by Gerri Hill
“One…two…”
Hannah’s grip tightened as she felt Lindsey tense.
“Three!”
Hannah nearly panicked as she felt Lindsey and Jack slipping away from her. She wrapped her arms around Lindsey’s waist as her legs folded around her too. Unlike before when she rode on Lindsey’s lap, she was now sliding along the smooth rock bottom on her ass. The chute was upon them in no time, and she felt herself being whipped from side to side as she held on tightly to Lindsey. Jack’s jubilant laughter rang out as they were flung out from the chute and into calmer—but deeper—water.
“Let’s do it again!”
She was still holding on to Lindsey as she tried to stand, Jack’s excitement bubbling over as he jumped up and down in the water.
“Well? What did you think?”
Hannah smiled at her. “It happened so fast, I’m not sure what to think. I swallowed a gallon of river water, I’m sure.”
“Yeah…the one in the back gets the brunt of it.”
“Can we go again?” Jack asked once more.
“Okay…one more time,” Lindsey said. “Then we need to get going. We’ve still got about an hour of float time left.” She glanced back at Hannah. “You want to go again or sit this one out?”
“I’ll go again.”
Yes, she’d swallowed a gallon of water. Yes, her ass had bounced along the bottom like a basketball. And yes, it had happened so fast, she hadn’t had time to truly enjoy it.
But she wanted to do it again. Because she was playing, she told herself.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lindsey leaned her shoulder against the edge of the deck frame, looking up into the nighttime sky. One more day until full—the moon was rising over the oaks behind the deer feeder. It cast enough light for her to make out three deer still eating.
She twisted the water bottle absently between her fingers, then moved out onto the deck, sitting down in the chair she normally used. Max was in the house, sprawled out on the kitchen floor and enjoying the coolness of the AC. She smiled as she watched him. Passed out was more like it. He’d nearly fallen asleep in his food bowl.
Yeah, she was pleasantly tired too. It had been an all-around great day. So much so that she hated to see it come to an end. She had assumed that their float trip—which had taken well over three hours by the time they’d stopped and played—would be the extent of their time together. Instead, Hannah had seemed in no hurry to leave, so they’d sat on the deck by the river and finished off the sausage, cheese, and crackers that Hannah had brought. Then they’d piled onto the four-wheeler—a four-wheeler meant for two, not three—and had driven back upstream to get the Mule. Despite protests that she had no idea what she was doing, Hannah had driven the Mule back, following slowly behind her and Jack on the four-wheeler.
Even then, they weren’t ready to call it a day. She and Hannah had sat on the deck talking while Jack entertained them by attempting to do flips from the rope swing. He finally tired and joined them, stretching out on a towel as the sun started to sink lower. Eventually, though, their day came to an end, and they packed up the Mule and she drove them back to the creek. Jack was fighting yawns the whole way, but he still had enough energy to ask what they were going to do tomorrow.
“How about we take your mom to our secret place?”
He grinned. “Really?”
“Can we trust her?”
He grinned wider. “I don’t know. We might have to blindfold her.”
She laughed at his suggestion and had glanced at Hannah, who arched an eyebrow.
“Blindfold?”
“Well, you know, it’s a secret.”
She smiled as she looked up into the sky. Not only were they going to the pond, but Hannah had invited her for dinner tomorrow night. She warned, however, that it would most likely be Jack’s favorite—spaghetti and meatballs.
So…it looked like she’d made a new friend. When she’d moved out here, making friends had been the least of her worries. She had simply been trying to make it through each day…each night. She didn’t have anything to offer someone. She wondered if she did now.
She smiled as she pictured Hannah lying back on her tube, her skin beginning to turn a golden brown from their days in the sun. It would help if she didn’t look so damn good in a bikini. She closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered their ride through the chute. How much fun had that been?
She shook her head. “You’re very bad, Lindsey. Very bad.”
