Me and Tad.
Alone for the next twenty-four hours.
Alone except for the umpteen members of his family.
But alone, nonetheless.
Wow.
Chapter Eight
Tad shot me a wary look as he handed me the soap a few minutes later. "Morning."
"Hi." I tried to avert my face from him. Did I feel ugly or what?
"You going to wash your hair?"
"Why? Does it look bad?" I put my hands over my hair and cringed at the lumps, but Tad laughed.
He shook his head. "No, it looks fine. I just asked because Mom had me get you the soap."
"Oh, right." How could he think I looked fine? I looked horrible. But when I stole a glance at him, he smiled at me and sat down on the bench next to me. He didn't cringe, or appear horrified by the Attack of the Ugly Girl. Simply smiled and helped himself to some eggs.
I wasn't quite sure what to do next.
Beth handed me a plate. "Eat."
Right. Eat. I could do that.
By the time I was halfway through my eggs, I was in the middle of a huge crowd. It was as if every member of the Novak clan had decided it was their duty to make me feel welcome after my friends had left.
And you know what? It worked. I wasn't lonely at all. I usually ate breakfast alone or skipped it altogether. This was way more fun, even when one of the little ones threw her orange juice all over me.
It gave me the motivation to get up from the table and go take my bath in the lake.
In my tent, I shed my stained clothes and pulled on my bikini. I threw my sleeping T-shirt over the top, wrapped my towel around my waist, slipped on my thongs and headed out.
Tad was waiting outside my tent in a bathing suit with a towel slung loosely around his neck. I was surprised to see that his shoulders were pretty broad, and his arms were pretty muscular. Probably from all the wheelbarrows. But yeah, so, he was sort of hot, I had to admit.
He smiled. "Hi."
My belly jumped a little. "Hey."
"Mom thought I should join you," he explained. "You know, in case you started to drown or something. No one's allowed to go down to the lake alone."
It was weird to be around people who thought they needed to look out for me. It should cramp my style, but I kind of liked it. Plus, it was Tad who'd stepped up to escort me. I wasn't going to complain about that, was I? Not so much! But I managed a casual shrug that camouflaged how excited and nervous I was about being alone with him. "It's fine with me if you come down there."
"Great." He nodded and fell into step beside me.
We didn't talk until we were at the edge of the lake and I realized I was going to have to strip in front of him. I mean, I had my suit on, and I'd intentionally packed my bikini thinking that Rand was going to be there, but all of a sudden, I felt self-conscious. I mean, this was Tad, who had never been impressed with anything I'd worn or done to try to look good.
He dropped his towel and headed into the water, glancing back over his shoulder at me. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I could go swimming in my T-shirt, but it was my only clean shirt, now that I had OJ on the one I'd worn this morning. Then again, Tad wouldn't notice me even if I went skinny-dipping, so why worry about wearing a bikini in front of him?
I bit my lower lip and dropped my towel and then pulled off my T-shirt. I glanced out at the lake, but Tad was underwater. I could see bubbles from him, but that was it.
I laughed at the feeling of disappointment that wafted through me when I realized Tad was giving me privacy. Was I psycho or what? Make up your mind, Allie.
Clutching my bottle of biodegradable soap, I waded out into the water until I was shoulder deep. At that point, Tad popped up beside me and flipped the water out of his face.
I wondered idly how clearly he'd been able to see me under the water, and if he'd even been looking.
Rand would have looked.
Not really Tad's style. Which I actually kind of liked, a little bit. I wasn't used to a guy not caring about how I looked, but it was a relief.
"Water feels great, huh?" Tad asked.
I nodded. "It's so warm."
"That's because it's shallow at this end of the lake. The other end where it's a lot deeper, the water stays cold until August. That's why we like to camp on this side." He swam closer to me and I dropped the bottle of shampoo when I tried to open it.
No, it wasn't nerves because he was close to me. I'm a klutz. That's all.
Tad dove underwater and retrieved the bottle. He flipped the lid and handed it to me. "There you go."
