The Lady of the Lake

"Close. I was in the flag corps with the marching band. That would make me a nerd cheerleader."

She narrowed her eyes as she judged me.

"You were a nerd, too, but you did play sports."

"Guilty. I was on the technical crew for the high school plays, I swam and ran track."

A pause followed.

"Steve is still very directed. I think he started dating me because he could talk medical stuff with me."

I wanted to ask her how she kept awake while talking with Steve, but didn't. If she was happy, then the world should support her choice.

"Okay, one more question then I promise I'll stop prying," she gave me a dimpled smile that would have melted any resistance that I might have been able to mount, "since you're going into your senior year, why aren't you working as an intern for some big accounting firm?"

"I needed money so I can return to campus in the fall. There are plenty of unpaid internships available, but the ones that paid were taken by the time I started looking. I guess you have to start lining up your internship during your sophomore year. The downturn pretty much dried up all the jobs around home, so I took this job as kitchen help when nothing else turned up."

"What are you doing for the summer?" I asked Viv after taking a sip of water.

"I'm a Property Management Consultant for Shore Wind Realty." She sat a little straighter pushing her shoulders back.

I smiled. I liked her shoulders back.

"And what does that mean exactly?"

"I spend the summer working on my tan while looking after Dad's house up here. Dad brings up clients on the weekends to golf at the better courses around Traverse City. My job is to make sure the food and booze is laid in, and all the beds are fresh, clean, and made, the vacuuming is done, and the showers and the toilets are scrubbed. He has a group coming up next Friday."

"That sounds like a sweet way to spend the summer."

She pouted. "It would be if I could see my fiance a little more often. He's doing his internship at a hospital in Ann Arbor, and he gets zero time off. When he does, by his own admission, he's not much of a country boy. He considers anything north of Flint as out in the woods. As a result, I saw him for a weekend last month, and I haven't seen him at all this month."

She looked worried, but shook it off and her dimpled smile returned. "I have to get used to being alone. It's what doctor's wives do. Medicine takes up most of their husband's time."

Her languid stretch in her chair displayed her long tanned legs. I couldn't help it, I ogled them trying to imagine what it would feel like to stroke those velvety thighs then looked up to see her smirking at me.

"Anyway, he's coming up this weekend, so I won't be here Friday, Saturday or maybe even Sunday."

"Do you want me to stay away from the island?"

She frowned.

"Why would I want you to do that?"

"So you can bring him out here for a romantic picnic? I can't imagine a wet naked guy wandering about the island would add to the ambiance."

She shook her head.

"No, this is our place. I don't want to bring him to our spot. He can have the rest of the world, but not this spot. I found you and I don't want to share. He has all his friends he can talk to all summer long, and all I have is you."

"What about next week? Can you row out here when your Dad is entertaining clients?"

"No problem there. Dad doesn't even want me in the house when clients are there. I stay in the pool house then go in mornings and straighten up things after they've left for the day," she looked off into the distance, "people put me on hold all the time. I wait for Dad's clients to leave, Dad probably sent me up here to keep me away from his new wife, Mom loves me, but she has a new boyfriend, and Steve is really busy at the hospital."

That little worried look crossed her face once again. "Even my friends are too busy with summer jobs and boyfriends to drive up here," an anxious look crossed her face supplanted at once by a smile, "but things will change in a month when I go back to school."

"Anyway, I like you, Sean. You're the only one close to my age around here that I can talk to. I tried going to town to a bar once. All I got was the fish eye from the locals and open hostility from the women."

"I'm glad you're here. You're too fascinating to put on hold."

She reached out and grabbed my hand giving it a squeeze.

"Aww, aren't you sweet. You did it to me again. You got me talking about myself. What about you?"

"I'm lonely, too. I learned a while back that I can't go home. Besides my parents, there's nothing there for me. My friends are either married or gone. Up here, the people my age at the camp are paying customers and the last thing I need is offending one of them. Most of the summer help are younger than me, and the locals my age don't want to get to know me because I'll be gone in a month. Mostly I sit and read."

She patted my hand.

