Firefly Run (11 page)

"I’m too busy."

"That’s the deal, or I don’t go."

"Don’t you think that’ll look a bit odd, like you don’t want to be alone with Marianne?"

"That can’t be helped. And I’m not sure I want to be alone with her anyway. She looks like a hunter, and I’m the prey."

If her feelings weren’t so mixed up and near the surface, Shelly might have laughed. "Not too many good catches around here."

They stared at each other for several long seconds. He looked like a giant granite wall, and he wasn’t going to let her leave the storage room until she agreed to his plan.

She sighed in defeat. "Fine, I’ll go. Though I’m going to feel like the third wheel."

After returning to her cabin to put on a bathing suit and shorts, she left Chris in charge of the office and joined Marianne and Reed next to the Firefly Run van. She slipped into the driver’s seat.

"You’re going, too?" Marianne asked, a shade of disappointment in her voice, though she tried to hide it.

Poor Marianne. Shelly couldn’t really blame her for being attracted to Reed, for wanting to find someone better than her schmuck of a first husband.

"Yeah, I need to check out the state of the river before we fill up this weekend." She hoped the answer sounded plausible to Marianne. She didn’t dare look at Reed to determine his reaction.

Shelly drove through Bobcat Ridge and down the winding road that led to the river. Once below the ridge, she turned toward the national park and the Y where Highway 73 met the park road connecting Cades Cove and the Sugarlands Visitor Center. When she reached the Y, she pulled into one of the larger parking spaces.

As soon as she stepped out of the van, the sound of the gentle rapids and the whisper of the pine trees worked their mountain magic, helping soothe her frayed nerves.

Though Marianne had obviously not been thrilled at the outing becoming a threesome, she’d recovered enough to chatter like a blue jay. She’d addressed all her comments and questions toward Reed, so Shelly had focused her attention on the meandering Little River, wondering how she still could love it so much after seeing it thousands of times.

Reed had answered with an occasional short response, letting Marianne do most of the talking. Though Shelly hadn’t glanced toward him, she’d gotten the feeling that he was watching her.

Now, she took a deep breath, wishing she could indulge in a float down the river by herself. She knew every bend, every knobby tree lining its banks. What she didn’t know as she scanned the far side was if Eddie Victor could be hiding amongst the foliage, watching her, waiting for his moment to strike. A shudder ran down the length of her spine and all the way to her toes.

"You okay?" Reed asked.

"Yeah." She moved past him to the back of the van. "Let’s get these tubes out."

As they made their way down over the slick rocks and protruding tree roots to the edge of the river, Shelly suddenly thought of Troy and smiled.

"Maybe Reed was right," Marianne said as she materialized at Shelly’s elbow. "You’ve been working too hard and deserve a break."

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that you were less than happy when we were up at your place, and one look at the river and you’re smiling ear to ear."

Taking the opportunity to distance herself more from Reed in Marianne’s eyes, she shared the memory that had prompted the smile. "I was just remembering the first time I brought Troy home to meet my parents. Even though it was only early March, he insisted on taking a float. We about froze to death."

"You’re lucky you didn’t catch pneumonia."

"We did end up with a couple of nasty colds."

Shelly glanced past Marianne to where Reed stood rigid, staring out across the river. He’d heard every word. For a moment, she wondered if his stern expression was because he missed his friend or because she still seemed attached to her husband two years after his death.

"Well, time’s a wasting." Marianne stepped into the water and plopped into her tube.

Reed turned his head toward Shelly for a moment, but she wasn’t able to read his expression before he stepped into the edge of the river and promptly yelped as if he’d shoved his bare feet into a snowdrift. He stood still for a moment with a stunned expression on his face.

"You got in this water in March?" he asked, his teeth chattering.

Shelly and Marianne made eye contact and burst into laughter.

"You’ve been living in Texas too long," Marianne said as she let go of the boulder beside her and shoved herself out into the current. "You’re not as hardy as us mountain folk."

"Wuss," Shelly said more simply as she joined Marianne in the river.

