Chapter Fourteen

Charlie hopped out of the back seat of Presley’s Jeep and bounced up the sidewalk to Holiday’s only bed-and-breakfast. She didn’t bother to knock on the front door. Instead, she walked around to the back and let herself in through the mudroom. Darby’s parents had only opened the place about ten years ago, but she’d still spent so much time there that it felt like a second home.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Darby’s dad sat at the small kitchen table, cup of coffee in one hand, the thin Sunday paper in the other.

Charlie hugged him from behind. “Morning, Mr. Knotts.” Even though she’d known the Knotts family since birth, she still felt funny calling Darby’s parents by their given names. They’d stopped urging her to.

“I hear you’re taking our guest tubing today?” He folded the paper in half and set it down next to his mug.

She plucked a piece of bacon off the platter in the center of the table. “That’s right. Thought it would be nice to give him a taste of the local scene.”

“He seems like a nice guy, kiddo. How are you holding up with all the changes?” He tilted his head, like he was trying to get a read on her. Darby’s parents had been a huge source of support when Charlie went through what she liked to think of as her “black period.” Mr. Knotts had the sometimes-annoying gift of being able to tune in to peoples’ moods.

“So far so good. It’s not like I have much of a choice, is it?”

“Maybe it’ll be good for you.”

“Maybe what will be good for her?” Mrs. Knotts entered the kitchen through a swinging wood door that separated the heart of their home from the dining room. She held a carafe of coffee in one hand and a basket of homemade cinnamon-streusel muffins in the other. “You want some coffee, Charlie? I made a whole pot, and Beck won’t drink it. Had some fancy-schmancy coffee maker sent in.”

Mr. Knotts held up his cup, signaling a request for more coffee. “I was about to tell Charlie it might be good for her that someone else is coming in to take over the Rose. Maybe she’ll take the opportunity to look for a job up in Austin or even Dallas.”

Charlie’s hand froze, inches away from grabbing one of the still-warm muffins from the basket.

“You’re not suggesting she move away?” Darby’s mom stopped refilling his coffee and set the basket down on the table. “Holiday wouldn’t be the same without our Charlie.”

“And Charlie wouldn’t be the same without Holiday.” Mr. Knotts pushed his glasses back up on his nose. “It might be just what she needs to get a fresh start though. Don’t you think you’ve been hiding around here long enough?”

Darby’s parents turned their gazes on her. She was about to speak, to defend herself against the accusation that she’d been avoiding living her life. Mrs. Knotts raised her eyebrows in encouragement. Mr. Knotts folded his hands together and set them on the table in front of him. The grandfather clock in the formal living room played through its hourly routine and began to chime.

“Gosh, look at that. Eleven o’clock right on the nose. Presley’s in the Jeep out front. Do you mind if I grab Beck and we head out?”

Mr. Knotts shook his head and picked up his paper. Darby’s mom set the basket on the table, then, one hand still wrapped around the carafe of coffee, slipped her other arm behind Charlie. “He said he needed to run upstairs and grab his things. If you want to wait for him in the front room, you can.”

Charlie pressed a kiss to her other mama’s cheek and pushed through the doorway into the dining room, where Beck’s dirty breakfast dishes sat alone on the long dining room table. He must have been the only guest. The Bluebonnet Bed & Breakfast usually did a brisk business, especially on the weekends. Maybe Beck had scared the rest of the guests off. Still, it would be pretty lonely to eat breakfast alone every morning.

She almost felt sorry for him. But then he clambered down the steps, a day pack slung over one shoulder, a pair of cutoff jeans clinging to his hips.

“Hey, have you been waiting long?”

“Nope.” Just long enough to regret ever asking you to come along. From the moment the invitation had escaped through her lips, she’d wished she could have taken it back. It’s not that she hated Beck or didn’t want him around. She just had to hold herself in constant check around him, and it would have been nice to take a day off and relax around her family and friends. “Ready?”

He walked ahead of her and held the front door open in response. She slid her sunglasses back in place to fend off the blazing light of day. Knowing she’d be bobbing up and down the river all day, she hadn’t bothered to shower or put on makeup. She’d been doing good to roll out of bed and get her hair up in an elastic. Beck followed her out to the Jeep, where Presley and his latest girl of the month sat smacking lips across the stick shift.

