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Echo sighed, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear and gesturing to the boat. “Yeah, we used to canoe at camp when I was a kid. It was fun, but I hadn’t really thought through the fact that the camp counsellors did the heavy lifting for us.”
“It’s a bad idea to go out alone. There are some places around here that don’t even have cell service—the island only has decent service because Grant had a signal booster installed.”
Echo shrugged, looking from Dexter to the canoe. “I’m not going far. I just want to clear my head a little.” She slid an oar and her life jacket into the boat, obviously not reconsidering.
“Lodge rules say you have to actually wear the life jacket when you’re boating,” she lied. It wasn’t a rule, but she was going to ask Grant to include it after having seen Echo going out alone.
“I’m pretty sure the lodge police aren’t going to be swinging by anytime soon.”
“Do you really want to make Grant grumpy?”
Reluctantly, Echo started pulling the life jacket on, and Dexter scooted over to the boathouse and grabbed another oar and life jacket.
“What are you doing now?” Echo asked, sighing with impatience.
“I’ve been out on the lake a lot. There are some cool spots to see if you know where they are,” Dex replied. “Besides, going out alone is dangerous. Don’t worry about me coming with. We can talk or I can keep my mouth shut—completely up to you.” As she spoke, she zipped her own life jacket with finality so Echo knew she wasn’t giving her a choice in the matter.
Dex felt for her phone so she could message Grant and let him know where she’d be, then realized, strangely, that she’d forgotten it in his room. Anywhere else on earth, her phone wasn’t more than a few feet away. At Wild her phone was optional, and often felt like an unwelcome leash instead of a useful or entertaining tool.
She held up a finger and ran back to the boathouse, scribbling a note on the big whiteboard Grant had installed.
Going canoeing with Echo at 2:30ish.
Back soon, Dex
Hopefully he’d spot it if he was looking for her. They’d probably be back before he noticed she was gone anyway.
She steadied the canoe as Echo got into the front, then pushed off and hopped into the back. They wobbled for a second but then glided forward, a few waves lapping the prow before the surface of the water smoothed.
They paddled for several minutes before Echo even said a word.
“It’s so beautiful out here. So peaceful.”
Dexter could feel the silence of the lake soak into her as they followed the island farther toward the uninhabited side and then branched off into open water. Their vessel slipped silently through the dark grayish blue toward the opposite bank. The sky was almost the same shade as the lake, and the water was choppier than Dex was used to.
As they got farther away from Wild, Echo’s shoulders visibly relaxed.
“So, are you in the mood to talk or would you rather just listen to the quiet for a while?”
Although the wind tried to swallow Echo’s sigh, Dex heard it anyway. The waves near shore were forcing them to stay farther away from the mainland than she usually did with Grant, and water sprayed her face from time to time when Echo’s paddle came out of the water. Good thing she hadn’t worn mascara.
Echo bent low and skimmed her hand over a lily pad, her face in profile reflecting a delight that masked her underlying sadness. “It’s strange, but after living in cities for so long, I’d sort of forgotten about lily pads.” She laughed. “I always hoped to find a little water fairy asleep on one when I was a kid. There was a rumor at my summer camp that the lake there was full of them.”
“Sounds like a great place to be a kid.”
Echo nodded. “I was pretty lucky. My parents are free spirits, but there was always money. Win-win, you know?”
To someone who had no family who was dating someone with a tiny family, it sounded pretty spectacular.
So strike out family trouble.
Considering the fact that Echo loved her job, the only thing Dexter could figure out was it probably had something to do with Tarka.
“Spill it, woman. You didn’t decide to go out canoeing by yourself in the middle of nowhere because you’re having happy childhood memories.”
Echo propped her paddle across the edges of the canoe, and Dexter watched as the blade of her paddle left drops of water in their wake, expanding only to be obscured by their passage.
“It’s Tak. Big surprise. You know I’m interested in him. I mean, it’s not something I’m spreading around, but I know you won’t repeat this.”
