I loved this road. Ever since David had brought me to the farm for the first time, I had always longed for the tall birch trees to the left and right when I hadn't been there for a while. For the long wooden fences that almost seemed as if they would never end. For the way, I always looked out of the car window when I drove past the riding arena just before the car park or how I slowed down at every pasture gate to maybe talk to someone. I didn't just love the road. I also loved the farm that David had recently taken over from his parents. A large grey sandstone main house, far too big for two people. The stables to the east of it. The indoor riding arena, which stood almost in the garden and was separated only by a small stream from the small patch of lawn, which was overflowing with flowers. The bungalows where all the different people lived, all of whom I had learnt to love so much. It seemed like a dream to me. It was in June. I still remember that. Maybe in the middle of the month, but what does it matter? Time is becoming more and more blurred. Maybe I'm distorting and glorifying things without meaning to.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Y66MWMtrn
In any case, this story begins in July.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HSQ7MkHpG
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Sometime in July.
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The air was humid. It smelled like summer. I had turned the air conditioning all the way up and it was constantly blowing cool air into my face. The trees cast shadows on the path, so I took off my sunglasses. I had just been shopping in the village shop. Unfortunately, I had forgotten more than I thought when I went shopping in town for the week. Just thinking about the fresh strawberries that were safely waiting in the basket in the back of the boot to be turned into a dessert made my mouth water. As soon as I turned onto the avenue, that certain calm feeling began to settle in me. Home. My home. I slowed down the car and leant back. Time would pass like honey. I would get my fill of this view! I wanted to savour it. The pastures to my left and right, where there were no horses and the gates were wide open. Onwards to the next pastures, where a few sport horses gathered around a water trough in the shade of the birch trees and looked curiously at my car. And finally came the riding arena and the last pasture, which was in front of the main house. Hassan and Nila were standing at the fence. Nila nodded to me and gently bowed her head when she saw me. I had often told her not to do this, but the pretty groom just wouldn't listen to me.
Hassan was more direct. ‘Hello, boss!’ he greeted me in his deep voice with a strong accent. When we first met, he had barely spoken German and now he did so at every opportunity. I stopped the car and rolled down the passenger window. ‘Hello, you two. Good to meet you!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceGYEnww2t
‘What's up?’ Nila raised her eyes and slowly came closer. She looked at me in amazement out of her big brown eyes.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJS9uDuWZwe
‘Don't worry. I just wanted to remind you that we're all eating together today. It's all halal, don't worry.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQJM3X5o1M
Hassan nodded gratefully. ‘Jazakallah kheir. May God reward you, Miss Hanni.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNgMyONrne
I had to smile. ‘It's no problem at all! I'll be happy when you get there around six.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kXlq2KNlv
‘We will!’ Nila assured me immediately and then turned back to the horses standing in the shade by the pasture gate.
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I slowly pulled up again and headed straight for the main house, which stood out against the bright blue sky. David was just coming down the old, slightly crooked stone steps in front of the front door. When he saw me, a glow spread across his face that still made my heart beat faster, even after four whole years since we'd met on a training course.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqhoZWoyNa
He was handsome. Always had been. Tall, dark-haired with the most beautiful moss-green eyes I'd ever seen. David's light blue shirt looked damn good on him and I thought again about how I would have loved to take it off again in the morning if it hadn't been for the alarm clock calling me to feed the horses.
