When they got to the cottage, Susan started to, automatically from habit, open her car door to get out. James leaned over and painfully grasped her wrist. “You wait for me to open the door,” he growled, looking straight into her eyes. “Remember?”
She released the car door handle as he let go of her wrist and took a deep breath as he got out and came around to the other side. He opened the door, and she stepped out.
“I’ll get your suitcase later,” he said, striding up to the front door of the cottage and taking out the key from his pocket. “I have something to say to you.”
“Here it comes,” she thought.
He stalked into the cottage and paced into the kitchen, stopping in the middle of the floor and abruptly turned around to face her.
Susan softly closed the door behind her and took her time walking into the kitchen to stand in front of him. Her heart was beating frantically, and she felt a little afraid for some reason but didn’t know why other than this was a side of James she wasn’t expecting to see...and she didn’t know how to deal with it.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the handful of bills Mel had given him and waved them in front of her face.
“Are these yours?” he asked menacingly.
She stared at them, speechless, then took a deep breath. So, Mel had given the money back to James...
“Well, are they?” he repeated.
When she didn’t answer, he grabbed her hand and shoved the bills into it, closing her fingers around the money. He continued to glare at her, squeezing her fingers. She felt as if she could see fire sparking out of his eyes.
“My dad’s on a pension, and his job doesn’t pay much,” he said. “He gave this back to me this morning. You evidently thought it was okay to pay for your extravagant dinner last night, but as I made clear before, you weren’t to be buying things with your money. Dad paid for all that stuff nobody asked for or needed, and now I’ve got to figure a way to pay him back. Did you think of that?! Did you?!!” His voice reverberated throughout the room.
She took a step backward, away from him, her eyes open wide in dismay. He was yelling at her!
She didn’t know what to think or say or do. She knew he was far too angry to be appeased by any words, but at the same time, she could feel her temper rising along with resentment at the way he’d treated her on the drive.
As if he still had something pent up inside, he continued. “Do you know how selfish and extravagant you are? Like that expensive green dress you had to have? Ever think about it? Always having to have your way and not thinking or caring about anyone else but yourself!!”
He’d gone too far. The whole reason for the dinner was because she cared so much and wanted to do something special and nice. And, she had tried to pay for the dress with her own money; she’d even offered to return it. Flames burned in her eyes as she tossed the money onto the floor, swung her arm backward then forward again as hard as she could, slapping him full on the face. The impact turned his head, and his cheek was left with a red palm print on it.
She gasped as he grabbed her shoulders and it appeared as if he was about to shake her, but instead, he brought his face close to hers.
“And while we’re talking about you, why don’t you satisfy my curiosity on another point. How is it that you know how to do so many things, specifically all those things you do in the bedroom? You’re just a whore like the rest of the girls at the club, aren’t you!? With all your sweet words and tricks...like the virgin thing...how did you manage that one?”
She pushed as hard as she could against his chest and broke free of his grasp, but he wasn’t finished.
“Oh, you’re thinking,” he mimicked her. “...’But, you know I was a virgin; I proved it to you.’ Well, you proved nothing to me! That can all be faked, can’t it? It’s been done by girls since the dawn of time! So then, how did you manage to fake it so well? Who was it that taught you all your whore’s tricks?!”
She was speechless at his cruel and hurtful words. She didn’t recall a time in her entire life, past, present or future, where someone had said something that hurt so badly. She felt as if she would burst into tears, but she was even too pained to do that. She backed away from him, their eyes still locked.
Suddenly his hands and arms went slack and dropped to his sides as the impact of what he’d just said made itself felt. He was breathing heavily, and he looked like an angry bull. He quickly turned away from her, strode to the door, opened it then slammed it shut behind him so hard that the teacups in the cabinet rattled. She saw him pass the window and head up the hill to the big tree where they’d had their picnic and sat drawing.
She was shaking. Tears welled in her eyes. She put both hands up to her face and started sobbing. Her heart was breaking. She wanted to go home. She didn’t belong with James…not now…not ever…
Lynn was upset and concerned. She watched Susan faint and, even if no one else had noticed, she’d seen her tear-stained face when she’d come into the club. Susan looked pained and exhausted. She thought it might be the after effects of the near attack in the alley, but she knew better. She knew Susan was in way over her head and she was worried about her.
When she and Ian got back to the hotel room, she wasn’t in the mood for frolicking in the bed.
“Worried about your friend?” Ian asked.
“Yeah,” said Lynn. “I wish she’d never decided to come here. It was a huge mistake. I can already see that she’s regretting it.”
“Doesn’t look like she’s regretting it to me.”
“Well, you don’t know her, and I do. We’ve been best friends for fifty years. We can almost read each other’s minds.”
Ian sat back at her remark. “Fifty years?”
“Yes, that’s what I said. Fifty years.”
“You’re funning me, of course.”
“No, I’m not.” She sat down on the bed and patted the space beside her. She pulled her iPhone out of her purse and turned it on. “Come look at this, and then you’ll believe me,” was all she said.
An hour later, Ian felt stunned.
“Don’t worry. I can’t change history or anything. Once we’re gone, you won’t even remember us. We’ll just be a vague memory.”