"Well, it's a good thing we've found each other. We can both use a friend. Although, I wouldn't recognize you wearing clothes. I guess we'll barely be friends," she punned.

"I nude we would be."

She winced. "Maybe we shouldn't spend time together if the puns start out that bad. I'd hate to give you a dressing down considering how little you started with."

"That would be the naked truth," I deadpanned.

We parted after that. I swam off into the glowing sunset, and she rowed off into the gathering gloom.

I liked her. There was a sweetness about her that I found appealing and a quick mind that kept our conversations lively. She didn't look bad either. I did wonder about her taste in men though. Why would a beautiful, vivacious woman be engaged to Steven freaking Sullivan? It was like a bird of paradise marrying a chicken. She was touching me too. I knew that there was nothing to it, but it thrilled me when she did. Despite my efforts to rein myself in, my attraction to her was growing. There was a yearning and a vulnerability about her that made her even more attractive to me. I wanted to take her in my arms to comfort her and to assure her that she meant something to me. She was reaching out to me at the same time that I wanted someone like her in my life. It would all end in tears if I did anything more than act like a friend.

I dreamed about her that night. I awoke vowing to keep my feelings in check. She was an engaged woman after all.

A cool drizzle fell off and on all day Friday which killed most of the outdoor activities for the guests. Instead of sunning their pale naked flesh on the beach, the guests milled around the club house naked and listless eating their way through twice the usual amount of food. My boss asked me to hang on to meet the increased demand. I did knowing the overtime would sweeten my paycheck. The afternoon lunch crowd bled into the evening dinner crowd, and finally at six after a twelve hour shift the head cook sent me to my bunk.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to swim out to the island. The cool, clammy breeze promised more rain from the leaden sky. I stared out the window at the mist drifting across the lake, and wondered if Viv would venture out on such a dreary day. When I couldn't stand the thought of her standing alone on the island waiting for me, I threw a towel over my shoulder and trod through the silent dripping pines down to the dock. For once, the water was warmer than the air, and I enjoyed swimming through a couple of rain showers on my way to the island. Rain is no problem, lightening is another story.

As I swam closer to the island shore, I spied Viv waiting for me. Something was wrong. I was barely out of the water when she threw herself at me.

"He dumped me," she said in a small voice whispered into my shoulder.

"He did?"

She nodded her head against my shoulder, and her tears welled and ran down my chest.

"He called me up this afternoon about the time I expected him, and dumped me over the phone. He said that he was dating someone else."

"Then he's a coward and an idiot."

I pulled her into an embrace. I was naked and she was wearing gray sweat pants and shirt. We made a strange looking pair.

"He's a coward because he didn't have the balls to break up in person, and he's an idiot if he thinks he can find someone better than you."

When it started to sprinkle, I led her across the island through the towering white pines to the gazebo.

"I worried that you wouldn't come today because the weather is so awful, and I needed to see a friendly face."

A tear rolled down her cheek, and I fought the urge to kiss it away.

We sat side by side on the rattan love seat. I dropped a couple blinds to block the drizzle from blowing on us. As we sat she leaned more and more on me until her head rested in my naked lap. She seemed to be fine with it so I didn't object. The gray day faded toward black night as we sat there.

"It's getting late," I rubbed her shoulder, "I need to swim back to camp."

"Why do people push me away?"

"I want you here with me right now. I'll never push you away."

"Could you please stay a little longer?" she asked in a timid voice without looking up.

"Yeah, but it's going to be black tonight without a moon or stars so we have to leave while there's still light to see by."

I looked out into the gathering gloom. The mists covered the point I had to swim to. I could still see lights across the lake behind me, but there were no guarantees they would remain visible if the fog got thicker. There were stories of swimmers getting lost in the fog where they swam in giant circles for hours before drowning from exhaustion.

She nodded, but didn't move. Finally, a few minutes later, I stood.

"We have to leave, now. I don't want you lost in the dark either."

I was getting way too comfortable and she was busy hurting. One of us had to be the adult.

She got to her feet as if she was carrying a heavy weight.

"Could you please kiss me?" she leaned against me, "I could use one right now."

