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looking at me.”
    He let his hands drop to his sides, stared
for a long time toward the opposite riverbank. Finally he moved beside her and
turned her to face him, holding both her hands as firmly as the strongest set
of steel handcuffs could manage. “A little, probably. But it doesn’t matter.
Age is just a number. Forget about that, and Lloyd and his hairdresser, and
show me your beautiful smile.”
    How could she help obeying? Being near him
made her feel happy, protected. She felt her sadness dissipate on a gentle gust
of wind off the river when she arranged her face into a smile that felt
surprisingly genuine. “How’s this?” she asked, her gaze locked on his
expressive brown eyes.
    “Much better, baby. Let’s go get us some
dessert. One of the guys on the team was saying the other day that this place
called River Street Sweets makes the best pralines on earth.”
    “They do. You’ll have to keep me back, or
I’ll be likely to gobble so many of them that I’ll eat myself right out of my
livelihood.” She laughed as they made a beeline down the walkway toward the
store that oozed potential obesity.
    Jimmy took her arm, herded her through the
noisy crowd of mostly college kids, with the occasional retiree couple and
young family sprinkled in. “Is it always this crowded on River Street?”
    “This isn’t half bad. You ought to come
here on a weekend when fall sets in, after it starts to cool off. All the
nightspots rock, dusk to dawn.”
    “Nothing like centuries ago, when some of
these places were built,” Jimmy said, his tone a little wistful as he looked at
the ornate ironwork on the balcony of a century-old building.
    “No. I imagine it would have felt a lot
different, back when ships came up the river to load their cotton and rice from
these buildings. Ladies in hoopskirts carrying parasols, gentlemen in string
ties and vests, and sporting chin whiskers.”
    He fingered his goatee as they took a spot
at the candy-store counter to wait their turn. “Well, I’ve got the chin
whiskers, anyhow.”
    “Yes, you do.” Julie squeezed his hand. “I
like the way they tickle my…” She’d have said “pussy” but she didn’t want to
scandalize the pair of older, conservatively dressed women standing next to
them.
    “You do?” He sounded surprised.
    “Uh-huh. You look good, too.”
    Jimmy grinned. “Glad you think so. My ex
hated the facial hair, but I didn’t grow it for her. I found out my rookie year
that my helmet strap feels better when there’s a cushion between it and my
chin.”
    Before Julie could ask him about this “ex”,
the busy counter clerk came up to take their order. Soon they headed outside,
Jimmy carrying a small bag with four pralines that he set between them on a
bench overlooking the river.
    When he took two of the candies out and
handed her one, she took a bite. “You mentioned an ex. Want to tell me about
what happened?”
    “Same thing as happens to a lot of kids who
marry right out of college. We’d been together what seemed like forever, but
the marriage didn’t last two years.” Frowning as though he didn’t want to talk
about it, he downed a praline in one bite. “You’re right, these are damn good.”
    Julie sensed there was more to it than
simply growing up and apart from one another, but she wasn’t going to pry.
“Yes, they are.” For a long time they sat, watching boats go by. The silence
soon got deafening.
    Then Jimmy turned to her and took her hand.
“We got into BDSM games. Pretty soon Belinda started playing with older Doms at
the club whenever I was out of town for away games. And sometimes when I was
home. End of story.”
    When he let her hand go and looked back out
at the river, Julie knew the breakup affected him more than he admitted. “It
obviously bothered you. Understandably.”
    “Yeah. The reason I’m here instead of
spending time back home before training camp starts next week is because I
don’t think I could run into her