by Taylor Hart
The river had a rhythm to it. Having grown up on a ranch, Cam liked the rhythm of nature. Glancing to the side, he thought he saw an elk. “Do you see much wildlife when you’re going down?”
Without looking at him, she shrugged. “Sometimes.”
He could tell she didn’t want to talk, so he tried to focus on nature. He lifted his oars out of the water and closed his eyes.
“Have we met before? You look familiar.”
Flashing open his eyes, he saw the suspicious look on her face. She appeared right on the verge of figuring him out, but he wasn’t going to help her. “Nope.” He changed the topic. “So you’re engaged?”
Nodding, she pointed to his oar. “Could you drag more on that side? We need to straighten out before we take this next turn.”
Doing as she requested, he pressed her. “How long have you been engaged?”
Focusing on the drag of the canoe, she sighed. “We’re not talking about this.”
“Why? How long has it been? When is the date?”
She gave him a bored look.
“I think we should do the relationship talk since we’re friends now.” Which was odd for him, because he hadn’t done pleasantries for a long time.
She exhaled loudly, her lips curving up. “Friends?”
“I mean … you can talk to your clients like friends, right?”
Chapter 5
This guy was extreme, thought Kat. She didn’t understand why the way he looked at her made her feel a bit out of sorts. Maybe it was a lingering feeling from the sucker punch she’d just been given from her mother. Maybe because she wasn’t the type to make fast friends. “Of course I can. As friends.” She scoffed. “Because you need a friend?”
Cam grinned. “Actually, I don’t have any friends in Jackson.”
“Not one?” Right. A guy like him? Was she really supposed to believe he had no one to take out and dazzle with that smile?
“Nope.” He pointed to her. “Unless I can count you.”
Feeling caught, she shrugged. “Fine.”
“Great. Okay, then tell me about the fiancé.”
“Steven.”
“Tell me about Steven.”
She felt her face go completely red. She hated lying.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Pushing his eyebrows together, he put the oar onto his lap. “Then when’s the date?”
“We haven’t decided yet.” How had she gotten into this with this complete stranger? “It’s … complicated,” she said defensively, trying not to think about the fact she and Steven had only recently gotten back together and she still wasn’t sure how she felt about it. It’d seemed like the logical thing to do, so she’d done it.
He grunted. “It always is.”
She didn’t want to admit to this, but it was clear Cam wasn’t going to let it go, and she didn’t want to lie all day. She decided to just tell the truth. She sighed. “Okay. Fine. He’s not really my fiancé.”
At this admission, Cam pulled off his sunglasses and narrowed his eyes at her. “What?”
She shook her head, hedging.
“Spill it.”
“I just don’t have time for all this.” She held up her hand and waved it at him.
“All what?”
She was embarrassed, and even more so because there was something between them felt personal. Too personal.
“You can’t tell me you lied about having a fiancé and then not explain why. Is he even your boyfriend? Is there even a Steven?”
“Yes,” she snapped. “There’s a boyfriend, and his name is Steven. Why would I lie about that?”
He scoffed. “I don’t know. Why would you lie about a fake fiancé?”
She sighed. Of course he wouldn’t understand. Men didn’t understand stuff like the need to keep other men away and turning her signals off.
“What are you all puzzle faced about?”
“P-puzzle faced?”
“Yeah, I can almost hear the cranks turning in that pretty head of yours.”
It was something her grandfather had always told her. He would say he could see her thinking by the way she tilted her head. She straightened and tried not to look flustered. “Look, I don’t have time for men, so I just pretend I’m engaged.”
A sharp laugh came out of him. “But you do have time for Steven.”
She shrugged. “I guess I do.”
“Hmph.” He gave her a skeptical look. “And if you don’t wear a ring on your finger you get hit on all the time?”
Embarrassed, she shot back defiantly, “You hit on me.”
“Not really,” he sputtered.
“You’re denying it?”
“I was just asking if you were doing the tour.”
“No, you were flirting.”
“Was not.” He shook his head emphatically.
“Was too.” She stuck her chin in the air.
Another round of laughter came out of him. He pointed at her. “You’re sassy, too.”
Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “My grandfather used to tell me my best quality was my wit.”
“That’s yet to be seen.” Letting out a soft sigh, he leaned back. “So there is a Steven.”
“Yes,” she said, lifting her chin into the air. “I don’t know why it’s complicated, but it is. Okay?”
He looked away. “I know.”
“Oh yeah? Was it complicated for you?”
For a moment, he didn’t talk. He looked out across the river and dragged his oar to help keep them on course.
Kat wondered if he would simply move on in the conversation, something she did when she didn’t want to discuss something. Wanting a little payback for the way he had pressed her, she asked, “Or you are married?”
Her question elicited another laugh, though this one was quiet. He sighed. “Her name was Karen. She actually decided not to show up on the date.”
This took her off guard. “You were left at the altar?”
