I met Elaine long ago. She was one of the first regulars. She caught my eye as soon as she walked through the door. It was that self assured stride with her head held high. It certainly didn't hurt that it was impossible to miss all those curves. She strode right up to the bar and asked for a hefeweizen.

I poured it slowly hoping to engage her in some conversation, "I'm Dave. I hope you enjoy the place."

"Elaine," she replied. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." I handed over the beer.

"Get a lot of single men in here?" Straightforwardness is something I have always admired about her.

"I could introduce you to Andy, but you'd eat him alive, I think, and be bored after." She smiled a brilliant, yet predatory, smile. "Just coming out of a relationship, or it's been too long?" I asked.

"Still searching, I guess. I'm not sure what I'm looking for and it makes it much more difficult." I nodded appreciatively.

"I'm surprised you react that way. You look like kind of a vanilla guy," she smirked.

"You'd be surprised." That was true to a certain extent. I didn't know exactly what she meant, but she taught me over the next year.

"Oh? Not married with a kid or two and a traditional sex life?"

"Well, that's mostly correct, but I find if your sex life is normal, you aren't doing it right."

She laughed, "I must be doing it REALLY right." It was my turn for the "oh?"

Without going into details, let's just say she could teach a class or two or ten... thousand. I had heard about most of the things she mentioned, but I didn't think women actually enjoyed them. I thought that was just men's fantasies.

She didn't leave with anyone that night, and Andy got in about 10 minutes with her before he ran away. I got to hear most of her story. Elaine was relatively recently removed from a husband that didn't appreciate her. Ironically, had he done that she would have been his forever. However, she needed the approval to come with the punishment.

We flirted heavily over the next few years. Texted and sent pics that people wouldn't approve of. She was hesitant of course, but I explained that as long as there was no touching, the wife, Kay, didn't mind. Elaine pretended to believe me until Kay answered my phone one time. Then Elaine knew for real. After I introduced them, they became friends as both are very progressive (or if you talk to them: traditional) women. Neither cares much what society has to say about anything. Elaine and I got really close. She appreciated that I accepted her for who she was, and I loved her free spirit. Though we were clearly attracted to each other, we never crossed the no touching line.

She was really caught between two worlds. On one hand she was a very smart and driven individual. Elaine was very respected at work and those she surrounded herself with. On the other she was pretty self destructive. There was a lot of pain, and the amatuer psychologist in me thinks she's wants to see who cares about her when she's down and out.

A year ago, she introduced me to her new boyfriend, Daniel. Then, she just stopped coming by and stopped communicating. I haven't heard from her from her since then.