Simply Red

Max’s Perspective

 It was Sunday morning, our official anniversary day, and we woke up in a big luxurious bed in a beautiful room in the Inn on Biltmore Estate nestled in the mountains and surrounded by beautiful fall foliage. “Good morning” Brody said, “happy anniversary.” Then he kissed me, rolled out of bed, went to his bag, and came back with a small, flat, wrapped package, I got up and went to my bag and came back with the same.

I ripped the beautiful wrapping off the small gift; it was a Brody James original. An 8x10 portrait of the two of us, sitting on our front porch, Zoey in between us, a few bees flying around, with Jimmy, the barn and old blue (packed with produce and candle boxes) in the background. A hand-painted snapshot of our first year of marriage that only Brody could share, and I fucking loved it! I threw my arms around him as we both knelt on the bed. Next, he opened his gift, a picture of us on our wedding day in a beautiful frame with the inscription “I always just figured I’d spend my life alone, but then I met you.” The words were from Brody’s vows to me one year ago, and damn they hit me hard. Brody told me when we first met that he “wasn’t much on socializin’” yet he opened his heart to me and made my life amazing. I couldn’t imagine my world without him. He read the inscription and smiled. As we knelt face-to-face on the big bed it occurred to me that the gifts we exchanged weren’t things, they were experiences, memories, intimate glimpses of our life together.

Brody leaned forward to kiss me, before our lips met, he whispered “gotdammit I love you, Maxwell” I could barely kiss him I was smiling so wide.

“I love you so fucking much, Brody James” I said with a tear. A fucking tear!!! I had been telling this man I loved him for four freaking years and it still brought a damn tear to my eye. Brody wiped the tear away with his index finger then we kissed again. It was a lover’s kiss, sweet, tender, meaningful. I wondered if we’d always be like this… god I hoped so.

After sitting on our knees for a good 5-10 minute kiss (I mean, that’s a helluva long kiss. Right?), my sweet little lover pushed me back onto the bed, I kicked my cramped legs out from under me, and Brody laid on top of me continuing our, long, drawn out, lover’s kiss. This time I rolled us over so I was on top. I had cum three times the night before… three fucking times!!! And I was ready to go again… it wasn’t me; it was Brody. HE did this to me… no one else in the world could ever have this effect on me. I followed his lead from the night before and kissed my way down his body; lips, neck, nipples, treasure trail, and then I engulfed his rigid manhood teasing him with the beginnings of a blow job… it was wet, hot, and short-lived. Just as he was getting into it, I moved down and took each of his balls into my mouth before moving down a little lower on the bed and pushing his knees to his chest by the backs of his legs. My tongue, covered in morning breath, licked his taint as it moved lower searching for its target… Brody’s sweet little tight hole. “oh, Maxell” he moaned as he propped himself up on one elbow and used his other hand to push my head down. My tongue moved into his hole as I ate him out with gusto, damn the taste and smell of Brody had no equal in my world. After several minutes I relented my attack on his ass ring and went back to finish the blowjob I had started. I took him as deep as I could, his cockhead hit the back of my throat and I started to choke. I hacked, grunted, cried, and choked some more but instead of pulling back I tried to take him deeper. His groans of pleasure were my inspiration to keep going. Listen, I had blown my husband an uncountable number many times over the years, but I still wanted so much fucking more of him… I mean who the hell wouldn’t. I looked up at me through my tear-filled eyes and couldn’t help but smile at his adorable, handsome face and his taut little body.

I bobbed back down taking him to the hilt and choking every time, the blunt pain against my throat made the experience even more erotic and fun, I moved faster and took him deeper. Brody put both hands on the back of my head and started to face fuck me. He grunted a warning just before he shot his hot, sweet, salty, man batter down my throat. I choked again as he flooded my mouth and throat and I did my best to swallow every damn drop. He shuddered in orgasm as I continued to suck him dry, then lick him clean. I moved up the bed, my muscular body covering his once again. I kissed him, then surprised him by snowballing his cum back into his mouth. He gagged a little at first, but then sent it back to me. After a few volleys I finally swallowed (I have to admit, I had to choke it down, but damn, it was hot).

We laid there for a while just basking in the afterglow. I had my head on his bare chest when Brody asked, “Do you realize that was the fourth time I came in less than 24 hours? Dayum!” He snickered then kissed the top of my head.

“Well, that’s one more than me” I replied.

“Well, I owe ya’ one” He said making me snicker. For the record, he repaid me about five minutes later in the shower with an amazing blowjob under the warm water. I just leaned back against the tile wall while my perfect-fit of a husband knelt down and pleasured me. I shot down his throat, he cleaned my cock, stood up, and kissed me. We soaped each other up, rinsed each other off, dried ourselves, got dressed, checked out, and packed up the Camaro then headed back to downtown Ashville for brunch and one last stroll through the colorful streets. We found a cute little place with outside seating. It was cold but they had outdoor heaters running, and frankly the color change was so damn beautiful we didn’t care. Brody and I ate and talked… mostly about the upcoming month. We had so much going on with finishing up the barn, Thanksgiving dinner, our first board meeting, Gina and Dylan’s wedding, the baby coming… it was an exciting time in our lives, but hectic as fuck!

