Façades Read online

  Digital Publishing Centre

  Façades

  Cynthia Lindenmayer came to book writing rather late in life. At age 62 she published her first book, Reflections of a Queensland Country Girl, an authentic account of aspects of her early life in rural Queensland, which was complementary to her late father’s bush pioneering tale, Walk a Mile in My Shoes (Tom Collins, CQU Press, 2000). In 2002 she ventured into feminist fiction, with her first novel, Myra’s Escape from the Shadows, a robust tale of a middle aged woman’s search for love and adventure after betrayal in her marriage.

  In 2009, Cynthia published her second novel, Guilty Secrets. This was a sometimes steamy tale of intrigue, romance, betrayal and violence (including domestic violence) in an everyday Australian setting. It was widely distributed, and led to Cynthia’s appearance, with Brady Halls, in an amusing segment on Channel 9’s A Current Affair in June of that year.

  Digital Publishing Centre

  Brisbane

  The Digital Publishing Centre

  an imprint of Interactive Publications

  Treetop Studio • 9 Kuhler Court

  Carindale, Queensland, Australia 4152

  [email protected]

  ipoz.biz/DPC/DPC.htm

  First published by Interactive Publications, 2010

  © Cynthia Lindenmayer

  ePub edition, 2010

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

  Printed in 12 pt Book Antiqua on 16 pt Book Antiqua.

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

  Author: Lindenmayer, Cynthia

  Title: Façades / Cynthia Lindenmayer

  ISBN: 9781921479939 (ebk.)

  Subjects: Australian fiction

  Dewey Number: A823.3

  Façades

  Cynthia Lindenmayer

  Digital Publishing Centre

  Brisbane

  Acknowledgments

  Cover Image: Mammuth

  Jacket Design: David Reiter

  I acknowledge the invaluable assistance, in the production of this book, of my husband, Travis, without whose editorial assistance, advice and encouragement this book would not have been possible.

  Disclaimer

  All the characters and events portrayed in this book are entirely fictional, and the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance between any such character and any real person, whether living or dead, is purely co-incidental.

  CHAPTER 1

  He waited, expectantly, for her arrival. As usual, he had left the door to his apartment ajar for her. As each minute passed, he became more and more excited at the prospect of what he knew would follow. He knew that she would glide through the door, briefcase in hand, without pausing to knock or to ring the doorbell, and go straight to the computer room, where he now waited, impatiently, and with increasing breathlessness. She would be wearing conservative business attire: a straight skirt reaching to just below her knees; a fitted cotton blouse (buttoned high enough to reveal just a hint of the generous cleavage beneath), with a stand-up collar accentuating the willowiness of her neck; and, a pair of sensible, medium-heeled court shoes, with no stockings. Her short, silky, auburn hair would be neatly, but stylishly, cut into the nape of her porcelain neck.

  When he heard the soft fall of her footsteps in the open doorway, followed by the sound of the door closing behind her, his excitement reached almost fever pitch. It took all his willpower to remain seated at one of the two stools arranged in front of his computer desk. The computer was turned on, and logged into her favourite website.

  Without a word she entered the computer room, put down her briefcase, and kicked off her shoes. She immediately proceeded to slowly and casually unbutton her blouse, before removing it languidly and draping it carefully over the coat hanger he had left hanging on the doorknob for her. Then with a deft flick behind her, she unfastened and discarded her bra, and hung it over the doorknob, behind her blouse.

  His eyes hungrily devoured her beautifully sculpted, creamy breasts, with their prominent, pink nipples, but, knowing the routine she expected, he did not rise from his seat or greet her in any way.

  Without a word, she drifted onto the vacant stool beside him and, with her right hand, took control of the computer mouse. As she did so, she slowly opened her knees, and, with her free hand, gently raised her skirt hem to reveal to him that, as he expected, she was not wearing panties.

  He put his left hand over her right hand on the mouse and, in unison, they began to scroll through the pornographic images that flooded the screen. As she peered with deep concentration at those moving images, she raised her left hand to her right breast and began to massage the nipple, gently at first, but with increasing pressure and urgency. His own arousal within his tight jeans was becoming almost unbearable. After a few moments she lifted both her hands to his chest and began to unbutton his silk shirt, running her neatly shaped and manicured fingernails down his chest as she did so.

  Unable to contain himself any longer, he stood up from his stool, lifting his companion from hers at the same time, and quickly undid his jeans to drop them at his feet. He, too, was wearing no underwear. Reaching behind her, he unzipped her skirt, which she let drop to the floor beside his jeans. For a second he admired, once again, the beauty of her shapely, mature body, as she did his more youthful one, before they slid, together, to the floor, and lost themselves in the passion of their frantic embrace and the heat of their mutually-intoxicating kisses.

  The arousal of both was now so complete that they wasted no time with further, unnecessary foreplay and as she pulled him desperately on top of her his hard, strong manhood slid easily into her now wet and eager velvet pouch, which hungrily swallowed up this welcome intruder. Her groans of mounting desire and pleasure now mingled with his as he nibbled on her ear and thrust himself over and over into her depths. As they quickly climaxed together both emitted a barely stifled yelp, before gradually relaxing to allow their now spent bodies to cling together and savour the warmth and closeness of the other.

