or amazing. She had a lot of hangups. I could only politely say it was… vanilla. I guess we were unevenly matched in that area.” I paused and wondered if I had said too much. But I looked at Kay and she was as deep in thought as I was. She was staring right at me and asked, “How was it uneven?” I looked right at her and said, “well let’s say I was not vanilla, I was more like rocky roads. She was raised very conservative and Me not so much.” As much as I wanted to get into it more I held back. She paused and said, “ Yeah, I get that. I felt the same way about my old boyfriend. He just wanted in and out and get it over with. As long as he got his, he was good. Didn’t think much about my needs though.” With that I reached out for her hand and clasped it. “I am sorry to hear that, it is a good thing that you didn’t continue with him. I married my vanilla.” With that she squeezed my hand and looked at me with knowing eyes. “Well, I could use some rocky roads in my life, I tell ya that.” She said. I chuckled and looked at her and told her you will find someone. I hope you get the whole Baskin-Robins 31 flavors.” With that we both cracked up and laughed deep and long.
With that we went back into the suite and decided to turn on the TV and watch something. I asked her if she wanted more wine and she said, “No, I need to keep my head about me. Unless you are trying to get me hammered.” I smiled at her and said, what fun would that be? Nothing worse than a sick girl puking everywhere.” I grabbed some chips and we sat and watched something funny. Neither of us were paying much attention. I was curious about what she had said. Then she spoke up again and told me that she was going to head to bed and said goodnight. She leaned into me and gave me a real kiss. A kiss that lingered, paused and then her tongue worked is way to mine. I was caught off guard and didn’t stop her. I kissed her back. A simple kiss really but it was amazing and I pulled her close. I felt her lean into me and her breasts pushed into my chest. And then just like that she stopped and got up. “She looked me in the eye and said,”Mmmmmmm - Rocky Roads Goodnight I will see ya in the morning.” She jumped up and was gone. I was stunned to say the least, but I smiled and went to my backpack and was grabbing my sleep clothes when I found something wrapped up in them. It was one of her thongs. I could tell it wasn’t a clean pair. I held it to my face and took a deep breath. “MMMMmmmmmm.” I don’t know what might happen but this trip just got interesting…