Beauty of the Wood

He asked, "Ready to head back?"

"Yes. I should probably get back."

Sitting in the front of the canoe as it cruised across the lake into the wind, Dara was glad that she was facing away from Chase so she could hide her embarrassment. Her residency had consumed her time, and she'd barely dated for the last couple of years for that and other reasons. It had been a while, and being around a handsome man who she knew was attracted to her — or at least used to be — had awakened a lot of suppressed emotions.

He lived in California, though. That and the age gap helped her keep her perspective, and calm her nerves. She'd had plenty of practice staying realistic and keeping an emotional distance over the years from meeting attractive boys who were geographically undesirable on the lake.

Maybe a bit too much practice.

By the time the canoe slipped up to the shore, she wasn't even concerned when he said, "Guess I'll see you tonight," indicating that he was accepting her father's invitation.

"See you tonight," she responded, and then gave a wave before hiking back up the trail.

****

Sweat beading on her forehead in the heat and humidity after lunch, Dara was thinking about stripping off her stifling clothes and diving into her mother's pool when she heard it.

"Hello, the camp."

Dara looked down toward the water, and then turned to her father to remark, "What is this? Grand Central Station all of the sudden?"

He put down the chunk of wood he was whittling and stood up, his brow furrowing. "That's Chase's father. Don't mention that he's here yet."

"Wouldn't he know?"

"I doubt it. When Chase left college and moved, his father all but disowned him."

"Oh no," she said, suddenly understanding why Chase had seemed uncomfortable talking about his career when she'd first asked.

Her father walked over toward the trail. "We'll let Chase decide what he wants to do. Ronald isn't... Well, he's beyond anyone talking to him."

"Okay."

He nodded and then yelled down to the water, "Come on up, Ron."

Ronald climbed up to the camp, and he was much as Dara remembered him. He was every bit as big and hairy as her father, and had been just as wild in his youth. Those days were gone, and his brown beard was now neatly trimmed in deference to his career in academia. Out on the lake, he had abandoned his working attire for a t-shirt and shorts.

"Well, as I live and breathe. Is this Dara?" He said upon spotting her sitting on a log in the camp.

"Doctor Owen," her father said, his voice a mixture of pride and banter with his old friend.

Dara couldn't help but notice that Ronald's questions and observations — right down to mentioning her bandaging up her brother — were almost identical to Chase's. How two men who thought so much alike could be so much at odds was both strange and sad to her.

Noticing that he looked anxious — excited — and seeing him worrying over a folder he was holding, Dara took advantage of a lapse in the conversation to nod her head toward it. "Something tells me you didn't come up here to talk about me."

"Ah, you had to go and spoil it, Dara," her father said, and then laughed. "I wanted to see how long we could keep him fidgeting before he boiled over." After another chuckle, he said, "So what are you about to burst to show me?"

Ron scowled for a moment after finding out he was the butt of his friend's joke, but shook it off. "I was out here last week, at the camp west of the waterfall." He opened the folder and pulled out a printed picture, the cadence of his voice demonstrating excitement as he continued, "I didn't have time to think about catching something to show scale, but look at this."

Dara stepped over next to her father as he accepted the printed picture. She kept her reactions tightly under control upon seeing what was on the page — La'isa's tail breaking the surface of the water.

Ronald's words came out in a rush as he explained. "There's nothing to show the scale, but those flukes were at least two and a half feet across. Look at that color. Such a stunning blue. That's no fish known in these waters."

"Ain't no pike or walleye," her father agreed. "Sure looks like something different."

Dara was amazed at her father's acting ability. Though he knew exactly what he was looking at, he sounded surprised, and excited.

"I went straight back and put in for some of the time I've accumulated. I brought camera traps, sonar, underwater cameras, and anything I can think of. If I can identify a new species — especially something so large and unusual..."

"Turn the world on its ear."

Ron paced back and forth, absently swatting at a fly as he gestured, unable to contain his euphoria. "Even though it would already be protected here, revealing something like this would lend weight to arguments about protecting other habitats that are threatened."

