Page 34 of Holidate Fail
They came to the sandy bank where a woman in waders stood in the water of the smooth-flowing Pange. Another woman leaned against a tree, her back to Kelly and Dahlia as she watched.
The woman in the water skimmed a cup across the top of the river, then transferred its contents into a larger bottle. She repeated the process several times.
Dahlia got out her phone and silently filmed the woman in the water, lips in a flat line as she glared.
“What are you doing?” Kelly whispered.
“Shhhh,” Dahlia admonished. “I think they’re taking samples of uncontaminated water with the plan of submitted them as evidence.”
They watched for a few more minutes before the woman screwed the top on the larger container. “That ought to do it.” She turned toward the bank and froze.
Kelly thought Dahlia might dart into the bushes and hide, but she marched forward. He followed behind her.
“You can’t record me! That’s illegal!” the woman yelled.
“You’re in a public place with no expectation of privacy.” Dahlia raised her camera again and took a couple of pictures while the woman splashed out of the water.
She took so much of Kelly’s attention that he didn’t pay attention to the woman on the bank until she took a bucket from the one in the water. The golden-haired woman on the bank, wearing high-waders and sharing the exact same silhouette as his beautiful-only-on-the-outside ex-wife.
This was an unlucky blast from the past he didn’t appreciate.
“Kelly! Gosh, it’s been so long!” She glanced at Dahlia and shot her the bright smile of someone who was in love with life. But her eyes. Her treacherous eyes held a gleam of excitement and anticipation.
“And Dahlia Pesch. I’m so honored to meet you.” Kristy shuffled among the bank to stand with them, holding out her hand to Dahlia.
Dahlia paused before taking it. Her nose scrunched. “You…know me?”
Kelly’s nerve endings prickled his body. He hadn’t had that foreboding feeling since his divorce.
“The famous hydrologist? Well, duh!” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Famous hydrologist?” Dahlia narrowed her gaze and studied the woman still in the river.
Kristy tugged on Dahlia’s arm and led her down the dirt path away from the water. “I bet you could show me a ton of interesting things about this river.”
“Which you were never interested in before.” Kelly followed behind. His new lover next to his ex-wife. This was a surreal moment he’d never expected to encounter.
“People change, Kelly. After you left, I tried to improve myself and study things outside my normal interests. It’s always good to expand your horizons, right, Dahlia?”
Kelly’s mouth slacked open. After he left? She had snuck out while he was at work, leaving divorce papers and the old grey sofa behind.
“It is.” Dahlia’s words were hesitant, as if she reluctantly agreed with Kristy’s point. “What were you—”
“You never know what the future might hold. And Kelly.” She focused her mega-watt smile on him. “If there was a chance for us to find each other again, I wanted to be prepared.”
“What kind of river grass have you been smoking?” he hissed out.
Kristy let out a bright laugh, so different from Dahlia’s low chuckle when she was amused. “I’d forgotten how funny you were.”
“Mostly because we never had anything to laugh about.”
Kelly’s SUV had come into view, its windows steamed up with the humidity.
“Well, here we are.” She unlinked Dahlia’s arm and shot Kelly another beautiful smile. “Do you mind if we share some girl talk?”
“Why are you asking me?” Kelly responded.
Kristy raised her perfectly manicured eyebrows at Dahlia, who shrugged, avoiding eye contact. “I guess.”
