“Laurel, why don’t you take a kayak out?” Cody suggested. “Might do you good to get some fresh air.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.”
Laurel left her brother inside with his new fan club while she pit-stopped at the restroom to make sure she wouldn’t regret the coffee. Then she grabbed a paddle and headed toward the remaining kayaks on shore. She hadn’t packed any snacks or lunch, but she didn’t have that kind of time today. She’d asked Ava to meet her at the house for lunch while Mom was out, and rescheduling would only delay the inevitable confession.
A quick, leisurely paddle on mostly calm waters would have to be enough to help silence the loud thoughts bouncing around in her head. It was much preferable to going to Chase’s house and sorting through old boxes. She’d put that off as long as she could get away with it.
“Only got two singles left, and I think those are about to be taken. Busy day today,” Cody said to his customers. Or so Laurel thought until she heard his voice.
“Want to ride tandem, Laurel?”
She spun, her wide eyes quickly narrowing at the intrusion. “What’re you doing here?”
Chase stood next to Cody, wearing that crooked smile that always softened her, no matter how irritated she might be. It wasn’t fair. “I’m renting a kayak.”
“Are you following me?”
“How could I? I didn’t know you’d be here.”
Laurel folded her arms over her chest as her brother joined her on the sand, pulling the last two single-passenger kayaks off to the side. All ideas of a peaceful morning flew away with the morning breeze. “I thought you had a job,” she said to Chase.
“Took comp time this morning for working the fire the other night.”
“Of course you did,” she muttered under her breath.
“These things don’t just happen,” Cody said quietly to Laurel, his insightful advice right on time for Chase’s untimely arrival. But whether he was referring to sharing a kayak or missing a signature, she didn’t get a chance to ask before two teenage girls emerged from the shop.
“We’re ready!” the blonde one announced, her dangly earring making a racket as she bounced in excitement.
“You might want to take out your earrings,” Laurel called to her.
“Why?”
“She’s right,” Cody added, his suave words drawing the teens’ full attention. Her brother only had to speak a single word to put a girl in a trance.Pathetic.“Be a bad deal if they got caught on anything.”
The blonde promptly removed her earrings without another word and shoved them in her purse. Laurel didn’t bother to mention she needed a waterproof bag. Her brother could handle his fan club just fine.
“Get me out of here,” Laurel muttered.
“Gladly.” Chase brushed passed her, pushing the front edge of a tandem kayak into the water. He slipped into the back of it.
It wasn’t impossible to take a tandem kayak by oneself, but Laurel knew from experience that it wasn’t ideal. They could be harder to steer if the waves were too strong. “We ride like we did last night,” she barked a low order at him in passing.
“With you doing all the talking?” Chase teased.
Cody’s shoulders shook in laughter as she slipped into the front of the kayak, already regretting agreeing to this. She could compartmentalize her emotions better than most, but each minute spent with Chase threatened to disrupt her whole system.Five days. Just five more days.But with Cody’s latest insightful words of wisdom to ponder on, Laurel wasn’t certain she’d last that long. “I only have an hour,” she said over her shoulder to Chase.
“Me, too.”
Together, they pushed off the shore. As promised, Chase stayed quiet as the shore disappeared. Laurel relaxed her tense shoulders, letting his paddle do most of the work now that they were far away from Cody’s fan club. She relished in the silence and dramatic Alaskan scenery surrounding them. Moments like these, she couldn’t remember why she ever left this behind.
“Does Zeus like the water?” Laurel asked after several blissful minutes of solitude.
“Not really.” Chase laughed. “You should see him when he steps in a puddle. That dog becomes the biggest princess I’ve ever met.”
Laurel didn’t bother to fight her smile. He couldn’t see it anyway. Chase had always wanted a dog. They’d planned to pick one out together from the local shelter, but before they could, their world turned upside down. A stray tear rolled down Laurel’s cheek, but she didn’t dare wipe it away. She didn’t want Chase to know she was anything more than a-okay.
“Busy tonight?” Chase asked after several minutes of silence.
