She patted her hand toward him, sending a spatter of water across the left half of his face.
“Are we going to play like that?” He swam toward her with an impish smile spreading across his lips. “I can splash if you like splashing.”
“Hey.” She giggled, swimming backward. “You promised me shampoo if I got in here, and so far, all you’ve done is make fun of me.”
“All right.” He grumbled, backstroking toward a hollow log next to a little alcove. Reaching inside, he pulled out a white plastic bottle with a green lid and tossed it to her. She missed the catch, but it was half empty, so it floated.
Picking it up, she flipped the cap open and smelled the contents.
“Thank you.” She moaned. “You’re a lifesaver.”
Jillian paddled over to the shallows on the opposite side of the creek. Warm water swirled around her limbs, and she sighed with relief as her feet touched the bottom. Squirting a quarter-sized blob into her palm, she lathered it up and massaged it through her hair. The aromatic smell of the soap mingled with the pine trees, and her scalp tingled as the tea-tree delighted her skin. The cool breeze carried birdsongs that made her smile in the warm sunshine, and the water didn’t seem so cold anymore.
Dipping her head under the water, she rinsed off the lather and came up, taking a big breath, grateful for every single sensation that she would have taken for granted a few days ago. Wiping the water from her eyes, she picked up the bottle and swam it back to Conner, who was brushing his teeth with a stick.
“That’s a handy trick.” She handed him his shampoo, and he returned it to its hiding place.
“I can make you one too.” Biting down on his wooden toothbrush, Conner reached over onto the bank and pulled a twig from a branch. Picking up a flat rock, he rubbed the tip of the stick back and forth against the hard surface, fraying the wood to make bristles. He held it out.
“Thank you.” She found it odd how comfortable she felt with her naked body so close to his.
“So, can I ask you a personal question?” His expression took on a seriousness that was uncharacteristic from what she’d gathered so far.
“Sure.” She swam back into the sun.
“That guy you were with when I first saw you…” He swam forward to follow her. “He was your boyfriend?”
“Yeah.” She looked away. “We’d been seeing each other for like six months. Our fathers are friends.”
“Is that why you were with him?” Conner pinched his nose and dunked his head before coming back up and shaking the water out of his hair. “Because your dad liked the idea?”
“No.” Jillian shrugged. “I mean… that wasn’t the only reason. We grew up together. I thought he understood me better than most guys because he’d been around my parents. You know what, I’d rather not talk about it; saying it out loud just makes me realize how stupid I was.”
“No,” Conner shook his head, “you don’t sound stupid… Please, tell me.”
“Well,” Jillian searched his eyes for judgment and found none, “Ted knew about my mom’s pill and alcohol problems. My father had made some crooked business arrangements with Ted’s dad. There were a lot of things that we just weren’t able to discuss with anyone else. Even talking to a therapist was dangerous. If anyone decided to leak something to the press…”
“So, you trusted him.” Conner’s eyes stayed with hers. “He was the one person you thought you could talk to, and he hurt you.”
“Oh,” she looked away, “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
In fact, in the last two days, since everything had happened, this was the first moment that she had stopped to process the emotional impact of what Ted had done to her. Her father had slapped her mother when things got heated between them in the past. But no one had ever been physically violent towards Jillian before.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.” There was something about his eyes that made her feel more naked than she already was. It was like he could see all of her secrets and insecurities.
“Now that you mention it, there is one other person I trusted.” Jillian smiled, changing the subject. “My friend Elaina, she would have loved to be in the middle of all this.”
“What do you mean?” Conner swam closer.
“She’s always been the adventurous one. She’s been to Machu Pichu, seen the Pyramids of Giza. She believes in the possibility of bigfoot and vampires and aliens. Or, as she says, she wants to believe.”
“Sounds like a cool girl.” Conner smiled, closing the space between them again.
“Yeah.” Jillian nodded as her heart skipped a beat. “You’d like her.”
“I like you.” His face was only inches from hers, and Jillian found herself wanting to kiss him more than she’d ever wanted to kiss anyone in her life. “You’re shivering. Are you nervous?”
“Just cold,” she lied.
“Hey, guys!” Vincent shouted from the bank, making Jillian jump. She folded her arms over her chest, turning away from Conner. “Finn’s back, we’re going to start cooking here pretty soon.”
“Be right there,” Conner yelled back before lowering his voice. “I am such a jerk; I forgot to feed you.”
“I’m not a stray puppy.” Jillian stood up a little straighter, still too embarrassed to look him in the eye. “If I had been that hungry, I would have dug through your kitchen.”
Vincent must think I’m such a whore, flirting with him this morning and then going for a naked swim with Conner. What the hell is wrong with me? Maybe one of those bumps on the head did permanent damage.
Conner was kind enough to keep his back turned while Jillian dried off and got dressed. The clothes were