* * *
Hannah relaxed in the rocker, sitting down with a tired sigh. Pleasantly tired, she thought. Jack had barely made it through dinner—reheated leftovers that Margie had sent home with them several days ago—and he hadn’t even begged for ice cream afterward. He’d left her with a tired hug and a mumbled “It was a fun day, Mom” before he and Barney had scooted off to bed. She cleaned up dinner, then poured herself a glass of wine, taking it outside with her.
It was a warm evening, but a light breeze from the south stirred the air. She looked above the trees, watching the moon as it crept higher in the sky. Not full yet but plenty bright enough to chase some of the shadows away, enough for her to see the trees clearly.
What a fun day it had been. The kind of lazy, summer day that is usually reserved for kids, not adults. She felt like she’d played as much as Jack had. A slow smile formed as she remembered sitting on Lindsey’s lap—of all things—to ride the rapids without tubes. Oh, it had been great fun, for sure. Lindsey had made it fun.
Her smile faltered a little. Lindsey was a lesbian. It didn’t matter, of course. She was all for taking people at face value. Unlike Margie, who insisted they should avoid anyone with a last name of McDermott. Still…it didn’t matter. She liked Lindsey. She was nice. She was fun. She was easy to be around. Easy. Yes. Their friendship, while still in the infancy stages, was almost effortless, despite the rocky start. Jack probably helped, she knew. Lindsey treated Jack like…well, like family.
Family. Sadness settled over her quickly. She’d lost a husband, but she still had family. She had Jack. She had her parents, her sister. She had in-laws. Lindsey? Did she have anyone? As far as she knew, no, there was no one. Did she maybe have cousins? Aunts? Uncles?
She decided she would ask her. Friends talked about that, didn’t they? Of course, if she broached the subject, Lindsey might very well want to know about James. She hated to admit it, but she had a hard time recalling a time when James wasn’t sick. The headaches had started long before he was diagnosed. It seemed like as soon as the word “cancer” was mentioned, he started slipping away from them. Fifteen long months later, he slipped away from them for good.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to recall his face without the constant pain that was etched on it. What popped into her head was an image of James and Jack at the neighborhood playground. James was sitting at the top of the slide with Jack in his lap. Jack probably wasn’t much more than a year old, but they’d come buzzing down the slide in reckless fashion, Jack giggling and laughing when they’d landed in a heap on the sand below. If Jack had been talking then, she could imagine what he would have said.
“Can we go again?”
As Lindsey had said, Jack didn’t shy away from anything. Did she have James to thank for that? Had James started to instill confidence in him, even at that young age?
She let out a heavy breath as she set the rocker in motion. If they hadn’t met Lindsey—if Jack hadn’t met Lindsey—would she be itching to leave here and go back to San Antonio? The loneliness that she’d lived with since James had died wasn’t really hovering over her any longer. But if there was no Lindsey, what would she and Jack do every day? She shook her head with a smile. What in the hell had she been thinking when she’d moved them out here? Her mother had told her to wait, to not make a rash decision. Selling their home had been a rash decision, but it had been the right one. Neither she nor Jack could live with a ghost in the house. Guilt and grief had both contributed to
the move out here, however. She admitted that only a few short weeks ago she’d been ready to throw in the towel and give up. Give up and head back home.
Now? Now she was having fun, she was playing. She wasn’t lonely. She actually looked forward to the days now. Like tomorrow. Blindfold? What did Lindsey and Jack have planned? What secret place had they been talking about? Jack had refused to give it up, simply saying “it’s our place” and leaving it at that. She supposed she would find out tomorrow.
She took a sip of her wine. Did that secret place involve water? She admitted, she was becoming quite comfortable wearing a bikini top all day. Like Lindsey, she always started out with a shirt or tank over her top, and like Lindsey, she always took it off as soon as they got to the river, not to put it back on again until the ride home. At first, yes, she was a little self-conscious. And who wouldn’t be? Lindsey was still in her twenties. Her body was firm, athletic…young. Hannah was approaching thirty-five. Could she still say that about herself?
