“Y ou missed a patch,” she says, tucking her hair around her neck.
His breath catches.
He will get to touch her twice.
Her hair, bristling bright yellow in the sun, reveals the patch between her shoulder blades that he missed. It is covered with freckles. She told him once, on the first night of student orientation, that she had red hair as a child but that she often forgets. Her skin still remembers, though.
He tips the bottle of Coppertone and the white liquid spreads out onto his palm.
“Doesn’t your dad ever come here?” she asks as his fingertips make contact with her skin for a second time.
A light breeze blows, making the leaves on top of the swimming pool rock in the ripples of water.
“Not often,” he replies, “Maybe at Christmas.”
She finds…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2024