His other calls to New York, the nightly ones to Shae, were much less disheartening. As the month wound down toward the end, they still found they had a lot to talk about. One night, Shae came right out and said, "Damn it, Dave, I miss you and the boys. The phone is only so good. Would you mind if I hopped in the car and drove over to see you this weekend?"

"It's not like it's the next town over," he warned. "It's every inch of six hundred miles."

"I know it," Shae told him. "Remember, I've done it with you once. We're wrapping early Friday, if shooting doesn't get balled up too much. I figure if I can get out by lunchtime or a little after, I could be in Bradford by midnight. Do you and the boys have anything going on this weekend?"

Thrilled and surprised at the thought of seeing Shae again, Dave told her, "The only thing I have is Emily's daughter Kayla is running in the county cross-country championship Saturday morning. Kayla has been a big help with the boys and asked us to come watch her. So has Emily, and I owe her a lot. I figured it would make a nice small excursion for the boys for something different and wouldn't take too long."

"I can't tell you the last time I was at a high school athletic event," Shae replied warmly. "Especially one from Bradford."

"It's not high school; it's middle school," Dave said. "She's only a seventh grader, but she's pretty good; she's medaled several times this fall. The high school kids will run too, I don't know the schedule. I'll have to find out from Emily."

"Sure, assuming the weather is nice, I'd love to come," Shae replied happily. "It'll be fun to do something with the boys."

After talking it over a little they decided to make the visit a surprise for Tyler and Cameron. A couple nights later Shae called at the normal bedtime hour for the nightly story -- but Dave could tell from the sound quality that she was calling on her cell phone, although the boys apparently didn't notice. Dave hadn't talked to Shae directly that afternoon, but presumed she was out on the highway headed their way. Given that the boys were in on the conversation, Shae couldn't exactly say how much longer she would be, but Dave got the idea it wouldn't be long. As the boys went to bed and wound down for the night, Dave began to realize how much he'd missed the tall woman and how much he was looking forward to seeing her.

It was another couple hours before Shae showed up. Dave was in the office, leisurely picking his way through the slush pile when he saw her drive the Taurus into the driveway. To say he raced out of the house to greet her would probably exaggerate the truth, but he didn't waste any time, either -- he was waiting by her car door as she got out. Before they could even say "hello" they were in each other's arms with a long, sensuous kiss that was both tender and insistent. They broke apart for a moment and discovered they both wanted more, so kissed again; her tongue probed to find his own, and getting into the experience he met it just about as eagerly as she did in a hungry, open-mouthed kiss that only raised his passions. She grabbed him by his fanny and pulled him into her until their sexes were pressed into one another. She gave her hips a little gyration, grinding herself into him, and he suppressed a groan only with difficulty.

Finally, they broke apart enough to whisper into each other's ear, although they continued to hold as tight as ever to each other. "God, I missed you, Dave," she said softly.

"I couldn't believe how much I missed you," he replied in a quiet voice.

"Oh, God, I want to kiss you again," she said in a more normal tone of voice. "But I've got to pee so bad I'm going to wet my panties any second now."

"The bathroom is inside, toward the back," he said, letting go of her reluctantly. "Your bags are in the trunk?"

"Bag, I travel light," she smiled, heading for the house with the imminent relief obvious in her voice.

He had her single black bag in the house before she was out of the bathroom, and now she was a little less on edge. "You like something to drink, a cola or something?" he offered as soon as she appeared.

"I need something just about as bad as I needed to get rid of the last one," she smiled. "But nowhere near as bad as I needed that kiss a couple minutes ago."

"I'll get you something," he told her. "Why don't you sit down and take a load off?"

"No, I've been sitting long enough as it is," she protested. "I need to stand up, work out the kinks a bit. I got a little later start than I hoped. John had the day off; Rita was directing, and she couldn't make up her mind whether to shit or go blind. When she finally called it a wrap for the day, I was out of there so quick she couldn't change her mind. The traffic was bad getting out of the city, and it never really thinned out much all the way here."

"Were you driving when you called earlier?"

"Yeah, this side of Cleveland. I've got a headset for the cell phone so I think it worked out pretty good."

"I don't think the boys knew the difference," he told her.

They talked for another few minutes about nothing of any importance. After a while Dave noticed that Shae seemed less than comfortable somehow, and finally asked about it. "I'm pretty stiff," she told him. "Sometimes it bothers me to sit in a car that long, and my back's pretty stiff. I should have been better about taking breaks to get up and walk around, but I wanted to get here before it got too late."

