Divorce… I suppose it was inevitable it would happen to me. So here I am, taking my first break away as a single woman since 1985.

I can see the lighthouse from my hotel room window, and muse at how long it has been since I was standing at the entrance, about to climb the staircase. It was the year before I got married.

I suppose I’ve returned on purpose — to remember. But if truth be told, I’ve never forgotten.

I was twenty-two when a few girlfriends and I treated ourselves to a spa weekend. After the first night we’d had enough of healthy living, so went out on the town for a slap-up meal, some drinks and dancing at the main nightclub.

I was already tipsy when we walked in to Dance-it-up but noticed him — Zeb — immediately, sitting alone at the bar.

He was my type. Long hair pulled back in a ponytail. Skinny hips and a killer smile.

I wasn’t a wallflower, so wasted no time making sure I was shimmying my curves in his line of vision. After a few minutes, he looked over and beckoned me. As I sat next to him and our eyes met and I knew.

He did too.

The moment the story books talk about, and growing up you think it is fiction. Until… you experience it.

My heart skipped a beat and my mouth went dry.

We hadn’t even spoken when he took my hand, the bottle of wine he’d been nursing, and steered me into one of the small lounge rooms where it was quieter.

“I’m Zeb. Who… are you.”

“Carly.”

By now I had straddled him, knees on either side of his legs, my crotch on his when we kissed for the first time.

Fireworks.

My ears buzzed, and my body sizzled with passion.

His hand slid up the front of my shirt and roughly pulled at a nipple while our tongues danced.

We were so engaged I think we could easily have climaxed, but I broke away wanting to find out more.

Talk flowed as if we had known each other forever. He was a free spirit and had been staying for a few weeks in the deserted lighthouse with his sleeping bag and camping stove.

At 2 am, he took my hands and kissed the fingertips before saying,

“Come away with me? It won’t be easy. I’m a modern day nomad really, and tomorrow I leave for Ireland, where I’ll be working the fields for the summer. I can promise you one thing though… I will love you until the day I die.”

… to be continued – here on Monday 21st Nov

Header Image by dragon22 from Pixabay