The Final Rose

Chapter Ten: Turtle Island

I waited for the birch bark canoe comments, but they never came.

"You're being very quiet," I observed of my roommate. "Are you feeling okay?"

Candace stared at the beached yellow kayak we'd been assigned. "I'm terrified of water."

We had been transported to a sea kayak rental store early that morning, the first part of our third group date. Candace's tiny jean shorts were far from a practical choice for a morning of kayaking, but I'd decided to humor my roommate by wearing the outfit she'd picked out for me.

Seven double kayaks and one single-rider for Jacob were set out on the sandy shoreline. Go Pros were strapped to each boat to record each moment of our kayaking adventure. Jacob made the rounds making sure everyone's life jacket was secure—footage for the episode, I assumed, not actual concern for our safety.

"Water?" I echoed. "Who's afraid of water?"

"It's not so much the water itself that scares me," she qualified. "It's what lives in the water."

"We're not scuba diving."

"Yeah, until we tip over," she worried.

"You'll be fine. I won't let that happen. My family went canoeing all the time." I purposefully set myself up to distract her.

"Just don't break out into song; Colors of the Wind and all that," she jabbed.

There she was, I chuckled to myself.

Once the initial shrieks of laughter and disorientation subsided, it was actually surprisingly relaxing to be out on the open water. I dipped my paddle into the ocean and pushed us forward. As we slowly coasted along the placid water, I tilted my head towards the sun to feel the warm rays on my face and the tops of my legs. The heat of the sun felt like a warm embrace.

But even in this serene, picturesque scenario, my thoughts couldn't help wandering back to Lee. The heat of the sun against my bare legs served as a reminder and made me hope she'd thought to put sunscreen on the tops of her thighs; she would be more vulnerable than ever out on top of the water's surface.

Putting aloe vera on her naked back and shoulders had been punishment enough. Certainly she wouldn't need my help applying the sunburn gel on her thighs, but my brain still drifted to the image of putting aloe vera on her thighs, my palms working over the visibly strong muscles just above her knees and moving up to the smooth skin of her upper thighs, painstakingly making sure the entire burn had been covered as my hands continued to travel higher still, stopping just short of her—

"Think you can maneuver us over to Jacob?" Candace's question rescued me from my dangerous daydream.

"Sure thing," I choked out. I was thankful Candace sat at the front of the kayak with her back turned to me. I wouldn't be able to blame a sunburn for the blush I felt across my cheeks.

From my position at the back of our kayak, I began to steer us in the direction of Jacob's solo boat. I was mildly surprised that out in the open water, without some kind of race or competition to keep us busy, that the excursion hadn't devolved into open season on Jacob. But most of the other women were struggling to simply keep their kayaks going in the right direction or were too concentrated on not tipping over to pay him any attention. I kind of felt sorry for the guy. I didn't know if it was he or the show-makers who'd planned our group dates, but so far they'd allowed for few opportunities to just relax and get to know each other. Each previous group outing had been high-stress or a competition.

"Look at you two," Jacob admired as we made our way over. "You're killing this thing."

He set his paddle across the bow of his kayak and reached out to pull our kayak beside his. I grit my teeth when our boat wobbled unsteadily. I had assured Candace I wouldn't let our boat tip over, but I had no control over Jacob's actions. The sideways swaying eventually stopped.