The deal was Jenny would drop Conrad off at the golf course, drive on into town, and pick him up five hours later, unless he called first. (That way she wouldn't feel stranded out at the beach house.) The trouble was there wasn't much to do in town. There was a gas station, several real estate agencies, a Piggly Wiggly and a McDonalds, a Family Dollar, a Dollar General, a lawyer's office, a post office, and two pest control businesses. Bugs were big business down here in Florida. There were four churches, so God was doing okay, a run down hotel, and a few other buildings, most of which were boarded up. The day had started out gloomy, but now the sun was out, so after dropping Conrad off, Jenny drove back out to the beach house and spent the afternoon on the beach. The waves made that sweet swollen sound as they churned into the shore, and the sun was nice and hot. She read for a little and she napped for a little and she oiled herself three or four times an hour. It was nicer when Conrad oiled her, but one couldn't have everything. Usually she thought she was lucky to have Conrad. No question he was crazy about her. He loved her more than anything but maybe golf. He'd been her English teacher in college, and he came down here to the Gulf Coast every summer to work on his novel and improve his game. This was her first time.

By three o'clock Conrad hadn't called, so Jenny padded through the sand to the beach house, shrugged off her bra, stepped out of her bikini panties, slipped into shorts and a tee shirt, and set off to fetch him. She hoped she wouldn't have to wait too long at the course. The men were mostly old, even older than Conrad, and they tended to leer at her.

Conrad called while she was on route. "I'm on my way," she told him, finally having mastered the Bluetooth hands-free. "Fifteen minutes should do it."

But then there was a snag. The little rural road that ran along the coast was under construction, so it was one lane for a couple of miles. If the timing was wrong, that meant sitting on the highway in front of the flagman for several minutes until the traffic from the other side passed by. Today it was more than several minutes. She looked at the guy manning the stop sign. He was a kid, really, with scruffy red hair. Kind of cute. He was holding some kind of walkie-talkie. He grinned at her. She grinned back. After a minute or two he left his stop sign post and came over to the car.

"Sorra, Ma'am," he said. "They's havin' some trouble with d'equipmens. Should'n be morn'a couple a mints."

They guy was sweating, poor kid. He was wearing a luminescent lime green vest but no shirt. His arms were red. His face was red. "Mus' be awful hot out here," Jenny said, using two syllables for here. His talk was catchy.

"Yes, Ma'am, it is. I thought it was s'pose to be cloudy all day. I shoulda knowed."

"Would you like to wait in the car? Get you out of the sun?"

"I couldn't do that, Ma'am. Much as I'd like to." 'Lahk,' he'd said, his eyes showing sincerity as they lifted from the soft swell and pointed tips of her breasts. He smiled. A cute smile. A sweaty hank of red hair dripped across his brow. He wiped it back.

"I know. My husband has this old slicker. He's golfing and he left it off this morning. He always brings it along but he hardly ever takes it with." Jenny picked up the silvery nylon windbreaker from the passenger seat to show him. "You could wear it. Might keep the sun off."

"I guess it could," the boy agreed. "But yer sure?"

"Sure, no problem. Go ahead." She bundled the windbreaker through the window.

"Light, huh?" the boy said. He glanced back down the road, then set the walkie-talkie on the roof of the car, quickly removed his vest, slipped into the slicker, zipped it up, and retrieved the walkie-talkie. "Fits real good," he said. He grinned. "Me an your husband must be 'bout the same size."

"At least," Jenny said. Once again Jenny couldn't help grinning back at him. "You been working here long?"

"Oh sure, all summer, if I'm lucky. Only trouble's home's puddy fah. Ahm a stayin at one of the hotel cabins. It gets puddy lonely, you know?"

"I know."

The walkie-talkie cackled.

Jenny couldn't make out the words. "It won't be long now," the boy said. "Nother couple mints."

A pickup truck pulled up behind Jenny. The boy smiled at her and went back to his stop sign. They smiled at each other for several more minutes, and then a stream of cars came by from the other direction, and after the last one passed, the boy talked into his walkie-talkie, swiveled the sign from stop to slow, and waved Jenny on her way.

A couple of miles down the road she passed the flagman at the other end. This one was a woman. Fat. Really fat. No way would Conrad's windbreaker fit her. She chuckled, imagining the woman's breasts bursting the windbreaker's zipper. Maybe Conrad would like her more if she had breasts like that. Well, the boy seemed to like her breasts just fine, to judge from the way he'd had to struggle to keep his eyes from dipping. Jenny remember the boy's nipples. Tight like tiny pebbles. A droplet of sweat dripping down his chest. She saw herself tasting that droplet of sweat. She saw herself nipping those tiny nipples. Her own nipples tingled at these thoughts. She thought about the boy's cock. Probably poking up strong and proud out of a nice nest of soft red hair. The tingles intensified and shot straight to her clit. Oh, Lordy, she thought, Conrad's gonna get a good hard fucking tonight.

He was waiting on a bench out front of the golf shop.

"How'd you do, honey?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know about this game. I think I hate it."

