Mature Man & Maiden Maureen Ch. 23

Mature Man & Maiden Maureen, Ch. 23

Mark meets his deceased fiancée, Maureen, reincarnated as Kate.

Believing in ghosts, feeling their presence, sensing them, and being haunted by a ghost is one thing. Hearing voices and actually seeing spirits is quite another thing. Finally, interacting with ghosts in the way that Cosmo Topper did in Topper with Marion Kirby and in the way that Hope Lange did in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir with the deceased, Sea Captain haunting her is even more horrific. Now, something else entirely, and something that I never thought possible, I wondered if Maureen was reincarnated as Kate?

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Reread, Reviewed, Rewritten, and Continued from Chapter 22: Mature Man & Maiden Maureen

Kate's manner relaxed me, nervous in the beginning, even though I had just met her, I felt comfortable with her. Now that I found her, I didn't want her to leave me. In the way that I used to haunt the dog park looking for and hoping to see Maureen, I didn't want to haunt the supermarket while hoping to accidentally, albeit, deliberately, bump into Kate again. Before she left me forever, I needed to show her my interest in her now. I needed to know if she was as interested in me as I was interested in her.

Then, with realism ruining my imagined love story, I had dreaded thoughts that weakened my knees, dashed my hopes, and squashed my spirit. Someone who looked like her would never be without a man in her life. She was too beautiful to be alone. She was too hot to be single. She must have a husband, a boyfriend, or a lover.

'What if she's married,' I thought while fearing the worst scenario? 'What if she has a boyfriend? What if she...' I thought with a gulp. 'Plays for the other team, bats from the other side of the plate, and prefers having sex with women instead of with men? What if she's lesbian and not interested in having a sexual relationship with a man? Why are some of the most beautiful women lesbian,' I thought?

The thoughts of her having a husband, a boyfriend, or being lesbian invaded my thoughts and sucked my hope of having a love affair with her. Do I dare embarrass myself by approaching her to make my interest known? Taking a chance of making a fool of myself, worth the try, and willing to take the risk, normally, something that I wouldn't do, I stuck out my hand and introduced myself.

"Hi," I said with a big smile. "I'm Mark."

She laughed.

"Hi Mark. I'm Kate," she said smiling while shaking my hand as if we had just met at the office.

Her hand felt soft and warm. Odd that I'd find her in a supermarket instead of a dog park, finding the perfect woman, a lifelong search, sometimes, is an impossible thing to accomplish. Now that I found her, I didn't want to let her hand go. I didn't want her to leave. I tried thinking of things to say to keep her with me longer. Making me look like an insincere player on the make, the last thing that I wanted to do was to bombard her with meaningless compliments when I didn't even know the woman.

"Hi, Kate," I said giving her a warm smile. "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

Racking my brain, I was unable to think of anything else to say and to keep her there talking to me. In the way that I was when I first met Maureen, something that I'm not usually, I was tongue-tied. All that I could do was to stare at her. She blanked my mind with her beauty and with those eyes that reminded me so much of Maureen's eyes.

"It's nice to meet you, Mark," she said turning away and about to leave.

Putting it all out there, pushing my luck, I lightly touched her hand.

"Pardon me for being so forward. I apologize for asking you such a personal question but," I said leaving my hand on her hand to, hopefully, stop her from leaving.

Suddenly and ridiculously, with me unable to stop her from leaving, I wished I had a pair of handcuffs to handcuff her to me. When she turned to face me, and smiled at me, again, I removed my hand from her hand. She had a wonderful smile with perfect, white teeth.

Hard to believe but she was even more beautiful when she smiled. I loved her smile. Her smile immediately made me improve my posture. Her smile made me feel taller, even though I was already quite tall, over six feet. Suddenly, feeling like Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets, I wanted to be a better man for her in the way that he wanted to be a better man for Helen Hunt.

"Yes?" she said looking at me with those eyes again while still smiling.

With her waiting for my response, I gave her an embarrassed look. Then, I asked her the question that I needed to know her answer. Not knowing how my intrusive question would go over with her, I asked her my probingly, personal question anyway.

"Do you have someone in your life?"

Ready for rejection, I sounded too much like an insurance salesman. She probably thought that I was trying to sell her something. She looked annoyed and made a face as if I was crazy for asking her such a personal question when I had just met her.

"Pardon," she looked at me as if I had just burned her hand with a lit cigarette?

