The far end of the dock, though, floated into darkness, bouncing on small silver peaks that broke beneath the stars and the very narrow moon. Toby, perhaps, was going on about acquiring some blow-up floats to mess around on, and Gordy agreed.
Galen dropped all his stuff, stripped off his boots and t-shirt and, with a yell, raced to the end of the dock, then dove into the dark water. The heat of the day was cut off by the cool cloak of water swirl all around him, soothing him.
He burst to the surface with a laugh, and paddled closer to the dock, keeping himself afloat and still as he looked up at Bede. Who stood at the edge, lit from behind by the kerosene lamps, expression obscured.
“How come that doesn’t freak you out?” asked Bede, his hands on his hips. The light of the kerosene lamps made shadows around his body, giving Galen glimmers of the stars on Bede’s skin as he took off his t-shirt and boots.
“How come what doesn’t?” asked Galen, taking one hand to wipe at his eyes, his nose, as he treaded water.
“What if there’s something in the lake?” Bede waved an expressive hand over the surface of the dark water. “Some Stephen King thing?”
“This is not a Stephen King lake, I assure you.” Galen swallowed some lake water as he laughed. “Those are all back east. This lake only has moss and fish and maybe some frogs?” He really had no idea, only that it was perfectly safe. “Grow some balls and dive in already, would you?”
“Yes, boss,” said Bede with a laugh, and then he cannonballed into the water, sending shards of foam and water into the air, spraying Galen’s face.
Maybe they were being watched as they dog paddled close to each other, gasping with laughter. Or maybe everyone was too busy to care.
“I keep feeling like something’s going to eat my feet,” said Bede, making a comical face that made him look like he was only twelve years old, on his first night at sleep-away camp. “Or that I’ll feel mud between my toes.”
Galen barked out a laugh and tossed his hair from his eyes. It was the best night ever. The most fun he’d had in years, and all because an ex-con had slipped through the woods and kissed him. Was swimming with him now, complaining about mud and dark water and scary things that might lurk in the depths.
He shoved off all doubts for future Galen to deal with. This was his now to enjoy. Where was the harm? There wasn’t any. Just a delightful swirl of water and laughter as the two of them swam to the dock, climbed up, and attempted to dive off at the same time.
The end of the dock was quite bouncy, and Galen couldn’t be sure that someone, Toby perhaps, hadn’t come to jump up and down and make the dock rock quite hard, grunting with effort, just to see Galen and Bede tumble into the water rather than dive.
“It’s supposed to be more solid than that,” said Gabe as Galen surfaced, laughing and gasping at the same time. But then Galen saw that there were several next to Toby, using all their combined efforts to jostle the diving efforts of anyone who tried it. “Hmmmm.”
They swam for an hour, both him and Bede being diligent to stay a little bit apart, at least some of the time. Never mind that Galen didn’t ever like an audience, he didn’t want anyonemaking assumptions about them. Not until—after. After the promise of Bede’s kiss had turned into something more, and he’d had time to process what it all meant.
He didn’t know what to make of that kiss, but he’d enjoyed it with every part of his body and soul.
Chapter 26
Galen
Friday morning was hot again, but Galen’s team operated in tandem with each other, digging the last of the knapweed, stuffing the knapweed in black plastic bags, then spraying the area with soap and vinegar. All while taking breaks to drink cold water or iced tea from the cooler, then getting back to it. He couldn’t be more proud.
It was after lunch, when Galen was going over the remaining work for the afternoon, and how fun it would be to tell them to quit work early so they could go to John Henton’s Tavern for their two-week celebration, complete with new refurb phones, cold beer, and a arousing thank you from Leland Tate himself.
Except, just as they were about to head out to the path up to the ridge, Gabe caught up with them.
“Hey,” he said. “You got a minute?”
“Sure,” said Galen, gesturing to his team that they should stop and see what Gabe wanted. “What do you need?”
“What’s up, boss?” asked Toby, then he elbowed Owen, as if to make sure Owen saw how funny he was.
“I’ve got good news and bad news,” said Gabe, but he was smiling, so Galen knew that the bad news wasn’t very bad.
“What’s up?” asked Galen.
“Well, Leland can’t make it to the tavern tonight,” said Gabe. “Evidently it’s a special occasion for him and Jamie, so he’s busy. Says he can make it tomorrow, if that’s okay with you and your team.”
“Sure.” Galen looked at Toby, Owen, and Bede, each in turn, and he could tell that they didn’t quite remember that he’d told them about the outing, but then he’d told them on their first day in the valley, so it was understandable. “That okay with you guys? For our outing to be tomorrow?”
They nodded, so Galen turned his attention back to Gabe.
“Here’s the fun part,” said Gabe, tipping his cowboy hat to the back of his head with a smile. “There’s a bunch of canoes in Cheyenne that need picking up,”said Galen. “And after you pick ‘em up and bring ‘em back here, I imagine they’d need testing. Who here knows how to operate a canoe?”
