“Let me change,” she said. “It’s not exactly warm once the sun goes down.”
“We can sit in the truck,” he offered as she backed away from him.
“I’ll just put on jeans and grab a jacket.”
Darren mourned the loss of her denim shorts, but he liked the dark jeans she showed up wearing as well. She opened her front closet and plucked a sweatshirt from a hanger before saying, “Ready.”
“What do you want to eat?”
“Let’s get sandwiches from the Bread Company.”
Darren never said no to a sandwich, and a half an hour later, they had food, drinks, and the sand between their toes.
“Your feet are so white.” She laughed as she handed him his sandwich.
“Always wearing boots.” He chuckled with her. “So tell me about this bunko night.”
She started talking, and he liked listening to her. She told him about a dice game, and baby bunkos, and a prize pool, and several women from her childhood that she’d played with.
“Sounds like you had fun.”
“I really did,” she said, smiling before she bit into her sandwich. “I hate to say it, but I hope someone drops out so I can join permanently.”
“You can’t just join?”
“The group only handles twelve.” She gazed at the gently lapping water. “Each person takes a month to host. The host provides dinner, and the previous month’s host provides the prizes.” She sighed, a happy little sound Darren liked. “I won for the most baby bunkos, and I got a certificate to the salon for a pedicure.”
“That’s great,” he said. “I guess I hope someone drops out so you can join.”
“I don’t think someone will.” This time her sigh carried a bit more weight. “They all get along great, and they’ve been a bunko group for three years.”
“No one’s left in three years?” Darren was still getting used to the idea of not moving every few years.
“Well, Layla left, but she’s coming back. The person they got to take her place knows it’s only until she returns.”
Darren nestled his toes deeper into the sand. A breeze wafted across the water, and he watched a few sailboats bump against the waves as they worked against their anchors. The deep green trees stretched into the blue sky, and the hills across the lake were quickly turning black against the horizon.
In the winter, the ice on those trees would break limbs, and in a week or two, the leaves would be various shades of red, gold, and orange.
“I love Vermont,” Farrah said, breaking the silence that had come between them.
“Better than LA?” he asked.
“The beaches were nice,” she said. “And it doesn’t snow there. But there’s just something about this place.” She snuggledinto his side, sticking her arms through her sweatshirt without pulling it over her head.
He knew exactly what she meant, and he was glad she liked it here. “Want to go riding tomorrow after church?”
She stiffened next to him, and all the things Darren had been careful not to say came rushing to the front of his mind.
“Farrah, when are you going to stop fighting against who you are?”
She sat up and looked at him, her gaze sharp. “What does that mean?”
“You were born to ride a horse,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter who you were born from.”
She blinked. Her jaw tightened. He thought sure she’d jump to her feet and stomp back to the truck.
“It’s just me,” he said. “Me and you, out riding through the fields and forests. I know you like it. Iknowyou do.”
