The Winter and the Hot Springs, remixed

"You’re driving too fast," she bitched. I glared at the speedometer and sighed, easing on the gas pedal. We crept down toward the speed limit. Then she brought up the cliff again and I decided I'd slowed down enough. We were almost there anyway.

I pulled in to the parking lot as the sun fell behind the valley walls. No one was around so I didn't bother signaling. I caught a nasty look from Dez in my peripheral. Oh well, the springs will steep the anger out of her, I thought. And mine, well mine was already overwhelmed by a thousand memories in a lattice of scent, sight, and sound. Ainsworth was always good for that. It was a magical place, built on a silly slope. It overlooked a glacial lake appearing oceanic with its far edge hidden by the evening fog.

We zig-zagged up the stone ramp to the office. Fourteen for two? Hell, that's a bargain, I thought. There are much worse ways to spend money.

Thankfully, the change room was empty. Shower? No problem. I left the room, fearfully exposed, and handed my bag of clothes to a woman in a window. Strange, slack job that must be, I thought. I wondered if she read paperbacks all day. Then I surveyed the pool. Absolutely free of competing personalities. Perfect. Dez was going to love this. Sometimes things work out when I least expect them to. Sometimes the universe conspires to give us comfort before a long separation. Or perhaps that was us, cutting with the woodgrain of the universe, synergizing through receptivity to this geothermal nexus.

I was getting cold though. I was doing alright with the psychology of being nearly publicly naked (a rare feat for me), but physically, my body was screaming at me. I wondered if Dez had wigged out in the change room or something.

Finally she emerged, like Alice in Wonderland. A smile spread on my face. I was, however, not interested in waiting around to deliver some Carrolian non-sequitor. I waded right into the pool, rejecting an impulse to perform a racing dive.

Pleasure on the threshold of pain sprung through my nerves and plateaued to the opiate glow of thirty-seven degree amniotic bliss. I'd been anticipating this moment all day and wondering, as is my way, if the anticipation would ruin the consummation, but there was no fooling my body with contrived headtrips, the physical rush cut through everything.

I looked back to see if Dez had entered the oasis. She had and was, for the moment, lost in the same dynamic reverie I'd been in. Now I was open to the view, the sprinkle of snow, green ripples catching garish orange streetlights, and the stately conifers at the edge of the forest. And my beautiful, curvaceous girlfriend in a blue swimsuit. I walked toward her, neck deep in water. Her face seemed fresh, more open than it had been all day. Her hair dripped into the pool, spreading in an ostentatious display. Her body was refracted below in a riot of aqua-fleshtone - I wanted to touch every inch of it.

"Nice, huh?" I said inanely. She laughed at the understatement that was somehow just right, coolly under the line, like this water, warmed perfectly above body temperature. She reached out a bold arm to stroke my chest and I let her, loving her love my hair. It didn't feel like excess under her fingers. To repay her attention I kissed her lips which seemed to surprise her. Then I felt her body shudder in delight, under my hand, under the water, under the stars.