Free The Broken Lake by Shelena Shorts Page B

one?”
    “It’s at home.”
    “But why buy this? We could’ve taken my Jeep.”
    Opening the door for me now, he said, “I thought about that. Then realized I’d rather have this. It’s safer, and I have other ways to seek a thrill now. Don’t need a sports car.”
    I smiled at his sly grin in suggesting new thrills. I was all for that. “Does that mean you want to work on your clarity?”
    He shut the door without responding.
    “That was rude.” I accused, as he slid into his side.
    He leaned over and kissed me on the lips. “Sorry.”
    I pouted. “So what is this anyway?” All I knew was that it was another black, shiny vehicle with black leather seats and large tires.
    “Range Rover.”
    It was nice. I liked his taste, that was for sure. He knew how to look good, but classy, without blazin’ in someone’s face about it. We drove toward town and I wondered where we were headed. It turned out he needed to stop at the sporting goods store.
    “I don’t fish,” he said. “So we need to buy equipment and supplies. You’ll have to show me which ones.”
    “What? I can’t remember.” This was going to be the blind leading the blind.
    He wasn’t concerned. “We’ll ask someone, then.”
    And we did. Within twenty minutes, we had all the fishing supplies we needed. After seeing them, I remembered the basics enough to have a shot at actually catching something.
    We were about to check out when Wes asked if I had packed a swimsuit.
What the heck would I need that for?
The thought sounded so appropriate that I said it out loud.
    “To swim, Sophie. What do you think?”
    “Swim in what?” I asked, still not getting it.
    “In the lake.” He had a look on his face like he wanted to say “Hello?” after the comment.
    “You don’t swim in a lake.”
    “Sure, I do. I’ll swim anywhere there’s water.”
    Oh, geez.
“Wes, I’ve fished in a lake, but never swam in one.”
    “Well, we’re supposed to be doing something different, right?” He put his hands on my shoulders and lowered his gaze to mine, holding back a smile. “Besides, you said you were outdoorsy.”
    I let out a low grumble. He might have been able to woo me with those dark brown eyes before, but not anymore. Okay, who was I kidding?
Fine.
    I looked at the sales associate. “Where’s your swimsuit section?”
    Who was I to care about dirty, slimy lake water. I was with Wes, and we were going to have fun. And since that was the only way to make the most of what time we had, that’s what I was going to do—swim in the lake.
Gross.
    Two hours later, we arrived at a wooded park area. A Fishing Docks Ahead sign blatantly beamed at us as we entered the parking lot. Wes’ GPS system told him to make a right onto a paved, narrow lane. Instead of following the pavement, Wes turned again onto a dirt road. The GPS lady didn’t like that. In a calm, stern voice, she told Wes to turn around in point three miles.
    “You’re making her mad.”
    “Oh, she’ll be fine.” He reached over and turned her off.
    “Where are you going anyway?”
    “There’s a more private water entry this way.”
    I noticed faint tire tracks, so I knew we weren’t the only people to upset their GPS lady. “How do you know what’s up here?”
    He looked at me as our bodies bounced around in our seats as we made progress over the rough terrain. “Research,” he said.
    “Research.”
    Turning his attention toward navigating our narrow, rocky path, he casually continued. “Yeah, I looked around for some good fishing places and this one had an aerial map, so I was able to see they had an off-road section.”
    “Uh-huh. I see.”
    After a few more minutes of bobbing up and down and left and right, we rolled to a stop just short of an embankment. I was impressed.
    “Wow, the view is perfect. Look at it.”
    It was amazing. The water was calm, and a dark blue-green color that reflected the sunlight beautifully. There was no one else in sight. Just us and