Louise Finds Her Sweet Spot

(This story is a prequel to “Lars sings a different tune”)

Oh my, what a heat! Today is even worse than the past few days, when the heat was still quite dry, but today it is really sweltering hot, almost unbearable. Especially if you have very fair skin and can’t handle the heat very well anyway. She should never have booked such a holiday, at least not this time of year, next time it’ll have to be in the early or late season. It means she’s been sitting in her hotel room all day, air-conditioning on full blast, doing a little reading, and some sketching. The latter does not really go well, by the way, due to lack of inspiration. And unfortunately, though she did throw her vibrator in her suitcase, she forgot to buy new batteries, if it continues like this, she will have to visit a store soon.

She suddenly remembers that on the way there, near the hotel, she saw a beautiful natural pond, it might be an idea to walk there later tonight, she can take a nice dip to cool off. And if it’s not too busy, or preferably deserted, then skinny dipping is also a possibility, she used to do that often, when she was a little less demure and prudish and dared to take a little more risk. Why does she behave so decent these days, so bourgeois, she never does anything crazy anymore. The divorce doesn’t help either, of course, as it has left her feeling rather insecure and discarded, both physically and mentally. In recent years she could no longer do anything right in Fred’s eyes, and he no longer seemed interested in her physically. The latter caused, in hindsight, by the fact that he had been screwing her best friend for almost a year. Ex best friend now of course. She still can’t get rid of the image of the moment she caught them, in her own bed of all things, Magda with her legs around her darling Fred’s neck, eyes like saucers when the door opened and she saw her friend, also, as she well knew, the wife of her lover.

And even then, she hadn’t made a drama of it, she recalls in surprise, she had simply closed the door again and sat downstairs to wait for an explanation. It all fell into place at that moment, however, the removal, the disinterest. In fact, she wasn’t even very upset.

Everything was over wonderfully quickly, and Fred had fortunately still had the decency to feel terribly guilty, it had earned her a generous financial settlement.

But of course, money doesn’t buy happiness, at least not in the long run, and men she doesn’t trust that quickly anymore because of this experience. And, at thirty-eight, she will probably no longer be very popular, she expects, men of her age usually prefer a young girl of around twenty, in her experience. Several of her girlfriends have already been replaced by a younger model in recent years.

To be honest, she doesn’t really know what to do with the rest of her life, the divorce has thrown her quite a bit, she notices, all her plans for the future have been swept away from under her feet, she feels a bit aimless.

By eight o’clock, after a disappointing dinner, on her own, in the hotel restaurant, it has fortunately cooled down a bit, but it’s still very warm. Louise decides that this is a good time to grab her swimming gear and look for the pond, there will probably be no one around anymore. And that turns out to be the case, she has the place all to herself, she concludes to her satisfaction.

She walks to the water’s edge, squats down, and runs her hand through the water, oh how wonderfully cool, she thinks delightedly. She finds a suitable grassy spot at the water’s edge, puts down her stuff and starts to undress. Not that there’s much to it, just the short button-down summer dress. What to do, will she put her bikini on, or will she leave that right away, she looks around, it looks like it’s still deserted.

Come on girl, she thinks to herself, where’s your sense of adventure, all in, no-one’s holding you back! She unhooks her bra and drops it onto the spread towel. She feels her breasts appraisingly, they still look good, she thinks, they are in any case a lot nicer than Magda’s flat, chips bag-like breasts, at least these are real tits! She has always been proud of her firm D cup, as well as the rest of her body, she is still slim and toned, with nice long legs, and spending quite a lot of time lately, out of sheer frustration, in the gym has certainly helped. Fred doesn’t know what he’s missing, she thinks grimly, and he’ll never get it back, the bastard.

Then the supreme moment has arrived, the last piece of clothing. Does she dare?

She looks around again and then decides to give it a try. But just as she bends over to take off her panties, she is grabbed from behind, a deep male voice gasps in her ear, she is sickened by the heavy alcohol fumes spread by his breath: ‘Well, my lovely, I see you’re in the mood to have a little fun.’

She screams with all her might and tries to avoid his grabbing hands, but he corners her, against a thick tree, she can’t get away. She tries her hardest to fight him off, but she can’t handle him, he’s too strong for her despite his drunkenness. Panic takes hold of her, all of a sudden, it’s not so much fun anymore that no one is around. Then suddenly she hears him moan in pain, his arms fall limply at his sides and he sinks to the floor in front of her.

