Leah walked over to the bed and started to unzip the carry-on, intending to unpack, but the tension still suffusing the room stifled her. She needed out of here. Now.
“What do you say we leave the unpacking for later?” she asked. “The grounds here are so beautiful. I want to take a look around before dusk settles.”
“Sounds good to me,” Caleb said, dropping the T-shirt he’d been holding back into his open duffle.
They walked along the shoreline of Lake Waawaatesi, which, according to the map Heather had given them, meant firefly in the Ojibwe language.
Leah pointed to the map. “I read online that there are these waterfalls close by—”
“Let me guess? Are they called Firefly Falls?”
“Yes, Mr. Smartypants,” she said with a laugh. “There’s some kind of mythical legend of the Ojibwe tribe connected to the waterfalls. I think I may try to find them this weekend.”
“What else are you planning to do?”
She shrugged. “My itinerary was planned out from sun up to sun down, but all that’s changed now.” She exhaled a weary breath. “I haven’t had time to think about exactly what I want to do this weekend. To be honest, just getting away from the city is enough for me.”
“It is pretty nice out here,” Caleb said.
“It’s gorgeous. And do you smell this air? It’s all so clean. Rejuvenating. I wasn’t sure about this on our drive up, but now I’m happy I didn’t cancel.”
“You considered it?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. She looked over at him. “This whole thing was actually Derrick’s mother’s idea. The daughter of one of her friends attended one of Katherine and Geoff’s seminars, and she convinced Derrick that we needed to go before the wedding.”
“Yet he backed out of the trip?” Caleb huffed out a derisive laugh.
Leah was on the verge of telling him that Derrick had backed out on everything, including their engagement, but something stopped her. Not just something. She knew exactly what it was.
Humiliation.
The humiliation of getting dumped yet again still ate at her.
At the same time another feeling began to emerge.
Relief.
She was relived to not have to listen to Derrick drone on about one boring subject after another, not bothering to ask what she thought about it. The hurt and anger and humiliation were still there, but it had begun to lessen. Maybe she would actuallyenjoythis time away instead of just tolerating it.
She and Caleb came across a thick downed tree trunk and took a seat. The faint sound of camp goers taking advantage of the many water sports could be heard, but they were far enough from the main campgrounds that they didn’t see anyone else, save for the occasional canoe that passed by. They skimmed along the lake, creating a soft ripple through the calm waters.
After several quite minutes passed, Leah broke the silence. “So, why did all of your friends bail on you this weekend?” she asked.
“Because their girlfriends have them all by the balls,” Caleb answered.
She paused for a moment before she burst out laughing.
“Should I apologize for my crudeness?” he asked.
“No, you’re okay,” Leah said. “I’m just sorry your plans were cancelled.”
“I’m not.” He looked over at her, raw honesty gleaming in his dark brown eyes. “Not anymore. Not now that I’m here with you.”
She surreptitiously sucked in a breath. Call her a coward, but she refused to touch that statement.
“You know.” She kicked at a pebble. “We’ve been neighbors for more than a year, but I don’t really know much about you.”
His eyes continued to bore into hers, and for a second Leah thought he was going to call her on her swift subject change. But then he stretched his legs out in front of him, flatted his palms on his thighs and asked, “What do you want to know?”
