9. Peaceful Portal
NINE
PEACEFUL PORTAL
Amy squeezes my side but lets the conversation drop as I open the door for her. As I walk in behind her, another barrage of memories engulfs me. A long countertop extends along the side, with fishing gear, a register, and a sign offering “Fresh Bait.” Tables are scattered in the small, open space; some line the window overlooking the rowboats bobbing in the water. A lunch counter is opposite, with a small kitchen area behind it.
“I’ll get the boat,” Amy says, “It was my idea.”
I nod and smile as my mind processes the familiar space that feels like it’s always been a part of my life, even if I haven’t visited in thirty years. It feels like coming home—if I had a home and not a cramped apartment where I hardly ever spend the night. The bait sign reminds me of walking around my grandparents’ house, a red rag wrapped over a flashlight, hunting for nightcrawlers. We’d find as many as possible and stuff them in a Tupperware container with fresh dirt to keep them fresh as we rode up the mountains to this idyllic lake.
My grandparents fill my thoughts as I link hunting for nightcrawlers with their warm home, where my siblings and cousins would play cards on the living room carpet. I glance at the small, wood-burning stove in the corner; even on this summer day, it reminds me of cold mornings when the only heat my mother used came from logs chopped from evergreen trees. The scent of hamburgers frying on the flattop grill and the savory scent of frying potatoes almost has my mouth watering.
“Let’s go,” Amy says, slipping her arm through mine. “We have boat 86. That’s the year you graduated, isn’t it?”
I look down at her and nod, then grin at the odd coincidence, but I know Amy’s thinking it’s fate. I open my mind to the possibility as I hold the door to the dock open for her. She points to a stack of life jackets in a wooden bin along the lodge’s wall.
“Grab two,” Amy says. “We don’t have to wear them, but we have to have them in the boat with us.”
I grab two bright-orange vests, hooking my arm through the open necks. Amy is down the stairs, and I follow behind. Looking at the few boats floating in the water around the lodge, I look to the right and see the lake extending into the distance. As I climb down the steps, the wooden dock creaks under my weight, gently rocking as I follow her down the pier to the left. This side of the lake is smaller but no less picturesque. Across the lake, I see the tiny stream cascading from the stream leading to the spring Paige and I visited earlier.
I stop behind Amy as she unchains the boat from the dock. I toss the life jackets into the rowboat and grip the prow to hold it steady as she steps into it. I wait until she sits on the bench near the back of the boat, then push it off the dock and climb over the bow as Amy grabs the oars and pulls us further into the lake.
“Wow,” I say as I sit opposite her and reach to take the oars from her. “Strong memories or Deja Vu.” I blink at her. “We never came here in high school, did we?”
“Nope.” Amy grins, leaning back and resting her elbows on the bench behind her. “We were over before we got to do anything fun. Well, besides getting naked as horny teenagers.”
I smirk and look in either direction. “Which way should we go?” I ask as I admire her body extending across the small benches of the wooden boat. My eyes are drawn to her breasts and then to her eyes as she smirks back. “Let’s see if the water is high enough to make a run at the spring.”
“I remember they didn’t allow boats up there,” I say, turning the boat around to point the bow toward the small stream. “Tell me when I’m lined up.”
Amy nods, then sits up, looking past me. “Okay, go.”
I pull firmly on the oars, and the boat accelerates across the surface of the crystal-clear lake. I need to row hard to build up enough momentum to get past the small rapids that guard the entrance to the stream flowing from the spring. Amy keeps me in line until I pick a point on the shore to keep my bearing straight as I row.
“Yeah, that’s it.” Amy encourages, then leans forward. “You’ll have to swing around to grab the branches if we stall. I’ll take over.”
I squint at her, remembering rowing up this stream as a teenager with my sister urging me to break the rules and enter the spring. “You’ve done this before?”
“Paige loves this place.” Amy grins. “She says it’s like a portal to another place and time. Being near it calms the noise in her head.”
My mind flashes to earlier this morning and the muffled sounds Paige made as we had sex on the bank further up the stream. The sounds of the small rapids get louder as I shake my head to break the naughty rumination cycling in my mind.
“Hard, Kurt!” Amy hisses so she doesn’t yell and draw attention to us rowing into the protected spring. “Row harder.”
I hear the rocks scrape along the bottom of the boat, and our speed slows, but I keep rowing. Amy leans to one side and reaches past me, grabbing an overhanging branch and pulling us past the rapids. In two more pulls, we pass the rocks and slow into the gentle current flowing from the ancient spring.
“Follow the stream until we reach the spring,” she says, looking over the boat’s edge into the clear water. I glance at the stream, seeing rocks and petrified tree trunks scattered across the bottom. “You know it’s deeper than it looks. Something about light refracting or something.”
“Yeah,” I say, rowing in the quiet of the isolated area surrounding us. Even the birds seem to grow quiet as we slide up into the circular pool of the main spring.
“I can see why Paige loves this place.” I stop rowing and then pull the oars into the boat and coast. “It’s timeless, isn’t it.”
“Yes,” Amy whispers, then looks at me with mischief. “There is an old legend about this place.”
“Oh? I only remember it being peaceful. I’ve never heard any stories about it.”
“It aligns with Paige’s weird portal idea.” Amy pulls off her button-down top, and I tilt my head. “When two people fuck within the portal, they bond for life.”
She pulls her top off and then unsnaps her front clasp, and her breasts pop free. I think back to Paige and me fucking along the bank. I believe Amy already knows, but I want to be honest.
“Paige and I did it here this morning,” I say quietly as I pull my polo shirt off.
“I know.” Amy grins, pushing the two life jackets to the bottom of the boat before pushing her shorts down. “That’s why I want you to fuck me right now, Kurt. I want whatever mystical bond Paige believes in. I want that with you.”