Charlie grabbed on to the rollover bar and climbed into the back seat, knocking her brother’s hat off in the process. “Cut it out, Pres. Save it for the river.”

Presley wiped a thumb over his bottom lip, smearing Shana’s cotton-candy-pink lip gloss onto his hand. He must have noticed his pink fingers because he wiped them off on his muscle tank before sticking his hand out to Beck. “Hey, bro. Glad you could make it.”

Beck settled in next to Charlie, wedging his body into the tiny back seat. His hip pressed so hard against hers she wouldn’t have been able to slip even a piece of paper between them. “Thanks for inviting me.” Then he turned to Shana, who studied her mouth in the reflection of the rearview mirror. “Hey, I’m Beck.”

Shana turned around in her seat and tossed a sparkly pink smile his way. “Shana. Presley told me all about how you’re the new owner of the Rose. Nice to meet you.”

The gears groaned as Presley shifted into reverse. “Y’all ready to have some fun today?”

Shana’s hand squeezed Presley’s leg, much closer in proximity to his crotch than his knee. Charlie chewed on her bottom lip, hoping she wouldn’t regret this. At least not more than she already did.

As they cruised along the two-lane road into New Braunfels, the wind whipped through the Jeep, scattering her worries as wide as the green acres of grazing pasture that stretched as far as she could see. Between the roar of the wind and the blare of the country stations Presley kept flipping between, she and Beck weren’t forced to make conversation. Lost in her own thoughts, she studied his profile in short side-glances. A few days’ scruff made him look more casual and at home. Almost like a local. Except behind the designer shades, she figured he was probably counting the days until he could hightail it back north.

Even though he had months to go, the idea of him leaving sent a weird, prickly chill through her. Of course he’d leave. Why in the world would he want to stay? A guy like him, a successful entrepreneur in what most people considered the most important city in the world… Why on earth would someone like Beck ever even consider spending the rest of his days in a quiet town like Holiday?

Mr. Knotts’s comments from earlier played through her head. What would she do when it was time to move on from the Rose? Would she have the guts to pick up and leave everything she’d ever known—everything she’d ever loved—for a chance to stop living in the past and start building a future? The thought terrified her in every possible way. She was meant to be where she was. Things would work out. They had to.

The Jeep came to a stop in the parking lot, and Presley hopped out and checked his phone. “Well, hell.”

“What’s wrong, babe?” Shana leaned her head against his chest and studied the screen.

“Tippy, Cash, and the rest of the crew are gonna be late.”

“Wait, Cash is coming?” Charlie couldn’t believe it. He was the most serious of her brothers, and as a single dad, he rarely joined in on any fun and games.

“Yeah, I thought he was kidding at first. But Kenzie went to Dallas with Mom and Dad for the weekend, so I figured he could use a distraction.”

That made sense. Cash wouldn’t know what to do with himself without his five-year-old daughter around. “Well, how long are they going to be? Should we wait?”

“Nah, Tippy says to go ahead. Looks like it’s the four of us this afternoon. Beck, give me a hand with the cooler?”

Charlie’s throat constricted, and a wave of dizziness washed over her. The four of them? So the “date” was turning into a date date after all.

“You okay, Charlie?” Shana stood in front of her, wrapping her long brown hair into an elastic on top of her head.

“Yeah, um, fine.”

“Will you lotion my back?” Shana whipped her tank over her head, revealing a skimpy string bikini top.

Presley yelled from behind the Jeep. “Don’t you dare take my job, Char.”

Shana smiled. “Never mind. Guess I don’t need help after all.” She took the sunscreen and walked toward Presley.

Charlie groaned.

“What’s wrong? You really want to apply sunscreen to someone, I’ll let you do me.” Beck offered her a tube of sunscreen.

“Ha. No thanks.”

“Have they been together long?” Beck asked.

“Long for Presley. Which means probably about a month.” Spending the afternoon with Presley and Shana wasn’t what she’d had in mind when she’d invited Beck to hang out with a big group of their friends. Now it looked like it would be the two of them floating down the river while trying not to watch Presley and Shana hook up for the next three or four hours.

“Y’all ready?” Presley hefted the cooler onto his shoulder.

“You sure you don’t want to wait for the others?” Charlie asked. “I thought you told Shep and Brittany to come, too.”

