I was tempted to write that I am in love, but I've made up my mind to write the absolute truth in this journal – 'To thine own self be true'- as Shakespeare put it, and the truth of the matter is that I am really in lust. However, once again, I have jumped in the deep end, and I should start at the beginning.

Jack's son, Jack Junior has now finished school at Heyward's Crossing. Having been around animals all his life, he has a burning desire to become a vet. He is a bright lad and has gained a scholarship to one of the best grammar schools in Brisbane. His mother Mary wants the best for him, but I know she will miss him terribly when he goes away, so one afternoon I called in on her, and the following conversation ensued.

“Mary, you know I fly down to Brisbane on business every couple of months, sometimes more often. I would be glad of the company if, when Jack Junior is down there, you came along with me, and then you can visit him.”

“Oh Lesley, would you mind? That would be wonderful, but I wouldn't want to be a nuisance.”

(Mary was the only person on the Station who calls me by my name, at my insistence. It hardly seems appropriate for her to call me 'Boss'.)

I could see her eyes misting up as I replied “Nonsense, you'd be doing me a favour keeping me company.” I was reminded of the times that Tom's first wife Jenny used to come with me and how much fun it was for two women to attend the beauty parlour and go shopping together. This would be a real win-win situation.

So it was agreed that she, Jack Junior and I would fly to Brisbane the following week for him to get some orientation for his new life at the school. I did offer Jack senior the opportunity to come along too, but there was quite a bit of work to do, and I think he felt obliged to be at the Station in my place.

I have taken young Jack and his two sisters up in the plane for a joy flight several times, but this was the first time we were going on a relatively long flight. He sat beside me in the co-pilot's seat and I let him take the controls for a while, saying to Mary that if he's going to be a vet he will need to learn to fly to cover the vast areas of the inland where he wants to practise.

He has a natural feel for the aircraft and I see no problem in him qualifying for his license as soon as he is old enough. It seemed no time at all before we were approaching Archerfield and I took over to land the Cessna. I don't own a hanger there, but because of my frequent trips, I have an arrangement with one of the companies to store and service the aircraft whenever I fly down.

Jack senior has a cousin Ron who lives in Brisbane, and who was only too happy to have Mary and young Jack stay with him. He kindly offered accomodation for me too, but I booked a room in one of the better hotels for three nights as I didn't want to intrude on their family time together. However it was arranged that on the second day, Mary and I would go shopping together, while Jack spent time with his two cousins, and on the third morning he and Mary would go to the school to be introduced to the staff before we flew back in the afternoon.

I've stayed at the hotel before and am quite well known by the staff. I booked a table for dinner at 7pm and spent a pleasant few hours getting ready for the evening. I can never resist the opportunity to dress up, perhaps it's due to my past, so after a long and luxurious bath I dressed in the gorgeous French lingerie I can never resist buying, plus a new pair of the sheerest nylon stockings. I took great care with my hair and make-up and then put on the pale yellow silk dress I had brought along for the occasion. I felt a pang as I remembered the last time I has worn it, at John's last birthday. I told myself I was wearing yellow in his honour, it being his favourite colour. Matching shoes with six inch heels completed my ensemble, and as I checked myself out in the full-length mirror, I felt that all that preparation was worth the effort.

“Not bad for an old chook,” I murmured to myself.

It was only six o'clock, but I didn't want to hang around in my room, so I decided to go to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. I ordered a champagne cocktail and took it to a small table in the corner of the room where I could indulge in one of my favourite pastimes of people-watching, trying to decide from the way they dressed and acted who they might be and where they were from, also if they were with the partner they really should be with!

I had only been there a few minutes when I spotted Geoff. He strode into the room, a tall handsome man with an air of confidence, what is often described as a 'man's man', but nevertheless one women find very attractive. I guess I was staring at his back as he ordered a drink at the bar because as he turned around he caught my eye. I quickly looked away, but realising it was too late and seemed a bit silly, I looked back at him and couldn't resist smiling. He smiled too, and without any hesitation came over to where I was sitting. 

“Is this seat taken?” he enquired, when patently it was not.

“Not at all,” I replied, so he sat down. Up close he was even more devastatingly handsome, and I suspect he knew it. At that moment though I didn't care. I could feel my body responding to his proximity and the sensation was not unpleasant. Let's face it, it was very pleasant, and something I had been missing for so long.

“I'm Geoff Waters,” he said by way of introduction.

“Lesley... English,” I replied with only the tiniest hesitation. In that split second I decided not to reveal my real name. The Brodie name is quite well known in Queensland, and for now I  preferred not to reveal it.

“Very pleased to meet you, ah, Mrs English,” he replied and I caught his glance down at my left hand. I have some beautiful rings that John gave me over the years to celebrate various anniversaries, but I don't like to wear them too often in case they look ostentatious. However I still wear my wedding ring and also one with a small solitaire diamond. “Mr English not accompanying you?” he enquired.

“No, I'm down from the country with a woman friend and her young son who will be attending school here,” I replied. “I also like to come to Brisbane to shop occasionally.” Why I added that I do not know.

“I see,” he replied. He went on to explain that he is a travelling salesman for a farm machinery company. Now this is something I do know a bit about, but I chose not to reveal that knowledge either.

We proceeded to chat amicably for a while until I suddenly realised that it was seven o'clock the time for which I had booked my table in the dining room. When I told Geoff, he smiled and said “As a matter of fact I was going to dine on my own too. Would you allow me to buy you dinner perhaps so that I can continue to enjoy your company?”

“Put like that, how can I refuse?” I said with a laugh.

As we walked into the dining room together, it seemed that Geoff was quite well known there too because he said to the maitre'd “Raoul, Mrs English has booked a table, but she'll be dining with me tonight.”