  After a time, she slowly extricated herself from Teale’s embrace. Picking up her skirt from the floor and her bra and blouse from the doorknob, she headed into the bathroom. When she emerged after a brief interlude, she looked, once again, as cool and contained as she had upon her arrival, not so long before. Without a word, she retrieved her shoes and her briefcase from the computer room floor, where Teale still lingered, and left the apartment, closing the door gently behind her.

  After slipping into his discarded jeans, Teale padded his way slowly into the living room. He paused at the liquor cabinet to pour himself a generous slug of bourbon, before heading out onto the balcony to witness her departure. As he gazed down into the street from his third floor apartment, to see her walking, at her rhythmical, unhurried pace towards her car parked half a block away, he began, once more, to feel the stirrings of desire that the mere sight of her now always invoked in him. To a casual observer she would have appeared cool and sophisticated, without a hint of the wanton lustfulness that he knew lay hidden just beneath the mild façade that she presented to the world.

  As he watched her now his mind went back to their first meeting, only a few weeks before.

  He had been working at home on an important project when, to his consternation, his computer suddenly crashed. Fearing the loss of all his work on this complex and urgent case, he frantically telephoned the IT company that had the contract for
the maintenance of his computer equipment, and attempted, unsuccessfully, to resolve the problem in discussion with a technician. After a time, the technician told him that he would dispatch one of the company’s roving trouble-shooters to his home, to attack the problem, hands on.

  To his relief, it was not long before his doorbell rang and he opened the door to find her standing there, briefcase in hand.

  “I’m from Pegasus IT Solutions. Are you Teale Downey?” she enquired.

  “Oh! I’m so glad you’re here,” he responded, anxiety tingeing his voice. “I’ve lost all my data. It’d take days to re-do it all, I don’t have the time, and all the damn thing keeps doing is flashing up for a minute, giving me an error and then turning itself off again. Does that sound fixable? I really hope so… This is a complete disaster. ”

  “Don’t worry Teale. That’s what I’m here for. Just show me the computer,” she answered, her voice oozing with confidence.

  As she sat down at the computer and began to work away at the keyboard so quickly and so expertly his initial scepticism about her capacity to resolve his problem soon melted away. In fact, she so rapidly identified and then fixed the problem, easily recovering his desperately-needed data that he felt a touch of embarrassment at his own ineptitude. At the same time he also had a sneaking admiration for this more mature woman whose skills in this area were clearly so much superior to his own.

  While she was performing a last minute check of all his systems, to his embarrassment she logged onto a pornography site that he occasionally used. He was surprised she did not immediately log out of this site, but instead began to troll through it, with obviously increasing interest. Despite his initial discomfort, he, too, was drawn into this display of overtly sexual activity, his quick arousal heightened by her close presence, and the obvious stirring of her sexuality that this material evoked. Before either of them fully realized what was happening, they had both succumbed to the overpowering urges awakened by the images on the screen, and participated in the most erotic, uninhibited and mutually satisfying sexual encounter that either had ever experienced.

  Afterwards, while she was dressing, he spoke tentatively.

  “I’m sorry, but I missed your name earlier.”

  “You didn’t miss it. I didn’t give it,” she responded coolly.

  “Oh. Okay. Right then. Well this might sound a bit forward then. Ahh, what the heck… Am I able to see you again?”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she said, but the lingering look her smouldering green eyes gave him encouraged him to press the point further.

  “No? Really? But we can’t just walk away from what just happened, I mean, from what we both just experienced.”

  She paused, thoughtfully then, for a moment, her eyes belying her earlier spoken rejection. Then, removing a small pad and pen from her briefcase, she scribbled something on a sheet of paper, which she tore off and handed to him.

  “That’s my number. If you really do feel like doing this again, sometime, maybe send me a message. And I might text you back if I can make it.”

  As he eagerly took the proffered sheet of paper, he continued “Sure, great, that suits me. But, I still don’t know your name? You know mine.”

  “No name. Let’s not make this personal. Much too messy for my liking,” she said, picking up her briefcase and heading for the door.

  From that day to this, their infrequent, wild encounters had followed the same pattern. Increasingly he longed to know more about her, but she steadfastly refused to reveal herself to him, beyond her rampant sexuality. He knew that she was married, for she wore a wedding ring, but, for the rest, it remained an impenetrable mystery that constantly tantalized him. He realized he could unravel part of the mystery by telephoning her IT company, but he also knew that such a probing might undermine her comfort in the confidentiality of their relationship, and bring it to an abrupt end. That was certainly not something he wanted. In addition, the mystery surrounding her, and the clandestine nature of her visits to his apartment greatly enhanced the excitement of their unbridled sexual experiences. He was not prepared to put that at risk.

