I was officially a mess. Or my life was, that is. At the age of 24, I was burned out.
After I had graduated from college two years ago, I had married a guy I went to school with. He was a nice guy, but we were both too young, both of us not willing to clip our wings just yet. More than that, since the age of 8, I had been in beauty pageants. I was now officially sick of pageants, but didn't know any other way to make money. I had earned a Bachelor's degree in Literature, but was unsure of what to do with it, other than I found it interesting. In short, I was a confused kid and therefore moved back home.
I was a Southern Belle in every form of the word and my parents, in the deep south, welcomed me back home with open arms. I was not really sure what I should do. Should I get married again? Well, there was no one I wanted to marry. I knew I had to find some way to make a living, so I started entering pageants again, if for nothing more, then at least something to do while I figured myself out.
A recent pageant I had been in had opened me up to a world of modeling that I found much more comfortable than pageantry. I was much more comfortable with modeling, as I had no camera shyness, but I did have stage fright. I was prone to modeling in one-piece swimsuits, conservative two-piece swimsuits, underwear and night gowns - some of which I got to keep. I was offered bikini modeling jobs, and offers sometimes even wearing less, but I turned them down out of pride.
One evening, after coming home from a date, I plopped down on the couch and started watching television. My Mom sat in her usual armchair like an old lady, though she was only approaching 50. She began to chat about my father.
"Well, you know your father," my mother said. "He'll give you the shirt off of his back if you're his friend. You remember me telling you about Lou? Lou Scheffler?
"What?" I asked, pulling my attention from the TV to my mother. "Lou Who?"
"He's a friend of your father. Anyway, he's just coming off a rough patch with his wife - or ex-wife - and he's moving down here for a change of pace. We're letting him move in with us temporarily."
"What?" I asked her, sitting up. "You're letting a stranger move in the house?"
"No darling, I've met him several times before, and your father knows him well. He's going through a rough divorce like you, and he's trying to get back on his feet. His old shrew of a wife nearly took all his money."
"My divorce wasn't rough, Mom. I was okay with it. But why didn't you ask me before you made any decisions? I mean, I live here too, I have a say in the matter."
"Darling, it's no big deal," mother said. "He'll only being staying with us for a short while until he finds a place of his own down here and gets a job."
"Well, where will he sleep?" I asked.
"We're going to give him the guestroom."
I could feel my temper rise at first, but then I just took pity on the man and decided it would be a good idea if he moved in. He was struggling, just like so many people. From the rest of our conversation I learned that he had been working in the auto-factory industry that had laid so many of it's devoted workers off. I also learned he was in his early 50's. I imagined him rather old, but maybe attractive. My dating life had not been as smooth as it once was; in other words, sex - by no choice of my own - had not been as often an activity as I would've liked. I was becoming more open to the idea. I just hope he wouldn't cramp my style.
The guest room was on the first floor down the hallway, right below my room. The day had come for Lou to move in. I was glad we were helping a fellow citizen in his time of need, but mainly I just wanted to see if he was cute. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), that day I had to go to work and could not help Lou move in.
In the photo shoot that day, I was prancing around in conservative two-piece swimsuits or one piece swimsuits on the beach. The photographer, at first, wanted very rigid, posed shots. After a while, my muscles got sore from all the stillness. He could sense my energy and encouraged me to use it. I jumped and did handstands in the sand, tried to do ballerina moves while he clicked away. And it was back to more rigid, posed shots. By the time I got home, I was looking forward to a bath to ease my stiffness.
After seeing an unfamiliar car in the driveway, I walked in the house, eager to meet my new stranger. My mother called for me from the kitchen.
"Darling! Come in here, I want you to meet someone."
I walked into the kitchen to find my Mom and my stranger, my Mom cleaning up the dining room table and my stranger at the sink doing dishes.
"Hi Mom...Hello Lou," I said to him extending my hand.
He turned around completely and smiled at me. "Hello Leah, nice to meet you."
I grinned. "Nice to meet you, too. Did I miss dinner?"
"Yes," my mother cut in. "But I saved you your portion. It's in the fridge, you can heat it up later - or now - if you want to."
