Liam scoffs and puffs his chest. “Implode…” He strokes the cow’s head with his cheek. “Rumors. Terrible rumors, Bessie, don’t you even listen.”
I recall the video clip Lucy showed me. A guy’s tube popped—having got jabbed by a sharp branch by the looks of it, and the man got sucked right inside the tube and pulled under the water. Not forever, of course, but when it came back up, he looked like he’d just gone through the birth canal. All matted hair and red-faced fear.
Liam hands me a guiding stick, and we follow the crowd toward the parking lot.
“Have fun, guys,” Annica says in a sing-song voice behind us.
“Thanks.” Liam bumps my shoulder. “We will.”
As soon as I plunk onto the tube and start drifting down the river, I’m glad I came. The water is cool where my torso and my heels reach, and the sun counters that with its warm, sunshiny rays.
A pair of single parents lead the group up front, so Liam and I agree to take the rear to ensure there aren’t any stragglers. For a while, my kids, Cam, and Liam’s nephews stay with us. I can’t believe Liam’s pool floatie is actually doing the trick. It seems thinner than the others, and I have to think it wouldn’t take much to pop it.
Still, it makes for great fodder for all the jokes:
“Hey, mooove over.”
“Stop getting fresh with Bess and keep up with the group, will you?”
“I’m thirsty; got milk?”
Already, it seems word is spreading around camp that Liam and I are into each other. While I’m mainly glad about that—I don't want other women hitting on him–I’m apprehensive, too. It makes me worry we’re moving too fast.
I consider that as we let the kids go on ahead of us. Liam and I chat as we float along a calm stretch of the river.
Squinting against the sun, I push myself away from a cluster of trees along the edge and bounce gently off a large rock. When Liam brings up the thing with Callie, I realize how much it’s bothering him, and I’m glad he knows he can trust me with the topic.
He shrugs and shakes his head. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I know I can’t control her at this age, which is fine, I don’t want to, but I just wish she wanted to spend timewith me, you know? I can’t help but wonder how and when I became someone she didn’t want to be around.”
I feel the pain in those words. “That must be a tough transition,” I say, feeling very glad that, for now, Lucy and Martin still enjoy spending time with me.
“She used to be a total daddy’s girl,” Liam adds, his neck stretched far back while he faces the sun with closed eyes. “I loved that.”
“What are some of your fondest memories with her?“
Liam’s guiding himself away from the shrubs on the other side. “Probably taking her fishing. She used to beg to get up on my shoulders and look down at the water from way up high. She’d squeal and scream every time one of us caught a fish. There was just…so much joy in that little face of hers, it put me over the moon.”
“I’m sure this is just temporary,” I say, hoping very much that it’s true. “When Lucy turned thirteen, she went through a phase that I thought would kill us both. Drama, trauma, friend-shifts, boys. She’d cry at the drop of a dime and slam doors like it was an art form. When she turned fifteen, she did a similar thing, only at that time, it felt more personal. Luckily, she came around.”
“That’s good,” Liam says. “Thanks. It’s good for me to hear that. I think you’re right. I hope you are. All I can do is hold onto my little friend, Bessie, and go with the flow.” He drifts back to me and stretches his arm out.
He reaches just far enough for us to hold hands. “This feels good,” he says. “I always loved holding your hand.”
The comment causes a pleasant pull low in my tummy and a thrill high in my chest. “Me too,” I admit.
Suddenly, the group ahead of us grows louder with hollers and hoots of excitement.
“It sounds as if danger is afoot," Liam says with an accent that makes him sound like a knight. “Stick with me, Princess. I’ll keep you safe.”
A bolt of adrenaline shoots through me as I recognize the voices of my own kids among the chatter.
"Cowabunga!" Martin calls. Sounds of rushing water grow louder, echoing from around the bend. I hear Lucy squeal, a noise that quickly turns into giggling. She squeals yet again, and I hear Martin say, "Watch out, here comes another one!"
"Okay," Liam says, still channeling that knight-in-shining-armor tone. “Just around this bend, there are a couple of fast-moving falls. They’re shallow, so nothing to worry about, but it can get a little wild. Between the rocks in the center and the shrubs along the edges, you’ve got to keep an eye out so your tube doesn't pop.”
“I’m more worried aboutyourtube,” I admit.
“Not to worry, love,” he says proudly. “I know how to ride this thing, even when she misbehaves.”
