You Can't Catch Me(64)

I turn toward her. She’s got a compact motion with her paddle. It breaks the surface without a splash and leaves little eddies in its wake.

“I’d like to,” I say. “You up for it?”

She nods, her eyes hidden by her sunglasses. “Sure, if you think it’s safe.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jessie asks, sounding nervous.

JJ raises her eyebrows, mocking her. “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”

“Surely not.”

“Bears, probably.”

“Maybe we should go back?”

“What are you, chicken?” I flash Jessie a smile that’s a challenge. “First person to the other side gets a prize!” I shout for good measure.

“What’s the prize?” JJ asks.

“You’ll have to paddle to the other side to find out.”

“Fair’s fair, though. Let’s line up.”

I miss a stroke and wait for us to re-form our line. Three Jessicas in a row. Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down.

JJ leans forward, ready to take me on.

I look at Jessie. “You in?”

She squares her shoulders. “Bring it.”

“Three, two, one . . . go!”





Chapter 29

End of the Line

It’s hard to tell how long it takes us to get to the other side of the lake. All I know is that my lungs are screaming, and the buildup of lactic acid in my arms almost makes me stop, but I don’t. I think about everything that Jessie has done, and this propels me. I can look past the pain and focus on the shore as it gets closer, closer, closer, we’re here.

My arms feel like lead, and I’m worried about the paddle back, but it’s too late for that now. I paddle right to the shore, the bottom of the board scraping against the rocks. I walk off the end, teetering slightly, and pull it up so it won’t float away. Then I fall to the rocky beach. I lie there on my back for a minute, trying to catch my breath. JJ got here first, winning the race, and Jessie’s somewhere behind us.

I prop myself up and sit on my bum. I look up at the blue sky. It feels so impossibly far away even though we’re actually closer to it than back in New York. I check the lake as I take off my pack. Jessie’s a couple hundred feet away. My pack clangs and sloshes as I put it down.

“What you got in there?” JJ asks.

“Your prize.”

She pulls a piece of driftwood toward me and sits down on it, grinning. I haul myself up beside her, my feet curling into a cramp. I kick off the cheap water shoes I bought a week ago at the convenience store near the park entrance and flex my toes against the rocks. I look around to distract myself. The forest is thick on this side, though there’s evidence of people. A fire ring. A picnic table. A few discarded cigarette butts.

“You bring anything to drink?” JJ asks.

“You bet.”

I reach into my pack and take out a canteen. I take a long drink of water; it’s still cool, well insulated from the sun. I pass it to JJ.

Jessie’s board scrapes against the rocks, announcing her arrival.

“You made it,” JJ says.

“Barely.” She stumbles off the board like I did a few minutes earlier. She’s very red in the face, both from sunburn and from the exertion. “Dead last,” she says.

“You’ll still get a reward,” I say.

“Lucky me.”

“There’s water.” I motion to the canteen in JJ’s hand. “And also . . .” I reach into the backpack and pull out the cans of beer I stashed in there. “How about a real beverage?”

JJ puts the canteen down on the gravel at her feet. “Now you’re talking.”

I pull a beer off the tab and toss it to her. She cracks it open and drains it like we’re at a kegger. She crushes it under her arm and wipes her hand across her mouth. “That hit the spot.”

“You want one, Jessie?”

“Sure.”

She takes a seat next to me gingerly and I hand her the beer. I put the six-pack back in my bag.

“You’re not having one?” she asks.

“In a minute.”

Jessie nods as she opens her beer. I look out at the lake again. There’s no one in sight. The only thing I can hear is the soft lap of the water against the shore and the buzz of insects in the trees.

JJ stands. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve got a date with a tree.”

Jessie takes a sip of her beer. “Don’t let a bear get you.”

“I can defend myself.”

JJ walks into the woods.

“What else you got in there?” Jessie asks, nudging the pack with her foot. She’s wearing an old pair of Adidas, gray with grime.

My heart thuds. “What?”

“In your pack. You wouldn’t happen to have any snacks in there, would you?”

“Oh yes. Of course.” I put it between my legs and root around inside. I pull out a package of beef jerky and another of trail mix. “Which do you want?”

“I’ll take the jerky. And water, if you’ve got it.”

I toss the jerky to her. She catches it easily.

“The water’s in the canteen.”