“Uh, yeah. Apparently, Daisy doesn’t wear belts.”
He raised his brows. “That’s a little too tempting, Miss Madison. Perhaps we should let Jim show Grant the ropes while we take a little walk back to the cabin.”
His look brought on a hot spell, and my armpits suddenly felt sticky. Gross.
I narrowed my eyes. “You steer clear of my ribbon, understand?”
“I can’t promise anything.”
I walked over towards my dad just when Grant let out a yell. “I dropped the fishing pole!”
I scanned the water and saw the pole moving down the river. I dropped the one in my hand and started running along the shore, keeping up with it.
“Madison! Let it go!” My dad hollered after me.
No, I wasn’t going to let it go. It was from my father. He went to the fishing store and picked out a shiny, new rod for me. Determination shot through me as I hopped over a log, running like the track champion I was.
Well, the one year I ran track at La Vista Junior High, that is. I did place third in a meet before I quit altogether because I didn’t care for sweating. Still true, but I NEEDED to get the precious gift my father had given me before it was gone forever.
After running further downstream, a miracle happened. Ahead was an area where some branches were stuck, blocked from floating down the river by a large boulder sitting in the water. Sure enough, my rod stopped, stuck in a branch. Whew!
I climbed on the rock, dropped to my stomach, and leaned forward, but the pole was just out of reach. I searched for something to help my arm gain a few inches in length when my eyes landed on my ribbon.
I yanked it from my belt loops and tied the ends together so it made a circle. Once on my tummy again, I was trying to get the ribbon around the end of the pole to pull it to me. I was only slightly aware that as I scooted forward on the rock, my jeans were sliding down my rear.
Shit, I almost had it. I scooched forward a little more as I teetered over the water, with only my legs and hips left on the rock. I stretched one more inch, ribbon in hand, when I felt myself teetering too far forward.
Just as I was about to fall in, a hand grabbed the back of my jeans, preventing my plunge into the river.
“Madison, there are currents. You’re going to fall?—”
I peered over my shoulder to see my knight and shining armor. “My pole is right there. I have to get it!”
A smile snuck across his face while shaking his head at me. Yanking me upright by my belt loops, he then dropped to his stomach and scooted forward until his fingers finally reached my fishing rod. When he got to his feet, I threw my arms in the air and then pulled him in for a ginormous hug.
“Thank you, Jax. You have no idea how much this rod means to me.”
I felt his breath on my cheek. “I think I do.”
He pulled back and gave me a slow, smoldering kiss.
His ringing cell phone pierced the air, his fingers fumbling to grab it from his pocket. “Yes, we got it. Be back in a few minutes.” He disconnected the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket before pushing a piece of hair out of my face. He waggled the pink ribbon he had somehow managed to hold onto in the air between us.
I tried to yank it away from him, but he held it just out of reach. “I should have”—jump—“known that my ribbon”—jump—“would end up in your hands”—jump—“one way or another.”
Recognizing it was futile to try to wrestle the ribbon away from him, I leaned forward with my hands on my knees, taking a moment to catch my breath. Recovered, I turned my indignant gaze on him as my ribbon was handed back to me.
He chuckled before opening his arms, inviting me into the space where I fit perfectly. We stood silently while I rested my cheek on his amazingly perfect chest with the sound of rushing water surrounding us. Was it possible to freeze time forever and ever and ever?
“This is nice.”
“It is. But we should get back to my dad and Grant.” And with that, I hiked my pants up with as much dignity as I could muster and walked away while weaving the ribbon through my belt loops.
Grant saw us heading his way when he ran over and hugged me.
“I’m so sorry, Madison.”
“Don’t be.” I bent down to his eye level and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It’s all good.” I held up the rod. “And now we can use it together.”