"Thanks." Was I supposed to wash my hair with him in front of me? I'd never washed my hair in front of a guy before. It felt sort of weird. Intimate.
"Let me have some." He grabbed the bottle, poured a dollop into his hand, then rubbed it on his head to work up a lather. He grinned. "It won't make your hair turn green, I promise."
He looked so funny with a head full of suds that I laughed.
"Don't leave me hanging, Morrison." Tad took the bottle and squeezed some on my head. "Lather up."
"Hey!" I swatted his hand away, but it was too late. I could feel the cool liquid on my scalp. So much for not looking like a dork with soapy hair. Tad laughed as I started scrubbing my hair. "Maybe I didn't want to wash it."
"Too late now." He grinned and dove under the water. I saw him beneath the surface rinsing the soap out of his hair.
How bizarre was this? Shampooing my hair in a lake with a guy.
Tad popped up. "You game for some hiking today?"
I continued to work the shampoo through my hair and tried not to wonder how bad I looked with suds dripping down my cheeks. No doubt, I was makeup-less. Yet Tad didn't seem to be repulsed by my appearance.
Probably forgot to put in his contacts. "You wear contacts?"
"Nope." He flipped onto his side and began swimming in a circle around me. "Hike?"
Wow. So he could see me exactly as I was, and it didn't bother him. I took a deep breath and felt tension oozing out of my body for the first time since I could remember. It was as if all the tension just melted away into the water, leaving behind nothing but a makeup-less, soapy girl who didn't care what she looked like. I grinned at him, feeling lighter than I had in a long time. "I'll go hiking as long as it's not really hard. I've never been hiking before."
"We'll take it easy. Promise." He was behind me now, and I resisted the urge to turn around.
I washed my face with the biodegradable soap. It might not be my favorite facial scrub specially designed to decrease oil and prevent blackheads while still keeping skin soft and supple, but it was better than a face full of oil. "Then I guess I'll go." Of course I was going to go!
A huge, genuine smile brightened Tad's face. "Good."
Wow. That was the smile I'd wanted him to direct at me all summer. And he finally had? Unable to hide my own grin, I dunked under the water and rinsed the soap off my face and out of my hair.
When I came up, Tad was standing in front of me. He nodded with approval when I came up. "Not bad for a first-time camper."
"What's not bad?"
"Washing your hair in a lake. It takes some talent, you know."
I wasn't sure how to respond. He sounded sincere, but I wasn't used to anyone complimenting me on anything except my looks. Certainly not my shampooing skills. But hey, I had managed to get the soap in, scrubbed, and rinsed, so yeah, maybe worthy of a compliment, eh?
"You might want to wear your bathing suit under your clothes when we go hiking."
"Why?" I wiped the water off my cheeks and realized he had nice eyes. Kind. And cute.
"Because the trail runs along the edge of the lake. When it gets hot, we hop in for a dip."
Somehow, the thought of swimming with Tad again didn't seem so bad. "Okay."
He nodded and began to float backwards toward shore. "You ready to head up?"
"I guess." I swam along beside him until the water was so shal
low I had to stand up. When I did, Tad was already on the shore. I saw his eyes flick really briefly over my suit, then his cheeks went red and he turned away.
How cute was that? I mean, how could I not like that?
Tad draped his towel over his head and turned back to me, but the towel was over his face so he couldn't see anything. I burst out laughing. "Tad, it's just a bathing suit. You don't have to hide."
He pushed the towel to the side and looked at me out of one eye. "I'm not hiding."
"No?" I grabbed his towel and pulled it off. "Coulda fooled me."
He grabbed his towel back, but he slung it around his neck. "I'm not hiding," he said again.
"Good." I wrapped my towel around my shoulders and smiled to myself.
Tad was aware that I was a girl. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, he'd noticed.
And you know what? I was beginning to think that a boy wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe.
