by Pamela Morsi
When they stepped into the clearing where the road passed through the tiny community, both of them picked up the pace. Camryn’s annoyance at Jesse’s I’m-a-grown-up meddling had disappeared and she moved along the road so quickly, Jesse expected any moment to break into a run. They passed the little church and the impressive quartz uplift. And then Camryn cut through a worn path that skirted the front of the clinic for the back door.
Jesse heard Tree Baxley before she saw him. The thump, thump, thump of a basketball was unmistakable. In a relatively flat area of the yard, tamped down by years of use, a wooden pole with a bright orange hoop served as a practice area for the school’s best player.
Camryn took off running in his direction. He turned toward the sound and Jesse watched the casual expression on his face turn, in an instant, to bliss.
Wordlessly he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up off the ground and into his arms. He buried his face in her neck, as if he were starving for her.
Jesse’s heart lurched. In her whole life no one had ever wanted her like that. No man had ever truly hungered for her. Aunt Will was right. Those two were meant to be together.
Tree had moved his mouth from her throat to her lips and Camryn was slowly sliding down the front of his torso. When she was back on solid earth, Jesse pointedly cleared her throat.
Tree glanced up and saw her at the edge of his practice court. He blushed vividly before he transformed from self-assured and passionate Romeo to typically awkward teenager.
“Oh…oh, hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
Camryn turned to look at Jesse as well, but she did not release her hold on her boyfriend.
“Jesse’s here to use your bathtub,” she told him.
“Your father said that I could.”
“Sure,” Tree answered. “No problem. Come in.”
Jesse followed them to the family porch at the back of the clinic. Tree kept his arm wrapped tightly around Camryn’s waist, only relinquishing it to politely hold the door open for the two females.
Inside he showed her into the bathroom, Camryn tagged along as well, unwilling to be even more than an arm’s length away from her boyfriend.
“Where’s Piney?” Jesse asked.
“He’s got a couple of patients in the clinic,” Tree answered.
“Could you stop by there and let him know that I’m here?” she said. “He did invite me, but I am kind of barging in.”
“No big deal,” Tree assured her. He opened a tall cabinet. “The towels are here. If you need soap and stuff it’s…”
“I brought my own.”
“Oh, great,” Tree said. He walked over to the tub. The giant galvanized piece of steampunk with its visible plumbing bathtub.
“The left is hot and the right is cold,” Tree told her. “It’s kind of hard to get the mix exactly right, but it works.”
“Do I have to light a fire underneath it?”
Tree chuckled. “Naw, that was for back before there were hot water heaters,” he answered. “It was the first indoor plumbing on the mountain. We mostly use the shower.” The teenager’s brow furrowed. “Maybe I should scrub it out,” he said. “Normally I ignore it and leave it for Dad. But I’m sure he’d expect me to clean it for you.”
“No, don’t worry about it,” Jesse said. “If I’m borrowing your tub, the least I can do is my own cleaning. Where do you keep the supplies?”
Tree gave in without an argument and showed her where they kept the cleanser and the scouring brush.
“You kids go on,” Jesse told the two. “I’m going to make myself at home.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
As the two neared the door, Jesse thought of one last thing. “Oh, Camryn.”
The teenagers turned back in her direction.
From her jeans pocket Jesse pulled out her keys and tossed them in the girl’s direction.
“Tell your mother that if it’s okay with her, you and I have agreed that you’re going to drive my car a couple of times a week while I’m up with Aunt Will. That will keep the battery charged and prevent you from having to sneak off in it.”
Camryn’s jaw dropped open in shock. She was momentarily speechless before managing a stunned, “Thanks.”
“Drive safely. Don’t text behind the wheel. And make sure it doesn’t run out of oil.”
“Right, sure.”
Camryn was grinning ear to ear as she looked up at her boyfriend.
“Wow, that’s pretty cool,” Tree told her.
“Hey, it’s easy for me,” Jesse said. “I don’t worry about you the way that your parents will.”
After the teenagers left, Jesse scrubbed the bathtub, which was not nearly as dirty as she would expect two males on their own to have left it. She found herself singing her happily single song again. She got the water temperature adjusted perfectly before pouring in a bit of gel for bubbles.
It took her a minute to figure out the ancient door latch, but once it seemed secured she stripped down and got into the tub. Washing her hair felt like heaven. And the sudsy gel on her sponge running across her skin was so much better than a wet washcloth from Aunt Will’s sink.
When the tub was full and she was clean, Jesse lay back in the big luxurious vat of hot water. The soak was so relaxing and Piney had promised it would alleviate the poultice stink from her nostrils. So far, so good.
She scooted down in the tub, until the suds were up to her chin. Her mind drifted to Camryn and Tree. She hoped that giving permission to use her car wasn’t a mistake. They were two young, healthy teenagers. They were probably making out in it right now.