She smiled. Well, she had found Lindsey’s gaze on her a time or two. Maybe she wasn’t quite as old as she imagined. Although having a lesbian staring at her—was that something she should hail? She nodded in the darkness, the smile still on her face. It had been a long time since anyone had stared at her like that. She wondered if Lindsey knew she did that. Or if Lindsey knew that Hannah had caught her.
She leaned back in the rocker, her toe gently moving her back and forth. Yes, she was looking forward to tomorrow. She hoped it would prove to be another fun day.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lindsey laughed as she swung the bandana in front of Hannah. Hannah held her hands up.
“Really? You were serious about the blindfold?”
“I told you, it’s a secret place,” Lindsey said, trying to keep the smile from her face. Having Jack giggling beside her didn’t help.
“Okay, you two,” Hannah said, wiggling a finger between them. “I’ll play along.” She stepped closer to Lindsey, her eyes teasing. “If anything fishy happens to me…paybacks are hell.”
Lindsey grinned. “Fishy, huh? So I shouldn’t toss you into the river?”
Hannah held her gaze. “At your own risk.” She turned to Jack and pinched his cheek. “If you ever want triple-cheese hamburger casserole again, you’ll make sure that Lindsey behaves.”
He nodded seriously. “Okay. We won’t throw you in the water.” He glanced over at her. “Right?”
Lindsey nodded. “Right. Because whatever triple-cheese hamburger casserole is…it sounds really, really good.”
Jack smiled and looked at his mom. “See! I told you she’d like it!”
Lindsey turned Hannah around, then folded the bandana and covered Hannah’s eyes, securing it behind her head. She patted her shoulder.
“There. That ought to keep you from peeking.”
“You know, I’m totally at your mercy.”
“Yeah…how about that?” She laughed quietly. “And I’ll try to behave.”
She guided Hannah into the Mule, then let Jack get in between them. The dogs were already on the back and she drove up the trail toward Antler Peak—and the cutoff to the pond. This was the route she and Jack had taken the very first time she’d brought him to the pond. She glanced over, seeing Hannah holding on to the roll bar with one hand, but there was a smile on her face.
She never would have thought to use the blindfold if Jack hadn’t brought it up. But it was a game and like Hannah had said, she’d play along. She nudged Jack with her elbow and winked at him. His grin was contagious.
She slowed and turned on the cutoff road. It wasn’t as well used from this side of the property and it was quite rocky. Hannah was holding on with both hands now.
“Do you know how badly I want to take this damn blindfold off?”
She laughed. “All in good time.”
When the pond came into view, she felt Jack sit up straighter in anticipation. Hannah must have felt it too, because she tilted her head as if listening for a clue as to where they were. She drove around the back and parked beside the lean-to. The dogs were clamoring to get off and she got out, letting Jack have the honors. Lindsey walked around the Mule to Hannah’s side and took her arm, leading her out.
“Watch your step,” she murmured.
“I wish I could.”
Lindsey looked at Jack. “What do you think?” she asked. “Out there?” She pointed to the pier which jutted out toward the waterfall.
He nodded.
“Okay…this way,” she told Hannah, still holding on to her elbow as she guided her onto the pier.
“I hear water.”
Lindsey smiled. “Yeah. That’d be the dogs splashing around.”
“It doesn’t sound like the river, though.”
“Nope.”
She turned Hannah so that she was facing the waterfall, then stepped behind her to untie the bandana. When she took it away, she heard Hannah gasp in surprise.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. She turned quickly, meeting her gaze. “It’s beautiful.” Then she smiled. “What is it?”
“It’s the pond,” Jack supplied. “And it’s a secret.”
Hannah stared at him. “This is the secret place where you’ve been having swimming lessons?”
He nodded. “And it’s really deep too.”
“Okay, buddy, we probably shouldn’t tell her that,” Lindsey said as she ruffled his hair. She motioned behind her. “Go get the stuff.”