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'Not very smooth, I'm such a dummy,' I thought. 'What's wrong with me? Why am I so nervous talking to this woman?

Yes, she's beautiful but I bedded lots of beautiful women. My ex-girlfriend was beautiful. Maureen was beautiful. Colleen was beautiful. Gwen was beautiful. Carol was beautiful, too.

Granted I was nervous around Maureen the first time that I met her at the dog park but why am I nervous around Kate? Am I nervous because she reminded me of Maureen? Or, am I nervous because I'm sexually attracted to her? Perhaps, a little of both. I'm nervous around her because she not only reminded me of Maureen but also, I'm sexually attracted to her.

'I needed to calm down. I needed to take a breath. I needed to talk to her as I would when talking to any other woman,' I thought. 'I didn't want her to think that there was something wrong with me.'

In the way that I blurted that out, it sounded too much as if I was trying to intrude upon her personal and private life. I sounded too much like a stalker. She looked at me oddly and I would have, too, if someone, a stranger, had asked me such a personal question as that and, in the way that I had asked it when I had just met her. I rephrased my question and smiled.

"I'm sorry. Please, forgive me for being so impetuous but," I said with a pause before continuing. "Are you married, or do you have a boyfriend," I asked, as if that wasn't invasive enough?

Hoping that she wasn't, I didn't dare ask her if she was lesbian. Clearly making her feeling uncomfortable, she gave me an embarrassed laugh and a nervous smile. Nonetheless, even if she was lesbian, with her reminding me of Maureen, to remain in close proximity to my assumed reincarnated fiancée, I'd be willing to settle being friends with her instead of lovers.

"Oh," she said with a little laugh. "No, I'm not married," she said with a smile. "I'm divorced."

'She's divorced,' I thought. 'Hopefully, she was married to a man and not to a woman.'

Melting my heart, she made eye contact with those hypnotic eyes before answering me.

"And, presently and sadly," she laughed again. "I'm without a boyfriend," she said rolling her eyes while chuckling. "The reason for the ice cream," she said holding up a pint of ice cream from her shopping cart.

'That's great,' I thought. 'Not only is she without a boyfriend but she said boyfriend instead of girlfriend. Two for two, I'm batting a thousand.'

I returned her little chuckle with my little chuckle.

"Listen," I said suddenly feeling a psychic connection with her gaze. "I haven't had lunch since my fiancée died," I said stumbling over my words and embarrassing myself again.

'Oh, my God, what's wrong with me telling her that I haven't had lunch since my fiancée died,' I thought?

Needing to reword what I said, I saw her eyes widen, her mouth open, and the shocked look that washed across her face.

"I'm sorry," I said apologizing again while laughing. "I've been home alone way too long with the dogs. Obviously, I forget how to communicate with a human, especially with a beautiful woman," I said while squeezing in my sincere compliment. I took a big breath. "What I meant to say was, I haven't had lunch with anyone since..."

Suddenly, as if she felt my pain, she turned pale. Luckily, instead of running away, she seemed interested in what more I had to say. As soon as she asked me her question, I knew that there were more layers beneath the surface of this woman.

"How did she die," she asked looking at me with interest?

Saving me from making more of a fool of myself, she interrupted me to look at me with concern. No doubt, with her not knowing anything about me, I imagined that she wanted to know if I had killed her.

"She died suddenly...in a car accident, a one car accident. She hit a tree on a rainy night," I said while trying to remove the image of Maureen dying in a mangled wreck alone.

I returned her look of sadness with my look of sadness.

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"I'm sorry for your loss," she said touching my hand before wringing her hands with a pained expression.

Before she shared her personal feelings with me, she paused as if she was having second thoughts about telling me what she was thinking. Then, looking at me as if she trusted me, she opened up to share with me what had happened to her.

"I had a car accident several months ago, a very severe one, and I nearly died. I was in a coma for sixteen days. The doctors didn't think that I'd make it but, luckily, I did. Miraculously, I not only survived but also, I made a full recovery," she said with a big, self-satisfied smile.

I looked at her stunned. Kate had a car accident around the same time that Maureen had her car accident. With her having experienced the same thing, I felt better just talking to her about Maureen's accident.

'What are the odds of finding someone who understood my loss of my fiancée,' I thought? 'Again, helping me with my grief, I felt better talking to Kate about her car accident.'