I bent over to give her a polite kiss on the lips, but instead got a lip lock. She didn't open her mouth, but her intent was to get some affection and to give some also. It aroused me enough to get my blood stirring, and my erection rose unfettered by clothing.

I stood back.

"I am so sorry, Viv. I don't have any control when a beautiful woman kisses me."

She looked up and smiled.

"Are you kidding, that's the nicest thing you could have done for me today. You make me feel attractive and desired."

With that she turned and sashayed down to her boat humming a happy tune. She spun around halfway down the path.

"Will you be here tomorrow?"

"Sure will." I shouted back then I walked down to the water, and swam home in the dying light.

I wasn't unhappy that her fiance had broken their engagement. She was out of my league, but now we could be more than friends for the remaining few weeks of summer. Would it end with a break up that would nearly crush me? Probably, but the thought of holding her in my arms overcame any anxiety that I might have about the breakup. She had to know the effect she was having on me. If she was okay with a fleeting summer affair then why shouldn't I be? I was to the point where she occupied my waking thoughts.

Saturday's were crazy. The weekenders checked in Friday evening and the resort burgeoned at capacity. I cooked eggs all morning for the naked masses, worked a couple of hours overtime, and then finished up at the cheese station when we started making pizzas. When I got away, I grabbed my towel and trotted down to the water. The weather had cleared overnight and except for a cool northerly breeze that ruffed small white caps on the lake, conditions were ideal.

I swam to the island wondering about Viv's emotional state Viv's. When I got close, I found her waiting for me on shore wearing a brief neon green bikini.

"New swim suit," I noted.

She beamed at me.

"You like? This is what I wear when Dad isn't around. I chose green because everyone else chooses either red or white."

She gave her hips a wiggle.

I took my time checking her out. The suit was cut to be naughty but not lurid. It was more string than bikini but it covered what it needed to cover, and she didn't constantly adjust it to remain chaste. From the side, she looked naked except for the string that kept her bottoms on and the string that crossed her ribs. She looked good displaying acres of skin.

"I'll bet you turn a few heads when you wear it to the beach."

She twirled giving me a view of her nicely rounded bottom.

"You don't think it's too brief?"

I shook my head. "You got the body for a thong, why not flaunt it." I paused for a moment. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better. It occurred to me overnight that while I liked Steve, I held a bit of myself back like I knew that Steve wasn't going to be the love of my life. He liked my Dad more than he liked me."

She looked up at me.

"Were you ever in a relationship like that where you gave far more affection then you got in return?"

I nodded.

"I had a girl friend when I shipped off to Afghanistan. She said all the right things, promised that she'd wait for me. As I kissed her goodbye, a part of me knew that a full year away would be too long. Her letters started out long and lusty, but they got fewer and further between, and then stopped all together. Six months into my posting, the dreaded Dear John letter arrived. Mine wasn't the only one, nor was it unexpected. My sergeant told our squad to expect them around six months into deployment. When the word got around that I had been dumped, I got called into the Sergeant-Major's office. We talked for a long time, he told me about how good airmen lose their edge following a Dear John letter. He told me I was a good airman and he was recommending me for Officer Candidate School if I reupped, and he didn't want to see me killed or wounded."

I paused reliving the awful hollow feeling that I carried with me during that time. Suspecting that the letter was coming was one thing, finding out she lasted less than a month before dating again deadened my soul and forced me into introspection when I needed to pay attention to the dangerous world and hostile people around me.

I looked over at Viv.

"Anyway, a sniper gut shot me on my next mission. I got him when he came looking for me, but the damage was done. For a long time I wondered if I was preoccupied when I should have been minding what I was doing. Now I think my luck had turned. I was lucky at life for a while, and then I wasn't. Being unlucky in Afghanistan got you killed or wounded."

"What about now? Do you feel lucky?" Viv asked.

"Yes, finding you was lucky."

She flashed those dimples at me.

"Maybe my luck has changed, too."

She looked up into my eyes.

"The first time I saw you, I was attracted to you, but I was engaged," She gave me a wicked grin, "now I'm not."

She threw her arms around me.

