Present Day

Jessica splashed water on her heated skin as she lazily floated in her parents’ pool.  Her father, while at retirement age, couldn’t seem to give up on his job at Foster’s Natural Gas, saying the place would fall apart without him.  Actually, he was one of those people who had to have a job in order to feel productive.  That, and driving around the area inspecting natural gas wells gave him the freedom he still needed.  She suspected he would go crazy – and take her mother with him – if he was stuck in the house all day.

Her mother was off to the grocery store to stock up for Krystal’s visit.  Her mother loved to cook and no doubt they would have all of their childhood favorites while they were here.  So, alone, Jessica donned her bikini and got in the pool, swimming laps before pulling one of the floats into the water.  She had done a remarkable job of keeping Kwon Yuri out of her mind.  Yesterday, Sunday, she’d shared both lunch and dinner with her parents, talking for hours as they caught up.  She’d slept soundly, the quiet of Calloway lulling her into a blissful sleep.  Now, today, with no distractions, she found her thoughts going to her former lover.  Wonder what the odds were that they would both stay over in Calloway after the reunion?  She’d suspected Yuri would be on the road back home as soon as it was over.  But no.  She was here the whole week.  Maybe we’ll run into each other.  And maybe they wouldn’t.  Because if the scene in the elevator didn’t tell them they still has an attraction between them, nothing would.  She had been ready to shed her clothes right then and there and make love.

Make love?

She closed her eyes, letting the gentle rocking motion of the water take her back twenty years, seeing them, not as adults, but as teenagers.  There had been nothing awkward about them being lovers.  The most awkward thing was finding time to be alone – and not getting caught.  But their lovemaking?  No, it had none of the clumsiness – or ineptness – that comes with being teenagers.  They always had a connection between them, a sixth sense that guided them.  Even the first time, the first time for either of them, they just knew.

She opened her eyes, looking across the water, seeing Yuri splashing in the pool, her long dark hair slicked back.  She remembered the torture she endured, Yuri walking around shamelessly in her tiny bikini, teasing and flirting, and Jessica could do nothing about it as her mother or siblings would undoubtedly be about.  All Jessica could do was stare – and wait.  Wait for nighttime, when they could be alone in her room.  She got