“I did. Shep has tickets to some concert in Austin, and Brittany’s out in Amarillo. I can call Dwight if you want.” His mouth quirked up, showing off the dimple in his cheek. Her mom always said Presley was a wolf in sheep’s clothes. He knew how Charlie felt about Dwight and never missed out on a chance to give her a hard time about it.

“Okay, then, just us.” Presley and Shana and Beck. She could do this. It would be…fun. She needed a day off from her worry and work at that bar. No matter what, she vowed she’d enjoy herself. “I’ll get the tickets. Beck, can you and Shana grab the tubes?”

Ten minutes later, Charlie’d shed her cover-up and stood poised on the last concrete step, ready to plop into the river. She held the tube by the handles and nestled her bootie in the center. Shana and Presley had already launched, and she waited for the group of college-age kids in front of her to get a move on and get in the water. As they joked and jostled each other around, a pang of envy pinched her gut. Is that what she would have been like if she’d stuck it out at UT and had the typical college experience? Instead, she’d come home for spring break her freshman year to bury her fiancé and had never gone back.

“You okay?” Beck’s voice nudged her out of her often-visited past.

“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine.”

“You looked like you were somewhere else for a minute.”

She gave him a smile, one she didn’t actually feel. It was the same smile she’d pasted on all those years ago when people kept asking her if she was all right. The kind that let the person asking feel good about themselves for making an effort but didn’t take away the ache in her chest or knit her broken heart back together.

“We’re up.” She turned and attempted to ease into the water with a tiny bit of grace. Her foot slipped on a moss-covered rock, and she splashed into the river, the water dousing her in cool drops.

Beck entered the river behind her and paddled to catch up. He lifted his leg and caught the edge of her tube with the heel of his foot. “Mind if we stick together?”

Charlie’s gaze swept over the groups floating on the river. Presley and Shana were nowhere in sight. At least they’d left the cooler. It bobbed behind Beck in a small tube of its own. “Looks like we don’t have much of a choice. The rapids aren’t crazy, but you do need to pay attention if you want to stay in your tube. You ever done anything like this before?”

“I’ve been white-water rafting in Colorado a couple times. Also took an amazing trip with some guys in college. We kayaked down the Futaleufú River in Chile.”

Of course he had. Because that’s what guys like Beck were used to…bopping around the world on one adventure after another.

“How about you?” He clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his inner tube. She ripped her gaze away from his seriously cut chest and tried distracting herself with conversation.

“The Guadalupe is about as exciting as it gets for me. Although I haven’t been out here in a couple of years.”

“So can I ask you something?”

“If you hand me a beer.” Today seemed like at least a two-beer kind of day. Maybe more, depending on whether she and Beck ended up spending the whole day alone.

He spun around in his tube so he could reach the cooler and passed her an ice-cold can, then took one for himself.

“All right, what’s up?” She couldn’t wait to find out what he might be wondering about. More questions about the Rose? Why her brother was such a douche? How many days left on his sentence?

“Who’s Jackson?”

Her heart skittered to a stop as the noise of a Sunday afternoon on the river became muffled by the blood whooshing through her ears. Who’d told him about Jackson? Not that it was a secret. It just wasn’t something she usually brought up to strangers. But Beck wasn’t exactly a stranger. He was more of a… Dammit.

Her heart squeezed into a knot and then banged into motion. What was Beck to her? An employer. An irritant that festered like a sliver she couldn’t work out from under her skin. An amazing kisser and the first man she’d felt any sort of attraction for since Jackson left her. Her cheeks warmed at the memory of their time in the truck.

“Charlie?” He adjusted his foot on her tube, rotating her so their heads moved closer together. “You don’t have to answer. It’s just Dwight said something about you dating a guy named Jackson.”

“No, it’s okay.” What did she have to lose by sharing her story with Beck? “Jackson is…” No, that wasn’t right. “Jackson was…my boyfriend.” Somehow the simple term boyfriend didn’t begin to do justice to what Jackson had been to her. Her past, her future, her life. “We dated forever—well, ever since my dad let me officially date. He enlisted in the marines right out of high school. Got killed during his first tour of duty in Iraq.”

“Oh shit. I’m sorry. I’m going to strangle Dwight next time I see him.”

“Yeah, he likes to stir up trouble. Sully always said he was lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon’s rut.”

“Well, I haven’t heard that one before, but based on what I know about him, I can see how someone might say that. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to make you talk about something painful.”

