Page 40 of Novel Problems

The kayak looked more advanced than the colorful, fat plastic one I’d gone in last time with Tania. Hopefully that didn’t mean it would be even more challenging to use, or I’d be screwed.

“Okay,” I said, gripping the paddle tentatively.How do I do this again?I should have asked for a refresher.

I turned to George, grimacing. “Um, I probably should have said this before you agreed to share a kayak with me, but I’m not very good. I’ve only done it once before, and it was a long time ago.”

She chuckled. “I probably also should have told you, before you agreed to share a kayak with me, that I’m a terrible kayaker.”

“Really?” I laughed, relieved.

“Yep! Appalling. The last time I tried to do it, probably about five years ago, I kept going round in circles and basically didn’t leave the shore. I blamed the kayak, but I’m pretty sure it was all me.”

“Well, that’s good. We can be terrible together,” I said, grinning, already feeling more relaxed.

Olivia kayaked over to us, deploying strong, powerful strokes that sliced through the water. She made it look easy. Behind her, Blake and Jenny were bobbing in their kayak, chatting.

“So we were thinking we’d kayak up the river, past Breakback Ridge, and over to Battersby Island, which has that ruined castle on it. Sound good?” Olivia asked.

It sounded rather ambitious to me, but I didn’t want to be a killjoy, so I nodded.

“Okay, folks, let’s head off.” Olivia powered ahead.

I tried to emulate her technique, but I didn’t get the angle of the paddle slicing into the water right and sent a big spray of water over George instead.

“Shit! Sorry about that!” I tensed, remembering Tania’s criticisms. Thankfully, I’d been sitting in the back of the kayak when I’d paddled with her, but if I’d splashed water on her, she would’ve been furious.

But when I turned around, George was smiling, brushing drips of water off her face with her hand.Thank god.“That’s fine. It’s eighty degrees, so that was actually quite refreshing. And if you were sitting behind me, you’d be getting much worse.”

I relaxed and turned back to see where everyone else was.

Olivia was now well ahead of us. Blake and Jenny were not far behind her.

Refocusing my attention on paddling, I carefully completed a few more strokes. My technique seemed to be improving, but I was doing it so tentatively I’d hardly moved us along. I glanced at George, who seemed to be experimenting unsuccessfully with different grips.

“Hey! How are you doing?”

I looked up to see Olivia floating in front of us and nearly jumped out of the kayak.How the hell did she get back here so quickly?

“Sorry we’re so slow. We’re just getting the hang of it,” I said, feeling guilty that after running late, we were still holding the others up.

Olivia looked unperturbed. “Do you want me to give you a few tips? I used to kayak a lot in high school.”

I said, “Yes please,” at the same time George said, “That would be great.” The fact that George was in the same boat as me—I grinned at my pun—made me feel slightly less self-conscious about my ineptitude.

Olivia showed us how to hold the paddles and then gave a slow-motion demonstration of how to slice the blades of the paddles through the water, providing blow-by-blow explanations that sailed right over my head.

The more we focused on trying to emulate her movements, the more uncoordinated we became. Our paddles collided, I splashed George again, and we started turning around in circles.

After a few minutes of Olivia attempting different ways to teach us what looked to be a simple stroke, George spoke. “Thanks, Liv. I don’t think we’re going to be able to make it all the way to the island. Why don’t you guys go on, and we’ll practice our technique, and next time we’ll be able to join you? If that’s okay with you, Hannah?”

I breathed out a sigh of relief at George’s suggestion. My arms were already aching from paddling, and we’d barely left the shore.

“Yes, I think that’s a good idea. We don’t want to hold you back,” I said.

“Well, if you’re sure? After this, I was thinking we could grab a drink in the beer garden at Builders’ Arms if you’re interested, so if you get tired of paddling we could meet you there.”

“Sounds great.” A vision of relaxing in a chair in the sunshine, sipping an Aperol spritz, appeared in my mind. That was very appealing right now. Perhaps we could head straight there…

Olivia raced off, leaving a trail of bubblesin her wake.

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