The Gulf Coast Move Ch. 04

This is the fourth chapter of a series. I think that this series will have one more installment after this. While the author hopes that this story can stand on its own, it will be much easier to follow if you have read the previous three chapters of "The Gulf Coast Move." This story draws on some real experiences but is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real person or entity is coincidental and unintentional. As a work of fiction, this story and this series should not be taken as depicting the actual tolerance of public nudity or public sexual conduct in Florida or any other jurisdiction. Additionally, readers should remember that they are reading this story on a website devoted to erotica. The sexual conduct depicted here is not necessarily representative of how most nudists/naturists behave.

Part of this chapter is darker and sadder than is customary on Literotica. There is also less sex in this chapter. I apologize but think these are necessary elements to move the story towards conclusion.

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Gwen spent most of the summer after her graduation in Europe with Jason. She went back to Chicago in August, after a short stay at our house, to start work on her master's. As had become traditional, Cheryl and Peter came down in September. I noticed while Cheryl and Peter were visiting that Carol was eating less than usual. Kristen was still staying with us most weeknights when Ian was at work in Tampa. Not long after Cheryl and Peter left, Kristen asked Carol about her reduced eating.

"I don't know why," Carol said, "I just don't have much appetite and get full very quickly when I eat."

"Do you think that you ought to talk to a doctor?" Kristen asked. "This isn't like you."

"I probably should," Carol said. "We don't have a doctor down here. I'll have to call Sue and see if she can recommend someone."

The need to see a doctor became urgent not long after Carol and Kristen had that conversation. Carol began getting abdominal pain on her right side, sometimes severe. Sue put us in touch with a good local doctor who, in turn, sent Carol for tests up in Gainesville at the University Medical Center. To make a long and painful story shorter, Carol had liver cancer.

Carol and I had been together our entire adult lives, since college. I truly could not comprehend a life without her. Trying to think about it made me feel physically ill. As a defense mechanism, I convinced myself that Carol would be the rare case who went into remission or was completely cured. Any scan or test that showed that the disease had slowed the rate at which it was killing her was evidence for me that she'd recover.

Gwen received her master's the following May. Carol wanted to be there, so I chartered a business jet to fly us up to Chicago. Carol was very weak, so I pushed her in a wheelchair. Samantha came the short distance from Milwaukee for Gwen's second graduation. Samantha hadn't seen Carol since Gwen and Samantha had received their bachelors' degrees a year earlier. Samantha looked shocked when she first saw Carol that May in Chicago.

I'd like to say that Carol's passing was poignant or profound. The reality was that, just over two weeks after that last trip to Chicago, I put Carol to bed. I fell asleep a little later. I woke up the next morning. Carol didn't.

Neither Carol nor I had any living family apart from Gwen. Mercifully, Gwen was moving to the east coast of Florida to start her job and was there to handle the funeral and other arrangements that had to be made. Our friends from Florida and from up north were there through the funeral. That kept me busy enough not to think hard about the enormity of what had happened. Then, everyone left to go back to their lives. I was alone in the house which Carol and I had built and loved so much. Everywhere I looked, there was something intimately connected to her. None of it was pleasing any more. The sunshine and Gulf outside no longer mattered. Nothing mattered anymore.

I became listless. I did get up to go to the john, but not much else. I ate very little. I drank only a little water. I couldn't sleep. Television was crap. I didn't have the energy to pull a book off the shelf. Music was painful. I didn't even step outside of the house for about ten days after Carol's funeral.

After a decent interval, Kristen started coming over again and made it clear that she wanted to continue staying with me when Ian was up in Tampa. Kristen was, and is, a very attractive woman and a truly wonderful person. I no longer cared. Dr. Sunkara came to the house and was very explicit about wanting to start a sexual relationship now that I was a widower. Lakshmi is very beautiful, highly intelligent, and sexually creative. She got no reaction from me. Our deputy sheriff friends, Marty and Lisa, stopped by to do "wellness checks" on me. They also brought food, or I'd not have eaten. Dust accumulated around the house.

I was very aware that I was falling apart. I wasn't eating much so I was losing weight. I wasn't exercising so my muscles were atrophied. I frankly didn't care. Cheryl and Peter invited to their home for the Holidays that year. I didn't go. About the only vestige of my life with Carol that remained was that I went nude around the house. I'd just gotten out of the habit of getting dressed.

