Housekeeping

by Summer Cooper

  “Good heavens, Mary. Don’t look at the beach, whatever you do! Until Ben mentioned it I never noticed. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t,” Lillian said, gazing at the beach a few yards in front of them with round eyes. She stared at three women all passing the sun tan oil for their topless bodies. Mary couldn’t help but look.

  “Mom! What on earth have we come to?” Mary coughed and laughed at the same time, looking from her mother to the half naked women. “One of those women is twice your age, I bet!”

  “I would look a damn sight better than that lady, let me tell you!” Lillian said. They both looked at Ben who now had his head in his hands quietly laughing.

  “Well, maybe you won’t get used to it, right?” Ben asked, still trying to smother his laughter.

  “It certainly isn’t what we’re used to at home but neither is the coffee. It’s wonderful, Ben, really. We aren’t stick in the muds. I think we’re going to have a fantastic time,” Mary said, her smile infectious as she gazed out at the sunbathers, most likely tourists just like her.

  They sat in the warm morning sunshine enjoying the coffee and the table full of various dishes of seafood, olives and local bread.

  “We’ll take a walk into the town and I’ll show you the bicycle hire shop. I think you’ll agree the journey is quite a while if you walked. A couple of bikes will do the job just fine,” Ben interrupted their reveries as he saw the time, thinking it might be best to get back home and get some work done.

  “It was really kind of you to bring us today, Ben. We’re very grateful. Poor Mary needs this holiday, you know. She’s young, free, and newly single of course, and this is just what she needs,” Lillian confided, sparing a glance at her smiling daughter.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The half hour or so brunch by the beach had somehow rolled into three hours of Ben telling them what he knew of the country and Mary and Lillian bombarding him with more questions. The ladies happily experimented with the different foods and sent the occasional aghast look towards the beach and topless girls. Ben tried not to get caught doing his own bit of staring, pretending to be above such things, but he noticed the bare breasts, nonetheless.

  Ben guided them through the little town to the bicycle rental shop as the sun began to sink in the sky. Both Lillian and Mary were grateful to get into the cool of the dimly lit shop. The clothes they’d brought with them were more for a West Virginia spring than an Algarve summer and they were feeling it.

  The shop assistant guided them to two strong Dutch bicycles. Both had baskets for carrying shopping. Mary seemed far more delighted with the idea of the bicycles than Lillian did, and she was eager to try hers out, her helmet already in place. Ben watched her, going to her to adjust the helmet’s strap under her chin.

  Mary stared up at him, her lips parted as he did so, and Ben could have sworn she shivered when his fingers touched her chin. Her eyes sparkled as he paused, her beauty taking his thoughts away for a moment as his fingers smoothed over her chin. What would it be like to kiss her, he wondered.

  “Are we going to ride these home? From here?” Lillian asked Ben, looking deeply apprehensive about the whole idea. “I haven’t ridden a bike since I was maybe twelve years old. I’ll kill some poor old person or myself before we got to the other side of town.”

  Ben turned to her, shaking away the thoughts he’d been having about Mary. He translated to the shop assistant and they both laughed. Then Ben turned back to Lillian and smiled reassuringly.

  “Not laughing at you, Lillian. Yes, we understand it can be a shock for a lot of people. The shop will deliver them to the house this afternoon. You can practice on the quiet roads there before going anywhere too adventurous. I’ll even get my own bike out and come with you if you’d like. Show you the easier routes for cycling.”

  Mary moved away, examining a pink helmet with a clear faceplate. He watched her, knowing she was trying not to think about their shared moment, the same as he was.

  Ben realized how much work he wasn’t going to get done if they took him up on the offer, and cringed inwardly. Mary’s look of delight made the loss of income worth it. He had a good deal of money in his savings account anyway. Fuck it.

  “Oh, Ben, that would be wonderful!” Mary exclaimed, her face lighting up. “We aren’t putting you to too much trouble, are we? We don’t want to be a nuisance you know?”

