Thinking Marriage

CHAPTER 1

Stressed-out from working under pressure in marketing at Roebuck Industries for nine years, the last two as a marketing director, Louise Flint resigned, and signed in to a health resort after leaving.

During idle chat, one of her therapists suggested it was time she should marry.

Louise sighed. She'd often thought she should do that before her ovaries calcified but then a new crisis would hit and she'd not have time to focus on personal fundamentals. But this time was different... she'd escaped the grind and high-risk burnout.

Men were not unknown to Louise. Now thirty-two, she'd been sexually active since she was nineteen and usually had enjoyed 'messing about'. The thought of finding a mate had suddenly been firmly implanted in her mind. She knew it would be not easy to find a good mate but she ought to be able to pull it off. So when Louise's three very expensive weeks of being mollycoddled ended, she walked away into what she hoped would be her new life.

Regrettably it seemed little had changed.

The blue-eyed and tall blonde was still alone, her parents these days living in Hawaii and her married brother lived in England and her sister worked as a ski instructor in Austria. It suddenly hit Louise she knew little about real life, that her life had revolved round corporate life. Where would her husband come from? The only men she associated with to any real degree where work colleagues, clients and males at the golf driving range and her tennis club.

She sighed. The problem was she had no plan but at least she now appeared more relaxed and de-stressed. That was a big plus.

It was mid-afternoon and she no longer possessed an apartment, having signed over the remainder of her lease before going into the health farm.

Gregan near where the 'health farm' was located was a small, pleasant town. She thought she should book into a hotel and attempt to plan her future. She yawned and thought how boring and went into a café for coffee, picking up the morning newspaper. The front page had a picture of three abandoned kittens and the stories were about mayhem from round the world apart from the lead story that featured complaints about the town water supply, with one critic describing it as 'reminiscent of cat's pee."

Obviously Gregan was big into cats, kittens and mayhem, she surmised, aware that was a jaundiced view and wondered how one became an authority on what cat's pee really tasted like, Louise thought she would only effect change to her personal life if she forced it and one way to help was to change her environment. She decided a beach near LA rather appealed. She picked up her hand luggage and pulled her big travel bag on wheels behind her, all her other possessions being in storage, and flagged down a cab. The cabbie put her things in the trunk and asked where did she wish to go.

"To the airport. I wish to fly to California."

"No from here you won't," he said, explaining that the nearest regional airport was eighty-five miles away.

"That's ridiculous."

"I don't locate airports ma'am."

"Well I'll drive to LA. Please take me to the most reputable pre-own car sales place in town."

The cabbie said there were all very similar.

She sighed and asked where would he go to buy a car for his wife? He said without hesitation, "Five Star Motors."

Louise paid the modest fare, tripled it with the tip and went into the showroom of Five Star Motors and decided the guy leering at her looked shifty.

"I'd like to deal with a female salesperson,"

He sighed and said they had none but the boss's wife was familiar with the inventory.

"Please call her."

"Gwen," he yelled and a motherly looking woman came from the office marked accountant.

Mrs Marks said she really didn't sell cars but guessed Louise wanted to buy from a woman. "You may test drive any of our vehicles."

"That won't be necessary Mrs Marks because I don't know how to test a vehicle but I can drive. For the past nine years I've always had a company vehicle. I trust you to sell me the best-valued and most reliable vehicle you have on this floor, but not those sporty things."

Louise drove off in a midnight blue metallic Buick LaCrosse CX, nine months old, with only 4800 miles on the clock. The previous owner, a widow, had traded in for a small hybrid sedan.

Two evenings later, still well away from Los Angeles, Louise asked herself why the hell was she going to California? Everyone she knew reckoned it must be a really pig of a place to live, although obviously they weren't from LA. She had no answer, realizing she was already in a new environment. She turned off the Interstate and entered the charming looking small city of Pickleford

"It's pretty," Louise said aloud, looking at the tree-lined streets. "A pity about the name of the place."

She booked into the largest hotel in town, having noted it had a heated swimming pool and two tennis courts. She took a small suite and was about to say two nights but changed and said for a week.

After showering and a cool drink Louise dressed in a white top and white shorts and white sneakers and went down and hired a racquet and a couple of balls hoping to find someone who'd invite her into a game.

