Flight Risk

23 - Twin Lakes Beach Part 2

"Are you upset with me?" Caleb asked tentatively after twenty minutes of silence. I only caught him out of the corner of my eye, but he was watching me.

Crap, perhaps my reflection had been poorly timed. I'd just needed some time to think.

"No, yesterday was an emotional day. I'm drained."

"I am looking forward to resting and being on our own." His grin beamed like the sun breaking through the thick nimbostratus clouds dominating the sky. "Though I suppose making you drive isn't that restful."

"I'm happy to do it," I added cheer to my tone to override the earlier awkwardness. "It's a simple drive, only a few hours today, depending on how many stops you want to make."

"What are our options?" His eyes, green like the surrounding fields, sparkled with excitement.

"There are town statues and a few beaches on the delightful Lake Manitoba, a magically tropical experience," I teased.

He flipped through the guidebook he'd snagged from my parents' collection. "It's the 33rd largest lake in the world, the largest saline one in Canada, and formed from ancient glacial Lake Agassiz. It's more massive than anything we have in Australia."

It was endearing he was into the lake I hadn't realized was saline. While I wasn't as fact driven as him, since I was a kid I made a point to swim, dip my toes in, or at least touch every body of water, be it river, lake, or ocean, I encountered during my travels. 

"Glad you're enthusiastic about it. We'll be sticking between it and Lake Winnipeg for today and part of tomorrow," I said.

The guidebook drew his attention while I focused on the road. The further we drove, the more the clouds thinned into wisps, giving way to bright blue skies to illuminate the golden wheat, purple flax, and green fields. A train track ran along the road, and we caught up to the Prairie Dog Express, a historic steam-run passenger train that took passengers on a return trip from North Winnipeg to nearby Grosse Ile. I had ridden it as a kid with my parents. As I explained that to Caleb, he tucked his phone away and smiled at me.

"Sounds like a fun experience."

"How did your reading go? Find a whole new list of places to explore?"

He chuckled. "Some would be interesting, but I wouldn't want to pull an aquatic dweller from the lake too long."

"Aquatic dweller?" I laughed though I liked how well he knew me.

"The lovely lionfish," he teased with a smile.

But he hadn't said 'my' anymore, and my heart sank.

"I'll be living my best marine life in Indonesia in under three weeks. Pull me wherever you'd like." Even Australia, I'd longed to say as a half-joke to see how he'd react but only managed it in my head yet again.

"Would a beach in Saint Laurent be too far off the road? It's supposed to be quite nice."

"Let's do it."

The farmland turned to woodlands as we neared the southern end of Lake Manitoba, with short aspens and oaks bordering the highway. Soon Caleb guided me with his GPS to turn near the gas station, and we ended up at Twin Lakes Beach. Plenty of cabins spanned the shore. I kept driving until I reached the public area with a few parked cars.

We hopped out and headed toward the white sand beach populated by families building castles or playing on inflatable rafts or boards in the lake. A couple of guys played catch deeper in the water.

Caleb kicked off his flip-flops and ran his big toe through the sand. "Amazing to see this so far from the ocean. Is it all natural?"

I nodded. It wasn't a popular enough beach for them to haul in sand. We kept walking to a quiet area and sat on a sarong I'd thrown down. It had the elephant print pattern travellers loved to buy in Thailand.