Getting Back in the Dating Pool, 2

“We’ve got to talk.”

Matt and Madison were lying there catching their breath after their rather intense welcome home sex as she continued, “Matt, I’ve met someone.”

It caught him a bit off balance, but it sort of explained the events of the last hour or so. A sort of last huzzah before he was cut off. He had known it would happen sooner or later, but later was always better. He was trying to figure out what to say, realizing that they probably would not be sharing the benefits of each other’s bodies again.

“Are you upset?” She was watching his face anxiously.

“Not upset, more disappointed. Not with you! Just that I’m losing the benefits. But I did know it would happen. So, tell me about him.” He was a bit surprised at how well he was taking it, not really angry, just a bit of sadness.

“Well, we met at the gym. Alan is a couple years older than me, evidently I like the older guys.” She was teasing him a bit, which gave him a bit of hope that she wasn’t trying to burn bridges. “And we’ve been working out together for a couple of weeks and he asked me out Friday and I went and we had a good time. I like him, and I think I want to see more of him.”

“Well, it is what our stated goal was, to get ourselves into a place where we could operate in society again. I was just always hoping I would ‘go first’ since you have a lot better prospects than I do.” She really wouldn’t have had an issue getting a date at any point in time, it was more a matter of her being in the right headspace.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that! Look, I’ll let you off the hook for a workout Monday, but Wednesday morning, at the gym, usual time. And we won’t be alone. Alan will be there, and so will Star.”

“Star Lincoln?”

“Yes, she asked me if I would help her train. She knew I had been helping you. And when she talked with me about it, she was asking a lot of questions about you. She tried to make it sound like she was just interested in the training side of things, but had definitely noted the changes you had made over the last few months and wanted to do the same. But I would say some of the questions were a bit more probing, as if she was trying to find out whether there was more to our relationship than just friends.”

He thought about Star. He knew who she was, and would often say hi as he passed her in the hallways. She was younger than he was, but quite a bit older than Madison. At a guess she probably split the difference between him and Madison age wise, putting her around forty or so. He’d only seen her in her Sunday clothes, the figure was pretty hidden, but nothing stood out. Part of that would be that he tended to focus on her long red hair when he saw her.

It seemed a bit awkward that first morning. Madison was her normal cheerful self, Alan was a bit standoffish, and Star was pretty quiet. He found it unnerving how Star seemed to be always looking at him. Madison directed them to the cardio machines. She knew he preferred the orbital types, to avoid the constant pounding on his heels. Whether she did it intentionally or not, she put Star on a treadmill two rows in front of him. He finally got a chance to really check her out. Pretty nice. The black workout pants she was wearing didn’t hide anything. While she might do with some tightening up, (who wouldn’t?), she was certainly closer to his ideal image of a woman. Nice curves and time flew by as he watched her red hair in a ponytail bobbing up and down and her rear end rotating and found himself with a bit of an erection.

After having settled into the new routine for a couple of weeks, Madison came right out and asked him. “So, why haven’t you asked Star out?”

“Does she know how old I am?”

“Um, well, I guess that I don’t really know what she knows. And what difference would that make?”

“I am twice your age, and as near as I can tell, I’ve got at least 10-12 years on her. I’ve gotten to know her, and I really like her. I certainly don’t want to creep her out. Guess I’ll have a chat with her tomorrow morning and make sure she knows how old I am. Oh, and just so I don’t forget, thank you. You really have been great in helping me out, getting me in shape and building my confidence. I appreciate it more than you could know.”

“Hey, it’s not like you didn’t help me out! I wasn’t feeling all chipper after the breakup.” It was the first time she had directly referred to the split that he could remember, so evidently there was some progress being made.

Matt and Star had started getting together a couple of days a week even when they weren’t training with Madison, and worked out at the same time. The next day he stopped her before they moved to actually hit the machines. She was looking good, with a tight t-shirt and leggings on, a nice flush on her cheeks highlighting her freckles and green eyes.

“So, Star, a couple of things. First of all, how old do you think I am?”

She looked him over. “Well, I know you are older than I am, based on comparing you with others I know I’ve always thought you were about 5 to 7 years older than I am.”

“You’re off by at least twice that much.”

Her mouth gaped as her jaw hit the floor. “Really? I would never have guessed.”

“Okay, I just wanted to make sure you knew what the gap was. I’ll let you digest that for a while. The second thing, as cheesy as it is, and I’m sure it isn’t the first time you’ve heard it, but your name fits you very well, you certainly are a heavenly body.” With that he went over to the weight machines and continued his workout, trying not to look in her direction. She sat there for a minute or two before starting her own routine. And he was glad to see that she chose a machine that was someplace he could see her clearly as she moved into the next phase of her workout.

He had to admit, Star set things up pretty well. Not one to wait around, she called him and told him that she was getting some work done on her car on Saturday and was going to drop off the vehicle after work on Friday. Would he do her a favor and pick her up from the car dealership and give her a ride home? In exchange she offered to cook him a homemade dinner that evening. Seemed fair enough and Matt suspected there might be more to it than just dinner, but didn’t set his expectations too high. While it wasn’t technically a date, it was certainly more of a social situation than the several times a week meeting at the gym. And certainly more intimate than actually going somewhere.

One of the nice things about being semi-retired is that he could pretty much set his own schedule. So it was relatively easy to show up at the dealership at the appointed time.