“Very good sir,” said Raoul without batting an eyelid. One of the chief attributes of the best hotel staff is their ability to think on their feet and be the soul of discretion. If Raoul wondered why I had given Geoff a false name he gave no sign of it.

As usual, the food was superb; one of the reasons I stay at this particular hotel. Geoff is a great conversationalist, knowledgeable on a variety of subjects and witty to boot, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. It has been so long since I've had an evening like this with a man, and now I realised how much I missed it.

I make it a rule never to drink less than forty-eight hours before I fly a plane, but this evening was outside that limit, so I was happy to share a bottle of wine with Geoff. When we had finished the meal with coffee and liqueurs, I was by no means drunk, but definitely relaxed and I didn't want the evening to end. When Geoff asked what floor I was staying on and I replied that it was the third, he said he was on the eighth and the view of the city lights was amazing and would I like to see it, it seemed only natural to say 'yes'. The real reason I was going to his room was obvious to us both, even though left unsaid.

Geoff was right, the view of the city lights from his room was amazing. As I stood there gazing out, he came up behind me as I knew he would, put his arms around my waist and nuzzled my neck with his lips. I turned around and we started to kiss, first gently and then with increasing intensity. I could feel his body responding to mine, and mine less obviously was responding too. Then he took my hand and led me into the bedroom. He was sensible enough to carefully unzip my dress even though by now his desire was very obvious. I stepped out of it and laid it carefully on a chair, and then we enjoyed slowly undressing each other.

Geoff already had the necessary prophylactics on hand. I have absolutely no doubt that I was not the first woman he had bedded while away on his trips, but then I didn't care. I had missed the touch of a man's hand on my body for so long that it didn't seem wrong that I should take this opportunity. Geoff was a careful and considerate lover and but also an ardent one with seemingly endless stamina, and I was a very satisfied woman when I finally left his room at about three a.m.

I slept soundly until my alarm awoke me at seven-thirty and then had my shower and breakfasted in my room. I had booked a taxi for nine o'clock to take me over to Ron's place to pick up Mary so we could go into town to do some shopping. I had accepted Geoff's invitation to dine with him again that evening and since I had only brought along one 'good' dress, I decided to look around for something suitable to wear for our second 'date'.

Mary and I went to one of the largest womens-wear emporiums in Brisbane and spent several happy hours looking around and trying on various skirts and dresses. Mary found a very pretty skirt and top and I finally found a gorgeous lime green silk evening gown, rather expensive, but worth it. I did not offer to purchase the clothes Mary selected. I had previously learned when coming to Brisbane with Jenny, not to embarrass my friends with a more limited budget by buying them gifts, even though I could well afford it, since I thus drew attention to the disparity in our financial status. Sometimes being well off can be awkward

We had finished shopping, including a break for afternoon tea in the cafe where I felt it was acceptable for me to pay for us both, we took a taxi back to Ron's house and Mary asked if I would like to stay for tea with them. I made the excuse that I was feeling a bit tired and intended to get an early night, but softened the refusal by saying I would love to have a meal with them the next time we were in Brisbane together. I felt a little bit bad about making up such a story, but I wasn't going to give up my evening date with Geoff who I knew was leaving the hotel the following morning.

My second meeting with Geoff was if anything even more satisfying than the first one. Again we met in the bar and he was very complimentary about my appearance.

“My goodness, do you normally travel around with such an elegant wardrobe?” he said with a smile.

“Well no,” I replied. “I bought this dress today actually.”

“Well if it was in my honour I am truly flattered,” he replied.

It now being within my 'alcohol-free' time zone before flying, I kept to fruit juice and mineral water for the evening. One thing I liked about Geoff was he didn't ask why I had suddenly switched to soft drinks, and I didn't offer an explanation.

This second meeting, there was of course no doubt in either of our minds how we intended the evening to finish up, so while we didn't hurry over our meal, we didn't linger either. When we entered Geoff's room we wasted no time in locking our lips as our bodies pressed hard against each other. Once again, Geoff was careful in helping me to unzip my new gown, but once that was carefully laid aside, we almost tore each other's clothes off. It seemed that we could not get enough of each other and it was about two a.m. when we finally lay beside each other on the bed thoroughly exhausted and satiated.

I remember that at one point in our love-making as I gazed down at Geoff's body and we both gasped for breath, he managed to ask if I often came to Brisbane and I replied that if there was such an attraction I was sure I could do so more frequently. Before I left his room we exchanged telephone numbers and promised to see if we could meet up again. It had occurred to me to wonder if he was married, despite no evidence that he wore a wedding ring, but after such intimacy, I realised that I preferred not to know the answer to that question, and the subject had never come up in conversation.

When I met up with Mary at the airfield just after lunch, she took the opportunity while Jack was chatting to the mechanics about the plane to comment that I seemed to be glowing.

“If I didn't know better I might suspect you had met up with a travelling salesman,” she laughed. I have always blushed easily and of course my flaming cheeks gave me away again.

“Oh really?” Mary gasped, seeing my embarrassment.

“Yes really,” I replied “Do you think it was very bad of me?”

“Of course not,” replied Mary. “I don't know how to put this, but you are a single woman now and what you do is your decision. I know what I'd be tempted to do in the same situation.”

That made me feel better, but there was still one thing nagging on my mind
.
“There's just one thing I feel bad about, and that was turning down your invitation to tea yesterday.”

“That's understandable,” said Mary “You had a better offer.”

“Well not a better one, it was just an opportunity I didn't want to miss.”

Our flight home was uneventful, with Jack junior once again taking the controls for a while, which of course delighted him greatly.

To be continued.

Image credit: Australian cattle station by Harris Walker reproduced under Creative Commons licence with attribution.