Chapter Thirteen

Maddy tucked the edges of the old quilt around the wicker picnic basket so it wouldn’t jiggle in the car, and flopped into the backseat. She tugged at her bikini underneath a white C&C California tank top and a pair of ancient Blue Cult jeans.

Her dad was sitting in the driver’s seat with the door open, rustling around with a giant map and talking to himself under his breath as he marked a route with a pencil. “Turn onto 17, then down three miles, left at the gas station….”

The whole family was going to a beach nearby. “A nice little outing,” Maddy’s mom had said. Fred and David were meeting them there. Maddy had had to force herself not to make a remark about what a Napa beach might be like compared to a San Francisco beach, but she’d managed to keep her mouth safely shut. Things between her and her parents had been a little stiff ever since their fight the week before. She hadn’t really said much to them since then—just “Please pass the milk,” “I’m going to bed,” things like that.

She had to admit that it was a gorgeous day. The sky looked freshly washed, and fluffy, woolly clouds floated above in a dignified procession. A mass of flowers had bloomed by the side of the driveway and around the house—purple, red, and blue with splashes of orange. The air smelled like earth and fresh pine.

After about twenty minutes of driving past little grocery stores, vineyards, and farm stands selling melons and blueberries, turning onto progressively smaller and smaller country roads, Bob said, “Debbie, look at the map, will you? I think Fred said it was right past Mason’s, but I don’t see the—ah!” He jammed on the brakes, jolting Maddy against her seat belt. “Here it is!” Maddy just barely detected a tiny dirt path winding back into the pine forest, just off the road. It was almost hidden by the drooping branches of the massive fir trees lining both sides of the pavement.

She leaned forward as they wound down the tiny, dark road. The forest looked like something out of a creepy fairy tale, with huge trees and tangled grass all around. Barely any sunshine filtered through those enormous branches, leaving the spaces underneath dark and shadowy. Maddy’s dad peered through the windshield as he slowly drove down the bumpy dirt road. “Bob, are you sure this is the right one?” Her mother asked, anxiously looking out the window.

“Well, it was right past the shop, like Fred said. Anyway, I think there’s a clearing ahead.”

Maddy could just see a patch of light at the end of the road. The patch grew larger as they drove until it suddenly widened into a broad, sun-flooded meadow. Switchgrass, heavy with seeds, nodded on each side of the window as the wind blew through the stems. At the base of the meadow, Bob parked next to the gray pickup. Maddy was surprised at how happy she was to see David’s long, lean figure climbing down from the cab.

Fred and her parents disappeared down a short path just in front of them. “Hey,” Maddy said, greeting David.

He blasted her with the full wattage of his white smile. “Hey, cutie.” What? David was still talking but Maddy barely heard what he was saying. She felt a dopey grin spread over her face. Stop it, she instructed herself. You do not care that David thinks you’re cute. What’s with the giddy schoolgirl reaction? Why did he have this effect on her?

David, oblivious to Maddy’s internal drama, reached into the cab of the pickup and pulled out a big hamper. “You are going to love this lake,” he told her. “It’s my favorite place in Napa.”

“I can’t wait to swim,” Maddy said, getting a grip on herself. “I haven’t been in the water since leaving the city.”

The little dirt path wove through the pine trees, twisting right and then left again. Maddy ducked to avoid the low-hanging branches and stepped carefully around a boggy spot in the middle. In another dozen yards, the trees gave way to some shrubs, which opened onto a little beach. The change was so sudden that Maddy stopped short, causing David to bump into her. A small, calm lake spread before them, glistening in the early afternoon sun, completely surrounded by the forest. The sandy beach edged the water and an old, weathered dock extended out from the shore. The air smelled of rich mud and silt. Little crabs ran over the sand and hid in their holes. In the middle of the lake, Maddy saw a silvery splash as a fish jumped toward the sky. Except for the fish, the place was completely deserted.

