Begin Again(71)

“Andie, your kayak—”

“—if she and Shay have a shot, which I think they do, don’t you? I kind of owe it to them to set the right conditions to—”

There’s this lurch in the kayak followed by a lurch in my stomach, the kind that recognizes impending doom. I’m especially grateful for Piper’s long lecture on life jackets and safety protocol as the kayak unceremoniously flips both itself and me over into the icy lake.

After that, pretty much my only thought is that nature had a lot of nerve letting water get this cold.

Fortunately Milo’s wits are still about him, because mine are almost too numb to move. Before I can even fully process the depth of my stupidity, he yanks me by the hand and pulls me over to his kayak.

“Shit. Are you okay?”

I splutter lake water, my teeth already chattering so violently they don’t feel like they belong to me anymore. “I think I saw the kraken.”

Milo sets my hand on the surface of his kayak to keep me there, then busies himself with flipping mine back over. “Well, he’s a friend of the family, so he probably won’t fuck with you.”

“L-Let him,” I moan, my legs kicking frantically underneath me despite the life vest and the anchor of Milo’s kayak. “Then I don’t have to die of embarrassment later.”

Milo pats my kayak. “I’ll hold it steady. I’d get back in fast if I were you, before the adrenaline wears off.”

I hook my arms back over the kayak. “Don’t look at me,” I moan, trying to flop myself back in and feeling like a baby seal.

“I feel morally obligated to never look away from you, considering the sheer amount of nonsense you’ve gotten yourself into this week.” I wince at the legitimate edge of concern in his voice. The last thing I wanted to do was make anyone worry about me. As if he senses this, Milo adds, “Remind me to never team up with you on The Amazing Race.”

As I’m clambering back into the kayak, every single one of my nerves starting to scream from the cold, I catch sight of Valeria and Shay on the dock. They’re locked in a tight hug, Shay’s arms wrapped around Valeria’s puffy coat, Valeria’s chin resting on Shay’s cheek.

“Oh no,” I mutter.

I can’t pinpoint the precise genre of this hug, but judging from the faint disappointment on Shay’s face, it’s not the one she was hoping for.

Milo nudges my kayak with his oar. “We’re not that far. Are you good to get back?”

“Yeah,” I say, although I’m none too eager to get there.

I really thought I was on the mark with Shay and Valeria. I’m not used to being wrong, but it’s not just that. I’m not used to being wrong about people I know this well.

But maybe I’m just leaping to conclusions. First priority: talk to Shay and figure out what actually happened. A priority that gets unfortunately pushed aside when Shay claps eyes on us approaching the dock and lets out an audible gasp.

“Holy shit. What happened?”

I wave a hand at them, only to realize said hand is so numb from the cold that I can’t actually feel myself doing it. “I, uh. Fell in.”

Valeria’s eyes are just as wide as Shay’s. “Your lips are fully blue.”

“There’s like—frost in your hair,” Shay exclaims.

“Elsa isn’t the only one who can pull this look off,” I joke, hoping we can get off the subject of my complete and utter idiocy so I can gauge what happened here. That hope is further abandoned when Piper offers her hands to pull me onto the dock and I realize it’s not just my hand, but my entire body that’s gone numb.

Luckily Piper’s got some muscle on her, because she heaves me back up with the ease of someone who is used to fishing terrible kayakers out of the water.

“Aw, crap. You better get her to the house,” says Piper.

Milo has somehow already gotten himself on the dock and lightly puts his hands on my shoulders, steering me toward the parking lot. “C’mon. Let’s get to Stella before people try to rent you out as an ice sculpture.”

I follow his lead, but not without looking back at Shay and Valeria. “B-but—what about you guys?”

“We’re gonna go grab some coffee,” says Shay, deliberately nodding toward Milo’s car with an unmistakable Go.

So maybe my hopes aren’t completely dashed after all. It doesn’t exactly bring back any of the feeling in my limbs, but it’s restorative nonetheless. I follow Milo to Stella, confused that my legs are still moving me forward even when I can only half register that they’re still attached to me. I’m busy staring down at them when the weight of Milo’s coat is unexpectedly over my shoulders. It doesn’t do much to warm me, but that familiar smell does—that mingling of citrusy soap and coffee and warmth.

“Th-thanks.”

“I’d say anytime, but I’m optimistic that’s the last time you’ll catapult yourself into a below-freezing lake,” says Milo.

He jerks the heat all the way up in Stella despite the house being right down the road, casting a glance to take quick stock of me before he pulls out of the lot. Piper must have sent their mom a text to expect us, because Jamie is walking out the front door and clucking sympathetically at me before the car even fully parks in the driveway (no easy feat, considering the chickens nipping around).