Take Only Pictures

by Laina Villeneuve

  Chapter Seventeen

  Eyes closed, legs and arms outstretched to gather as much sun as possible, Kristine sat in a skimpy tank top and shorts trying to absorb the morning sun that shone brightly in the outpost yard. Since the scheduled all-day ride was a no-show, she’d decided to get a little sun. Typically, she spent the whole day with only her lower arms exposed which had already given her a pronounced farmer tan.

  In the quiet, she felt utterly content. Even Gabe’s comments about her not coming home had not soured her mood. She’d left Gloria’s at first light to ready her stock for the day and worked beside him in the yard all morning without a word about the previous night. She couldn’t believe she’d told Gloria. Telling her felt as good as throwing the rock into Rosalie. Now she could be less guarded and know that Gloria would understand.

  The mountain air was crisp enough that the moment a shadow fell across her body, her skin erupted in gooseflesh. She opened her eyes to find Gloria blocking her sun, startled to be caught staring. “I’m working on my tan,” she said in response to Gloria’s befuddled expression.

  “It needs a lot of work,” Gloria laughed, pulling another lawn chair out of the shed and joining Kristine on the pack dock.

  Kristine smiled at the woman next to her. Gloria leaned back and closed her eyes, immediately falling into a comfortable silence. Something about her manner inspired a confidence that Kristine had never felt before.

  “Do you have to stick around here today?” Gloria asked, finally breaking the silence.

  “No. I guess not. Why?” Kristine tilted her head to the side.

  “You really need a beach for proper sunbathing. I say we head out to Mono. Mitchell said it’s not to be missed, and it shouldn’t take much more than an hour to get there.”

  A broad smile spread across Kristine’s face. “You don’t have work to do?”

  “I have reports to pick up from the office in Mammoth.”

  “In other words, you want to borrow my truck.”

  Gloria elbowed her playfully. “No. I want to borrow you.”

  Kristine pursed her lips. “Are you asking me on a date?”

  “If I did, would you say yes?”

  Kristine thought about her promise to herself. And she thought about how much she enjoyed Gloria’s company and how very long it had been since she’d been on a date. She didn’t date at home. Once in a while, she thought about checking out a gay club in Reno, but for the most part, her life consisted of turning down invitations from eligible cowboys in Quincy. She could go on a date with Gloria. In trying to avoid falling into the empty and distracting flings as she had in the past, she had unknowingly allowed herself space to move into something more serious. Quite unexpectedly, with Gloria by her side, she felt supported. “Yes,” she finally said.

  “Whew. I’m glad I won that internal battle,” Gloria laughed. “Come on a date with me.”

  “Do I need a swimsuit for this date?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Give me a few minutes. I’ll pack us a lunch and grab a change of clothes.”

  “Perfect. I’ll need to swing by my place for my suit, too.”

  “And something nice, right? If this is a real date, I figure you’re taking me to a nice supper in town.”

  Gloria’s lovely laughter filled the yard.

  “What?” Kristine asked, perplexed. She liked that she had that effect on Gloria but would like to know for future reference what delighted her so.

  “‘Supper in town.’ I feel like I just asked Laura Ingalls out.”

  “Small-town girl to the core,” Kristine agreed. “Go get your stuff. I’ll pick you up in fifteen.”

  They chatted easily during the drive, comparing taste in music and other topics that kept the conversation light. They stopped briefly at the visitor’s center and learned about the tufa that emerged from the lake when water levels dropped because of water diversions to Los Angeles in the early 1980s. Driving to the South Tufa Grove where most of the strange porous rocks were clustered, the barren, treeless landscape around the vast and shallow lake felt foreign after spending so much time under the forest canopy. They found a small beach to soak in the rays and tried out the water, sharing the odd sensation of floating in the salty body of water. Kristine quickly abandoned the cool water, less icy than the mountain streams, but still not warm enough to feel comfortable in on the breezy day. She picked up her camera and took some shots of Gloria’s head and toes poking out of the brine. She looked as if she were sitting in a recliner, buoyed by the high saline content. She, too, quickly abandoned the strange tickly water for sunbathing.

  Before joining her, Kristine stayed at the water’s edge shooting frames of the strange foam at her feet and the tufa that rose up to ten feet out of the lake. Once Gloria lost herself in her work, Kristine focused her frame on Gloria’s fierce look of concentration on her new reports. When Gloria felt Kristine looking at her and raised her head, Kristine snapped a few more photos of her in repose, her expression clear and open for an instant before she became self-conscious.

  She joined Gloria on the beach towels and sat back to admire Gloria’s toned body. The blue bikini top and board shorts made Kristine smile. The bathing suit reflected exactly who Gloria was, feminine and sporty. She’d pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail that showed off her long neck. Gloria continued reading, making notes as she went. Kristine pretended to take a snooze but kept peeking over at Gloria, thinking about how appealing each curve of her body was. Gloria’s long fingers caught Kristine’s eye. The way she perched her index finger poised to turn the top of the page made her body tighten in response.

  “Stop,” Gloria said, catching her staring again.

  “What?”

  “Staring at me like I’m an ice cream cone.”

