“What?”
“I think you think you’re too well-heeled to sink your feet in the mud.”
She grinned at me as her eyes shone with delight. Too well-heeled? Oh, hell no. Hardly. The reason I knew this place to exist was because I came here all the time as a kid. Except I walked from town, unless I’d hotwired and stole my dad’s truck. I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my socks, then rolled up my very expensive jeans.
I stepped straight into the water, watching as her entire face lit up.
“Too well-heeled?” I asked as I walked towards her.
“Don’t come any closer,” s
he said.
She sank her hands into the water and aimed them at me as I postured myself to run.
“Don’t you dare splash me,” I said. “I didn’t bring a change of clothes.”
“That never stopped people before,” Michelle said.
“I’m serious. Don’t splash me.”
“Or what?” she asked.
“Or you might not like the punishment that comes along with it.”
She moved her hands around in the water, her eyes holding mine fervently. The water felt good running over my legs. Warmer than I figured it would be. Michelle made a move to splash me and I ducked, causing her to roar out in laughter. She kept faking me out and I kept flinching, taking stock of the beauty in the happiness in her eyes. The play made me feel young again. This place brought a happiness to my life that should’ve existed in my childhood. If I wasn’t walking to this riverbed alone to sit and think, I was here with my cousins catching crayfish to eat for dinner.
Crayfish was always better than roadkill.
“You know, I used to catch crayfish here with some friends of mine when I was younger,” I said.
“Wait, really? There are crayfish in here?”
“If you know where to look, yes. Come here. I’ll show you.”
I held out my hand for her and she quickly abandoned her fake-out session.
“Move slowly. Don’t kick up the sediment. But come here,” I said.
She slipped her hand into mine and I led her over to the place where I knew the crayfish enjoyed hanging out. We moved slowly, keeping our feet on the rocks so we wouldn’t kick up the dirt. She clung to me tightly. Steadied herself against me. Trusted me with the whole of her weight as I helped her walk along the rocks. Just that smallest piece of her against my skin sent my mind into overdrive.
I almost missed the nestled cave thinking of her skin against mine.
“Right here. Look,” I said.
“Oh my gosh. There has to be at least thirty of them,” Michelle said.
“We always used to catch and cook them. We’d bring some things to start a fire and a pot with us along with a net. We’d catch them, get some water from the river, and boil them right over a fire on the bank of the river.”
“I bet that tasted so good.”
“You have no idea,” I said mindlessly.
“Could we catch one now?” she asked.
I looked down into her eyes and took a second to marvel at the expansive forest hidden in her gaze.
“Please?”