Page 7 of The Summer House

“Yet you obeyed.”

“That I did.”

He looked at her pretty face, at her shining red curls, at the slight hint of cleavage at the scoop of her dress. He thought of the pleasure he felt in seeing her again, and the not-so-subtle sexual energy humming between them.

“I’m not sorry you called,” he said.

“Me, either.”

They stared at each other. Rick felt a definite heat flare between them. Her hand lay on the table and he wanted to reach out to put his on top. He wanted to trace the pale blue veins on the inside of her wrist and feel the gentle pulse of her heartbeat at the curve of her neck. He wanted a lot of things.

The growing desire surprised him. Mandy had always been attractive and he’d expected to still find her so, but he hadn’t thought there would be this…wanting.

She hadn’t been his first lover, but she had been his first serious girlfriend. He’d loved her with all his inept heart had been capable of. As for their sex life, he didn’t remember very much except that he’d been young and had had unlimited access to a willing female for the first time in his life. He winced as he recalled being far more interested in quantity than quality. He doubted Mandy’s memories of the events were as good his own.

“What are you thinking?” she asked. “You have the most interesting expression on your face.”

“Just taking a little trip down memory lane.”

“Want to share?”

That he’d probably been a lousy lover when they’d been married? “I don’t think so.”

It wasn’t exactly lunch conversation. Nor was the fact that he knew a whole lot more about pleasing a woman these days. It seemed unlikely he would have the opportunity to show Mandy what he’d learned, although the idea intrigued him.

“Oh, come on, Rick. After all this time, we can’t possibly have any secrets worth keeping.”

The waitress returned, relieving him of the necessity of answering.

“You two ready to order?”

Mandy sighed. “I suppose we can’t keep the table all day.” She flipped open her menu. “I’ll have the California chicken salad.”

He didn’t bother looking at the selections. “I’ll have the same.”

The waitress wrote down their order and left.

Mandy stared at him, wide-eyed. “You? Eating a salad? On purpose? But you hate vegetables, and lettuce makes you gag.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“Maybe a little, but I still remember the fuss you made when I had the audacity to serve both a salad and green beans with a meal. The way you went on about eating two vegetables in the same meal has stayed with me forever.”

He winced slightly. “Not exactly the urban image I wanted to cultivate. I was a kid when we got married.”

“So was I.” She shrugged. “I guess that was part of the problem. I always thought that liking each other, as well as loving each other, should have been enough. But it wasn’t.”

“From this distance, it’s a lot easier to see what went wrong. But back then, it was complicated and confusing.”

Mandy nodded.

Rick hadn’t thought about their marriage in forever. For the first time in years, he had a twinge of regret. Mandy was right. Liking and loving each other should have been enough.

“Okay, no long faces,” she said firmly. “If this conversation turns serious again, I’m going to torment you with my vast knowledge of knock-knock jokes. They’re very popular with the elementary school set.”

“That will keep me in line.”

She grinned. “Don’t mess with me, mister, or I’ll give you a time-out.”

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