This is the third of five parts of my romantic novel. For continuity I recommend reading parts one and two first.
*****
For the first time at the resort I was alone at breakfast. Two girls eating at an adjacent table ask me about my missing friends. I explained what happened and that I would continue on vacation by myself.
"We were going to go into town and do a little shopping and touristy things. You would be welcome to join us," one of the girls said.
"If you won't mind I would like that. I don't have anything else to do."
"My name is Mindy. My sister here is Molly. We're from New York."
"John is my name, John Wilson." Nice to meet you both. Are you twins?"
She laughed. "How can you tell?"
The other one, Mindy, said "We're going to our suite for a few minutes and then be ready. We can call you."
"I'm in 302."
Mindy and Molly had arranged for a car and driver. "Robert will be joining us. My father said there are too many bad things that can happen to girls in this places. So Robert is our bodyguard. Don't think it strange if he doesn't join in the conversations."
Interesting. Perhaps an overly protective father?
I enjoyed our stroll around the little town. We checked out most of the shops and then stopped at a little cafe for lunch. Robert sat at an adjacent table.
Mindy and Molly were very pretty blonds. Tall and slender. They said they were juniors at Barnard, a very elite college in New York. On spring break. I couldn't help but compare them to my Janelle. My wife had been four years older than me. I was about four years older than these girls.
All the women I had played around with since Janelle were her age. It was nice to be with girls my age or in this case younger.
Returning to the resort we arranged to meet by the main pool.
"If you don't mind us asking, are you related to that couple you were with?"
"No. They are just a couple that I met back home. They asked me to join them on their vacation."
I could see the confusion on their faces, so decided to just be honest.
"With her husband's permission I was having sex with his wife, Patrice. She heard from some friends that I knew how to satisfy a woman. So we hooked up."
"What about her husband?"
"Sometimes he just wanted to watch. Other times she wanted us both. Mostly it was just her and me."
"Amazing. You seem like such an ordinary guy. Very good looking, but still..."
"I don't want you to think bad of me. Let me explain.
"Midway through college I met and fell in love with a beautiful woman. We had a wonderful relationship and married a few months later. She was my first and only lover. But we were married for only two years. She was killed by a concrete truck that ran a stop sign. I was devastated, as you can imagine, and became quite depressed.
"She and I were life partners. We could sit for hours and be totally satisfied just being together. We were lovers and best friends."
I stopped for a moment to compose myself.
The girls were momentarily silent. "You must have loved your wife very much."
"Yes, I did. And she loved me. She had a great personality, lots of friends. Smart. And beautiful. She was runner up in the Miss California pageant. Did I mention she was a successful writer. Had two novels on the NY Times Best Seller List. Quite a feat for a new writer, especially one so young.
"I quit my job and dropped out of the world for several months. A couple of months later I was approached by a woman friend who wanted sex with me. I think her intent was to shake me out of my funk. My wife would brag to her close friends about my expertise in bed. So the word was I was quite a stud. Two other women came forth for their turn.
"This was pure sex. Enjoyable enough but without emotional attachment. But it did divert from the hurt within me. The women confirmed my reputation as a stud. Other women came to my bed.
"Patrice and her husband were part of that crowd."
"What was your wife's name?"
"Janelle. Janelle Wilson, our name. Her pen name was Janelle Martin."
"I know that name!," Molly (or was it Mindy) exclaimed. "Wait right here." She dashed to their suite and came back with a book. Janelle's second novel.
"I just love this book, I'm reading it for the second time. Oh, here's her picture on the dust cover. She is beautiful."
"You poor man. What a loss."
"I have fond memories, just not enough of them. We were together for less than three years. I feel like something died in me also. I'm not the same person without her.
"I'm really glad that you like her book. She was very proud of it. It was very successful. There is talk about making it into a movie.
"Oh, that reminds me. You might like to know that her third novel will be coming out soon. She had it almost ready and I finished it up. The author will be listed as 'Janelle Martin with John Wilson'. The dust cover will have a photo of the two of us. And a well known literary critic penned a short eulogy about her life.
"Take a look at her picture again. Both of you could have been her sisters, there is such a resemblance."
We agreed to meet later and go into town for dinner. Maybe it was that resemblance, or the fact that the girls were young. But I liked being around them.
"How do I tell you girls apart? You truly are identical twins."
"Oh, we really are different from each other. More in personality than in looks. I'm a home body. Bye the way I'm Mindy. And my sister is more outgoing."
"There are physical differences but we're going to keep you guessing for a while," Molly added.
We talked at length at dinner. Mostly about our families. Molly and Mindy had a sister one year younger. Their father was an international businessman. Mindy said he was quite wealthy with a big home in Southampton on Long Island. He was a self made man. His parents had been of modest means. He worked odd jobs for college and had a partial scholarship. He insisted his daughters also work during the summers. Last year Molly was a nurses' aid and her sister was a sales clerk.
Their mother gave much of her attention to them when they were growing up. Since then she became involved in community charity work. They were a close-knit family.
"Security is important to Dad. He travels with a body guard This trip was our first major trip away from home, other than college. This island is considered quite safe but Dad said bad things can happen anywhere, especially to two young ladies. So we traveled with Robert. He's former Special Forces."
