David squeezes my shoulder again, forcing my attention back to him. “It’s all good, alright? Now, let me get this situated so we can get on the water.”
He releases me, and I stand there where he left me, nodding and trying to calm myself down. Josh doesn’t even attempt to hide his obvious glare at Amanda. He just hangs there on his car, drinking and letting his eyes rake over her with a sneer on his face.
I’m about two seconds away from blackening both of his eyes so he can’t see anything anymore when David comes back with lifejackets, and he hands one out to each of us.
“You don’t have to wear them, but you need to have them in the kayak with you,” David says. “Also, there was a mix up with the reservation, and we got two tandems and one solo instead of one tandem and three solos.”
“Tandem?” Amanda asks.
“A two-seater,” Julia explains.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to work out with them, to fix that, but they’re completely booked today. So, we’re just going to have to make do.”
“Amanda can ride with me,” Josh offers, a smiling baby Tucker hanging on his hip now. The sight of him drinking a beer and holding a baby makes me grit my teeth.
Amanda immediately scoffs, then forges ahead toward where the employee has the first tandem kayak ready to go. “I’ll ride with Greg.”
She doesn’t wait for me to respond, just marches straight past me and hops into the front of the kayak. I jump into action as soon as she’s in, slipping in behind her and strapping both of our life jackets to the space behind me.
“Just idle over there and we can all head out together,” David says, pointing to a part of the river.
Amanda nods, and then the employee pushes us off the ramp and into the water.
Weeki Wachee is a crystal-clear river fed by a spring, the water always seventy-two degrees no matter what time of year it is. It’s a refreshing dip on a hot summer day, but on a day like today, when it’s only in the low eighties and the trees cover most of the river with lush shade, it’s nicer to just look at than to submerge into.
We glide along the top of the water, Amanda steering us toward the spot David told us to wait while I give us the power in the back. We work together to stay as still as we can against the current as the rest of the family gets launched from the dock.
“Hi,” I say after a moment.
The tension in Amanda’s shoulders melts instantly, and she smiles over her shoulder before shaking her head. “Hi.”
“Such lovely company we have with us today,” I muse.
She snorts. “Yeah. Lovely enough to drown when no one’s looking.”
She says the words with another smile over her shoulder.
I smile back.
It’s not much, that greeting, but it’s enough to let me know she’s okay.
That we’re okay.
“Come on, Birthday Baby!” David announces, paddling by us. “Let’s roll!”
Tucker smiles and makes baby noises as his mom claps his hands together. She’s in the front with Tucker in her lap, and David is doing all the paddling work in the back.
Poor guy.
Or is it… lucky guy?
Amanda and I start paddling behind them, Josh bringing up the rear and struggling with how to drink his beer and paddle at the same time. He’s not even supposed to have alcohol on the river at all, but somehow managed to sneak on a six pack under his lifejacket.
None of us offer to help, and soon, we’ve put distance between us and him.
The river is calm for a Saturday, the locals telling us that in the summertime, it would be crawling with kayaks and canoes and boats and swimmers in tubes. Right now, it’s quiet enough to hear our paddles gliding through the water, and I watch the way the sunlight trickles in through the leaves above and makes designs on Amanda’s back.
“How are you?” I ask once we’re going, David and Julia ahead of us with Tucker, Josh somewhere behind.
She sighs, dipping her paddle into the water and pushing us along. “Just peachy.”
“You ever going to tell me what happened on your date?”
“Probably not.”
“Amanda…”
She sighs again, pausing with the paddle balanced in her lap. “He just rubbed me wrong. He was self-absorbed, eager to hook up, and… offensive.”
I don’t know what makes me see red more — the thought of him trying to hook up with her, or the fact that he offended her.
“What did he do?”
She shrugs. “He didn’t really do anything, other than kiss me.”
I grip the paddle tighter.
“It was what he said.”
“Which was?”
Amanda shakes her head. “Nothing that wasn’t true, I guess,” she whispers.
I frown, wondering what she means, but before I can ask, she screams.
“MANATEE!”
She nearly topples us over with the exaggerated point at a large shadow moving just ahead of us, and I look just in time to see the large sea cow breach the surface to take a sip of air before diving back under.