Only a guy about fifty was there, serving from a big bucket of balls and sweating like a pig.

"Hi."

"Good evening."

"Want a couple of games?"

He was balding and hairy and she though ugh but then playing against him was preferable to hitting against the volley board.

"Okay, I'm Louise Flint."

"Hi Louise. I'm Harold Guest," he said, Louise recognizing the tone used by people who considered themselves big shots.

She hadn't warmed up and was a little tired from driving all day. His first serve almost took off her ear. She couldn't reach the second and third and she returned the next that she called was out but he ignored that and slammed it back out of her reach.

"You looked as if you could play tennis," he said, sounding rather dissatisfied.

"I can but you caught me by surprise. I'm rather tired having been driving all day."

"Excused, excuses," he said, not unpleasantly and she said she'd try to lift her game, and did so.

Louise was 0-30 down after two serves but felt she was in the groove, those first balls directed into the net.

"Come on Louise baby," he smiled.

Right asshole, she thought and sent down a sizzler, knocking the racquet from Harold's hand.

"Jesus," he said. "Was that a fluke?"

"No, my father was a tennis pro and trainer."

She finished up annihilating Harold 40-0, 30-40, 40-0, 30-40, 40-15 after running him around the court.

"I better quit while I'm ahead," she grinned.

"Asshole," he said panting and laughing. "You conned me. Look, meet me for drinks and I'll take you to dinner. I'm here to try out the restaurant. My company took over this hotel yesterday as a going-concern. The previous owning company went bust but fortunately for us most hotel employees have stayed on. You're a woman, you might like to tell me what needs changing."

"The first thing is to get rid of those orange feature walls; women don't like orange."

Harold looked at Louise with interest. "That's exactly what my wife told me this morning. She'll be joining us for dinner, um I mean if you accept."

"Ah so the dinner invitation was not a prelude to seduction?"

"No way young woman. If you engage in sex like you do tennis you'd kill me. I'm pushing fifty. Meet us in the Starlight Bar on the 11th at 7:00."

"Thank you Harold, I accept. You look worn out from tennis so I probably would have accepted even if Mrs Guest had not been joining us."

He laughed and told Louise she was all right.

A woman aged about fifty waved as Louise entered the bar and she assumed that would be Mrs Guest. As she drew closer she saw the blonde Mrs Guest had dark hair roots whereas her own blondeness, though highlighted, was natural. But what did it matter?

"Hi I'm Gina Guest. Sometimes known as GG because of my initials but my passion is horse riding. Harry asked me to apologize Louise. Our son Jack has arrived home a day early and Harry went to fetch him and bring him here to join us if you don't mind."

"No of course not but if you wish to have just a family meal..."

"No dear and after sighting you I'd like Jack catch sight of you. He's never married and I see you wear no rings."

"Match-making can be a perilous undertaking Mrs Guest."

"Please call me Gina. Harry is so much in awe of you I thought Jack would like to sight you, that's all. If you are here long enough he may take you to a movie or even take you flying. He has his own small plane."

"Gina that would be lovely but let's see what happens huh? Sometimes things are best left to happen. Do you simply grace your home and tend to the roses or do you work?"

"I'm financial controller of Guest Property Investments, a private company but with some mighty large investors including a bank and an insurance company. The company owns twenty-three commercial premises in this city, mostly on the main street, and seven plants and the local trucking company that operates into five other states."

"That sounds big business."

"Obviously you are or have been in business?"

"Yes I was with an industrial company that also operates plants in Canada and Mexico, the past two years as director of marketing, but I recently quit, feeling mentally exhausted and ready to try something a little slower."

"That sounds impressive. Would you be interest in acting as interim general manager of this hotel?"

"You are joking. You must know hotel management is a specialist occupation."

Gina nodded and sipped her martini. "The assistant general manager is fully qualified by she's only twenty-four and we feel not quite ready to step up because she's still learning people management skills."

"It would be best to seek a retired hotel manager to fill in."

"Yes that's one option we have considering. The specialist agency we have engaged to search for a new general manager for us is also looking to attract a fill-in officer. Just think about it and we'll talk about it with Harry and our operations manager."

