Claire was sitting at the desk in the corner of her living room, poring over the papers she had retrieved that morning from her friend Carol's home. She jumped slightly as the ring of her telephone startled her from her concentration. She froze as she read the name that appeared on the caller I.D. display. It was her friend Carol.
"Hello." Claire said into the receiver after she picked the cordless hand set.
"Claire? It's Carol. Scott told me you picked up the paperwork earlier today. Did you find everything ok?"
"Uh, yes." Claire said as her heart pounded. Nervous feelings of guilt nagged at her conscience as she spoke to her friend. Her mind raced back to the encounter she had with Carol's son earlier that day. She could feel her face becoming flush at the recollection.
"Good. I'm glad everything is in order. Hey, Tom and I are going are going away next week. It's a bit of a last minute trip we need to make to help out my sister in Florida. I'm sorry I won't be at the township budget meeting tomorrow night. But, would you mind swinging by the house one day just to drop off the meeting minutes and paperwork from the meeting? Scott should be around to let you in."
"No problem. I can swing by after work one night. Probably on Wednesday night, if that's ok?" Clair said.
"Sure, sure. If you want, you can use the swimming pool. It's supposed to be very warm next week."
"Thanks, maybe I'll cool off in your pool after work on Wednesday. Thanks."
"No problem, Claire. I thank you for swinging by."
Wednesday morning, Claire packed her swimsuit, a beach towel, and some casual summer clothes into her duffel bag along with Carol's paperwork before leaving for work. The weather report said it was going to be hot and she thought a dip in Carol's pool would be a nice end to the day. She planned to leave a few hours early so she could relax in the pool before going home.
But mostly, what Claire had really been thinking about was seeing Scott again. The memory of their encounter kept entering her mind. She wasn't sure how to resolve the conflicting feeling of guilt and lust. Guilt, because it was her close friend's son. Lust, for obvious reasons. Lust was emerging as the winner in her conscience.
Claire worked through her lunch break and hurried to complete essential tasks before she left. At about 2:30 that afternoon she slipped into the ladies room to change and sneak out for the day. After changing and a quick commute, she pulled into Carol's driveway a bit before 4 pm.
As Claire walked down from the driveway to the pool, she could see Scott was relaxing on one of the large, wooden chaise lounge chairs by the pool. She could feel herself becoming a bit nervous as she remembered the last time she saw Scott.
"Hi, Scott. I came to drop off some paperwork for your mother. She also said I could stop by for a dip in the pool."
Scott looked up at Claire as she approached the pool. He smiled and said, "The weather is right for it. The water's nice."
Claire walked to the vacant chaise lounge chair next to Scott and dropped her towel on it. She knew Scott was watching her as she pulled off the shorts and t-shirt she had on over her one piece swim suit. She then jumped into the kidney-shaped pool.
The water felt cool and refreshing as Claire swam underwater to the other side of the pool. When she re-surfaced she looked over at Scott to see that he was watching her. She smiled and swam to the shallow side of the pool where the water came just to chest height. Claire leaned against the side of the pool, enjoying the cool water.
Scott got up and walked to the deep end of the pool. He dove in and swam the entire distance underwater to Claire. He broke the surface with a slight splash as he resurfaced right in front of her.
"Glad you came for another visit." Scott smiled. "I enjoyed the last time you came over."
"I'm sure you did." Claire nervously grinned back.
"I wished you hadn't left so suddenly."