Chapter Four #3
They headed down to the level of yard near the water where there stood the Adirondack chairs in various rainbow colors, freshly painted by the smooth look of them. Jasmine set the water bottles down on two of them, then asked Rowan to walk with her to the end of the dock.
The sky was still overcast, so the traffic on the water was slightly less than it would’ve been on a sunny day, but it was still fairly busy.
Water skiers, fishermen, people just drifting or anchored and hanging out for their Sunday.
It took all kinds on the lake. Rowan knew this from her childhood.
“I love standing at the end of the dock like this,” Jazzy said quietly. “I used to do it as a kid. I’d keep my head up a bit”—she raised her chin to demonstrate—“so I couldn’t see the edge of the dock, and it would feel like I was about to walk on the water.”
Rowan smiled. “My grandparents had a boat, so when I was a kid, we spent a lot of time on the water. We’d pull out a local map on a Saturday morning, and my grandpa and I would decide which lake we’d take the boat to that day.
” She smiled at the memory, picturing her grandpa with his deep chin dimple and bright blue eyes.
“Aww, I love that.”
They stood there quietly, each of them soaking in the warmth, the smell of the water, old memories.
Then Jazzy asked softly, “What’s the deal with you and Evie?
” She quickly turned to look at Rowan and reached out to put a hand on her arm.
“Not that it’s any of my business,” she added.
“I just…sensed some tension or something.”
Rowan thought about shrugging, about lying, about not answering at all, but she knew all Jazzy had to do was ask Becca later, and she’d rather get her own version out there.
She inhaled and blew it out. “We were together for about two years.” She said it quietly, like she didn’t want the fish to hear or something.
“We all came on a long weekend here.” She glanced over her shoulder.
“Not this particular house, but this lake. We come here a lot, the bunch of us.” She cleared her throat, reluctantly reaching for the memory that had only come back to her in the past couple of days.
“Anyway, we were here and she broke up with me. Out of the blue.” Another clear of her throat, which apparently didn’t want her talking.
“I guess it was two years ago, and it falls into the window of my lost memories, so I didn’t know when I woke up in the hospital.
I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t there. ”
“Right, right,” Jasmine said, grimacing. “I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”
“Yeah. And I had some bits of it come back as I’ve been here.”
“Why did she break up with you?” Jazzy shook her head quickly. “Jesus. Ignore me. That’s none of my damn business. I’m sorry.”
“No.” It was Rowan’s turn to reach out. She liked Jasmine a lot, and she didn’t believe for a second that she was being nosy.
“No, it’s probably good for me to talk about it.
To say it out loud. You know?” Again, she inhaled and let it out, bracing herself.
“She said she didn’t love me anymore.” Fuck, that hurt.
Saying the words, releasing them into the air just fucking hurt.
“That’s it?”
Rowan nodded. “I don’t think there’s more. I mean, there could be, but the memory seems pretty full. It’s not choppy like some others I’ve recalled.”
“Jesus.” Jazzy gazed out onto the water. “Well, first of all, that fucking sucks, and I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Thanks.”
“Second, I asked because she seemed awfully…interested in you at the wineries today.”
Rowan turned to her and met her gaze, frowned.
“Standing close, asking your opinion on every wine, laughing at everything you said…” Jazzy let her voice trail off, then wiped her hand through the air between them.
“You know what? Ignore me again. I’m probably making shit up.
I tend to see stuff that’s not there. Plus, I was drinking wine all day. ”
Rowan didn’t believe that for a second. One, because Jazzy didn’t seem like somebody who made stuff up.
She seemed like the opposite: somebody very observant who saw things a lot of people didn’t.
But mostly because she’d thought the same thing about Evie, and she didn’t understand it.
If she didn’t have any kind of past with her, she’d have definitely thought Evie was flirting with her, making her interest known.
But she did have a past with Evie. She did.
Evie had broken her heart. Evie had said she didn’t love her anymore.
So, no. Evie had not been flirting with her.
She had not been showing some kind of interest. She was simply having a good time, and Rowan happened to be there. That was it. That was all.
“Hey, there’s a couple of hot chicks on this dock!
” The words cut through the air and yanked their attention out to the water, where Lizzie’s boat was chugging toward them, and Rowan was thankful to let go of that subject for the time being.
Stevie waved, her wraparound sunglasses reflecting blue and silver back at Rowan, and the relief that suddenly washed through her was palpable. Stevie was her safe space now.
“How were the fish?” Rowan asked as she caught the rope Stevie tossed to her.
“Bitey,” Stevie replied. “I’d say we caught about a dozen between the two of us.”
Jazzy craned her neck, looking into the boat. “Where are they?”
Rowan explained, “She does catch and release.”
“The challenge for me is in catching them,” Stevie explained. “But I don’t want to eat them. I just toss ’em back.” The boat fully docked, Stevie shouldered her bag and grabbed her tackle box as Rowan wrapped an arm around her waist. “How was wine tasting?”
“Good. Fun.”
Jasmine and Lizzie walked ahead of them, so Stevie lowered her voice. “How’d it go with Evie?”
Rowan took a moment before answering truthfully, “A little weird. But I was fine.” She could feel Stevie’s eyes on her as they walked. “I missed you, though. And I really like Jasmine.” She indicated the two women in front of them.
“Jazzy’s great. She’s really kind of tamed Becca. Made her take a deep breath, you know?”
Rowan nodded. “I do.”
“Did you grab a nap today? How’re you feeling?”
As if her words were a trigger, Rowan felt her limbs suddenly get heavy. “I didn’t.” A glance at her watch told her she had some time before dinner. “Maybe I’ll do that now, so I don’t have to tap out early again tonight.”
“Good call.”
They were on the lawn now, but Rowan had a question she needed answered before they were in mixed company again. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
“Are Claire and Evie together now?”
Stevie shook her head and added a light shrug. “I honestly don’t know.”
Not the answer she was expecting. Or that she wanted.
They headed up and into the house, and conversation was loud there as beers were passed out, and Rowan didn’t have the time to think about it anymore.
She knew as soon as she went upstairs to nap, her brain would chug around in a circle, thinking about nothing else.
So, she decided right then, there would be no nap.