I had to laugh. “Sam’s rules, huh?”
“Not rules, Jennifer. Just a different road I traveled. Just my side of things.”
“And you’re not going to tell me who Doc is, are you?”
“I’m not going to tell you, Jennifer. Read the letters. Maybe you’ll be able to guess.”
Sixty
BRENDAN AND Igot a swim in just about every night at twilight. That evening I appeared in a blue Speedo racing suit with red piping, looking every inch the Big Ten swim champion that I wasn’t. Brendan had on a pair of black boxers that weren’t too boxy and fit him just right.
“You look really good,” I told him. “Is that a sexist thing to say? Hey, who cares?”
“Youlook beautiful,” Brendan said. Then his face turned unusually serious. “You’re a gorgeous woman, Jennifer.”
I hadn’t heard compliments like those for a while, and I was starting to half believe them. I certainly liked hearing nice things about myself. Who doesn’t? Maybe Cameron Diaz is sick of hearing compliments, but not me.
“Just stunning, Jen. You could have been in the movies,” he continued.
“Don’t blow it,” I told him. “You should probably stop right there.”
“Sorry, it’s just the way I feel. One man’s opinion. Others might look at you and see, oh, I don’t know, Rosie —”
“Youaregoing to blow it.”
“But I see the most beautiful girl in the world.”
I shook my head. “No, Brendan. Too over the top. Pull it back some. Nottoofar back.”
“How about on the lake? Most beautiful on the lake?”
I shrugged, grinned. “Maybe. At this moment on the lake, which is mostly deserted.”
“Well, that’s settled—most beautiful girl on the lake!”
And then Brendan let go with maybe his loudest banshee scream yet. He almost sounded in pain. He took off for the water a step ahead of me.
But just a step.
“Last one to the buoy!” he turned and yelled.
“Last one to the buoy—what?”
“Is the biggestloserin the world!”
“Too much of an overstatement.”
“Biggest loser on Lake Geneva! That we can see in our line of vision at this moment!”
“You’re on!”
We hit the water and began to stroke furiously. I was feeling good and thought I wouldn’t lose by as wide a margin as usual, which I, of course, would consider a huge victory. Moments later I reached out of the water for the buoy. To my surprise, Brendan grabbed the bobbing marker a couple of seconds behind me. I shook water off my face and hair.
“No fair! Youletme win!” I yelped.
Brendan stared into my eyes. He was smiling, but there was something else in those eyes.
“No, Jennifer, I didn’t.”