She took in a deep breath of the stifling summer air. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”

Beck trailed a finger in the still water. At this point on the river, the water barely flowed, meaning they could sit here for hours if the current didn’t pick up. “Still, I’ve never lost anyone close to me like that. It must have been hard.”

“Yeah. It was. My whole world turned inside out and upside down.” She could still remember walking around like she was in a bubble, insulated from everyone else. How could they all go on like everything was okay? Her classmates had still complained about the food in the dining hall; her family had still talked about whether to breed more quarter horses or take on more cattle. She’d wanted to scream, shake everyone until their heads popped off, and blot out the sun with the storm clouds that surrounded her heart.

Instead, she’d had what the docs chalked up to a nervous breakdown and spent two weeks in Austin under medical supervision. Sully had visited her and offered her the job at the Rose during that time. She couldn’t imagine what good he thought she’d be able to do, drugged up and bogged down by so much emotional baggage. But he’d had faith in her, and bit by bit, her smile had returned.

How could she tell Beck how sorry she was that he’d never had a chance to know his grandfather when Sully had been the one who saved her from herself?

She readjusted her position in her tube so she could lay her head down and soak up the sun’s rays. A group of about twenty tubers clumped together floated nearby. The music from their speakers drifted across the water, and Charlie’s feet bobbed up and down in time to the beat. Beck looked lost in his own thoughts, which suited her just fine. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of floating on the water. Maybe they’d catch up to Presley, maybe they wouldn’t. She didn’t have anywhere else to be on a Sunday afternoon, and while the next couple of months stretched before her unknown, she’d give herself a chance to appreciate the here and now.

* * *

Open mouth, insert foot. Way to go, dumbass. He’d not only strangle Dwight the next time he saw him, he’d also call in his tab and make him settle up before anyone else served him at the bar. No wonder Charlie seemed so guarded.

As much as she intrigued him and drove him to more cold showers than he’d taken since junior high, he refused to be the asshole who’d break her heart again. In the short time he’d known her and despite their near-hookup in the parking lot, one thing had become clear—Charlie didn’t seem like the kind of woman who did things casually.

He’d have to rein it in and keep things on a purely professional level. Didn’t matter that he’d tried and failed at that a few days before. Now that he knew more about her, he’d be more careful. Satisfied with himself for taking the high road, he relaxed into his tube. The peaceful float down the river provided a much different experience than battling the rapids in Colorado or fighting to stay upright in a kayak.

His adventures were usually fueled by adrenaline, the crazier the better. His dad always told him one of these days he’d end up dead or seriously injured. But so far, Beck had gone skydiving, bungee jumping, parasailing, BASE jumping, and cliff diving with only a broken leg to show for it. Living life in a high-rise surrounded by concrete got to him after a while, and he had to get out of the city and get his blood pumping. Maybe he had a little more of his grandfather’s genes than he’d thought.

He mused on that for a bit until the current picked up.

Charlie nudged him with her foot. “Rapids up ahead. Hold on to your tube, and make sure we don’t lose the cooler. Presley would kill you.”

“Got it.” Beck sat up straighter in his tube and watched the group in front of them bounce over the long stretch of rapids. One guy bumped into a big rock sticking out of the water and tumbled out of his tube. Amateur. He lifted his butt up to avoid hitting it on any of the rocks under the surface and reached over to grab Charlie’s tube.

It spun out of his grasp, and she went down the rapids first. She nudged a rock and changed direction like a bumper car in a crowded arcade, getting caught up in the group ahead of them. Beck’s tube followed. But with the cluster of tubes blocking the route in front of him, his tube spiraled toward the big rock he’d seen earlier. He tried to paddle away from it with one hand but got nowhere. A surge of water behind him sent his tube crashing into the rock. The cooler went sideways, and he scrambled to set it upright before Presley’s entire cache of beer fell into the river. Back in control, he pushed off the rock with his foot. Pain sliced through the ball of his foot.

“Oh crap.” A sharp part of the rock had left a cut along the bottom of his foot.

“You okay?” Charlie had grabbed on to a clump of long grass sticking up from an outcropping of rocks and waited for him along the riverbank.

“Cut my foot. It’s not bad—it’ll be fine.”

“That’s why they recommend water shoes.” She lifted her legs and wiggled her feet, which were encased in ugly hot-pink rubber.

