They were all empty-nesters that 4th of July holiday. The kids were grown up and gone. It was the neighborhood gang that had stuck together through those childrearing years. Now they were just enjoying themselves. They were seated along the shoreline at a big picnic table. Sated with hot dogs, potato salad and apple pie, with the beer cooler just about empty, they watched the water-skiers winding up the show. The Jenson's, the Hofer's and the Vincent's had been friends for almost thirty years.
Sherry Jenson and Karly Vincent had been the closest of any of them. Their friendship pre-dated marriages when both had been young elementary school teachers. Karly still taught school while Sherry had long before given up that role to become her husband's business manager. The Jenson's owned and operated a large and successful road construction company. Sherry was both the brains and the impetus of the business contracts, hired help and did the accounting. Bill Jenson ran the job sites. They were a good team.
The Hofer's operated a dairy farm. Where work was hard and profit margins thin, Jan Hofer ran a sharp and effective pencil on the increasing complex record keeping that meant success or failure. Bill Hofer was equally adept in his hands-on decision-making part of the business. They rarely could get away except on Sunday afternoons when son Bill Jr. filled in for chores.
The impetus to the singular event that took place on the 4th of July outing had come the day before. Terry Vincent was a recently retired optometrist. He had taken up almost full time gardening and fishing that summer as his main hobbies. The problem had been that his wife Karlene had shown little or no interest in either of these hobbies. Outdoor activities were not her thing and gossiping on the phone to her myriad friends, playing computer games, and working on crossword puzzles seemed to be her main outlets.
However, she appeared to be taking up a new interest as Terry came in from the garden on his way to the shower; scrap-booking. Her efforts were specifically dealing with the 25 years' worth of family photographs, Christmas cards, newspaper clippings, and school mementos of their three children.
There in the living room was Sherry Jenson showing Karlene how to do it in the form of several of her own scrapbooks.
"Can I take a look see at one of them too, Sherry?" Terry had asked, trying to be sociable.
"Sure, was the quick response."
Finding a comfortable chair to sit down in, he began to examine a book titled "At the Lake". It was the usual kids and parents at the beach, in the cabin, water skiing and fishing. What turned out to be astonishing were the pictures of an extremely slim but sexy brunette that he had never seen before.
To his knowledge he had never seen Sherry wearing anything but slacks. Of course, there were her stylish suit jackets and slacks for business, but even on such informal occasions as summer barbecues and picnics, it was always slacks. She had been hiding a perfect figure all these years. Belatedly, but for sure, now he was interested. She knew it too because he was observed taking extra long looks at all of her "swimming" pictures.
Terry managed to shift the focus of his "interest" by commenting on several of the large bass Sherry was pictured holding in the album.