  Mary placed her hand on his arm, and Ben looked down at it, a tingle going all the way down to his feet. Looking up, he saw she’d felt that same spark. He smiled calmly at her, his own hand covering hers, hiding with his charming smile the fact that he was internally repeating the word “fuck” to himself over and over again. She was going to be trouble in his easy life, he just knew it. But he also knew he didn’t want to stop it.

  “It will be my pleasure, Mary. To be honest the exercise would do me good. Gets too easy to jump in the car these days,” Ben replied, his face coming closer to hers for a moment as they stared at each other intently. A sound behind him reminded him they weren’t alone so he pulled away slightly. “Let’s pick you up some groceries and we’ll get back, okay?”

  It was a short drive to the small supermarket and Ben pulled some way past to get parked. They strolled back to the front of the store and into the cool interior.

  Ben unhitched a small shopping trolley and they set off down the first aisle.

  “We can buy food here too, right?” Mary asked, looking around in confusion.

  “Yes of course, why?” Ben said.

  “Beer and wine. It’s just beer and wine. Miles of it. Look, Mom. And liquor too. How can they just sell it like that?” Mary asked, pointing at bottles of spirits on the shelves.

  “How else are you going to buy it?” Ben asked back more confused now than Mary.

  “Well, we sure don’t get the hard stuff like that in our grocery stores, I can tell you,” Mary said. “If it’s not at the liquor store you don’t get it. We can buy beer and wine at the grocery store but that’s it.”

  “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Mary” Ben said, laughing. “Europeans like a drink with their lunch. Come on, we’ve got shopping to get.”

  Lillian snickered at the Wizard of Oz reference and they moved on past the long row of assorted beers and wines. She picked up a bottle of red and white and plonked them in the basket, eying Mary to defy her.

  Lillian and Mary “ooohed” and “aaahed” as they examined the strange labels and exclaimed with childlike excitement when they found something they recognised as familiar or, more surprising for them, a brand from home. Soon they’d loaded two of the small trollies and were headed back to the villa.

  “You’ll let us cook for you tonight, won’t you Ben? After all the running around you’ve done for us we owe you a thank you,” Lillian asked as they arrived back in the house carpark and got out.

  “It was no problem, really. I’ve had a wonderful day too. Sometimes I get stuck into my work and never see outside that courtyard for days. Let’s get this shopping inside and put away. Your bikes should be here soon,” Ben replied, hauling four large bags of shopping from the car. They’d bought enough for what looked like an invasion and Ben commented as such.

  “Well, it’s all so strange, Ben! We were so interested in the strange choices they had to offer that we thought we should try at least a good selection of it. How else are we going to learn about new foods and things to cook?”

  Ben couldn’t disagree with Lillian as he hauled the bags to their patio door and made his farewells. He was ready for a cup of tea and felt he’d earned it. A moment of peace and a cup of tea; perfection. He couldn’t stop himself from looking back at Mary for a moment. Maybe not so peaceful, after all. The woman hadn’t shifted from his brain since he’d met her.

  As Lillian and Mary unpacked their groceries, testing half of it before it got to the fridge or the cupboards, Ben settled down at the table in the courtyard with a nice cup of tea. The sun was going down but it was still warm, the shade over
his table keeping him cool as he lit a citronella candle. Mosquitos were one of the only blemishes on his paradise.

  These two, he thought, were going to be hard work. They’d no clue about foreign lifestyles and seemed very erratic and confusing. Ben liked his day to be organised and in order.

  The problem, of course, was Mary. Ben could quite easily now slowly let them get on with their break and get back to his routine, but Mary, Mary had hit something he didn’t think was that exposed. She was beautiful. Fun to be around. She had a grace and a charm he hadn’t seen in a long time, even for some rustic mountain girl as she kept pointing out. She was wonderful and it was causing Ben a lot of mixed feelings. Could he? Should he pursue it further, into a fling that they could both walk away from? Was Mary the kind of girl that could do such a thing? His mind swam as he tried to focus on the tea.

  Heading into his house for a moment, Ben decided that a tepid shower would soon get her off his mind.

