Page 148 of Everything Under the Sun

Jeffrey followed Thais everywhere. And she enjoyed his company.

When she was tired of swimming, she sat down next to me on the bank. Jeffrey sat down on her other side.

“Are you having a good time?” I asked Jeffrey.

“I love swimming!”

Four hours later, and Jeffrey still very much loved swimming.

Then came lunch. Fish and blackberries and pecans were the only things on the menu most days. Even with the MRE’s we’d brought back from June and Esra, I thought it better to save them and continue living the way we had been, adopting Esra’s philosophy.

Five hours.

Six hours later, Jeffrey—with Thais’ persuading—finally decided it was time for him to go home.

“Your grandma and grandpa need you,” she encouraged. “They shouldn’t be left alone for so long, Jeffrey. They’ll worry about you. And they might need your help.”

“Okay, I go home. Can I come back tomorrow? Can I swim tomorrow?”

Thais glanced at me, seeking my approval.

I thought about how she didn’t need my approval, but I nodded anyway.

“Of course you can,” she told Jeffrey, and then took him into a hug. “Now hurry before it starts getting dark.”

“See you Tuesday,” Jeffrey told her.

“Bye, Jeffrey,” I said, waving.

“Bye-bye! See you Tuesday!”

And then Jeffrey was off with his shovel in-hand, running like a gold medalist sprinter through the backyard; a blur of red and yellow stripes and pasty-white skin vanished into the thick green.

THAIS

It was early evening, before dark, and Atticus had just come from bathing in the pond. His hair was getting longer, now shaggy around the ears. He was dressed in khaki pants, the bottoms rolled up above his ankles, the waist dipped farther down his rigid hips, revealing the V-shape of his pelvic muscles. And while although I wanted to focus on how sexy he was, it didn’t go unnoticed how skinny he was getting—we both were.

“Why did you shave? How did you shave?” I asked, noticing the absence of facial hair.

Atticus sat down on the rocking chair.

“Baby oil and my knife,” he answered.

I sat down sideways on his lap; my left hand cupped his chin in examination. No cuts? Oh wait, there’s one. Two.

“You don’t like it?”

“No, I like it,” I said. “But I like it either way.”

His fingers moved delicately over one corner of my lip; our eyes met, and I felt Atticus grow hard beneath me.

ATTICUS & (THAIS)

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I pulled her closer, wrapping my arms around her, and slipped my tongue into her mouth; her hands wound tightly within the back of my wet hair.

“Take me inside,” she said breathily.

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