I didn't know at the time, but later learned, that my close friends initially thought that I was going through a grieving phase from which I'd emerge as the Harry Stone of old. Carol died in June. My friends became seriously concerned when I was still basically a zombie the following January. My friends were concerned enough that Kristen was coming over almost hourly to peer through the windows to see whether I'd hurt myself. Gwen, Jason, Kristen, Ian, Sue, Phil, Cheryl, Peter, Lakshmi, and Samantha had a conference call about me in late January. The decision was made that there had to be an intervention. Gwen, Samantha, Cheryl, and Peter had several more calls between themselves to develop their intervention plan.

Gwen and Jason were living in Ft. Lauderdale (Jason had taken a job with the Miami office of an investment bank). Gwen had come to the house several times since her mother died. A few of those times she had become very angry and frustrated with me. When I saw her car pull into our driveway early that February, I just went back to my study. Gwen had a key and I assumed that she was here to yell at me again.

I was prepared for Gwen to walk into my study. Samantha walking in with her threw me. Samantha was supposed to be up in Milwaukee building a career that would make her a national name. Gwen looked around the study with obvious distaste. "Dad," she said, "I've tried everything I know how to do. I'm hoping that Samantha can accomplish what I haven't." Gwen turned and left the room.

Samantha stood in a yellow sundress that worked perfectly with her dark red hair. I had forgotten how compellingly beautiful she was. She came over to where I was sitting, bent forward, and took one of my hands. "Harry," she said softly, "You still have a life. You need someone with you to make your life rewarding again."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "Who would that be?"

Samantha let go of my hand and took a step back. "Me," she said.

"But," I said, "you're on TV in Milwaukee."

"I gave my notice two weeks ago," Samantha replied.

"Why?" I asked.

"So, I could be with you," Samantha said. "You know that I 've had a crush on you since high school?" She took the hem on her dress in her hands and lifted it to her chin. She wasn't wearing anything underneath. She smiled slightly and said, "I'm still a natural redhead."

Samantha's extraordinary beauty or the caring in her voice, or both, must have sparked something akin to a human reaction in my face. "Harry, please stand up," Samantha said. I did. She dropped the hem of her dress, stepped to me, and hugged me. Still holding me, she leaned back just a little so that I was looking into her face and her marvelous green eyes. She said, "I really fell for you when I came down here for Gwen's party that first summer you were down here. I've loved you ever since. You and I can have a great life together. May I stay?"

"How long?" I asked.

"Forever," Samantha said.

I had developed a strong, if somewhat guilty, attraction to Samantha. We'd had sexual interactions on a couple of occasions. Carol had known about, indeed encouraged, both episodes. Samantha throwing herself at me revived thoughts and emotions that had died with Carol.

"Cheryl and Peter," I started.

Samantha cut me off. "We've talked about it," she said. "Mom and Dad care about you very much. They want me here just as much as I want to be here. May I stay?"

"You really want to?" I asked.

"More than anything," Samantha replied. She took a quick look around the room. Smiling, she added, "And, from what I can see, you need me."

I surrendered. "The real reasons I need you," I said, "are things which you can't see."

We'll bring those to light," Samantha said, "they'll have a new shape and form that we'll both make. So, I can stay?" I nodded my head. Samantha whipped her dress over her head. "I won't need that much, thank god!" She stepped beside me and put an arm around the small of my back. Samantha called out "Gwen!"

Gwen must have been standing just outside my study because she appeared instantly. She saw Samantha and me standing side-by-side naked and started to smile. "Dad," Gwen said, "for the first time in a while, you've made the right choice."

I helped Samantha get the things she had brought with her out of Gwen's car. I discovered that I was weaker than I had realized. Samantha told me that she'd already arranged to have the rest of her things shipped from Milwaukee. I must have given her a questioning look because she said, "I have great confidence in my own powers of persuasion." Those powers certainly worked on me and I was already thinking that was a good thing.

Gwen looked in my kitchen and said, "I'm off to the grocery." She came back about an hour later with several bags. "You're staying the night?" I asked. People don't realize how big Florida is. Ft. Lauderdale was a several hour drive away.

