Without her usual shyness, she made her way into the hot spring. “Ah, this feels good.”
I removed my jeans and got in wearing only boxer briefs. She watched me intently as I maneuvered over the rocks and into the water.
“Do you run?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because you’re muscular but not bulky.”
“Oh.” I wanted to compliment her but found myself tongue-tied because there were so many things I could say. “You’re . . . very um . . . fit.”
She laughed. “Thank you . . . I think.”
“No, you have a fantastic body, and I see a lot of bodies,” I blurted.
“Oh?”
Nervously, I began to stammer again. What was happening to me? “I . . . I’m a doctor.”
“Yes, I know.”
“That’s why I’ve seen a lot of bodies.”
“Oh, okay,” she said. Her smile was sympathetic.
A sound came from the bushes and suddenly a man and a woman appeared carrying two towels. I splashed across the hot spring to cover Ava with my body.
“Oh, excuse us,” the woman said. “No one’s ever up here.”
I heard Ava laughing quietly against the back of my neck. When I turned to face her we were mere inches apart. “You think this is funny?”
She shrugged, still smiling. “Ask them if they want to join us.”
“Really?”
“Why not, it’s big enough.”
I turned back to the couple still hovering over us. “You’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”
“Thought you’d never ask,” the man said instantly. He quickly pulled off his jeans and shirt and was in the water in his tighty-whities within seconds.
“You don’t have to cover me, this looks like a swimsuit,” Ava said in my ear.
I looked back at her and opened my eyes wide. “That does not look like a swimsuit.”
She pushed me away gently. “It’s okay,” she said.
“I’m Jimmy and that’s my wife, Brenda.” Brenda was stripping down to her bra and underwear. The scene playing out in front of me was shocking, if not mortifying, and every time I looked at Ava she seemed amused.
“Nice to meet you Jimmy, Brenda.” I waved to her without letting my eyes glance at her stark-white body as she entered the hot spring. “I’m . . .”
“This is Tom and I’m Darlene,” Ava blurted out.
What the hell?
“You two live around here?” Jimmy asked.
“Yes, just down the road,” I answered ambiguously because I wasn’t sure why Ava gave him fake names.
“Yeah, us too. Brenda and me, we live over past R&W Ranch. We work together at Smith’s Food and Drug. You two ever go there?”
“Oh yeah,” Ava said. “All the time.”
“Y’all got kids?” Brenda asked. She was fully submerged so I could finally make eye contact with her. The couple looked to be in their thirties. Brenda was slightly overweight with dishwater blond hair and small, plain features. Jimmy was completely bald but had a youthful face.
“Yes, we have five. All boys,” Ava said.
I looked at Ava, shocked. She blew a kiss to me like we’d been married for decades. “Yes, that’s right, five boys,” I said, hesitantly. “What about you two?”
“Just one little girl. We’re trying for a boy. That’s why Gramma has little Emmy tonight.” She waggled her eyebrows at Jimmy and the situation became even more uncomfortable, although I don’t think Ava cared; she was getting a kick out of making up a new life story. I was bummed that I wasn’t alone with her, even though Jimmy and Brenda’s presence eliminated temptation. I don’t think I would’ve been able to restrain myself. Ava had wrapped her long hair into a messy bun on the top of her head and her skin was shiny and flushed. I had to keep my mind off of how see-through her camisole was.
“What do you two do for work?” Jimmy asked.
“I’m a writer and he’s a rodeo clown,” Ava said, pointing to me.
I laughed out loud.
Jimmy eyed me. “You don’t look like a rodeo clown. Most of them are scarred up pretty good in the face.”
“I’m really good at what I do,” I deadpanned.
“And Darlene, what kind of things do you write, sweetie?” Brenda asked.
“Fortune cookies. Well, I don’t write the cookies, I write the fortunes.”
“You’re kidding! That’s somethin’ else,” Jimmy said. “Why don’t you share one with us?”
At that point I was dying of laughter inside but trying to play along. It was getting harder and harder to contain myself as Ava kept dishing out the details of our fake life.
“Okay, here’s one. You will find many shiny gifts if you look within. 6, 32, 45, 19, 23, 12.”
“That’s fantastic!” Brenda blurted out.
“Numbers and everything,” I whispered in Ava’s ear. She shrugged one shoulder and batted her eyelashes with pride.
“Jimmy, how did you and Brenda meet?”
“I’ll tell this story, Jimmy. We grew up in Kentucky, went to the same high school and everything, and never knew each other. That’s cause Jimmy’s ten years older than me.” I never would have guessed that but I didn’t say that out loud. Ava and I nodded, encouraging Brenda to continue. “Well, I was workin’ at the Piggly Wiggly and Jimmy here came in one day while I was stocking the shelves. He asked where he could find the best bottle of wine. I showed him to the aisle and then he asked me to pick out my favorite. I didn’t know anything about wine so I picked out the one with the prettiest label and handed it to him. Before I left for work that night, my manager handed me a bag and said that a customer had left it for me. It was the wine and a little note from Jimmy. The note said, ‘If you want to share your wine, give me a call’ with his phone number.”