They talked while she toasted bread, spread peanut butter, poured more coffee. He ate six slices of toast. Could have eaten two more. His appetite had returned with a vengeance.
He listened to her as she talked about her best friend Cameron’s children, her three-month-old baby, her three-year-old twins. How envious Krissa was. How she hadn’t even toldCameron they’d been trying to have a baby.
“Why not?”
“Because she doesn’t think I should have kids.”
He shook his head. “Huh? She has three but she doesn’t think you should have any?”
Her lips quirked. “Not because I’d be a bad mother or anything. She’s just overwhelmed right now. Kids are a lot of work.”
“Well, yeah, but…”
She laughed. “I know, I know. It’s easier if I just don’t say anything about it. I don’t want to get in a big discussion about the pros and cons of being a parent. According to her, it’s all cons. And I know that’s not true but if I try to tell her that, she just says I don’t know what I’m talking about because I don’t have kids. So it’s just easier.”
He nodded.
“I’m going to get some work done.” She hesitated. “I feel bad just leaving you…”
“I told you, I’m not here to be entertained. I’ll go for a walk on the beach or something.” He squinted out the window at the bright sky. “I forgot how it never rains here in the summer. All this sun is killing me.”
“I love the sun.”
“Normally, me too. Any chance I could get to be outside, taking pictures…especially water.”
“I know. Your photographs are beautiful, Nate.”
“I saw you have one. In the living room.”
“Yes. We bought it on-line.”
“I’d have given it to you, if you’d asked.”
“Don’t be silly. That’s how you earn your living. I looked at all the ones on your website and I picked that one. It was hard though, they’re all so…serene. Soulful.”
“Yeah.”
“There was an article about you in the newspaper—local boy makes good kind of story.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.” The reporter had interviewed him by phone. He sighed, not liking the reminder of what he couldn’t do.
Krissa disappeared and he took his walk, sat and stared at the ocean until his eyes burned from the brightness despite the glasses and he was forced back into the house.
He ran into Krissa in the hall, still dressed in her ugly shorts, although the legs they revealed were spectacular. His eyes were streaming water, but he could still make out an attractive pair of legs.
“Are you okay?” Concern edged her voice.
“Yeah.” Embarrassed, he wiped his face. “The sun was getting to my eyes.”
“Oh, God. What can you do…just sit in the dark?”
“I have some drops the eye doctor gave me.” He grimaced. “I just hate putting them in.”
She blinked. “Why?
“I can’t stand anything in my eyes.” He shuddered.
“Go get the drops. I have no problem touching eyeballs.”