* * *
Four hours later, I had gathered enough data to determine that I liked hiking. Or strolling, as Tad's brother Luke had kept complaining, albeit good-naturedly. He wanted the hardier members of the bunch to hop in the truck and drive twenty minutes to the mountains for a real climb, but Beth had insisted that he stay with them so he could carry the toddlers when they got tired. Which was pretty much all the time.
Tad had taken his turn with giving shoulder rides as well. He was pretty adorable with them, actually. Hardly the egoistic older guy I usually liked, but he definitely had his appeal, especially now that he wasn't being mean to me.
I frowned as that thought passed through my mind. Why was he being nice? What had changed? Would he go back to the old Tad on Monday when we returned to Sam's Farm Stand? Oh…that would be awful. I didn't think I could back to the way it used to be, now that I'd gotten used to being friendly with him--
Something bit my leg, and I slapped at my shin.
Then something else bit my knee, and I squawked and smacked my knee. A bee dropped to the ground. Then I got hit on my thigh, and then my shin again. "I'm being attacked!" I suddenly realized there were yellow and black buzzing things all around me! "Bee hive!"
Everyone started yelling and running, but no one was shrieking as loud as I was. "Help! Help!" Pain shot through my arm and I knew I'd been stung again. "Get them away from me!" I was screaming now and flailing my arms around my head where there were all sorts of murderous bees whizzing around. "Help!"
All of a sudden, Tad grabbed me from behind and nearly threw me into the lake.
"Hey!" I was crying now, everything hurt so much. "Stop it!"
"Get underwater!" He pulled me to my feet and dragged me deeper into the lake, then he grabbed my shoulders and pushed me under the water.
Once under, he nodded at me and pointed. He wanted me to swim, and I wanted to cry. He tugged on my hand and started swimming.
I had no choice but to follow, for about one second after which I needed air.
Tad followed me to the top, but as soon as my head broke the water, he said, "Take a breath and go back under. We need to swim far enough away from the bees."
As he said that, I heard more buzzing. Panic seized me and I dove back under. This time Tad didn't have to tell me to swim. I swam as hard as I could. In fact, when I went under for the third time, Tad caught my arm and pulled me back up to the surface. "They're gone."
I tried to pull free. "No, we have to get farther away."
"Allie." He put one hand on my shoulder, using the other to tread water. "Look around. No bees."
I didn't want to look around, but I did. And I listened. All I heard was the shouting of his family on the shore and his breathing. Or was that mine? No, mine was the sniffling and crying. "You think they're gone?"
"Yes." He jerked his head toward the shore. "Let's head back."
"No!"
"We'll hit the shore farther up, away from them. Okay?" He raised his voice and shouted to his family. "Are there bees up there?"
"No," his dad shouted. "Come on over."
"See?"
Okay, then. I took a deep breath and realized how much my body hurt. Shooting pain seemed to be coming at me from every direction. My skin was throbbing. I blinked back tears and started swimming toward his family.
I changed my mind. I hated hiking. Hated camping. Hated everything about it. No showers, soiled clothes, bees, everything!
When my feet touched bottom, Tad's mom was in the water next to me. "Are you okay, Allie?" She put her arms around me and hugged me.
Hugged me? Since when did anyone hug me?
I immediately started crying. Bawling. And I couldn't stop.
How totally embarrassing.
"Oh, dear, you're hurt." She kept one arm around me and pulled me to shallow water. "Sit."
I sat, hip deep in water. Tad's mom lifted my leg out of the water and inspected it. Then the other one. Then my arm. Then my other arm. By the time she was finished, I felt like I'd been to the doctor.
Except I hadn't. I was sitting in a lake with Tad's mom taking care of me. It was so weird to have a mom taking care of me. It almost made me want to start bawling again.
"How many bee stings?" Tad asked.
I glanced at him, surprised by the concern in his voice. Sure enough, his eyebrows were furrowed and he looked worried.
"At least eight."
I stared at his mom. "I was stung eight times?"
"At least." She squatted in front of me. "Have you been stung before?"
"Well, sure. But not for a long time." Pain was still radiating through my body, but the tears seemed to have stopped. Thank heaven.
