Lily grabbed a quick shower and went in search of Sarah. She found her going over the food lists with Clara.
“How was the hike?” Sarah asked.
“I think of it more as a trek,” Lily said, “but it was fun. The kids seemed to really like it, even the ones who started out doubtful.” She paused. Shannon had been the noticeable standout who’d refused to even pretend to be trying to master the solo set-up exercise. When Alisha had pointed out that all the camp activities had a larger purpose in preparing the campers for actual wilderness experiences, Shannon had merely smirked and wandered off to talk to several of the boys from cabin one. “Most of them, at least.”
Sarah shook her head and Clara snorted. “There’s always a few just putting in time. Something else up?”
“I was wondering how you wanted me to handle being off-site. Do you have a beeper or anything for me to carry, or will the cell phones be reliable?”
Sarah put the clipboard she’d been carrying down on the counter and moved a few steps away from the kitchen staff. Lily followed.
“Going somewhere?”
“Into town,” Lily said, not feeling the need to explain any further.
“Tonight?” Sarah asked mildly.
“Yes,” Lily said, also not feeling the need to hide anything. “Chase and I are going to have dinner, and I’m finally going to get the hiking boots I should have gotten to begin with. Today definitely convinced me I needed them.”
“How is Chase doing?”
The question wasn’t surprising. Of course Sarah would know that Chase had been injured. Chase was Sarah’s sister, but also Lily’s patient, and now Lily was about to go off on what even she had to admit was a date with Chase. Murky boundaries everywhere, but none that she saw as compromising anything personal or professional—yet.
“She looked pretty comfortable out there today,” Lily said, “but it’s Chase. I suspect she doesn’t let much in the way of physical discomfort show.”
“You seem to know her pretty well,” Sarah said. “That’s kind of surprising, seeing how she almost never shares anything that really matters with anyone.”
Sarah’s frustration was hard to miss. Lily could only imagine how terrifying Chase’s accident must have been for Sarah. They’d been each other’s only family for more than half their lives. Shutting Sarah out, if that’s what Chase did, had to have been unconscious. Lily could never imagine Chase hurting Sarah intentionally.
“I don’t know about that,” Lily said. “Chase lets people see what she wants them to see. That goes for everyone, I imagine.”
“She seems to think that you see more than that.”
Lily felt heat rise to her face. She was both pleased and intrigued. “Really?”
Sarah’s eyes were probing, and Lily wasn’t sure if she was reading criticism or curiosity.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chase really serious about anyone she was involved with,” Sarah said mildly.
“We’re not going over this again, are we?” Lily asked. “Because it’s really not—”
“No, actually.” Sarah spread her hands and smiled wryly. “I’ve given up on relationship advice for the rest of the summer.”
“Well, that should cover things, then, as far as I’m concerned at least.” Lily said it lightly, even as the idea of Chase giving Sarah some reason to be concerned about another woman ignited an unexpected and totally unreasonable flare of…annoyance. Because she didn’t get jealous—never had—and had absolutely no cause to start now.
Sarah raised a brow. “Anything’s just temporary, right?”
“At the moment there’s nothing to really even consider in that regard, but my stay here does have an end date.”
“I suppose if that’s the situation, there isn’t really much to say. I hope you enjoy dinner.”
“I plan to,” Lily said, happy to move on to safer ground. Anything to do with Chase seemed to catch her off-balance. Not a comfortable or common place for her to be. “I like being here, but it’s…remote.”
Sarah laughed. “That would be the definition, yes. What do you miss?”
“Shopping,” Lily said instantly and then laughed herself. “Although, goodness knows, I haven’t had a chance to do that in forever.”
“Then you should go and…shop.”
“The beeper?”
“We really rely on the radios, since cell service is so spotty up here. If you’re going to be with Chase, I can contact you that way.”
“If you’re sure,” Lily said.
“Go, and have a good time.” Sarah smiled. “Really.”
“Thanks,” Lily said, relieved that Sarah recognized there was nothing to worry about. After all, how much could happen in one summer?
* * *
Chase waited on the front porch and, when five minutes went by, began to worry that Lily might change her mind. She appreciated how Lily considered a problem from every angle before coming to a decision—most of the time. She’d rather Lily didn’t have too much time to rethink her verdict on dinner. When Lily appeared and smiled at her, Chase’s tension ebbed and a buzz of anticipation took its place. “All set?”
“Yes. Sarah said she would contact you by radio if they needed me for any reason.”
“Good enough. Let’s get out of here before Sarah remembers something I need to do.”
Lily bumped her shoulder. “Stop. She’s not that bad.”
“Okay. You’re right—but I still don’t want to take any chances. I’ve been trying to make this happen for two weeks.”
As they walked off the porch, Chase rested her hand in the small of Lily’s back. The contact was casual, and Lily found she liked it very much. “Considering you’ve been working every night for most of that time, maybe you should be taking the night off.”
Chase gave her a slow-lidded, heavy look that caught Lily in between breaths with a wave of arousal that made her heart lurch.
“That’s the first inane thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Chase said.
“Consider the statement retracted,” Lily murmured and threaded her arm around Chase’s waist as they walked. She’d already done it before she could catch herself, and the solid feel of Chase’s body beneath her hand felt so right, she kept it there.
Chase lightly stroked Lily’s back as they walked. “Anything special you’d like for dinner?”