Her parents were already setting up low lawn chairs and a few pillows. Fred dragged over a big log to serve as a bench. David started unpacking the food. “Look!” Maddy pointed. A peregrine falcon was soaring overhead.

“Those are endangered,” David said, taking the tops off of some Tupperware containers.

“I know,” Maddy said, spreading out the big green blanket. David did a double take. “Don’t look so surprised,” she teased.

“I’m not,” he said unconvincingly.

“Sure you’re not. For your information, I learned all about birds at the Raptor Center back in the city.” Maddy eyed him. “See, you’re surprised I even know what the Raptor Center is,” she said, poking his arm.

“I’m n—Well, okay, I’m a little surprised,” he admitted, dumping salad into a big plastic bowl. Several feet away, her parents and Fred were laughing quietly as Fred pointed out something in the sand.

“My friend Kirsten and I took a bird there once.” She focused for a moment on balancing five glasses on a flat rock next to her. She looked up and found David watching her expectantly.

“Why?” he prompted. Maddy felt sort of dumb telling this story, but it was too late to change the subject.

“Well, we were driving on 17 last year and this kestrel flew into the windshield of the car right in front of us. We saw it get thrown over to the side of the road. So we stopped on the on-ramp, picked it up, and wrapped it in a towel. It wasn’t dead, but it just lay there looking at us with its beak open. Kirsten said we should take it to the Raptor Center—she took a vulture there once.” Maddy stopped for a second. David was watching her with his mouth slightly open. “What?”

He shut his mouth abruptly. “Nothing. What happened then?”

“So we took him over there and the technician looked at him and said that he hadn’t broken anything but he was in shock from getting hit. They put him in a cage, and at first he kept walking into the bars and falling over. Kirsten and I went back every day to see him until he was ready to be released back into the wild,” Maddy finished. She looked at David, feeling a little self-conscious. “If you must know, we named him Harold,” she added. David was quiet. He seemed to be thinking about something.

Then he shook his head. “That’s cool. I didn’t think…,” he said, not finishing his sentence.

“Didn’t think what?” Maddy asked.

He looked at her a minute longer. “Nothing. Hey, do you want to cut this up?” He handed her a loaf of French bread and a knife.

“Sure.” She started slicing onto a large cloth napkin. Their parents wandered over.

“Wow,” Dad said, looking at the lunch spread. There was a giant salad of greens with crumbly cheese, apples, and curly arugula. A plate of cold, sliced chicken breast drizzled with tarragon and olive oil sat next to a bowl of raspberries that were a deep, almost luminous red-pink. A big bottle of Perrier, its sides frosty and dripping, stood ready to be opened. Maddy’s mouth was watering. She couldn’t help reaching for a berry. She popped the soft little fruit into her mouth.

“Mmmm,” she murmured. It was sweet and warm. “How long did it take you to make all of this?” she asked David.

He shrugged. “Not long—it’s like the lunch I made you. If you have really good ingredients, the food is better when you mostly leave it alone.”

Everyone started helping themselves to the slices of white, tender chicken flecked with dark green specks of tarragon, the hunks of crusty bread, and the salad. For a while, they were quiet, concentrating on the food. Then Fred set his plate down, stretched, and patted his stomach. “Delicious again, Dave.”

David looked pleased. “Thanks, Dad.”

Fred stood up. “Anyone up for a little stroll around the lake? There’s a nice path that goes right along the bank.”

“Sure!” Mom got to her feet and dusted off her shorts. “Are you coming, Bob?” she asked. Maddy’s father had just stretched out flat on the sand with a towel over his eyes, but he reluctantly removed it and got up.

“I think I’m going swimming,” David said.

“Maddy?” Fred asked, inviting her to join them for a stroll.

