Loon Mountain

"Finish what we started or go meet the crew?" Brad asked.

"Meet the crew," Amber replied, heading for the bathroom to freshen up. "I'm afraid they may all barge in to watch if we tried to finish what we started."

Chapter 2 -- The interrogation

Amber and Brad made it downstairs as the three newly arrived couples walked in the front door encumbered by all of their luggage. Grant was the first to notice them. His face lit up like a man finding his lost dog.

"Brad!" Grant shouted, dropping his duffel to the floor and pulling Brad in for man-hug, complete with three solid slaps on the back. "It has been too long. I've had to represent the males of the family the last....How long has it been?"

"Four years," Brad informed him. "It's good to be back." Brad held Grant at arms length and patted his shoulder.

Now that he had everyone's attention, he put his arm around Amber and addressed the group.

"Everyone, this is Amber. Amber, this is everyone I identified as they were getting out of the car," Brad said.

Evie, always ready to chat with anyone, and, as the oldest, felt entitled to go first.

"Finally someone who can tame our wild Brad-berry," she said. She walked over to give Amber a hug and tousled Brad's hair before doing so. "Do you think you can convince to stop doing that dreadful job and do something respectable?"

She groaned the word 'dreadful' with as much faux disdain as she could muster.

"It pays the bills," Amber shrugged.

"Indeed it does," Evie replied.

"Much gusto," Fernando said, leaning in for the traditional Spanish peck on both cheeks.

"You'll have to tell me how you two met," Ines gushed, taking Amber by the arm and leading her away from the group. "Come with me to the kitchen. We'll open a bottle of wine while the men put away the luggage."

Joe gave her a knowing nod, grabbed the luggage and headed up the stairs. Fernando and Grant followed with their own burden. Brad and Derek shrugged and followed the men empty handed. Chloe, Evie and Heather followed Ines and Amber to the kitchen.

Ines motioned to Amber to sit at the large wooden table in the center of the room. It must have been ten feet in diameter and could seat twenty. Chloe sat directly across from her, a sly smile on her lips. Evie and Heather pulled their chairs as close to Amber as they could, leaning in to further violate her personal space.

"Red or white, ladies," Ines said holding two bottles she'd pulled from the hundred-bottle wine fridge.

"I'll have one of each," Heather replied.

"I like how you think," Evie said. "I'll do the same."

"What's your story, Amber?" Chloe asked, speaking for the first time since everyone arrived.

"My story?" Amber replied, confused. "Like, what do I do, or where was I born. How far back you want me to go?"

"Around here, we go all the way," Evie replied, laughing too hard at her double entendre.

"Well, I was born in a small town in western Michigan; Holland, specifically, home of the tulip festival. When I graduated high school, I went to the University of Michigan on a swimming scholarship," Amber began.

"Swimming?" Heather interrupted. "That explains the slender, muscular legs."

"Um, yeah," Amber continued. "I was studying engineering -- material engineering; fracture rates, heat tolerance, that kind of thing. I worked for Ford as an intern and joined their imagination team after graduating. I was working on a new material stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum to be the body of our vehicles. I received a call one afternoon from an attorney who had questions about our patent filing for this new material. He saw my name and wanted to know if he could come down for a visit to finish his part of the filing. Lunch led to dinner, dinner led to a date, and, well, more dates and, now, here we are."

"Do you live together?" Chloe asked, breaking her silence again.

Ines arrived with a tray of ten glasses of wine, one white one red, for everyone at the table. Two bottles ready to refill the empties towered above the glasses in the middle of the tray. She carefully set the tray on the table, and distributed the wine to everyone before taking a seat next to Chloe.

"Do you always start drinking at nine in the morning?" Amber asked.

"Only on the weekends," Ines said, sipping from the glass of red, first.

"During the week, we do vodka shots in our morning shower," Evie said, before repeating Chloe's question. "Do you two live together?"

"We each have our own place," Amber replied. She selected the white wine - better for the morning, she thought - and did her best to hide behind the glass as she answered. "We're on opposite sides of the city. He has a place in Grosse Pointe, I'm further northwest in Bloomfield Hills. So, we spend a lot of overnights at one or the other's place, depending on what our schedules look like."

"I love those neighborhoods," Ines said. "I've always wanted to list a house in one. Do you know which house you two will eventually live in? Or will you sell both and maybe move to Birmingham? Those houses are spectacular!"

