Page 34 of Even After Sunset

We start along a trail that winds downhill through a lush hardwood and pine forest. And man, it’s actually really nice. The trail is pretty worn, but there isn’t another soul in sight. The silence and woodsy smell is refreshing after being on the road all day.

And it suddenly dawns on me I haven’t been for a walk in the woods in about seven years. Since my parents died. We used to go for short hikes on the weekend sometimes, and I would complain because the family outings would take me away from a video game or baseball or whatever I could have been doing with my friends.

I push aside the memory and focus on avoiding protruding roots as we take a left turn down a steeper, less maintained path. And then I hear it:

Rushing water.

I stop in my tracks for a second becauseJackie did this for me.

Despite the pain-in-the-ass I’ve been since she found me passed out in her bed yesterday morning, she went out of her way to find a waterfall near the festival grounds once she knew how jazzed I was about seeing those tiered falls back in Massachusetts.

“You didn’t have to do this.” I say softly, as the cascading water comes in to view just around the corner.

“I know,” she shrugs.

We walk right up to a small pool at the base of the falls, and I’m speechless for a few minutes. We both are. It’s beautiful. And not just the white curtain of water that spills over the moss-covered cliff, but the sound of it, too. Loud but still soothing, like white-noise.

I take a few steps closer and peer into the shallow pool. I can just make out the smooth rocks about five feet below the surface.

I tug off my T-shirt and throw it onto a rock behind me.

“I’m going in,” I say, tugging off my boots and flinging them without even glancing back to see where they land. My shorts are next and two seconds later,I’m stepping into the water, wading toward the waterfall. I reach my hand out and watch the droplets splatter and spray across my palm before ducking my whole body in. The water roars over me and it’s ice-cold but still… amazing. It’s perfect.

I pull back and shake my head a couple of times, sending water droplets flying, then push my bangs out of my eyes. I turn to Jackie, who’s watching me with a huge smile on her face.

“You coming in?” I call, scrubbing a palm across my face.

“Uh… yeah. Um, I guess?” she glances around like she’s looking for something. Probably an excuse not to have to strip down to her undies with me watching. She’s always been kind of bashful about stuff like that.

“I’ll turn around.” I tell her. “And then you can tell me when you’re sitting in the water.”

She bites down on her lip. She’s so different from any of the girls I hang out with in Allerston Lake. It’s part of what makes New Jackie a pain in the ass. Except for right now. For some reason, right now, it’s refreshing.

“Yeah… I guess.” She finally says. “Okay.”

“Cool.”

I wade a few steps from the waterfall and lower myself into the shallow pool before she can change her mind. And either my body is acclimatized already or the water in this spot isn’t as arctic cold. I lean back and rest one arm on a low rock and angle my body away from where Jackie is still standing, shifting from one foot to the other.

I turn away. “I’m not looking.”

“Promise?” Her voice is timid now; a lot more like the Old Jackie.

“Geez… Yes.” I roll my eyes, even though she obviously can’t see me. “I promise.”

There’s a ripplingswiiish… swiiiish… swiiiishas she enters the water. And then a sudden and very loudSPLASH!Followed by a high-pitched screech.

“Ow!!! Owwww!”

Iwhirl around.

Jackie is ass-deep in the water, pushing herself up from where she obviously fell in sideways. I do a quick once-over: no cuts or blood or anything. She looks fine.

As in, she looksfine. Water droplets trail down her tanned curves and she’s wearing a frilly pale yellow bra, which is girlish and sexy all at the same time.

“You okay?” I ask.

She’s facing away from me, still sputtering and ringing her hair out with both hands.

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