“What does that mean?! You keep saying that but it doesn’t seem to mean anything. Lots of people know each other in the city, but that doesn’t mean they’re all doing it. Does it?”

“No, but, see … we went to the same college and we got talking one time, we had a lot to drink and we just … it wasn’t like this big thing.”

“But you didn’t tell me.”

“No.”

“They’ve been moved in there, next door, in their time-share for three weeks. A month maybe. Since Memorial Day …”

“I was going to say something …”

“But you decided to keep it all to yourself, huh?”

“No! God, you’re so … we were both nervous about it. I mean, embarrassed.”

“Obviously …”

“We were! When they introduced themselves that first day, out there on the deck, I could hardly look up …”

“Or just now …”

“That’s what I’m saying …”

“… of course, you were a little busy.”

“Stop! Jesus, let me at least tell my side of it.”

“Please … go ahead.”

“So, you know … if you don’t take that moment, I mean, that first moment there and tell the truth, then you’re stuck. You are.”

“Like your thing in the mesh …”

“A little, yes …” He wants to smile, since that was pretty funny, especially for her, but he can’t risk it. Not right now. It might not have been a joke. Instead, he offers, “Kind of like that. Uh-huh.”

“And since you didn’t tell me out on the porch that day, you just figured this tiny detail was no big thing. I mean, not a real problem for us … is that kind of what you’re saying?”

“Sort of …”

“Huh.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Just ‘huh,’ no other real meaning to it …” Her head cocks a touch now, slightly to one side as she studies him. Glancing at his eyes but then down, to settle at crotch level. Holding this look for quite some time. He shifts from one bare foot to the other.

“What’re you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“No, seriously, what?”

“Just imagining …”

“Imagining?” He waits for her next volley, stepping off the wet spot he’s created and involuntarily moving away from her. She takes her time.

“Imagining what it’d be like for your son to walk into that shed. Looking for, oh, I dunno, some diving sticks or an inner tube or who knows what, and see that. What I saw …”

“What? We knew each other in Manhattan …”

“Stop saying that!” She glares at him, obviously conjuring up a picture. “How would it be for him to see your … cock—there, do you like that better? You’re always wanting me to talk dirty, does that sound better?—to see his daddy’s cock out and …”

“We were just talking …”

“Please don’t do that! Don’t assume I’ve been nearsighted all these years on top of being an idiot …”