“The sky,” I murmured.
“Doesn’t look like this anywhere else I’ve been,” Blake said from beside me.
I was about to ask him if he knew anything about astrology when he said, “I can see Coma Berenices.”
“Is that even a real constellation?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“Well I don’t see anything other than a bunch of stars, some closer together than others.”
“It’s not that hard to pick out. Here,” he said, his voice suddenly right at my ear.
I stood up, and he tilted my head over and then pointed.
“It’s mainly that cluster there, see? And those few down below. See it?”
“Kinda, though I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to be looking at.”
“A lady’s hair.”
“A lady’s hair? Okay, I guess, though I still don’t get it.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, sorry. I basically threw myself in without explaining. Coma Berenices is Latin for “Berenice’s hair.” Myth has it that the Egyptian queen Berenice cut off her hair and gave it to Aphrodite to protect her husband through wartime, and that the goddess was so pleased with the offering that she took the hair up to the heavens and turned it into a cluster of stars.”
“That’s a nice story,” I said.
“Yeah. Funny, the things some people will do for love. Sacrifice everything. It’s beautiful if it’s worth it, tragic if it isn’t.”
His words echoed bitterly over the water, and the question that had been playing on the edge my mind came to the surface.
“Blake, did you really come out here to escape the way your parents lived, their shallow materialism? Or did you come out here to escape something else too?”
The silence after my question was the answer. As I waited, there was not the slightest hint of a sound. No rustling, no chirping, nothing. Even the trees and animals were frozen in suspense.
“Her name was Anya,” Blake said after a minute.
The silence stretched even longer this time, and I was about to say something, about to make some dumb comment about the water or the stars, when he spoke again.
“She was destruction incarnate.”
I frowned.
Another statement that was nearly impossible to respond to.
Luckily, Blake followed it up for me. “You aren’t going to dunk your head in?”
I glanced over. His cheeky grin was just visible in the dark.
“No. Who knows what’s in this water,” I said, and he laughed.
“Still a city girl at heart, afraid of a little forest water.”
And with that, he shook his head exuberantly, like a dog, showering me with droplets.
“Hey!” I said, swimming away.
“Come on,” he said, “it’s not every day you get to swim in the forest under the stars. Make the most of it.”
“I’ll go at my own pace, thank you,” I said, coming to a stop.
Blake shrugged but kept advancing, stopping in front of me. Looking up at him, I trembled with marvel. He almost looked like a bear himself with those huge arms and broad chest, even with the alert way he was eyeing me now. Almost as if…
I tore my gaze away. I was being ridiculous. Blake clearly had been enjoying his life here—alone. I took a step away, inhaled and then exhaled. I was still reeling from everything that had happened with Angelo. My feelings couldn’t be trusted.
Taking another step away, I said, “I’m really hungry now. I think we should go back.”
“Yeah. You’re right. We should go back,” Blake said. “Just after you”—he dunked me under the water and then up—“get the full lake experience.”
Now sputtering, I turned to him and hit his rock wall of a bicep.
“Blake!”
He only laughed at my soaked and sputtering form. His big deep belly laughs continued as I wiped off my face and caught my breath, and then I was laughing too, the both of us shaking with it, with the warm water, the nice night, and me, drenched in my full lake experience.
Once we got back to the shore, Blake’s gaze lingered on me as I hurried to my clothes. It flicked away hurriedly when I caught him looking.
“Can you make it back all right?” he asked.
Stumbling into my pants, I gave the answer I didn’t really feel: “Yes, thank you. I should be fine.”
As I unfurled my shirt, Blake asked, “You sure?”
Slipping on the shirt on, my arms groaned with fatigue, and finally I admitted it. “I am pretty tired actually,” I said.
The next second Blake was there in front of me, turning around, crouching down, and spreading his arms for…a piggyback. I paused for a second and then hopped on. Blake rose as easily as if I were a bag of potatoes or a rabbit. Then he started back to the station. The ride was enjoyable and practically made me fall asleep.