marveled at it, so very, very different than mine. He moved in my arms like a snake, I felt the muscles along his ribs contract as he swayed and thrusted.  His entry was gentle, and I was surprised how easily he slid into place. His place. It wasn’t a big thing, even though it was a big moment in my life, in any young woman’s life, I was with the man I loved and had been with for a year.  It was the right time and the right man.

When I went out to my car in the morning there was a single rose under my windshield wiper.

It was the end of the academic year.  Summer loomed before us. He had a job lined up back on the mountain, one he had committed to.  I had paid for a trip to Europe nearly a year ago.  It seemed we would be separated and the futur...

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