Floating Down the River
Jordy
It only takes a few days to order everything I need for Timeless.
I knew this would be the quick part. Now comes the waiting part.
I have workers lined up for the next few weeks to build the partitioned back-office space, paint the walls, install the lighting fixtures, and add in raised flooring.
Originally, I balked when Alexander suggested I stay on site while all this work happened.
There really wasn’t much for me to do except to observe the work, which hardly required my every day presence.
Now, I’m glad.
It’s not hard to settle into the easy living lifestyle Lahoma Springs seems to generate.
Ashton and I always start our day at Bec and Bob’s house for breakfast at way too early o’clock.
He drops Lottie off at the Felixes’ house before I even wake up, and then we all eat together once I pull myself out of bed and head to their house.
I’m aware that the logical thing would be for me to bring Lottie with me later so that Ashton doesn’t have to drag her out of the house so early.
I mean, it’d be the least I could do. But I can’t bring myself to offer, and he never asks.
So it just remains this unspoken burden I let mull around my mind.
But on Day Three of no work and nothing to do, I’m going stir crazy.
“I think I’ll do a little exploring today,” I muse to Ashton while we clean up the dishes.
Bec is in the other room playing with Lottie, and Bob headed into town to pick up some feed.
Washing dishes with Ashton—him rinsing the plates and me drying them and putting them away—offers a feeling of belonging I can’t quite explain.
Like this is my home too. Even if it’s just for a few more weeks.
“You should see what Michael or Grace are doing,” he mentions, and I wrinkle my nose. He tilts his head at me. “What? I thought you liked them.”
“I do,” I say. We ran into each other a few times over the last couple days, but only in passing.
Even though I’d felt a brief connection with them that first day, it never extends beyond that.
Just the thought of approaching them makes me want to crawl inside myself and hide.
“I just don’t think we’ve reached the point in our friendship where we invite each other to do things together. ”
“It has to start somewhere,” he points out. I breathe in deeply, unspeaking, and he laughs. “Okay, fine. Still, exploring this town alone hardly sounds fun.”
He’s right. This is so much different than exploring Europe. Back then, I was completely anonymous. Plus, I had all these lists of places I wanted to see and experiences I wanted to try.
I don’t know Lahoma at all, other than the Felix farm and the short drive into town.
Plus, thanks to my first day appearance, I’m kind of a celebrity here—hardly anonymous.
The people in this town no longer shun me, but they don’t offer warm welcomes either.
Instead, I feel kind of like a tiger pacing its cage.
The town watches my every move, but no one speaks to me beyond vague pleasantries.
“I have an idea,” Ashton says, rinsing the last plate before handing it to me. “How about I take the rest of the day off and give you the full Lahoma Springs experience?”
For a moment, I stare at him, thrown by the casual generosity of his offer. Then my brain goes straight to the gutter.
The full Lahoma Springs experience.
What will I experience first? The weight of his body? The feel of his hands? The taste of his sweat?
Jesus. Pull it together, Jordy.
“What are you smiling at?” His lips curve, amused, and I smother my grin before shaking my head.
“Nothing,” I say, my voice an octave too high. “That sounds fun.”
He puts the towel down, then nods at the door. “All right. First things first, you head home and change into a bathing suit and clothes you don’t mind getting wet.”
“We’re going swimming?” I ask. He shakes his head.
“Not intentionally. Something better.”
An hour later, we’re on the dock of the Lahoma River, each of us getting paired with a stand-up paddle board.
I’m wearing shorts and a large sweatshirt over my bathing suit—both of which will NOT get wet if I can help it.
The weather is somewhat warm, though not warm enough to go without layers.
It’s definitely not warm enough to go swimming—not that I want to.
The water is brown from sediment, and has a slight mossy smell to it that would likely cling to my hair for weeks.
It’s no worse than the manure smell of this town, though that odor has thankfully faded with time—that, or I’m just used to it.
Regardless, standing on the dock and looking at the murky water, I’m unsure how I let Ashton convince me this would be fun.
Speaking of Ashton, he’s incredibly hard to look away from in his swim trunks and boat shoes.
If I think he looks good in a shirt, I’m definitely not prepared for the state of the ab situation he has going on.
Holy fuck, the man is ripped. He’s seriously built like a linebacker.