“So what do you want to do now?” he asked.
“Find Susan and James,” she said. “I’ve got to convince her to go back now!”
Susan felt numb and confused. How had such a small thing escalated into such a giant and hurtful exchange of words? Why had she lost control and slapped him? Was James right about her being selfish and extravagant? She could almost agree with extravagant, but she didn’t consider making a nice dinner to be in any way selfish. She knew what he’d said was all said in anger, but that was no excuse. And then his other cruel words, implying she was a whore and had faked being a virgin. That was going too far, way too far.
She suddenly realized, however, that she’d been dreadfully wrong regarding the dinner, not because she’d been “disobedient,” which wasn’t a word that was even in her vocabulary, but because she hadn’t even considered the financial circumstances in which James and his dad currently lived. It didn’t matter that he would be a millionaire someday. This was still 1962, and James lived frugally. She’d not only embarrassed and humiliated him by making him appear poor, but she’d rubbed it in his face that she had money and he didn’t. She tried to justify all this as a reason for his over-the-top anger and the hideous words he’d spewed out at her. He’d simply lost control and was probably regretting what he said at this very moment.
And, she thought, “You slapped him and left a big red mark on his face. You were the first to lose it.”
She took a deep breath and hung her head. She owed him a real “I’m sorry” apology, but she needed to wait until he cooled down some to be able to accept it.
She went out the back door and sat on the stoop leading into the garden and contemplated matters more. She knew she could gather up the wherewithal to be able to make a sincere apology, and she knew that if she waited long enough to do it, he would forgive her.
Buttons came up and rubbed against her arm. She gathered the cat in her arms and put her face in the soft fur. Buttons turned on her purr motor.
“Oh, Buttons, tell me what I should do now...” she murmured. Buttons just kept on purring.
Her mind wandered. What kind of relationship was this anyway? Nothing more than a whirlwind of lust and passion brought on by a wager, her out-of-control hormones and her taunting him with innocence and virginity. They had first come together physically without fully knowing each other emotionally. Her physical attraction to him was toxic. Where in the hell had her sixty-two-year old brain gone off to?! It certainly wasn’t anywhere around here!
Well…maybe just a tiny piece of it was here…
And, although James was incredibly talented, artistically and musically, far surpassing anything most people could ever remotely aspire to, there were so many things she enjoyed talking about that were of no interest to him at this young stage of his life. He might be intelligent, but she didn’t think she could ever hold a stimulating conversation with him related to the economy, politics, science, history, religion or another hundred topics she found interesting or exciting. And, it was an obvious fact he was overbearing and chauvinistic, expecting to have his way in everything, demanding obedience. Didn’t that make him selfish? The only way she would ever be obedient is if it were beaten into her. And she would certainly never tolerate that!
Thoughts of her real life in the future flooded over her. She was never treated like James was doing now, not even when she was impulsive or unreasonable, which she knew she often had been over the years. Yes, her future mate was just as moody in many ways, and he sometimes yelled when she frustrated him, but he would never say such awful things to her, and he would never grab her or hurt her physically. He was much more intelligent than James, bordering on genius in fact. And, he loved her deeply and unconditionally. Why had she ever even imagined that James would somehow be better?
She thought back to James, remembering how he’d grasped her arm at the first practice session and dragged her outside, and how he’d squeezed her arm so tight that it hurt just the day before when they went to the hotel to get her things. Then she thought of just today. He’d grabbed her arm again when she started to open the car door for herself, and she was certain he was about to shake her just a short time ago. What would life be like with someone who had such a short fuse on his temper? Her own fuse was short enough. What would he do next if she made him angry, and it was very obvious that, with her rebellious nature, she would often make him angry. Would he slap her or push her? Would she slap him back? It was something she didn’t even want to think about.
It was still an era in time where men ruled, and women obeyed. Not a place where she’d fit in very easily. She and James would likely end up destroying each other. Returning to the future was looking better and better.
More than a half hour had passed since James left. Susan knew that if there were any chance of them making up, it would have to be her going to him and apologizing, maybe even begging forgiveness, and it wasn’t in her nature to do it. It never had been. In situations like this, she typically just waited for things to cool down, and then just pretended all the hurt or bad feelings would go away. Time seemed to be a cure of its own. If you waited long enough or just ignored what happened, everything got better again all by itself.
Didn’t it?
But, she knew that wasn’t going to work with James. He was as stubborn as she was, possibly more. She would have to make the first move, beg for forgiveness and hope she wouldn’t have to grovel too much. She steeled herself for the task, sighed heavily and stood up as Buttons jumped off her lap.
“Well, here goes,” she said to the cat. “This might be one of those learning experiences Mika was hinting at. Maybe I’ll learn something valuable here that I can take back with me to the future...like maybe how to apologize or say I’m sorry.”
“Mrow,” said Buttons.