"What you've always been aiming for," Paul said and grinned while clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"You'll keep it to yourself?"

"Of course. Nobody would believe us anyway, without the evidence you're looking for. So — get going and get it. I've known you long enough to know when you're about ready to jump out of your skin."

"I'll be at the camp west of the waterfall," Ronald said, already headed back toward the water.

Once he vanished over the hill, Dara turned to her father and whispered, "Dad..."

"Don't worry. For whatever reason, your mother intended for him to see her. He could put an army out here with sonar and cameras, and never catch a glimpse of her if she doesn't want him to."

"But why?"

"Honey, I don't pretend to understand regular women, let alone your mother." He gave her a huge grin. "I just do whatever I can to make her happy, and I've found that works out pretty well."

"So, you're not worried?"

"Not in the slightest. Probably good for Ronald. He was getting a bit discouraged, and this might just be the jolt he needs."

Dara looked over her shoulder toward the lake. "I think we should tell Chase his father is here."

Her father grunted, the sound apparently agreement. "Why don't you go do that, and I'll see if I can convince your mother to tell me what game she's playing."

A chuckle shaking her, Dara said, "Good luck with that."

"You have to enjoy the chase," he said as he turned and walked toward the trail leading to La'isa's pool.

Not wasting any time, Dara walked down the hill and pushed her father's canoe into the water. Paddling the two-seat wooden canoe alone was a bit of a chore, despite the wind at her back. She'd had years of practice doing it and hadn't let her daily workouts slide during her years away at school, though. The canoe glided along, propelled by her precise strokes, though she knew the going wouldn't be nearly as easy when she was fighting the wind on the return trip.

Chase's canoe was pulled up onto the bank and tied off when she cruised into the cove, so she knew that he had to be somewhere nearby. A few more strokes of her paddle brought her to a good landing spot, and she climbed out to tie her canoe off to a young birch next to his. Preoccupied with breaking the news to Chase gently, she didn't think to call out to him before walking up the trail toward the camp.

It all happened within a matter of heartbeats. Dara stepped into the pine needle strewn clearing of the campsite, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open when she realized she was looking at Chase's bare — perfect — backside. He turned his head, noticed her, and jumped sideways behind his tent, snatching up a shirt hanging from the front pole of the tent at the same time. He cried out, disappearing behind the tent, and despite her shock at stumbling upon him nude, Dara ran toward him.

Chase was sitting behind the tent, his face a mask of pain, and his right hand gripping his ankle. Despite his discomfort, he'd found the presence of mind to drape the shirt over his loins.

"I'm so sorry," Dara apologized as she stopped to stand above him. "I didn't mean to... Are you okay?"

"Stepped..." He gnashed his teeth and grunted. "Stepped on something and t-turned it."

Training taking over, she said, "Try to relax. Let me look."

He nodded, and released his ankle to lean back on his hands. He breathed heavily, wincing from stabs of pain.

After examining him, she said, "It's just a sprain."

"First aid kit in the tent. Blue backpack."

Dara nodded and slipped inside the tent. She found the backpack quite easily, and as soon as she opened it, found that his preparations went well beyond what she would have expected. He had plenty of pain medication, several instant ice packs, and a large amount of ace bandage — everything she needed. He also had an emergency defibrillator, and almost anything he might need to respond to any emergency. He was easily as prepared as she was with her own backpack full of emergency supplies.

"Glad to see you took things seriously," she said as she slipped back out of the tent with his rolled up mattress pad and everything she needed to take care of his ankle.

"Saw too much on the ambulance, and there's no close help out here if anything happens."

"How's the pain?"

"It's actually not too bad now, but I haven't moved it an inch."

"Let's get you on this. You're going to be lying down with that elevated and iced for a while, and I doubt you want to do that while getting poked by twigs and rocks."

"Could you... Uhm... Grab my shorts?" His face turned bright red as he pointed toward them.

Dara felt her cheeks warm a little as well. "Sure," she said, picking them up from where they rested next to the tent. After handing them to him, she turned around and said, "Sorry about just walking up on you like that."

