Chapter Twenty-One
A Real Gem
Livia
The water was so clear it looked from another planet, like we were gliding over liquid diamond, the sunlight fracturing on the surface in flashes of silver and gold. Below, the sandy bottom rippled with light, fish darting between long ribbons of eelgrass that swayed in the gentle current.
It was warm up here, the late-afternoon sun soaking into my bare skin, but the air carried the kiss of the icy springs, cooling me just enough that my shorts and slouchy long sleeve felt perfect. The neckline had slipped off one shoulder, the fabric fluttering every time the wind shifted.
I trailed my fingers over the top of the water, letting it glide between them, cool and silken.
Each breath I took seemed to carry a little more of my stress away — blown off on the breeze, dissolved into the glassy river.
Being at Weeki Wachee Springs on a weekday afternoon like this meant the water was mostly ours, save for the occasional bird gliding overhead or the soft hum of insects hiding in the moss-draped trees.
The branches swayed, their shadows stretching and dancing across the surface, dappling my skin in shifting patterns of light and dark
With every ripple, every chirp, every lazy push of the paddle, I felt my shoulders loosen. My mind, for the first time in weeks, was quiet.
“I see why you like this,” I admitted softly, peeling my gaze from the water to Carter. He was floating on his own board next to mine, his muscular legs folded beneath him, abs gleaming in the sunlight.
“Peaceful, isn’t it?” he asked, using his paddle to guide his board.
We didn’t really have to paddle much now that we’d turned downstream.
The first half of our paddle was all upstream, and that had been the first relief of the trip — slipping into a quiet workout, arms pumping, abdomen fired up to stabilize me as we made our way.
My mind had still been racing at the beginning, but the farther we went, the quieter it became.
“It is,” I mused. “Reminds me of the way I feel when I’m making jewelry.”
“Really? I feel like I’d be too focused to relax, working with those tiny pieces of metal.”
“I think that’s why I can relax,” I said with an easy smile, one that felt like I was shaking off rust. “I’m so zeroed in on crafting that I don’t have room in my brain to think of anything else. I get lost in the movements, and before I know it… it’s like meditation.”
“I’d like to see more of what you’ve made,” Carter offered. “If you’ll show me.”
“I noticed you wear a ring.”
He held up his pinky, wiggling it. “I do, indeed. It’s been passed down through the gentlemen in my family since my great-great-grandfather. Dad gave it to me when I got drafted.”
I paddled away from the bank with that smile still in place. “What are they like? Your parents. I know your coach was a complete ass, but I can’t imagine anyone other than two human-form teddy bears raising a man like you.”
Carter laughed at that, tilting his head side to side. “That’s actually a pretty great way to describe them. I grew up in a house filled with laughter. My dad is a comedian. Not famous, obviously, but he does stand up and improv at the club in Hamilton.”
“Ah, so that’s where you get it from.”
“Fortunately, his jokes are much better than mine,” Carter said with a grin.
“And Mom used to be the manager at the bank, but she retired when I gave them a big portion of my signing bonus. She was never really in love with her job. I think she just wanted something stable since Dad’s work was… not.”
My heart ached. “That sounds really nice.”
“Being a comedian’s son?” Carter’s brows popped into his hairline. “I feel like you don’t know any comedians, then.”
I chuckled. “I just mean your whole childhood. I… I have no concept of what any of that would be like, but I could picture it — the beauty of Canada, a mom and dad who work to make ends meet and spend time with their son, all your waking time spent thinking of hockey. It just sounds really nice.”
Carter frowned, his paddle slicing through the water. He opened his mouth, and I knew he was going to ask about my family, so I dodged before he could.
“Do you do it often?” I asked. “Paddleboarding?”
He sighed like he didn’t appreciate the subject change, but fortunately, he let me make it.
“More so in the offseason, but yes. That’s why I bought a house right on the water.
I just launch into the canal and paddle out to the river any time I want.
Mornings are the best,” he added. “Or summer evenings, when you can be out there at nine o’clock and still have daylight.
I love watching the birds fly across a pink sky. Or hanging out with the dolphins.”
“Hanging out with dolphins?” I repeated incredulously.
He nodded, making a face like I had no idea what I was missing. “Oh, yeah. They love me. I may have no game when it comes to the ladies, but porpoises?” He scoffed, huffing on his nails before buffing them on his chest. “Can’t keep them away.”
