chapter 1

I hadn't seen Taylor in two years, and I wasn't pleased to see her now. I was in my studio mounting prints when there was a knock on my door. It was a Sunday afternoon, early spring, and I wasn't expecting anybody. I opened the door and there she was. Taylor. She hadn't changed much in two years. About five feet eight inches tall. Blonde hair, still worn long, but maybe cut a little longer than I remembered. Green eyes that could easily be described as luminous. My eyes shifted to her body, which was also about the same. Curvaceous but not definitely not fat. Except for the tiniest hint of a belly pooch that was hardly noticeable, especially if she was standing, like now. I had sharp, clear memories of caressing that little pooch hoping that it would be the start of a real belly. But it never did.

"Hello, Brad. Surprise." Surprise was an understatement. I had never expected to see her again.

Taylor and I had gotten together three years before. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, Tony. I didn't know him, but I had seen the two of them together once in a while when we happened to be at the same brewpub. When I saw her without him a couple of times, I asked around and heard that they had split. I struck up a conversation with her, and we hit it off. She never really said why she and Tony broke up, she just dropped hints that it had been a very emotional and difficult split. We never had any awkward run ins with him, as he moved up north to Hartford soon after. I wished him well in those cold northern winters. I was perfectly happy as a professional photographer here in Charleston, South Carolina. As far as I thought, she didn't have any contact with him after they broke up. I found out later that I was very wrong.

Taylor was working on getting her accounting degree, while working as an office assistant. A month after we met, she moved in with me, as much for economy as affection. Not to say that there wasn't affection. I remembered what a passionate woman she was. When she made love, she put her all into it. Generally, a love making session ended with us totally spent, with the bedcovers twisted and the pillows spread all over the floor. That was one big reason I stayed with her, even though I wished she had more cushion on her. Her curves and that sweet little pooch told me that she was a prime candidate to plump up, but it never happened. I hoped that she would pick up some relationship weight, and since I'm a pretty decent cook, I thought I could help her with that. Despite my best efforts, she never gained more than a couple of pounds the whole time we were together. Once she told me that she had once gotten liposuction on her thighs, I knew that I would have to settle for her modest curves and no more.

As she got closer to getting her degree, the drama factor in our relationship went up. She was often moody and quiet, with no explanation. When I would try to get her to talk about it, she said vague things about needing to figure out who she was. When she got her degree, she started job hunting. One day she came home and told me that she had been offered an accounting position in Orlando, Florida. I was hurt that she would leave me. She told me that she loved me, but she needed to find herself. She said she wanted us to keep in touch by talking and texting, and once she got her head straight maybe she'd come back. She said she'd call me as soon as she reached Orlando. There was nothing more to say, her mind was made up. So I helped her pack and watched her drive away, while my heart broke.