“My brother’s house is only about five miles downriver from here on the Hiawassee, but thirty miles over the roads. We found it on the river originally, then figured out how to get here by car.”
Brain ate three burgers, two orders of fries, an order of onion rings, and two slices of lemon meringue pie. He was nearly as thin as Cam, and just as ripped, and Gen was surprised he could eat so much in one sitting. She had trouble eating an entire burger and an order of rings.
They walked down to the water, and as people started to arrive he said, “I can’t believe there are this many people here for the burgers.”
“Oh, they have a live band on the weekend. I forget their name but they’re pretty good. Some cover songs, but they have a lot of their own stuff. Someone’ll set up an outdoor bar soon, basic mixed drinks and beer, nothing special, but it’s a nice evening if you want to hang out and see them.”
He checked his phone, said, “Nothing from Duke, so we may as well.”
“Yeah, nothing on my phone, either, but he knows how to find us, if he wants.”
Brain was sitting on one large rock, Gen on another, and she took her boots off and settled her feet in the icy water. “How bad did I mess up?”
“You hurt him, Gen. Wounded him. Gonna have to figure out how to fix it.”
“Do I give him time, or text him?”
He considered her a few seconds and said, “I wouldn’t call him yet, but a text might be a good start.”
Gen thought, but didn’t know where to start. “I don’t know what to say.”
“My telling you what to say would be dishonest. It needs to come from you. From your heart, not your brain.”
From her heart.
Yeah. She’d been overthinking it. She typed:
I’m sorry. I was an idiot. Can we talk?
She hit send and then showed it to Brain, so he wouldn’t think she was asking for advice. He smiled. “It’s a start. Why do you have your feet in the water?”
“It’s probably my version of your climbing a tree for the view. I’m a water person. This river is 147 miles long and traverses three states. I’ve either canoed or kayaked all but about ten miles of it.”
“Well, you’re just full of surprises, but I have another for you. See the heron on the light pole, just this side of the houseboats?”
It didn’t take Gen long to see the tall, graceful, majestic bird, and she nodded.
“She’s a shifter. In bird form now, but can turn into a person.”
Gen looked at the bird in a whole new light, and wondered at the incredible experience of being able to shift into a bird and take flight.
“I thought you couldn’t tell me who’s a shifter and who’s human? Not without their consent?”
“Right, if they’re in human form, but you won’t be able to tell this bird from another once it flies away, and neither of us has any idea what she looks like as a human.”
Okay, that made sense. “How do you know she’s a shifter, and a she?”
“Wind carried her scent to me. Didn’t take long to figure out where it came from.”
When the band started, Brain got them some drinks, and they sat at the water and listened to the music. Gen asked to switch to Coke after two drinks, as she didn’t want to get drunk, and Brain explained that with his metabolism, it was impossible for him to get drunk.
Several songs in, Gen told Brain, “The heron has a thing for the lead singer. I think she’s freaking him out.”
Two songs later, he said, “Damn if you aren’t right. Heron shifters are odd, and he smells human. Gotta wonder what the story is there.”
During a particularly good song, Brain looked towards the road, paused, and looked back to the band.
“You heard something? Or smelled something?”
“Sounds like Duke’s Harley, about a mile out.”
Sure enough, before long a bike pulled into the parking lot, and when the rider got off, she recognized Duke’s walk. She stood to go to him but Brain put his hand on her arm. “He’ll find us. Wait for him, Babe.”
Duke walked up to them and Gen noticed he didn’t have his vest on, either. No one said anything, so she asked, “Can I hug you?”
He shook his head. “You can walk with me to my bike, get on, and ride to somewhere quieter so we can fucking talk.”
She looked down. “I need to let my feet dry before I can put my socks and boots back on. Will you sit with us for five minutes?”
“Why are your feet in the water?”
She shrugged. “I’m a water person. Brain sat in a tree in my backyard for two hours, I sit with my feet in the river. Same thing, but different.”