"I'm glad that you're okay," I said returning her concern with my concern.

She smiled.

"Fortunately, having always exercised and dieted, except for ice cream," she said with a laugh. "And having never smoked, I was in good physical condition before the accident. That helped a lot in my recovery."

I nodded my head to show her that I agreed with her.

"Moreover, I was in a big, body on frame, real wheel drive car and wearing my seatbelt instead of being in one of those lightweight, front wheel drive, unibody construction, Japanese cars," she said. "I believe the reason why I survived is because I hit a wall instead of a tree. Had the force of energy not spread equally across the front of the car instead of having one impact area when hitting a tree or a pole, I may have died," she said. "My ex-husband was a car salesman," she said with a laugh.

'Wow! Not only is she a Red Sox and Tom Brady fan but also, she shares my love and knowledge of cars,' I thought.

"Officially, I'm an airbag tester," she said with a laugh. "They work."

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She continued smiling at me as if she had noticed me in the way that I had noticed her. Able to sexually attract the most beautiful women, I was glad that I'm a tall, good-looking man, if I say so myself. I wondered if she thought that I looked like Clint Walker as Cheyenne Brodie in Cheyenne in the way that Maureen and her mother, Carol, thought that I did.

'Maybe, she didn't know who Clint Walker was,' I thought.

"Matter of fact, and oddly enough, I feel better now than I did before my car accident. Unbelievably and shockingly, I feel younger. I feel as if I have more energy. Maybe, they gave me a younger person's blood," she said with a laugh. "I don't know," she said with another laugh. "Yet, something changed inside of me to make me feel better than I ever have before."

I looked at her shocked. She feels younger. She feels as if she had more energy. She felt the best that she had ever felt before. I wanted to shake her.

'Maureen, are you in there,' I wanted to ask?

Yet, not wanting to tell her that I thought that she was my ex-fiancée reincarnated, I didn't want her to think that I had lost my mind.

'Maybe, an angel gave her a 25-year-old woman's body,' I thought was the real reason why she felt so much younger, more energetic, and better than she had ever felt before. Basically, if she was a reincarnation of Maureen, then, indeed, she is much younger than her age.'

Suddenly, demanding my full attention, she looked weirdly distant. She looked as if she had left her body and someone else was speaking for her. Hard not to see, it was her faraway look that I immediately noticed. I wondered if Maureen was channeling her spirit through Kate to let me know that she was here with me.

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"To say that the accident was a life altering experience is an understatement," she said suddenly looking sad.

I watched her reach behind her neck to pull a handful of her long, lush hair forward from behind her to place over her shoulder. She looked down at her hair before looking up at me.

"My pride and joy, I used to have beautiful, natural, blonde hair," she said looking down at her handful of gray hair that was draped down her shoulder. "When I awakened from the coma, I was totally gray. I'm sure that it will turn white soon," she said with a laugh and pushing her hair behind her back. "Instead of dying my hair, I decided to keep my gray hair as a reminder of how fleeting that life can be," she said with a shrug.

She touched me with the tragedy of her life and death story. In the same way that Maureen had touched me, Kate enamored me with her keen sensitivity and with her easygoing personality. She held my interest, of course, with her beauty. Now, no longer nervous and with her easy to talk to, in the same way that it was easy to talk to Maureen, I couldn't help but wonder if she was Maureen reincarnated.

Oddly enough and coincidentally enough, her automobile accident was around the same time of Maureen's car accident. After falling head over heels in love with Maureen, never did I think that I could fall for in love with anyone again. Yet, unbelievably, love at first sight, I felt the same way about Kate as I felt about Maureen.

Suddenly, just when I thought my nervousness was over, I was nervous again. I was afraid that she'd leave and I'd never see her again. I was in a panic while wondering how I could make her stay with me longer. As if I was suddenly psychic, as if a paranormal medium was speaking to me, I had unspeakable thoughts.

'Could she be Maureen reincarnated,' I wondered? 'In the way of that movie, Heaven Can Wait, did an angel make a mistake, when he took my fiancée's soul from her body too early? Hoping to rectify his mistake, did he put her in another available of a woman who had just awakened from a coma? Did he put Maureen in Kate's body? Is our chance meeting in the supermarket and at the meat counter our preplanned and prearranged destiny designed by the angel,' I thought?