She sighed again, went back into the cottage, and out to the car to get her suitcase out of the boot. She washed her face and changed into a clean dress that buttoned down the front. She omitted the bra. The dress had a ruffled collar and a v-neck, revealing only a modest amount of cleavage like the green dress. It was fit to her waist and flared out at the bottom. It was shorter than most of the dresses she’d worn, stopping a few inches above the knee. She looked at herself in the mirror and let her hair down from the ponytail she’d tied it up in that morning, then brushed it out. She pinched her cheeks to put some color in them. Then she pulled off the clean pair of panties she’d just put on. If all else failed, she could try her womanly ways on him either with tears, her body or both. Men were so easy to trick that way.
Feeling she was now up to the task of apologizing, she went out the front door and headed up the hill to find James.
He was sitting at the base of the big tree; knees were drawn up, arms crossed on top with his chin resting on his arms.
***
His anger was fading, but not as quickly as it usually did. He knew he had a hot temper when someone crossed him, but he typically was able to keep it in check.
But not with her. He was totally out of control when it came to her.
He was contemplating why. Was it because he loved her? Did he, in fact, really love her? Yes! Of course, he did! He was obsessed with her. And when you truly love someone, your feelings about everything are more intense, both the good ones and the bad ones.
She had just wanted to do something special and nice for him. She didn’t think about the money aspect because she’d never experienced the lack of it. Why should he be so angry with her for trying to please him? Casting aside the thought of the expense, she’d worked very hard to make everything perfect...and it had been perfect.
And... She wasn’t like other girls. In addition to being beautiful, she was musically and artistically talented. She could draw, sing, dance and play the piano. So what if it was a mystery as to how she had acquired all these abilities.
He envisioned future hours spent together drawing and maybe even painting. They could make music together like his mum and dad used to do. He pictured her in the kitchen, cooking his favorite meals and keeping everything tidy. What other girl had he ever met that did any of that stuff? No one. He knew he could also talk to her about anything and that she would listen and understand. He could just see her knitting baby booties by the fireside, Sunday mornings driving through the countryside, puttering in the garden together, even though he wasn’t overly fond of getting his hands dirty; how could he ask for more?
And, like icing on a cake, she had a passion for lovemaking that far surpassed anything he’d ever experienced before. She seemed to know instinctively how and where to touch him to give him the most pleasure, and she made love with wild abandon, crying out shamelessly as she reached her climax. Just the thought of it made him harden with desire.
He deeply regretted the painful words he’d said to her about being a whore and faking being a virgin. He knew she hadn’t faked it. And, while he didn’t still comprehend how or where she had acquired her passionate nature, he was in the process of convincing himself that it must be due to her reaction to him. Although young, he was experienced when it came to the bedroom, and she most likely was simply responding to his extraordinary talents and own passion.
Certainly, that must be it!
On the downside, he had discovered she was impulsive, headstrong and fiercely independent, but that could all be changed. She was young enough to be molded into whatever he wanted, and he intended to start working on it soon. She would learn to be submissive, especially now that he’d taken her virginity and felt he would have to do the “right thing” by her. Yes, if they were to make a go of it, she would have to change and understand who had the upper hand.
A shadow fell across the grass in front of him, and he looked up to see her standing there. She was barefoot, and her tawny blond hair was streaming down across her shoulders and arms. She was wearing a short dress, revealing her long, tan legs and he could see the outline of her breasts where they pushed against the bodice of the dress. Her face was bleak and her expression subdued. Had she come to beg his forgiveness then?
***
After Lynn told Ian the truth about herself and Susan, incredible as it was, Ian had a different perspective of her. The mystery was solved as to how she knew so much about sex and how to satisfy a man in bed…She’d had years and years of experience! At first, the thought of her being sixty-three-years old in the body of an eighteen-year-old, was a bit of a turn off, but memories of their pleasure the night before, negated all the “weirdness” of the situation and he was actually feeling quite anxious to see what else she might be able to teach him.
“Why don’t we ring up James’s dad and see if they’re at his house or if he knows where they went off to?” he asked Lynn.
“Great idea!” Lynn exclaimed, reaching into her purse for her iPhone.
“I don’t think that will work here, you know,” said Ian.
“Oh! Of course not! I knew that!”
Ian reached for the phone on the nightstand and dialed James’s number. Mel answered.
“Hey, Mel. Ian here. Can I talk to James?”
“Not here at the moment,” said Mel.
“Oh, and do you know where he’s off to then?”
Mel hesitated, knowing James and Susan only had another couple days before she had to leave on her tour, and hoping they would take the time to firm things up for the future. He liked Susan and was hoping they could make things work out between them on a permanent basis. He didn’t believe her when she said she wouldn’t be able to come back after the history tour. And, he had hopes that maybe James could talk her out of going at all.
“Not sure,” said Mel. “They left a few hours ago, but didn’t say where they were off to or when they were coming back.”
“Oh, so they’re coming back there then?”
“Most likely,” Mel lied.
“Ta, then, Mel. I’ll check in a bit later.” Ian hung up and turned to Lynn.
“They appear to be missing at the moment.” He looked at her with hooded eyes. “Might you want me to get a little frisky with you while we wait for them to come back? Might as well enjoy ourselves a bit, don’t you think?”
He reached for her and tumbled her back on the bed, reaching up under the skirt of her June Cleaver dress.
She giggled. “You can get as frisky as you like,” she said, pulling him close.