Turning back to her, he nodded. “Yep. Granted, we were young—right out of high school. I thought we were madly in love, but … later, she told me she thought she’d be giving up too much to marry me.”
Having this man lay out his old pain so openly softened her heart. “I’m sorry, Cam.”
A small grin quickly replaced the pain. “It’s fine.” He shrugged. “I got over it. Hey, I’m twenty-seven. I better be over it.”
“Really? I just turned twenty-four last week.”
“Ah, sorry I missed your birthday.”
She looked skeptical. “With that beard, I would think you were in your early thirties.” It was out before she could stop it.
For a second, he looked offended. Then he laughed. “Okay, if your goal was to give me a reason to trim it up, you just did.”
She laughed too. “I’m sorry. I … I guess I don’t have a very good filter.”
Sheepishly, he grinned. “You would think the filter problem would be enough to keep the men away.”
This comment made her laugh, again. “You’d think.”
They rowed for a bit. Kat tried to look at Cam without directly looking at him. He was different than she’d first thought. So she gave in to her curiosity and asked personal questions. “So you grew up on a ranch and wanted to marry your high school sweetheart?”
“Yep.”
“Where?”
“Cheyenne, Wyoming.”
“Is that where you live most of the time?”
“Nope, but my sister and I own the family ranch together. She and her husband and two kids run it.”
It bothered her she wanted to know more about him. After all, she would never see him again. This was just polite small talk, she told herself. “Are you close with your sister?”
He grunted. “She’s my twin, and she can sense my thoughts most of the time.”
Kat grinned.
“It’s annoying.”
“Clearly.” She cocked her head to the side.
“Is it a twin thing?”
He thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Well, she did put a spell on me in grade school.”
“A spell?”
He laughed. “She was big into magic. She told me she was putting a spell on me to read my thoughts. And dang if she doesn’t seem to be doing it most of the time.”
“That’s funny.”
He looked her up and down for a second before looking away. “Yeah, she even got me into spells for a while. We’d put spells on anybody we thought needed one. Our friends. Our enemies. Objects. We thought we were so cool.”
“What do you mean, things?”
“Rocks, rabbit feet, anything to give us luck.”
She couldn’t help but think about Cam as a boy with a twin going around with some type of wand and casting a spell on toads and ants. She laughed at the image.
“What?” He smiled at her.
“I’m just imagining you with a wand.” She laughed more.
“I didn’t have a wand, but it’s a good idea. I should’ve had one.”
Getting a hold of herself, she sucked in a breath. She didn’t know when she’d gotten completely comfortable with him, but she was. “So what are you doing here?”
Hesitating for a second, he put his hand on the bill of his hat and pulled it down.
“What?” It seemed like he didn’t want to tell her.
“Nothing.” His head shot back up.
Confusion circled her. “Why are you in Jackson?”
Letting out a sigh, he shrugged. “I want to tell you, but …”
“It’s complicated.”
“Right.”
Hating herself for wondering, but unable to stop herself, she asked, “Is it a woman?”
“Uh, no.”
“You’re not hiding behind a fake fiancée?” She flashed him a grin.
He laughed. “I guess, technically, I was dating someone for a few months, and we recently broke up, but that’s not why I’m here.”
The desire to know about him expanded within her. “Then why are you here?”
He held her gaze for a second before looking away. “My dad passed away six months ago, and it’s been hard.”
She heard his voice crack. At this moment, she wanted to drop her oar and pull him into her. All the feelings of grief from when her grandfather passed away assaulted her. “I’m sorry.”
Pulling in a long breath, he shook his head. “Yeah, well — stuff happens, right?”
“Are you okay?” Why was she suddenly so invested in him?
“Yeah. I’m doing better.”
“How are you coping?”
He laughed. “According to my sister, I’m not.”
“What are you doing to cope?”
“It sounds stupid, and I’m not much good at it.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Again, she had this overwhelming feeling she wanted to know. “What?”
“Songwriting.”
“You write songs?”
The side of his lip turned up. “Sad country songs, as of late.”
This made them both laugh, though the laughter soon faded. The river glided beneath them. The sun beat down on them. They both stared at each other, and Kat felt connected to him. She shook her head to clear it.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Looking around, he let out a low whistle. “This is nice.”
Warring with her emotions, she took in the view. “It’s always been a refuge for me. I’d come up here with my grandfather in the summer. Back then, he owned the company.”
“Snake River Guides?” Cam asked.
She nodded. “Yep.”
“Okay.” Cam held the oar on his lap. “Your turn. Full story.”
“No,” she said quickly. She already felt bad enough about how personal this had all gotten with him.
He laughed, took the oar, and held it poised to splash her. “You’ve already told me about the fake fiancé.” He pushed.
Without meaning to, she laughed again. “No.”
He splashed her a little. “I’ve told you about my heart breaking twice. You owe me some details about you.”
