Western Minnesota and eastern South Dakota had been even more boring than driving through Wisconsin and parts of my home state. The forests gave way to plains, to vast reaches of dusty emptiness, corn stretching off into the sun-baked distance like a never-ending muted green carpet. There was very little in the way of human activity between the - usually small - towns. Occasionally a house would appear, shaded by a copse of trees, or an enormous barn or warehouse or silo would obstruct the distant landscape, but even the interstate traffic seemed to have tapered off. There were many times I could've discharged my gun down the highway, drove until I found the three fifty seven Sig round laying hot and perfect on the pavement, it's flight uninterrupted.
And I knew even hotter, more boring landscapes lay ahead in Wyoming.
The sun burned down all day long, inescapable with no clouds in the sky. Every stop at a gas station turned our skin greasy with sweat, and no matter how hard we ran the air conditioning, there was just a tinge of uncomfortable heat to the cab of the Suburban.
The girls could at least dress a little cooler than I could. McKenna had her long hair tied up in a ponytail so high as to almost be a topknot to keep it off her shoulders. A bit darker complected than Jessie, she opted for Daisy Dukes and a wifebeater, while my copilot was dressed in dark capris and a white button up left open over a string bikini top. I was wearing khaki shorts, a band t-shirt, and a button-up to hide my Sig, and I got way fewer looks than the girls did.
Dusk found us unloading of bags at a hilltop motel in a little town along the Missouri River. From the parking lot, we could see a set of beautiful span bridges and headlights crossing them in the cooling blue-gray of approaching night. The teenager manning - or would that be teening - the front desk ogled our party as we picked up our room keys, and I shot McKenna a stern look. "Don't."
Dinner was a simple affair, parking on the main street and walking the short row of mom-and-pop shops to find a restaurant that suited us, McKenna still mad because we wouldn't eat lunch AND dinner at Taco Johns. Near the end of the main street, we found a bar and grill done up like an old west saloon. Steak or sandwiches and salad all around, whiskey for Jessie and I, beer for McKenna, and then we took a detour back to our vehicle to walk down by the river.
Cool air washed around us with the pleasant sounds of water lapping at rocks and distant traffic. There was a tinge of fish to it that I didn't mind after a day of smelling car and sweat and dusty concrete. Jessie and I held hands and McKenna skipped along ahead of us, talking programming lingo with my lover, occasionally stopping to tap some notes into her phone.
Me, I just basked in the relaxation and peace. It was so NICE to walk and stretch and not be seated anymore. Even with Jessie taking part of the driving responsibilities, I felt mental strain at the end of a long day of driving, not to mention the sheer uncomfortableness of sitting for hours on end. Holding hands with my love and walking along the river was a nice change of pace.
I shook myself from my reverie. "What's up?"
"I asked if you wanted to go swimming when we get back to the hotel. Were you sleep-walking?" Jessie squeezed my fingers.
"Just enjoying being out of a car. Yeah, that sounds fun."
We split up back at the hotel, and I dug through my duffel bag for swim trunks as Jessie dragged her duffel into the bathroom. I watched as she slowly, sensuously peeled off her pants and shirt, looking over her bikini-clad body, and then she shed that too, pulling the ties and letting the triangles of fabric fall to the floor. She strutted over to me with a model's walk and sat down on my lap, raised my bloodpressure with a roll of her hips and a lengthy, rough French kiss.
"I'm gonna shower briefly, wash the road off me and then I'll meet you at the pool, ok?"
I slid my hands up and down her warm, muscular back. "Don't be too long."
She smirked. "I promise."
The swimming pool was in a second building, across a parking lot and up a hill from the main hotel, and even though I was only wearing swim shorts and sandals, I wasn't cold at all. The night may have cooled down a bit from the scorching day, but it was still warm. I pushed through the door into the pool room and looked around. Hot and steamy, all wood except for the skylights and the pool deck and the windows. Doors leading off to an outside deck overlooking the parking lot on the right. A small wooden cubicle for changing on the left. Piles of pool toys and a water slide at the far end.
I slipped into the water and found it comfortably warm, and after bouncing up and down for a minute to get the blood flowing, I began a lazy front stroke up and down the length of the pool. Dammit, it felt good to move my arm fully again.
I'd gone near to stir crazy with my arm immobilized, then dead, then weak, and despite being an absolute animal about rehab, the injury took too bloody long to heal. Now, now I could swim again, wrestle again, pin Jessie down and spank her again... It felt good to be whole again.
The door clicked shut and I stood, wiped water from my eyes. McKenna stood at the foot of the pool, wrapped in a massive towel, looking around. "Hey, Gary. Nice place to sw - oh...wow."
"What?"
She shook her head, shook it again, and the way she was staring at me weirded me out. "You ok, Mickey?"
That snapped her back to the present. I remember when we were installing the doors, she hated that nickname.
"Yeah, I just never... Don't call me that." She shrugged the towel off and it was my turn to stare. She smirked. "What, you've never seen a bikini before?"
I'd seen hundreds of naked women in my life and still routinely had sex with women other than Jessie, but I couldn't help but ogle the barely dressed programmer before me. Her body was muscular but soft, a little extra fat than Jessie, but her curves were accented with a toned leanness that made me think of a highschool cheerleader girlfriend from long ago. Her height and youthful face definitely made me think of highschool, and I started swimming again so that she couldn't see the chub starting to form in my swim shorts.
We raced each other the length of the pool several times, and I handily beat her each time, muscle and studied athleticism trumping determination and pissed-off-ness without much of a contest.
"You kids having fun?" Jessie crouched by the edge of the pool, dragging her fingers back and forth through the water. I swam over and bobbed at the edge, gave her a kiss. "I'm having fun winning every race against your friend. I think I should've started betting."
"No fair," McKenna called from the other end of the pool. "You're just a better athlete than I am!"
"And that's why I'm winning." I gave Jessie another kiss and then pulled on her wrist, toppling her into the water with a splash and a shriek. She righted herself, sputtering and laughing. "ASSHOLE! Now I'm cold!"
