[ICU2]

I was 26. I had been living in an apartment that I hated and finally found an affordable rental house that was owned by a single woman (divorced I think) who was in her mid to late forties named Brenda. She was very well spoken and polite. She was above average looking and seemed to enjoy showing her ample cleavage in a classy conservative way. She informed me that she lived next door to the house that she had for rent but assured me that she would never show up unannounced or be a nosey neighbor / landlord. She also let me know that she kept a key to the house but would never go in without checking with me first. I liked the house and she seemed very nice so I moved in.
The house had an unusual floor plan but it suited my needs. I guess the previous tenant had been a female because the upstairs bathroom was a horrid shade of pink. After a few months, I just couldn’t take it any more so I asked Brenda if I could paint it a more neutral color. She agreed and the next day I came home with a gallon of paint. The window had blinds that I had never had reason to open. They would need to be removed before I painted and upon doing so, I realized that the blinds were probably closed because anyone on my landlords back deck would have a perfect view of anyone in the bathroom. I didn’t think too much about it at the time because I knew I would be putting the blinds back up after the paint dried so I finished the painting, washed up and left out for some dinner.
The next morning, I got up and took a shower like I do every morning and went to work. When I came home that evening and walked into the bathroom, I realized that I had not replaced the blinds the night before and that I had been naked in the bathroom that morning. If Brenda had been on the back deck, she would have seen me in all my glory. I knew she would have been awake since we both leave at about the same time in the morning. I was terribly embarrassed. I didn’t know how she would react. Had she seen me? Did she think I was a perv? Was she going to evict me? There were all kinds of thoughts going through my head but eventually I calmed myself down and realized that if she had seen me, surely she would understand that it was an innocent mistake on my part.
After thinking about it for a while, it actually kind of turned me on but I still couldn’t convince myself that she would have actually enjoyed it so I replaced the blinds and never opened them again, though I regret that decision to this day, all I can say is that I guess I was shy.
Anytime I had seen her outside, I would always wave and occasionally speak with her briefly but now, I was dreading our next contact. I would peek out of the window to make sure she wasn’t outside before I left so that I wouldn’t have to talk to her but eventually the day came when I had to go outside and cut the grass. I was just about to start weed eating when a truck pulled into her driveway. She came out to meet the driver and she waved for me to come over. She introduced me to the man and said that he was going to trim some tree branches that were hanging over the houses. The three of us proceeded to walk around while she pointed out the discrepant limbs. When we got to the back yard. The man mentioned a bird feeder that was hanging in one of the trees, she replied that she loved to drink her morning coffee on the deck and watch the birds. She looked right at me with a sparkle in her eye when she said it. I must have turned 12 shades of red .
Knowing what I know now, I’d give anything to turn the clock back to that time. I think of her often.