Lessons From a Younger Lover by Zuri Day Read Free Book Online

broken windows, a stolen car here or there?”
    â€œGwen, things have changed, even in this small town. Ever since the drugs and gangs sprung up in Los Angeles, our little piece of heaven on earth hasn’t been the same. You know Viola’s boy, Thomas?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOh, that’s right, you were gone by the time he came along. He’s probably fifteen, twenty years younger than you. Well, anyway, he was arrested for robbing Ms. Disney’s house, got caught as he tried to climb back out her dining room window. And she was right there the whole time, sleeping on the couch!”
    â€œMs. Disney?” Gwen was incredulous. This dedicated educator had taught at least three generations in Sienna. Her retirement after fifty years was the opening at Sienna Elementary that created the vacancy Gwen now filled. How anyone could lift a finger to hurt one of the town’s treasures was beyond her. In fact, how anyone could think of taking advantage of an old person filled her with disgust. At times like these, she felt older than her forty years, light-years removed from the twenty-something crowd this Thomas fit into. She wasn’t much into hip-hop, still preferred a telephone call to a text message, and couldn’t understand why men wanted to walk around showing their drawers.
    â€œIs he in jail?”
    â€œYeah, they arrested him,” her mother answered. “But there’s plenty more where he came from. Driving down the street with music so loud it’ll wake the dead, walking around in the middle of the day when they should be punching somebody’s time clock. A man don’t work, he’ll steal. That’s what the scriptures say.”
    â€œLet me get on across the way before it gets dark,” Mary said once they finished eating. All the conversation about thugs and drugs and crimes being committed had her understandably squeamish.
    â€œI’ll walk with you if you’d like,” Gwen offered.
    â€œOh, no, I wouldn’t think of it,” Mary responded strongly. But once she got to the door, she added, “You can watch me though…until I get inside my door.”
    Mary smiled and waved as she bolted her screen door and then closed her wooden one. Gwen joined her mother on the couch where they watched a rerun of Lorraine’s favorite sitcom, Sanford and Son . Once her mother retired for the night, Gwen washed the dinner dishes, made a cup of hot chocolate, and decided to unwind in her mother’s backyard garden. Since she could remember, there were always flowers everywhere. In spite of the heat, the blooms were flourishing: lavender, gladiola, sunflowers, and sweet pea. They offered a profusion of beauty to the backyard her father had helped landscape. She thought of him as she walked across the cobblestone pathway and over to the wooden bench resting near a bird bath she remembered picking out with her dad. In those days, it was always filled with water. Now it sat silent and neglected, with leaves, weeds, and an errant piece of paper filling the bowl. The nostalgic moment made her think of her mother, and just how hard it would be for her to leave the home she’d created with Harold Andrews.
    Gwen closed her eyes for a moment, basking in the warmth of the night. As had often been the case since meeting him a week ago, her mind went to the handsome stranger at the coffee shop. She’d gone back almost every day since their chance encounter a week before, and had almost convinced herself it was really because she liked Kristy’s hot chocolate. Truth be told, it was to hopefully run into him again, but that hadn’t happened. So she was left with her memories and imagination. She remembered the feel of his hard chest, and imagined it crushing her breasts as he lay on top of her. She remembered his strong arms, and imagined them enfolding her as they lay naked and satisfied. She remembered his mouth, and imagined it covering