"How about a nice, leisurely backrub?" he offered.

"It sounds heavenly," she smiled broadly. "Especially when a little ibuprofen is included."

A few minutes later they were up in Dave's bedroom. Shae was stretched out full-length, only slightly crosswise on Dave's king-size bed, wearing a T-shirt that would be long on a normal woman, but just barely covered her butt while Dave warmed a bottle of baby oil in hot water in the sink. "I used to have some nice aromatic massage oil," he told her casually, "But either it disappeared in the clean-out of the apartment or I just haven't found it yet. This will work just fine."

"It's been a long time since I've had a really good massage," she said. "Eve used to help me after games sometimes, but her hands just aren't big enough or strong enough to do a good job."

"I hate to tell you, but I'm not exactly a professional," he said. "But, when Julie worked the exchange floor for a while, she was on her feet all day, and she'd come home with a hell of a backache, so I got some practice on her. Now, not wanting to be salacious or anything, but this will work better if you take your shirt off. I can turn my back if you want me to."

"No, I don't mind," she giggled. "At least if it's you. Remember who the exhibitionist here is."

"I know," he smiled back at her as she peeled the shirt up over her head to give him his first view of her bare breasts. They were nicely proportioned for a woman her size, enough shape to be appealing, but not overlarge enough to hang like sacks of mud, either. She had cute, moderately large pink areolas and prominent nipples that almost begged to be played with. "And that's exactly what I'm worried about," he added in appreciation as she lay back down on the bed, now wearing only thong panties.

He started out slowly at her shoulders, using a firm grip and plenty of oil; it didn't take him long to have her moaning with delight. Enjoying the feel of her skin and the obvious pleasure he was giving her, he took his time working his way down her bare back. It had been a long time since he'd done this, even for Julie, and it felt especially good to see he had Shae just about melting under his fingertips. He worked his way slowly down her back until he reached her panties, and figured he'd better not push ahead any further.

"Could I ask you to do my thighs, too?" she asked languidly, as it became clear to her that he was finishing up. "I think they need some of your help, too." He didn't answer her directly, but went to work on her long, muscular legs. He could feel how stiff and knotted her muscles were -- no wonder she was hurting -- but he could feel them loosen up as he worked on one leg, then the other, trading back and forth. He worked well up her legs, and was tempted to work on her butt, left bare by the thong -- but thought better of it with some reluctance, for he realized it could easily take them down a road he wasn't ready to travel just yet.

"There," he said finally. "You ought to be able to get to sleep after that."

"Oh, God, yes," she moaned softly and continued in a husky voice, "It was wonderful. I'm so relaxed I don't know if I can even get up. Can I just stay here and cuddle you tonight like we did the other time?"

Dave knew he should say no -- again, it could take them down the road he wasn't sure about -- but the sheer sensual delight of her skin won the battle against his common sense. "I guess," he said, not without some reluctance. "Just cuddle though, all right?"

"I can do that," she agreed. "I can do it like you want, however you want it."

"How about putting your T-shirt back on?" he smiled at her. "I mean, the temptation, and all."

"All right, spoilsport," she grinned, rolling over to give him another good flash of her bare breasts, then sitting upright to put the shirt back on.

It wasn't long before they were both stretched out in the king-size bed, cuddled up close to each other, arms around each other. Even though she had the T-shirt on, it was thin and he had no difficulty feeling her breasts pressed up against his chest, her lower body tight against his. It felt wonderfully sensual. It also didn't take long for their lips to find each other's, and once again their mouths were crushed together, tongues exploring, just enjoying the feel of having their arms filled with each other.

At some time after they'd been cuddled a while, they pulled their mounts apart and just lay face to face in the darkened room, a street light outside their only light. "Dave," he heard her whisper, barely loud enough to hear even this close.

"Yes?"

"Dave, it's still too soon, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

"Afraid so," he replied just as softly. There were parts of him that wanted to answer another way, and the part between his legs and was pressing very hard against her belly was only one of them. But, something held him back without his thinking about it -- the memory of Julie. No matter what, it was just too soon.

"It's all right," Shae whispered back. "I can wait if I have to."

There was no more talking after that -- Dave just lay there with his arm around her back, as hers was around his. Her head lay on his shoulder in a cloud of soft, warm hair, and soon he heard and felt the gentle breathing that told him she was asleep. Yes, he thought, it's still too soon -- but sitting unspoken in his mind was the feeling that it wouldn't be too soon forever.

