Page 8 of Thick & Thin

The shirt didn’t seem as long without her shorts, and her thick thighs and long legs glowed in the Carolina sunshine. She had pulled her hair out of the ponytail to squeeze the water from it, and when she let it go, it fell down her back in long chocolate waves, knocking my breath from me for a totally different reason this time.

Jenny Michaels was gorgeous, and every guy there saw their first hint of the beauty she was hiding beneath her baggy clothes. I silently thanked the good Lord it was the end of the school year. Otherwise, I knew my job of guarding Jenny was going to get a hell of a lot harder.

The guys whistled, and her cheeks grew pink before she walked up to JJ and punched him in the arm.

“Shut the fuck up. You act like you’ve never seen a girl in a bathing suit before.”

She rushed to our towels, wrapping one around her waist to cover her bikini bottom.

“Did that just happen?” JJ asked at my side when I reached where he was standing.

“What?”

“Jenny’s fucking hot, dude.”

I crossed my arms and turned to face him. I didn’t need to speak. My expression said everything he needed to know.

Stay the fuck away from my Jenny.

He held his hands up and backed away with a grin. “I’m just sayin’, man. We all see it.”

And then he turned away and went back to his Mason jar.

I retrieved Jenny’s shorts and looked away when she pulled them back over her bottoms. It wasn’t much longer before we were back on our floats, everyone else seeming to forget the moment Jenny stepped from the water like a goddamn river goddess.

The sun slid across the sky with the hours until we found ourselves pulling our floats back up to the beach where we started and collecting our things. Jenny helped me flatten the floats and pack our things, and once we trekked back up the path to my truck, she helped me load everything.

By the time we climbed onto the bench seat of my truck, we were mostly dry. She climbed into the passenger’s seat of my old Ford, and I let her since I hadn’t had but a few beers earlier in the day, and I knew I could drive.

Tim McGraw played on the radio as we rode home with the windows down. I sang along, taking in our little town as I passed old shops and familiar sights. Every now and again, I would peek over at Jenny, taking in her relaxed face and the happiness on her plump lips as she too watched our world as we passed by.

We were halfway to her place when she finally gave in and let sleep take her. I took that time to look at her without judgment when I stopped at the few red lights we came to. Soon, I would be leaving her and going to basic. She was the one thing holding me back. Every time I thought of my day without Jenny and her smartass remarks and glorious smile, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

Still, I knew I had to go. The only future for me in Walterboro was the farm, and I was sick to death of farm life. I wanted more. I wanted to be more. So, I would leave, knowing it was the best thing for me. No matter how badly I knew it was going to hurt to walk away from Jenny.

The sun was dipping into the horizon when I pulled into her yard. I hit a pothole in her dirt driveway that shifted her, but she didn’t wake. When I stopped in front of her small house, I put my truck in park and reached out to wake her.

“Hey, wake up,” I said, pushing at her shoulder.

Her eyes popped open, and she yawned. “Damn. The sun took it out of me today.”

“Me too. We still going to play pool with the guys tonight?”

She nodded, covering a second yawn with her small hand. “Yeah, I’m down. Let me go shower and take a quick nap. What time are you picking me up?”

“I guess around eight thirty?”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

She popped the door open, slid her feet into her flip-flops, and then climbed down. When she shut the door, she stuck her head in the window and smiled.

“Think I can hustle another hundred out of JJ tonight?”

I chuckled, putting my truck in gear. “Probably.”

And she would.

He was stupid enough, and she was good enough at everything she tried.

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