“You’d be surprised,” she argues. “Most people panic if they fall into a rapid, and since their life jacket floats, they expect to float up and over the waves. But that’s not how that works.”
While I can’t say I’ve been on a river before, I’m not too worried about this rule. “I surf all the time and know better than to expect a wave to cooperate.”
Donovan wrinkles her nose. “Ocean,” she says with a shudder. “You’re nuts for that one, Riley.”
“How is a river any different? One could argue it’s worse, with all the rocks and holes and boulders named after kitchen utensils.”
“At least I know what to expect with a river. I know what’s at the bottom and can read the waves. They’re constant. And don’t have giant creatures waiting inside them to eat me.”
Chuckling, I shake my head. This woman is something else, and if I didn’t think she would shut me down again, I would try to learn more about her. “So you have at least one fear. Good to know.”
She lifts an eyebrow and doesn’t seem to know whether to scowl or smile this time around. “Cataloging all my flaws?”
“Or I’m taking mental notes about what makes a river guide tick.”
“Because you’re playing one in a movie.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Is it an adventure movie? Some kind of thriller like that dumb one with Meryl Streep? Or maybe aromance?” She makes a kissy face at me.
To my horror, a spark of attraction ignites in my belly. That’s a bad idea, and I don’t need a repeat of my idiocy inside the souvenir shop the other day. I need to keep talking before I start wondering if she kisses with the same fire that’s in her personality. “Why was the Meryl movie dumb?”
Donovan scoffs. “So many reasons, but did you really just call Meryl Streep by herfirst name?”
I shrug. “What else would I call her?”
“Meryl Streep. Like everyone else. Oh, but I forgot. You’renotlike everyone else. She’s probably your godmother or something, isn’t she?” Gripping the oars, she pulls one and pushes the other, spinning the boat with impressive speed and stopping the motion when we’re facing the opposite direction. “And don’t answer that question. I don’t want to know. The movie is dumb not because of the acting but becauseMeryl’scharacter supposedly hasn’t been rafting in years and manages to navigate some extremely complicated whitewater with impractical or non-existent techniques. And then you expect me to believe Kevin Bacon could get through even a small rapid without any idea what he’s doing? Please.” She exhales heavily and pulls on the oars, her eyes drifting to the shoreline on her right.
But then she looks at me and freezes, some of the color draining from her face. “Anyway… Like I said, if you want to learn about being a guide, just sit back and watch. All four of us, I mean.”
She’s deflecting, which doesn’t surprise me given the way she’s acted toward me so far. But what does surprise me is the passion she exhibited when she talked about the river movie. It could have been because she’s passionate about rivers in general, but my gut is telling me it was as much about themoviepart of things as it was the subject matter. She was more open to conversation when we talked aboutmymovies earlier as well.
I’m not going to push, as much as I want to avoid falling back into silence, but at least now I have something to distract me from thinking about things I can’t control, like my mom orHot Scoopor being the ninth wheel among my friends.
Donovan’s hiding from something. Something that scares her enough to lash out at me if I get too close.
And I’m going to fix it.
Chapter Nine
Donovan
Thefirstnightonthe river is always an adventure because no one knows what they’re doing. Not even the guides half the time, especially early into the season like this. As we try to figure out our group dynamics as a guide team and divvy out the tasks, the guests are figuring out how their tents work and realizing there aren’t any flush toilets for the next five days. It’s chaos and one of my favorite parts of a trip because the people-watching isdivine.
“Five bucks says the Thompsons are getting divorced when they get home,” Mason says as he helps me grab tonight’s dinner ingredients from the ice chest on his boat.
I glance behind me to where the married couple have been shouting at top volume for the last ten minutes while they try to get their tent set up, to no avail. Chuckling, I tuck tortillas and a bag of cantaloupe in one arm so I can reach for the peppers Mason hands me. “No way. They’ll be renewing their vows in a month and going on a second honeymoon.” Do I believe that? Maybe. Rivers have a way of changing people. At somepoint I’ll talk to the couple and see if I can nudge them in whatever direction will make them the happiest.
Mason ducks into the ice chest again, rooting through the ice for the chicken breasts. “Have you paired up the WanderLove people yet? Thiago’s convinced he knows who’s ending up with who.”
“Well, I was stuck on a boat with Superman all day, so I haven’t had a chance to get to know any of them yet.” But they’re setting up camp the closest to the boats, so now might be a good time to make some observations.
Four girls and four guys, all of them strangers. The girls look like they’re bonding, giggling as they stake down the extra-large tent they’re sharing, but based on the tense body language of the guys as they work on their two tents, they’re not sure about each other. I wouldn’t be surprised if they see each other as competition, even though the numbers are even. Most likely, they’re all going to be interested in the same one or two girls and leave the other two feeling like consolation prizes when they get matched up with guys who didn’t pick them.
Maybe that’s the dating pessimist in me talking.
Hopefully they’ll be too interested in each other to pay much attention to me. I got enough interest from Derek to last a lifetime today on the boat. We didn’t talk much after I went on my movie rant, but his nonstop studying as I rowed was almost worse than him asking questions.
