Brenda moved more clothes into the drawer from her valise. She hung a couple of dresses in the closet.

Carl slid back the wide sliding glass door that opened onto the beach. The sound of surf and the lively smell of the sea drifted to them.

"Where the hell is the kid with the ice?" Brenda took another deep drag on her cigarette.

"He'll be along in a minute. Just look at that. Just beautiful." Carl stood looking over the sea.

Brenda answered the tap at the door.

"Here's your ice, ma'am. And the glasses." The kid had them on a tray and set it carefully on the desk across from the bed. He stood standing for a moment.

"Hey, Carl. Give the kid a buck." Brenda shoveled ice into the glasses.

"Oh, sure." Carl dug out a dollar and handed it to the boy.

"Yes, sir." Nice smile followed the words.

"Thank you, sir. My name's Tim. If you want anything, just ask for me. Anytime."

"Okay, okay." Carl watched the boy close the door.

"Here you go." Brenda handed Carl a stiff drink. Her own was just as strong.

"To the second honeymoon." Carl lifted his glass.

"The second honeymoon." Brenda clinked her glass with her husband and took a good long pull.

"That's nice," Carl said slowly after his second sip had gone down his throat. "Nice." He leaned toward his wife. "You're nice, too." His arm reached around her waist. "Damn nice." He kissed her.

Brenda gave the man another short kiss, touching him just a little more firmly with her mouth this time, the lips, tightly closed.

"Hey, hey. What kind of a kiss is that?" Carl tried to get a good solid kiss going.

"It's the kind of kiss that says I want to finish my drink and go have a swim." She turned and moved away.

"I wanted to… to make love to you, Brenda." He took a hefty swallow of his bourbon. And another. "I wanted to do that right now. It's supposed to be like our honeymoon. You didn't want to go swimming then."