He rubbed Smitty’s soap over his chin and neck until his face was thickly lathered. He dunked the razor in the water and began to shave one side of his face.
“Hank!”
He glanced toward the dense wall of lava rocks that shielded the pool from the beach. Smitty’s voice had come from the other side.
“Hank?” She called out again. “Can you hear me?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you decent?”
He laughed loud and hard. “I’m never decent, sweetheart.”
There was a lapse of silence.
He could picture her on the other side of those rocks, her hands on her hips as she muttered something. He chuckled again and drew the razor over his upper lip.
After another second he shouted, “You say something?”
There was a pause.
He shaved his jaw line.
“I’ve been thinking.”
God, now we’re in trouble.He glanced up at the sun and figured it was about midmorning sometime. “So early?”
“What?”
“Nothing.” He shaved the other side of his face. “Did you hear me?”
“You’ve been thinking,” he repeated, listening with only half an ear.
“That’s right. I still believe that we should work together.”
He drew the straight razor over his chin again and down his neck. His mind flashed with something they could do together. If she didn’t think or speak.
“Regarding this shelter we need to construct. I spent most of the early morning assessing the situation...” She rambled on.
He rinsed the lather off the razor, splashed water on his chin, and rubbed his fingers over his jaw. Smooth. “If you’ll just listen.”
He ducked underwater and surfaced, then shook the water from his face and head.
“Of course it is the most fair decision and logical compromise we can reach, considering our situation.”
He ran his fingers through his hair to slick it back from his face. He got out of the pool, brushing off the water that clung to the hair on his chest and stomach before he stepped into a pair of black trousers and buttoned them.
“If one has no defense, then one should consider settling. For the sake of the children and for our own benefit, if we pool our efforts, we can successfully...”
He slung his dirty clothes over a shoulder and walked toward the rocks while he put on the belt. He rounded the rocks just as he was tightening the buckle over his pants.
“I’m certain that you will see that we can all gain from this propos—” She stopped talking so swiftly it caught him off guard.
He jammed the belt through the catch and looked up.
Smitty stood there, staring at him. Her mouth hung open. And she was silent.
He looked behind him, then next to him, then back at her. “What’s wrong?”