Here's the woman of my dreams standing in front of me and I'm tongue-tied. I took a breath to relax. She's as tall, as sexy, and as shapely as Maureen. Moreover, my type of woman, she has big breasts.

'Maybe, she's Maureen reincarnated,' I thought again. 'Maybe, I didn't lose her after all. Maybe, she's returned to me in the image of Kate. How wonderful would that be?'

Nah, it can't be. There's no such thing as reincarnation, or is there? There are some religions that believe in reincarnation and that the dead return as someone else. Who knows? With the dead not talking, no one knows for sure if there's such a phenomena as reincarnation.'

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Mature Man & Maiden Maureen, Chapter 23:

Kate told me that she was in a serious car accident. She told me that she could have and should have died. Maybe, she was supposed to die and had died in that accident. Maybe, an angel had intervened and kept her alive. Maybe, Maureen wasn't supposed to die in her accident. Again, maybe, an angel intervened and took Maureen too soon.

Maybe, an angel tried to rectify his mistake by placing Maureen in Kate's body. If I believed in miracles, I'd believe in that. Believing in reincarnation gave me hope that I haven't lost Maureen but have found her in Kate.

'Alas, sadly, nothing more than speculation and wishful thinking,' I thought. 'It's crazy to think that Maureen is reincarnated as Kate. Grasping at straws, I'm still grieving over losing the love of my life. No doubt, I'll never get over her but with Kate's help, maybe, I will.'

Yet, with their already a precedent, just as what happened in that movie, Heaven Can Wait, did Maureen's angel, hoping to save her from her pain and her suffering, make a mistake, and take her soul too soon? Was Maureen supposed to have survived that horrific, car accident when hitting a tree? Then, when the angel tried to fix his mistake, was Kate's body the only body available for Maureen to inhabit to return to me?

Maybe, it wasn't Maureen's decision to make which body she'd inhabit. Maybe, because I'm a 50-year-old man, engaged to a 25-year-old woman, the angel decided on his own to put her in a body that was closer to my age. I don't know how Maureen would feel about suddenly being a forty-something-year-old woman instead of 25-year-old woman. Yet, no matter her age, as long as she's healthy, she's better alive, albeit, in someone else's older body than being dead.

I looked at Kate while looking for any residual clues of Maureen as evidence to my crazy supposition of life after death. Other than her eyes, the same beautiful eyes as Maureen's eyes, albeit, a different color, Kate looked a little like Maureen. In the way that Kate talked and moved, with them having similar mannerisms and expressions, she reminded me of Maureen.

She was tall, beautiful, and had the same shapely and sexy body with big tits. Moreover, she nearly died around the same time that Maureen died. There's my clue, and that's my proof that Kate is, indeed, Maureen. Or, was that just a coincidence? Latching onto hope, am I kidding myself that Maureen is still alive and reincarnated as Kate and inhabiting her body?

Definitely and without a doubt, Kate was as hot as was Maureen if not hotter. In that physical regard, albeit older, when I looked closer, Kate looked a lot like Maureen. Only, where Maureen was younger, Kate was older by more than 20 years. By teasing me with the thought that Kate may be Maureen, was Heaven sending me a message for me to stay with a woman my own age? A message I'd be happy to take, if only Kate would have me, I'd be a happy man.

Only, with her on her way to checkout to pay for her groceries and with the chance that I'd lose her and never see her again, I had to act fast to stop her from leaving the store. Again, hoping that she was just as interested in me as I was interested in her, I had to think of something witty, funny, romantic, intelligent, and/or sexually insightful to say to delay her departure. Not able to think of anything to say to stop her from leaving, I asked her the obvious question.

"Would you have lunch with me?"

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There, I said it. Hoping not to make a fool of myself, I put myself out there by telling her that I was interested in her enough to invite her to lunch. If this was meant to be, and if she was, indeed, my Maureen, she'd say yes to my luncheon invitation. Yet, maybe, Kate doesn't know that she's Maureen reincarnated. Maybe, Maureen doesn't know that she's reincarnated as Kate. Maybe, she's not reincarnated. Maybe, she's her own person given a second chance at life.

Preparing myself for rejection, while hoping she'd say yes, I watched her while trying to read her body language. I thought of all the restaurants that I could take her. I wondered what she ate for lunch. Hoping, while waiting for her to accept my invitation to lunch, she looked at her watch and back at me. Instead of saying yes or no to my lunch invitation, she asked me a question.