Broken Hearts – The Lake

The wind billowed Karen’s blonde hair back as she snuggled close to Bill in his ’57 convertible Bel Air. The wide whitewall tires hugged the road as the big heavy car leaned into each twist and turn. A 60’s radio station blasted tunes into the air, and they sang along, laughing at each other when they got the words wrong. Bill had his arm draped over Karen’s shoulder, and her hand rested on his bare muscular leg.

After meeting Bill at a mutual friend’s party today, Karen immediately felt comfortable and at ease with him. Earlier, in response to her dare, Bill exposed his cock to her, and Karen reciprocated by showing him her perky breasts. They laughed like teenagers in the front seat of his classic car before he drove off, relieved no one observed them flashing each other.

“Have you ever gone skinny dipping?” Bill asked as the momentum of turning a sharp corner forced Karen to lean into him. “We could head up to Birch Lake and cool off; I know a quiet spot.”

“How quiet is it?” she shakily asked, as she flashed him a nervous smile.

Bill heard the concern in her voice. “It’s so fucking quiet we can do more than skinny-dipping.”

The look on Karen’s face made him cringe inside; the last thing he wanted to do was overstep the boundaries of their budding friendship.

“I mean, if that’s something that interests you,” Bill said, quickly backpedaling.

Karen wanted to do ‘more’ with Bill, at least she thought she did, but she was also a little intimidated by his size and directness. Bill was a big man not only between his legs but in physical stature; he easily outweighed her by a hundred pounds and stood at least a foot taller.

She decided to ignore his comment and change the subject. “Claire said you saved Ben’s life, and she is forever in your debt. What did you do?”

Bill knew the incident Claire was referring to; he and Ben worked together at the fire department for over twenty years and shared dozens of close calls. But that ‘incident’ left a deep mark on his soul and mind.

“Yeah, I guess I fucking did,” Bill responded as he pulled out and passed a slow-moving tractor on the road. “It was a long time ago.”

Karen waited for Bill to expand on the story, but instead, he clenched his jaw, which made the dimples in his cheeks more prominent. She liked to look at his handsome face and his full head of silver-grey hair. His pale blue polo-shirt stretched to accommodate his chest muscles; everything about Bill was big.

“Well, are you going to fucking tell me what happened or not!”

“You sure do say fuck a lot!” laughed Bill.

The new joke between them started when they first sat on the bench at the back of Ben and Claire’s yard; Karen mentioned how often he used the word fuck.

“Well?” she asked.

“Really? It was a long time ago, and I almost got both Ben and I killed?” Bill said with a touch of guilt in his voice.

Karen sensed the faraway look in Bill’s eyes reflected a responsibility for his past decisions; he was reliving the moment in his mind.

“It’s okay, Bill,” she said, “You don’t have to.”

“Maybe later,” Bill said, giving her a forced smile. “Let’s enjoy the ride.”

The City awarded Bill the Medal of Honor for his actions on that call. In Bill’s mind, he didn’t think it was deserving. In his thirty-five years of service to the department, he had done it all. His list of accomplishments was lengthy. Bill helped deliver two babies; rescued people from raging waters in a flash flood; performed CPR on dozens of people, even saving some of them; pulled kids and adults from a burning building; fought fires of all sizes and shapes; extricated crash victims from accidents; and of course the odd cat or two in a tree.

“Okay,” Karen said, as she sat tight against him. With Bill’s arm around her shoulder, her bare leg repeatedly touched his making the butterflies in her stomach multiply. The sunlight felt good on her face, like a cleansing of her soul.

The road twisted and turned as it led them higher into the hills, away from the oppressive heat in the sun-drenched dry valley. The traffic thinned out until they were the only vehicle on the winding road. Birch Lake was her favorite lake to kayak on. Karen searched her memory, trying to think of a private place to go skinny-dipping, but not coming up with a spot; the thought of being naked in public and in front of Bill terrified her.

Bill slowed down and pulled into a private entrance. He drove down a long tree-lined gravel driveway arriving at a quaint lakeside cedar-clad cottage set back from both the road and the lake; the mature spruce, pine, and birch trees hid the cottage from view. Karen spent many summer days exploring the shores of the lake and never once noticed this cottage.

“We’ve arrived,” Bill said, parking his ‘baby’ under a carport.

“Are we trespassing?” Karen asked, concerned about getting into trouble.

“Well, if the fucking owner comes home, I guess I’ll deal with him,” he said, puffing out his muscled chest.

Nervously, Karen stepped out the driver’s door as Bill held it open for her. The ride was exhilarating, it was her first ride in a classic car, and she secretly hoped there would be many more. The birds greeted them with a pleasant melody as they walked up the worn wooden steps onto the wrap-around deck. Bill held her hand as he guided her around the cottage to the lakeside. The view was not what she expected, even though the cottage was on the lake. Mature trees mostly hid a channel that entered one spot and exited another, leaving a treed island in-between. In all the years she had been coming to Birch Lake, she never noticed this channel or cottage.

“It’s beautiful,” Karen finally said as she took it all in. “Private, and yet the lake is so close. Is this your place?”

Bill wasn’t one for words, but right now, even simple ones didn’t want to flow from his mouth. Sunlight reflected off Karen’s blonde hair, and it made her look like an angel. She was much younger than him, at least ten years or so, and suddenly he felt very insecure.

“I promised you a private place to skinny-dip,” he stammered, trying to maintain eye contact. “Are you still up for it?”

Even though they just met today, Karen instinctively knew he wouldn’t take advantage of her unless she wanted him to. Still, the idea of sharing their nakedness unnerved her. “Okay,” she said as she looked in the cottage windows to see if anyone was inside.

“I’m just as nervous as you are,” Bill said. “And, yes, this is my place; no one will be spying on us. Why don’t you walk down to the pond, and I’ll grab a couple of towels for us.” What he didn’t say was he needed a little time to reflect on the day’s events and also about what they were about to do.

Karen walked down a path covered in pine needles to the beckoning red Adirondack chairs. They were her favorite chairs. She sighed as her bum hit bottom. The relief was mostly emotional, the strength of the chair wrapped her in physical comfort, and the surroundings’ serenity soothed her soul.

Bill watched from the living room window as Karen walked down the path that he and his late wife used over the years.