Author's note. I'd like to extend sincere thanks to two people who helped with editing this piece: TekNight and Screen. Thank you both for your contributions to making this story better. I know you said you didn't want credit, Screen, but you'll see from the final version you made a significant contribution. ;-)
*
Tuesday afternoon in late August found Jess reclined in a chaise lounge on a tiny deck adjacent to the cottage. She was enjoying the panoramic view of the lake to the west and the marsh to the east.
It was too hot to do much more than just sit. At least she was glad that she wasn't in the city for this heat wave.
Jess was enjoying the peace and tranquility of being at the cottage again. She found it rejuvenating to be away from her hectic job, obligations, and city life in general. She hadn't looked at her blackberry in days. She'd been here alone for four days and her mind was finally starting to rest.
She was thankful for the shade provided by the canopy over the deck. Thankful, too, for the breeze blowing off the marsh, which was only slightly cooler than the hot humid air, but at least the air movement over her skin helped somewhat.
She took a long satisfying drink from her glass of lemonade. The ice had melted and the glass was covered in beads of condensation -- evidence of the heat and humidity hanging in the thick August air.
Dog days.
The thought drifted lazily through her mind as she tried unsuccessfully to divert her attention away from the heat. She wiped the condensation off the glass and spread it lightly over her face, neck and chest, taking pleasure in the momentary cool as the warm breeze blew across her damp skin.
Being a weekday, many of the cottagers had gone home to the city for the workweek. There were always a small number of people that remained up north all week during the summer, but the mid-afternoon heat was keeping them off the docks.
She was enjoying the solitude and observing the nature that was around her. At first glance, there didn't appear to be much to see, but a little patience always revealed a bounty of life teeming in the marsh.
A great blue heron flew over the marsh from the south and disappeared beyond her view toward the north. A short time later, a bittern flew in and landed in a section of spongy ground in the middle of the marsh. She heard something splash near the south end of the marsh, where the jagged trees stood like guards, protecting the wildlife living there.
Butterflies, bees, dragonflies, and an array of other insects buzzed around in the tall grasses and wildflowers. She watched the bumble bees visit the lush planters full of flowers around the edge of the deck. Even though there was an array of flowers, they favoured the white and yellow begonias. It was so quiet she could hear them buzz as they flew from flower to flower.
The heat, gentle breeze and the sounds of the insects slowly lulled her to sleep.
Jess had a confused quasi-erotic dream. She'd been having a lot of those lately. It was full of disjointed imagery of nakedness and bodies writhing. She often awoke from these dreams feeling aroused and would sometimes masturbate to relieve the tension before she got up and started her day.
"Excuse me, Jessica?" Within her dream, she heard a deep sexy male voice from somewhere far off.
Then she heard it again, closer, more clearly. "Jessica?"
She awoke with a start, and realized the sexy male voice was attached to a man, standing at the opening to the screened deck. She was surprised and a little flustered, with the confusion of waking from sleep, waking from a dream, to realize someone was right there, talking to her.
Her eyes focused and quickly scanned up the muscular body to the source of the voice. He was wearing dirty running shoes with short white socks and loose grey cargo shorts. His tanned muscular calves were lightly sprinkled with golden brown hair. He had on an old white t-shirt with a faded logo. It was dirty and sweaty, as if he had been working. Through the thin t-shirt, she could catch faint impressions of a tight abdomen and muscular shoulders. His tanned arms were a darker brown than his calves and also sprinkled with that golden brown hair. She was really enjoying what she was seeing: a sexy man standing in front of her as she has just awoken from another erotic dream.
Her gaze continued to climb up to his face. Ruggedly handsome. Definitely younger than her. His short light brown hair was messy and sweaty, but looked like it had been styled that way. The skin on his face was tanned like his arms. He had an oval shaped face with a strong jaw, full lips, and piercing dark blue eyes.
She stared into his eyes, confused. Her brows furrowed as she looked at him. She'd seen those eyes before. Where had she seen him before? She was sure she would remember this man if she'd seen him before. Then it occurred to her he had called her by name. How did he know her name?
After a few seconds of gawking at him, she spoke groggily, "Sorry. I must have fallen asleep." She glanced quickly at her watch. She'd probably slept a little over an hour. It was nearly 4:00 p.m.. She glanced back at him. He smiled sweetly at her, with affection. She tried to shake the dazed grogginess and figure how she knew this gorgeous man standing in front of her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Jessica, I didn't mean to startle you," he started apologetically, "It's just that I'm renovating the bathroom." He gestured toward the small cottage next door. "The water has been turned off and my dad said you'd be here this week and I might be able to use the bathroom over here."
Then it clicked. "Bobby?" she exclaimed with a combination of surprise and delight. He smiled broadly as realization crept into her face and a smile spread across her lips and jumped into her eyes, alighting the features on her face. Her gaze moved quickly over his body again, coming back to his eyes. He noticed the shift in her gaze and a knowing look came across his eyes for just a second. Looking the way he did, he'd probably gotten used to being checked out. "Oh my god, Bobby, look at you! You're...you're a man!"
