Memoir in the Making: A May-December Romance by Adrian J. Smith Read Free Book Online

The kiss still lingered in her mind, making her lips tingle if she thought about it too long. Letting out a breath and hoping it would cleanse her brain, Meredith got in line and waited a few minutes for them to be ready for her.
    “I’ll take a passion fruit tea with steamed apple juice, medium please. And a drip coffee, black, the biggest size you have.”
    She paid her total and walked over to find the comfiest chair in the building already taken. Making her way around to a table in front of the window, Meredith sat down and waited for her drinks to be ready. She twiddled her thumbs as thoughts ran through her like water.
    Ainsley had kissed her, and while she’d jerked back in shock, it hadn’t been because she hadn’t enjoyed the kiss. Closing her eyes and sighing, Meredith focused on Ainsley and exactly what it was she felt for the young woman. It wasn’t hatred for sure; she was intrigued by the sense of independence and maturity she rarely found in students.
    Ainsley had a presence about her that pulled Meredith in. Meredith couldn’t stop touching her arm. She’d tried on several occasions, but the need to touch her was so deeply embedded she couldn’t stop. Meredith’s name echoed in the coffee shop, and Meredith got up to get her drink with a blush on her cheeks. She’d been thinking about a lot more than just touching Ainsley’s arm, and after Ainsley’s reaction that morning when they were on the couch, she was positive Ainsley was thinking about it too.
    Sitting down again and taking a sip of her tea and setting Sam’s coffee in the center of the table, Meredith pondered the touch again before wishing she could just get her mind out of the bucket and focus on something else for a little while. It was as though she’d gone back to high school and couldn’t control her emotions anymore.
    The kiss on her cheek startled her. Meredith jerked and turned around to see Sam standing behind her with a grin on his face.
    “Oh! It’s just you,” Meredith said.
    “Who else would it be? Oh! Coffee. Yes…heaven in a cup.” He picked up his cup and sniffed at the drink before sucking down a good gulp or two.
    “Yeah…” Meredith trailed off, thoughts of Ainsley invading her again. She shook her head and looked Sam straight on. “I have a problem.”
    “Oh?”
    “There’s a student…who has a crush on me.”
    “How is that a problem? It’s not like you haven’t dealt with crushes from students before.” He was drinking again, staring at her.
    Meredith was uneasy talking about the situation in the public sphere of a coffee shop only a few blocks from campus. Students were bound to come in and overhear. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
    “The problem is said student kissed me.”
    “Wha—?”
    Meredith nodded and took a slow drink from her cup, savoring the heat.
    “When? How? You can’t just say that and not say anything else. Mer, come on. Give a man a break here and give me the goodies.”
    “Last night. She was drunk.”
    “And you were with her why?”
    Narrowing her eyes, Meredith said, “I found her walking home, drunk, by herself, and I couldn’t just let her get mugged or something worse.”
    “She could have been perfectly safe.”
    “Or not. It’s different for women. Just accept that. You don’t walk home at night by yourself, and you definitely don’t do it while drunk.”
    “Okay…okay…” Sam raised his hands in the air in a truce. “So you picked her up and took her back to…her place? Please, say her place.”
    She shook her head. “She couldn’t tell me where she lived. She was that drunk.”
    “God. Students—they need to learn some resistance.”
    “Well, that’s a different story. But she kissed me last night. Admitted she liked me, basically, and then kissed me.”
    “What did you do?”
    “Stopped it!” she hissed. “What do you think I did?”
    “I don’t know. It’s been years since you’ve been in any type of committed relationship. And I