(Thanks again to Kenji Sato who has been my editor for all my stories...)
Fiona...In her own words:
That morning, after I had said my goodbyes to Gail, Joe picked me up in his Prius for the drive to Karen's. This was to be a different situation; I would no longer be a 'charity case.' I could, and indeed needed to, pay my own way. Karen needed the money; her place in the hills was a new adventure for her also, and there was a lot she needed to do, to make the place her own.
To help with expenses, she had converted an outlying building to rental space. I was going to pay five hundred dollars a month, to live in a former stable; but, a stable with a bedroom, a bath, and even a small kitchenette. For the area, that was a remarkably cheap rent. It was understood that Karen would need help with some of the chores, and I was okay with that. I was in pretty good shape, but some manual labor wouldn't hurt in toughening me up.
When I had the office job 'in the city,' I trained for triathlons. My debauched life with Maisey (see the first of this series, "Fiona Betrayed") did not make me fat in the sense of being overweight; but, severely diminished by muscle tone. Alcohol and junk food were not healthy; but, at least, our marathon rounds of sex kept the weight off me. Maisey was a bigger girl to begin with, and she ballooned in our brief time together... long story.
Now, I planned to train for the mountain running that is popular in this area -- real trail running -- sometimes, cross-country. It sounded like fun and would get me outside, when most of my work would be sitting on my ass at home gazing at the computer screen and keyboards.
I got a look at some of the terrain that I would be covering, at least in training, on the way to Karen's. It was an almost continuous climb into the hills for the three-quarters of an hour drive; Joe said we gained about a thousand feet of elevation from the valley floor where Gail's place was. We turned off the state road about a mile from Karen's onto a local road; paved, but narrow. Forest and ravines lined both sides of the road until we saw a tree-lined, overgrown field to our left. An overgrown gate faced the road.
"Technically, that is Karen's driveway to her house. At least the town thinks so; but, it was never a practical route for passenger cars, so most people approach her property from the side road -- but even that, is too rough for the Prius. That is why Karen drives that old SUV."
Joe carefully pulled off the narrow road and parked. After he locked the Prius, we hiked up the lane which was named Lily Pad Road. I guess there was a pond at the end of the road at one point, but it had followed a kind of natural progression from pond to swamp and marsh; and was now, just a dried out depression, except for time of heavy rain or after the spring melt, when it would revert to a 'vernal pool' giving it official protected status. Not likely anyone was going to build around Karen's house.
The lane was lined with trees -- maples, ash, birch -- all second or third growth trees. They were mostly smallish and slender, but enough of them in with spring foliage that they screened Karen's property from anyone who might chance down Lily Pad Road.
I heard Karen before I saw her; or rather, I heard her working on her property. Someone was wielding a chainsaw, near the small house that was just visible down the path Joe and I were taking through the boundary grove. A short woman, a little taller than me, with *ahem* a robust physique was dressed more or less appropriately, in the kind of protective gear folks donned when using a chainsaw. A hard hat, protective face shield, hearing protection, gauntlets, heavy boots and chaps, worn over baggy overalls that apparently were worn over... nothing. The top of the bib overalls did a poor job of containing her big floppy tits, which were sunburned along with her thick exposed arms, which were browner than her boobs, which still tinged with pink. She apparently sensed, rather than heard, our approach because she lifted her head before she turned off the saw. Her face mask could not conceal her broad smile or the sunburned round cheeks; her face was covered in freckles, and her blue eyes twinkled with the enjoyment some people squeeze out of every second of their existence.
"Karen, this is Fiona... Fi for short."
Joe was making the assumption that Karen and I would be friends... and from my first impression of Karen, I was pretty sure he was right.
"Hi Fi. That sounds like 'high five,' a good omen," Karen laughed.
I was to find out that laughing came as easy to Karen as breathing did.
"What do you say, Fi, how 'bout we work out our own nicknames?"
"Yeah, that sounds fine." I don't believe it. I actually lowered my eyes and shuffled my feet shyly, like a little girl meeting a beloved elder -- what is going on?
As the Italians -- the Sicilians -- say, I was struck by the thunderbolt... I was in love.
Karen looked at me with great affection; but, I did not get the feeling that she was hit by the same thunderbolt, or rather, that she had been hit by that thunderbolt many times before, and had learned to dodge it.
"Come, let's get out of the sun." Even though it was only late April, the sun was hot on this day; with still air and clear skies. "I have some iced tea inside."
Joe with his pale skin was always happy to get out of the sun. "Okay by me. I can't stay too long, I have to leave as soon as Fi is settled in with you."
Karen leaned over to me and whispered conspiratorially, "Joe's wife, Joan, keeps a tight rein on him. I don't think he has touched another woman in forty-five years... now, men are another matter -- that is her blind spot." With that, she giggled lasciviously, staring directly into Joe's eyes.
"Okay, I can take a hint, you all can talk freely without me around; and I really DO have to get home." With that, Joe kissed Karen on the cheek, as she held him tightly with her hands on his waist, and did she... BLUSH?!?! Having said his goodbyes, Joe turned and started walking back to his car.
I looked wonderingly at Karen. To her credit, she could read me very well for knowing me for such a short time.
"Yes Fi, you had pegged me as a shameless old lady. Why should I blush from a kiss on the cheek? Well darling, it was not the kiss... I blushed because I can still give Joe a hard-on even after almost fifty years."
"But wait, you said Joe never cheated on his wife... with a woman -- now it was my turn to blush.
