Going Au Naturale at Hallow’s Cove (Hallow’s Cove)

13. Brooks

Chapter thirteen

Brooks

I whistled the song we’d listened to on the way here as I walked back with the shears. Today was a new artist, one that had a more melodic tone, which was nice too. I had never been much of a pop music guy, but Sydney might be converting me.

The trees were unusually wild for this time of year, and it was better to trim them back now. The paths needed to be neat when people came for self-picking, and since I had some time, I might as well do it.

It also gave me a minute to go back to what had happened yesterday. Though I had felt my feelings develop for Sydney since we met, that kiss solidified them. I needed to talk to her about how I felt and see where we stood. I knew we lived in different places and led different lives, but maybe we could make it work. I could visit the city, especially when things were slow in the winter, and she could probably come here during the summer. It wouldn’t be easy, but I knew she was worth it.

That was… if she felt the same way. Who knew what was going through her mind? I was just letting my mind spiral with all the different possibilities, which only made me emotionally dizzy.

I was walking back when I thought I heard my name. It was faint, but I was sure it happened. I stood there for a moment and then kept walking at a slightly brisker pace.

“Brooks!” I heard more clearly this time, and it was obviously Sydney. She sounded distressed. I dropped the shears and took off, running as fast as I could. Something was wrong.

I didn’t hear her call again, which seemed worse. When I finally reached the clearing, I noticed the bubbling of water, Chicken popping his head up, and Sydney nowhere in sight.

Inferring what had happened, I threw my shirt off and dove straight into the pond. It was freezing cold, but I barely felt it as I searched for her. It wasn’t long before I felt her and dragged us both up. She was coughing and thrashing but able to wade through the water pressed up against me. I moved us back to shore, throwing her up on the edge before I followed.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She nodded, coughing up water. I rubbed her back, hoping to be comforting as she caught her breath.

“I-I was sitting here and Chicken went under and didn’t come back up for a long time. There’s something wrong with him. Is he okay?”

I blinked slowly at her. Before I could say anything, Chicken hopped up onto the bank and shook himself off. Looking very okay.

“But… but… I thought…”

“Ducks do that,” I said carefully. “They can stay underwater for a pretty long time searching for food. And that’s probably what he was doing.”

She her mouth was agape as she looked at me. Her hair was wet and pushed back and her wet clothes were clinging to her body. Especially her shirt, which clung to the darker-colored bra she was wearing underneath.

Focus, Brooks, that’s not what you should be thinking about right now.

“I didn’t know that!” she yelled. “How does anyone know that? I thought he was drowning.”

A small laugh escaped my lips. My hand wandered on its own, pushing the bit of hair out of her face. “If you haven’t seen a lot of ducks, it would be alarming. I’m sorry it happened, but I’m glad Chicken has someone like you looking out for him.”

She glanced away, flushing a bit. “Thanks. I guess now that it’s over, it is pretty funny.” She let out a small laugh, as if she’d zoomed out of the situation and realized how funny it really was.

I couldn’t help it; her high-pitched, melodic laugh was infectious, and I joined in until she leaned her head against my shoulder, which ceased my laughter altogether. All of my attention was now focused on where we were touching. The rest of my body was freezing from the pond water, but everywhere we were connected felt like it was on fire.

Her laughter eventually died out as well, leaving us sitting together on the bank, dripping wet. I let my hand crawl toward hers until our pinkies hooked together.

I could hear her barely perceptible inhale of breath, and it reflected how I felt perfectly. I was no virgin, but I had never had… feelings like this for anyone. Something about Sydney drew me, like a moth to a flame. She was so different from me, but something inside me recognized her.

When I turned down to look at her, I realized she was looking right at me. Before I could make a decision, her hand came around my neck, pulling me in toward her mouth.

I went willingly, pressing my lips to hers, gently at first. I expected her to be a bit apprehensive, but there was nothing but want in her kiss, and I returned it in kind.

My tongue licked across the seam of her lips, tasting her, hoping she’d let me in. One second later, she did, letting me taste her fully. My hand at her side came around her waist tighter, trying to get her as close as possible. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I wrapped my hand a bit tighter around her and pulled her up. She squealed as I set her in my lap, needing to feel her nearness. Her arms wound fully around me now, holding my neck almost too tight, but I found I liked that.

When we pulled away, I couldn’t breathe. She was so stunning, even drenched in pond water. I needed to tell her how I felt. It was the perfect moment, and I couldn’t mess this up.

“Sydney, I—”

“Wait! Fuck!” she started, her eyes going wide as she scrambled off my lap toward the bank.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

That’s when she pulled up a soaking wet strap with a waterlogged camera at the end.

“Goddamnit!” she swore loudly. “I thought I left it to the side before I jumped in.”

I could see tears gathering at the sides of her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Syd.”

She sniffed. “It’s fine. It’s my fault for being careless. Now it’s broken, and I don’t know how I’ll afford a new one.”

I wanted to tell her I would buy her one. I would buy her a hundred if that would make her happy. But I felt that if I said that, she would take it as pity, and I knew she wouldn’t take it well.

“Why don’t we go home? Maybe we can put it in rice or something.”

She laughed at that. “I don’t think there’s enough rice in the world. But yeah, let’s go.”

My shirt forgotten, I reached my hand out to help her over the slight ledge of the bank, and she took it easily, stepping over and following next to me to the truck. She held my hand the whole time, which gave me hope. It was obviously not the time to tell her all my feelings right now, but it made me think maybe they weren’t so one-sided.

We got to the truck, and when I helped her up, she started to shiver. I quickly reached into the cargo box and grabbed the blanket I kept there just in case and wrapped it around her. Sydney snuggled down into it, her shivering slowing.

Then she did something I didn’t expect. She leaned in and dropped a quick kiss to my lips. “Thanks.”

I smirked. “If that’s my payment, I’ll need to do nice things for you all the time.”

She huffed a laugh. “Let’s get going.”

I hopped out of the cab and clicked my tongue, waiting for Chicken to come back. After a few moments, I heard the telltale flap of his feet on the ground. He quacked once he was at my feet, letting me know he was ready to be lifted into the truck.

He really had me trained well.

Sydney sighed as Chicken pressed against her. “I would love to be mad at you if you weren’t so cute.”

“It’s hard to stay mad at him,” I agreed. “When he was younger, I came home to every book I had on the bottom shelf ripped to shreds. It’s why he goes to the pen during the day.”

“I see.”

We made it to my house, and I got us all inside.

“I need a shower,” Sydney said.

“Yeah, me too.”

We went our separate ways. It was nice to get clean after being in cool pond water, even though Sydney had warmed me up after that. Just thinking about her on my lap made me hard, but I didn’t have time to get off. I wanted to get back to her as soon as I could. Maybe there would be time for that tonight.

I dried and dressed quickly, thinking about whipping up some quick tomato soup to hopefully warm us up, and briefly wondered if I had the ingredients to make grilled cheese to go with it.

I decided to knock on the bathroom door to make sure Sydney was okay with that. But before I could, the door opened and she got out running, knocking us both against the hallway wall.

On instinct, I reached out and caught her before she fell, and as I did, I realized I was touching a very wet, naked Sydney, whose towel was now on the ground between us.