April

We slept soundlessly for hours, wrapped in each other’s arms while the rain continued on into the afternoon. Eventually though we began to stir and as we awoke so did the needs of our bodies, but we both began to laugh, as the needs of our stomachs were a little louder and won out over our other needs. Kissing me softly, he climbed out of the bed and I quite contentedly laid and watched him go through draws looking for some clean clothes.

I was grateful for the tracksuit pants and the shirt, regardless of how much too big they were, and I took the offered pair of socks with a smile as I felt the briefest touch of his hand. This whole moment in time seemed completely normal, like it had been something that had been part of our daily routine for years, instead of something new. There was an amazing familiarity I felt with him, a familiarity he told me that he felt with me also.

After we dressed and with some hesitation, I followed him through the house towards the sounds of the voices I heard when we first arrived. Just before we entered the kitchen he kissed me and squeezed my hand in reassurance, then took me into meet his brothers.

“Well, by the smile on your face Richard I’m guessing the drought was broken in more ways than one today”

My earlier hesitation was soon replaced with laughter, as Richards’s brothers’ quickly introduced themselves and welcomed me to their family home. For a good few hours, we all sat and talked shared coffee and a meal. His brother’s never once mentioned his wife, my being there or any of the other gossip that was surrounding him and his marital problems. And by then end of the day, I was almost sad to hear them say they were heading back into town for the night.

I will say almost, because as their lights disappeared down the road I felt Richards’s lips brush against my neck, and they soon brushed away thoughts of spending more time with his family. His arms encircled me, and he pulled me close just as he did earlier in that small tin shed, and my body instantly responded to his touch as I moulded myself against him.

Being alone together on his family farm had some fantastic advantages. The best one being the view of the storm we shared as we made use of the swing seat on the front veranda…



We spent just over two short months, enjoying the small amount of time we had to share with each other. Days we spent working side-by-side under the sun, when it rained we spent them together holed up somewhere dry. Nights we spent out on his family’s farm, and some afternoons when the need was too great, we spent time parked in the ute under the shade of a tree, just off the side of the road. The intensity in our passion never waived, neither did the strong connection we felt for each other.

But as the season began to change, we knew it was time for me to return home and start back at my final year of school. In a way it was time that I had to leave the fantasy world we had built and step back into reality. The last day we shared was a perfect end to our brief time together.

After everyone left for the day, he grabbed a blanket from the ute and taking my hand we walked together into the middle of a cotton field. The season was almost over, and the flowers on the cotton were beginning to become the cotton pods, and in the middle of this he laid the blanket.

Taking me back into his arms, we sank down onto the blanket as the urgency we first experienced together overtook our bodies and we answered in unison to that need. Our lips tried to be everywhere at once, we didn’t seem to have enough hands, and we couldn’t cry out in the pleasure of our bodies joining quick enough. It was all passion and hunger that was driving us. It was hard and fast and commanding, and we both clung to each other as we as we raced for release, as we raced for the pleasure that would drown out the pain we were both feeling.

We laid in silence for a long while, lost in the feeling of being there with each other. Eventually I turned to face him, and as I opened my mouth to speak he placed a finger over my lips.

“Don’t”

He kissed away my tears, and pulled my body close to his. He spent precious moments whispering in my ear once again, telling me how much he loved the time we had shared, how much he enjoyed the feeling of my body against his, and how hard it was for him to let it all go – but that we needed to forget the pain and enjoy the time we had left.

For a few perfect hours under the setting sun, we breathed, tasted, touched and memorised every inch of each other, knowing that it would never happen again.

And that was how we ended our brief affair.