“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Nothing.” They both responded at the same time, with Josie pulling off sweet and innocent much too easily. Maria bit her lip and pretended to be invisible.
“Really? You look like Rowan when she’s trying to get out of trouble,” Stacie muttered, nailing her friend with a stern expression that may have worked on anyone else. Josie just giggled at her.
“Hmmm. Well, I think you’re just out of luck there, sunshine, because I’m not scared of you.” Josie said, digging a floppy canvas hat out of the backseat and plopping it on her head before walking away.Now, let’s get down to the water before the kids manage to kill each other. Besides, I’m sure Maria has waited long enough to see this place.”
*
“Oh, my. You weren’t exaggerating when you said this place was beautiful.”
Rowan and Rob were busy stacking rocks across a split off section of the creek, creating a miniature version of the waterfall tumbling down a slide of rocks a few hundred feet upstream. Wide and slow, it was remarkably clear. Every pebble and stone was visible along the bottom and Maria spotted a few fingerlings darting from one shady ledge to another, the silvery flashes competing with the sun shimmering off the surface. There wasn’t a single place that looked deeper than a foot. She pulled her skirt up to her knees and waded in, then sighed in pleasure. The shallow water was warmer than she had expected. It swirled delightfully around her calves and the soft, pebbly sand bottom made her want to dig her toes in deeper. “Heaven,” she sighed, raising her face up to the sun and just FEELING it all.
A couple of wide, flat boulders dotted the edge of the water, and Josie had already staked out the most comfortable one for herself. Stacie had wandered back up to the Jeep for something and for a moment, Maria could close her eyes and pretend she was all alone in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the sound of the water streaming over the rocks, the breeze rustling through the leaves of the oak tree’s, and the cry of a hawk somewhere high above her in the cloudless sky. No doubt he was upset at their intrusion on his hunting grounds, their human presence chasing away the small creatures that would have been dinner.
“Maria,” Josie called out to her from the bank. “Come sit with me for a while.”
With Dee absent, it had fallen on Stacie to get the portable grill ready. A white plume of charcoal smoke did a pretty good job of mimicking clouds and conveniently marked where the jeep was.
“Is it safe, letting her cook?” Maria asked, remembering how much teasing Stacie got for her cooking skills. Josie patted the beach towel next to her and she sunk down onto the stone in one smooth motion before shifting her position. With her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms resting on them, she waited for Josie. She had a feeling it was time to listen, not talk.
“The grill is safe as long as you don’t let her into the spice cabinet, not unless you want something even the dogs won’t eat. Everything else I brought is either premade or store bought and safely tucked away.”
“I’ll remember that,” Maria said. She shifted positions, leaning back and resting her upper body weight on her hands. She looked out over the water, at the hills and tree’s behind the creek. As far as she could tell, there wasn’t a house or a paved road within miles of the place. “How did you ever find this place?”
“Well, we never really ‘found’ it,” Josie said almost sheepishly.
“I don’t understand.”
“We’re still on the Flying S. Dee inherited it from his father.”
“Oh. That’s a lot of land,” Maria said. “I didn’t realize the place was so big.”
“Hmm.” Josie plucked at her jeans nervously. When she spoke again, it was to ask a question that made Maria pause. “You said you were planning on going home soon. What would make you stay?”
Maria searched Josie’s face, then she searched her heart. “I, uh…I hadn’t thought about it. I guess for the right reasons.” She stuttered through her confusion around a mouth gone suddenly dry. What do I want? More importantly, what have I been doing pursuing a woman here when I planned all along on going home at some point?
“The right reasons or the right person?” Josie pushed and Maria caved in. Plans change. Life changes. But it wasn’t just about her. There was another person involved. It would be up to them, too.
“Yes.” Just that one word was all it took. A noise behind them made her jump. Stacie was finding her way down the hill. Josie turned and followed her gaze.
“Ah.” She patted Maria’s knee, then called to the kids to come in. “Lunch is ready.”
Before she could move away, Josie touched her arm. “There’s a place downstream…about a quarter mile. If you’re up for a hike, you should ask Stacie to take you after lunch. There’s a deep pool where you can swim. It’s even more secluded than this and no one will bother you there.” She smiled, a tender yet ingenious smile that made Maria wonder if this had been her plan all along.
“What about you and the twins?”
“Don’t worry about us. Dee will be here soon. If they get tired, we’ll just head out.”
Leaving us alone with Stacie’s jeep and a way home, Maria added silently. “I’m impressed.”
“And I want Stacie to be happy,” Josie said, then added one more thing before leaving her standing on the trail, too dumbstruck to respond, let alone move. “Oh. There’s a backpack in the backseat. Take it with you. There’s a comfortable blanket and a few things you might need.”
Chapter Seven
“Hey! Look who decided to finally show up,” Stacie said, striding up to greet Dee with a playful