"And are you allergic?"
I shook my head.
"Well, that's good." His mom shot a relieved look at the crew standing on the shore. "I think we're going to be okay."
We. As in, we're all in this together. As a team. I managed a trembling smile.
"There you go, sweetie. Keep smiling." Tad's mom hugged me again. "So, what now? Are you up for heading back?"
"Through the bees?" I couldn't keep the panic out of my voice, and she smiled.
"No. We were going on a loop anyway, so we'll finish it out." She patted my arm. "Unfortunately, there's no fast way back to camp. We're at least two hours away."
Two hours? When my poor body was about to go into shock?
"Maybe we should stop here for lunch," Beth suggested. "Give her time to recover."
No way was I going to ruin everyone's day. I immediately stood up. "No, I'm fine. I can go."
"I'm starving." Tad's dad ignored me. "I was hoping we were going to stop soon."
"Me too." Luke set down the two little ones. "Let's eat."
"No, seriously, I'm okay," I said. "You don't need to stop." I didn't want to inconvenience everyone else, I really didn't, but I was completely ignored.
"There's a little bit of sand here. It's enough to sit on for lunch." Beth set her backpack on the ground. "Let's eat!"
I stared as the family took ownership of the beach and set up lunch. For me. I wasn't fooled. I was the reason they were stopping, and I was totally overwhelmed by the gesture.
Tad leaned over my shoulder. "You might want to sit in the water for a while. The coolness will help take some of the heat out."
I twisted around to look at him. "You think?"
He nodded. "I'll sit with you."
And he did. Sat right down in the water next to me.
So I stayed right where I was.
Tad's mom handed me a sandwich, and Tad helped himself to one as well. We were a little away from everyone else, because they were on dry land. After a few minutes, I sort of peeked at Tad. "Um, thanks for saving me."
His cheeks turned red again and he shrugged. "No biggie."
"No, seriously. You could have gotten stung too." I frowned. "Did you get stung?"
"Only once. Not a big deal." He took a bite of his sandwich and looked really uncomfortable.
"You got stung?" For me? He h
ad suffered for me? "Where?"
He held out his arm. A small welt was pulsating on his forearm.
"Tad." I didn't know what to say. No one had ever taken a bee sting for me before.
His cheeks were still flushed, and he shrugged. "How is the sandwich? You like tuna?"
"Yep." I took a bite and chewed and tried not to think about the pain on my cheek and around my right eye. The pain could mean only one thing: that I had at least one sting on my face, and that my cheek and eye were puffing up the way Tad's forearm was. Allie, the beauty queen.
Not.
No makeup. Unstyled hair. Welts on my face. Wearing my sleeping T-shirt.
My friends would never recognize me. I wasn't sure I recognized myself, to be honest. And you know what? I actually kind of liked it.
Chapter Nine
"What song should we sing first?"
I looked at Tad's dad in surprise. "We're going to sing?" We'd finished up dinner about twenty minutes earlier, and I was sitting on a blanket with ice packs on my various body parts. Tad was holding the ones on my arm while I held one to my face. Gravity was making nice work of the ice packs on my shins. Luke had actually taken the truck to buy more ice so I'd have enough.
How weird was it to have someone shopping for me? I felt like the queen being pampered.
"Of course. What's camping without some singing around the campfire?" Tad's dad nodded at Luke. "You bring the guitar?"
"Yep." Luke deposited a toddler who I think was named Missy into the lap of another sister-in-law, who I think was named Ruth. "It's in my tent."
There were sixteen people around the campfire. Sixteen people plus me. Sixteen people whom I hadn't known at all twenty-four hours ago, sixteen people who now felt like family. And Tad, of course. My knight in shining armor. I smiled at him, and he grinned back.
Luke reappeared and took a seat on a log as he began strumming. "What do you want to sing?"
"How about 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'?" Beth suggested. "We watched Mary Poppins earlier this week on television and the girls loved that song."
Who Needs Boys Page 9