  Stepping into the shower, Ben let the water soothe him, his fingers reaching for a bar of soap. Letting the water stream over his face, Ben’s mind filled with the way Mary’s head would tip up to his. Just waiting for his kiss.

  Ben closed his eyes and washed his muscled body, pausing as he neared his dick. Oh, to have those beautiful, full lips wrapped around this. He fisted himself, moaning low in his throat as he pictured Mary, wet and naked, on her knees in front of him. And then he thought about their roles reversing and his knees went weak.

  Her shapely body pressed up against the black tiles, her hands clenched at her sides as he stroked her clit with his tongue. Ben moaned again, his hand moving faster, as he imagined what she’d look like when she came on his tongue, her hands pulling at his hair as she rode his face into ecstasy.

  He shook against those same tiles, his body tight and ready, wanting her and only her. When his brain flitted to an image of her astride him, moving smoothly, gracefully on his hard cock, he lost it. She’d be beautiful, all of that dark hair cascading down onto him. Ben gave a deep groan as he found his release, sagging against the wall.

  Yeah, he had to find out what that was really like, he decided as he dressed again and hurried outside to wait for the bike delivery. Sitting at the table he sipped at his now cool tea and thought about Mary some more.

  He heard the sound of a truck horn beeping outside and knew his break was over. He jumped and splashed tea down his clean shirt.

  “Dammit!” he snapped, jumping from the chair. Outside the sanctuary of the walls, the bicycle rental truck had arrived to deliver the bikes. Ben ran quickly inside for a clean shirt and back out again in a flash, meeting the girls and the driver outside calmly and as if he hadn’t left his chair since returning home.

  He didn’t want to give them the impression his day had been interrupted, even if it had. It wasn’t their fault they’d not been told they’d need a car to get around, or that he was available and had one. Especially since he was developing a strong fascination for the lovely Mary.

  They quickly unloaded the bicycles and Ben talked to the driver, thanked him and sent him on his way.

  “Well, ladies, here we are. Ready for the next part of the adventure?” Ben asked, not giving away that only thirty minutes ago his hand had been wrapped around his cock as he fantasized about Mary. “Give me five minutes to go and dig mine out and we’ll see how you get on. You never forget how to ride a bike, so they say. We’ll see won’t we?”

  “Oh, I’m scared to death,” Mary laughed. “These things weigh a ton, I didn’t notice that in the store.”

  “Good solid Dutch bikes. Perfect for here. Don’t worry, you’ll have the hang of it in no time. Back in a few,” Ben said as he ducked into the courtyard, grinning despite knowing that he wasn’t going to get any work done today at all.

  Ben returned to the women a few minutes later astride his own trusty bicycle, ready to lead them around.

  “Okay ladies, all aboard and let’s get this wagon train rollin,’” he said with a wave of his arm as he pulled away down the lane, his fake American accent making them both laugh.

  Mary and Lillian trailed behind, trying to get the hang of the unfamiliar bikes. They soon caught up with him and he led them down little narrow tracks between the farms. Soon they reached a larger road and Ben turned onto it.

  “Same as America, just stay on the right and take all the room you need. Don’t go crashing into the ditch just to give anyone room. They have brakes and steering wheels,” Ben called to them. They hadn’t gone too far before they reached a small, run down bar.

  “A cold beer I think, ladies. What do you say?” Ben said, pulling into a small car park by the bar. Mary and Lillian followed him in. They hadn’t gone more than a mile but both were red faced and ready for a break.

  “Well you did fantastic there. Easy wasn’t it?” Ben laughed as the young woman from the bar came out to take their order. Ben ordered a beer and the ladies ordered their own. The waitress disappeared back into the dark of the bar.

  “Is it safe?” Mary asked. “It looks a bit, well, rough.”

  Ben laughed. “Rough and cheap but totally safe, Mary, I assure you. Now I hope you’re both okay with a beer. Just the one, of course then we’ll get back to it.”

  They sat outside in the afternoon sun and enjoyed the ice cold Portuguese beer.

  “It’s still cute though, isn’t it? The bar, I mean,” Lillian said, smiling and nodding her head to the run down building. “Certainly not somewhere we could go back home, I don’t think.”

