The beach was empty. I sat up, my face mashed into wrinkles from the towel. Joanie had passed out, too, curled up beside me in her bikini bottoms and my gray T-shirt. I sat back and looked at her small pink feet, the calluses on her heels and toes, her smooth, hairless thighs, the faint hint of veins beneath the skin. The stretched back of her red bikini bottoms across her dynamite ass. It was so pretty I wanted to cry. She yawned, reaching her long, thin arms up, and I saw her bikini top lying next to her on the towel.

Joanie sat up on her knees, beside me. “Where did they go?” she said. I didn’t know. She’d knotted my shirt so it rode high up on her rib cage. I reached across and pulled the knot. She watched me. My hand slipped underneath the T-shirt, and I felt my palm across her stomach. There was sand stuck on her leg, and I watched her braless boobs moving against the inside of my shirt. I saw her swallow. I felt her breathe.

Diane came walking up the beach from the direction of the jetty. She said she was tired, and did I want to come take a nap with her. A second later we were walking down the beach to our room. Joanie didn’t have time to respond.

Diane closed the blinds. I sat down and untied my sneakers. She stepped between my legs and put her tongue against my teeth. She knelt, and yanked off my bathing suit and flung it on the lampshade. I was so excited I started to shake. I sat back on the bed, flustered. She took off her bottoms, standing in front of me, and kissed my throat. I kept looking for marks on her from Rick—a sign of use on my wife’s body—but I was so turned on after all this time that I was seeing spots. The place where her bikini had been was glowing. She held my head. I rubbed my face against her stomach.

We lay down and started to do it. She seemed fine, I guess. She was digging it. It was the same old Diane. I held her sweet face. She said, “It’s nice to see you smile again.” Finally, we were grooving.

When it was over, I went into the bathroom and got a glass of water. My groin was raw. She lay on her stomach, breathing.

I sat beside her and rubbed my hand across the top of her ass, as fine as silk.

She said, “I can’t move.”

“So don’t.”

“You’re the best lover in the world,” she said, and turned over and held me. “I promised Rick I’d go fishing, on that boat you guys went on.” She looked at me. “Is it all right if I try it? It’s our last day.”