“Pretty sure we have bottlenose dolphins, not porpoises.”
“Technicalities.”
I rolled my eyes. “You really need to stop saying that, you know.”
“What? A man can’t brag about being a dolphin magnet? Also pretty popular with the manatees. I bet one shows up any moment.”
“I mean saying that you don’t have game. It’s not true.” I paddled a bit closer to him. “It’s not your game that’s been stopping you. It’s your lack of confidence.”
“Obviously.”
“But you don’t lack it as much anymore, do you?”
I shot the challenge at him with an arch of my brow, and Carter smirked. I wished I could see his eyes under his sunglasses.
“I may be coming around,” he conceded with that grin still locked in place. “I have a good teacher.”
“Damn straight, you do.”
Suddenly, Carter shot upright on his board, eyes wide as he pointed to the water beside mine. “Look!”
My natural reaction was to jump and scream a little, which highly annoyed me and highly amused Carter. He laughed, reaching out for my hand and pulling until our boards were side by side.
“Look,” he repeated, and when I followed his finger to the water, I saw it.
A manatee.
“Told you.” Carter smirked, waggling his brows at me. “The sea cows got it bad for Fabio.”
I shook my head on a laugh, but then was lost in watching the magnificent creature.
It was massive — easily ten feet long — and yet moved with a gentleness that didn’t match its size.
The nickname sea cow made sense, not just for the bulk of its body, but for the calm way it grazed its way through the river.
At first, I thought there was only one, but then another drifted up beside it, their wide, gray backs gliding just beneath our boards like two slow-moving boulders.
“Oh, watch, they’re coming up for air,” Carter said, pointing again.
Sure enough, the pair surfaced in tandem, their whiskered snouts breaking the water.
They lingered so close we could have reached out and touched them if we’d dared — but we didn’t.
We only watched, breath caught, as their dark eyes blinked back at us before they slipped beneath the surface again, weightless and unhurried.
I leaned back on my palms, soaking in the sunlight as the manatees continued upstream. Our boards drifted lazily in the current, the whole river humming with peace, like it, too, was in awe of the gentle giants passing through.
“Will you talk to me now?” Carter asked, his voice soft.
“What do you want me to say?”
“How about anything other than, ‘I’m fine.’”
I let out a long sigh, staring up at the blue sky above us, at the white, puffy clouds floating by. A big part of me bucked like a bull. I felt the familiar resistance like a hand over my mouth preventing me from saying a word.
But there was a softer side to me that had suddenly grown teeth.
I heard her banging on my rib cage, felt her nails digging in as she attempted to scratch her way out.
For reasons I couldn’t name and was too tired to try to figure out… I wanted to let Carter in.
“My mother has been on my ass about my sister’s wedding,” I said almost mechanically.
It was like my body didn’t know how to act now that I was choosing to speak to someone other than Maven.
“During the game last week, she called me and said in not so many words that it would probably be better if I didn’t show, since I’m not around much anymore and it might make people feel awkward.
” I paused, laughing a little. “And that I’d be alone, which would add to the discomfort. ”
“What the fuck?”
I smiled wider. “Oh, yes. My mother is a real gem.”
“Why would she say that?”
“Because it’s true,” I said. “I am alone. Of course, she leaves out the part that she’s one of the reasons I prefer it this way.”
I swallowed the longer Carter stared at me. I could feel the more dominant side of me straining for the wheel, could sense the need burning through me to steer the conversation back to something safe.
“Anyway, she called me again the other night,” I said, stomach tightening at the memory.
“She was going on and on about how they needed to finalize bridesmaid dresses, and I needed to make up my mind. She wants me to commit one way or the other, and honestly, I can’t blame her for being upset that I’m taking so long.
I can blame her for a lot of things, but not that.
I should have made up my mind by now… but I feel frozen. ”
Carter was quiet for a moment, both of us just using our paddles to straighten out our boards and then let the river take us.
“What happened with your mom?”
I shook my head, and in a panic, the softer side of me that had been trying to get out vanished. It was like the jerk of a car that was on track for an exit before getting yanked back on the highway. “Sorry, not ready to go there.”
“Okay. Then… how about your sister? What’s your relationship like with her?”