Somewhere in the intensity of the previous evening Dave had managed to set the alarm clock. When it went off at its normal time, Dave was about half awake anyway, enjoying the feeling of the big, beautiful blonde still snuggled up against him. She was coming around, too, and it was a joy to open his eyes and look into her face.

They shared a long, gentle kiss as their hands wandered over each other before Shae finally spoke up: "I don't really want to get up, but I suppose we'd better if we don't want the boys to know we spent the night together."

"Yeah," Dave sighed. "I think it might be a little quick for them. In fact, I'm not sure it's not a little quick for me."

"I understand, Dave," Shae smiled. "Like I said last night, I'm willing to wait if I have to. Let's get up and around, get breakfast going, and then I'll go wake them. That ought to be a surprise."

"Oh, yeah," Dave grinned in anticipation. "Tell you what. Let me use the shower first, then you can take your time."

"Good idea," she nodded. "I really need to wash my hair."

Dave grabbed some fresh underwear and headed for the shower. He shaved and brushed his teeth before he got under the spray, and kept it quick since he expected Shae would be waiting for him. She was; when he stepped out of the shower nude, she was in the bathroom equally nude. "Nice package," she grinned at the sight of his rapidly expanding penis.

That one left him with no response without a load of sexual innuendo attached to it; about all he could say was "it serves," and grab a towel to start drying off as Shae ducked her head to step into the shower. He glanced over at her, seeing the distorted image of her nude body in the shower door, and noted that it was good that she wasn't any taller since she pretty well filled the shower -- in fact, maybe had to slouch a little. While he was tempted to hang around and tease her a little, he realized almost immediately it wasn't a good idea, so once he'd dried off and dried his hair, he headed to the bedroom and got dressed.

Having Shae present made things a little special, so he decided to put a little more work into breakfast than usual -- pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs and toast seemed like a good idea, if a little more work than normal. It was Saturday, though, no work and no school. He had things coming along nicely when Shae came down the stairs, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans that ended well above her ankles. "Don't know that I've ever seen you in jeans," he commented as something safe to say.

"I haven't ever worn them much," she admitted. "Or any kind of pants, for that matter. I can usually find skirts on the rack I can wear and look good, even if they're shorter on me than the designer intended. But until recently I had to have pants made or make them myself -- even the crossdresser shops can't help much. But since pedal pushers started coming back in a little I can get away with rack stuff once in a while."

"Not wanting to sound negative," he said as he flipped pancakes, "But I think they look a little stupid, even on you. But then, a lot of fashion looks stupid to me, so I'm no judge." He glanced at the way the sausages were coming and added, "You might as well go get the boys. Expect them to be a little groggy."

Dave had reasons for his warning -- in his experience the boys were hard starters and slow to warm up. It wasn't the case this morning; even from the kitchen he heard the cries of "Aunt Shae!" Pretty soon all three of them were downstairs, the boys all excited beyond belief. Breakfast went well, with the boys babbling a mile a minute to Shae bringing her up to date on things in their world. They usually weren't very exuberant around Dave, he thought, but then they saw him every day, and Aunt Shae being there was special.

It had been a clear night and there had been frost, which was melting off the car windows by the time they got set to go to the cross-country meet, which was being held in Amherst, the next town over. Though they got there a little late, they were in plenty of time since the middle school events didn't start till after the high school athletes were done.

It wasn't very long before they found Emily, Kevin, and Vicky -- Jason would have been there, but someone had to watch after the knife shop and it was his choice. Not surprisingly, there were several people there who either Dave or Shae, or even both of them knew, but only few '88s. Kayla was the oldest of the kids of the '88 grads and as a seventh grader was in her first year of competition, but Emily assured them there were more kids of '88 grads coming along in the future. There were, however, a few kids and a number of teachers, including Roberta Wisner, Cameron and Tyler's kindergarten teacher. The two boys were quick to grab Shae by the hand and drag her over to make introductions.

"The boys are always talking about you," Roberta said to Shae. "I remember you from when I first taught here; I went to the basketball championships."

"It's getting to be a while ago," Shae admitted. "But those are fun days to remember."

"They sure were," Roberta smiled, then added, "I guess the boys aren't pulling my leg when they say you play Shaella Sunrise on Avalon."

Shae admitted she had been for several years, and that it had to be one of the stranger things a Bradford kid could wind up doing. They talked a little bit about the show and capturing children's attention; not unexpectedly, their brief conversation ended with an invitation to visit Tyler and Cameron's classroom if Shae happened to be in town at the right time in the future, and Shae said she'd like to.

