It had been planned for a long time. The ultimate 18-day holiday in the sun. Just me and my partner on a small island in the outer reaches of the Bahamas, the Abaco Islands.
Everything about it was great. From the long haul flight from London to Miami, a night at a great hotel there with a fabulous Italian meal and the small plane which took us to Treasure Cay from where we got a boat to our Island, Green Turtle Cay.
On arrival we were met with a stretch golf cart to take the bags and us to our suite. The suites were fantastic, a huge room with a full kitchen and lounge. Best of all no TV and no 'phone.
This was going to be fabulous.
Pretty soon we realised that we were a little different from the normal clientele. We had booked for 16 days on this island and most of our co-guests were only there for two or three nights, island hopping and then moving on.
The majority of the guests were American and we were no strangers to them having been in the US on many occasions.
We enjoyed the small town, went on boat trips and swam with dolphins. Beach parties and get togethers were impromptu and great fun. The other guests were mostly couples and after a week or so we got used to meeting with people for pre-dinner drinks on the shared balconies of the suite, listening to the surf roll in over the coral.
It was the perfect situation as no sooner had we got to know some of them than they moved on, sometimes sharing e-mail addresses for the future, sometimes not.
After about a week we came back from breakfast to find two new neighbours had just moved in.
They were two sisters, one from New York and the other from Cleveland. Helen and Mary and you couldn't have put together two more different individuals.
Helen was (she told us) married to a lawyer, lived in New York and was taking her sister to the Bahamas for a holiday she couldn't afford. Aged about 63 and tanned, she was well dressed and obviously well off. Mary was a couple of years younger than her but had not had the benefit of her sister's money. She had an attractive face but was much fatter and very dark hair against her elder sister's blonde.
It was evident when you saw them out together. Helen wore designer gear and her sister although outwardly well dressed was in T-shirts and cut off trousers, more Wal-Mart than Bloomingdale's.
They were at the resort for three nights. We bumped I to them on the first night on the balcony and made small talk.
Later that night we saw them again, after dinner in the bar of one of the other resorts. It was evident that Mary had a tendency to get drunk and her sister didn't approve. I bought them a couple of drinks and we chatted, mainly about holidays. Mary and I were the only smokers so while my partner chatted mainly to Helen I was chatting to Mary. Some of the conversation went back to her home life and I got the impression she had a pretty hard time of it with a pig of a husband and this holiday was a fantastic experience for her.
After that we kept bumping in to them during the day and we found they were booked on the same trips as us so we got on quite well.
Thursday was their last day. The resort always had a great calypso/reggae band on Thursdays with a barbecue and dancing. We went. The sisters had been out and came to the dancing having had a good time somewhere else by the evidence of Mary's state when they joined us.
As the only man I dutifully danced my way through all three ladies and my partner was approving feeling as I could see a little sympathy for the other two. I was 42 and my partner 36 so we were a good few years younger than the ladies.
The fun went on until about 1.30 and the band wound up. Helen and Mary had handed back their hire golf cart so I offered them a lift back to the suite.
Somewhat glad that the evening was over I made my way into the suite and retrieved some cigarettes, returning to the balcony and finding drinks being poured again and music from a CD player. My partner had invited the ladies for a nightcap.
Mary was obviously very drunk and was dancing very badly. Her sister had retreated to one of the lounging chairs and was talking to my partner.
Mary decided she needed some cigarettes and so went back to their suite. On her return she was heard to say "this place is fabulous but what on earth does anyone do for a fuck round here?"
All three of us heard the comment, Helen choosing to ignore it and my partner looking at me in puzzled amazement.
The comment and the drink and the balmy warm evening got me looking at Mary in a different way. Suddenly I could feel a stirring watching her dance and move and I was enjoying feelings I would not normally have entertained.
Helen finished her drink and announced that they had a plane to catch in the morning. Mary complained but the decision had been made. The two ladies wandered into their suite next door and my partner and finished our drinks and went into ours.
Despite the nightcap being cut short I still could not stop feeling very horny towards Mary. We got into bed and made love for about half an hour after which my partner fell asleep, the result of good sex and a lot of booze!
I couldn't sleep. I was still thinking of Mary.
After about 15 minutes I was confident that my partner was in a deep sleep. I slipped out of bed and put on a T-shirt and some deck shoes. I was naked underneath but the T-shirt was oversized.
I picked up my cigarettes and opened the door to the suite very quietly. I let myself out and closed the door, taking care not to wake my partner.
I knew that my partner was out for the count but just in case I sat on the opposite side to the ladies' suite and smoked a cigarette to give myself another ten minutes or so.
I wandered over to the opposite side of our balcony, divided from the ladies' suite by a small fence. I leaned on the fence and lit another cigarette, this time letting the lighter click several times and keeping the flame alight far longer than was necessary.
I turned my back on the window and looked out to sea.
After about two minutes I heard the door latch and the door to the ladies' suite was opened. Mary came out and closed the door; still evidently the worse for wear, as the door did not close too quietly.
She looked at me and I smiled and put my finger to my lips to indicate quiet. She came over and stood on the other side of the fence next to me. She was barefoot and wearing, like me an oversize T-shirt.
"I couldn't sleep," I whispered, "thought a cigarette and another drink would help"
"Helen takes pills," said Mary " she won't wake until about 10.00."
I poured two gins and the remnants of the tonic from the bottle and we started to drink. I gave Mary a cigarette and she put her drink on the shelf of the balcony.
"so" I asked " did you have a good time here on the island"