‘It’s always the same with that bastard,’ she hears someone grumble, ‘let him go to his own wife instead of harassing defenseless women and girls. Are you OK?’ it sounds concerned, she looks at the owner of the voice, it turns out to be a young man of about twenty-eight years old, he gallantly hands her her towel.

‘He doesn’t manage anything anymore, impotent as anything, but no woman is of course happy to feel those grabby hands on her body, he should actually be chained.’ She has to laugh about that, despite the fright that is still in her body, but now she can also breathe a sigh of relief, the feeling of panic is slowly disappearing.

‘By the way, I’m Sven, Sven Bakker. Are you really okay?’ he looks at her questioningly.

Louise nods reassuringly, ‘yes, just need to catch my breath, it was quite a fright,’ she says. ‘Oh, and I’m Louise. Van der Meer.’

‘Nice to meet you, Louise, I assume you’re here on vacation?’

‘That’s right,’ she says, ‘I’m staying in a hotel near here. And you?’

‘Me too, I rented a chalet nearby,’ he hesitates for a moment, then decides to take the plunge, ‘uh, would you like to come with me, for a glass of wine or something?’ He sees her doubtful look; he can almost read her thoughts: falling from one pawing man into the grasping hands of the next? No thanks! ‘Just to relax for a bit, after the fright,’ he quickly adds, ‘then I’ll escort you to your hotel afterwards.’ She still looks a little suspicious. ‘I’m not alone here, I rented the chalet with my little brother.’

This convinces her, if his younger brother is with him, it must be save, in that case he will probably behave. And mindful of her intention to be a little more adventurous, she agrees, otherwise she will just be sitting alone in her hotel room, not a very nice prospect. She quickly puts on her clothes, Sven politely looks the other way as she does, and then she walks with him to his chalet, it is indeed not far.

After a few steps, something comes to her mind: ‘That drunk, will he be okay?’

‘Oh, yes,’ Sven reassures her, ‘it was just a tap, when he has slept off his intoxication, he will go home by himself, it won’t be the first time.’

The chalet is a bit hidden between bushes, at the back there is a veranda over the entire width of the house, with a view over rolling meadows. She does not see any other chalets in the area, if she has run into the wrong guy again, she has a problem, she realizes. She glances sideways, at her rescuer’s profile, he feels her looking and gives her a mischievous look, he knows what I’m thinking, she thinks, and she laughs. This will be fine, she decides, trusting her intuition, he’s not the type. She visibly relaxes and allows herself to be installed on the veranda, Sven disappears inside and returns a little later with two glasses and a bottle of red wine.

There is now a cooling breeze, but it is still quite warm.

‘Where is your little brother, he’s not in bed yet, is he?’

‘No, I don’t think so,’ says Sven nonchalantly, ‘probably off, night fishing or something like that. He will pop up again soon enough.’

They talk about serious and less serious topics, she tells him about her failed marriage, and what was the deciding factor in getting a divorce, she finds that she can now talk about it without an emotional load, and Sven is so easy to confide in, he listens and understands, but does not judge. Meanwhile she studies her interlocutor, she thinks he’s quite attractive, tall, muscular, dark brown, rather wild curls and a wide, sexy mouth. Good laugh too, and a nice sense of humor, you could do worse in a rescuer, she thinks with amusement.

Sven bursts out laughing when she talks about how she found her dear Fred entangled in bed with her best friend, she has a great sense of humor, he thinks, and she seems to be very resilient mentally too, that she can talk about it like this, it is quite an act of betrayal, your husband and your best friend, of all things.

Sven has also not had much luck with his relationships so far, it turns out. For the time being, he therefore sticks to the bachelor life, no fuss. He tells her about his parents who died in a car accident when he himself was about sixteen years old. From that moment on, the care for his brother Lars, six years his junior, mainly came down to him, there was not much family left.

‘I’m so very sorry,’ Louise sighs, looking at him sympathetically.

‘Oh well, that’s life,’ responds Sven, ‘shit happens, you have to live with it, you can’t turn it back anyway. We all get our share; you know all about that yourself.’ He gives her a sympathetic look.

‘That’s true,’ she agrees, appreciating his level-headedness. No wonder he comes across as mature for his age, with such a background. ‘But eh, Sven and Lars? Do you have Scandinavian roots by any chance?’