Chapter 6: Roberta and Jeff

When Tiffany walked out, dragging Chuck by an invisible leash, Jeff reacted like most men would have reacted. He tried to make sure the same thing didn't happen to him.

He turned to Roberta.

"What do you think?" he asked. "I kind of agree with Bob. You and I might have some things in common to talk about."

"I don't know what to do," said Roberta, looking around blankly. "I never expected anything like this to happen."

"You want to go swimming?" he asked.

"We're supposed to talk, aren't we?" she responded.

"We can talk standing in cool water," he said.

"Are you sure it would be OK?" she asked.

"Bob called recess," he said, smiling. "You play at recess... and talk."

Roberta reacted to the word "play" much differently than Jeff had meant it. She'd tried that same exact word with her husband one night, when he was hunched over the computer, researching a company's stock value.

"Come on, baby," she said, standing behind him and running her hands down onto his chest. "You've been in school long enough. It's time for recess... time to play."

"In a minute," he'd said, ignoring her hands. "You go get ready and I'll be there in a minute."

He'd never shown up. At least not until she'd already fallen asleep, and then he didn't wake her.

She remembered Jeff's appearance from the night before. He looked good in his swim suit, even with the bulge that Tiffany had caused. He had a broad chest, well muscled, and good thighs. He obviously worked out. How could any woman just leave him?

"OK," she said. "I'll meet you at the pool in ten minutes."

The sun felt good on her shoulders and back as she approached the pool. Jeff was already in it, swimming laps. She watched the sun flash off his shoulders as they lifted and twisted, alternating back and forth in a smooth rhythm. She felt guilty for liking to look at him.

She walked down the steps of the shallow end, sinking into the cool water. He kept swimming, not knowing she was there. He didn't lift his face out of the water like she did when she swam. He kept his face down for two strokes, and then turned his head to the side, just far enough that she could hear him take in a breath. He looked like he could go on for hours. When he got to the end of the pool, his head ducked and his body rolled in a tight somersault before his feet hit the end of the pool and shot him off in a strong, streamlined push, his arms out ahead of him. He looked like some sea creature, totally at home in the water.

He did four more circuits before he stopped, in the shallow end, and stood up, looking around.

"There you are," he said, across the pool.

She looked at his wet chest, and felt a tingle in her belly. She couldn't believe she was having these feelings about a complete stranger. She felt guilty about that too.

"You do that very well," she said.

"Swim team in High School," he said, shrugging. "It works off a lot of energy."

"You'll have to teach me how to do that then," she said, before the thought about it.

"You have a lot of frustration to work off?" he asked.

"I guess I do," she admitted.

"It's normal," he said. "We all have frustration to deal with."

"I guess so," she said. "I never thought about it that way. I just try to get through each day."

"So," he said. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I have no idea," she said. "Like I said, I didn't come here planning on talking about this."

"What this?" he asked.

"You know... sexual feelings."

"Like Bob said, that's what we'll be talking to our students about," he said. "I think it's a good idea."

"I'm not so sure about that," said Roberta, thinking about how she'd been looking at him." Her eyes went to his chest. He'd been swimming hard, but wasn't breathing hard.

Jeff looked at her, question in his gaze.

"It's just that I keep my feelings all bottled up," she said. "It's easier to deal with things if I don't think about them too much."

"You said something about your husband not paying attention to you," he said. "How can things get better if you don't deal with that?"