They'd actually left him alone with her after all.
He was on a trip over a long weekend organized by a local hiking club. With the cold weather they expected to be the only ones around, but when they arrived the first night they'd met a mother and daughter.
The daughter would be around twenty-three if his math was right. He'd picked up in the conversations that she had gone into grad school straight out of undergrad, for a Master's in elementary education, and was in her second year.
He found her very appealing right away, even though she wasn't as conventionally attractive as the women he usually dated. She wasn't fat really, just a little extra, a certain softness. She was short with a round face, cute in her own way. She also just radiated warmth and positive energy. He felt like everybody was so jaded and cynical anymore, including, if he was being honest, himself. This girl was something different.
It was obvious that she was into him. Some girls would try to play it cool, but this one had a complete lack of guile. She wore it on her sleeve, gazing at him adoringly, pupils dilated. He liked being admired. Her mother was fond of him as well. Why wouldn't they be, he was a good-looking guy, successful, and personable.
Instead of sleeping in tents, they were staying in what was called a "hiker hostel." It was a rustic building down in the valley, right off the trail. There was a room for men and one for women, each with rows of single beds plus a bathroom with a shower.
There was also a shared living room with some beat-up couches and chairs, and a shared kitchen. At this time of year the place wasn't even staffed-you just dropped your ten bucks a night in an honor box.
They had invited the mother and daughter to join them for a six-mile loop hike that morning, and arrived back at the hostel by early afternoon. They had all gotten to know each other by then and hit it off pretty well.
He didn't know if this girl was really his type, plus the whole age difference thing, but he had been thinking all day about how it would be fun to fool around with her. But it was a moot point, there would never be any privacy, with all these people and her mom around.
The group had a shorter hike planned for the afternoon, out and back to a summit with a view. Everybody was congregating in the living room and he overheard that the mother wanted to join but didn't want to leave her daughter, who was feeling tired, here by herself.
"I think I'm just gonna hang back," he said to the whole group, trying not to blurt it out too enthusiastically.
He explained that he just wanted some downtime, and that much was true. He liked getting out of the city and into nature, but didn't need to fill every minute with activities. Of course there was an ulterior motive too.
"Oh... well maybe I'll go with them and see you a little later," said the mother. She took the bait!
There were some jokes made about "you kids have fun," etc. At age thirty-five, he happened to be the youngest of the hikers, everyone else ten or twenty years older.
After the group left they both went off to take showers. He ended up in the living room sorting through his gear, thinking about how she had no idea what was about to happen. He knew she was in the bedroom and headed down the hallway.
"So this is what the women's dorm looks like," he said, poking his head in and making a show of looking around the room.
"Yep, this is it!" she said in her chipper, high-pitched voice. She was lying face down on one of the beds, propped up on her elbows reading a paperback.
He ambled across the room and perched on the edge of the bed. "What are you reading?"
"Oh, it's this great fantasy series!" she said, and launched into a whole description. He nodded along but wasn't really listening.
She had her knees bent at right angles, ankles crossed, her small feet dancing in circles in the air. She had on these fuzzy wool hiking socks.