For a few seconds, Reed stared at them as if they were insane before running over the rock-strewn shore.

"What’s he doing?" Marianne asked.

Shelly opened her mouth to say she had no idea when she caught the look on Reed’s face, the one that always accompanied one whale of a payback.

"Oh, hell," she said just before he jumped into the river with his tube, splashing both her and Marianne with enough water to make them gasp.

Shelly sputtered and wiped her face. She opened her eyes to find Reed’s tube next to hers. She narrowed her eyes at the wide, satisfied smile on his face. With not a hint of warning, she lifted one handle on his tube and dumped him back first into the river. Marianne snorted and clapped her approval. Before Reed could get his bearings, Shelly shoved her tube into the main current of the river, putting distance between herself and one cold Texan.

By the time Reed pulled himself up onto his tube and followed Marianne into the current, Shelly had cleared the lower end of a gentle set of rapids. When Reed cleared those same rapids, she glanced over at him and smiled in triumph.

"You’ll pay for that," he called.

"Promises, promises."

Though she had dreaded the outing, Shelly leaned back and allowed the sun and the gentle flow of the river to lull her near sleep. The scents of the forest—pine, rhododendron, and the ever-present moisture—tickled her nostrils. When she opened her eyes, she watched the smooth flow of the clear water around her, broken intermittently by non-threatening rapids gliding over rounded mountain rocks.

Marianne chattered on with Reed, having forgiven him for his dousing of her. She asked about life in Texas since she’d never lived farther away than Maryville, about half an hour down the road from Bobcat Ridge. Shelly snorted a couple of times at his embellishment of life as a Dallas detective, but Reed either didn’t notice or chose to ignore her.

Even with Marianne eyeing Reed, Shelly was having a good time. It was almost like the outings she’d had with Troy, Reed and the rest of their friends back in Dallas. Only this time, Troy wasn’t there, and she was the one alone. The thought dampened her mood more than the earlier splash had.

If she’d had an oar, she would have set to rowing, leaving Reed and Marianne to laugh and flirt. She needed to get back to work, the constant in her life that gave her a reason to get up each day. She wasn’t mired in despair, but neither did she see some shiny future for herself. She enjoyed meeting the guests, spending time with her parents, and wandering in the mountains. Wildflower hikes and reading good books brought satisfaction. But since Troy’s death, the fabulous highs and lows of being in love had disappeared from her life.

Reed and Marianne must have slipped into a faster current because they caught up with her. At first, she kept her eyes closed and ignored them. Just a little while longer and they’d reach the takeout point where Chris was to meet them with the van. Linda had agreed to drop him off at the van on her way over to Sugarlands to deliver an order of muffins for a park volunteer training session.

"There’s Shelly’s place," Marianne said.

Shelly opened her eyes and looked up the ridge to where the Firefly Run cabins towered above them. When she lowered her gaze, she found Reed watching her with a strange expression on his face, as if his mind were puzzling over some question.

Embarrassed, she looked downriver. She first saw the Firefly Run van, then Chris leaning against the hood. He waved when he saw them, and she waved back. With some hand paddling, she maneuvered her inner tube into the faster current in front of Reed and Marianne.

Instead of a float trip, Shelly felt as if she’d just taken a ride on a roller coaster—her emotions down, then up, then down again. She needed to get back to the office, busy herself with work for the rest of the day, then spend the evening telling herself all the reasons why she couldn’t possibly be attracted to Reed.

But as she climbed from the river and looked back at him, she thought it was going to take some powerful convincing.

****

Chris and Marianne chatted back and forth between his spot in the driver’s seat and hers next to Reed in the back. All Reed could see of Shelly was the top of her head in front of him, but he knew her well enough to figure some heavy thoughts were weighing on her mind. Her reactions during their trip down the river would have told even a stranger that while she had enjoyed herself, had perhaps needed the diversion more than wanted it, troublesome thoughts had lurked below the surface waiting for their chance to reclaim her attention.

