The College Professor

Epilogue

With my feet in the sand I felt the cold creeping up on me. The sun was setting, the ocean had cooled down significantly since last time we visited a few weeks back and felt freezing now. November and I was still barefoot, Sebastian laughed at me but I loved that feeling of wet sand under my soles.

When I wakled back to his family's house I was excited to go out. He was sitting on the porch, a book on his lap and a cigarette in the other hand.

"You stopped smoking, remember?" I said as I put the book on the table and sat on his lap instead. Taking the smoke from his hand I inhaled its toxins deeply.

"You stopped, too, remember?"

Smiling I blew the smoke into his face. "At least this isn't a regular occurence anymore."

"Maybe we will never fully stop" he wondered and brushed a loose strand of hair out of my face. "And truthfully, if it wasn't so harmful to your health I wouldn't want you to stop. You look so good with that think in between your fingers, like a modern Dorothy Parker."

"If I was as quick witted and cyincal as she was I wouldn't be able to stop."

He took the cigarette off me again. "I couldn't stand having her around me."

"Anyway" I changed the topic. "Did you make progress today?"

"Barely, but two pages is better than nothing."

Nodding I leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arm around me and we watched the daylight going down. One month from now and I'd be home with my family for Christmas. And I wouldn't be able to talk about my new boyfriend, about the good times I had had at this wonderful house.

On the other hand though, Sebastian had been able to introduce me to his family on Friday when we had arrived. We pretened I had already finished college and that I was doing an internship at a newspaper. He had told me that they hadn't been excited about the age gap but when I met them they were such nice people, not saying a word about it. His parents were so lovely and welcoming, his brother was younger than him and had brought his wife. Picture perfect, they were that kind of family.

I had wondered if they thought this was some kind of rebound situation after divorcing his ex-wife. It didn't matter though and even if it was, well, there was really nothing wrong with it.

He was warm and my feet were cold, almost frozen, I believed but I didn't want to part from him. It was so good having him around, he was calm and his head wasn't buzzing with worries, random concerns and awful scenarios all the time, no, he was just content and keeping me grounded.

"Late May" I mumbled and wished it would come around sooner.

"In the blink of an eye" he replied and kissed the side of my head.

We got our of our seats and walked inside, the smell of pie still in the kitchen. The Hardys had pie on Saturdays instead of lunch and I loved that. Easy going was their motto, no rush and no set rules at any time.

We walked into the bedroom we were staying in and I stood in the bath tub for a moment to give my feet a hot rinse before getting in those lovely black ankle boots I had picked up a few weeks back. The heal was solid so I didn't mind the height when going out.

Sebastian was dressed in a beige sweater and dark wash jeans - he looked so good, his beard had been grown out a little what made him look even older and I didn't enjoy looking even younger next to him.

After that quick rinse I felt warmer, I put in earrings and picked up the wool cardigan. "If we weren't going out tonight, I swear, Sebastian, you wouldn't leave this room in the next couple of hours" I teased before kissing him.