After that day, Laura avoided me completely. She disappeared from the bus and, when I tried to talk to her while she was waiting for her son to leave the school, she almost ran away, going inside the building, making it clear that she didn't want me to approach her.
I can't say I was in love with her and, in a broad sense, my life continued as before, but as hard as I tried I couldn't take Laura off my head. It wasn't only the sex or the excitement, there was something about her frailty, her lack of love and care that touched me and turned things inside out, making me the fatherly, caring one while she was the spooked, needy girl, except when it came to sex, where she was way more experienced than me. On the other hand, I had promised her that I wouldn't jeopardize her marriage and I would never, ever do anything that could put her in a bad spot, so I kept my distance even feeling miserable about it.
Two months after our first encounter, though, nature did its magic.
It was another Saturday and my girlfriend's aunt was having a barbecue for her twelve-year-old son's birthday. She lived in a big, spacious house with a generous backyard, not far from where I lived, and although I was going with my girlfriend I didn't know anyone else there, not even her aunt. As I soon as we got there my girlfriend, being the family girl she always was, left me mostly by myself to help her family serve refreshments and food, I was completely bored and alone for the rest of the day.
I started to walk around the backyard trying to find something to do, and suddenly I saw her! Laura was there! I couldn't help but admire the way she looked radiant in a floral summer dress, wearing a discrete but well-applied make-up and looking completely different from the woman I first met on the bus a few months before. I couldn't help but think that it was me, or my attention, that made her change, made her blossom again and find again the woman she was one day, instead of feeling lonely and miserable because of her jerk of a husband.
I was bewitched by her looks and kept looking at her, trying to get her attention without getting anyone else's, but she was so focused on the conversation with three of her friends that she didn't see me for minutes. Not able to restrain myself anymore, I decided to do something about it and, going into the kitchen, asked if I could help. As my girlfriend had already introduced me to her relatives, they commented how nice and polite I was for wanting to help out and gave me a tray with some refreshments to pass around.
I left the kitchen and tried to disguise my real objective for what seemed a long time for me, but was probably only a minute or so, and then walked directly to the group where Laura was, saying with a smile:
"Ladies, does anybody want something to drink?"
The four women looked at me at once, all smiling, but as soon as Laura recognized me I could see, out of the corner of my eyes, her surprise and the way she blushed almost immediately. While her friends were getting their drinks, I looked at her and, discretely, moved my lips, saying:
"I want to talk to you!"
Her eyes grew wide, but she didn't say anything, looking instantly to her feet trying to escape from my gaze, and as the other women had already taken their glasses I left, taking the tray back to the kitchen before going back to the same spot I was before. Once there, I kept looking at Laura, waiting for some sort of signal. I felt bad at first, as it was not my intention to make her uncomfortable and, judging by her behavior after our brief encounter, I did. She was almost silent, looking at me discreetly and briefly from time to time like someone that is trying to decide what to do, until several minutes later she apparently couldn't restrain herself anymore and, after excusing herself with her friends, looked at me for a few seconds and left, going towards the house.
Understanding that she wanted me to follow her, I did, trying not to be too obvious. She entered the house and, seeing that I was a few meters behind her, took the stairs to the second floor, floor that was completely empty at that point. I looked around and, making sure nobody was watching me, did the same.
I got to the top of the stairs and looked around, not finding her, until I heard a whispering voice saying:
"Daniel! Daniel!!!"
She was on the other side of the corridor, near the bathroom and behind a big plant. I smiled at her, that was looking like a teenage girl hiding from her parents, and almost ran there.
"Laura!!! Oh, I missed you so much!!!"
"What are you doing here? Are you crazy???"
"I... My girlfriend, her aunt owns this house."
"Theresa??? Oh, my god!!"
"W... What's the problem?"
"What's the problem???? The problem is that your girlfriend's aunt is married with my husband's brother!"
"No way!!!"
I laughed, and she scolded me like I was a naughty child.
"Stop laughing! Don't you see the mess we are into???"
"Why? Why would our mess be different because of that? They will never know, I told you! I don't want you to have any problems!"
"But even so, you materialized in front of me with a smile, giving me a scare I will never forget!"
She was clearly mad at me, and now I could see she had a point.
"I'm sorry, Laura... But... But you told me you would call and didn't, you avoided me when I tried to talk to you on your son's school... It's not fair. I... I miss you... I miss your smile, your kisses, your..."
I stopped midsentence, but I didn't need to finish. She almost melted, changing completely the way she was behaving, and said softly:
"Oh, Daniel, Daniel... Do you think I don't miss you, too? God, I can't remember the last time I felt what I felt that day... But... How? How can this not go horribly wrong?"
"We can... We can be discreet and see what happens..."
"And what WILL happen if someone finds out? What will happen to me, to my marriage?"
"What marriage, Laura? What marriage????"
My voice came out louder that I intended and I looked around, worried that someone could have heard me. Seeing that we were still safe, I continued in a softer tone:
"What marriage? You told me yourself that your husband hasn't touched you in years, that he had others... You even told me you knew the one he is seeing now!"
Her face changed completely, the same sadness I knew from before our first encounter coming back instantly, and I could see how cruel I had been.