He laughed heartily and replied, "Well, yeah, people grow up in ten years."
Bobby was the son of Bill and Debbie who owned the cottage next door, the only other cabin that shared the little ridge between the lake and the marsh where Jess' mother and stepfather's cottage was located.
"Has it really been ten years since I saw you?" Bobby nodded. "Wow. You look amazing," she said a little too emphatically.
"So do you," he replied. He allowed his gaze to travel away from her eyes for the first time since she'd woken up and made eye contact. It occurred to her momentarily that she didn't know how long he'd been standing there before he'd woken her. His gaze scanned quickly down her body and back up again. She saw a look cross his eyes, only to be quickly replaced by a sweet smile. She'd seen that look in men's eyes before. He was better at being subtle about it than most men.
She realized suddenly that he was getting a pretty good view of her, lying on the chaise in her skimpy light blue tank top with no bra and matching short skirt. It was too hot to wear much more, and besides, she'd thought she would be alone the entire week up here.
She looked down at her body to make sure everything important was still covered. She was showing an ample amount of her large round breasts, but at least she hadn't shifted in her sleep causing anything to fall out embarrassingly. However, her slightly hard nipples were clearly visible. Obviously those could not be attributed to being cold. She pushed away images from her dream that were playing around the edges of her mind.
"How old are you now, Bobby?" she asked.
"Twenty-four," he replied, looking a little proud of himself, "and I go by Rob now. Aunt Edna is the only one who still gets away with calling me Bobby."
Jess smiled remembering his mother's older sister, Edna: a woman who dressed and acted way older than she was, way too soon. Jess realized she hadn't seen Edna in nearly 20 years. She was probably 11 or 12 the last time she'd seen Edna. It struck her again, as it had recently, that she could now say she'd known people for 20 years. It made her feel old.
"Oh, sorry..... Rob." She said his name deliberately, trying it on for size. It seemed to fit him; although she still couldn't help associating him with the name Bobby.
Images of an awkward, gangly 14-year-old Bobby sprang to her mind. She remembered him following her around like a lost puppy that summer. He'd grown several inches since the previous summer and was tall and thin and uncoordinated. His voice had been cracking from time to time as well. That was last time she'd seen him. She had been 20 years old then, on summer break from her second year of university. She had moved to Vancouver for her undergraduate and graduate studies. After second year she stopped coming home during the summers.
Hearing her say "Rob" the way she did, he flashed that gorgeous, oh so grown-up, sexy smile of his. That certainly helped her to disassociate this person in front of her from images of an awkward 14-year-old boy. The look in his eyes was certainly not that of a boy.
"Well, I should apologize in advance in case I slip and call you Bobby again." Jess added, smiling.
"I'll forgive you, Jessica," he replied, smiling with his eyes. "So.... ten years. That must make you..." he said trying to estimate her current age.
"Yeah, I just turned 30," she replied ruefully, then added "and I'm still Jess. Jessica is so formal."
"Well you look awesome, Jess. If I didn't know, I'd never guess you were 30. I'm sure you still get carded, don't you?"
Jess smiled at the compliment, and laughed out loud, realizing it was true. She had been asked to show ID at the liquor store just a few weeks ago.
"So, you wanted to use the bathroom, right?" He nodded, and she continued, "Go on in. You know where it is. The place hasn't changed much."
"Thanks," he said, as he turned toward the cabin.
Before he stepped away, she added "Why don't you grab us a couple of beers or coolers or whatever you want from the fridge. I'm sure you must be boiling. You picked bad weather for renovating."
"Sure," he said, smiling. She watched his muscular shoulders, ass, and leg muscles move as he walked the couple of steps to the cabin door and disappeared inside.
After the door closed, she lay back in the chaise. Memories came flooding in of summers at the cottage when they'd been kids. Since she was 6 years older than him, there had been too much of an age difference for them to be close friends. He constantly wanted to tag along with Jess and her sister, and since he was a sweet and considerate kid they didn't mind. When she had been 11 or 12, they had played with him a lot and included him in fun kid activities like catching minnows, crayfish and frogs in the marsh, swimming in the lake, or playing hide and seek. But as Jess got into her teenaged years, she started to think she was too cool to hang out with a little kid, too grown-up to do little kid stuff. She shook her head, embarrassed about not being nicer to him then.
Looking at him now, he almost didn't seem like the same person--except for his eyes. His dark blue eyes had always been striking. They conveyed so much depth, even wisdom. More than you would expect from a typical 24-year-old guy.
Mind you, Bobby had never been a typical boy. One of the aspects of being an only child was that he'd spent a lot of time conversing with adults. He had always been highly intelligent and inquisitive. His parents never talked down to him. They always tried to talk to him on their level and he was encouraged to ask about anything he didn't understand. Even as a child, he had often displayed wisdom beyond his years that astonished the adults. By the time he was 14, he was holding his own in adult discussions and debates. The term