  Kristine quirked her eyebrow. “What’s wrong with that? You getting a little drippy over there?” She traced her finger down Gloria’s stomach, stopping at her trunks.

  Gloria’s quick intake of breath tempted Kristine to go further. “You’re very distracting, you know that.”

  “Good. It’s mutual.” She shoved off her chair, pulling on a tee and shorts over her black one-piece suit.

  Gloria shaded her eyes, frowning. “You’re leaving?”

  “I’ll quit distracting you. I’m going to explore the tufa a little more before you take me on my fancy date.”

  Kristine pulled out her camera and marveled at the tufa on the shore. Alkali flies buzzed around her, and she heard a Mountain Chickadee’s distinctive call. They had read all about how the limestone spires form when calcium rich spring water mixes with the carbonates in the alkaline lake creating the bizarre dribble-castle-like landscape around them. She crouched down, accentuating their height, some towering thirty feet. She changed lenses to explore the coarse and knobbly forms up close. She added a polarizing filter, amazed at the contrast of the white pillars reflected in the dramatically blue lake. She easily lost track of the time climbing about taking shot after shot.

  Once in a while, she glanced over to the beach to see Gloria still hard at work. Kristine admired Gloria’s concentration. She’d always been drawn to women with determination and drive, and Gloria certainly had both, keeping herself on track with her grant project. Kristine wondered what her next career goal was, if she planned on staying at the Fish and Wildlife office in southern California, or if she was investigating new opportunities.

  When she saw Gloria start to pack up her things, she headed back, hundreds of images later. They headed to the Mono Lake campground showers together, Kristine feeling nervous about the dinner part of their date. She had only packed for the backcountry, so a newer pair of blue jeans and a tight black tank were the best she could do for dinner in Mammoth. She was finished before Gloria and waited anxiously by her truck. When Gloria emerged, she sighed in relief to see that her idea of dressing up included jeans too. She wore a form-fitting white camisole with a silky blue overshirt, unbuttoned to just below her
breasts.

  “That shirt makes your eyes look amazing,” Kristine said.

  Gloria blinked in Kristine’s direction. “Without a hat and plaid shirt, I hardly recognized you!” she laughed.

  “I’ve got a hat if you like that better,” Kristine said, a little embarrassed, tousling her hair nervously.

  “Are you kidding?” Gloria ran her own fingers through Kristine’s short waves, tucking a strand behind her ear. “I love being able to see your whole face. You’ve got nowhere to hide from me.” She ran a hand down Kristine’s arm. Kristine reacted with a shiver. “You clean up nice. Up ’til today, I couldn’t picture you away from the horses and the trail.”

  Kristine drove them back to Mammoth Lakes thinking about Gloria’s words. Though she doubted it was intentional, Gloria’s comment about seeing only the cowgirl version of her renewed the hesitation Kristine felt about getting involved with someone who was okay with a summer fling. When the summer came to a close, would she desire something more with Kristine?

  They found a small steakhouse and were tickled to be seated right in front of the stone fireplace. They took the waiter’s suggestion and had the buffalo burger and Mediterranean shrimp and talked about the aspects of Mammoth they’d miss when the summer was over, both agreeing that it was sometimes nice to be the tourist, unrecognized by everyone in town. While they waited for their food, Kristine scrolled through some of the photos she’d taken to distract herself from the question of what would happen when the season closed in just a few weeks.

  “I like the close-ups the best,” Gloria said. “The texture is really something, isn’t it?”

  “That, in contrast to the still, clearness of the water is really fun to play with. I can’t believe I’ve driven by the lake so many times without stopping to shoot anything.”

  “I’m really impressed,” Gloria said. “I was with you all day, but I don’t feel like I saw half of this. You have a way of finding the coolest angles. I’d love to see how you would capture the places I love. What you’d do with the fog in the redwoods or when it settles in on the coast like a blanket. There are all these great gnarled trees that hang onto the rocky cliffs.”

  “I saw a collection of prints from a place called Fern Canyon. That area is definitely on my list of places to visit.”

  “Well consider yourself invited. I’ll be your tour guide.”

  The day had made her feel close to Gloria, closer than she’d been to anyone in a long time, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were spending time together out of the convenience of being in the same place. Kristine, herself, was a tour guide to hundreds of people in the backcountry during the summer. There was no intimacy there, just a professional courtesy. She wanted to ask if that was all Gloria would be, but instead she said, “It sounds like you miss home.”

  “I’ll be happy to wrap up this project and get back,” Gloria admitted. “I enjoyed fieldwork a lot more when my folks could join me. When I was little, we used to take family vacations every year, a different state park that my mom would research the whole year. When I started working with Fish and Wildlife, it was kind of continuing that tradition, only we went where the job took me instead of the park my mom chose.”

  “They can’t join you here?”

  “No, my mom has leukemia. At first it just meant no hiking. That’s when we got the camper. That made it a lot easier on my mom. But it’s gotten trickier to manage—more medication, more doctors’ appointments. She’s more comfortable at home.”

  “And this is why you send her pictures,” Kristine said. “Because she can’t make it.”