After brunch we browsed the shops again. We went back to the little shop where we had seen my candles, I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to see them displayed for the world to see one more time. When we got to the boutique, there were a couple of people standing by the display sniffing the candles… dammit I was so proud of myself… of Gina, Mrs. J, Ricky, and the guys for all their hard work… and of Brody for pushing me and supporting me. As I was admiring the people admiring our work, the owners of the shop spotted us and came over to talk. While we were talking, Brody looked around the shop and something caught his eye. He went over to look at the object of his admiration and one of the owners followed him, the other stayed and talked to me about the meet and greet events he did at the store a couple of times a year with artisans and invited me to join them for the next one a couple of weeks before Christmas  (yeah, apparently, I was an Artisan Candler now). I accepted his invitation and added it to the list of hectic bullshit going on in our world.

Brody was carrying a little bag when he and the other owner came back to join us. We all said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch and return for the Meet & Greet event in December. We got in the Camaro, stopped at a gas station to fill-up, and grab snacks and sodas for the road. Then it was back home to BroMax. On the drive I asked Brody what he bought at the boutique.

He laughed, “It’s really stupid, but I thought it was funny” he said as he reached behind my seat to grab the bag and handed it to me. I reached inside and pulled out a tiny T-shirt with unicorn and rainbows that read “My Guncles went to Ashville and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.” So stupid, yet it was cute as fuck seeing Brody so excited about the baby. We called Gina and Dylan from the car and told them we were going to pick up dinner on our way in and they should stay at the house until we got home. The four of us hadn’t spent a lot of time together recently and Gina was so excited that we carved the night out for them. We roared our way back to the farm only stopping one more time for gas. We pulled in the driveway about 6:30PM and were greeted by and overzealous Zoey and an equally overzealous Roscoe. My first order of business was to go out to the pasture and say hello to Jimmy. After a quick goat hug, I went back to the car to unpack. Gina and Dylan were already outside helping Brody.

Gina and Dylan set up the Chinese food while we unpacked and settled in, then the four of us sat down to dinner. They were so excited about the baby… we all were. Brody couldn’t resist giving them the stupid shirt he’d bought, making Gina squeal “Oh my god, baby’s first gift!” We talked all through dinner… actually, Gina talked all through dinner and the three of us listened. She had already called our college friends and told them about the wedding and the baby. She did, however, ask me to keep the baby talk on the DL at school. She wanted to talk to Principal Simmons first before rumors of the fifth grade teacher being pregnant out of wedlock permeated the halls of the elementary school. All in all, it was a great night with just the four of us and a perfect end to our perfect anniversary weekend.

The next two weeks brought more chaos. Gina announced to Principal Simmons that she was pregnant and had his full support. They decided not to talk about the baby until after the wedding since she probably wouldn’t be showing before then. Yeah, people would probably put two and two together once she announced her maternity leave so soon after getting married, but by then it really wouldn’t matter.

The last Farmer’s Market of the year for both Wilmington and St louis came and went, frankly I was relieved, I needed my Saturdays back to make candles. I was experimenting with scents from essential oils and other sources because the demand was getting too big for the yield from my garden to keep up with it. Brody was working on designs for a second line of BroMax candles so we could separate those made with herbs from our garden (“BroMax Farm Home Grown”) from those made from scents sourced elsewhere. Stella suggested we put a higher price on the Home Grown line and make it more of a premium product.

The barn renovation was in its last stages and we had moved our operation from one side to the other so that Bubba and his crew could work on the kitchen, bathroom, and the rest of the barn. Bubba stayed late one night for a couple of beers and we talked through our issues. The bottom line was he had a lot or preconceived notions about “the gay lifestyle” and made some unfair assumptions about me and Harris. Apparently, Brody had already talked to him about it which helped to clear thigs up. Bubba felt bad that he jumped to conclusions and apologized again, this time he truly seemed to believe that he was wrong. We finally buried the hatchet and the weirdness went away, Bubba and I were good again. We were aiming to have the renovation completed before our big board meeting so we could have it there, in the updated home of The BroMax Farm Candle Company.

And at school… my favorite day of the year had arrived, the Friday before Halloween. Just like last year, the kids dressed up in their costumes and we suspended afternoon classes to do fun stuff instead! Last year Mrs. J and I combined our two fourth grade classrooms for the afternoon, this year we decided to combine our fourth grade classrooms with Harris and Gina’s fifth grade classrooms for the festivities. Mrs. J and I brought pumpkins for painting and apples to make taffy apples again, just like the year before.