"They are very protective of Brad," Heather said, recognizing Amber's distress. "Think nothing of it. They are more like his sisters than his cousins."

"He hasn't introduced anyone to us in a very long time," Evie said, still controlling the conversation. "We're very curious. Maybe a bit nosy." She cackled like someone who had finished more than just one glass of wine. Amber thought she probably had that shot of vodka with her morning shower, too.

"What do you do for fun?" Chloe continued the line of questioning.

"We like art museums, which are much closer to his place than to mine, and hiking trails in the woods or near water, which are more available where I live. We'll go to the beach, preferring Lake St. Clair to the Great Lakes," Amber paused to finish her glass of white. It was giving her the courage to face the interrogation. "Mostly we like to order in, enjoy a nice burgundy or sipping bourbon while watching whatever series we've become infatuated with on Netflix or HBO Max."

"Netflix and chill, now we're getting somewhere," Evie piped in. She'd already finished both glasses of wine and was opening the extra bottle of white.

"How is the 'chill'," Chloe asked, being indirectly direct.

"I don't typically share that kind of details," Amber replied, feeling her skin flush with embarrassment.

"You'd be the first!" Evie blurted and cackled uncontrollably.

"You aren't required to share," Heather said, then, trying to be reassuring: "If it's any consolation, I promise you Brad is being grilled about it upstairs and he won't have any problem sharing."

As if on cue, they all heard a loud cheer come from the men upstairs. Heather raised her eyebrow and cocked her head in the direction of the sound, shrugging her shoulders. Amber finished the glass of white and grabbed the glass of red, taking a tentative first sip. She hadn't eaten anything yet and she was already feeling the first one.

"It's the best I've had," Amber replied, then quickly took a large gulp. Now it was time for the women to cheer. Amber glanced at Chloe and could swear she had a smile implying 'the best, except for me'.

"What do you think they're cheering about?" Grant asked the group, who had just finished throwing darts to decide who had the firewood duty for the evening and erupted in cheers when Fernando lost; he never lost at anything.

"Ines probably shared that her latest house contract sold to the young pitcher the Red Sox just drafted," Joe said. He grabbed a beer from the game room fridge, offered it out to the group, and popped the cap to drink himself when he found no takers.

"Tell us about Amber," Grant said, nodding his head at Brad. "How much have you told her about this weekend?"

"She's great," Brad said, smiling at the thought of her. "And I've told her nothing. I decided after the fiasco we had that year you brought, what was her name -- Hensley? Hennessee? -- that the best way to gauge if they fit with the family is to see how they react. It's honest. Visceral."

"Her name was Hensley," Grant said, "and, yeah, she was not as prepared as she thought she was. I've tried to forget that year."

"You'll have to tell me the story sometime," Derek said.

"Not this weekend," Grant said. "It will definitely damper the festivities."

"How do you think she'll react?" Fernando asked. He still had just a hint of a Spanish accent and 'think' sounded more like 'tink'.

"I wouldn't have brought her if I had reservations," Brad replied. "But, you never know what someone will do until they have to choose."

"Good point," Joe said. "I see that all the time with these companies I work with. A CEO will have to make a really hard decision that can save or destroy the company. Sometimes, they just can't do it, and I work with other investors to replace them. Even making a bad decision they fight to recover from is better than doing nothing. I'm often surprised what I see about someone I thought I knew very well when they are forced to choose."

"Then let's end the suspense and get going," Derek interjected. "The weather report said it would be unseasonably warm this morning with a fast-moving storm hitting by early afternoon. Let's get a hike in while we can. It may be the only time all weekend we be outside."

"Being stuck inside can make for an interesting weekend," Fernando replied.

The men rejoined the women in the kitchen. They were opening the third round of wine bottles and listening to Heather share her latest wardrobe malfunction story during the catwalk in Milan.

"I swear that bastard wanted my breasts on display," she explained. She set her glass on the table and used her hands to demonstrate the cut of the dress she wore. "It was these tiny little straps coming down all the way to the nipples, and what was supposed to be a cover were not form fitting, but loose, with a plunging neckline down to my navel! They were more like curtains, or a scarf, than an actual top to a dress. They kept sliding outside my breasts every time I took a step. Cameras are flashing everywhere because I'm flashing everyone!

