“Well, hello there again,” she murmured. High above her, a hawk was riding the wind, banking and turning silently as it searched for a meal. She watched it shrink into the distance as it traveled farther downstream, then it called out in a now familiar high pitched scream before giving up its casual looking glide. It changed direction. With powerful wing strokes, it headed towards the tree covered hills beyond the deep pool. That was where Maria was.
She turned her feet in that direction and slipped into the water. Her shoes filled with water, turning into a soggy feeling mess that she knew would squelch with every step for the rest of the day. The current dragged at her ankles, pushing her forward towards her destination with gentle insistence, not that she needed the incentive. She caught sight of Maria a few minutes later. A thrill ran through her. It raced along her spine and quickened her breath, almost stealing it away entirely. Maria was standing at the edge of the drop off, looking off into the distance. She wore some kind of shawl or blanket across her shoulders and her dress—something calf length and loose at the hem—clung to every curve. For once, her hair wasn’t tamed by a braid or twist. It flowed and danced in the wind, invisible fingers playfully weaving and unweaving the straight locks. Between drafts, it settled neatly between her shoulder blades, hanging almost down to her waist.
Her legs slowed down, then stopped, until she just stood there clinging to a boulder for balance and wishing she had planned things out a little better. She hadn’t thought much past getting here, driven by a desire she only half understood. Now she wasn’t sure how to proceed. What would she say? What could she say? After a week of saying nothing, she wasn’t even sure how happy Maria would be to see her. A dozen scenarios played out in her head, most of them resulting in her being turned away or rebuffed. That thrill she had been feeling turned on her, twisting into a sick feeling bordering on panic.
Maria chose that moment to turn around. Now she knew what a rabbit felt when the hawk flew overhead. She stood out in the open, unprotected, exposed, and not just physically. She froze in place, sure that her eyes were as big as saucers and trying to unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth. Nothing witty or suave was going to slip out, of that she was completely certain. Everything else was up in the air.
Maria pulled a wild strand of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. She smiled, a welcoming smile that warmed Stacie’s heart and loosened the fear that had been gripping it, but it wasn’t until she held out her hand that Stacie remembered she had feet again.
“I’ve been waiting for you. What took you so long?”
It was a question that could be taken so many ways, one that could be sent in so many different directions. It was full of potential, and all Stacie had to do was find the right answer and she would be set on a new path of her choosing, one that didn’t require her to keep walking alone. She took Maria’s hand and with one quick, powerful movement, launched herself up onto the boulder then used her momentum to pull the shorter woman into her arms.
“I’m sorry it took me so long, but I’m here now.”
Chapter Twelve
Maria pretended to struggle just a little bit to make sure that Stacie really wanted to hang on to her. Stacie threw back her head and laughed, and just like that, whatever tension was left between them melted away.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” Stacie said. There was a wild look in her eyes that had nothing to do with conquest. She wasn’t demanding a kiss, she needed it. The vulnerability hidden deep within those soft brown eyes made Maria’s heart ache.
“If you want to.”
Stacie laughed again, except this time the notes held an edge to them. She let Maria go and stepped back, trying for self-restraint and failing miserably. “If I want too? You really just asked me that?”
Maria wanted to ask Stacie why she just didn’t do it. She almost did, had inhaled in preparation to ask, then blew out the discarded question. There was some deeper emotion at play here. Fear. Stacie was afraid of a repeat performance. She was afraid that if she kissed her, Maria would run away again. Well, there’s one way to fix that.
“I did, and I’m sorry,” Maria said. “For everything. I asked you for something that you weren’t ready to give…and I did it for the worst of reasons.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me,” Stacie said. “I acted like a total ass.”
“Maybe, but it was my fault. I took you to a place, then left you there alone. That wasn’t fair.” Stacie’s expression turned hungry and Maria knew she was remembering exactly what place Maria was talking about. Maria stepped closer to the ledge and gazed down at the shadowed pool below. “I expected you to make a leap of faith, to jump in blindly to the concept of an ‘us’ without giving you what you needed most—time.”
“Because your time here is limited?” Stacie asked. “Josie told me you might be going home to Arizona. I—I couldn’t let you leave without talking to you one last time.”
“Yes, that had been the plan.” Maria spoke honestly. She truly meant that her original plans were past tense. “I can’t believe how selfish I was acting. I demanded more from you than I was willing to do myself. But not today. We could talk about this all day and never really figure out all the nuances of every conversation between us. What I can do is take my own advice. A leap of faith, isn’t that what I