"Why'd you do it then?"

Again he shook his head. "I'll do better tomorrow. How come you're so late?"

"Road construction."

Conrad shook his head. "Those guys don't know what they're doing. I think they're milking it. There was nothing wrong with that road. Want to go in to McDonalds? I'm starving. I could eat a horse."

In town Jenny noticed that the hotel cabins were not far from the McDonalds. She wondered if the stop sign guy ever ate anywhere else. She nibbled at a parfait while Conrad ate his Big Macs, slurped his chocolate shake, and told her about the eighth hole. Something about there being no flag so he just shot for the middle of the green, hit his six iron—my baby, my absolute favorite stick—pure and perfect, best shot of the day, and lo' and behold that's where the hole was. "Two feet for the bird," Conrad said, "and I fucking missed it. Ironic, huh?"

"Ironic," Jenny said, though she really hadn't followed the story. By the time they were back on the highway heading for the beach house, the road crew had quit for the day.

"Hey, where's my windbreaker?" Conrad said when they were getting out of the car back at the beach house.

"Oh, I meant to tell you," Jenny said.

Conrad stiffened. "Tell me what?"

"About your windbreaker. I kind of lent it to someone."

"You what?"

"I lent it to a road construction guy. A boy. He was standing out in the broiling sun. He was getting baked."

"That was my lucky windbreaker," Conrad said. "I got my hole in one in that."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Fuck."

"I'm sure we can—"

"Fuck! I can't believe you did that. How could you do that? I can't believe it. Fuck."

He slammed the car door and went into the beach house.

Jenny found him in the bedroom face down on the bed with a pillow over his head. "Honey, I'm sure we can—"

"Don't talk to me. Don't say anything."

"Don't be mad at me. I didn't know. I'll make it up to you. I know, what if I let you do that thing you always wanted?"

"What thing?"

"You know. What you always pester me for. If you promise to take it real slow."

He turned over. "You think sex is the answer to everything, don't you? Sex won't bring my jacket back. My hole in one jacket. But as long as—"

"Fuck your jacket," Jenny said.

A minute later she was in the car speeding down the beach road.

There were four cabins behind the hotel. The light was on in front of one. She knocked. The door opened. It was him. His eyes lit up. His arms opened. They embraced.

They kissed as they undressed. The kiss continued long after they were naked. Long after he was in her, fucking her hard and long and good. She came and a moment later he came and he didn't stop fucking her and he didn't stop kissing her. She came again and then a third time. He came again. They were drenched with sweat.

"Hey," he said. "I was a think'n 'boutcha. Ahm glad yuh came."

"I'm glad too. I came a lot. I don't know when I ever came so much."

They laughed. They kissed again. She smoothed his sopping red hair away from his eyes. She licked the sweat from his chest. She took the tiny pebble of his right nipple between her teeth. She slid her sweaty body down his and nuzzled her cheek against the soppy mat of his pubic nest and squeezed the flesh of his powerful buttocks and caressed the tight knot of his anus and took his full floppy penis into her mouth and sucked him hard and strong again. Then she slid back up and kissed him and fitted him into her and rode him. They were grinning at each other as they fucked. They didn't need to come anymore—not right away, anyway—they just needed to fuck.

Sometime later she dismounted. "Can I ask a serious favor of you?"

"Anything," he answered.

He took it slow. He'd made sure she was fully wet. He was bigger than Conrad, but he went in. He went in deep. He went in all the way. He filled her full, in a place Conrad had never been and would never be. Not if she had anything to say about it. For a long time they didn't move. He pulled out slow. There was a sweet pop.

"Thank you, that felt good," she said.

"Mah pleasure, Ma'am," he said.

They laughed.

They took a shower together.

She was just about to leave when she remembered. "Oh yes, I need one more favor. Can I have that windbreaker back? It was my husband's lucky jacket. His hole in one jacket. It means more to him than anything."

He got it and gave it to her. "It was my lucky jacket too," he said.

"Put it on me," she said.

He put it on her. He zipped it up.

"Drive safe," he said. "Don' run over no flagmen."

"I'll try not to," she said.

They laughed.

They kissed goodbye.

On the drive home, she stopped at the first beach access, popped the trunk, and took Conrad's six iron and some golf balls out of the golf bag. She went down to the shore and flung the golf club out as far as she could. The waves swallowed it up without a sound. "Irony," she said to herself. "Or something." She threw each golf ball into the water.

Conrad rubbed his eyes when she walked in. "I was worried sick about you," he said. "Where were you?"

"Getting' back your lucky jacket," she said. "Caint yuh see?"

"That's great," he said.

"Course I hadda give up sumptin."

"What?"

"Yer six ir'n and summa yer golf balls."

Conrad's face dropped but then recovered. "Oh, that's all right. I can always order another six iron. I can always get more balls." Then his face brightened even more. He held Jenny by the shoulders. Tenderly he worked down the zipper of the windbreaker. "Remember what you were talking about before? About that little thing I was always wanting."

Jenny smiled. "Oh no," she said, backing away. "That was a whole nother deal."