by Emily King
“Something personal, you mean?” he asked.
“Yeah, something personal.”
“Well, it is a fling. Maybe she doesn’t want to get too involved.”
“You might be right, but I wish I knew what was on her mind. We’re good together. It feels like we could have something more, if not for whatever is holding her back.”
“It’s okay to want something more.”
“That’s what I think.”
“That’s the spirit.” He bumped her shoulder. “Something more serious and robust, something like a cabernet sauvignon.”
Sarah laughed and looked over at him. “I think you’ve missed your calling. You should have been a sommelier.”
“Nah. I’ve just been wined and dined a lot.”
“And how is Ron? Does he wine and dine you well?” Sarah asked. Justin had really seemed to connect with the economics teacher at the tryouts two weeks ago.
“Yes, he does. We tried a new restaurant just a couple nights ago.”
“Was it any good?”
“The food was so-so, but it was a good date anyway. He said he’d cook for me next time, which is actually today. He invited me over for lunch after the Fun Run.”
“Ah-ha! Now I’ve got this all figured out,” Sarah said, pointing her finger teasingly at Justin. “You’re planning to run extra fast this morning so that you can get to your lunch date sooner—that’s why you’re convinced we’re going to be so sore after the run.”
“Now that you mention it, running faster is a good idea,” he teased her back.
She laughed and then paused. “But seriously, I’m glad it’s going well between you two.” She bumped his shoulder. “Maybe the relationship has aging potential, like that cabernet sauvignon you mentioned.”
He laughed, and she tossed him another smile, trying to set aside her preoccupation about whether her time with Amy would be able to become more than a fling. What they had right now was enough, she told herself. Amy was working in her tower today, and Sarah looked forward to running by during the event this morning.
After she and Justin arrived at the pier, they checked in for the run and received their participant numbers. Affixing the numbers to their shirts, they joined the crowd of other registrants on the beach in the area behind the starting line. Some of the people assembled were stretching and bending, getting ready to run. Others were milling about or looking at a display of lifeguard vehicles and equipment. It looked like there were hundreds of runners, which was good news for the junior lifeguard program because the Fun Run would probably raise several thousand dollars.
It was easy to spot the more serious runners in the crowd. Sarah observed a particularly intense bout of stretching being done by a lean man with a baby stroller that not only had extra-large, extra-wide, extra-nubby tires but also looked like it had shock absorbers. Sarah planned to steer a wide berth from that industrial-grade stroller. The only nips she wanted to feel anywhere on her body were the occasional playful ones that Amy gave her. She hadn’t spotted Marsha, their colleague who had warned of such strollers, but supposed that she was in the crowd somewhere getting ready to race, too.
A man in a lifeguard uniform walked toward the lifeguard truck that was parked some distance in front of the crowd. “Hey, is that Peter?” Sarah asked, pointing toward him when she had Justin’s attention.
Justin craned his neck trying to see around the crowd. The man was getting into the truck. “Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Maybe that’s going to be a pace car.”
The light bar on the truck started flashing. “Must be almost race time.” Sarah pressed forward with Justin and the rest of the crowd.
The signal was given, and they took off with the rest of the runners. With the excitement and adrenaline of the start, people ran fast. Soon though, everyone settled into their individual paces, and the crowd began to spread out. Jogging alongside one another, Sarah and Justin passed one lifeguard tower, then another, the lifeguards at each standing on deck and cheering on all of the runners. Sarah looked into the distance toward Amy’s tower. She ran faster.
“Hey, wait up,” Justin said between breaths.
“I thought you were hungry for your lunch with Ron,” she challenged him.
Grinning, he picked up the pace.
The crowd around them spread out further the farther they went. Sarah and Justin neared the stretch of beach in front of Amy’s tower. Amy was standing on the deck, clapping and cheering as people passed. Sarah put on an extra burst of speed.
Justin matched her new pace and, panting, said, “Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s hungry.”
She grinned at him. It was true—she did want to impress Amy. Could Amy see them now that they had put more space between themselves and the other runners? Sarah waved over to the tower just to make sure. Her heart lifted when Amy waved back. It was such a better experience than the first time she had approached the tower those few weeks ago.
She and Justin were now running fast enough that they passed more of the other runners and Sarah didn’t think she imagined it when Amy clapped and cheered more loudly. The best part of the Fun Run was that it looped back to the pier, so she would get to pass Amy’s tower again.
* * *
After the run, Sarah and Justin walked back to Sarah’s house. Even though her legs were tired, the walk home was a nice cool-down. In the driveway, Sarah waited while Justin unlocked his car.
He turned to her before getting in. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to be feeling that run for few days.”
“Me, too. We might have overdone it a little.”
“We?”
She laughed. “Yeah, but we ran really well.” She put her hand up to give him a high-five. They had run the entire distance without walking and had placed respectably among the crowd of participants.
He smiled and met her hand with a friendly slap. “Yeah, we did.”
She said goodbye and he drove off to get ready for his lunch date with Ron. Looking forward to a shower, she went inside the house and into the bathroom. She turned on the water to heat up, peeled off her running clothes, and stepped under the warm spray. It felt wonderful on her tired muscles.