He ran off the pier toward the footlocker and soon had his noodle and her fanny floater tossed in the pond.
“What is Mom going to use?”
“Can you throw that little rubber float in too? Thanks. I’ll use that. Your mom can use the fanny floater.”
Hannah touched her arm. “So what is this really?”
“A sinkhole, I guess. It’s a spring. Limestone bottom.” She shrugged. “We always just called it the pond.”
“It’s too beautiful for words. It’s like something out of a magazine. No wonder you keep it a secret.”
“Would you believe that you and Jack are the only two people to see it other than family?”
Again, a light touch on her arm and a gentle squeeze. “I’m honored. Thank you.”
Jack ran past them and jumped off the end of the pier, sending water splashing around them.
“So how deep is it?”
“You don’t want to know,” she said. She stripped off her shirt and tossed it down. “But fair warning. It’s a little colder than the river.”
Instead of jumping in like Jack, Lindsey stood at the edge of the pier and dove in headfirst. Even though she was prepared, the cool water on her heated skin was a shock. She surfaced, then swam toward Jack, who was floating with an arm draped over his noodle.
“It’s cold,” she said. “I got used to the river, I think.”
“What do you think Mom is going to do?” Jack whispered.
She grinned. “She’s going to scream.”
“What are you two whispering about?”
Jack giggled but said nothing. Lindsey watched as Hannah removed her tank. The black bikini top today. Her eyes traveled down to the flat stomach, the water shorts loose at Hannah’s hips, hanging just below her navel. God. She looked away quickly before Hannah caught her staring.
Jack’s mother, Jack’s mother, Jack’s mother.
Hannah took a few running steps and jumped into the pond much like Jack had done. When her head popped out of the water, she was grinning.
“Whoa,” she said. “You weren’t kidding. It’s a lot colder than the river.”
Lindsey pushed the fanny floater toward her and nodded. “It grows on you.” She looked over at Jack. “Show your mom the backstroke.”
“Okay. Mom…watch me.”
Hannah got into the fanny floater, watching as Jack showed off his new swimming skill. Lindsey slid onto the thin rubber float, the float her sister used most often. She turned her attention to Jack. He’d gotten qu
ite good, she admitted. Hannah seemed impressed too.
“Wow…you really have been working with him.”
“He’s a natural. Plus he loves it.”
Jack swam back to them and Hannah clapped. “Very good!”
“I know. I’m getting real good.” He left his noodle with them and went to shore. “I’m going to see if the dogs will jump off the pier with me.”
Hannah smiled after him. “He’s changed so much.”
“How so?”
“He’s happier. More sure of himself.”
“He’s getting older.”
“I guess that has something to do with it, but…the last year, James didn’t get to spend much time with him. Time like this, I mean. Outside, doing things.” She smiled. “Playing.”
“He doesn’t seem to have suffered from it, though.”
“He’s better.” Hannah looked at her. “You’ve helped so much, Lindsey. You’ve given him a purpose, I think.”
“Y’all…watch! I think they’re going to do it!”
They turned their attention to Jack and the two dogs, whose tails were wagging at record speed. He was clapping his hands and coaxing them to follow. He took off running, landing far out from the pier. The dogs ran after him, but only Max jumped off. Barney came to a screeching halt, and she and Hannah laughed as he almost tipped over into the water anyway.
“Oh…come on, Barney,” Jack called. “Don’t be a wimp!”
“Why do you think he’ll jump off the deck at the river but not here?” Hannah asked.
“This is a little higher, I guess.”
Max turned back to shore and Jack followed.
“This will keep him entertained for a while.” Hannah then spun around in her fanny floater to face her. “Where did you move from?” she asked unexpectedly.
“Dallas.”
“Was that where your family lived?”
Lindsey shook her head. “No. They all lived in San Antonio. Except my grandparents, of course.” She arched an eyebrow. “Your family?”
“San Antonio. My parents. And I have a younger sister. She has two kids.” She paused. “Why Dallas?”
