Amy wasn't really Dan's "trophy wife," but he liked to joke that she was, because she was ten years younger than him -- twenty-two to his thirty-two -- and his second wife. Of course, Dan was hardly in any position to get himself a trophy wife even if he'd wanted one, working two cubicles from mine in an office downtown and struggling to both keep up the house he and Amy were living in now, and pay child support for the two kids from his first marriage. Fortunately his ex-wife was a nice woman
-- they'd just married too young, is all -- and didn't need alimony, so never asked for any.
It took a few months, because we were concerned at first about Dan rebounding with a much younger woman, but my wife and I grew very fond of Amy. We thought her perky personality was just what Dan needed. She and Ellie went shopping together, and even went off together for a couple of spa weekends. Amy liked to pretend to flirt with me when we were all together, warning Ellie that she had a thing for "older men" (Ellie and I are both thirty-one, pretty much the same age as Dan).
Fastforward to July 4th weekend. The 4th came out on a Thursday, so essentially it was a four-day weekend. The evening of the 3rd, Dan took off because he was taking his kids to Disneyland for the weekend. And it was hotter than hell.
You know how sometimes when it's really hot no matter how much you keep the air conditioner going, and the thermostat says it's cool, it still feels clammy and uncomfortable? That's how it felt to me
Wednesday night. Well, technically 1am Thursday morning. Ellie was out like a light, but I couldn't sleep. I heard noises outside.
I figured it was a raccoon going after our garbage, so I pulled a pair of boxers and walked outside to chase him off.
It wasn't a raccoon. It was Amy, right now swimming the length of our pool underwater. Once I realized it was her, I turned around and started back toward the house.
Then I heard a shriek. I turned around. Amy was standing next to the pool, wearing a plain black one-piece swimsuit, her hand on her chest. "Jamie, damn, you scared the living shit out of me."
"Sorry," I said.
"Nothing to be sorry about. It's your house. You said we could come over here to swim any time we wanted, so I hope it's okay --"
"It's fine, really.'
"Even this late at night? I didn't mean to wake you up."
"No, I was already up."
I was still about thirty feet away from her.
"You can come closer," she said, "I'm decent, you know. I didn't come over here to skinny-dip."
"I can see that," I said. "But I'd better not."
She squinted a bit, then laughed. "Oh, you're wearing boxers, not shorts. It's okay, I can handle the excitement. And I'd rather not be shouting across the yard at this time of night."
I walked over to the pool area and sat on one of the deck chairs, careful that everything stayed in place under my boxers.
She pulled another chair next to mine, and sat on it. "I was, excuse my French, hot as fuck inside my house," she said. "We never got a chance to fix the air conditioning. I mean, well, it was fix the air
conditioning or Dan takes the kids to Disneyland, and I'm the one who convinced
him
to spend the money on the Mouse instead, so I'm okay with it, but... hot as fuck, you know? I could deal with it during the evening, but I didn't think I'd ever get to sleep without cooling off first. So what's
your
story?"
I couldn't tell her I was too uncomfortable to sleep even though our a/c had the temperature down to 68, so I told her it was just some bout of insomnia.
"You could always jump into the pool for a while," she said.
"I don't think so," I said, gesturing at my boxers.
"You'd rather
skinny-dip
??" she said in a shocked voice.
"No, no, I didn't mean..."
She started to giggle. "Jamie, you're
way
to easy to tease."
"I guess," I said sheepishly.
She got up from her chair. "I better get going," she said. "It's late, and I have an early morning."
THE SECOND NIGHT
The next morning, I didn't say anything to Ellie about having seen Amy at the pool. I don't know why. It's not as I'd done anything wrong, other than perhaps letting Amy see me in my underwear in a
dimly-lit night. Maybe it's because I'd had some un-neighborly thoughts about Amy, and there was enough light for me to watch her swimsuit-covered as as she walked back to her house.
To late, I remembered that Ellie and Amy were hitting the mall for the 4th of July sales, and I hoped Amy wouldn't mention it to her.
But there were no embarrassing questions when Ellie got home around 5, Chinese take-out in tow. After dinner, as she was showing me her purchases, she to me she had one item she was saving for a special occasion, hinting only that it was read and left little to the imagination. When I tried to question her further, she said, "You should have seen the bathing suit Amy bought."
"Oh?"
"Actually, I doubt you'll ever see it. I doubt
anybody
will see it, other than Dan, and even that only in the privacy of their own bedroom."
"That bad? Or should I say 'good'?" I asked.
"Hey," she warned me (smiling, fortunately), "don't look THAT intrigued."
"You brought it up," I reminded her. "So now I'm curious."
"Well, it's certainly not something she's going to wear at the town pool. Or down at the shore. Or on any beach in the United States, for that matter."
"And when are you going to get one just like it?" I asked her.
"In your dreams."
"Yes, actually. So what does it look like?"
"Well, it's white. The top is a bandeau. Do you know what a bandeau is?"
"I'm a guy, sorry."
"Strapless, just a strip of material going around her chest, barely covering... well, her nipples. The bottom covers barely what's necessary so she wouldn't get arrested, and most of her behind shows
in the back."
"I'm surprised the local mall even carries something like that," I said.
"I know, right?"
An hour later we were in bed, making vigorous love. If Ellie suspected some of my enthusiasm came from imagining Amy in her new swimsuit, she didn't say anything.
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