He let out a little grunt of pain as he moved to put on the shorts. "My fault. I should have said that I... Well..."

"That you're a nudist, too? No, I should have known — or at least been polite and asked for permission to come up anyway."

"So, it really doesn't bother you?"

"Of course not."

"It's just that some people think it's perverted."

She chuckled. After all, he could have no idea just how little she agreed with that opinion, considering her upbringing. "Well, I'm not one of those people."

"Okay, I've got them on."

Dara turned around and silently chided herself for the flicker of disappointment that shot through her upon seeing him dressed in not only the shorts, but the shirt as well. "Let's get you up off the ground and get some ice on that."

In short order, Chase was resting on his mattress pad with his leg propped up on his sleeping bag and ice packs on his ankle. He refused pain medication, hoping the ice would do the trick. "Well, I've got myself off to a fine start this trip," he said, and then chuckled.

"I should probably call Dad on the radio and..." She trailed off, finally remembering why she'd come here in the first place. "Oh..."

"What?" he asked, seeing her expression darken.

"The reason I came over was to let you know that... Well, your father is on the lake, at the campsite west of the waterfall."

He sighed, his expression revealing a tremendous amount of pain — emotional, not physical. "Oh. I guess you know, then?"

Dara nodded. "Dad told me a little after he left our camp."

"Thanks for letting me know."

She could tell that he didn't want to talk about it, and so didn't press the issue for the moment. "I'm going to call my Dad and let him know what's keeping me. We'll see how you're doing in a while."

"You can head back. I'll be fine."

"Once I know you can put weight on that long enough to take care of yourself. Not a second earlier." She broke out into a wide smile. "Consider that doctor's orders."

****

Fortunately, Chase was up and moving — albeit slowly and carefully — shortly after the ice packs had warmed. She told him to paddle over to their camp for supper so he wouldn't have to worry about it and so she would feel a little better about surprising him and causing him to twist his ankle in the first place.

Dara returned to camp to find out that her father had nothing to report about her mother allowing someone to see her. Hardly surprised, she chalked it up to yet another of her mother's whims, which were sometimes unfathomable to anyone but the naiad.

When Chase arrived, she was already at work on the meal, and the three of them took time to catch up. She was sure that her brother's ears were burning, considering how often he was the subject of stories that usually left him the butt of the joke.

Of course, he'd brought that upon himself with his shenanigans, and he was more than a little used to it.

Chase told a few interesting stories from his time on the ambulance, and Dara found that she fell easily into those conversations. He knew just enough to connect with her own knowledge without boring her to death with minutia, as others in her profession were wont to do. His descriptions of the California wilderness and contrasting city life were equally interesting.

With supper finished and the dishes washed, everyone settled in with cups of her father's wine around the small campfire. Since Chase had foregone pain medication, she was only a little worried about him losing coordination from the wine and possibly aggravating his injury. He was exhibiting common sense and not going overboard, so she relaxed, beginning to feel somewhat light-headed and silly from the wine herself.

The sun started to sink toward the horizon, and Chase looked up at the darkening sky. "Guess I should start thinking about heading back."

Enjoying herself a great deal, Dara felt a little crestfallen, but joked, "You're probably right, considering you couldn't find the place in broad daylight."

"Ha, ha. Then again, it looks pretty clear. Should be enough moonlight to navigate, so I could stay for one more cup of wine."

Paul walked over with his jug. "You can always call us on the radio for a rescue if need be," he said before filling Chase's cup again.

"I'll drink to that," the younger man responded.

After a long pull from his cup, he said, "I think I'll head over to Blueberry Hill tomorrow, take some pictures, and do some sketching. I've tried to capture that view a couple of times, but my memory just isn't doing the trick."

The place was a rare high spot on the lake with a tremendous view. They had dubbed it Blueberry Hill because wild blueberries grew at the top. "That's a bit of a climb on that ankle," Dara suggested.

"I'll be careful. All I have to do is make it up and down without killing myself. The rest of the time, I'll be safely sitting down. I just want something to tempt everyone else to make the climb once they get here."

