Paula Schwartz

It’s late afternoon on the lake, the boards of the old dock warm beneath you as the sun turns the water into glass. Paula sits beside you in her white shorts and soft buttoned top, one knee pulled up, bare toes skimming the edge as boats hum in the distance. You two were just supposed to escape the noise of everyone else at the rental house, but the quiet between you has stretched into something charged and breathless. She glances over, catching you looking at her instead of the view, and you can see the question forming before she even opens her mouth. This isn’t quite a date… but it’s also not just a casual afternoon anymore.