Chapter 10

Thursday, November 8, 2001

Randy and Nicole had only missed using the hot tub a couple of nights in the week since Danny had delivered it for them. Obviously, it was a new toy, one they planned on using, though that might diminish once the new wore off. But for now, it gave them something special to do together. Of course, that something involved a lot of sex, but it involved some talking, too.

Despite the fact they both felt there was a message for them in Debbie's recital of Coyote and the Ducks, they had some mixed opinions about what that message was. They did agree on one point, though – open your eyes to what this is doing to you, or let it eat you up. Randy had attempted to act upon it, at least a little. When he met Danny over the breakfast table at the cafe on Monday, he raised the question of whether he and Debbie might like to join him for a few days at Buddha and Giselle's before the construction season got going good.

"Afraid not," Danny told him. "Not that I don't want to, but I'm not setting foot in the state of Florida for another six years. Let's just say that there was a little incident between my ex and I just before I left." Danny didn't explain, but it left Randy wondering how many of his ex's bones had been broken.

"Well, this summer sometime, maybe on the big lakes or something," Randy suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Danny smiled. "I'm looking forward to seeing Debbie on a surfboard."

At least it had been a step in the right direction, even if it had been a baby one. And, it looked like the New Year's trip to Buddha and Giselle's was still on. Randy would have preferred something a little more exotic, but the commitments had been made. Another year, he promised himself. Besides, if he didn't have two major jobs going, he might be able to get out whitewater kayaking more than once or twice with Rod and Joe, something he'd enjoyed since college days. But still, that seemed like a lot of the same old, same old.

While the weekend had been fairly decent weather wise, on Monday the clouds moved back in and started dropping rain, which didn't help his spirits any. It wasn't a hard rain, just the dismal, humid stuff just bad enough to make him run the windshield wipers, but seemed like it was going to hold on for days. At least he wasn't a deer hunter; he couldn't imagine being out in the woods with a rifle in this crap, but by Thursday night, a relaxing soak with Nicole was about the only bright thing he had to look forward to.

He worked a little late on Thursday afternoon, just chasing materials for the upcoming gymnasium job, but he was sort of in the middle of a ticklish price negotiation and not wanting to stop when quitting time rolled around, so he stayed with it until he'd saved the company a good chunk of money. When he got home, he found Nicole in the midst of preparation of a beef and rice dinner he'd always liked; it was something handed down from her grandmother and would have tasted pretty bland without whatever special spices she used. "So, how did your day go?" he asked.

"About the same," she sighed. "I had to send Bobby Lufkin to detention again for talking back. Unless someone kicks the crap out of him and it gets replaced with some sense, there's no way he's going to come to a good end."

"Would you like me to talk to him sometime?" Randy asked. "Maybe I can goad him into taking a swing at me, and I could break a few bones."

"No, it's more trouble than it's worth," Nicole sighed. "He's just a pain in the rear, and there's always one like him in any class, it seems. But sometimes it makes me wonder why I ever wanted to be a teacher. Maybe being a river bum like Crystal isn't such a bad idea after all. So how was your day?"

"Fairly productive, if not very interesting," he said. "It's just that every time I looked up, there was the same old rain out there."

"From what I get on the weather, it's supposed to change to snow this weekend."

"Yeah, but then it'll be that sloppy wet stuff that's too sticky to snowboard on. I could sure stand a weekend adventure if I could think of one."

"It's hard," she agreed. "Maybe we could invite Danny and Debbie over again. We could play some cards, soak in the hot tub again, or something like that."

"That's a better idea than anything I can come up with for this time of year. Damn, I hate November, especially miserable ones like this. If we get some decent snow, then things perk up a little. It'd be nice if Phil and Duane could come home, rather than have to hang around out there in Idaho or Montana or wherever it was they disappeared to."

"Why don't you give Danny and Debbie a call while I finish this up?"

"Sounds like a plan," Randy agreed, and picked up the phone to call Danny and Debbie at home. He finished the call a couple minutes later. "They've got something over at Three Pines on Saturday, some cultural thing from the sound of it, but Sunday sounds like a go. I told them around one, but they're welcome to change it if they want to."

"That'll work just fine," she said. "You know, I really like the two of them. I can see us doing stuff together."

Dinner was fine – that improved their day, but after they did the dishes they made the mistake of watching the news on television, and that was depressing, as usual. Sometimes Randy wondered why he bothered to watch. "The hell with it," Randy said as he turned it off. "It's a little early, but let's go get in the hot tub and snuggle up."

