I haven't seen you favor that turtle neck in quite a while." I'm glad you remember it. I knew you liked it."Mary didn't like it, but, she loved him.--...------Their friends had marked this attempt at a date as a mistake, a failure. But, they knew better. Sitting side-by-side as his Edie-no more-had wed for the 2nd time seared their relationship, had reignited a fire that had come dangerously close to dying."Did I stand it, Mary?" He had challenged Mary in the breathless silence of exchanged vows. Jack noticed the lack of soldiers outside, the tall watch posts were not manned by anyone.Three soldiers helped him into the back, while the other two started the vehicle. “We initiated Operation Doughboy,” said Frank, a soldier from his team. “Did you already destroy the silos?” Jack asked taking off the mask. The other soldiers worked on taking off his shackles.“Yeah we had to, it took the whole damn barn down. We needed the distraction to get you out.” Jack hugged his teammates, genuinely. I didn't know that then, but I've learned it since. I was a loser, even if I didn't know it.I've made bad decisions all my life. I think it was genetic, because my parents were both losers too. Not that that was so horrible. In a little town like Wilton, with a population of only a couple of thousand, and no real industry to speak of, there's a lot of call for losers. I mean there's only maybe thirty or forty positions where a real go-getter is actually required, so not everybody can be a mover. I already had a hard on, partly from the expectations of the evening and partly due to the kissing and petting we had been doing. Sometimes, as they say, timing is everything! I moved my hand from her breast and down to her leg and I started kneading and caressing her knee and this time she didn't stop me. My mouth moved back up to her lips and as our tongues entwined my hand started up her leg towards the Promised Land, then, just like that, it was over. Her hand caught mine as it moved up her.