"Thanks Mom. Yeah, later. I have to take a bath, my back hurts."
I went upstairs and went into my bedroom. It was a very pretty, large room with a connecting bathroom. I started to fill up the tub for myself and undress. I gathered up all the things I needed for my bath - stuff that wouldn't fit on the shower shelves - like shaving cream and my hairbrush. It was much easier to comb through my locks when they were wet. Less tangles and so forth when it dried.
I had a slim body with curves and had a short stature of 5'1" with long, fluffy, wavy red hair and green eyes. Though I was a grown woman, I had often been told I looked "teenage-ish." I may have only been a B-cup, but a B can be quite big and fleshy, in my own personal opinion, as was in my case.
I eased in the tub and thought about our new guest. I sighed when I thought of him. He stood a slightly short height, maybe 5'7" or so. His waist was a little thick, but it made his frame and chest look bigger and manlier. His hair was graying and his eyes were a powdery-blue. He had a friendly look to him, like he was a kind man. Very handsome.
I sat up in the bath and started to lather up my legs with shaving cream for a shave. I started to shave along the shinbone, which is the most sensitive part of leg for me, and I let out a yelp. I had just cut myself.
"Ow!"
Now, it wasn't a horror-film scream, just a little yelp, but at that moment Lou busted into the bathroom. In a bubble-bath you can cover your body up some. But this was an ol' run-of-the-mill bath. There's nothing that could be hid except by a few strategically-placed suds.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
I looked at him, wide-eyed, appalled. "Get out!" I squealed, throwing my hairbrush at him.
He shielded his face, but the brush still managed to clonk him in the head. He covered his head further for more protection and hurriedly left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
I was flabbergasted. What was wrong with this pervert? I got out of the tub, perturbed, and put on my robe. I drained the tub and went into my bedroom. I shut my bedroom door and noticed a basket of my laundry on the bed that hadn't been there before. Then a light bulb came over my head. Lou had just been dropping off my laundry and with him being so close by, he heard my yelp, and thought I had been hurt, and burst into the bathroom. It was the only explanation I could come up with.
I had a habit of doing my laundry and then letting it sit in the dryer and generally causing irritation among my family members. Lou was probably trying to do his laundry and needed to clear out the machine, so he did so, bringing my clothes up to my room. Still, I was annoyed. I didn't like the thought of a stranger seeing my naked body.
I sat at my vanity. It had been my grandmother's. It had been a great big mirror and lights circling it. It had been restored when it was given to me. I sat down in my silk robe and started to dry my hair. First combing through the mess and then drying it with a blow-dryer. I was almost finished when I heard something behind me. I shut off the dryer and listened again. There was a knock at my door.
"Come in," I said, turning behind me to see who it was. It was Lou.
"Hi," he said awkwardly. "May I come in?"
"Yes," I said. "Sit down," I said motioning to a chair fairly near to where I was sitting. "Do you mind if I finish drying my hair first?"
"No, not at all," he said.
I turned the hair dryer back on and continued to dry my hair. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed him sitting in the chair and looking around my room. It was a very pretty room, mostly whites and pale pinks. It was my sanctuary and I made my bed every morning - "the shrine of love," I called it - even though, lately, no one had been using it besides me.
As I noticed him observing my room, my heart sank. I couldn't be mad at him anymore. It was an honest mistake. It undoubtedly was going to be difficult to live with a man, a man besides my Dad or my ex-husband. It was at this moment, thus far, I found myself more attracted to him than ever. He seemed to me a desperate man. He was a man who, I knew, was going to swallow his pride and apologize.
Setting down my blow-dryer, I faced him in my chair and smiled at him. "So what is it I can do for you?"
He leaned forward in the chair, his hands stroking one another. "Well, Leah, I just wanted to come up to apologize. I didn't mean to walk in on you like that. I-I heard you yelp and I thought you were hurt. I guess I overreacted. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," I said gently. "I know it was just an accident."
"It's been a while since I lived with a woman," he admitted. "My divorce was finalized not long ago, but she and I had been living apart for almost two years."