She glanced at David, who seemed to be unsuccessfully trying not to stare at her. “Um, I think I’ll hang out here, Fred, thanks. Maybe I’ll swim too.” She leaned back on her elbows and smiled at the group.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Maddy watched as her parents and Fred crunched away down the beach and disappeared on a path through the woods. She and David were quiet. After the sound of footsteps faded away, Maddy tried to concentrate on stacking up a little pile of stones. David examined a mosquito bite on his toe. A black ant wandered onto the blanket and started trying to carry away a bread crumb. The quiet stretched out until Maddy felt it change into something else. She started feeling a little awkward, like she was overly aware of her hands, and she could tell David felt it too. All of a sudden she realized what it was. We’re alone. It didn’t really make sense—she had been alone with David for days at a time, but for some reason, this felt different. She could sense just how close to her he was sitting, and her skin tingled a little.

He stood up abruptly. “Let’s swim.”

“Okay,” she answered, thankful for the break in the silence.

Without waiting for her, he took off his flip-flops and walked out onto the dock, where he stopped and stripped off his shirt. His broad shoulders were well muscled and deeply tanned, tapering to narrow hips. He turned around and stretched his arms overhead, making his pecs and abs ripple, and executed a perfect backward dive into the gray-green water. A moment later, his dark head appeared, gleaming on the surface of the water. He swam back and forth a few times and then flipped over onto his back. “Come on!” he called to her. “It’s not that cold!”

“I’m not scared of cold water!” she called back.

“Then come on in! Or are you not as tough as you act?”

She couldn’t let him get away with that. “Okay, Superboy, I’m coming!” She pulled her tank top off over her head, feeling a little like she was doing a striptease, even though she was wearing a swimsuit. She wiggled out of her jeans and undid her ponytail, raking her fingers through her hair. She flipped it back over her shoulders, where it hung, tickling the bare skin between her shoulder blades. She could tell David was watching her and it made her nervous. This was dumb. Why should she be nervous? It was just David.

He was treading water as she strode out onto the dock. The gray planks were smooth and hot under her bare feet. She stood at the end and looked down into the green depths. Sunlight filtered through the top of the water, turning it translucent. Below that, it was just dark. A spray of water splashed her feet and calves. “Stop!” she shrieked, retreating to the other side of the dock.

David grinned and splashed her again. “Come on, chicken girl!”

She stuck her tongue out at him, took a deep breath, and dove into the water. She gasped as she came to the surface. “It’s freezing, you ass!”

David laughed. He turned a somersault and then swam away from her across the water. Maddy struck out after him, pulling at the water with her best summer swim-team strokes. Swimming in the lake felt very different from swimming in the chlorinated crystal-clear blue depths of the Bay Swim Club pool. For one thing, it felt very big. She couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit nervous about the deep, dark water below her. She knew that there weren’t any sharks or anything in a lake, but maybe…snakes? Immersed in her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed David disappear from her line of vision. She stopped swimming and treaded water for a minute, looking around. Where was he? She couldn’t see him anywhere. Suddenly, from under the water, something grabbed her ankles and pulled hard, forcing her head under the surface. She tried to scream but inhaled a mouthful of lake water instead. For one terrifying instant, she floundered under the water, still held around the ankles, choking on the water she had swallowed.

Then her ankles were released. Her head broke the surface and she gasped. David was beside her, his arm around her waist, supporting her as he held on to the dock with the other hand. Maddy sputtered a minute, catching her breath, clinging to his strong shoulders. “Thanks a lot!” she finally managed.

He looked abashed. “Sorry about that—I didn’t mean for you to swallow water. You can get me back.”

Suddenly, she was conscious of how close she was to him. She released her hold quickly and swam away. “I’m okay now!” she called back over her shoulder.

“You sure?” he called after her.

“I’m fine!” she said, breaststroking along the waterline. Now that she was more used to it, the contrast between the warm sun on her shoulders and the cool water felt good. She swam laps for a few minutes, plotting out a little friendly revenge. Some long strands of pondweed floating near the surface of the water close to the shore gave her an idea, even if it was a little silly.

She pulled up some of the slimy green weeds and twisted them into a cool, wet wad. Then, holding her weapon in one hand, she paddled back toward David. She was pretty near him when he saw her and said, “Hey. What’s up?”