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‘Got everything?’ he asked as he opened the boot as a matter of course.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkbwm8TfEz
I climbed out of the driver's door and pushed my sunglasses back into my hair before I forgot them in the car. Wouldn't be the first time. ‘Mmm. Greetings from Mimi. She's already missed you and spent half an hour telling me how you and Katja used to buy sour Gummis from her when you were kids.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UIuPl51ai
David laughed and lifted the basket out of the boot. ‘She remembers that?’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAweoQjglJ
‘She doesn't seem that daft yet!’ I reproached the owner of the little corner shop. ‘You don't have to carry everything!’ I barely plucked the shopping bag out of his hand. ‘How was the customer appointment?’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9mkquEGtu
‘Quite good. The Luxembourgers are taking the gelding and are still thinking about the mare, but it sounded very hopeful that they'll take both.’ David winked at me conspiratorially. I could see from the tip of his nose that he was damn proud of the deal. It also meant that our plan to visit his parents on their newly acquired finca in Spain would soon be realised. Just the customers from Canada and then we would book the tickets and instruct Katja on what to do. A week in Spain! I was just about to ask if he had called his parents yet when the heavy front door of the house flew open.
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`Have you thought about the potatoes, Hanni?’ Pola looked at us reproachfully and waved her wooden spoon admonishingly. ‘Don't flirt or whatever! Food has to go in the fridge and I still have to prepare!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BOuXXKTDf
David hurried back to the door while I closed the boot.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpV5MytHAY
‘Pola, of course I thought of the potatoes!’ We would all kill for her potato salad. The recipe, however, remained a secret.A Polish secret, as she called it. ‘Good child! Now get in there. I have to cook!’ she commanded, tugging her apron into place. She had tied her grey hair up and looked very strict. I was so scared of the housekeeper at first.
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I quickly hurried across the gravel and sand mixture to the front door.
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In the corridor, Pola immediately took my bag from me. She took a good look inside as I slipped off my shoes and nodded with satisfaction. Then she pulled out the ginger sticks. ‘No! That's not necessary!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGGgDl8JyR
’Yes it is!’ She did everything. Cleaning, cooking, washing and ironing. I always felt so stupid that I just stood in the stable all day and she did the housework. She took a deep breath. Shook her head, which seemed too small for her body, depending on the angle. ‘You're too sweet of a child, Miss Hanni!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUrRkgLN32
This nickname came from her husband Oleg, who had already managed the stable under David's parents. At first I had found it annoying, but then David had explained to me that they respected me and that it wasn't meant to be teasing in any way.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4489qXASB
I smiled at them and brushed the sweaty hair from the back of my neck. ‘Can I help you?’
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‘With what?’ She made a dismissive gesture with her hand. ‘It's nothing big. Just little things.’ She always said that and then there was a huge feast on the table.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOonKQlAoa
David peeked out of the kitchen. ‘Have you posted the postal votes?’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9S1D8tUQHF
I rolled my eyes. ‘Start something with a political scientist, will be very different from your father, they said!’ Smirking, I pulled my sunglasses out of my hair and put them on the chest of drawers in the hallway. ‘Of course!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPZKxL5qFg
‘Don't compare me to your father!’ David wrinkled his nose. ‘He's a lot more accomplished than me. And I don't even work as a political scientist, if I may emphasise that again.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUk5AB7TeP
’And Dad still wants to recruit you as a research assistant.’ He had been trying to do that for years, but David had given the farm and his parents the promise that he would honour the family legacy. So he would never do his PhD.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ps3nsTxwN
Today, too, he shook his head and drew me closer with his index finger. ‘I'd definitely rather explore you than political conflicts!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcsHwUlSEI
‘I see...’ I stretched. He smelled so damn good. ‘Don't let Pola hear you say that or she'll beat you up with a wooden spoon.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsbx1gQ0ZN
David laughed. It sounded warm in my ears again and triggered this calming feeling inside me. I had arrived. ‘Wouldn't be the first time!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSUqdXbCk5
‘Why doesn't that surprise me?’
He grabbed the collar of my white linen blouse and pulled me closer to him. ‘Because not only am I bloody intelligent, but I was also a very, very bad boy.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWJj7mHSyb
Raising my eyebrows, I nodded, mockingly impressed. His warm breath brushed my lips. Just a few more millimetres and he would kiss me. I held my breath.
