Gorgeous at Forty

By Adam Mann

Tony is accosted by a lovely lady whilst walking to his hotel for lunch, but they remember having met for the first time nearly twenty years earlier, and liked one another then but had been held back by convention and the possibility of a husband or a wife, and children.
Now only an adult child remains as a handicap, which makes them free for their relationship to develop, and it does.
They are trying to make up for twenty years of lost opportunity and passion, and as she remarks “I would have very easy to seduce”.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ButterflyBooks
• Release date: Nov 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463433621

Adam Mann

Adam Mann has lived and worked in Africa and then Asia for many years. He has always been fascinated by personal relationships, and in real life is now enjoying his fourth marriage, after being widowed, divorced, and even had a marriage annulled as this ‘wife’ had forgotten to get divorced.As a result he has extensive experience of social and sexual activities, which he brings into his books in explicit detail. Underlying all these activities is a quest for a loving and ongoing relationship with his partner.Adam Mann is a pen name.

Book preview

Butterfly Books

Gorgeous at Forty

A novel by Adam Mann

© Adam Mann 2018.

ISBN: 9780463433621

There many gorgeous ladies in the world of all nationalities, and all ages. It so happens that the author of this novel stumbled across a lovely lady in her early forties!

This is a work of fiction, and imagination. Please read and tell the author what you think.

Contents

Part 1 -Ly Thuong Kiet

Part 2 - Ha Noi

Part 3 - The Old Quarter

Part 4 - The Repairs

Part 5 - Hoi An

Part 6 - The Visitor

Part 7 - Quang Nam

Part 8 - Song Bung

Adam’s Books at Smashwords

Part 1 - Le Thuong Kiet

Just before lunch I found myself at a loose end, and was walking along Ly Tuong Kiet in Ha Noi going towards the hotel where I was staying and mindful at the same time about the food shop that I also wanted to visit to buy some imported goodies just before I got to the hotel. I was walking at quite a pace and was just passing the UNDP building on my left that several years ago had been painted a hideous yellow colour. I think at the time they called it Amber!

A voice at my side suddenly said; Tony, where are you going?

I stopped walking at looked around. It was a lovely lady that I’d known for several years or even more, and I know that she used to work at UNDP, and probably still did as she was standing in the gate at the side of that building.

I smiled, as she was delightful; Hi, Duyen, how are you? and I was genuinely delighted to see her.

She repeated; Where are you going?

I smiled at her as she was worth smiling at. She must have been about 1.60 metres tall, that’s about 5 feet 4 inches in the old system. She had cut her black hair to shoulder length, and curled it around her head. Her face was pale ivory with did not have a mark on it, no eye shadow, a feint eyebrow and she just had a mild lipstick, probably lip-ice.

I’m just going back to my hotel, I explained.

Which one?

The Park, I said.

But you always used to stay at the Eden? she asked.

That’s been demolished, and it’s now a big five-star monstrosity, I said, and I looked at her again; Would you like some lunch?

At the Park?

‘No, there a small restruant just opposite, I replied, Come on, come with me, and I took her arm.

She didn’t resist, and walked on my left, the inside. I let go of her arm.

She was wearing the traditional Ao Dai national dress, which meant she had large white baggy silk trousers, called an Ao Quan, and could walk at a fair pace which suited me. She did not have high heels, but leather flip-flops with a raised heel. Her dress was a dark blue with some flower embroidery on one shoulder to hide the fastener, and accentuate her breasts. Come to think of it I’d never seen her wearing this type dress before in the street, so there must have been some function going on at UNDP.

She smiled at me, and she had not changed over the years. I was dying to ask how her husband and son were, but decided to wait until we were eating.

The restaurant was down a few stairs from the pavement, and about half full of customers. A smartly dressed lady, also wearing an Ao Dai, a dark pink one, showed us to table in the centre of the room, and placed two menus on the table.

I immediate looked around to see what was on offer for that day and it was as usual written each day on a black board just inside the entrance, but now facing us.

Pasta for me please? she said immediately, and smiled at me again.

That makes two, I agreed, and she gave the order in Vietnamese to the lady who had shown us to a table.

A drink? I asked.

Just a glass of white wine, please Tony.

Snap, I agreed, and this time she gave to order to a young man who had been hovering nearby.

Have you been here before? I queried.

A few times, and she smiled again.

That smile was not good for me as she was an attractive lady even without the smile. She must have been in her late thirties, I guessed, as I had known her for ten or fifteen years, or more, and always found her attractive, and I also had the crazy impression that for some reason she liked me.

Where you working now? she asked gently, which was a good opener.

Last night I flew here from Da Nang, as I’m on a project in Quang Nam for the resettlement of families in the Song Bong area.

She nodded wisely, as that was the sort of work her employer did, which is how we had met the first time.

Is it running smoothly? she asked.

It’s only just started, and the local engineers don’t really want us involved, I said, but the donor has told them its condition of the loan to build the dam. I continued, We’re not involved with the dam design or construction, but we have to design and build the new villages with many facilities, and move the farmer families to their new villages, in coordination with the construction, or they’ll be swimming, I smiled at her.

She nodded, as she understood.

I was going to ask if she still worked in Public Relations department, but she forestalled me;

Ngoc is in his second year at his college, she said.

My brain was working overtime, as I knew she had one son, but I couldn’t remember his name, but I don’t think she was talking about her husband going to college.

What is he reading? I asked English style.

He wants to be an engineer, and he thinks that hydro-electricity is the future in Vietnam, with so many rivers running down to the sea all along the country he may be right. This gave me an opportunity.

What does your husband think? and I saw from her face I’d hit upon a difficult subject.

I could see tears welling in her eyes, and she reached across the table to take my hand, just as two plates of tomato paste covered spaghetti arrived. Another waitress brought a tray with Parmesan cheese and other condiments.

She managed to smile, took away her hand, and I passed her the pot of Parmesan. She took a deep breath and helped herself.

We ate for a bit saying nothing.

Tony, are you staying here long? she said after a while.

Until Sunday or Monday next week, but I expect I’ll be travelling to and fro for some time as the project develops.

She smiled at me, but said nothing.

I was racking my brain to try to remember her husband’s name, but had no idea of what he did or what might have happened to him.

We stopped eating and I paid the bill, in cash. This restruant was used to non-Vietnamese clients, so they gave me the bill and not Duyen, as is the local custom.

My hotel was just opposite, and we walked across the road to the hotel. She followed me to the reception as I took my key, and she must have made a note of the room number. I walked with her to main door of the hotel, as she was going back to work, and I kissed both cheeks as she left, which made her blush.

That afternoon I spent some time working on my progress report for the Donor, and it was late afternoon before I sent it off as an attachment by email to their offices in Manila. I took a shower and found some casual clothes, and flip flops.

The phone buzzed.

It was Duyen who said she was in the reception.

Can we talk, Tony? she asked.

I’ll be straight down, and made sure I had my room key and wallet.

She was waiting for me by the reception desk, and she had also changed out of her Ao Dai. She now had a loose cotton knee length dress, with a tight waist but was now wearing black high heels so we were nearly on the same level.

Let’s go for a walk, she suggested, swinging her small black handbag.

I took her hand and we went outside, and I called a taxi.

Where are we going? she asked, sitting close to me in the back of the taxi.

You wanted to go for a walk, and I told the taxi driver to take us to the Hoan Kiem Lake. I told him in my limited Vietnamese to stop near the Post Office, but