Page 17 of Any Second Now (Fort Collins Blizzard Hockey #2)
“Like a sailboat,” she whispers, her eyes wide, fear dripping from every word.
“I feel like there’s a story here.” I press my lips together and wait patiently.
Raleigh’s kayak is close enough that I reach over and gently pull it toward me.
The plastic bumps together and she presses her eyes shut.
I keep a hand on her kayak so she doesn’t drift away.
It’s safe out here but you should still keep your eyes open while out on a lake.
“There is. ”
“Go on.” The sky is a bright blue, the sun warming us. Colorado is god’s country. The beauty is astounding in every nook and cranny of this state. It’s hot, but never humid. Mountains soar around us. The forest is lush and green, the air clear and fresh.
And I’m spending time with Raleigh.
Fleeting thoughts of my injury, Barrett Steele, and the charity tournament flit through my head, but I push the negative vibes away and they vanish in the warm air. I switch my hat to forward facing to block the sun and wait for Raleigh to continue.
“It was during pharmacy school. A bunch of my classmates were going on a sailing trip in the French Caribbean and they invited me.”
“I didn’t know you knew how to sail.”
“I didn’t. I don’t.” Her eyes fly open and she shakes her head.
“Okay. Continue.” I press my lips together.
“My job was to stay out of the way while they did the sailing thing. But that first day? The seas were rough. I started to feel sick, so I tried hiding below deck, but… it didn’t work. Made it worse. Pretty soon I was throwing up over the side of the boat.”
“Ohhhh no.” I try so very hard to suppress a laugh and barely succeed.
“But I wasn’t the only one!” Panic crosses her face. “Another girl was puking too. So we docked at an island and god, I was so happy to have my feet on solid ground.”
“I can imagine.”
“They told me it was a rough day at sea. That tomorrow would be better. And the next day…. Well, the sea looked like this.” She waves a hand around her. “Like glass. Clear. Smooth. Practically no waves.”
“And…”
“I was just. As. Sick. Worse, even.” Raleigh shakes her head. “That night we ended up stopping in French Guadeloupe. I packed my bag, got off the sailboat, and refused to get back on.”
I feign shock. “Where did you go? ”
“I found a hotel. But the funny thing is they don’t speak a lot of English on the island.
Mostly French. And my classmates just kind of laughed and left me there.
I was like—good riddance. The next day I had to take a cab to the pier and hope I understood what they’d told me about getting the ferry to the mainland. ”
I can’t stop laughing, and Raleigh gives me a dirty look, then cracks a grin, and finally laughs with me. I let go of her kayak for a second to wipe my eyes and adjust my hat.
There’s a flash of movement.
Then Raleigh’s kayak is upside down.
“Oh my god! Raleigh!” What the fuck happened in the two seconds I had my eyes closed?
The kayak flips back over, empty, and her head pops up from under the water one second later.
“Fuck!” She yells, water streaming off her head. She grabs her hat, which is floating next to her, and tosses it in the kayak.
“Shit, give me your hand.” I reach out to her and she just freaking floats there in the water with a shocked look. I’m not sure if I should laugh or help.
“This water is freezing!” But Raleigh looks far less panicked than she did while in the kayak.
“Are you okay? Swim over to me. Wait, you know how to swim, don’t you?”
“Of course I know how to swim. And I’m wearing a life vest.” She sighs. “My soul kind of hurts, but I’m fine.”
I snort. “What happened? How did you end up in the water?”
“Something jumped.” Raleigh runs her hand down her face. “It was only a fish, and I realized that a split second too late because you decided to let go of my kayak right at that very moment and I leaned over to get away from the fish and then…”
“Wow. I guess you really don’t know how to kayak.”
“I told you!” Raleigh doggy paddles over to my kayak.
“Hey, just don’t lean on my kayak because it’ll ti?—”
A split second later, I’m underwater underneath my kayak. For fuck’s sake, this water is cold. I kick to the surface, making sure I don’t bonk my head.
