Wolfe looked up. The drops began to fall faster. “Yeah, we better get back. Where’s the oar?”
“What are you talking about? They’re bolted to the thingy there, aren’t they?”
They both looked at the boat, which held empty rings and no oars. She glanced to the right and saw them floating off in the distance. Her heart began to pound. They were pretty far from the cabin and the shore. “Wolfe? What are we going to do?”
He rubbed his head like disasters commonly occurred in his world. “Huh. This could be a problem. I guess we swim.”
Her mouth fell open. “I’m not going in the water with bad things out to hurt me! I saw Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster with Lily! No way in hell!”
“Fine, then get on my back. I’ll swim and protect you.”
Thick, cold droplets began to strike her in a random, peppering pattern. She moaned in misery and stared down into the water. “I can’t do it.”
“You’re doing it.” He jumped back into the water and treaded water while he waited.
“What about our supplies?”
“I think bottles of water and fishing gear can be sacrificed for the greater good. Come on, Gen. Jump.”
“I can’t.”
She shivered, getting colder by the minute. His voice came out like a whiplash.
“I’m gonna say it for the last time. Get your ass in the water. I promise I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
She gulped. “Promise.”
His face softened, and suddenly Gen realized she’d go anywhere with him without hesitation.
“Promise.”
She jumped.
THE FIRE ROARED. THE rain pounded nonstop against the windows, while logs crackled and filled the air with the scents of burned wood and pizza. Wrapped in a toasty blanket, Gen stretched out a piece of melty cheese and sighed with delight. “Sooo good.”
Wolfe munched, eating from the crust downward as he preferred, and mumbled in agreement. “Better than fish.”
“Told ya so.” She licked her fingers and settled back on the couch with a groan of contentment. She glanced outside, where the wind roared and an old-fashioned summer thunderstorm raged onward. “That boat is long gone. Hope it wasn’t too pricey.”
He laughed and wiped his hands. “I just found the sucker in the woods during my morning hike.”
She paused. “What? You didn’t even know if that thing was safe? You could’ve killed us.”
He snorted, leaning back and stretching his legs on the coffee table. “I protected you from the creature from the black lagoon, didn’t I? You almost killed me. Strangling my neck so hard I couldn’t breathe.”
She tried to be mad, but a smile tugged at her lips. He was pretty lucky. She had never loosened her grip and the swim back had been brutal. “Fine. We’re even.”
A comfortable silence settled. She sipped a glass of Chardonnay and let the warmth of the evening wash over her. So nice. She used to crave sitting like this with David, just basking in his company. Enjoying his sharp intellect. But as they continued dating, the moments got further apart. He was always busy doing something, or telling her to do something. Idle hands and such. Until she’d forgotten what it was like to just sit in silence with a man, talking, being in the moment. Was this so sinful? Did every waking second of life need to be productive, with a target for output?
She remembered the way she’d try and fight back, give her opinions, and how he’d crumble in front of her, an emotional wreck. David struggled with receiving love. His parents divorced early in his childhood, and his mother was an absentee, not seeming to care about her only son. He’d devoted himself to the medical field, to achievement, to prove his worth. And he had. But Gen saw the cold glimmer of intent in his eyes, as if he only wanted to cut out his past with a surgeon’s scalpel. When she disappointed him, he reverted. At first she was amazed at his willingness to share his past. His openness regarding his limitations and weaknesses. He told her over and over she was the one to save him.
She’d tried. Hadn’t she?
But she wasn’t strong enough. The constant back and forth between cold disdain, teacherlike discipline, and loving, needy partner began to destroy her. So many times she’d chosen to forgive the way he hurt her because he loved her. But what was real love anyway?
She didn’t know anymore.
Darkness began stealing her peace inch by inch. She blinked back useless tears, caught between the misery of the past and her guilt over trying to save herself. The lives she had ruined by being selfish enough to run away. Coward. Coward . . .
“Sweetheart? Are you ready?”