“Hey! Will you slow down?”
“What’s wrong, flyboy? Out of shape?”
“No, I’m not out of shape. But I thought we were having a relaxing weekend at the beach, not trying for Olympic records here. Will you please slow down?”
“Okay, Okay.”
“That’s better. See when we walk on the beach together I can put my arm around you.”
“That’s always a plus. I’m sorry I’m in such a rotten mood.”
“It’s about the condo isn’t it?”
“Alan, I hated like hell signing those papers yesterday. I really didn’t want to sell the place to Daddy.”
“I know, I know.”
“We just can’t afford both the house and the condo right now. Renting it out would have worked, but when Daddy started insisting he wanted to rent it, then started haggling with me over the price…”
“It just touched all your buttons the wrong way. You know I don’t like it any better than you do. I always thought of it as our love nest in the sky. I used to dream about being there with you when I was on Alpha.”
“I’m so glad you’re home. Even if I have to give up the condo it’s worth it!”
“Hey, don’t hug quite so hard. You’ll choke me.”
“Choking you wasn’t what I had in mind.”
“Hmm. Well, even if we’re married I think they frown on that in public. And we’re on a very public beach.”
“Well, we could get in the water for a while. What do you say?”
“Better than chasing you down the beach. I wouldn’t have thought you could run so fast, pregnant and all.”
“I’m only beginning to show. When the baby gets a little bigger I think I’ll be bouncing too much to run. Oh, well. I can swim every day at the house. I am not going to get fat.”
“I’ll swim with you. I don’t want to get fat either.”
“Ha! You know what happens when we swim together. You know, I think I’ll get our real estate agent to keep an eye on that property across the canal from us. I’d like to have that orange grove. It would sure keep things more private for us.”
“Can we afford that love? It would be nice, but…”
“Well, we’re going to get a lot of cash out of this deal with Dad, dammit. Move that way Alan; I think that’s a jellyfish. If you want to move really fast, brush up against one of those.”
“Come on then, let’s swim north. Looks like the current is pulling us the other way. Obviously the undertow will keep this from being a relaxing swim.”
“Oh, I know what you wanted to swim for, and how relaxed you wanted to be.”
“You do? And when have you ever objected to that?”
“Never. But you’re right. The undertow is strong today. We’d be halfway to Lauderdale by the time we climaxed.”
“You usually come faster than that.”
“I’m still distracted, I’m afraid. Not that you couldn’t put me in the mood with a little effort…”
“Always my pleasure, love. We haven’t packed the hammock yet. We could head back to the condo.”
“We haven’t packed anything yet. I’ve been avoiding it. And Mac and the boys will be here in the morning with the truck to move everything out. I know we can’t stay here, and I know this is the right thing to do. Oh, Alan…”
“Hey, don’t cry, love.”
“It’s my home Alan. I don’t want to dismantle it. I don’t want my mom to redecorate it, and I definitely don’t want my parents sleeping in my bed.”
“We’re taking the bed with us, remember? Monday night we’ll be living in our own place.”
“Whatever. I like the new house, and I can’t wait to be in our own home instead of staying at Helena’s. It’ll be nice and private, and we can relax and do whatever we want.”
“Whenever we want. Hey, next weekend we’ll stay home and I’ll do you in every room in the house.”
“Mmmm I like the sound of that. And I can feel the evidence that you like that too.”
“Mel, swim more and fondle less or we will end up halfway to Lauderdale.”
“We aren’t making any kind of progress swimming. Let’s head back to the beach, and I’ll race you to the hammock, flyboy.”
Maureen J. Long