  When Simone reached her parked BMW sports, she opened her briefcase to remove her car keys. She always carried her briefcase to her assignations with Teale, as a sort of camouflage. As she took hold of her keys, her eyes fell on the packet of condoms she always included in preparation for these visits, but that she consistently neglected to use in the heat of passion generated by their mutually all-consuming lust. With a slightly rueful smile, she also took her mobile phone from the briefcase and turned it on as she unlocked the car. Sliding in behind the steering wheel, she heard the tell-tale tone of a text message arriving. Quickly scanning her message inbox, she found an sms from the party planner she had engaged to organize her daughter Sasha’s 21st birthday party, asking her to phone him. She made a mental note to do so later as she started the car and steered it in the direction of her home.

  Approaching the driveway to her luxury home, Simone felt some relief when she recalled that her husband, Lee, had mentioned that morning that he had a late appointment this evening. She did not look forward to his arrivals home. It was not that they had blazing rows. Sometimes she wished they did. At least they would then have some sort of a relationship. Instead, they were like strangers sharing a luxurious living space. If she tried to broach a subject of mutual interest to him (such as her growing concern that their two daughters were beginning to go off the rails) he would simply shrug, and say, “ I can’t handle this after a heavy day’s work! I need to unwind,” before heading straight into his home theatre to turn on the gigantic plasma television set at full volume. He would then pour himself a glass of wine from his well-stocked cellar, before settling down to watch the world news, in isolation. He would stay there, gulping his wine until she would eventually call him to eat the dinner that had, in any event, always been prepared in advance by one of their two casual housekeepers. After dinner, if he did not disappear into his study for hours, he would be working out in their home gymnasium.

  As she paused in the driveway for the automatic garage door to fully open to admit her car, she saw her new next-door neighbour standing on the balcony of his home, looking down in her direction. He smiled and waved at her in an overly-familiar manner, a salutation she returned, politely, but without enthusiasm. In the brief time she had known George, she found she did not much like him. He was over-friendly, with the habit of invading the personal space of anyone he happened to be talking to, making it difficult for them to move away from him. His conversation invariably revolved around himself, and Simone could always feel his leering eyes undressing her as he spoke. Sometimes he became so animated in his recounting of some real or invented exploit of his own, that little globules of spittle sprayed from his cavernous mouth, threatening to drench his unfortunate captive audience. At that moment, little did Simone know how large a part this obnoxious neighbour and his family would come to play in her future life.

  “I’m off now,” called Janet the receptionist, as she approached the outer door of the surgery suite.

  “OK Janet. See you tomorrow,” answered Nadine the dental assistant, from inside the surgery proper. “I’ve still got a bit of cleaning up to do here, yet.”

  At the sound of the outer door closing and locking behind Janet, Nadine and Lee, in his orthodontic surgery, exchanged meaningful looks, before he stripped off his rubber gloves and threw them into the surgical waste receptacle. He then set about meticulously washing his hands in the scrub basin at the back of the surgery, and took a swig of the mouthwash standing nearby, which he swilled vigorously around his mouth before ejecting it into the basin. Nadine watched his familiar, almost obsessional preparations with mild amusement, but mounting excitement.

  He was a tall, well-proportioned man in his late forties. Although not exactly handsome, there was an attractiveness about his pale blue eyes, and his thick brown hair, falling boyishly across his forehead, yet
streaked with grey at the temples. He exuded an air of sophistication, at least in Nadine’s eyes. She was aware that she was besotted with him.

  Nadine was in her mid-thirties and a single mother. She had curly blond hair, cut in a bob. She, too, was relatively tall, but not as tall as he, and had a curvaceous figure. Her mouth was wide and sensuous, with generous, slightly pouting lips that gave a hint of collagen enhancement. Her large, well-rounded breasts, were usually constricted by her tight blue uniform. Now, though, they were beginning to peek, tantalizingly through the opening of her zip fastener, which ran from just below her throat to the hemline of her uniform. She had lowered it several inches. That glimpse of her bare flesh always turned him on.

  As he approached her, now, with that familiar glint in his eye, and a condom packet in his hand, she paused, thoughtfully, and drew back slightly.

  “Lee, I’ve been thinking, a bit, about us. I’m not sure anymore. I mean, I don’t think I want to do this anymore. Obviously, I get off on it. You know that. Of course. But I feel stupid. I don’t want to be used. You don’t sleep with Simone anymore, right? But you’re never going to leave her. You never even mention it. The husband never leaves… And I don’t want to hang around just to prop up your dysfunctional marriage. Because guess what? Funnily enough, I don’t just want a few quick bangs, on a dental couch of all places!”

  “Oh, Nadine, I don’t really know what to say. I’m sorry. I’m sorry you feel that way,” replied Lee, surprise and disappointment colouring his voice. “You’re not just a few quick bangs on a couch. I do care about you. Of course I do! And I think you know how much I enjoy our passionate interludes. But it’s only been a few months since we gave in to our mad, crazy, lustful impulses. And, if we’re both honest about it, and it is all just lust, then we both need a bit of time before the big leap. Do you know what I mean? We just need to, to make sure, to see if we can make a long-term commitment to each other before we really dive in. Besides, if I were to abandon Simone now, particularly with all the problems our girls are creating at the moment, all that added stress would place so much pressure on us that we, too, would be destroyed. So my marriage is probably dying. Maybe it won’t last long anyway, but can we just let it happen? Let it all happen in its own time, rather than force it?”