Chapter 5:

After Irmgard’s return from her holiday in Majorca, Stefan had only a fortnight left in Saarbruecken. Worse, in the first week, he had to attend a conference in Frankfurt for three working days. So, they saw each other only once.

Irmgard was in almost exaggeratedly high spirits, beautifully tanned from the Mediterranean sunshine. When she stripped, the pale contour of brief bikini pants showed off the only part of her body she had left unadmired on the island paradise. She and Susanne had had a wonderful time. For the time being, Irmgard said no more.

Stefan, of course, did not question her further. Rushing onto the bed, they barely took time to eat. They sated their thirst with champagne and their hunger by lasciviously feasting on each other almost non-stop. Stefan’s raging was caused by knowing that their affair, though sexually so rewarding, was coming to an end.

With Irmgard, there was, Stefan suspected, an additional reason. He was almost sure that Irmgard had sex on her holiday. Now in bed with him, she sought in his arms either confirmation that he was still the one she desired more or to atone for the ‘infidelity’ she had committed. Whether it was one or the other — as on other occasions with another woman in his life — Stefan could only guess.

After a night’s unrelenting stormy fucking, Irmgard left him reluctantly at daybreak.

Stefan was to leave Saarbruecken on Friday. Monday, Irmgard came, as always, after work for a meal and their usual love-making, this time more subdued. Both of them avoided talking about their imminent parting or what had been left unasked and unsaid the previous night. On Thursday, they were going to say goodbye.

Wednesday night, Stefan bought some yellow roses and went to the café to say thank you and goodbye to Liesl. She was sweet, telling him how sorry she was to see him go. Then, quite serious, she said how good it had been for Irmgard to meet somebody like him so shortly after being widowed. Stefan was comforted by Liesl being so sure that their affair had not harmed Irmgard. It made his parting, unavoidable as it was, feel less a betrayal.

On Thursday, besides packing up for leaving early on Friday morning, Stefan prepared for their last meal with champagne, candles and flowers. He also bought a dozen long-stemmed roses and hid them in the already emptied wardrobe.

It was a warm June night. When Irmgard arrived, she looked around the festive set-up, only to turn straight into Stefan’s arms. ‘Undress me,’ she whispered. ‘I think we should make love first.’

Stefan, with fumbling fingers, unbuttoned her blouse and struggled to unhook her bra. Irmgard swiftly unzipped her skirt, let it fall and stepped out of it. For a moment, she stood there in her tempting glory, her tanned breasts bare, the smallest of panties, and her long legs accentuated by high heels.

Turning for the bathroom, she smiled and said, ‘You’ll join me again tonight, Stefan, won’t you?’

When a few minutes later he stepped under the shower, Irmgard pressed her body against him. They united with a lingering kiss before beginning the ritual of washing each other. As always, every touch and rub posed a sensuous question which their bodies sinuously answered.

After this, they made love, gentle, caring love for a long, long time. Again and again, they drew back from the edge of orgasms. As lovers in tune with each other, tonight, Irmgard and Stefan wanted to delay their orgasm forever. While their unsated lust for each other drove them towards culmination as always, tonight it signified an ending. When they finally climaxed as one, they clung to each other for a long time — shivering, silent, and Stefan fighting his tears.

As so often before, Stefan left it to Irmgard to decide. When she freed herself from his hold, she kissed him on the shoulder before raising herself. Then, looking down on their still entwined bodies, she said quietly, ‘I think we should get dressed now.’

Irmgard did not wait for Stefan’s answer. Gathering her clothing left on the floor, she went into the bathroom. Stefan understood what was meant. He got up and dressed too. Then, together, in silence, they extinguished the candles and set the table for their last meal together.

While they did not think of it, it seemed fitting that their affair concluded the way it had begun: by sharing a meal. Pretending to be light of heart, they toasted each other and the time and fun they had shared and enjoyed.

But when Stefan thought he would tell Irmgard how much he would miss her and what they had had, he fell silent. He had never told Irmgard that his life was much less settled than hers. Due to his recent divorce, a lonely life and various challenges lay in wait for him on returning to Australia.

In contrast, Irmgard got animated in letting Stefan know that she was all right and filled with optimism about her future. Due to the peculiarity of their nighttime relationship, they had never talked about their material circumstances.

Tonight, Irmgard told him that Robert's life insurance and other inheritances had made her financially independent. Irmgard laughed. ‘I would be quite a catch as a marriage prospect.’

She followed it up by categorically declaring that she had no need or desire for a husband. She would not bind herself into a marriage that was likely to restrict her freedom and leave her bound and sexually unfulfilled like her first one.

She also told Stefan about her holiday experience in Majorca, not sparing him. She and Susanne had a fun-filled time. They had met two friends from Bochum, nice, fit, presentable men, that courted and eventually conquered them. Here Irmgard grinned. ‘Susanne was bedded on the second night. I resisted for longer!’

They spent all the holiday together with their conquests. Susanne broke up with hers on the second last day, declaring that he was ‘just boring husband material in bed'.

Irmgard’s holiday companion had fallen in love with her. Since returning from the holiday, he kept ringing her up daily. He talked about giving notice and selling his flat in Bochum and resettling in Saarbruecken to be with her. Irmgard shrugged her shoulder. ‘I don’t know why. I believed I had not encouraged him in the slightest.’

Last Sunday, when he rang again, he told her that he had begun to arrange matters for the shift. So she was brutally direct. She told him she had no interest in him, did not want to see him again, and to stop pestering her.

Irmgard was embarrassed about having been so carelessly silent and polite. The signs that the man — Irmgard did not name him — was domineering and thought she would submit were there from the start. Irmgard played Skat with him and his mate in Majorca. When she was winning, he got upset. Not wanting to spoil the holiday-mood, she forced herself to lose consistently.

‘The way they played, I had to think harder to figure out how to lose than I had to to win in the German Championships. Just imagine having to do this to give him victory with all his wrong moves — in bed, for instance!’

Here Irmgard burst out laughing and found it difficult to stop. Then, she turned to Stefan, and with an exaggerated moan, declared, ‘I’m ruined. It’s your fault! You got me hooked on good sex! I’m ruined for married life!’

Without thinking about it, it seemed the moment for an ending. Stefan got up and took the roses from the wardrobe. He looked at Irmgard, almost pleadingly, before he said, ‘I’ll take you down to your car.’

Irmgard quickly got up. They walked without talking down the stairs, into the stillness of the night. Pausing for a moment next to her car, Stefan handed Irmgard the roses with a mumbled, ‘Thank You. You know, Irmgard, for everything. I will never forget you.’

Irmgard pressed the roses to her breast. Their sweet smell wafted up as they clumsily kissed.

Then Irmgard quickly unlocked the car and got in. Stefan managed a strangled, ‘Good-Bye. I'll write.’

Irmgard just smiled. She threw him a hasty kiss through the car’s open window. Then, looking down, she put the car into gear and drove smoothly away.

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