Brian stood up and Hailey followed him, dusting dry grass off her short skirt and thighs and knees. She and Brian and Marc Swift walked into the shade of a towering pine tree. Marc owed Brian an explanation. “I’m sorry. I totally forgot about Carla that day. It was a terrible misunderstanding.”
Marc had videotaped Irene rolling a spliff, wondering if some chemical in Jacob’s ganja, like whatever gave the resin that indigo hue, also produced that mild euphoria at such a steady, long-lasting level. Irene smoked and Marc smoked and he had his recorders running on two tripods. He held a third video camera and came in close when Irene grinned. “No dry mouth or irritated eyes. Just a calm rallying of yourself inside.”
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“That’s what she said,” Marc said, shaking his head. “She did a perfect testimonial.”
Hailey had slipped under Brian’s arm or maybe he had unconsciously drawn her in for support. He had dreaded this conversation, because his job required him to take Carla’s side. And his loyalty to Carla along with his remaining affection riled his indignation. He was afraid of losing his cool with Marc. After all, by now, midway through the summer, practically everyone was hopping from bed to bed.
Just not in front of each other. That’s what Brian expected Marc to realize. That he should have talked to Carla first, and not set her up like that.
But Brian wasn’t saying anything, because he was so absorbed with Hailey standing beside him. So aware of her smooth body, its form and heat and flowery, buttery scent. He could spend all day holding her like this, his fingers reading her bare and wonderful shoulder like Braille, learning more than he would have thought possible to know.
Marc’s sandal kicked the grass. “So Irene and I got really high. I shut off the cameras and we, you know, got interested. I had forgotten about Carla. Irene didn’t know anything about it. Not really. And of course, nothing like this will happen again. I promise. But should I talk to Carla? When she moved out of your place and into mine so fast, I got the idea everything was casual.”
Brian wished Hailey hadn’t heard about Carla moving in and out. No one was innocent.
“Try talking to her,” Brian said, eager to touch more than Hailey’s shoulder; his interest in what her shoulder had to teach him was spreading fast throughout his body. He wanted to know her entire self, inside and out and right now. His mind raced, anticipating her mind and her lovely, lively body so smooth and sweet and close to him. Facing Mark, however, he managed with effort to find a suitable phrase. “Talk to Carla and hear what she has to say.”
“You think she’ll come back and stay with me? Irene was one time only.”
“There’s two weeks left,” Brian said.
“Will you take a look at the work the students and I have done? Because I was hoping to stay on another semester, at least.”
Brian said, “Angelina and Kaya will review your situation, too. That’s not today’s business.”
Marc turned and disappeared onto the narrow path.
Brian scooped Hailey up and brushed his lips over hers. Like a test: the second kiss would be for real. She took his hand and let that second kiss go for now. Soon, though, she squeezed his hand, so he knew that second, serious kiss could come —soon. And so he wasn’t fully disappointed when she led him back to where they had been lying in the grass.
She sat with her legs crossed and tugged his sleeve so he would sit beside her. “Isn’t it strange the way different lovers are, and how they affect you? Your brother’s secret is that he gives you all you want. If it happens a second, third, or more times that’s a happy development; he’s a fine man. But you don’t ache for him. You don’t pine. But then there are others, the crucial lovers, the ones you can never get enough of.”
Brian said nothing. He figured that was Trevor’s secret. He satisfied his girlfriends, maybe not once and for all, but thoroughly enough so that not one had ever begged him for more. Nobody ever clung to him.
Whereas, with Hailey, Brian knew, satisfied, satiated over the top, he would always want more. Already he felt he could never get enough of her.
She dropped her head in his lap and looked up at him. “And then there’s one particular lover you’re gonna want forever.” She looked embarrassed, backed up, and leaped away. Brian did as she did and held his breath, expecting that second kiss. She even leaned toward him but pulled back.
“With you,” she said. “I know already I would want you forever, whether it worked out that way or not.”
“We’ll never know unless we try. Come with me.”
“Soon,” Hailey smiled. “Go to your cabin and I’ll meet you there.”
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