“I’m always interested,” I said, “especially when you’re in a good mood. But… we shouldn’t.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” She sighed and gazed out the window. “Poor Trip’s gonna be worn out when I’m done with him.”
We could see the others in the light from over the clubhouse, but it washed out the color and turned everyone a little yellow. Still, it was enough to see their faces and expressions.
“Brooke’s exactly like Christy, isn’t she?” Wren mused. “She gets horny when she’s drunk.”
“Something like that.”
“You’re going to have your hands full.”
“Tonight? Or in general?
“Both.” She grinned, although it faded slowly as she watched. “Is she better than me? In bed?”
“It isn’t a competition.”
“I know, but I still wonder.” She watched for a moment and then sighed. “I get it, what Christy sees in her, but still…”
“You’re different. Venus and Saturn.”
“Yeah, but she’s so pretty.”
Out on the patio, Brooke was listening to Mark, laughing at something he’d said. She was as beautiful as ever, a goddess among mortals. I watched for a moment and then deliberately shifted my attention to Christy. She was smaller in every way and plainer in most, but her personality blazed with an intensity that made it impossible to look away.
She must have felt my gaze, because she turned and saw Wren and me staring back at her. She grew self-conscious, and I had to bite my tongue as she tried not to fidget. Then she looked down and tucked her hair behind her ear.
My breath caught in my throat.
“Oh, God, Paul,” Wren said, her voice hoarse from emotion, “I love her so much.”
I swallowed hard. “Me too.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
Time slowed, and each second stretched into a lifetime. The three of us remained connected until the moment passed. Then Christy relaxed, and Wren and I started breathing again.
“We’re lucky to have her,” I said at last.
“You can say that again,” Wren sighed.
“We’re lucky to have her.”
That broke the spell, and Wren decided that an eye-roll wasn’t enough. She slugged me in the arm. Christy laughed at the sight, a pure expression of joy and love.
“Ow!” I rubbed my arm. “I love you too.”
Wren glared. “I know what she sees in Brooke, but not you.”
“A big dick?”
“You have one or you are one?”
“Ha!”
“She isn’t like that, though,” Wren added, almost defensively. “Erin’s the size queen.”
I blinked in surprise. “Hold on… What?”
“You didn’t know? No, of course you wouldn’t. But yeah, totally. She’s obsessed, the bigger the better. Anyway, I don’t know why I’m telling you. You’re her brother. I… um… might be a little drunk.”
“I could tell,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, sorry.” She seemed to remember why we’d come inside in the first place. “Anyway, let’s talk about tomorrow night. C’mon, you wash this time.”
I sighed. “How come we always seem to have these conversations while we’re doing the dishes?”
“Because we have to eat and we want to fuck. They both take planning.”
“And cleanup,” I added, a little gloomily.
“Hey, you’re the one who’s in charge of the swinging now. I’d rather be doing this with her.”
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway, the party. Brooke came up with a game for the ladies. She’s still working out the details, but it’s pretty much what you’d think. We also want to…”
* * *
Trip eventually remembered to tell me about the change of plans. I called Granville to reschedule, and we met on Monday morning with Susan instead. We gave her an update on the permit applications and talked about the schedule for the rest of the year.
Trip had several pages of notes already and filled a half-dozen more as we discussed things. I didn’t think we had that much to do, but I was so, so wrong. At least I began to understand why our management fees were a small fortune. It was a massive project, after all, and about to get bigger.
“Next order of business,” Susan said. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, Trip. You’re right, the camp’s a business, whether I like it or not.”
He nodded.
“And you probably know already, but I’ve made a decision. I’m going to hire a full-time assistant. She can act as a manager for the camp during the season. I wish Wren could stay on, but I understand why she can’t.”
“Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. She’s good at it, but this isn’t her real interest.”
“No,” he agreed. “Do you want us to help you find a replacement?”
“No, but thank you. I’ll put out some feelers. I want to hire a woman. I don’t need the… shall we say, the ‘temptation’ of having a male assistant.” She glanced at me and added, “Certainly not a young and handsome one with a history of seducing older women.”
Trip snorted a laugh, while my cheeks heated.
“I’m glad I can still get that reaction,” Susan said to me. “I was a bit worried.”
“Oh,” I said after a moment, “you’ve still got it.”
“Mmm, indeed.”
“But… is there a reason you’re teasing me?”
“Just having fun,” she admitted. “You’re fun to tease. You always were.” Then she did something that would’ve seemed innocuous to anyone but me. She drew a deep breath, pursed her lips, and exhaled slowly.
All of a sudden I was fifteen again and standing on a ladder while Susan held it steady for me. My dick was at the level of her face. It was hard already, but then I felt a gentle breeze, like someone blowing on it.
I felt light-headed in the present too. The little head had hogged all the blood flow, and I had to brace my hands on the cool Formica of the table. At least it hid my current erection, which felt like it might explode if anyone so much as looked at it.
“Are you okay?” Trip asked.
“Fine,” I managed weakly.
Susan’s eyes crinkled with amusement. She knew exactly what was going on in my head. She even made a point to move her right arm. She was wearing a piece of jewelry I’d given her, a charm bracelet with six silver P’s. It was a private joke—P as in peas, frozen ones—and she smiled when she saw that I’d made the connection.
Then she continued blithely, “As I was saying, I want to hire an assistant who can act as camp manager during the summer. Wren and I were talking about what else she might do—this hypothetical manager—and we came up with a list.”
Trip knew his cue when he heard it. He flipped to a new page on his notepad and poised his pencil to write.
“To that end,” Susan continued, “I’d like to make some changes to the clubhouse. I like the idea of a commercial kitchen, so let’s include that. And I think we need an addition to the building itself, a convenience store for staples like coffee, tea, milk, bread, et cetera. It needs to be separate, so we can lock it up at night.”
Trip nodded and kept writing.
“I’d also like to expand the RV bathhouse. I want to add…”
She talked for several minutes, and he made notes. I followed along, but most of the details went in one ear and out the other. Why? Well, in another life, Susan could’ve been a magician or a pickpocket. The conversation wasn’t exactly a diversion, but she took full advantage of it.
While Trip was busy taking notes, Susan teased me under the table. At first she simply caressed my calf with her foot, but then she grew bolder. She moved her hand to my thigh and stroked gently. She couldn’t reach my hard-on without making it obvious, but she didn’t need to.
“Wow, lots of changes,” Trip said when she finished speaking. He flexed his writing hand, flipped back a page, and scanned his notes. “Several months and… ballpark… a hundred thousand dollars. I’ll have to get estimates, though.”