Knowing she would regret it, but feeling like she did have to share, she sighed. “Fine. I grew up in L.A. My father is a writer. My mother is an attorney.” She went silent for a second, thinking about their recent interaction.
“You’re close?”
A light sardonic laugh escaped her lips. “No.”
“Oh.” He waited.
She couldn’t explain why she was telling him all this, but the words spilled out. “My parents divorced when I was seventeen years old, and I can’t say I was surprised or saddened by it. The fighting between them was either unbearably loud or completely silent. Time with my grandfather was safe.” She paused; it put her on edge to notice how Cam looked absorbed in what she was saying. “I got a scholarship to the University of Colorado in Boulder. I wanted to be closer to my grandfather. I finished my bachelor’s degree in social work, then I did a one-year master’s program at Cambridge in London. Now, I’m back in Boulder, doing a two-year PhD in Urban Studies.” She shrugged, all bugged and nervous. “Working on my dissertation feels endless at this point. I have one more year of that and teaching.”
Not saying anything for a few seconds, Cam pulled his glasses off and wiped them on the T-shirt beneath his life jacket. “So that’s why you wear a Storm hat? Because you’re kind of a Colorado girl?”
“Oh.” Honestly, she’d forgotten what hat she was wearing. “My roommate left it when she moved out at the end of semester. When I went to return it to her, she said to keep it. I left it in the car and hadn’t taken it out, so it turned into my canoeing hat. Do you like football or something?”
A small smile played at his lips. He shrugged. “Yeah, I like football. I follow the Storm pretty closely.”
She nodded. “I guess I don’t really follow anything.”
“You mean you’re not a sports fan?”
“No. I mean, I don’t even have a television. I don’t believe in watching it.”
“Oh, it’s a moral issue?”
“No, I just don’t like to crowd my brain with it.”
He scoffed. “What about news?”
“If I want news, I look on selected websites, but I think televisions are a huge waste of time.”
Letting out a light laugh, he sighed. “Man, you sound like a librarian.”
She couldn’t help but smile back. “I do believe in books.”
“Why does that not surprise me?”
Unwillingly, she laughed, liking they could talk like this. It felt good in a completely strange way for her. Connecting with people in a matter of minutes had never been her strong suit.
“Hmm, and how long have you been fake engaged?”
Her heart picked up a notch. She sighed. “Steven and I have had a different kind of relationship. We’ve only recently gotten back together.”
He nodded.
Still unsure at why he cared, she stuck her oar into the water and added drag to get the canoe ready for the next set of gentle rapids ahead. “Boy, you’re nosy.”
Helping her straighten the canoe, he rowed on her side and then stuck his oar into the other side to help balance them. “Full disclosure.”
She let out a light laugh. “Oh, that’s what this is?”
He grinned. “Yeah. So tell me details.”
“We met in London. Then we hit it off, and the rest is history.” Good. Short version. Leaving out the hospital.
“Cool. Where is he now?”
She didn’t know why she felt nervous. “He actually just moved back to the states for a bit. He’s trying to get a full-time position somewhere. He was offered a summer position teaching a class at CU, but he’ll be coming to Jackson at the end of next week to chill and hang out with me for the rest of the summer.”
Pausing for a second, he shook his head. “Nice.”
&
nbsp; “He’s going to rent a room with a guy from the guide shop.”
“Oh.” His eyebrows shot up.
Why had she felt the need to explain this? Probably because it’d been the biggest argument between she and Steven at the moment. Steven thought she was being ridiculous about not letting him stay with her.
Cam cocked an eyebrow, then didn’t seem to miss a beat. “Tell me more details.”
“What?” She laughed apprehensively. “Right, like you want girl details?”
“Hey, I have a sister that goes on and on about romance stuff.” His face went serious as he looked at the water. “Should we worry?” He nodded ahead.
Glancing over at the rapids, she grinned, knowing a novice would be worried about this. “What about your sister? Does this have something to do with the spell thing?”
He grinned. “Okay, you know my twin Alicia is two minutes older than me, but I didn’t tell you my mother died in childbirth. That’s why my sister is always telling me the girl details.”
Her breath caught.
“It’s fine,” he said, but his voice was stilted.
Not speaking for a few seconds, Kat turned to watch the side of the river. There were more tourists up now. Some larger rafts were coming out onto the river. They passed a commercial company. She waved, unable to tell if she knew who the tour guide was, before turning back to him. “Go on.”
A slight grin filled his face. “Well, when my sister called me to tell me she was engaged, it was hours of going on and on about John and how wonderful he was and how they would build a life together. You sound so precise about things.”
This unnerved her. “That’s a bad thing?”
“Not necessarily bad,” he conceded.
“Whatever.”
“Tell me about Steven. How did he win you over?”
She knew she was blushing again.
Clearing his voice, he focused back on her. “So you met him in London. Wait. Ah. Oh my gosh.”
“What?”
“He was your professor, right?”
This bugged her. “He wasn’t my professor.”
