For me, it was an interesting way to pass an otherwise dull evening and she didn’t seem to mind even though I knew she knew that I was watching her. She had on this tight mini skirt which showed off her legs in a good way and a low-cut blouse that exposed a lot of her cleavage especially as she bent to retrieve things from below the counter. For some reason, she did an awful lot of bending which made me a little heady with excitement at seeing such a wonderful shape. Or should I say, two wonderful shapes…

She caught me looking once more and glided over to where I was sitting. “Haven’t seen you in here before” she said making sure that I had more to see.
“No, I was just passing through and thought I could use a drink” I replied, “Can you recommend a good Hotel in town?”
She looked me up and down and went back to the cash register where she wrote something on a card and handed it back to me. I glanced at it and saw a telephone number.
“What’s this” I said “Your phone number?”.
“You should be so lucky” she responded but in a light-hearted manner as though to turn it into a joke, “No, that is the Hotel on the other side of town, You should call them as they do tend to fill up”.
I thanked her and pulled out my cell phone and duly reserved a room. The place was called the Happy Hotel. Don’t ask me why as I never did figure it out.

I didn’t think too much about it as I had many such encounters in my travels. Some ended up in a couple of dates and others lasted just a little longer either until they tired of me or because my work was at an end and it was time to move on. Some, I even got lucky and hit the jackpot although truth to say, the act of physical love is not really the same when there are no real feelings for the person you are with. At least, that is how it was for me. This girl was different. She knew what she had and was not a bit afraid to show off her wares especially if she was working a customer over for a bigger tip as she served them their drinks. You would think, that as worldly-wise and well-travelled as I was, I should not have let myself be drawn into her net. I was not adverse to a little flirting and if it ended with a night in bed, I always considered that a bonus but I was always careful not let anyone tie me down anymore.

It was a pretty little town and the people were all very friendly so I decided to stay for a few days as the leaves were turning brown and gold and the beauty of Fall in the Adirondacks was there for all to see. I knew that I wasn’t going to stay too long as the first frosts had already touched the ground and New York State and the Adirondacks were not a good place to be when the snow fell. That is, unless you were a skier or snowmobiler and liked the cold weather. My theory is that you have to be a special sort of person to be able to stand cold weather and in a country like America where it is possible to move and get away from it, why not do just that.
I had skied a bit in my younger days but was mostly in the Ski Lodge with the snow bunnies. I looked good in ski clothes as I dressed for the occasion but didn’t do so well on the slopes. Those were in my younger days when I was fairly athletic and still had hair. I didn’t ski anymore having broke my leg in a serious fall many years ago.

Meanwhile, I was spending most evenings in the bar that Julie worked at. Some of it was the fact that in the Adirondacks in the Fall, there is not too much else to get up to and besides, the regulars were good company. I sat and listened to their stories of the ones that got away or the bear that nearly killed them. They all had a different version of the same story so it made it interesting. I was always open to tales and exploits that I might be able to adapt and use in my writing. And of course, Julie was always there. Did I mention she was also great to look at? She always wore short skirts and low-cut blouses at least on the times that I saw her and that just made it more appealing to visit her place of business. Getting to know a few of the locals and listening to their tales of their hunting and fishing exploits was actually a lot of fun. There was this one guy, Jack Jones was his name and he was a big ole boy but like a lot of big men, easy-going and easy to get along with.

Click on Chapter 3  for the next episode