I half wanted to go with the flow. The sex would be good for a week or two, then there would be the inevitable lover's spat. The make up sex would be okay, and then the final break up would be devastating for both of us. No, I didn't want to do that, and I wasn't even sure why that was. We had no future together. She was way out of my league. I wanted to kick myself as I passed on this opportunity to get this beautiful woman into bed with me, but her happiness was important to me, and I didn't want to add to her heartbreak. Being a gentleman sucks sometimes.

She looked up at me when I did not return her passionate kiss.

"What's wrong?" she bit her lower lip.

"I don't want to be your rebound lover."

She stood back and frowned at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever been dumped?"

She thought for a moment and grimaced at an unhappy memory.

"In high school, just before the prom."

"What happened with your next boy friend?"

"Not much, he didn't last long," she thought for a moment, "I acted like a jerk to him."

"Why did you act that way toward him?"

She frowned as she tried to recall what had happened.

"For some reason, I couldn't trust him, and I was a controlling bitch, and I may have been mean to him because I was still angry at my fromer boy friend. If I saw him now, I'd apologize."

I nodded.

"I did the same thing when I came back from Afghanistan. My first girl friend was a caring, loving woman. It's the kind of woman I like and that's why I'm attracted to you."

That drew a smile from her.

"I made her life miserable. I was controlling, manipulative, and I could not trust her. I broke up with her convinced that she was the problem. My mother set me straight. It took her a while, but I came to realize that I was the asshole. That's when I learned about the rebound lover."

"So what are you proposing? That we part and go our separate ways?"

I grabbed her chin and kissed her. She pulled herself into me, and I loved our skin to skin contact. I ran my hands down her naked back from neck to buns. She responded by grinding her hips into mine. I did enjoy her urge to grind against me.

"No, let's be friends first. We can be lovers later if it seems like a good idea. You'll know when you're ready."

"How?"

"It's different for everyone. A great start is when you don't think about Steve every thirty seconds."

That hit a chord with her. She dropped her head hiding her eyes.

"I think about him a lot. So how do we proceed?"

"We visit with each other when we want to. We share each other's day."

She took a step back and shook her head.

"You're hard on a girl's ego. First I get dumped by my fiance, and then you turn me down when I throw myself at you."

I pulled her in and hugged her.

"I'm not stupid enough to turn you down. It's a rain check. I want the confident, sexy woman I met last week. She's gone for a while, but she'll be back. In the meantime, there's this perfectly nice, incredibly beautiful woman that I find fascinating."

I took her arm and walked her toward the gazebo.

"What are the ground rules? Can we kiss and hug?"

"Sure," I thought for a moment, "No tongue, or groping though."

She reached behind and pinched my bare ass while giggling.

"What about that?"

"No."

"What if I accidentally brush my hand across your genitals?"

She gave me a quick feel.

"No."

"Purple nurple?"

I grabbed both of her hands. "No. Leave my nipples alone."

She pouted.

"This isn't going to be any fun. It sounds like I'm going to have to strut around naked to get a rise out of you."

We ended the evening with an almost chaste kiss. There may have been a little tongue involved. I had to respond in kind. I'm not made of stone.

Sundays were a light day at work. The day still started at six, but I was done at ten. Sunday was the one day we did not provide an evening meal and lunch was a station where people could make sandwiches. I made a ham and cheese sandwich for myself in the kitchen at the crew house then prepared to spend the rest of the day sunning myself and reading. The other college kids, looking odd in clothing, headed off to Traverse City to shop and bar hop.

The book I was reading did not hold my attention. I pictured Viv lonely and crying. I snapped the book shut mid afternoon and wandered down to the lake where I spotted a garish yellow boat floating off shore. The woman in it waved at me when I wandered to the end of the dock.

It was Viv, and I wondered how long she'd been waiting there. I dove into the water and swam out to the boat.

"Are you still free today?"

"Yeah." I grabbed the gunwale so I wouldn't have to tread water.

"Hop in. I'll row you to the island. I've packed a picnic dinner."

I swam around to the stern where I hoisted myself into the boat with all the grace of a beached walrus.