A few minutes later, they caught up with Mrs. Halford, who had been the basketball coach back in the glory days when Shae and Cindy Dohrman had taken Bradford to the state championships two years running. Shae asked after the team and how they were doing, and received a disheartening reply: "We don't have you and Cindy, that's for sure. I had hopes we were going to at least break even this year, but we didn't. Even so, it's a huge improvement over last year when we got skunked."

"The poor girls," Shae shook her head. "What's the problem?"

"Just not enough girls, not enough talent," Mrs. Halford told her. "We didn't even have a full squad on varsity, and I had to pull a kid up from JVs to make it nine. There's just too many things drawing the other kids away. Cross country is one of them, although I don't begrudge them that. But the internet, cheerleading, boys, things like that -- well, the kids just aren't as interested as they were when you went through."

"Well, it's going to happen, I guess," Shae responded. "If there's anything I can do to help build interest back up, let me know."

After a while they were joined by Kayla, who had been hanging out with some of her friends from the team while varsity races were run. "So, are you ready for your race?" Emily asked her daughter.

"I think so," Kayla replied. "This is a good course; it's more up and down than the one at Bradford, so it's a little more interesting. We ran here once before, last month."

"How'd you do?" Shae asked to make conversation.

"Oh, I medaled," Kayla told her. "It was a dual meet; I wound up third behind two girls from Amherst. I could have done better if I didn't have to wear these lousy shoes. I run better without them."

"You like running barefoot?" Dave asked.

"Oh, yes," Kayla replied politely. "I don't like to wear shoes very much; I can feel the ground better without them. But Mr. Beverson just won't let me run barefoot. He says I have to wear shoes, and that's that."

Emily shook her head. "I still don't know why but I've always had a tough time keeping shoes on this kid. She just doesn't like wearing them, never has. About the only time I can get her to wear them is if there's deep snow outside."

"How does it go over in school?" Shae wanted to know.

"You would not believe the calls I've had from teachers and principals," Emily shook her head. "We've more or less reached an unhappy compromise where Kayla just wears flip-flops and the school lets her get away with it. But I think she has them off in class a lot of the time."

"Everybody has their quirks, I suppose," Dave commented. "But I have to admit, that's a little different. Kayla, your feet must be pretty tough."

"I think they are," Kayla grinned. "Like I said, I can't feel the ground as well in shoes. I probably have a good chance to medal today, although there's girls from other schools who have beaten me before. The shoes just slow me down."

"No, Kayla," Shae told her. "If you think like that, it's your head slowing you down. You think like that, and you're beaten before you start. You don't get anything without putting in the effort. Do what you have to do, but don't give up."

"You can take her word for it," Vicky broke in. "Kayla, Shae was probably the best girl athlete the school ever produced."

"I wouldn't say that," Shae protested. "Cindy Dohrman was better than I was."

"Yeah, but you were more memorable," Vicky smiled.

"We could argue it all day," Shae said, turning back to Kayla. "Look, kid, go out there, do your best, overcome the obstacles. Don't let your head or your feet stop you."

By this time, the varsity boys' race was pretty well done, although the stragglers were still dribbling in. "I better go," Kayla told them. "Wish me luck."

"I'm not going to wish you luck, I'm going to wish you strength," Shae smiled. "Go get 'em, kid."

Even though it was the county championships, a lot of the crowd and interest died off when the varsity boys' race was ended. The middle schoolers were more or less an afterthought, so it was a small crowd gathered to watch the start. Just as the one-minute warning sounded, they saw Kayla bend over to adjust her shoestring -- and come up with a length of broken shoelace. Dave figured given two or three minutes she might have been able to rethread her shoe and make do, but there was no time. Kayla must have figured the same thing, because as the seconds ticked down to the gun she hurriedly ripped off both shoes and tossed them in back of her, then got into the set position in bare feet -- she wasn't wearing socks.

There was a brief countdown; they heard the track coach yell "Kayla!" just as the gun sounded -- apparently he'd noticed she'd taken off her shoes -- but she ignored him and took off running as hard as she could go. Because of the last second hassle, she got a late start, and was maybe tenth as the pack reached the first turn.

Like many cross country courses, the one at Amherst was laid out in several loops, which brought the runners back near the crowd at several points, so friends and family could see more than just the start and finish. It was only a walk of a hundred yards or so to the first good viewing point, near the one-kilometer point of the five-kilometer race. Shae picked up Tyler and put him on her shoulders, while Dave did the same for Cameron, and they started for the viewpoint. They got there in plenty of time, to see Kayla passing one of the Amherst girls for second, and only a couple strides behind a red-headed Amherst girl who Emily told them had been the favorite in the race. Of course, they yelled their heads off, Cameron and Tyler included, things like "Go, Kayla, go! You can catch her!"

