Vacationing in Hawaii with his family, he found himself feeling lonelier than ever. He spent his days staring out at the vast blue ocean and lush green palm trees and wondering about his life, "Is this really all there is? Cold indifference, day in and day out, dealing with household details, going on family vacations with fake smiles...?"
So late one night, unable to sleep, he whispered to his wife that he was going for a walk. Getting her murmured acknowledgement, he slipped out the sliding door of his balcony and tripped noiselessly down the spiral staircase to the first level. The air was balmy and the breeze slight. Under the luminous full moon, he saw clearly the stone path that led around the hotel compound and out to the beach. Gingerly stepping from stone to stone and looking down, when he turned a corner he was startled to see that he was alarmingly close to one first floor balcony where the silhouette of a woman stood, facing away from him, gazing at the moon.
Unwilling to frighten her, he cleared his throat to announce his presence. Mission failed. She whirled around, gasping, with her arms wrapped around her chest. He realized instantly that she was topless. "Oh excuse me, I was just stepping out to the beach for some air..." he said, awkwardly.
He turned to rush off but was stopped when she said, "Wait... Your family is across the way, right? I heard you talking at lunch at the beach bar."
"Yes..." he replied.
"I'm here alone and I'd love some company. Mind if I join you on your walk?"
Before he could answer she disappeared, ducking back into her room. She emerged a moment later wearing a loose blouse with fringe from shoulder to belly button and cutoff jeans. She opened the gate from her patio and joined him on the garden path. "This way," she gestured, and he mutely followed, unsure of the protocol for a moonlit walk with a woman not one's wife.
The woman was slim and lithe and roughly his age. As they walked she told him where she was from, Southern Texas, where hospitality and good manners were the rule.