This is my
Literotica 25th Anniversary Challenge
story.
This story is a work of fiction, as are the characters and events. All characters are over the age of 18.
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25 Years Ago
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It was the end of August, and I would be leaving tomorrow to return to college for my senior year. I had put away and organized the gardening tools, just as Mia liked them, and was waiting for her inside the new gardening shed here at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. There was but a single window, but it did not point in the direction from which she would approach.
When I saw the Help Wanted ad for a gardener helper on Mackinac Island earlier this year, I decided to apply. My family had vacationed on the island for many years. We could not afford to stay at the Grand Hotel, but rented a cottage further away on the water, and my memories were mostly happy, except for a few issues at times with my twin sister. But we had gone to separate colleges, and I rarely saw my sister anymore, except at holidays.
Mia was the head gardener at the Grand Hotel, in her early forties, but due to her physical outdoor work, she looked much younger. I had learned many things from Mia over the summer, about growing and caring for flowers, and about sex.
When I arrived in May, I was disappointed to learn how slow the pace of life was here on the island. It was one thing to visit for a week, do the different things on the island, and then leave, but quite another when all the different things became the same things you did last week.
I would take solo bike rides around the island, and one Sunday, Mia came up behind me and said hello. We rode together for a while, and then she pulled over at the start of a little path into the woods that I had overlooked and ignored. She led me along the path, single file, and we emerged at a small secluded cove. It was a beautiful spot.
We sat on the pebble shore and talked for hours. Mia lamented the lack of single men her age on the island among the seasonal and permanent residents. Many were retired couples or families. She challenged me to stone skipping, thinking she had the advantage of living on the island, but I had made the most of my childhood visits, and managed one rock with eight skips.
As the weeks passed, Mia and I went biking as often as we could, and started hiking into the hilly center of the island. Mia seemed to know the names of every wildflower, and where to find them, and when they bloomed. Mia had a great attitude on life, and could be seriously funny at times.
I had, of course seen Sunset Rock, but never stayed for the sunset because the trail was difficult to find, in both directions, and feared it would be especially so after dark. One evening, Mia invited me there to watch the sunset, and as the fading rays no longer cast their glorious colors onto the clouds, Mia took my hand, and we kissed.
Using flashlights, we quickly found the way back to our bikes, and peddled back to the hotel in the fading twilight. Mia led me willingly to the gardener's shed and we had sex in the darkness. Our hands substituted for our eyes, as we completely explored each other's naked bodies. Over the summer, we met often in the gardening shed, each time as special as the first.
The door to the shed opened, and I blinked from the brightness surrounding the lean, backlit figure. As my eyes adjusted, I could see the smile on her face. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and was dressed in Levi jeans and a white T-shirt. She looked more like one of the other young helpers than the head gardener.
As she stepped inside and closed the door, she latched the door from inside, using the hook I had installed back in June.
"It was a hot one today," said Mia. "I'm really sweaty and dirty."
"So am I, Mia. But I'm leaving tomorrow, and after all the hard work we did together this summer, that's the way I want to remember you."
Mia crossed her arms and grabbed the hem of her T-shirt, pulling it up over her head. As she removed her bra, I marveled at the shape of her perfect, round breasts, which showed no sign of age.
"Well, don't just stand there watching me, Dennis, take your clothes off too!"