I spit out water and swear loudly.
“I am so sorry! See? I do not do well with boats.” Raleigh treads closer to me. “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”
“I’m fine, sailor. I was getting kind of hot anyway.” I shake my head to get water out of my eyes. “Did you do that on purpose??”
“No!” She bites her bottom lip and reaches for something next to me. “Here’s your hat.”
I pull it out of the lake and put it on my head, the equivalent of dumping a small bucket of water on myself.
Raleigh cracks up.
“At least we left our phones at the RV.” Raleigh glances to the shoreline, which does seem kind of far away now.
“It would’ve been great to get this on camera.” I tread water and for a second, I picture pulling her toward me and kissing her in this cold lake.
“No way.” She glances at her drifting kayak. “Do you think we can just swim back?”
“What?” I laugh. I gotta get this woman to shore. “No. Grab the kayak. Let’s get you back in.”
“How the fuck are we going to do that?” But she listens to me and pulls hers closer.
I swim to get both paddles and wedge them into my seat so they don’t float away.
“Turn around and grip your kayak. One hand on the front of the seat, one on the back. You’re going to pull yourself onto the seat stomach down, then do a little wiggling maneuver to get your feet back where they belong. Keep your balance or you’ll end up with the kayak on your head. Again.”
“I feel like this is going to be difficult,” she says, but does what I say.
“I’m going to help.” I glide right behind her.
“How are you going to help?? ”
“On the count of three.” I put my hands on Raleigh’s bare waist below her life vest. My hands on her skin in cold water is something else. I shake my head and focus. I’m supposed to be making up for being a creep last night, not continuing the performance. “One. Two. Three.”
On three I push her up by her waist and she pulls across the kayak. Her ass ends up at just about eye level for a second, before she wiggles around like I told her to.
She’s laughing so hard by the time she gets her butt back in the seat that I can’t help but join her.
“This is humiliating.” Raleigh takes a deep breath when she’s finally situated in the kayak. I slide one of the paddles over to her. “At least it should be. Wait, how are you going to get up there?”
But it takes me just a quick maneuver to swing myself back into my seat, keeping my paddle secured under one hand.
I’ve done this a million times, although I always kayak in still lakes or other calm waters so as not to violate my Blizzard contract that prohibits me from any kind of extreme sports.
So even though I live in Colorado, I haven’t skied since I was a teenager.
“Freaking professional athletes.” She shakes her head in mock disgust.
“This has been fun.” I take my hat off and wipe my hand down my face, clearing some of the water.
“At least I’m not puking.”
“At least.” I grin at her and she smiles back, her hair dripping onto her shoulders, looking like an adorable drowned rat.
“Let’s go back to check on Megghen and have those croissants you brought.”
“Sure, but we’re doing this again sometime.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. You’re in Colorado. We can go hiking too. But this is the best part of being here—the weather and all the outdoor stuff.”
“Alright, Atticus Knox. Whatever you say. But can we also do indoor activities?”
“Sure. Bowling? Brewery?” I rub my chin and an idea comes to me.
“Those sound a lot safer.”
“Hey, want to come to the arena tomorrow? I’m meeting Lachlan for practice.” I pause. “Not that you want to sit around and watch me practice—that would be boring—but the arena is legit when it’s empty of people.”
“That sounds great.” Raleigh presses her lips together and tilts her head. She’s wet and raw and so completely herself right now, and it’s the best thing ever. Our kayaks knock together.
I can be myself with Raleigh. I don’t have to be someone better than I am. I don’t have to impress her. I don’t have to pretend to be a pretentious hockey star. I can be just me, the kid she used to make fun of back in college.
“Ready to go back?”
She hesitates for a beat and then nods. We make our way back to the shoreline, the warm sun drying our clothes along the way.
Back to what, is the question.
There’s a double meaning there, and maybe her hesitation tells me she understands.