Sofia noticed him the day he moved in. He was, after all, her next door neighbor. Their condos had matching balconies that overlooked the river, and the same outside walkway from the front door.

She watched the moving van pull up, movers jumped out to carry furniture and boxes up the stairs. He was there to oversee it. Directing them.

His furniture was interesting. She thought it looked like he had bought it a Pier One or World Market, some place like that. She admired a cupboard, a table and chair set that she could have bought herself. But “probably his ex-wife picked it out, or his last little girlfriend,” she thought, then laughed at her own cynicism.

He was even more interesting than the furniture – at least, he looked interesting. He was maybe her age, she guessed, or a bit older. She had just turned 60. He could have been 70, but he didn’t move like an old man. He reminded her of a wolf somehow, his hair and beard shades of dark gray, and something in his posture. “Dangerous,” she thought, pulling her attention away from the window.

“No need to pay attention to some man you don’t even know,” she chided herself. She got one more cup of coffee and settled herself in the sun room to read her favorite blogs and contemplate the day.

Sofia had not been really interested in a man since her last relationship ended, almost 5 years ago now. He had died quite suddenly, a heart attack, when they had not even known he had heart problems. But the relationship had been dying too, not with any fireworks or drama. It had just seemed to shrink. All the passion and delight of the first few years together seemed to fade away, leaving a nice companionship.

She had mourned him, still missed him at times, and had not wanted to put any energy into getting involved with anyone else. “Too old for that nonsense,” she reminded herself now, thinking about the new man next door.

A “ding” from her ipad alerted her to a new message from her old friend, Lori. She read:

Hey, Guess what! I’m coming to your neck of the woods! Ok, it’s not woods, I know… But seriously. I have some vacation time coming, and I desperately need a break. A friend gave me a bunch of frequent flier miles that he can’t use, and someone else actually offered to let me stay in their time share down there near you real cheap. How cool is that??? I’ll be there next week – well, a week from tomorrow. Maybe we can check out “the scene” while we’re there?! I bet it’s been a while for you!

“A while,” she thought.

The message went on to offer details – when Lori was coming in, exactly where the condo was, and promises that she wouldn’t take up all of Sofia’s time. But Sofia’s thoughts had drifted to “the scene.”

She had met Lori through blogs. They had known each other for years now, but had only spent time together in person on a few memorable occasions. They had come together through their interest in BDSM. “Just two submissive girls,” Sofia thought, middle aged back then, new to the world of kink.

Memories flooded her. Rope and fire, Doms and protocol, leather and belts and ~~ she felt tears welling up, threatening to spill over. Shook her head as if she could shake the memories away.

Another ding from the computer – Lori again – “Did you see my message – is everything ok? You’re not gonna be out of town or something are you?”

Sofia laughed. Quickly she responded, no, not out of town, yes, excited that Lori was coming, yes, she’d have to see what was going on locally, it would be great.

She hit send and sighed. Done. This was turning out to be an eventful day.