She wished she had a lunch date like Justin and Ron did. All she and Amy did was meet here at her house. Tonight would be the third Saturday in a row. Not that she was complaining about their time in bed. There was nothing to complain about there, but it would be nice to go out sometime or to Amy’s place. But she knew that Amy wasn’t her girlfriend and that she wasn’t Amy’s girlfriend. That was what she had signed up for when she decided to have a fling. That was how these things worked, after all.
Today at the beach, though, it had almost felt like Amy was her girlfriend—watching her do the charity run, cheering for her, waving to her. It made her feel special, not like she was just someone’s fling. It was why she preferred dating and relationships over casual hookups. She didn’t know if she could continue with their current arrangement much longer. She just didn’t think she was cut out for it, even if the sex was amazing.
She finished showering and then toweled off. Her ruminations hadn’t solved anything, including the problem of lunch. She was hungry and didn’t feel like cooking. She wanted to go out.
She wished Fiona and Susie were here. She liked it when they all went out to eat, especially when it was in Little Saigon. Going there meant driving a couple of cities over to the city of Westminster, but it was worth it to eat at Susie’s favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Sarah salivated just thinking of the restaurant’s spicy stir-fried scallop and rice noodle dish. Right now, though, she was too hungry to drive so far.
Maybe today would be a good day to try the Vietnamese food truck that had recently started parking near the beach. While it was doubtful it would have the same scallop and noodle dish, it should have other tasty choices. She got dressed.
When she reached the food truck, she stepped off her bicycle and locked it to a post. Bicycling h
ad required some effort so soon after the Fun Run, but parking her bike was a lot easier than parking her car around here. Two women were working in the truck, one preparing the food and one handling customers at the window. From age and resemblance, she guessed that the women might be mother and daughter.
She joined the line at the truck’s window and read the posted handwritten menu while she waited. It looked like the truck offered many of her favorites, but she decided to try only simple items first to see what the food was like. When it was her turn to order, the older of the two Vietnamese women smiled down at her from the window.
“Xin chào,” Sarah said in greeting.
The woman’s smile broadened. “Xin chào.”
In Vietnamese, Sarah ordered a steamed pork bun and a large bowl of chicken phờ. The soup of rich broth, rice noodles, sliced chicken, and cilantro was a favorite. She was tempted to also get the green papaya salad, another favorite, but decided to wait until next time. The pork bun and soup would be enough since she and Justin had had a complimentary snack from the refreshment table at the Fun Run.
The woman gave her the total in Vietnamese. Sarah didn’t know many numbers in the language, so she looked to the cash register display for the amount she owed. She took a bill out of the pocket in her shorts and paid. The woman gave her the change and thanked her.
“Cảm ơn,” Sarah thanked her also.
A voice behind Sarah said, “I’m no expert, but those Vietnamese intonations of yours sound pretty authentic.”
Sarah turned around and found herself face to face with a smiling Amy. Sarah smiled back. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m on my lunch break. I was going to order a sandwich. Can I join you?”
“Of course.”
Amy stepped to the window and ordered a chicken bảnh mỉ and an iced tea. Sarah also liked those chicken sandwiches with pickled vegetables, thinly sliced chiles, and sprigs of cilantro. Amy moved to the side next to her to wait for their food. “So, you speak Vietnamese?” Amy asked.
“Just enough for basic greetings and to order some food. One of my roommates is Vietnamese and I’ve picked up a few words from her when we go out to eat.”
“That’s neat.”
The woman called their orders. They collected their food and found a bench nearby to sit and eat at. As they ate, they chatted about the Fun Run. Some of the julienned carrots and daikon fell from Amy’s sandwich onto the wrapper in her lap. She gathered them up and tilted her head back before dropping them into her mouth.
Sarah’s eyes followed the exposed line of her neck, the gentle curve of it reminding her of how Amy had looked during climax the last time Sarah had her in her mouth.
“What?” Amy asked, but her crooked grin told her she might have some idea of what Sarah was thinking.
“Nothing,” Sarah said, smiling back. She was enjoying herself; this lunch felt almost like a date. Could she ask Amy a question without her closing up as she was prone to doing? She decided to start with something benign. “What have you been doing this week outside of work?” She did her best to keep her tone casual.
“I took my cat to the vet,” Amy said after a moment.
“I didn’t know you had a cat.” Sarah was unable to stop herself from blurting the obvious. There were so many simple things she didn’t know about her. Learning that she had a pet was at least a start. “Was something the matter with your cat? Or was the visit just for a checkup?”
“I noticed something going on with her tooth, so I took her in last week to have it examined. The vet said it was infected and needed to be pulled, so I took her in again this week for that.”
“Is she doing okay?”
“Yes. I know Sandy—that’s her name—is better because she’s not drooling like she used to.”
“That’s good,” Sarah said.
Amy nodded. “I’m so glad she’s well. I feel bad for not realizing something was wrong sooner. She’s older and I guess I should take her in for checkups more often, but she hates being put in a cat carrier and the dogs in the waiting room always scare her so much that she’s skittish for days afterward.”
