He smiled. “As you wish.”
What did he wish? Did she even want to ask?
No, she didn’t.
She swam toward the large boulder on the edge of the river and placed a hand on the rough granite. She didn’t climb onto it or rise up out of the water. She felt the cool river water coursing over her bare skin. “Just as well I have a lot to do the rest of the day,” she said half to herself.
“You go on,” Gabe said, closer to her than she realized. “You’ve got a job to do. I’ll turn my head while you get dressed.”
He materialized by the boulder. Felicity noticed river water creating rivulets on the well-developed muscles in his chest. She ignored the dryness in her throat, the awareness in every part of her body. “Then I’ll do the same for you.”
“No worries.”
All went according to plan. Felicity didn’t know if she was disappointed or pleased, but she did accept that she had a party to get to. She’d have died of embarrassment if she and Gabe got seriously physical and someone happened upon them.
“Best to check for ticks,” she said as they returned to the road.
“Will do.”
She heard a faint but unmistakable note of amusement in his voice. “I mean it, Gabe,” she said. “I don’t want you getting Lyme disease.”
“Me, either. Are ticks the reason you jumped into your clothes so fast?”
“They could be in our clothes.”
“How to take any romance out of the moment.” He slung an arm around her and kissed her on the top of her head. “You smell like a trout.”
“Speaking of romance-killing comments.”
He laughed, dropping his arm from her as they started down the road. “Now I keep feeling ticks in my shorts.”
“I keep sharp-pointed tweezers in the bathroom.”
“Ah. Good to know.”
He disappeared into the bathroom when they got back to her house. Felicity went into her bedroom. Her soaked underwear had dampened her dress. She peeled off everything and left it all in a heap on the floor while she checked for ticks, spiders, mosquitoes and anything else she didn’t want crawling on or stuck to her. She didn’t find anything, just bits of leaf debris and bark. It was her usual post-swim routine, but it felt different today.
She jumped in the shower, and when she emerged, she presumed she no longer smelled like a trout.
When she returned to the kitchen, Gabe greeted her with a glass of iced tea. “No ticks?”
She shook her head. “You?”
“None. I found a spider and escorted him outside where he belongs. Don’t know his chances, but he’s on his own.” He made a face. “Something to be said for swimming pools.”
“Is that what you want in your next house?”
“If I move to California, for sure, but I doubt I’d get in it much.”
“Not the same charm as our swimming hole.”
“I generally hit the treadmill for exercise, and I don’t have a lot of time for things like hanging out at the pool or walking along the beach. Hanging out in general.”
“You don’t take the time, you mean. You’d rather do other things. Work. Do you hang out with friends?”
“More than I used to. What about you? What’s your life in Knights Bridge like these days?”
“Other than skinny-dipping in the river?” Not waiting for an answer, Felicity sat at the kitchen table with her tea. A few more minutes and she’d have to leave for the library. “Work, house, more work, more house, some friends, some family. I hope to establish a more normal work schedule and get things done on the house and have more time for friends and family. I was away from Knights Bridge for a long time. Some old friends and I don’t have anything in common anymore. I’ve made new friends—people I didn’t necessarily have much to do with in high school, like Olivia and Jess, and new people, like Russ and Kylie.”
“Then being here is a fresh start more than a restart.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it really is.”
“I’m glad you’ve made a place for yourself here,” Gabe said. “Need to get going?”
She nodded. “You’re welcome to ride into town with me, but I have to be there early and leave late.”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind.”
“Do you plan to contact Nadia?”
“It’s best I don’t,” he said. “That’s my instinct, and Russ agrees.”
“Makes sense.” Felicity held up her glass, suddenly feeling awkward, self-conscious. “Thanks for the tea.” She pushed back her chair. “Time for our badger book party.”
Twenty
Felicity’s first stop was Rivendell. Gabe saw that he hadn’t thrown her off schedule with their walk and quick swim, and the fresh dress she’d put on looked as good as the one that had gotten wet. The women attending tonight’s party were dressed up, waiting for the car Felicity had arranged to take them into the village. Audrey Frost was driving herself and Daisy Farrell. In the two years since his grandfather had moved to assisted living, Gabe had learned not to make assumptions about the elderly residents and their motives, capabilities or health.
Of course, party-planner extraordinaire Felicity MacGregor had arranged with the staff to make sure she had a little something for those who weren’t attending, including anyone on restricted diets.
While Felicity saw to her craftspeople, Gabe checked in with his grandfather at his small apartment. “I always liked Felicity,” his grandfather said after Gabe explained why he was there. “Thought you two would be married by now, but you never did like to do what anyone thought you’d do.”
“Saying I was a difficult teenager?”
“Difficult, period.” The old man grinned. “I was blunt even before I hit eighty.”
“Plain-spoken,” Gabe amended.
“And maybe unpredictable is a better way to think of you. Do you still like to be unpredictable?”
“I don’t know if I ever liked it. These days I like to think I’m spontaneous and flexible, able to maneuver