"That may be the best idea you've had all day," she smiled. "I'm going to go up and change, though. I don't want to screw up this outfit by just tossing it on the floor."

"All right," he smiled, anticipating the fun of the next few hours. "I'll go get the cover off. See you in a few."

Nicole headed up the stairs to their bedroom, unbuttoning things along the way. She knew it wasn't a "for sure" thing, but this was the day that Scooter and Jim were supposed to get off the river, at least according to what Karin had told her more than a week before. That meant there was a good chance Scooter might call tonight. She might not, too – she might have to do some thinking about the problem – but at least this was the earliest she could expect the call, and she figured she might as well have Randy in a good mood when it happened.

She hated to have to go behind his back like she'd done here, but Randy had his pride and could be bull-headed. Now, if things worked out like she hoped and if Scooter could keep quiet about the things that Nicole had asked, this might work out.

Besides, this was the first opportunity to do something special. While Randy had been at his martial arts practice on Tuesday, she'd gotten out the sewing machine and did a little creating, involving a purple scarf that had somehow gotten a hole in it. It really amazed her how much of the scarf was left after she'd created her first micro-bikini. There really wasn't much to it – the narrow strips of the top barely covered her nipples, the bottom barely covered her pubic hair and it was a thong in back. She'd tried it on Tuesday night and had been satisfied; the thing was almost transparent dry and ought to be close to invisible wet. Now, she got her clothes off, hung them up, and put the purple micro-bikini on, almost embarrassed to look at herself in the mirror. Christ, this thing would be slutty even at the West Turtle Lake Club, she thought with a smile.

At least she only had to walk through the house wearing it. That was hard enough; it would be easier to do it in the nude, she thought, remembering back to being nude with Randy and Danny and Debbie the other night. She might be nude with them again, but wearing an alleged swimsuit like this? No way!

She paused in the kitchen, gathered her courage a little, and then headed out onto the porch. "Hey Randy," she said with a grin. "I thought you might like to see my new swimsuit for when we go to Buddha and Giselle's."

Randy looked up and said, "Holy shit! I mean, uh, holy shit! You might want to rethink that. You might give Buddha a heart attack."

"You think?" she grinned. "I was thinking more in terms of giving Preach a heart attack."

"It'd manage that for sure," he laughed. "My God, that looks good on you. That's the Nicole I've always thought I married."

"A lady on the street and a slut in the hot tub," she laughed. "That's what you wanted, wasn't it?"

"You said it, I didn't," he smiled. "But yeah, something like that. I'll bet it just about disappears when you get it wet."

"If it does, that's what it was intended to do," she said. "Let's find out."

It proved, as Nicole had suspected, that it turned nearly invisible in the water, and it soon went away, although Randy's fingers were involved with that. They'd had several good evenings in the hot tub, but over the next couple hours this one was the best one yet.

--

Over the course of the last few evenings, Nicole and Randy had discovered they both particularly enjoyed it when she rode him cowboy style, with the water taking their weight so they could both use their muscles more effectively rather than just supporting themselves. That was what they were doing, and not for the first time that evening when the phone went off.

"Oh, Christ," Randy groaned. "Wouldn't you just know it? Somebody's timing really sucks."

"I'll get it," Nicole said, hoping it was Scooter. "It's probably Mom, and she'll want to talk."

"Oh, Christ," Randy said in disappointment. There were times that he wanted to rip the phone out of the wall by its roots, and this was one of them.

"It's for you, Randy," she said. "I'll bring it over." Fortunately, there was a phone on the porch with a long cord; Nicole brought it over to him, then climbed back into the hot tub and resumed the position she'd been in before the call came.

"Hey, Randy, it's Scooter!" he heard a cheerful voice say. "How's things in Spearfish Lake?"

"It's November, it's raining, so it's about as attractive as hell with the fires out," he replied as Nicole settled back down on him. He tried to divide his thoughts between that wonderful sensation and Scooter. "I thought you were on the river with Crystal."

"No, Jim and I had to go relieve Dave and Mary on Team 1 so we're a week ahead of her," Scooter told him. "Hey, we just got back in and Karin tells us that Crystal told her you'd bombed on the sailing trip. Work get in the way or something?"

"No, hell no," Randy said, feeling the bitterness of the news of a week and a half ago rising in him again. He tried to keep his voice level as he continued, "When I found out she and Preach were going to use it as their honeymoon, I invited myself out. Crystal may be a friend but there's no way I'm going to horn in on their honeymoon."