“Oh, please.Pretty please with sugar on top.I’ll owe you forever.”
“No sugar on top, just a sprinkle of cinnamon.”He leaned down and handed her the cup.“Time to get moving.We’re on the lake for our first canoeing lesson in thirty minutes.We don’t want to be late.”
“How can you be so chipper?”She swallowed a full third of the coffee in four quick swallows.She needed the caffeine hit to wake up.The combination of sugar, cream, and spice made the coffee taste like a cinnamon roll.“Delicious.”
“Not too sweet?”He raised one eyebrow, and his tiny dimple popped out.
“There’s no such thing as too sweet.That’s like saying you can eat too much bacon, or too much steak.”
He regarded her with a quizzical half-smile.“You’re a total foodie, aren’t you?”
“Yup, and I’m starving.Would you mind?”She waved her cup toward the door, indicating that he should leave.“I need to change and get some food into me before I die of starvation.”
“I’ll wait outside on the picnic table.”Chuckling, he walked out, zipping the tent behind him.
He was still chuckling when she left the tent.He slapped a ball cap on her head.“You’re very mirthful this morning.”
His own cap shaded his eyes, giving him an intriguing, mysterious look.“I had a fabulous night’s sleep.The fresh air was amazing, and the sounds of nature….”He shrugged as if he didn’t have the words.“I barely minded your snoring at all.”
“I don’t snore.I told you that yesterday.”
He whipped out his phone and punched something in.“I present the evidence.”He turned the phone toward her, and a video of her sleeping played.
Holy cow!Shewassnoring.
“Ha.That’s barely snoring.It’s more like heavy breathing.”She tried to snatch the phone out of his hands to delete the video.
“Uh uh.Nope.This evidence stays with me.You never know when I’ll need a bit of blackmail evidence.”
She rolled her eyes.“Come on, I’m starving.”
“Comeon,Eric,itisn’t that hard.The paddle goes in basically straight up and down.Then you push and pull it straight up and out.It travels above the water with the blade parallel and back into the water.”Wanda tried not to get frustrated at how amazingly inept Eric was in a canoe.Apparently, CEO training didn’t help with canoeing.
“I’m trying.”
“It isn’t hard.”
“What are you, some sort of canoe expert?”He pivoted to glare at her behind him.The boat rocked precariously.
“Stop turning around like that.Head only, or you’ll flip us over.I have zero desire to get wet.The lake is freezing; the winter ice is barely gone.”She sighed and pushed her oar through the water.“Lean forward slightly when the paddle goes in and straighten up as you push it through the water.”
“Shouldn’t I be going from side to side?”he asked.
“That’s for when you’re alone.We can switch off now and again, so you don’t get sore muscles, but keep on your right side, and I’ll stay on the left.”
“How do we control where we’re going?”
“That’s the job of the person in the rear.I’ve got this.”
“You never answered my question.Are you some sort of canoe expert?”
“No, but I’ve done some canoeing and kayaking.”She didn’t mention her full experience.
He rotated to look at her, and the boat rocked wildly.“You’re avoiding the question.”
“And you’re going to flip us over.Face the front.”Slowly, with a lot of rocking, they made their way around a preset track marked by buoys.Another twenty yards, and they could head for shore and lunch.
“We did it!”He thrust his paddle into the air in celebration.The canoe shifted right, left, then back right.