"Make sure you take your radio with you. Channel two," Dara warned.

He chuckled and took another drink of wine. "I will."

"Seems appropriate," Paul said as he picked up his banjo.

Dara couldn't help but smile as her father plucked out an off-the-cuff version of Blueberry Hill.

As the song ended, Chase drained the last of his wine and let out a sigh. "Well, guess I'll head back." He stood up and gave his head a quick shake. "Maybe that last cup was pushing it."

Dara felt a head-rush as she stood as well.

"Since you're up, you can walk him down and give the jug a sink," her father said, holding out what remained of the gallon of wine. Long ropes and weights kept the jugs in the cold, deep water of the lake between evening indulgences.

Taking the jug, Dara nodded toward the trail and led Chase down to his canoe. "Mind taking this out with you and dropping it?" she asked as she tied the rope onto the handle of the plastic container.

"Sure, no problem."

As she handed over the wine, Chase's face was framed by the stars in the nearly dark sky, and the equally brilliant flashes from waves out on the lake. Their eyes met for the briefest of instants, and Dara's heart raced unexpectedly.

She vividly remembered walking down to the water all those years ago to find that carefully arranged bunch of flowers. Despite having never thought of him that way, it was still one of the most romantic gestures anyone had yet made to her in her young life, and it had made an impression.

"We're going to have to do this again some time," Chase said, shattering the moment as he turned to sit the jug down in the canoe. Glad that color-washing light of the crescent moon hid the blush she felt rising in her cheeks, Dara agreed, "Mmm hmm. Be careful."

Chase boarded his canoe and set off, dropping the wine when he reached the end of its rope. Dara turned and walked up the trail, but paused about half way when she was hidden from both the camp and the lake.

Oh, where did this come from, she lamented, her heart still pattering as chills shot through her. There was no denying the deep, intense attraction she'd felt in that moment as their eyes met.

He lives in California, she reminded herself. Besides, he's not thirteen with a crush on you any more, and your twenties are gone.

It didn't help.

The goose bumps and nagging desire to sneak back down the trail for one last glimpse of him remained.

****

Though the day had dawned sunny and beautiful, dark clouds and wind rolled in just before lunch time. The oncoming storm loomed closer, lit by occasional flashes of lightning as Dara stood at the bottom of the trail watching it approach. She knew that her mother's magic would protect their camp. There was no need to worry about lightning strikes or falling trees here, so the storm was yet another example of nature's majesty for her to enjoy.

Blinking against strands of hair constantly blowing into her eyes, she drifted back to the thoughts that had preoccupied her since the evening before. She'd gone to sleep worrying over her unexpected moment with Chase, and awakened from a dream that she could only remember snippets of.

What she could remember was that he'd figured prominently in the dream, and that she'd awakened in a mixed state of happiness and arousal.

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. He was familiar. He was certainly attractive, and that thought caused her to shiver as she amended attractive to gorgeous. She could talk to him about her work because of his experience as an EMT. He knew the part of her life on the lake as well, and shared her joy in it.

Beneath it all, he was safe. A relationship gone bad is what had turned her away from dating as much as limited time. It had been the only real long-term relationship since high school, and having it end worse than the first had caused her to withdraw even more than usual. Standing on the shore of the lake with a thunderstorm rushing nearer by the moment, the epiphany hit her.

The only reason she'd allowed the emotions to surge in the first place was that they couldn't possibly go anywhere. In a few days, he'd be back in California, where she wouldn't have to confront her feelings or act on them.

The first raindrops hit her face, cold and stinging from the force of the wind driving them. She started to turn back toward camp before the full brunt of the storm caught her, but something in her peripheral vision caused her to stop. Squinting through the approaching downpour, she saw a canoe hugging the shore and speeding toward her through the rising waves.

It was Chase.

He angled toward her, and she knew why. In less than a minute, she was soaked to the skin and struggling to see him through the sheets of wind-driven rain. He could either fight the storm for several more minutes to reach his own camp, or strike for safe haven. With bolts of lightning drawing closer, sitting on the water in an aluminum canoe made the decision easy for anyone rational.