That would be a first for her car. Greg had never been the make-out-in-the-car type. He was very conservative, very appropriate and suitable. And she was, too. Even in college where other students got drunk and had sex at parties or in the dorm. She always kept her romantic liaisons very private and circumspect. Which was a good thing, as none of them lasted very long. Greg had been the first guy who’d been really serious about her. He respected her. Jesse had appreciated that. She’d appreciated the way he protected her reputation.
Still, there was that part of her that Greg didn’t know. That longing inside her that she kept private. She’d tried to share it. One of their first Valentine’s Days she’d bought some very naughty red underwear with lace tanga panties and an open cup bra. She’d wanted to meet him at the door, dressed in nothing else. But she’d been too shy, too uncertain. Instead she wrapped them in a box with a big red bow.
He’d laughed when he’d opened his gift. He’d thought it was a joke, so she’d laughed like it was.
“That kind of costume is so unflattering,” he’d told her. “It’s ridiculous for ordinary women to want to look like some kind of slut.”
Some kind of slut.
Sometimes Jesse wanted to look like some kind of slut.
Sometimes she felt like some kind of slut. A hot, slutty slut.
With a deep sigh, she lowered herself deeper in the water and imagined making out in her own car. She was there with a strange man, a man she didn’t know, he didn’t know her. She didn’t bother to look at him, it didn’t matter who he was. It was not about who, it was about what. She was wearing that naughty, naughty underwear. Her butt looked so good in those panties that were cut just a bit too high. The bra with her nipples completely exposed. He wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off. In the narrow confines of her blue Mini, she would be wearing only that underwear, dark stockings and some very, very, very high heels. The man would be crazy for her, desperate for her, pleading with her, can’t get enough of her. His hands were everywhere, stroking her, teasing her. And his mouth, his mouth…
19
The clinic was officially closed on the weekend, but this Saturday there were a few patients who had to be seen.
Sneezer had cut his hand the morning of the snow trying to get his tractor running. He’d wrapped it in a rag and gone on about his business,
and three days later it looked nasty and infected.
Sissy Blakemore had brought in her youngest. He had a bad sore throat and with his asthma, she was afraid to wait through the weekend. Piney assured her that she was absolutely right. The boy’s strep test showed positive and they were able to get him on prescription meds right away.
Coach Poule showed up to get his blood pressure checked, because he didn’t consider himself sick enough to take time off during the week. He also didn’t consider himself sick enough to take any of Piney’s advice on salt and fat intake. He’d finished giving the man his bimonthly lecture on the limitations of pharmaceuticals in the control of hypertension and Coach was headed out the door when he ran into Tree and Camryn coming inside.
Coach immediately waylaid the teenagers. Poule was very close to Tree, in a way that was different from the relationship Piney had with his son. A father had to think about everything, consider everything. Piney understood that he had to view the “big picture” of his son. It was not enough to revel in his athletic achievements. Tree had to develop his intellect and his character, as well. He was going to go out in the world, and it was his father’s responsibility to see that he knew how to handle money, how to wash his laundry, how to change the oil in the car and how to write a thank-you note in longhand. Tree needed to be helpful, kind and responsible. He also must be hardworking, determined and principled. Coach Poule was free to enjoy Tree as a high school hero, a star athlete. It was Piney’s job to make sure those accolades were not going to be the sum total definition of his son.
Piney stood watching the conversation. Coach was happily rehashing Friday’s game. Mrs. Swann was waiting for him in the other exam room.
He gave his son a wave of acknowledgment meant to convey his need to carry on with his work.
Tree immediately interrupted the coach. “I’m off to Cammy’s,” he called out. “I’m going to hang around over there with her, if it’s okay with her mom.”
Piney nodded approval and headed in to see his patient. By the time he’d listened to the woman’s lungs, calmed her anxiety and changed her medication, they were gone. Piney expected that. Tree took every possible opportunity to be alone with Camryn. At least if they were at the health food store, Marcy would make sure they didn’t get into too much trouble.
Piney sat down at his desk, posted all his notes in the patient charts and emailed them to Doc Mo. Then he marked the billable services and sent those to Viola’s in-box.
With that completed and no new arrivals, he put the sign for emergencies on the front door and headed around the building. His stomach was growling and he was thinking about what might be in the refrigerator.
He noticed that Tree had left his basketball out on the grass. Piney could have managed a long-suffering sigh, but he didn’t bother. A ball used on turf didn’t last very long, and leaving them out in the weather didn’t do them any good, either. He walked over, picked it up and carried it into the house.
Inside, he rolled it in the direction of Tree’s room before glancing down at his hands, muddied by the basketball. Shaking his head, he made his way to the bathroom to wash them. The knob stuck with only the slightest hesitation before giving way.
There was a silent instant before a shriek arose from the bathtub.
“Whoops! Excuse me,” Piney said before turning his back, leaving the way he came and slamming the door closed behind him.
He heard the sloshing of water in the room he’d left and was mentally blinded by his own imagination, which was now fueled with a sight he had no business committing so fully to memory.
Piney nervously glanced around his living room as if looking for a hiding place and then walked out the door. He was not headed anywhere, but moved with the rapid pace of a man in a big hurry.
