I said, “I want you to understand that this is going to be hard for me, so bare with me. I’m really going to miss the sex.”
Priya grinned and said, “Me too. Believe me.”
I said, “What about Divi?”
Priya frowned and said, “Yes. What about Divi? I haven’t discussed this with her. You already know she’s persistent and she’s going to want what she wants. She’s eighteen and legally in control of her own life. It won’t do any good to tell her to stay away from you. It’ll just push her closer to you. I could ask you to deny her but I won’t. She’s planning on going off to college in the fall. All I can ask is that you two are discreet if I’m around. This will be hard enough without you guys driving my libido nuts.”
I hated this whole thing. I valued our physical relationship more than I would have thought possible a month ago. Priya stood and headed for the sliding glass door. She turned back and said, “Jack? Please understand that I’m not saying we can’t ever be the way we’ve been; just not now.” She teared up again and left. I could hear her sobbing as she went down the stairs. I felt awful for her. Shit, I felt awful for me too.
Begrudgingly, I returned to my pre-Priya life, reading my e-reader in my zero-gravity chair with my binoculars at the ready and nodding off to sleep whenever my eyes became weary. I moped around in a listless funk for more than a week. I must have looked toward Priya’s yard ten times an hour. I didn’t even get a glimpse of either Priya or Divi. I wondered if they were even there. Maybe they had gone somewhere to get away. I started looking for Ashley as her statement about a Menage a trois, the last time I’d seen her, rampaged through my mind.
It was a Saturday and the lake was alive with boats of all kind. With my binoculars I watched two female kayakers lazily paddling along the opposite shore heading east. I zoomed in to see if I knew them. I didn’t. I’d never seen them before. They were both wearing bikinis but I couldn’t tell much about their bodies as they sat deep in their kayaks. I knew I could catch them in my kayak if I wanted.
I watched the two kayaks for a few minutes and thought to myself, ‘Fuck it. I’m not going back in my asexual shell.’ I put down my e-reader and binoculars and went to my dock and lifted my kayak and paddle and dropped it in the water. I carefully lowered myself into the cockpit and pushed off. In twenty minutes, I nonchalantly paddled up to the two women. It had taken fifteen minutes of power paddling without any breaks. My arms were burning when I slowed so it wouldn’t appear as though I was stalking them with extra effort to catch them.
I easily pulled up beside them and said, “Good morning ladies. Beautiful day huh?” I paddled along at their pace and we introduced ourselves and chatted back and forth. I acted like I didn’t see them making eye contact with each other as they maneuvered their kayaks on either side of mine. They were both quite attractive.
Beverly had curly blonde hair, probably bleached, cut at her shoulders. Her eyes were the most striking color of gold. She smiled easily and was eager to keep our conversation going. She didn’t offer her age and I certainly wasn’t going to ask.