The best part was that our husbands and significant others all came to participate. Mr. Brody James came back to help paint pumpkins and faces again. Dylan and Mr. J were there to supervise taffy apple making, and Terrance was working with Harris on the “show.” Last year the kids just walked across the stage of the small school auditorium in their costumes, when Harris heard that he decided to turn it into a production with his husband working the lights and music backstage. First, he had our little gang of teachers dress up as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Gina was Dorothy, Laurie was Glinda The Good Witch of The North, Harris was the Tin Man, I was the cowardly lion (with my face painted perfectly by Brody), Sarah was the Scarecrow, Harris even got Principal Simmons to dress up as the Wizard of Oz himself. But the star of the show was Mrs. J, she put us all to shame with her take on the Wicked Witch of The West by painting herself green and wearing a prosthetic nose… she was pretty damn inmpressive.

Terrance opened the show by playing “We’re Off To See The Wizard” while Harris had us skip across the stage and do a couple of coordinated steps. It was corny as hell but to a bunch of elementary school kids, watching their teachers make assess of themselves was better than any Toni winning Broadway show could ever be. The kids went nuts! After we made our appearance, Terrance dropped the lights and the stage went dark. Spooky music and haunted house sound effects filled the small venue as Harris announced each classroom and the kids paraded across the stage. He let the other eleven classrooms parade across the stage and saved his for last. When it was time for his classroom to take the stage, the first kid stopped at the end of the stage before exiting like the others had done, and instead, they all lined up. Suddenly, the lights went out and you could hear some scuffling on stage. Terrance turned up the volume and Michael Jackson’s Thriller started to blare through the speakers. Spooky strobes lit the stage and Harris’s class was perfectly posed and ready to dance. The parents cheered… more like screamed insanely as the kids started to show off their moves. Harris had choreographed the whole thing, and I must admit it was pretty darn good… and hilarious. The kids were into it, the parents were into it, hell the teachers were even into it. Harris had put his own stank on the whole event and it made a long standing tradition more fun than ever.

I was watching from off stage when Mrs. J came up behind me and whispered in my ear “I think I’m going to retire at the end of the school year.” I looked at her in shock.

“Are you serious? Where the hell did that come from?” I asked getting a nod and a half smile in response.

“It came from all of you. I’ve been thinking about it forever, and now that we have a great group of young, talented, caring teachers… I think I can go.” She was serious. I didn’t see it coming. “We’ll talk more later” she said as she patted me on the shoulder and walked away leaving me stunned.

At the end of the day, the kids and parents all left the school in a cloud of smiles and laughter, and the teachers all left to have drinks at a local bar. I called Ricky before I committed to make sure they didn’t need me at the barn. As always, they were ahead of schedule and good on their own. I was lucky as hell to have them. We met at a restaurant in downtown Wilmington with a deck overlooking the water. There we were a group of grown-ass adults dressed up like the cast from The Wizard of Oz, all drinking cocktails… well all except for Gina she sat there sipping a seltzer. Once we were settled in, Mrs. J dropped the bomb. “Watching you all today was amazing” she said. “Our future is in good hands… that’s why I’ve decided to retire at the end of the school year.” The table of crazy young teachers and their partners went quiet.

“What the hell, Donna” Gina said as she fought back the tears. I had never heard her call Mrs. J by her first name before. “We still need you there! You’re my mentor and my role model” she said already in tears and the rest of us echoed her sentiments. Then Gina just out and out broke down crying… and it was an ugly cry.

“Jesus, Gina” Mrs. J said laughing. “It’s not until the end of the school year, and It’s not like I’m dying.”

“I’m sorry” Gina said blowing her nose into the napkin Dylan gave her. “It’s the damn baby hormones, they’ve got me crying at the drop of a hat. My emotions are all over the board.” The table went silent. Gina had unwittingly just made a major announcement to all her teacher friends. Upon her realization, she looked up at the staring crowd and quietly muttered, “oh shit.”

“BABY??!!” Mrs. J yelled across the table as she looked Gina in the eyes. Gina turned beet red and nodded sheepishly. Then Mrs. J looked over at Dylan, he had the dopiest, guiltiest look on his bearded face. “Congratulations! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“Shhhh” Gina said as she looked around seemingly to ensure there were no kids or parents from school, or anyone else she may know listening in.

“She’s the one who wants to keep it quiet” Dylan said as he motioned at Gina. “Hell, I wanna write it in the sky and shout it from every damn rooftop… “We’re havin’ a baby!”

“Shhhh Dylan, keep it down. We’re trying to keep it quiet until after the wedding. I don’t need everyone whispering about the unwed mother teaching fifth grade.”

“Oh c’mon, give us a little credit. People around here aren’t that bad” Mrs. J pleaded.

"Seriously? Did you already forget what happened when they printed our wedding announcement last year?!” I asked.

Mrs. J chuckled, “yeah, I guess I did, Max.” Everyone at the table knew the story, except Terrance so We told him about the legend of Mimi Fargus. When we were done, Mrs. J looked at Gina and Dylan and said, “Your secret is safe with us. I am so happy for you!” then she basically screamed “Congratulations” as she got up and ran to the other side of the table to hug Gina.

I looked around and realized that our little village was growing again.

 

To be continued…