"Do you mind?" Gwen responded.

"No," I said.

"But," Samantha interjected, "you need to get those clothes off." With a smile, my daughter undressed.

Samantha was, literally, a lifesaver for me. She got me eating well and exercising again. She quickly re-established the ties to the friends whom I'd ignored in the months since Carol died. My Florida friends accepted Samantha completely. As the weather warmed, we sailed nude with Sue and Phil and went with Kristen and Ian to the Gulf Coast Naturists outings. Samantha fit neatly into my life and made it hers.

Samantha and I were together constantly for the first couple of months after she moved in. I knew that Samantha was a kind and very intelligent person. I learned that she was a much better person than I had realized. There was also the constant joy of seeing her nude almost every minute of the day. Samantha keeps getting more beautiful the longer I know her.

Yes, there was also sex. The first night she was with me, it was in bed. It was slow, in part because I'd not had sex in months, but also very loving. We established an unwritten rule that we made love every night before we went to sleep. Very soon, there was also sex in the kitchen, in the pool, in the workout room, at night on the beach, and on the deck of Sue's and Phil's sailboat. It wasn't just sex; it was making love. Samantha didn't care if people saw us making love. "It's expressing our passion for each other," she said.

Samantha did draw one line: she did not want Kristen sleeping over with us. "I want you entirely to myself," Samantha told me. Since that meant that I got Samantha too, I wasn't about to argue. Kristen and Ian did not take offense.

I knew that Samantha had friends besides Gwen, but I didn't meet any for the first three months after Samantha moved in. In late April, Samantha had a long phone conversation, punctuated by quite a few laughs. I was intentionally trying not to overhear anything. Before she ended the call, Samantha put her hand over her phone. "Harry," she said, "this is my j-school friend Ellen Breuer. She freelances in DC now. Her boyfriend is off work for a week in mid-May and they're looking for somewhere to go that's not expensive and that they can book last-minute. May I invite them here?"

I was happy to have Samantha's friend visit, subject to one concern. "Does that mean we'll have to stayed clothed?" I asked.

Samantha chuckled. "I'll explain to her how we live. If she doesn't like it, they can go somewhere else. I'm sure she'll be ok with it."

We were at the airport, clothed of course, early on a Tuesday evening in mid-May to pick up Ellen and her boyfriend. When they came past security, Samantha and Ellen hugged. The young man with Ellen introduced himself as Kent Steynrid. I introduced myself and said, "I guess you could call me Samantha's boyfriend."

"Boyfriend, lover, confidant, and center of my universe," Samantha interjected.

With the traffic, it was almost 8:00 p.m. when we got back onto the island. We took Ellen and Kent to Waters, our favorite seafood restaurant on the island. Most of the conversation over dinner was Samantha and Ellen catching up. That did involve explaining the relationship between Samantha and me, which necessarily touched on Carol's passing.

Back at the house, Samantha and I stayed clothed while we had a last glass of wine with Ellen and Kent. Samantha was a bit possessive of me when other people were around and was doing it that night. Suddenly, Ellen asked Samantha, "Wait. Is Harry The Man?"

"What?" I asked.

Ellen laughed. "Since Gwen is your daughter, I assume that you know that she and Samantha organized and led the nudist/naturist club on campus (I hadn't known that). That got them the reputation as the two hot nudist girls. Everyone knew that Gwen was committed to some hot shot guy on the East Coast. But Samantha was unattached. I think every guy in school hit on her. There were several I'd have fucked in a heartbeat. At most, Samantha would have one date and then break off with a guy. I asked her about that more than once. She always said that she loved a man she couldn't have and thought about him when she was with a guy, she found attractive."

Samantha gave me a hug and a kiss. "Yes, Harry is The Man," she said. "The circumstances sucked, but I got him"

Ellen and Kent excused themselves to go to bed. "Remember," Samantha told them, "Harry and I usually don't wear any clothes around here. Of course, what you wear is up to you."

"Yes, you said that," Ellen replied.

Samantha and I went to bed soon after. We made love before we went to sleep. Samantha was not usually noisy during sex. However, that night, she was very vocal and came with a moan loud enough to be heard next door. When I'd recovered my breath, I asked her, "What was that about?"

