Although they both worked late through the week to ensure a free weekend, Friday afternoon, as always, brought crises which had to be dealt with, so it was well after dark when they arrived at the cabin. The love-making that first night was tentative, their eagerness for physical intimacy after such a long wait tempered by their desire to get it right. But the next morning, when Bryan joined her outside a few minutes after she'd awakened, the breathtaking beauty of the little lake nestled in that forested mountain setting worked its spell, and they were soon back in bed, delighting in the pleasure each gave to the other. After that, the weekend became an idyllic escape from the real world.
In a radical departure from their normal eating habits, Laura whipped up bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast in the little kitchen, Bryan barbecued thick steaks for lunch, and they collaborated on pasta and salad for dinner. The good food replaced the calories burned off by their physical exertions. Most of the time was spent enjoying each other's company. They canoed silently around the edge of the quiet lake, close enough to the shore to peer back into the trees and watch the squirrels, chipmunks, and screeching blue jays. They hiked along a fire trail that took them to the top of a hill nearby, where a break in the trees gave an incredible vista of miles of rolling mountainous hills, densely carpeted in the dark green of the evergreens that comprised most of the forest. They sat on the porch and talked. But periodically they also fell into each other's arms and made love, sometimes making it to the bed, often in a less traditional place - late Saturday night, a stroll on the dock in the moonlight turned into an unforgettable episode of sex, a couple of boat cushions hastily pressed into service as a mattress, the waves quietly lapping against the rocks of the shore and the pilings below them.
The love-making sessions usually left the area strewn with pieces of clothing, but those were retrieved afterward when they got dressed to follow some more mundane pursuit. However, Bryan also left other things strewn about - eating utensils remained on the table after a meal, his towel was left on the bathroom floor after a shower.
"Didn't your mother make you pick up things after you used them?" Laura asked jokingly, as she cleared the table.
"The maid always did that," Bryan replied.
"Oh, sure," she mocked. "And the cook prepared all the meals, so how did you learn to cook?".