Everything about him is broad, from his shoulders to his core to the way his ass fills out those damn shorts.
I swear I try not to look, but that man is packing.
There is no mistaking that when I say broad, I mean everything .
But of course, he catches me looking. The way the tip of his tongue slides over his full lips as he catches my gaze, I cannot look away fast enough.
“Uh, I can honestly say I’ve never done anything like this before.” My cheeks burn, and I take a deep breath in. “Paddle boarding, I mean.” What the fuck. What else would he think I meant?
“It’s as easy as walking,” the guy at the dock says and claps Ashton on the shoulder, instantly breaking whatever tension is happening … or not happening. “Dude, where have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in years.”
Ashton’s eyes leave mine, and his grin fades into politeness. “Hey Brett,” he says, then shrugs. “You know how it is. Lottie is growing like a weed, and the farm isn’t going to work itself. Between those two things, it’s not like I have a lot of free time to float down the river.”
“Man, there’s always time to float. You just have to make it a priority. Look at me, I have two girls and Janie is pregnant with our third, and I still find time to go with the river flow.”
“Not so hard when it’s literally your job.”
Brett laughs, clapping Ashton again. “Fair point, my friend. Still, don’t be a stranger. Let’s grab beers sometime.”
Ashton nods, though I notice he never really confirms. He turns to me, and I offer a small smile. I get you , I want to say. He nods, just slightly. The impact of it though, just that tiny connection, makes my heart swell.
“Let’s get you in the water,” he says, but I shake my head.
“You need to go first because I have no idea how to get on this thing without going for a swim.”
He laughs, then sets his board down. I do the same, using my paddle to keep it in place while he easily steps on his board and drifts out. Then he nods at me.
“It’s that easy,” he calls.
“Do it again,” I say. “I don’t think I caught that.”
Ashton laughs from his paddleboard, effortlessly balancing as he drifts ahead.
“Come on, New York. You got this.”
I take a deep breath.
“Atta girl,” Brett encourages beside me. “Just step forward in one motion. The board’s sturdy, it won’t flip.”
Wanna bet?
I exhale sharply, then force myself to commit, stepping onto the board with my arms out wide, the paddle clenched in my right hand. The second my foot lands, my core tightens, adjusting to the wobble. For a split second, I sway but—miraculously—I catch my balance.
“You did it!” Ashton raises his paddle in the air, grinning. Water droplets fly from the blade, hitting my sleeve.
I narrow my eyes. “Did you just splash me?”
“What? Me? Never.”
I point my paddle at him. “You’re going to regret that.”
He smirks. “We’ll see.”
I follow his lead as he applies his paddle to the water, and we head downstream with the current.
He teaches me how to move the paddle like a C, the arc curving away from each side of the paddle board, to keep the board straight.
Once I get the hang of it, I feel sturdier.
I realize it really will be hard to fall off, though not impossible.
A few times I still feel wobbly. I’ve never been gifted in the athletic department.
Even when I took dance classes, I was always one of the bottom five.
But as we keep going, I marvel at the fact that I—Jordy Gallo—am actually doing something that can be considered sporty, and I am not that bad at it.
I catch up to Ashton, and we match pace as we continue with the current.
“Did you and that guy at the dock used to be friends?” I ask. He glances at me and shrugs.
“Not exactly,” he says. “Brett went to school with Sasha, and when we first moved here, she introduced me to all these people she grew up with. But they were all her friends, not mine. I just kind of tagged along while she caught up with everyone. When she left…” He shrugs again.
“I mean, it’s not like I knew them well enough to grab beers with them in real life, you know?
It’s like, that’s just something you say when there isn’t anything else to say.
” He glances at me. “You know what I mean?”
Of course I do. I nod and offer a small smile, plus the same words he used on me, “It has to start somewhere, though. Right?”
He rolls his eyes, but grins. “Okay, fine. I asked for that. I guess I don’t really want to hang out with anyone, or get to know them. If it weren’t for Sasha, I wouldn’t even know any of these people. Now that she’s gone, I just don’t think they’re interested in getting to know me.”
“Or, there’s a third reason,” I say, applying my paddle as my board drifts too close to his. “Maybe you’re rejecting them before they can reject you.”