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David's head shot up again and he held the back of his neck. ‘Ouch!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorkO1NOdHX
Pola clicked her tongue behind him. ‘No snogging! The work doesn’t do itself! Come on! And don't get in the way!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMlU05KjkX
I giggled softly. Pola as she lives and breathes.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYULm4BUIF
Mumbling softly to herself in Polish, she turned back to the basket. ‘At least let me make dessert.’ ‘Nothing there! Miss Hanni, you have a job too! Go, child! Go away! I can do it myself.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ887MdrhL1O
David grabbed my hand. ‘Come before we incur her wrath even more!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWp7D1d4oxC
‘Be good!’ Pola warned from the kitchen.
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‘I don't know what's wrong with her. Do you?’ David asked me promptly as he gallantly held the door open for me while I awkwardly slipped back into my ankle boots.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pB25CMDpF
‘No. we really are always well behaved!’ Giggling, I pushed past him into the sunlit courtyard. ‘To the office?’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHoAkmvF5W
He scrutinised me and nodded. ‘Is the blouse new? I like it.’
‘No. Katja brought it for me yesterday.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVhLDuDnkf
‘Then it definitely looks better on you.’ He caught up to me. His footsteps crunched and just seconds later his hand was on my hip.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4e4fK2yqA7
I gave him an amused look. ‘You just don't look so closely at your sister!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BBJlGna8h
’It's better that way. There are just some things I don't want to see!’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjguxOJiWDv
With a grin, I slipped a hand into the back pocket of his dark breeches. ‘Maybe she and Jonas want to come at the weekend. I thought they could spend the night here and we could have a nice evening.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9H8JKaJNAA
‘In plain language. You want to park my nephew with me and you do whatever you want to do.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIlJMka2bP
I nodded. ‘That's the plan. Unless there's something against it.’
We stopped in front of the office door. David fished the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the dark wooden door next to the entrance to the main stable with a jingle. ‘I can't think of anything off the top of my head. Except that Jonas is getting frighteningly good at Mario Kart now and it really dampens my ego to be constantly beaten by a five-year-old.’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4SrdAq908
I pushed past him into the pleasantly cool room. ‘Ohhh. Soooo bad?’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtU1dzUh5hF
‘Sure you think it's funny!’ He closed the door behind him with a clack and locked it again from the inside. He didn't want an embarrassed Hassan to barge in again, like just a few weeks ago just to let him know that the water trough in the back pasture was working again. He hadn't been able to look me in the eye for four days. I tilted my head innocently and leaned my bum against the desk. ‘I didn't realise it was bothering you so much. Otherwise we'll probably have to practise it.’ I ran my thumb down the button placket of my blouse from the top. The top button popped open immediately.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyf8Qky3td0
‘Well, I'm in favour of practising something else first.’ A wolfish grin appeared on his lips.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRrpp4dgsP
‘What would Pola say to that?’ The second button popped open. The throbbing between my legs slowly became noticeable.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwW4LRtuSgG
David looked scrutinisingly at the window. ‘She'd give me one of her sermons until Oleg intervened and told her that they also were young and in love once. Now they're just old and in love, but she shouldn't forget all those years in their twenties.’ He stopped in front of me. Gently he pushed me to the edge.
‘I bet they were both pretty damn cool in their twenties!’ Lost in thought, I stroked his dimples, which dug into his cheeks like sweet little valleys. Perhaps I had only looked at him for so long on the course because of those sugar-sweet dimples, which, with his hair falling boldly down his forehead, gave him the charm of a James Dean. If he was James Dean, then I wanted to be Pier Angeli.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfQc0Dpd7g
‘You mean as cool as we are now or cooler?’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvYlOiS2Oh
I blinked thoughtfully. ‘I wonder if they secretly shagged in the office so their housekeeper wouldn't cross herself every time they came into the room?’13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eAmJ7aHc7
‘Hmmm...’ David undid the next few buttons of my blouse, brushing the cool fabric off my shoulders. ‘Who knows. It's not like it doesn't have its appeal.’
