“But you have promises to keep?”
“Something like that,” I agreed. “Although… it isn’t a snowy evening.”
“No.” She fell silent for a moment before she sighed in contentment. “This is nice.”
“Yeah, thanks. Our little slice of heaven.”
“Ken wanted to buy one of the lakefront lots…,” she mused. “Several years ago.”
“Why didn’t you? They were going for a good price back then.”
She shrugged. “Wrong time. Wrong reason. Wrong everything.”
“Mmm.”
Ken was her ex-husband, Filipino American, Catholic, and much older. He was a traditional male chauvinist, and I didn’t understand what Allie had seen in him. Christy certainly didn’t like him very much, and I took my cues from her.
I’d only met him a dozen times in the six years we’d known them. He was a hotel executive who traveled for work, so Allie was a single parent for all practical purposes. He’d shown up for holiday parties and the occasional backyard get-together, but I’d never seen him at a dance recital, birthday party, or anything else to do with his daughters.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Allie said. “Sorry I brought it up.”
“No need to apologize.”
She thanked me with a smile that had nothing to do with innuendo, sexual or otherwise. We were still friends, even if we flirted all the time. She sighed heavily and stared into the gathering gloom. I didn’t want her to sink into a funk, so I changed the subject.
“Do you wanna go for a swim?”
“Has it been thirty minutes?”
“That’s an old wives’ tale. Besides, I’ll save you if you get a cramp.” I punctuated it with a roguish grin, but she didn’t rise to the bait. “C’mon,” I said, friendly this time. “The water’s nice this time of night.”
I stood and checked on the girls through the glass in the doors. Emily gnawed on a pizza crust, but the others had finished, and they were all engrossed in the movie. Allie followed my gaze.
“They can’t see us. The glass acts like a mirror. Safety precaution,” I added.
Allie had known for years that we were swingers and nudists, although she’d never tried either. According to Christy, that was Ken’s influence more than any reluctance on her part.
Now’s the time to find out, the little head said, and for once I agreed with him.
“We don’t need to wear our suits…”
Allie pretended shock and switched to a drawl straight out of Gone with the Wind, “Why, Mr. Hughes… are you makin’ an immoral suggestion?”
“That comes later,” I joked. “Right now I’m just trying to get you naked.”
“Why, whatevah for?”
“Why do you think?”
“And what would your wife say?”
“Seriously? You know what she’d say.”
“Crap,” Allie said in her normal voice. “You’re right. She’s been trying to get me to try it for years.”
“Now’s the perfect time.”
“I…” She hesitated and then glanced toward the girls inside. “Maybe some other time.”
I hid my disappointment. “No problem. Just thought I’d ask.”
“You can do it if you want,” she said quickly. “I mean, it’s your house, after all.”
“Nah. It’s more fun if we do it together.”
She caught the hint but dismissed it with a laugh that didn’t sound convincing.
“Come on,” I said after a moment.
I slid behind her and felt her stiffen. I couldn’t tell if it was anxiety or desire, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to force her. She exhaled softly when I kept going, relief or disappointment or something else entirely. Still, it didn’t matter.
I stopped at the lounge chairs in front of the master bedroom. I dropped my towel on one and felt Allie move close beside me. She unwrapped her own towel and laid it next to mine, half-on, half-off. I thought it might be a suggestion, especially when she didn’t move away immediately.
“Are you sure you don’t want to…?”
Her indecision was almost palpable, but then she shook her head. “No, sorry.”
“No problem.” I paused for a moment in case she changed her mind. She didn’t, so I turned, gave her a friendly smile, and walked down the steps. The water was still warm from the day, but at least ten degrees cooler than the air. Allie followed.
“Wow, this is nice.”
I sank up to my neck, turned, and moved backward so I could watch her. I had to admit that most men (and quite a few women) were right—her chest was nice. Oh, not in a Pamela Anderson way, but more like a real woman, a thirty-something MILF.
Allie waded toward me and then sank to her neck as well. I pushed off toward the deep end and kicked backward until the bottom dropped away. Then I rolled over and swam toward the waterfall and the little alcove with the submerged bench. It was deeper and wider than the swim-outs, and two people could sit comfortably, while the water cascaded over their shoulders. The sound didn’t drown out conversation entirely, but it made it almost impossible to overhear from more than a few feet away.
I slid onto the bench and slicked water out of my hair. Then I watched as Allie swam toward the deep end. She wasn’t a natural like Christy, but she was confident enough. She stopped and treaded water about five feet away.
“You aren’t angry, are you?”
“Why? That you wanted to wear your suit?” I shook my head. “Maybe a little disappointed, but not angry. I mean, it’s your body. You can show it to who you want. Or not.”
“It isn’t that,” she said. “I want to give it a try. It’s just that I…”
“You don’t have to explain.”
She nodded and fell silent before she glanced up hopefully. “D’you mind if I join you?”
I scooted to the side and made room. She lifted herself onto the bench and then closed her eyes as the water hit her shoulders. Her height was more in her legs, and her shoulders didn’t reach mine when we were sitting. I had a decent view of her cleavage, but I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. I gazed at the house instead.
“Did you design the pool too?” she asked.
“Mostly. The bench and waterfall were Christy’s suggestion.” For some reason I felt the urge to explain. “You know the camp we go to?”
“The nudist camp?”
“Yeah. There’s a lake there, an old quarry.”
“The one with the waterfall. Christy’s told me about it. That’s where you asked her to marry you, isn’t it?”
“Ah, so you do know. Yeah, that’s the place. Anyway, part of the rock wall sheared away and made this little bench.”
“And that’s what gave her the idea,” Allie finished.
“More or less. This one is a lot more comfortable, and the water isn’t as cold…”
“So you don’t have to worry about shrinkage?”
“Ha! No.”
“Not that you have much to worry about in the first place.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I demurred. “I mean, the water’s pretty cold.”
“There. Not here.”
“No.”
“Is that why…?” She grinned at me sideways. “You know, earlier? Did the warm water… excite you?”
I raised an eyebrow and kept my thoughts to myself.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’ll behave.”
“Christy says the same thing.”
“Does she? Behave?”
“Not really.”
“So you won’t be surprised if I don’t either.”
“No, probably not.”
“Good.”
“Mmm.”
We fell silent and enjoyed the water as it splashed over our shoulders.
“This was a good idea,” Allie said at last. “And I’ll be honest, I’m not looking forward to going home.”
“You’re welcome to stay.”
“How—?” She cleared her throat. “I mean, how would that work?”