Determinedly, he did a circular march around the clinic parking lot, trying to un-see what he had seen. It wasn’t her naked body so much. The water was soapy and white, obscuring her nudity. Only her head and some very choice body parts were visible above the waterline. Her knees were pressing against opposite sides of the tub. Her nipples, taut and engorged in the cool air, peeked out of their sudsy surroundings as the water lapped against them.
Piney cursed aloud and walked the edges of the parking lot again. He kept his eyes straight ahead, but he didn’t see the gravel on the ground before him. All he could see was Jesse in the bath with her head thrown back, arching her neck. Her eyes had been closed and her lips open.
He cursed again. Cursed himself. Cursed his luck.
Then he thought about Jesse.
She was going to run. He knew that as clearly as he knew anything. She would be so embarrassed. She’d want to hustle back up to the mountain. And she would avoid him like the plague from this day forward. He would be the last person she’d want for a friend. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t her fault. It was just an incredibly uncomfortable memory that neither of them would easily forget.
The truth of that made Piney surprisingly sad. He liked her. He liked talking to her. She was funny and smart and interesting. He found her very, very interesting. The image of her nakedness thrust its way in, but he willed himself not to focus on it. Jesse was only going to be here a short time, it was a shame that this tiny little flame of a friendship between them should be snuffed out so completely and so quickly.
Piney stopped at the edge of the parking lot and stood there, suddenly determined. He wasn’t going to let that happen.
He began walking down the road. She would avoid running into him if she could. But he was going to see her before she saw him. He made his way to the Marrying Stone. He climbed the sharp, craggy path to the top. From this vantage point, he would see her as soon as she rounded the corner at the church. He seated himself on the grassy topknot, where so many local folks and their ancestors sat in times gone by. It was easy to understand how people could have looked at the wonderful view of the valley and the open place in the sky and thought it was unique, special. Something about the site encouraged big ideas and long-term thinking.
He had only a few moments of contemplation before he saw her headed in his direction. She wasn’t running, but the haste in her step clearly gave the impression of fleeing the scene. It was a half minute before she spotted him. She slowed immediately and he worried that she might turn and head the other direction. She did not. Instead she stiffened her spine and raised her chin and continued to put one foot in front of the other.
Piney rose to his feet and held out a hand toward her.
“Come join me.”
“I…I’ve got to…uh…”
“Come on,” he said. “It’s an embarrassing moment. Let’s get past it.”
Jesse apparently realized the sense in that. She cut across the grass and then carefully picked her way. She climbed about two steps on her own, before grasping his outstretched hand. He pulled her up to the top. They stood there side by side, hands still clasped for a moment before he urged her to sit.
Piney joined her. They both focused their gazes on the distance, instead of each other. The memory of her nakedness still took up most of the space in his brain. Deliberately he attempted to talk about something else.
“I love it up here on the Marrying Stone,” he said.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Jesse nod. “It’s my first time.”
The phrase my first time conjured up a lot of unexpected images that neither of them wanted to deal with. Which caused her to stutter momentarily before quickly continuing. “It’s…uh…it’s really surprising. I mean…uh…the view.” She gestured toward the valley that stretched out before them. “We’re only a few feet above the road, but there is this sensation of being here at a great height.”
Piney nodded. “I guess that’s why people thought the place was sacred. Being up here alters our perspective so much. It makes people think there is something unworldly about it.”
“It’s more than perspective,” Jesse said. “Its presence here is geologically inexplica
ble.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“You don’t typically get a quartz upthrust like this atop limestone.”
Upthrust was not a good word to use. Piney tried to help her out. “Actually, we have a lot of these quartz hillocks popping out of the ground in Arkansas.”
Hillocks was not much better.
“In the Ouachita,” Jesse answered. “There’s a big belt of quartz in the Ouachita Mountains that’s probably forty miles wide. But that’s quite a ways south of here. The Ozarks are different. They are much older and formed differently. There’s some noncrystalized quartz underground. But an uplift like this is very odd and out of place.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I’ve been thinking about getting some survey maps, doing a core. Satisfying my curiosity.”
Doing a core. Satisfying my curiosity. Piney swallowed hard.
She had turned slightly to address him. And something about looking him straight in the eye as she’d said the words had her blushing again and averting her eyes. The silence between them lengthened. Piney knew they needed to do more than skid over the incident.
“Jesse, I am so sorry about busting in on you like that,” he said. “The lock on that door is probably eighty years old and Tree and I don’t even bother with it.”
She shrugged, but she didn’t look at him. “It’s your house, of course you wouldn’t think about having a stranger in your tub.”
“Still, I apologize,” he said. And then he conjured up his most clinical matter-of-fact tone to add, “I don’t see any reason for you to be embarrassed. Remember, I am a medical professional. In the course of my work I’ve seen innumerable naked bodies.”
“It’s not quite the same as being on an examining table in a paper gown,” she pointed out.
He could feel her beginning to relax.
“Of course it’s not the same,” he agreed. “I mean taking a bath is so much…so much wetter.”
