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Getting home from the office, she dug through her dresser drawer to find her lightest weight shorts. Then she pulled on a sports bra and slipped on her sneakers over ankle socks. She filled her Camelbak with water and shoved her keys and well as cell phone in the side pocket. She stretched in her foyer, strapped on the Camelbak and went down to street level.
The streets were full of pedestrians enjoying the early summer sun. She hadn’t been to Washington Square Park in several years as it brought back painful memories. But today she was going to give it a try. If she felt depressed, she could always run on the street. She headed to the park, only a few blocks away from her apartment and started to run the streets of its perimeter.
She saw the park was a bit busy for a Wednesday, but the streets that bordered it were manageable. She weaved her way through strollers, couples holding hands and teenagers on summer break.
She was going full-speed and passed by a man on a bench with his head down, but she didn’t get a good look at him. Then she did turn, and before she could approach him, a group of mothers with several small children in strollers crossed her path. By the time she got around them, he was gone.
She shook off the feeling that it could have been Xander, as the man had long hair and a beard, and kept running through the park. Then she thought she recognized another person, a runner in front of her. His crew cut reminded her of Tim, and she called out his name. The runner turned, and it was indeed Tim Bartlett. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk to her because their last interaction was not so pleasant. But he was cordial.
“Ava, so good to see you.” He extended his hand. They were both dripping with sweat, and it was the best greeting he could offer.
“Tim, what are you doing here? I thought you lived in the Bronx?”
“Not anymore. I was offered a position here in the city. I decided to move before the school year starts. The pay is better, and they already have an ongoing robotics program. I was told I could be a co-instructor.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m happy for you.” There was an awkward silence between them before Ava spoke again, figuring there was a reason she saw Tim and only thought she saw Xander. “Tim, I just want to apologize for the way I acted. I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
Tim wiped at his face with a small towel he had in his waistband.
“Ava, I understand your hesitancy to have contact with other men but eventually you’ll have to do it. Either that or you’ll end up alone. You are much too beautiful inside and out to not have someone share your life. I just want you to see what I mean.”
Ava bent down to tie her shoelace that didn’t need retying. While she did it, she searched for the right words to say.
“Can we start over again? I don’t want to see you and have this weirdness between us. Can we forget it happened?”
Tim smiled at her. “It’s already forgotten. Maybe we can have lunch or dinner sometime in the next few weeks? I don’t have to start preparing for the new semester until the third week of August. So that gives us plenty of time to come up with a date.”
Ava noted he emphasized the word date. “Yes, that would be nice. I’m still working part-time while I study for the bar. I’m already fed up, and it’s only the third of July. I have several months before I registered to take it.”
“Do you want to run with me? I still have another two miles to log before I can call it quits,” Tim said, glancing at a distance monitor strapped to his wrist.
“I want to go at least another mile so I can run with you. Maybe I will even make it five today instead of four.”
They started to run together. Ava was able to keep up with him and even passed him at times. When they were finished, they stretched and sat on one of the benches.
“Do you need any water, Tim?” Ava said as she sipped from the Camelbak. Tim opened his backpack and withdrew a bottle of water, drinking it practically in one gulp.
“You don’t use a water system?”
“I had one, but the hose sprang a leak. With the move to my new apartment, I haven’t had a chance to purchase a new one.”
They sat on the bench together enjoying the slight breeze. She looked at her watch and saw that it was after 3:00 PM. She needed to get home and shower. She had a dinner date with Rachel.
“Tim, I have to go. I have a dinner date with my cousin at five. By the time I shower, get changed and get over there it will be close to that time.”
Tim looked at her with disappointment. “I’ll text you when I get settled in my apartment and maybe we can have some lunch.”
“Or, you could just meet me at our family barbecue tomorrow. Since you just moved and don’t know anyone, you can get some great food, and there are always a lot of people there. You could make new friends. I’ll text you the address, ok?” She rose from the bench as Tim broadly smiled on his, and she started walking towards her apartment.
She hadn’t had time to think about the man on the bench that could have been Xander since she had been talking to Tim. But now as she walked the same path where he carried her home when she injured her knee, she missed him even more. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to dredge up the ghosts of her past.
Ava turned on the shower and stripped out of her sweat soaked clothes. Everything was so wet with her sweat that she hung her clothing on the towel bars. If she had thrown it into the laundry, it might become mildewed. She looked at herself in the mirror.
Her stomach was taut, and her abdominals and oblique muscles were visible. She had just enough definition to have a six pack but not enough to be called to overly muscular. Her arms and legs were well sculpted with muscle, enough to look athletic but not enough to take away from her gentle curves. She was proud of herself for getting her body in top shape, adding the muscle weight to make her healthy but not gaining fat like when she was in high school. Now if she could get her head together, she would be fine.
As she soaped her body, she felt a longing. She calculated in her head when she last climaxed. It had been over a week. She didn’t want to do it with her family around. What she needed was to feel a man’s touch rather than the artificial feel of her vibrator or her fingers. It had been over four years since she had sex with a man. Her soapy fingers slipped down to her clit, and she began to gently rub. She moved her fingers in a clockwise fashion gyrating her hips until she climaxed. It had only taken a matter of two minutes.
Rachel was late. She usually was on time, and Ava was getting worried as she sat alone in the restaurant’s bar. She kept checking her phone waiting for a text or call but so far nothing. She sipped a gin and tonic with a twist of lime, her favorite summertime drink. A man sat down next to her and offered to buy her a drink. He was not her type. Not that she had a type, but as long as it wasn’t Xander, he wasn’t her type. She held up her drink to indicate that she was fine. He tried to strike up a conversation and she worried she might have to get rude with the man. Fortunately, Rachel saved her by arriving.