"Who happens to be your son?"

"Ah yes, astute thinking but the point is if we can stitch up a deal with you we would bridge this impasse. This hotel has 186 rooms and twelve suites so we are obliged to keep it running smoothly."

* * *

Two days later the parties signed a contract underpinning the appointment of Louise as relieving general manager. The contract acknowledged she lacked professional skills in hotel management but possessed a PhD in business management that included financial and marketing management. Jack had flown her to Chicago where they had a four-hour session followed by lunch with a hotel management consultant and they came away confident that Louise would be able to 'wing it'. Felicity the assistant general manager was delighted to have the bridging arrangement in place.

Rhoda already felt an attachment to Jack but he'd been upfront and told her he was dating two other women and sometimes they'd date as a threesome. They'd grown up together and had been together through college. Jack would hug and kiss Louise on the cheek whenever they met or said goodbye but he'd yet to kiss her lips and press into her.

Louise really liked the dark-haired rugged looking guy who towered above her and having seen the two blondes he was running with was confident Jack would eventually decide which of the three was a real woman with both beauty and brains.

Two or three times Gina suggested she ought to try to influence Jack but Louise said no, that if it was meant to happen it would happen.

But it didn't.

After three months a professional hotel general manager took over.

Harry, as Louise now called Harold, wanted to create a position for Louise within the company as financial trouble-shooter but with winter approaching she decided to continue on and winter over in Los Angeles or elsewhere in Southern California.

She was given a great farewell party and as she was leaving for the first time Jack kissed her on the lips and pressed into her, whispering he wished she'd stay. That made her desperately unhappy. What a jerk, she thought, waiting till now to decide he felt some attraction toward her. Louise made Gina promise she would come to LA for shopping and to stay with her once she'd settled in.

* * *

Louise stopped off the Interstate and looked down on to the sprawl of LA and through the smog on a clear day thought she could make out the sea beyond.

She wept.

God she'd made a mistake coming here. She'd ignored the fact she didn't like big cities and even worst she'd come without a plan. She was no further ahead than four months ago.

She dried her eyes and thought what now? She had no idea but grabbed at the thought there would be many people feeling like this adrift, a stranger wherever they went. All she had to do was to make a positive decision that would make her happy.

Next day Louise sold her car for $890 less that what she'd paid for it. That didn't worry her and later that day boarded a flight to Honolulu and called her parents to pick her up. Arriving at LA airport to catch the flight she felt very happy again. She realized she was still adrift, facing life without purpose, but family was family and it would be great being with her parents again.

At the airport she called Gina Guest and invited her to visit her in Hawaii and to stay for a week or so.

"My parents have a guest house."

"Oh could I bring Harry?"

"Yes of course."

"Jack won't be able to accompany us."

There was no reply.

"Louise?"

"Jack is off my menu Gina but you and Harry are my closest friends away from the east coast. I'd like you both to come to Hawaii to allow me to thank you as your hostess for the kindness you showed me in helping me to stabilize my empty life. Until I met Harry on that tennis court I was going nowhere."

* * *

The Guests had to wait for a quiet period in their business arrived before they could take time off for a week's vacation together. It was almost a month after Louise had invited them before they arrived in Honolulu. She met them at the airport and the reunion was noisy and enthusiastic.

"God you are looking gorgeous, so tanned," Gina said and you look as if you belong here."

"I used to spend most summers here with my late grandparents and usually my mother."

"I spent some summers here too, but before you were born," Gina said.

They went across the island to Kaneohe and branched off to Kailua where the home was located overlooking the golf course of the Mid Pacific Country Club.

Charles and Sheryl Flint rushed out to greet them and Sheryl took one look at Gina as Gina got out of the SUV and said, sounding amazed, " Gina, Gina Lane?"

"Omigod, Sheryl Hoffman," shouted Gina and the two women threw themselves at each other and kissed and hugged passionately.

Charles shook Harry's hand and said dryly, "Apparently they have a past association."

"In our teens we spent summers together horse-riding and surfing and hanging out," Sheryl said happily. "Oh Louise why didn't you tell me about Gina?"

