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Lily shifted her overnight bag from the back of her
chair to the patio at her feet, checking to be sure the zipper was closed.
Alex raised an eyebrow. “Did you leave your laptop in the cabin?”
“Only because you told me to. I usually take it everywhere with me, and I’m already stressed about the—”
“Shh.” Alex reached over to touch a fingertip to her lips. “Focusing on it will only make it worse.”
Lily looked around at the empty patio, then caught Alex’s finger in her mouth. She held her eyes as she swirled her tongue lightly around it, then guided Alex’s hand into her shirt to graze her bare nipple. Alex groaned and leaned back in her chair, her eyes still on the white linen shirt buttoned not quite to the center of her chest.
“You’re pretty wise for a dance instructor,” Lily said, picking up her scotch and leaning back in her chair. “But you’re right, actually. Writing when you don’t have the words is like trying to spot ghosts in an old house. You’re sure you see something, so you turn and walk toward it, only to have it disappear.” She traced the rim of her whiskey glass with her fingertip. “The more you chase, the longer they hide.”
Alex looked over her head and pointed at a dusky swirl of bats swooping down from the treetops and flying toward the water. “I love bats,” she said, her eyes following them long after they’d disappeared like a twisting, pale gray cloud. “I’ve always loved them. In Cuba, I’d walk home after work at dusk and watch them fly out from under the eaves of the churches and belfries. I always wanted them to land on my hand, but they never did. I just walked around with my hand out like an idiot for years.”
Lily leaned in on her elbows. “What do you like so much about them?”
“I don’t know.” Alex swirled her amber scotch around the sides of her glass, watching as it slid over the cuts and curves of the crystal. “They represent freedom to me, I think. They’re so fast that nothing can catch them in the air, and when they finally come back to earth, they disappear until the next nightfall.”
Lily finished the rest of her scotch and put the glass back on the leather coaster, watching the golden rivulets slink down the sides. “What makes you feel like you’re not free?”
Alex took a long moment to answer, and when she did her voice was lower, more like a scrape than a sound. “I think I’m starting to realize I’ve felt like that for a while. But I don’t know how to fix it without blowing up my life.”
“That sounds familiar.” Lily met her eyes. “I understand that feeling.”
“I know you do.” Alex smiled, finished her scotch, and picked up both bags, slinging them over her shoulder. “But I also have a feeling that tonight might help.”
Lily stood and rolled the sleeves of her shirt to her elbow. “I’m getting the idea that you have no intention of telling me where we’re going.”
Alex winked at her and offered her arm as they descended the steps of the patio, then guided Lily away from the parking area and back toward Main Street.
“Don’t worry,” Alex said, switching the bags to the other side so she could hold Lily’s hand. “I spoke to the owner, and she said it was fine for you to leave your Jeep there for a couple of days.”
“You know what I just realized?” Lily smiled and leaned into Alex’s arm as they crossed Main Street. “I’ve actually never been on a date that I didn’t have to plan.”
“What?” Alex turned to look at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope, but in fairness, I haven’t been on many dates since I moved to LA, but the ones I have been on were…”
“Forgettable?”
“That’s an excellent way to put it.” Lily laughed as Alex led them to the grassy slope that dropped down toward the water. “Just the fact that I literally have no idea what the hell I’m getting into sets this one miles apart.”
“Well, I’m banking on you being hungry, but that’s the only clue you’re getting from me.”
Alex steered them down the hill from the center of town to the Mile High Marina, McCall’s main marina and community dock space, where the water was unusually calm for a late June afternoon. Boats drifted effortlessly into their slips as the owners returned from a day on the lake, and the gentle lap of the water on the dock became quieter as a passing wake faded into the shore. Lily slipped off her leather flip-flops and carried them as they walked down the dock past the rows of speedboats and local pontoons. The worn, sun-bleached boards were warm and soft under her bare feet, and the breeze coming in off the water loosened the hair tucked behind her ears, brushing it lightly against her cheek.
The slips were taken up by mostly local cruisers and ski boats, each assigned a number and, apparently, a theme; every slip was decorated slightly differently, some with colorful Hawaiian leis looped around the dock pillars, others with potted palms and bright deck chairs on the AstroTurf deck walk, and there were even a few with strings of party lights illuminating the darkening sky. Seagulls swooped close to land on the houseboats at the end of the dock, only to take off suddenly and fly toward the sharp edge of the world where the lake water met the bright orange sky, streaked with violet and pale blue.
They walked to the very end of the dock, where Alex finally stopped at a bright white double-decker houseboat with an expansive rooftop deck and a slick cerulean slide that ended just above the water.
“You can’t be serious.” Lily shaded her eyes to glance at Alex and then back down the dock. “You rented a houseboat?”
???“Well, it’s technically a yacht, but I am most certainly serious.” Alex tossed their bags onto one of the deck seats and stepped in, offering Lily her hand. “Just because the women you’ve dated before didn’t know how to treat you doesn’t mean all of us don’t.”
Lily took Alex’s hand, then stepped onto the lower level of the boat and walked around attempting to hide her shock while Alex took their bags to the cabin downstairs. Everything about it was gorgeous, from the white leather upholstery to the polished brass fittings, and a glance through the windows to the main living area inside made her feel like she’d stepped into the latest issue of Yachting While Ridiculously Rich Magazine.
Lily went to the tip of the bow and sank into one of the buttery soft leather seats. There was a small mahogany handle on the wall beside her, and she pulled on it gingerly to reveal a refrigerated minibar with full-size bottles of spirits and mixers, a small bowl of fresh limes, and delicate silver ice tongs.
