Hitting the Reset Button

Author's Note: This story was written for the 750 Word Project 2022. The story below the line, excluding the section dividers, is exactly 750 words according to Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

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Sometimes Fate works in mysterious ways.

Hayley and I were a hit on our first two dates. Our third was heaven, when we each gave ourself to the other and we soared to great heights. She loved what I did with her clitoris, too.

"It makes everything right with the world," she breathed, smiling euphorically.

Days later, the Financial Aid Department brought us crashing back to earth.

Hayley's package wasn't enough to cover the following year, so she had to transfer. With distance coming between us, our budding relationship ended abruptly. I never knew what happened to her but I never forgot her either.

***

Thirty-five years later, I sat in a coffee shop and a woman looked at me as I tried to keep from staring.

"Excuse me. Do we know each other?"

"You look so familiar, Ma'am," I replied, "but I can't say we've met."

"I'm Marie, Marie Chapman. Is this your first time here?"

"I'm Scott Gabard; it's nice to meet you, Marie. I went to school at the university but just moved back to town for a new job."

"Oh, really? When were you there?"

"Years ago," I laughed.

"You have family or friends in the area?"

"No. I lost my wife to cancer two years ago and needed a change, something familiar, but different. When I found a good opportunity, I jumped for it."

"Then welcome back. Say, I'm hosting a dinner party for some friends on Sunday. Would you like to come meet some people?"

"Thanks, I'd enjoy that."

***

There were eight guests on Sunday evening when another entered.

"Hi, Mom! Hi, everybody! Sorry I'm running late!" she called before hugging Marie.

I turned to see Hayley, looking so much like Marie, but years younger, of course. They were together as Marie introduced her to those she didn't know. When she got to me, Hayley stared, her breath catching. "You look so familiar."

"Hi, Hayley. It's been a while."

"Scott? How'd you convince Mom to do this?"

I shook my head. "I didn't. I just moved back to town and we met in a coffee shop. She invited me, but she didn't say she was your mother."

"Wow! Fate plays a strange hand sometimes."

We sat together and had a wonderful time reconnecting. She'd been divorced for years, but had never returned to her maiden name.

A week later, we went on a date, and within two, we were practically inseparable. To our credit, it was our third "Round 2" date before we ended up in bed together again; it was like we'd hit a great reset button, with 35 years being but a blink.

Wrapped in her arms, I loved the feel of her skin and her breasts, soft and warm, against me. Her lips captured mine, her tongue teasing me, as we ground against each other, me filling her, pumping, and her sex grasping me, as if saying it never wanted to let me go. We were much older now, so, bodies glistening, highlighting our efforts, we were glad for the ceiling fan that cooled us even as the heated passion inside us grew into an inferno, each trying to give the other our all.

Her time finally upon her, Hayley cried out, wrapping herself around me; I could take no more, exploding into her then. Afterward, we lay there holding each other for the longest time.

Hayley finally whispered, "Scott, when I saw you at Mom's party, I couldn't believe it. What were the odds that we'd end up together like that? Like this?"

I kissed her forehead. "Sweetheart, I have no idea on the odds, but I'm so glad Fate worked it out in our favor."

"Oh, me, too! Everything's right with the world."

I made sure of it, working her little button to give her several more earth-shattering "resets" before morning.

Our love true, we became engaged eight months later.

"Hayley, I love you and I'm looking forward to us spending the rest of our lives together."

"Me, too," she agreed, hugging me close.

***

Some weeks before our wedding, I opened my safe and removed an envelope.

Inside was the report from the private investigator along with telephoto shots of Marie, a compendium of her regular activities, including her dinner parties, and her usual haunts like the coffee shop.

As I shredded the file, I was happy that Culbertson Investigations and I had been able to give Fate a little nudge in hitting the reset button with my beloved Hayley.