Barb and Me

I met my wife Barb, a friend of my sister Nancy, at a 4th of July get together at my Mom’s house. Barb and her daughter Connie, who was about two, rode over with her to Mom’s house. I’d been told by Nancy that this woman was just perfect for me.

My love life had been hit and miss in the five years since I’d finished college and moved to my job in the Seattle area. I bounced from one relationship to another, most ending in a less than positive way. I had become very good friends with a woman twenty years older than me at work. Our off hours friendship was limited to stopping for a coffee or an occasional beer and me spilling my guts to her about my inability to make a relationship work. I had been open with her about most everything but the sister, cousin, and mother fucking that had gone on in my life. Penny was married to a great guy named Michael whom I had met and chatted with at a couple of company functions. Both of them were really good listeners. Penny always was forthright, pulled no punches, and said what she thought. As one relationship after another fell apart, at the beginning she said things like, “maybe you get too serious too fast”, which gradually changed to “maybe you shouldn’t be sleeping with them so soon” and when my last relationship had gone tits up in the ditch she was very blunt, “You can’t be fucking a woman within two days of meeting her and expect that you can build a long term relationship on that, no matter how great the sex is.”

I had taken that clearly stated advice to heart and avoided physical relationships with the next few women I dated. I found that without the sex, I saw how little I had in common with each of them within a few dates and let the relationship cease without fireworks. It was kind of like being at a party when you’re the designated driver and sober while everyone else gets drunk. Things that are hilarious when you’re looped often aren’t very funny at all when you’re sober and can think clearly. So I resolved to continue my hunt for a match without clouding my judgment with sex.

I drove my restored 1973 Plymouth Fury III ex-police car over to Mom’s house in great anticipation of meeting this “perfect woman.” I went over a couple of days early to do chores around the house for Mom and when Nancy, Barb, and Connie arrived and I saw Barb walking toward me I was amazed. I thought that Nancy may have been right in saying she was right for me. Barb was attractive without being like a model or anything (a type I don’t like anyway) and had a figure I was drawn to with a nice shape. As she approached I was trying to keep myself calm. I didn’t know right at that instant that she had a little cutey like Connie until after Barb and I had greeted each other and gone into the house and Nancy joined us in the kitchen with her in her arms. I was taken with Connie immediately and Barb could see it. She made it clear that the two of them were a “package” and I guess a lot of guys run like hell from that. Not me.

We had a great long weekend including some evening walks and talks and I felt like we had a lot in common in the way we looked at life, etc. The most intimate we got over that weekend was a couple of pecks on the cheek so I was keeping to my goal of getting to know a woman first. Going back Barb decided that she and Connie would ride back to Seattle with me and we had a pleasant drive across the state, chatting almost the whole way accompanied by the bass rumble of the Fury’s 440 loafing along at 65 or so across the state and over the pass. She directed me to her apartment and after parking the car I helped her carry Connie and her stuff up to her second floor appartment. After I got everything in her front hallway I told her how much I enjoyed the weekend. She asked if I wanted to stay for a cup of coffee but I told her I needed to get up early for work in the morning and had better get home. As I was leaving, she gave me a nice kiss and told me to call her. I promised I would.

As I left and drove south to the house I called home, a three-bedroom rambler I’d bought when real estate in the area was depressed due to massive layoffs at Boeing, I was so excited that I doubted I’d be able to get to sleep that night. I managed to though and Penny noticed my mood immediately the next morning at work. “So what happened? This woman turn out to be nice?” She asked.

I said, “And how. She’s got a little girl, a great sense of humor, we look at a lot of things in life the same, she’s attractive, and has a nice body – just the shape I like.”

She asked, “You didn’t sleep with her, did you?” With a concerned look and tone.

I told her, “Nope. I’m getting to know her.”

That evening I called Barb and asked if she’d settled back in after the long weekend. She had, and other than some interruptions with Connie we spent the next two hours on the phone. We did virtually the same all week and decided that she and Connie would come down to my house the coming Saturday for a cookout and some time enjoying the sun on my back deck. I could hardly contain myself as I got ready for the visit – bought steaks, cleaned the grill, mowed the grass, cleaned off the deck, and went thru the house from one end to another straightening up, then did it again. Saturday finally arrived and I met them at the front door with my heart racing. She got a little tour of my house and then we went out into the July sunshine on the deck. A couple of beers for us and a sippy cup of juice for Connie and we settled in the deck chairs and watched Connie putter around the deck exploring the new place.

