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.