Page 97 of Tricked in October
“Some help you are,” he called to the useless dog. This was why people had friends. Someone to take one end of the canoe so you didn’t look like a dumbass dragging it for two hundred feet by yourself.
Cooper stepped into the lake before turning around and immediately hightailing it back to meet Davis on the lake’s edge.
Davis chuckled. “What were you thinking, boy? I told you it would be cold?” He heaved the canoe a bit further before dropping it onto the sand and releasing a strangled breath.
Cooper did zoomies and Davis just shook his head, watching the aging dog. Apparently, this canoe ride was long overdue. He bent and pushed the canoe into the water, stopping when one end remained in the sand.
He whistled to Cooper. “All right, Coop. Get in.” The dog did as he was told, jumping into the canoe and it rocked back and forth. “Sit,” Davis commanded.
After Cooper sat, Davis pushed the canoe, launching it into the water and then he quickly hopped in. He sat on the seat as it jolted back and forth before slowly coming to rest. Davis wrapped a plaid, fleece blanket around Cooper and the dog panted in appreciation. Or at least, that’s what Davis assumed was his emotion. He’d surely freeze his giblets off out here.
Davis covered his own lap with a blanket and then zipped his jacket up. Tugging his beanie down further, fighting off the biting breeze, he shuddered. Davis picked up an oar and began paddling them out deeper.
Through the thin fog, he spotted another canoe further in the distance and a small fishing boat. But other than that, the lake was scarce today. It was quiet and peaceful, and it was exactly what he needed.
His phone buzzed in the front pocket of his jeans. He ignored it and paddled further. But when it buzzed again, he groaned, and yanked it out of his pocket.
Garrett: Need to talk.
Garrett: Meet me at Tapp’s.
Tapp’s Brewery had become their new hangout since O’Henry’s closed. Thinking of O’Henry’s only made him think about Kelsey next. And he couldn’t let his mind go there.
The past few weeks his senses had been on overload. The commotion during filming, sticking to their deadlines, Franklin, and that stupid memo that pretty much backfired on him. Because at the end of the season, after the rumor fiasco, Davis hadn’t had to work his sex appeal after all. Turned out, some women—a lot of women actually—liked the nice, sweet guy who also was labeled as someone’s best-sex-they’d-ever-had.
Davis didn’t care anymore about any of it. All he was grateful for was that the season had wrapped up and he had six weeks off. Since Kelsey hadn’t taken him up on his offer, he needed to spend his time off deciding what his next steps were with the show. If he would sign another contract or not.
Kelsey took up a lot of space in his head these days. All the ways he’d messed up. All the ways he should’ve tried to make it better. He didn’t only miss her and the love making, he missed her friendship. She was his person, the one he went to for everything. Without her, he felt lost.
What sounded like thunder boomed in his ears and Cooper barked, startling him, and shaking him free from his Kelsey brain-fog. “Okay, boy, you ready to go back?”
The dog wagged his tail and panted.
Davis maneuvered the canoe and as he started for the shore, he noticed dark, ominous, clouds filled the sky. That gloomy meant it was about to downpour. Davis paddled faster.
The raindrops fell moments later, thudding onto the lake and ricocheting off the canoe. Shit. They were still a ways away. Cooper bounded toward him, hunkering down when he reached him, and whimpered near his boots.
“It’s okay, boy. We’re almost home,” he fibbed. But Cooper probably didn’t know that, did he?
Davis glanced over both shoulders, searching for the other boats he saw earlier, but the fog had thickened across the darkened sky and he could hardly see behind him. He returned his attention ahead, drove the oar into the water, deeper, faster. His heart raced, the adrenaline pumped and continued to whisper loudly to Cooper, if nothing else than to assure himself.
“We’re okay, Coop. Almost there. Almost home. We got this.”
At last, the shore came into view. But before he allowed himself release from the fear, he squinted and pushed the oar faster. The rainfall was filling the canoe rapidly and even though he could almost hop out on the shore, he held his breath.
Until, finally, the canoe slid up onto the sand and thudded to a stop. Davis whistled to Cooper and he jumped out, the dog on his heels. With all his strength, he heaved the canoe out of the water and then slipped, falling back on his butt into the hard sand.
For now, the canoe would be fine left there. He and Cooper made a run for his truck, the tension in his shoulders finally easing. His mind flashed first, to an image of the life jackets that were in his garage. Next, to an image of he and Cooper abandoning the submerged canoe and swimming back to the shore. Then, to an image of Kelsey, grieving the death of another lover.
He tripped up the embankment and, he caught himself from falling completely, landing on his knees. Cooper stopped beside him and barked incessantly. “Cooper,” Davis hollered over the torrent, his breathing accelerated, and his chest rising and falling rapidly. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”
But Cooper continued to bark. A shadowy figure appeared in the distance through the somber fog. Davis sucked in a breath. A voice cut through the noisy rainstorm.
“Davis?”
He could scarcely hear it, but it was enough for him to decipher. He’d always be able to recognize his best friend’s voice. His heart pounded and his entire body tingled.
“Davis?” she called again.