"Because I only know her as Gina Guest. God mom give me a break. The only real friend from your past that I really know is my godmother Renee."

Sheryl explained, "That's Renee Pahinui, now Renee Philips who lives on Maui at Ka'anapali with her family."

"Omigod," Gina screamed. "The Top Three together again maybe."

"Yes," Sheryl laughed. "Charles will rent a plane Thursday and fly us over to see her. Thursday is a good day for Renee because most guests move out Thursday morning and the new lot arrive on Friday morning."

Louise smiled as these days her mom rarely sparkled like this.

The next day Charles and Sheryl took Harry fishing. Louise never went fishing and Gina decided to stay and lounge poolside with her.

Late morning Louise began rubbing on oil and Gina said she'd do that.

Louise was surprised when Gina undid Louisa's bikini top and cast it aside. Gina's hands felt great on her back and her nipples began to stiffen under the massaging.

"Is that all?" Gina asked softly."

"Um yes, thanks, that was lovely. I'll do my front."

Gina said, "Um Louise?"

"Yes."

There was no reply.

"What is it?"

"Will you allow me to play with your breasts? They are so beautiful."

Louise's breath caught. God the older woman was hitting on her. She was about to say no way but heard herself saying okay she'd like that.

Gina stood and removed her one-piece swimsuit completely.

Sitting up on her solid wood recliner Louise was fascinated to see that Gina's pussy was totally bald whereas she only clipped hers. Gina slipped in behind her, legs astride the recliner.

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No I'm okay about this because it's you Gina and I accept this is what you wish to do."

"That's lovely of you," said the 48-year-old.

The pool area was very effectively screened and they could only be seen from the house but the others were away and would be gone for at least another three hours.

Gina was fiddling but nothing much was happening.

"Should I turn and face you."

"That would be lovely," Gina said, kissing the side of Louise's neck.

Louise stood and removed the bottom of her bikini.

"Oh god I'd like to get my mouth against that," Gina said, eyeing the pussy.

"Well let's go inside to my room. There's a lock on the door."

They hit the bed and immediately positioned into a sixty-nine. Louise looked with interest at the huge slit. The last time she'd touched another female like this was when she and Trudy Brown fingered each other as teenagers. Trudy was tight and after much squealing from her Louise has managed to work two fingers in. She now thought she could get her entire hand into Gina.

Gina paused from licking. "Get some fingers into me, as many as you wish. You'll make me come repeatedly. I only have my girlfriends these days because Harry prefers young wenches."

They had showered and changed by the time the fishing party arrived home, tired and with a big enough catch to last three days of meals.

After dinner the fishing party went to bed and Gina and Louise stayed talking.

"I'm sorry you and Jack didn't really get together."

"Do you know what the problem was Gina?"

"His penis was too big for you?"

Louise laughed. "No he was professionally jealous of me because I had higher qualifications and more work experience than he did although he's a year older."

"The stupid asshole," Gina fumed. "To think he let a woman of your caliber slip through his fingers."

"Gina could you tell me what's wrong with me? I can't seem to catch and hold guys."

"Darling it's a similar problem many professionally motivated women have. They are proficient, competitive and like nothing better than outsmarting a guy. Now how do you think how guys react to that? They stay well clear, that's what they do. That's why waitresses and hotel receptionists not training for higher management jobs get fucked so much. Guys regard them as being non-competitive."

"Christ Gina please tell me everything I need to know. I want to get married and have babies."

"Well darling for a start never tell a guy that. Wait to be told that's what they want from you."

"What marriage and babies?"

"Exactly In the early days of contact if you tell a guy you want babies he'll run a mile."

"Oh god, whenever a guy has asked me what I want out of life I've always said babies."

"And you were dumped?"

"Absolutely. Open your legs darling and I'll fist you. You have been so inspirational to me."

* * *

At the airport heading home, Harry and Gina looked as if they were being wrenched from paradise.

Louise knew it was an illusion because those two had lost their ability to share happiness. She hadn't the heart to tell Gina two afternoons ago she'd walked in on her mother to find Harry fucking Sheryl in the butt. They looked so obscene and we so grossly engrossed they hadn't noticed her until she screamed, "What the fucking hell are you two doing?"