“Yeah, I should have thought to bring my stash of water footwear when I packed my bags. I usually strut along Fifth Avenue in them.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Or wear them jogging in Central Park. I love the squishy feel as my feet hit the pavement.”

“Okay, Manhattan. I get it. You were ill prepared for our little adventure today. We should have loaned you a pair of swim trunks and some Velcro sandals. Shame on me.”

“That’s right, it’s all your fault.”

“So is it my fault you’re losing your tube, too?” She nodded toward his inner tube, which appeared to be losing some of its buoyancy.

He’d been more concerned about his bloody foot and hadn’t noticed his butt had sunk a little deeper into the water. “Huh. What do we do about that?”

“Well, I guess you could climb up the bank and try to catch a ride back to the office.”

Beck glanced up the steep riverbank. “Not sure I want to do that with a fresh cut on the bottom of my foot. Is there an option number two?”

She lifted her hips and slid over to one side of her tube. “We share.” Her cheeks resembled the hot pink of her water shoes.

Share. With Charlie. In a bikini. The vow he’d made to take the high road and keep their interactions purely professional plopped into the water and silently drowned as he climbed into the tube beside her.

“You sure you don’t mind?”

“I don’t think you’d fit in with the cooler.”

Beck glanced toward the miniature tube, more suited to a toddler than a guy his size.

“All right then. Here goes nothing.” There wasn’t enough space for both of them to sit side by side. He settled into the middle, and she rolled onto his lap, putting them hip to hip and skin to skin. The water droplets on her chest were close enough he could have licked them off if he’d wanted to. And God, he wanted to.

“I don’t have anywhere to put my arm.” She moved her arm behind him, then back in front again like she was trying to get comfortable.

“Here.” He slid his arm around her shoulders, giving her a place to lean.

“Thanks.”

Her body was rigid next to him. With almost every part of them touching from head to toe, a certain part of him began to go rigid as well.

“Should we tackle the rest of these rapids?” Beck asked. His tube had lost air halfway down the bubbly section of river. With any luck, they’d make it the rest of the way without another screwup.

“Let’s do it.” Charlie seemed to look for a place to grab on. He almost laughed at the awkward look on her face.

“Just hang on to me, okay?”

She slung an arm over his torso and held tight as they kicked back into the flow and the tube drifted over another section of rapids. They lifted their hips in unison as they bumped, spun, and bounced over the rocks underneath them. Charlie’s body hummed along his as she shifted, trying to anticipate which way the river would send them.

Finally in calmer water, her half-naked body nestled into his side, he tried to think of something to say to ease the tension between them. “How about another beer?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” She seemed as eager as he was to have something else to focus her attention on.

Together, they wrestled the cooler close enough to grab another can for each of them.

“Cheers.” Beck tapped his can against hers.

“What are we toasting?”

“Um, how about to surviving the white-water rapids of the great Guadalupe?”

Her lips screwed into a doubtful smirk. “White-water? Don’t you think you’re stretching it a bit?”

“Hey, I never popped a raft in Colorado. So far the difficulty level here seems to be on par.”

“I bet Colorado is amazing.”

“You’ve never been?”

“No.”

“So where have you been? Where’s your favorite place to go?” Her sitting half on top of him made for an awkward angle for conversation. But not nearly as awkward as having her ass rub against his crotch. Professional, keep it professional.

Charlie shifted against him and lifted her face toward his. “I haven’t been anywhere. At least not anywhere outside Texas.”

Her comment distracted him from trying to squelch his growing desire. “You’re kidding. You’ve never left Texas?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I used to want to travel a lot, but not so much anymore.”

“Why not? You afraid to fly?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been on a plane. Unless you count the tiny two-seater my dad uses to check on his cattle from time to time.”

“Well, we’re going to have to get you out of Texas sometime. Maybe come visit me in New York. You’d love it there.” As he said the words, he wondered if they could possibly be true. What would be so special about New York for a gal who wrestled pigs and broke up bar fights between cranky cowboys? “The Statue of Liberty…the Empire State Building…Times Square…it’s like nowhere else on earth.”

Charlie nodded, her cheek brushing against his chest. His skin prickled under her touch, every part of him aware of the way she molded herself against him. “Yeah, maybe someday.”

“Is it your family? You have to stay close to manage the ranch?”

