I’m kissing the woman I love.
Alexander barks loudly, breaking the kissing trance we’ve found ourselves in.
Lucy rolls off of me quickly, leaping to her feet. “I—we—I didn’t mean?—”
I stand up much more slowly than she did. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
I should have told you I loved you first.But, of course, I keep that to myself.
She nods stiffly and turns back toward the main trail. “I guess we should get cleaned up,” she says softly.
And I don’t like that she sounds a little sad.
“What in the world happened to you?” Aunt Emily, Preston’s mom, asks as we walk back into camp.
Karis is playing chess with Grandpa, who looks rather amused at our whole situation.
“Oh my,” Grandma says with a laugh from where she’s sitting in a lawn chair, sipping a lemonade. “Lucy was cleaner when she worked on the dairy farm that day I came to visit.”
“We might have slipped into a mud hole after seeing a bear,” Lucy explains as she casually reaches over to slap my chest. “A bear you promised me we wouldn’t see.”
I’d apologize, except I did lie. I’ve seen plenty of bears around this lake. I just didn’t think we’d see one this late in the day.
“Ainsley!” Goldie calls.
Ainsley pops out of her tent.
“These two are going to need a shower. Can you go find them some quarters from my stash?”
Ainsley looks at us, then bursts out laughing.
“Yes, thank you. We needed that. You’re so helpful,” I tell her as she makes a wide berth.
Alexander looks like he would happily give her a muddy hug.
“I’d offer you a seat,” Mom starts to say, “but I don’t think I will.”
Everyone sitting around the camp bursts out laughing. Mom volunteers to grab towels and soap for us so that we don’t have to climb into our tent and get everything muddy.
Dad comes over and grabs Alexander’s leash from Lucy. “Why don’t you let me watch him while you two get cleaned up?”
“Thank you. That’s sweet,” Lucy exclaims.
“No problem,” Dad says. “I’ll even give him a bath.”
Ainsley returns a couple of minutes later and puts some quarters in Lucy’s hands. “There’s only enough for one shower.”
“I’ll just go to the camp hosts and get some change,” Lucy says.
“They’re all out,” Ainsley blurts. “We got the last of the quarters this morning. This is all there is.”
I narrow my eyes at her. But before I can say anything, Mom is standing in front of us, handing me two towels and a bottle of soap.
“Ainsley, go grab them some clean clothes out of their tent so they don’t track mud in there,” Mom tells her.
“And check my backpack for more quarters while you’re in there. Sometimes I throw some in the front pocket,” I call after her.
Lucy looks at the handful of coins and then both of us covered in mud. I can see her swallow before she speaks. “We can share.”