"I get off the stage, and walk right over to the designer and say, 'Why do you even have these flimsy pieces of fabric?' I pulled the straps off my shoulders and let them fall to the side. 'This is a much better look, anyway, no?'

"His mouth dropped open and I just stormed off," Heather finished. She acknowledged the men had joined them and directed a question to them: "What would you do if a woman was at a cocktail party with a dress that looked like this?"

She yanked on her silk blouse sending buttons flying across the table. She pulled the front to the outside of her breasts, displaying them to the group. She shimmied her shoulders a few times for emphasis.

"I'd find a reason to talk to her," her husband, Grant, said. "Probably offer to get her the drink of her choice."

"I'd want to know who she was wearing," Chloe added. "I can't find anything like that these days. Not even on Amazon."

"As fun as this conversation is," Derek interjected, "I think this morning is the only time we'll have this weekend to be outside. We'll regret not making the most of it. Shall we hike up to the fishing hole?"

"Can we bring wine?" Evie asked.

"It wouldn't be a hike without it," Derek answered.

"I love the idea," Ines said. "Meet outside in ten minutes? I want to change and maybe grab some food. You did remember to stock up on food, as the first one to arrive, right Brad? I know it's been a while."

"You'll find everything you like, and more, has been supplied," Brad answered. He had a service deliver it a few days before they arrived and asked their caretaker to unload everything so it would be ready.

"Meet you outside in ten minutes, then," Heather said, trying and failing to close her now damaged blouse. "I definitely will need a new top."

Chapter 3 -- Too hot for a hike

They gathered in the driveway ten minutes later dressed for a hike in the forest. Most had hiking shoes, tank tops, shorts with pockets, and wool socks. Amber, who had no idea what to expect, just had her runners, a sports bra and the yoga pants she would normally wear during an evening run. Ines brought a backpack full of packages of nuts, granola bars, fresh fruit, and a blanket to sit on. Joe handed everyone a camelback full of water.

Ten minutes into the hike, the men, who had not had anything to drink, were at the front of the line, forging ahead to make the most of the daylight. Amber had limited herself to two drinks and was doing her best to keep up with Brad. Brad slowed his gait enough to stay with her, but did not want to lose sight of the other men. They were known pranksters.

"This was our favorite place to hang out during the summers," Brad explained to Amber as they navigated the trail. Newly sprouted pine needles filled the air with their fresh scent, energizing them with each breath as they struggled to ascend the steep trail up the mountain. He looked back for the rest of the women. They were breathing heavily, laboring to ascend the steep climb, especially those who tried to finish three bottles of wine, despite the fitness of their appearance.

"When we were kids, we'd spend the entire day up here, often leaving so late we'd be walking in the woods at night, scared we'd be attacked by a bear or a mountain lion," Brad continued. "We never saw much more than a fox or random racoon, but we'd heard the stories of dogs going missing, or cats that went out at night and never returned."

"Evie liked to fill our heads with those stories," Chloe added, out of breath. She began jogging when she realized the pack of women could no longer see the men in front of them. She was hunched over with her hands on her knees, signaling for them to wait for her.

"That is true," Brad agreed. "Chloe and I, being the youngest, were always her target. That hasn't changed much as adults. But it never stopped us from making the climb with fishing poles and a bucket of worms."

"Is this the creek where you would skinny dip?" Amber asked, remembering that tidbit from their conversation this morning. Chloe paused her step half a second from surprise, but kept moving, hoping neither noticed.

"Yep, that's the spot," Brad said. "With as hot as it is this morning, we may just have to go again for old time sakes." Brad glanced at Amber trying to gauge her reaction. Unable to discern any reaction at all, he made a note not to play her in high-stakes poker.

"How much further?" Amber asked, wiping sweat from her brow. "And when did it get so hot? I thought mountain air was chilly in the morning?"

"It normally is," Brad agreed, "But like Derek said, we're on the tail end of unseasonably warm weather this morning with a cold front moving in early afternoon that will bring rain and heavy storms for the rest of the weekend. So, whatever you want to do in the woods, today is the day to do it. And, it's not much farther."

"Well, I'm going to run on ahead then. Get my trail running in," Amber announced. "Will it be obvious where to stop, or should I just fall in with the guys?"