  “You remembered.”

  “Of course. You sent her my stuff. I was really flattered.” They ate in silence, Kristine appreciating a salad after months of chicken and ribs. “Is it easier for your mom when you’re home?” she asked.

  “Yes and no. I really enjoy her company, and my dad is always telling me how much better she does when I’m around. He keeps urging me to get something full time in town. I want to be there, but at the same time, I don’t want her to feel like I’m hovering. Like when I’m away, it’s because I have faith that she’s doing well enough that I can be away.”

  “So, she’s doing well now?”

  “Well enough, thanks.” Gloria’s eyes were warm. She reached across the table and traced her finger along the back of Kristine’s hand. “What about your parents? Are you close?”

  Kristine sighed, pushing her plate away. “They’re good people, and we get on fine if I follow their cues.”

  “So the pun on your logo is intended.”

  Kristine was impressed that Gloria had noticed what she’d implied on the Suzy-Q Card logo she used. The disagreements with her father always stemmed from Kristine trying to go in a direction that didn’t match his plans. “My father would very much like it if I would be more dutiful and grateful for the ranch he’d like to hand over to me when he retires. I love the ranch, and I love Quincy, but I cannot spend the rest of my life there.”

  The attentive waiter returned and offered dessert. Gloria waved him off easily, and Kristine agreed that she had no room for it, but the way Gloria kept her gaze on Kristine made her wonder if she had a different kind of dessert in mind. Back in the cab of the truck, Gloria leaned over and pulled Kristine into a deep kiss, an I have plans for you kiss. Her lips tempted her down a very appealing trail, one she knew offered all sorts of wondrous views and experiences. Reluctantly, she broke away from the kiss.

  Her attention back on the road, her father’s parting words as she’d left for the Lodge came back to her. He challenged her about whether she had a concrete plan for her future because unless she did, he figured she’d stick to his plan for her on the ranch. Kristine did have a plan of sorts, which she hadn’t told her father. It was to extract herself from the ranch. Whatever came next she didn’t know, but she knew she would never return for an extended period ever again. Instead of forging out on her own after she graduated, she’d made the mistake of going home and had found it almost impossible to leave. Gabe’s last-minute call had given her a toehold to the freedom to make her own choices.

  Kristine held the hand Gloria put in her lap and wondered where this woman might lead her. At the beginning of the summer, she’d been drawn to Gloria because she seemed to see Kristine for who she was, not as the girl she had been as everyone else did. Now, since she’d spent more time with Gloria and shared the conflict about her past at the Lodge, she knew for certain that if they slept together it would not be a transient thing, at least for her. She still worried about the comment Gloria had made earlier in the summer about casual sex not being a problem for her.

  “You’re not staying,” Gloria stated when Kristine pulled up next to Gloria’s camper and put the truck into neutral.

  Kristine kissed her, trying to convey with her actions how very much she would like to stay. “I had the best day.”

  “I did, too.”

  “I’m sorry, I…” What could Kristine say? It wasn’t that she didn’t want to stay or that she wasn’t immensely attracted to Gloria. “You are so beautiful, so sexy…”

  “It’s okay.” Gloria kissed her again, her tongue dancing playfully against Kristine’s. “I know you’ve got a lot going on in here.” She massaged Kristine’s temple.

  “You’re not disappointed?”

  “I was disappointed at the beginning of the summer when you said no.”

  “I never meant…”

  “No.” Gloria kissed her. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty. I was disappointed because from the moment I saw you, I wanted to kiss those lips, I wanted to get you out of those sexy jeans you wear. I wanted what I always wanted. Your wanting to be friends changed things…”

  “You don’t want me so much anymore?” Kristine said, lacing her fingers with Gloria’s.

  “If you’re getting that impression, I need to try harder to show you that everything’s different.” She squeezed Kristine’s hand. “W
hat I wanted always burned bright and quick, but now…You told me you’re not into that anymore.”

  “No.” Kristine hadn’t expected the idea she’d been struggling with all night to turn into a conversation with Gloria. But then, she hadn’t expected saying yes to a date and finding herself wanting the more-than-casual relationship that they now seemed to have. She wasn’t even sure what kind of relationship that meant.

  “As it turns out, neither am I.”

  “What are you into now?”

  “Whatever this is with you. I want it to be more than friendship, but I know that you need to do what feels right to you. I’m following your lead.”

  “That could be trouble if I don’t know where I’m going.” Kristine leaned forward, and their mouths met again. Kristine was aiming for a thank-you-for-understanding kiss, uncomplicated. Succinct. Her lips betrayed her though, parting enough that Gloria teased her tongue past them in invitation. Kristine could not resist, opening her mouth further, losing herself in the caress of Gloria’s lips, the playful dance of their tongues. Their kisses quickened, luring her in deeper. This, she realized, felt right. She’d be crazy to drive away knowing Gloria felt the same way. She threw the truck in reverse, and Gloria pulled away, confused.

  “You told me to do what feels right. I’m listening.” She eyed Gloria’s camper. “But your camper seems a little cramped. Is my place okay?”

  “I wasn’t trying to pressure…”