She continued to glare at me waiting for me to say more. When it was apparent that I was done explaining, she said in a much less shrill voice, “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Fuck you Jack.” She spun on her heels and yanked open the slider and slammed it behind her with nothing more said.
Divi must have been on her way up the stairs when her mother exploded out of my living room. I heard Priya yell, “Don’t come over here. Get your butt home. I’ve got a good mind to ground you for the rest of the summer and I would if I thought this was your fault.”
I could hear Divi crying all the way back to her house. I felt awful for her. I deserved Priya’s rage and I would take it in stride. I was bummed at the apparent loss of Priya again. I guess we were doomed from the start. I decided to take the kayak out for a ride to work off the emotional frustration. I paddled to the east end of the lake along the southern shore and returned on the northern shore. I had never done that before. It took me two and a half hours and my fingers throbbed from gripping the paddle. I didn’t encounter anyone else other than boaters who always waved. I’d just nod because both hands were busy.
When I coasted up to my dock, I could see that Ashley’s friends had arrived. An incredible array of a half-dozen or so beautiful women came to Ashley’s deck railing as I tied up and hoisted my body out of the kayak. It wasn’t the most graceful of exits but it’s hard to get your feet under you when you’re sitting that low. Ashley waved and yelled, “Hi Jack. Are we on for tonight?” The other’s all waved and grinned down at me.
I walked over to her yard so I wouldn’t be yelling back. I wanted to get a better look at Ashley’s friends anyway. My guess was that they were in their mid to late twenties. I looked up at Ashley and the others and said, “Sure. Seven o’clock, right?” All of Ashley’s friends were as gorgeous as she was and to say that they were wearing bikinis would have been very generous. None had breasts like Ashley’s but one of Ashley was plenty. They were tittering amongst themselves as I spoke to Ashley. I didn’t want to be a creep and stare at them so I waved to Ashley and headed for my yard. I could hear them laughing and giggling as I walked away.
I glanced toward Priya’s yard on my way around to the stairs up to my deck. There was no sign of either Priya or Divi. I went inside and took a shower and dressed in clean shorts and a tee shirt. I made a sandwich and carried it and a beer to the deck to watch the boat parade slowly cruising past. No one aboard was looking in my direction. As usual, they were gawking at Ashley and today they were getting a bonus. It didn’t take long for the word to get around.
When the parade got longer, Ashley and her gang came down off the deck and were sunning themselves on the dock and in the yard. One boat with a couple of the more young and aggressive guys actually tied up to Jacob’s dock and chatted up a couple of the friends who had laid out their towels there. I watched with my binoculars and was amused by the guys, who were practically drooling on the women laying on the dock talking to them. The others, sunning themselves on towels in the yard, were laughing at the two guys. I had to hand it to them. As goofy as they were acting, they had a lot of confidence and women always seemed to respond to men with confidence.