They had to hustle to get to the next viewpoint, near the two-kilometer mark. Kayla had closed the distance on the Amherst girl, who had apparently heard her coming and had reached down inside for something more, because the two were well ahead of third place and the rest of the pack. It still took two more kilometers for Kayla to close to the heels of the Amherst girl; they passed the four-kilometer post and the last spectator spot with the yelling parents and coaches going wild.

The finish line was in sight when Kayla passed the redhead once and for all as she raced toward the crowd clustered around the finish tape. The Amherst girl faded a little in the last hundred meters, so Kayla had maybe two meters on her as she crossed the finish line, exhausted and triumphant.

About all she could do was pull to the side, put her hands on her knees and try to catch her breath; the Amherst girl was right next to her trying to catch her breath, too. "Great race," the girl finally was able to puff, just loud enough for the approaching friends and family to hear. "I just couldn't hold you off."

"Great race," Kayla puffed back. "I never thought I was going to be able to get past you."

"That's the toughest race I've run all season."

"Me, too. Wow, you're fast."

"You are, too," the girl replied, getting her breath back. "How can you run without shoes?"

"It's how I run most of the time. Your feet get pretty tough."

"I guess," the redhead nodded, standing up. "Hey, I'm Rachel."

"Hi, I'm Kayla."

"Holy crap," Rachel shook her head. "Look at that!"

Kayla looked toward the finish line where Rachel was pointing, and the rest of the friends and relatives around them did the same. The third place finisher, a girl from Bradford, was only now crossing the finish line, in third. There was some space behind her, then a whole cluster of girls.

"Yeah, holy crap," Kayla replied, her breath coming to her. "Rachel, we kicked their butts."

"Big time," the redhead agreed.

They stood there talking while the rest of the runners finished, and it took a while. When they finally got their times, it proved that both of them had lowered their personal records for the course by nearly a minute! Clearly they'd pushed each other to new heights.

Finally the referee came on the loudspeaker and said, "A protest of the finish by Amherst has been disallowed, so the winner of the middle school girls' race is Kayla Holst of Bradford, followed by Rachel Bacon of Amherst. Samantha VanDusen of Bradford was third." He went on to read off the names of the top twenty, and announce that Bradford had won the team trophy.

With that, both the Bradford and Amherst coaches came over to where Kayla and Rachel and their families and friends were standing. "Kayla, that was a terrific race," the Amherst coach said. "Either you or Rachel's times would have won the varsity girls' race. Bill," he continued, turning to Mr. Beverson, "It looks to me like you've got another Zola Budd on your hands."

"I'm beginning to think so, too," he smiled.

"Zola Budd?" Kayla frowned.

"It was back before you were born," the Amherst coach smiled. "She set a couple world records and ran in the Olympics barefoot."

"All right, Kayla," Mr. Beverson said. "I guess you've proved your point about being faster if you're not wearing shoes."

"No," Kayla smiled, and put her arm around the Amherst runner. "I was faster because I had to work so hard to beat Rachel."

Mr. Beverson smiled. "I have a feeling if these two keep after each other we're going to be seeing some interesting things happen the next few years."

Kayla's surprise win of the county girls' middle school championship put a fine spin on the rest of the day, and the rest of the weekend. Emily and Kevin were proud enough of her that they invited the whole gang out to the Chicago Inn in Bradford for lunch -- Dave, Shae and the boys were included, and on a whim, Emily invited the redheaded Amherst girl and her family. Rachel was a bright and bubbly girl, much like Kayla, and soon the two were getting along famously. It turned out Rachel and her family lived just over the school district line from Bradford, only five or six miles out of town. Before the dinner was over with the two were making plans to get together and run together over the slow winter months so as to be in better shape for track in the spring.

What with one thing and another, it was the middle of the afternoon before Dave, Shae and the boys got back to the house. Given such a good start, the rest of the day was fun, too. Shae played games with the boys, told them stories and made a great day for them. It was a pair of tired and happy kids who went to bed that night -- and a tired and happy Dave and Shae who sat in the living room for a while, just unwinding. They finally went upstairs, where Dave again gave her a massage and they spent the night just cuddling.

It was about the best day he could remember in a long time.

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