“No. My folks love to travel. They took a cruise in Alaska last year and have plans to do a tour of Ireland and Scotland next spring.” She went quiet, and he figured he’d be better off not pressing the subject.

But then again, he was a slow learner. “So what’s the deal then?”

“It’s just me, okay?” Her cheeks flushed, and she pushed off his chest to raise herself up as much as she could. “When Jackson died, I was on spring break down in South Padre. I should have been at home.”

“Charlie, you couldn’t have done anything to stop that. Whether you were on a beach in Texas or a mountaintop in Brazil, there’s nothing you could have done.” Crap, what had he said? Couldn’t leave well enough alone, huh? Had to go and push her. A tear slid down the side of her nose from under her sunglasses. He shouldn’t have come today. Should have done what he’d planned and headed to Sully’s place to start making it livable.

“He tried to call me.” The words came out so softly he almost missed the fact that she’d spoken at all.

“What?”

“When he knew he wasn’t going to make it. He tried to call me.”

What was he supposed to say to that? He opened his mouth to speak, hoping somehow the right words would tumble out.

But Charlie kept going. “His Humvee hit an IED. The truck blew up. They got him back to base, but he’d lost too much blood. I didn’t have my phone with me. Left it behind at the hotel while we sat on the beach. I was too worried about having fun with my friends.” The tears free-fell down her cheeks. He wanted to say something, ease her pain, tell her it wasn’t her fault. “He left me a message. I still have it. After all these years, I still listen to it every once in a while.” She wiped at her cheeks, and a sharp bark of laughter rose from her chest. “Go on, tell me how ridiculous that is. How I need to stop living in the past, start looking toward the future.”

He reached up and slid her sunglasses from her face. She looked up at him with watery eyes, hurt, wounded, raw.

“I’m not going to tell you that, Charlie.”

She blinked, and a crease appeared between her brows. “Why not? Everyone else does.”

“Well, then screw everyone else. When they’ve lived through losing someone close to them like that, then they can give advice on how you should handle yourself and how long you can be sad.” It pissed him off to think that people would rush her through such a devastating part of her past. He didn’t have personal experience with grief, but he had watched a buddy of his lose both his parents to a helicopter crash during college. As far as he was concerned, no one had a right to tell someone else how to feel.

She studied him for a long moment, then sniffled and ran her hand over her cheek again. “I never told anyone that before. About the message.”

“I’m honored you trusted me enough to share. You okay?” He ran a hand over her shoulder, brushing back a stray chunk of hair that had escaped her elastic.

“Yeah.” Her chest rose and fell as she inhaled and exhaled a long breath. “So anyway, that’s why I don’t want to move to Austin or San Antonio or Dallas. And that’s why I’ve never traveled much from home.”

“But he’s gone now.”

“I can’t stand to be very far from the people I love. In case they need me. I let Jackson down, and I don’t want that to ever happen again. I don’t know, you probably think I’m crazy.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy.”

“You don’t?”

“Nah. I think you’re pretty incredible.” As he said the words, he realized how much he meant them. He’d never met someone who wore her heart on her sleeve like she did. It was refreshing to not have to guess at what she might or might not be thinking or feeling. Not like everyone else in his life. With his heart unexpectedly full, he pulled her even closer to him and kissed the top of her head.

She pushed against his chest. For a moment he assumed she was rejecting the gesture. But then she lifted her head to kiss his cheek. “Thanks, Beck.”

He wanted to move his head, to meet her lips with his. Sitting this close to her, their skin warmed by the heat of the afternoon sun, the river flowing underneath them, he wanted to cement this moment in time. Before he had a chance to react with anything more than a shake of his head, droplets of water doused them both.

“There y’all are. Didn’t take you long to put the moves on my little sister now, did it?” Presley paddled closer, towing Shana’s tube behind him. “Been looking for y’all for an hour now. I’m dying of thirst. Toss me a beer?”

Just like that, the mood lifted. Shana gave up her tube and climbed in with Presley so Beck could have his own again. He missed the way Charlie felt nestled against him, but the distance kept him from doing things he had no business doing. As the day wore on and the sun moved from straight overhead to hover at the edge of the horizon, Beck decided he was glad he had come. Even though by the time they made it to the end of the float trip, he was pruned, sunburned, and hungry. He and Charlie had reached a new level in their relationship. More like friends. Even if he would be taking nothing but cold showers during his stay, it would be nice to have a real friend in Holiday.