Sarah nodded. She remembered accompanying her mother on a few stressful visits to the vet with the family dogs and cats over the years. She also remembered that veterinary visits could be quite costly. She hoped the cost of two back-to-back appointments wasn’t going to be too much of a financial strain for Amy.
“Sandy is plenty mad at me for wrangling her into the carrier for her appointments and madder still that I have to give her medication. It’s not nearly as easy as the vet said it would be.”
“Do you need help giving her the medicine? I’d be happy to help you.”
A frown flickered over Amy’s face. “No, that’s okay. I’m figuring it out.”
Sarah barely held in a sigh. It seemed this personal conversation would be coming to an end. It hadn’t taken long for Amy to take offense. But Sarah didn’t understand why. She was bothered both by her apparent dismay at her offer to help and by her automatic refusal of the offer. Why should the offer seem to make her uncomfortable?
It made Sarah again wonder about Amy’s living situation. It seemed that Amy didn’t want to have her over at all. Was her living situation really that embarrassing? It must be even less ideal than her own situation of living with college students. Sarah liked her roommates, but living with college students was best done while in college oneself.
Sarah had even considered that maybe Amy’s living situation was something unlawful, like living in someone’s illegally converted garage. She had read an article in the paper that people sometimes had to do that here because of the high rents in the area. But she didn’t get the impression that Amy would do anything illegal. So maybe the problem was that she lived with a girlfriend despite her denial of it. Sarah was torn between asking her for more information or just continuing to enjoy this fling while it lasted. Sarah didn’t want to be a party to cheating and someone getting hurt, though. “Look, if you live with someone…”
“I said that I didn’t,” Amy answered firmly enough that Sarah fully believed her.
“Then I don’t understand why we always end up at my house. I don’t even know where you live.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Yeah. You said that before.”
“Yes, and you said that I didn’t have to tell you about it until I was ready.”
Sarah sighed. “I tried to tell myself that the details didn’t matter since we were only having this fling, but they do matter. I don’t like secrets.” She got up, collected her trash from lunch, and deposited it in a nearby trashcan. She faced her again. “I thought I could do this with you, but I don’t know if I can. Let’s skip tonight. I think I’ll be too tired from the Fun Run, anyway.”
“Sarah…”
But Sarah didn’t want to wait to hear excuses and kept walking.
* * *
Amy returned to work in her lifeguard tower after lunch at the food truck, feeling dejected despite the bright, beautiful, sunny afternoon. She removed the polo shirt and shorts she had put on over her swimsuit for the lunch break and sat down in her chair to keep watch over the people in her zone. Now that a portion of the beach was no longer closed off for the Fun Run, it was filled with the usual crowds of beachgoers.
Lunch with Sarah had been such a pleasant surprise and had been going well until they had gotten into a personal discussion. Amy knew she shouldn’t have answered Sarah’s question about what she’d been doing outside of work, knew that it would only lead to trouble. But she had wanted to share more of herself with Sarah. Lunch had seemed almost like a date.
If only Sarah’s feelings about wealthy women were clearer, Amy could know how much she could answer. She wouldn’t have to deliberate over each question that Sarah asked, deciding how much to reveal and how much not to reveal, and conversation would be so much easier. But she couldn’t ver
y well ask. If she did, she would have to explain her reason for asking and reveal too much about herself, possibly causing the very problem that she wanted to avoid.
But she had ended up offending Sarah today anyway. She understood her misgivings about not being invited over. It was nice of her to offer to help give Sandy the medicine and, even if not for that, Amy knew she should have extended an invitation to Sarah to come over by now. Tonight would have been their third time in a row at Sarah’s house.
Amy wondered if their time together was over or if their arrangement would resume next week. She wanted very much to see Sarah again and not just because of the sex. Sarah was so interesting, so multifaceted. Who knew she could speak some Vietnamese? Amy found herself wanting to ask Sarah all sorts of questions and find out all of the other fascinating things about her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really her place since they weren’t really girlfriends. This fling was making sure of that.
Amy sighed. Between her family and now Sarah, there were a lot of people mad at her. Ever since the trip to the veterinarian, even her cat was mad at her.
The ringing of the tower telephone interrupted her thoughts. She picked up the receiver. It was Communications, calling to warn of the possibility of rip currents developing due to an increasing south swell.
Hanging up the phone, Amy redoubled her efforts to keep watch on the water and the swimmers. Rip currents were strong channels of water flowing from the shore back out to sea. They were characterized by churning, sandy brown water and had three parts: the feeders supplying the water, the fast-moving water of the neck, and the circular area of the head where the water was released out to sea. Rip currents could appear instantly and could easily pull any swimmer out to sea, even strong ones.
Amy didn’t see any areas of concern in the ocean in front of her tower, but she did notice one in front of one of the towers flanking hers. The waves there were breaking less cleanly and the water was becoming increasingly foamy. The area was crowded with people playing in the waves and some of them swimming. Upon seeing her neighboring lifeguard, Michael, arrive at the shore to redirect the swimmers to a safer area, she relaxed somewhat.