Page 30 of Love Among Vines

“You make some valid points.” Gemma pressed her fingertips together. “But if you moved here, you would never be alone. You would have us. Regardless of your involvement with Rett.”

Jane’s bottom lip quivered. The apple cider margaritas had made her a tad emotional.

“Agreed.” Cindy reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Gemma and Elena reached over too.

“Hey.” Gemma shot up like she had just had a brilliant idea. “Are you still doing the thing you talked about? Trying to knock the artist block out of yourself with experiences?”

Jade nodded. “When I can afford to.”

Gemma jumped to her feet. “Let those dogs go pee. We’re on a mission.”

Cindy groaned. “Why do I feel like this is going to end poorly? Also, none of us can drive.”

“We don’t need to drive. But we do need inflatables.”

Elena narrowed her eyes. “Are you suggesting…?”

“Yes. It’s been years. We have a sacrosanct duty to introduce Jade to the semi-annual ABB challenge.”

“We usually do it in July. It’s October.”

“All the more reason it’ll help. Come on. I think I still have some in my car.”

“ABB?” Jade whispered to Cindy.

“Anything but a boat,” Cindy replied.

Twenty minutes later, Jade crept down Water Street in a borrowed bikini and pair of shorts, arm wrapped around the neck of an inflatable unicorn. She clutched a paddle in the other hand.

“Are you sure we’re not going to get arrested?”

There was no way she’d be able to make bail. Prison would be real rock bottom. Maybe they would at least allow her to have watercolors?

Gemma scoffed and turned partway around. An inflatable flamingo was propped over her shoulder. “Scooter owes me. I already gave him a heads-up. It’s fine.”

Elena turned, and her paddle almost thwacked Cindy. “Sorry. So basically, Jade, we put in at the boat launch and flail our way across Depot Park to the inlet. Whoever wins gets a prize.”

Cindy eyed Jade’s torso. “I don’t know, girls. I don’t like my odds against Jade. Your delts are insane. Do you do CrossFit?”

“I used to,” Jade muttered.

They had reached the boat launch.

“All right, ladies,” Gemma said. “Single file.”

Cindy sighed and traipsed into the water with the help of an inflatable llama and a paddle. Apparently it was some kind of lake-life prerequisite that everyone carried emergency lake supplies in their car—inflatables, paddles, swimming suits.

Jade rarely had the opportunity to swim. In fact, if she fell in the water, there was a better than average chance that she would drown. But at least then her problems would be over.

Yikes . She made a mental note to look up a gratitude meditation before bed and put the thought behind her.

Jade followed Cindy into the frigid water. “Oh, god. This is so cold.”

Elena was behind Jade with a mean-looking peacock. “Come on, you blandengues. Live a little.”

Gemma brought up the rear, laughing maniacally.

Unable to help herself, Jade burst out laughing too. What a sight they would have made to anyone driving by.

“Everyone mount your floaties,” Gemma commanded.

Jade slung one leg over her unicorn and almost flipped into the water. Eventually, she settled on her knees in the middle. It was still cold, but not unmanageable.

“Ready. Set. Go .”

At Cindy’s words, they plunged their paddles into the water. Jade bumped into Gemma’s flamingo. Cindy’s paddle slapped the back of her unicorn. Jade drove her paddle deeper and soared ahead.

There was something absurd about riding a unicorn across a lake under a star-strewn sky.

But it was also amazing. The muddy scent of the lake mingled with the chemical stink of plastic.

Strength rippled in her arms as she thrust the paddle into the water on one side, then the other.

Dollops of lake water landed on the floaty.

Shit. She didn’t exactly know where she was going. Something about a pier at the beach? But surely the other girls would call out to her when they hit the finish line.

She risked a look behind her. Elena and Cindy were screeching and shoving each other’s floaties with their paddles. Gemma was a few yards behind Jade, face set in determination.

Jade had never been incredibly competitive.

But she really needed a win. She set her eyes on the horizon and focused on her breath.

She drove the paddle in again and again, relishing in the feeling of gliding across the smooth surface of the lake.

An owl hooted somewhere in the darkness.

Crickets called in a chorus around them.

Shit, this was farther than it looked. Her arms burned. She stole another glance behind her. Gemma was still hot on her heels, face red and breathing heavily.

Oh, there was the inlet. That hadn’t been far from the beach when she and Rett had almost committed a crime of indecency. She must be over halfway now.

“Is this it?” Jade called over her shoulder. In the distance, a wooden expanse stretched out into the lake.

“That’s it. You better watch your back,” Gemma called. “I’m coming for you.”

Jade glanced farther behind them. Elena was in last place. Her thick brown hair hung wetly around her shoulders. Cindy’s white teeth were practically gleaming in the dark.

Gemma was gaining on her. Jade whirled back around. Her arms were burning, but the end was in sight. Her heart was lighter than it had been in months. Years, maybe. Who knew that crawling across the lake with an assortment of zoo animals was exactly what she needed?

As they approached the dock, human-like figures appeared. She squinted but couldn’t quite make them out. Apparently they would be ruining someone’s late-night fishing expedition.

“There they are,” someone called from the dock. The sound carried across the expanse.

Shit . Were they about to get kidnapped? Her arms were too sore to fend off attackers. A swift kick would have to suffice.

Flashlight beams clicked on and illuminated the space between Jade and the dock.

“Yeah, get her,” an unfamiliar voice said in the darkness.