“This!” she yelled, and threw the pondweed. She scored a direct hit right on his forehead. He yelped and pawed the stuff off before dunking his head in the water to get rid of the sliminess.

He was laughing when he came up. “Oh, you’re bad,” he said. “Better run away.” He tried to grab her around the waist but she slipped out of his hands and back-stroked across the lake beyond his reach. “Bye!” She waved.

“Nice try!” he called and swam rapidly toward her, beating the dark water into white froth behind him. Maddy shrieked with pretend fright and paddled in a large circle. David snared her, this time successfully wrapping his arms around her. She felt a thrill of excitement at the touch of his smooth chest, deliciously warm under the cold water.

“Arrrrahh!” David attempted a kung fu yell and, lifting Maddy like she weighed nothing, threw her into the water. She shook her hair out of her face as she came up.

“You’re in so much trouble, jerk!” she yelled, and flung herself onto his back, sticking there like a suction cup. They sank and David started swimming near the bottom of the pond, Maddy still hanging on to his shoulders.

All of the surface noises disappeared, leaving the two of them in cool green silence. The pondweed waved beneath them, and dark logs lay here and there, half buried in the underwater mud. Maddy felt like she and David had entered their own world for a moment—a bubble where no one existed but the two of them.

Then the spell was broken as David swam upward and they surfaced. “Woo-hoo!” Maddy gasped. “I had no idea I could hold my breath that long!”

“You just have to practice—Jeremy Olson and I used to have contests in his basement in fourth grade. First one to black out was the loser.”

Maddy laughed, still panting. She treaded water, holding on to his shoulder with one hand. “Sounds great.” The words died on her lips as she suddenly realized how close their faces were—only inches away. Her eyes were drawn to his lips like magnets. Her hands grew numb and her face started tingling as she realized he was staring at her too.

What are you doing, Maddy? A little, sane voice in her head pushed through the haze in her mind. Excellent question. She ripped her eyes from David’s face and, turning, swam slowly back toward the dock, which was now only a thin gray line above the water. David paddled by her side.

For a minute, neither spoke. Maddy cast a glance at David under her eyelashes. His face was pleasant as usual but told her nothing about what he was thinking. Then he turned to her. “Can I tell you something?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said, watching the dock slowly grow larger in front of them.

“I was wrong about you.”

Maddy blinked at the boldness of his words. “What?”

He turned his head as best he could while still swimming. “I mean it. When I first met you, I thought you were someone different than you are.”

Maddy was almost afraid to ask. “What…what did you think I was?”

“Oh, I don’t know—maybe a little snobby?”

She opened her mouth.

David rushed ahead. “Hey, that’s not what I wanted to tell you. I was wrong, because it turns out that you’re really a hell of a lot of fun. I know this isn’t exactly the summer you’d hoped for. It wasn’t my plan, either. But this summer is turning out fifty times better than I thought it would. Score one for changing plans!”

Warmth flooded Maddy’s body as she took in his words. She felt buoyant, like she could just float across the lake instead of swimming. She grinned at David. “I can’t disagree with you.”

David pulled himself out onto the dock, but Maddy swam to the shore and waded in, wrinkling her nose at the feel of the muddy sand. Her parents and Fred had returned from their walk and were busily shaking out blankets and folding chairs. Maddy wrapped a towel around her shoulders. David came up behind her, panting a little and dripping.

Maddy picked up an armful of blankets and worked her feet into her flip-flops.

“Back to the grind tomorrow,” she said to David with a mock sigh as they struggled toward the woods.

“Yeah, we can inhale bleach fumes together all day. I’m sure I have a few brain cells left that haven’t been fried yet.”

Maddy pulled a mournful face, but the truth was, as they all walked together toward their trucks, tired and sandy, she didn’t really mind the thought of working on the tasting room with David. She actually couldn’t think of anything else she’d rather do.