"The trail ends where we're going," Chloe said. Amber nodded and took off running. Chloe reached for Brad's hand, holding him back.

"I've missed you," she said, when she was sure Amber was out of earshot. Brad nodded, and started walking, so she continued. "Are you sure she's ready for our gathering?"

"Like I told the guys, I won't know until she has to choose," he said, not looking back at her.

"With how she reacted to my visit this morning, well, she could go either way, I think," Chloe said.

"What, exactly, happened this morning?" Brad asked.

"I'll tell you later," Chloe said, nodding up the trail. Amber was running back towards them.

"That was a lot closer than I thought," she said. "I barely got my breathing going when I stumbled on the guys stripping down and jumping in the creek. Figured it was better for me to come back here than to stand awkwardly on the shore with your naked cousins splashing each other."

"They didn't waste any time," Chloe said. "Want me to stand awkwardly with you?"

"Nah, I'll walk with Brad from here," Amber said. Chloe shrugged and jogged ahead on the trail.

"You could have gone," Brad said.

"I know," Amber replied, "but I have a question for you. Did you know we'd be skinny dipping and didn't think to discuss it with me in advance?"

"I never know what's going to happen with this crew," Brad replied, honestly. "I figured it was a possibility, if the weather permitted, and we'd discuss it if it did. Do you want to discuss it?"

"What's do discuss?" she said playfully. "This heat is torture."

She pulled her sports bra off over her head, threw it at him, and ran back up the trail topless. Brad, caught by surprise, juggled the sweaty fabric, lost control of it and watched it fall to the ground. As he bent over to retrieve it, he heard the remaining hikers coming up the trail.

"Getting a head start on us?" Of course, it was Evie, smiling at the sports bra in his hand. She made a show of looking around the woods. "Did Amber duck behind a bush?"

"She ran on ahead," Brad explained, unable to contain a satisfied smile. "She got a head start on the swim preparations."

Evie, Heather and Ines exchanged looks of surprise. Maybe Amber was going to work out, after all.

"We shouldn't keep them waiting," Heather said, removing her shirt. Ines and Evie slipped out of theirs and continued by removing everything but their shoes. Evie led the pack up the trail, pausing to hand Brad her pile of clothes.

"Be so kind, would you?" she said as she handed them over. "I'd give you my shoes, but the trail can get a bit rough on the feet."

Brad accepted the pile from Heather and Ines, too, nodding 'you're welcome' as they each stacked their clothes on his outstretched arms.

"See you soon," Ines said, dropping her thong on top of the pile. She kissed him softly on the cheek, gave a quick curtsy, and jogged after the rest of the crew.

Everyone was fully naked and in the water when Brad arrived. Shoes with socks tucked inside were lined nicely atop a fallen log at the shore's edge. Ines had already prepared the blanket on a grassy spot fully exposed to the sun. All the camelbacks were tossed in a pile in one corner of the blanket.

At this place in the creek, the water spread out into a large, calm pool the size of a small pond and nearly eight feet deep at its deepest point. At its widest swimmable point, from where the creek enters the pool to where it continues meandering down the mountain, it can measure fifty feet. Depending on how much snow runoff remains in the season, and how much recent rain they've had, it can vary from two to four feet in average depth.

"It is a lot colder this early in the season," Grant warned him. "Feels almost like swimming in a snowbank."

"Is that why you're keeping everything below your waist submerged?" Brad asked. He dropped all the clothes on the blanket and removed his own. He placed his shoes and socks on the same log and took the first, timid steps into the water.

"Show off while you can," Chloe shouted from the far end of the pool. "A few more steps and you'll be shriveling to the size of a sweet pickle!"

"I heard you're a fan of sweet pickles," Brad retorted. He took two quick strides into the ice water and dove in headfirst. He emerged gasping for breath and shivering.

"Holy shit that's cold," he said. Amber swam over and locked her arms around his neck and legs around his hips.

"You get used to it, but I hear sharing body heat can help warm up faster," Amber said, and kissed him deeply on the mouth. Brad, unaccustomed to a public display of affection from her, initially held his arms out to his sides in surprise, but quickly embraced her tightly and responded with a kiss of his own. He did wonder if she was starting to feel jealous of the attention Chloe was giving him. Chloe was flirting more than he expected.