As Chris maneuvered the van up the winding road leading to Bobcat Ridge, Reed wondered if Shelly’s worries centered solely around Eddie Victor or if she’d somehow read the attraction he felt for her, a disturbing but inescapable feeling that strengthened each time he saw her.

He’d scolded himself a thousand times for his feelings, even wondered if he was imagining them because she was the prettiest woman in the vicinity and he’d always been comfortable around her—at least until recently. He’d tested that theory today, attempting to flirt with Marianne. Attractive in her own right, she was precisely the type of woman he’d always dated—physically attractive, talkative, fun-loving and not too demanding.

But his efforts to focus on Marianne had failed miserably. His flirtations had come out forced and hollow, and he’d repeatedly caught himself snatching glances at Shelly when Marianne wasn’t looking. He’d stared a bit longer each time her smile faded and her eyes reflected a faraway look.

If she’d deduced his feelings, Shelly hadn’t mentioned it. Maybe she didn’t know how to react and figured if she ignored it, the whole situation would disappear. And if somehow he were able to ensure Eddie would do her no harm, she’d be right.

When they reached the cabins, Shelly nearly leapt from the van in her haste to reach the office. Marianne’s presence kept him from following, which was actually a good thing. What would he say if he caught her? He couldn’t very well ask if she harbored any attraction for him. At best, she’d say yes and he’d feel even guiltier than when he’d arrived. If she cared for him in that way, her sadness would be his fault, yet again. First, he’d failed to save her husband. Then he’d go home after Eddie was no longer a threat and leave her alone.

From his selfish point of view, however, the worst response would be the possibility she didn’t feel anything more than friendship.

"I had a good time," Marianne said, recapturing Reed’s attention.

He looked down to find her standing a bit too close. Any man with eyes would know what that seeking look on her face and those revealing clothes meant. There had been a day when he would have closed the gap and taken her shapely figure in his arms, but Troy’s death had changed him in so many ways. His dedication to ensuring justice was served was about the only thing that hadn’t disappeared or morphed into another form.

"Me too," he said. "It’s pretty here."

"I’m sure Texas is nice, too."

"It’s hot, a lot dustier." He loved Texas, but some instinct had nudged him into making his native state sound less than inviting.

"How long are you staying?"

"I don’t know yet," he said. So this was what it was like to be on the opposite side of the interrogation table.

"It’s a good thing you’re doing for Shelly. She’s had it rough."

"Yeah."

"Well, if things get back to normal and you’d like to see more of the sights, let me know. I’ve lived here my whole life, so I know where all the pretty spots are, the ones that aren’t covered up with tourists."

"I’ll keep that in mind." He knew she was hoping for an invitation to dinner or another afternoon outing, but he wasn’t willing to commit to that, not even if Eddie was no longer a concern.

Marianne almost hid her disappointment, but not quite. Her smile quivered a bit at the edges, and her bright eyes dimmed almost imperceptibly, making him feel about as big as a gnat.

"I’ll try to stop by your store soon," he said, not wanting to hurt her feelings even though the relationship she seemed to want would never materialize.

Her eyes brightened at that. "Well, I’ll look forward to seeing you again."

To her credit, she turned and walked to her car without pressing the issue further. She might be lonely, but she wasn’t needy to the point of embarrassing herself.

He waved to her as she drove down the gravel entry road. When she passed out of sight, he turned slowly toward the office. For several seconds, he watched the screen door as if Shelly would appear there solely on the strength of his thoughts. When she didn’t, he pointed himself toward the edge of the ridge. If Shelly wanted to talk about something, she knew where to find him. With Eddie Victor still out there somewhere and her father in precarious health, she had enough emotional upheaval in her life without him adding to it.

He seated himself on a rocky outcropping at the edge of the ridge behind his cabin. He watched the river in the valley below flow by, its glass-like surface soothing. What he’d told Marianne was true. It was beautiful here in this corner of the Appalachians. He’d never lived anywhere where the surroundings were so lush, green and fragrant. Having seen Shelly in two vastly different environs, he decided the rolling, foggy mountains suited her much more than the harsher climate of Texas.