Samantha giggled. "I don't want Ellen and Kent to have any doubt about what we do at night," she said.

We were nude in the kitchen, fixing a light breakfast, when Ellen and Kent came down the next morning. Samantha and I turned to face them. Ellen and Kent were dressed in shorts and tee shirts.

Ellen said, "You guys really do go around naked." Ellen was giving me a thorough visual inspection and Kent was doing the same to Samantha.

Samantha took my hand. "Does that bother you?" she asked Ellen.

"No," Ellen said. Looking straight at my dick, Ellen added, "I think I understand the attraction of The Man."

Samantha laughed. "That's just one part of it, but that part feels very good."

"We heard," Ellen shot back.

After breakfast, we all decided to lie out by the pool. Samantha and I went out nude. Ellen and Kent went back to the guest room to change. Kent came out wearing long swim trunks and a tee shirt. Ellen wore a concealing one-piece. Ellen's not ugly, but she's no Samantha either.

Ellen walked around the patio and looked out at the Gulf for a moment. "Samantha said that you guys had a 'cottage' on the island," she said. "This is a hell of a lot more than a cottage. This is nice!"

"It's nicer if you're naked," Samantha replied. Ellen ignored that comment.

The four of us sat by the pool for the rest of the morning. Occasionally, someone would dive in to cool off. Mainly, Ellen and Samantha talked. As Samantha and I got up to go inside and fix afternoon drinks, Ellen said, "You guys seem so comfortable naked. Does it bother you at all that Kent and I are constantly looking at you?"

"No," I replied.

"Why should it?" Samantha asked. "Ok, I got lucky and have a good body. Does that mean I should hide it? I'm proud to have people see me in the nude." Do you understand why I had fallen for Samantha so completely?

Kristen came over that afternoon, naked of course. Poor Kent was flustered with one extraordinarily beautiful woman and one very attractive woman there, both naked and unconcerned about what they were showing. When he finally got up to use the john, the effect this had on him was very visible. Kristen couldn't resist calling attention to it. "Thank you, Kent," she said, "I take an erection as a compliment."

Over dinner, Kristen told Ellen and Kent how she and Ian had introduced Carol, Gwen, and me to clothes-free living when we first moved to Florida. Kristen and Samantha described Samantha's first experience with social nudity at Gwen's 19th birthday party. Listening to Samantha describe how she felt and what she was thinking as she summoned the courage during the party to go inside, take her suit off, and walk back out to the party naked made me realize what a life-changing experience that had been. I guess that I'm selfish, but I'm very grateful that Samantha took that step.

As we finished cleaning up from dinner, Ellen walked away and came back saying, "Uh, you know that there's a cop car in your driveway?"

Samantha breezily said, "That's just Marty and Lisa working out."

"What?" Ellen asked.

"Marty and Lisa are two deputy sheriffs with whom we're friends," I explained. "Marty is part of the Sheriff's marine patrol. Lisa used to be marine patrol, but she now does road patrol here on the island. They live several miles inland. It is more convenient for them to use our workout room, and it saves them gym fees, which matters given that Sheriff's Department salaries have been frozen for a while. I'll take you downstairs to meet them."

Ellen and Kent tentatively followed me down the steps to the workout room that was the only part of the house on ground level. I had neglected to warn Ellen and Kent that Marty and Lisa had adopted our custom of working out in the nude. Ellen and Kent stopped walking for a moment when they saw Marty's nude black body covered in sweat. Marty is not a big woman, but she is very well-muscled. She was a track athlete in high school and college and still had something of a sprinter's thighs and ass. I think Ellen and Kent were also taken aback by the two Sheriff's uniforms and underwear that were neatly folded on a table in a corner of the room. I made the introductions. Gwen, Carol, and I used to skinny-dip with Marty and Lisa out in the sound, and Samantha and I had kept that up. I knew that Marty and Lisa did not care at all about being nude when they met new people.

After introducing Ellen and Kent to Marty and Lisa, we went back upstairs to let the deputies finish their workouts. Samantha and Kristen were having a glass of wine in the kitchen. "Jesus," Ellen said, "does anyone around here wear clothes? Even the cops are naked."

Kristen said, "Actually, most people here on the Gulf Coast would never think of letting themselves be seen naked."