Barb took Connie’s little T-shirt off, applied suntan lotion, then asked, “Would you mind if I took her diaper off. I mean she may make a mess on the deck, you know.”

I just said, “Nothing the hose won’t take care of, I bet.” She removed her diaper and slathered on some more suntan lotion. I told her, “Kids that age love to lose their diapers. Mom said it was tough to keep clothes on me when I was little.”

Barb joked, “From what Nancy told me, it was hard to keep clothes on you all the way up till you moved out.” I felt my face flush, Barb noticed it and asked, “Does that embarrass you?”

I said, “No, not really, but it never fails – you females talk about everything. It leaves a poor defenseless guy helpless, you know?” And I laughed.

She told me, “It’s about the only way we can stay ahead of you guys.”

I said, “Heck, if it was just me here, I’d probably be naked right now enjoying the sun and air as much as Connie over there. Look at her, not a care in the world. She’s so lucky at that age. We should be so lucky.”

Barb said, “Well, if you like to be nude, don’t let me stop you. You won’t bother me. After walking in on you at your mom’s house I guess it would be old hat for me.”

“And I thought you modestly looked away.” I said.

“Only after I had a good look.” She laughed.

At Mom’s house, Barb had chased Connie into the bathroom when the toddler shoved the door open. It was the morning after they arrived and I was standing there drying my hair with a towel when the door burst open and Connie toddled in. Immediately behind her, Barb came charging in after her. She drew up short when she saw me standing there naked and we stood facing each other for a few moments. She looked away and said, “Sorry, Hut.” And started crab walking sideways into the bathroom after Connie.

I said, “Barb, it’s no big deal. I’m sure I haven’t got anything you haven’t already seen plenty of times.” I picked up Connie and stepped over to Barb and said, “Here, Barb.” She looked me in the eyes and took Connie from me before turning and walking quickly out of the bathroom. I stepped over and shut the door and thought, “That was pretty funny.” then finished drying my hair, brushed my teeth, wrapped the towel around me, and headed out of the bathroom. At the doorway to the family room – which didn’t have a door – I knocked lightly on the frame and said, “Barb, I’m outa’ the bathroom now. It’s all yours.”

I told her, “Well anyway, I’ll save the nude sunbathing for some other day.” We sat out there all afternoon and the time passed so fast that it was time for Connie to eat for about the third time. She was obviously getting tired, coming over to Barb and standing there leaning on her leg with her arms wrapped around it. After Connie was fed again, I asked Barb if she’d like to put her down for a nap. I was surprised the little girl had lasted all afternoon without a nap but I guess exploring a new place kept her going.

Barb asked, “Do you have a place that would work?”

I told her, “I’ve got a big dresser drawer that’s deep enough and probably about her size. We can make a bed out of that.”

Barb told me that sounded fine and we headed inside to make up the little bed in a drawer and put it on the floor out in the back room inside of the slider where we could keep an eye on her. She told me, “I still nurse her just in the morning and night. I hate to stop, it’s such a nice time for us.”

I said, “There’s a rocker in the front bedroom that would probably work great for that.” and Barb changed Connie and dressed her for bed and went into the bedroom. I waited at the door as she settled into the rocker and then told her I’d be out on the deck lighting the grill.

She said, “Well come back in when you’re done.” I headed outside, loaded and lit the grill, then returned to the front bedroom. Barb said, “This is the second one and she’s got it almost drained. It’ll be only a couple more minutes I think. She’s slowing down like she’s about asleep anyway.” Soon after I heard Connie break free of the breast and saw her moving around. Barb said, “That’s it, she’s done.”

I suggested, “Let me have her and I’ll take her out to her drawer. Does she need to be changed again before she goes down?”

Barb said, “No, she’ll be fine – probably till we get home tonight. I’ll change her before she goes down for the night.” I carried the little girl out to her drawer and put her down in it. She was stirring around and I sat down beside her on the floor and was patting her gently on the back and talking softly to her when Barb walked in. “You look like a natural, Hut.”

I said, “I don’t know about that but I’ve been in love with this little girl since she showed up on my mother’s doorstep.”

Barb said, “I know, Hut. It’s one of the things that makes you so appealing. You have no idea how many men, some of the divorced fathers even, run like hell when they find out a woman has a baby. I saw in your eyes immediately that you weren’t one of them.”

I said, “That’s stupid.”

“What? That I saw it in your eyes?”

“No, it’s stupid for a guy to run away from a kid like that. I guess you’re better off that they do as soon as possible, huh?”

“Yeah, probably so.” She offered.

The summer sun was getting lower in the sky and turning colors redder outside when we went back out on the deck.