  “Hell no. I wouldn’t dare go in a place like this back home,” Mary said as she supped on the cool beer. “And the beer isn’t as good back home either. How does a place like this stay open? It looks ready to fall down,” Mary asked.

  “I have no idea,” Ben replied. “This area depends a lot on the tourist trade, mainly from Europe. If times get tough in other countries, then folk tend to stop coming for their breaks here. Not many locals can afford to go drinking like tourists do so places like this start to struggle. They always keep trying though. They’re tough folk.”

  They finished their drinks and climbed back aboard the bicycles. Ben lead them down more small winding lanes where they stopped to pick the occasional fruit hanging over the road. Mary and Lillian were soon confident as they rode two abreast behind Ben, giggling and chatting as they went. Ben would look over his shoulder occasionally to catch them both looking at him and smiling.

  He liked the look of interest on Mary’s face as he drove ahead of them, noting her staring at his ass a few times. Maybe a fling was on the books after all, and if her mother was right, a holiday fling might be just what she needed. Ben was up for that, but he wasn’t looking for a long term relationship. Those got messy, as he well knew.

  Stopping under a carob tree, Ben pointed at the long, dark-brown bean-like pods hanging down and dropping all over the road.

  “There you go; all the chocolate you can eat,” he declared.

  Lillian climbed off her bike and foraged on the ground. “Are you sure, Ben?”

  “Perfectly sure. Not as good as real chocolate of course, but always good to know, right?” Before he had time to finish, Lillian was spitting bits of wood onto the ground.

  “Let me tell you, whatever this stuff is, it sure ain’t no chocolate!” Lillian said as she finished spitting and brandished a piece of carob at him.

  “Well no, you’re absolutely right there. What you are eating at the moment is a piece of branch. The carobs are those brown pod-like things,” Ben replied laughing.

  “Oh good grief, Mom!’” Mary sighed reaching down for one of the carob pods.

  “Well, it all looks the same to me,” Lillian said, she too picking up a pod and biting into it the tough outer skin. “Hmm! To be honest, the twig didn’t taste much worse than the pod I reckon.”

  “You might well be right there, Lillian. Is why I just pointed them out to you and didn’t eat any myself,” Ben said laughing harder.

&nbs
p; “Honestly, Ben, this doesn’t much taste like chocolate. A Tootsie Roll, maybe, but not as I expected.” Mary sighed as she too dropped the carob pod back on the ground. “I’m going back to the Super Mercado thing tomorrow, I know I saw a Kit-Kat there.

  “I’m no expert on chocolate, I must admit. I thought you might like a go, most people do. You need to get them when they still have the sticky, juicy insides rather than the seeds. Shall we carry on?” Ben said as he climbed back on his bicycle, trying not to think of other things that were best when they were sticky and juicy. He turned to see Mary giving him a rather knowing look for such a sheltered mountain girl.

  “I suppose it’s all an experience, isn’t it?” Mary asked with a wicked smile as they pushed off once more. At least she was able to talk and pedal now. “We have trees in America, I think they’re beech trees. Taste like root beer when you chew at the bark. If you have root beer in these parts of the world. I don’t know how else to describe it.”

  “I’ve had it before, an interesting flavour. You’re doing really well, you know?” He gave her a tip of his head as he pedalled on.

  Mary looked back to see her mother struggling but valiantly continuing. Lillian wasn’t obese but she was bordering on fluffy, and at her age the extra poundage could be problematic. Mary knew the bikes would ultimately be good for them both so decided she’d encourage her mother to keep it up rather than make fun of her efforts.

  They continued on their journey down the quiet country lanes, which took them in a large loop back to the house. Tired but happy, they parked the bikes beside the barn and the three went inside.

  “Over two hundred years old this barn,” Ben said as they trooped in through the large glass doors.

  “Well, the paintwork certainly looks it, I can tell you that much,” Lillian replied. “But it sure is beautiful, chipping paint or no. Could I offer you a drink, Ben? We chose some wine but I’ve no clue if it’s any good or not.”