He gave his senses
a shake. He resolved that after all he had accomplished, which
Lauri had helped him attain, he wanted to experience with her
their own, intimate celebration. He wanted to take her hand, hold
it, and kiss her, to feel her fingers respond in his own hand as
their lips met.
From behind he heard the sound of cars passing on Fillmore
Street, and ahead of them, a group of young boys were playing
basketball in a fenced school-yard. With a sidelong glance he
studied her delicate, childlike hands, the impossible softness of
her skin. She was so much younger than he. She had been silent
all this time, and finally she spoke.
"Do you have any children?"
This startled him a little. Was she too unsure of what to do
next? Stalling, as it were? "No," he said, "no children." He and
Greta had planned to start a family after the successful launch
of Orange Fresh. But after the accident, which happened on the
very day that they planned to begin their journey into
parenthood, the act by which a child is conceived never again
occurred between them.
So that was how long it had been since they had made love, he
thought. How long it had been since he had been with anyone that
way.
Again Laurence broke the silence. "Why don't you come inside for
a moment and see my place?"
He accepted without hesitation, and a moment later they were
inside.
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