“Something I can’t get here.”
“That covers a lot of ground,” Chase said with a laugh. “How does Thai sound?”
Lily paused by the side of Chase’s Jeep. “Seriously?”
“Yep. There’s a good place on the lake not far from the sports outlet where we can get you some boots. And we can walk around town a bit if you like.”
“I would like very much.” Lily looked forward to the evening far more than she’d imagined she would. A night where she wasn’t taking care of sick or dying patients, where the air was clear, the sky was bright, and the company was exciting? She couldn’t ask for anything more.
The ride down the mountain with the sun setting behind them and Chase driving was a completely different experience than what Lily’d experienced driving up. That day seemed part of a different lifetime. Despite the clear blue sky and brilliant sunshine, her world had been tinged with gray. Without her noticing, the gray had disappeared. She studied Chase, her profile a study in light and shadow as the sun sank low and lanced at an angle across the open-topped vehicle. Chase was a study in contrasts too—fiercely independent and self-sufficient, but not without human attachment or needs. She loved Sarah as deeply as Sarah loved her. And she wanted Lily. To pretend otherwise would be to lie to herself. The wanting might be a physical one, but the need for touch—to give and receive physical pleasure—was as basic a human need as breathing. Lily had forgotten that need for a long time and welcomed the awareness of it now.
Chase glanced at her and smiled quizzically. “What?”
“I need a Jeep,” Lily said. No reason for Chase to know just how much she enjoyed her attention.
“You would if you’re going to go back and forth yourself,” Chase said, “but you know, I’m happy to chauffeur.”
“Right. In your free five minutes once a week.”
“I could probably squeeze in a few more minutes for you, Lily.” She reached across the space between them and took Lily’s hand.
Startled, Lily shifted to face her.
“You mind?” Chase said, her other hand on the wheel and her eyes on the trail.
“No,” Lily said truthfully. She liked the warmth and strength of Chase’s hand in hers. She liked the contact. She liked the connection. And she wasn’t going to look more closely than that. “You can really do this one-handed?”
Chase laughed. “I’ve been up and down this trail five hundred times. I know every rock.”
“Then I don’t mind a bit.”
“Good,” Chase said in that low, sexy rumble. “Neither do I.”
* * *
“Boots, walk around town, or dinner first?” Chase asked as she parked in a small lot between a touristy gift shop and a pizza parlor on the main thoroughfare through Lake George. The village, as it was still called, although Lily suspected it was larger in population than the designation implied, hadn’t changed much since the last time she’d been there, which had to have been more than a decade before. Perhaps even the last year of college. The resorts still looked the same, mostly low-slung motor courts interspersed with newer condos and individual freestanding units on either end of the village. Once outside the commercial area, every free bit of roadside property was developed until reaching the million dollar mile, a stretch of road bordering the lake, so named for the early twentieth century mansions of the wealthy families who had once flocked from New York City to Lake George in the summer. Many still privately owned by those families, they stood as reminders of the historic past, multistory stone edifices overlooking sweeping lawns that led down to private beaches with docks and boathouses and pavilions. Curving drives and stone patios sat framed by meticulously manicured gardens. Lily had the fleeting thought that she’d rather spend the summer in the mountains than behind some of those constraining walls.
She said to Chase, “Let’s walk, pick up the boots, and be done with everything before we eat. Then we won’t have to rush the meal.”
“I can get behind that,” Chase said as they walked along the beach in the center of town where the big tour boats docked. Long lines of tourists snaked out into the street waiting for the next departure.
“Ever been on one of those?” Chase asked.
“No,” Lily said, “but I gather we’ll be doing that on the Fourth.”
Chase pointed to one of the paddleboats, slightly smaller than the largest triple-decker tour boats, with two decks having areas of open seating fore and aft, and an enclosed section in the center for the less intrepid passengers. “That’s the one we’ll be taking, the William Henry.”
“Did you spend much time in the village when you were young?” Lily asked as they strolled past T-shirt shops and arty boutiques offering handcrafted ceramics, paintings, and sculptures interspersed with eateries and a few designer clothing shops.
“Not often. A trip into the village was a real outing for us. I looked forward to it for weeks. But then when I got here, everything felt so strange. So noisy and busy, and there wasn’t really all that much I really wanted. Except ice cream.”
Lily laughed. “I suppose that was hard to come by where you were living.”
“Pretty much nonexistent,” Chase said. “My father did most of the cooking but my mother baked. So we never went without treats, but ice cream was a little tough to conserve.”
Lily pointed to a line of people in front of an ice cream stand. “Still think it’s a treat?”
Chase grinned. “I do. But you know, there’s the problem of spoiling our dinner.”
“I’ll risk it if you will.”
“You know I love a challenge.”
Lily laughed, the timbre of Chase’s voice striking a chord in her, as if hearing the opening of a melody she’d forgotten. “I have gotten that impression of you, yes. Come on then. My treat.”
They got in line, and Chase predictably ordered a cone with three different kinds of chocolate ice cream. Lily went for the cherry and blueberry cheesecake mix.
“How is it?” Chase asked as they walked back to the pathway that wended along the shore.
Lily held out her cone. “Excellent. Want to try?”
Chase stopped walking, cupped Lily’s hand in hers, and, her eyes on Lily, leaned down and slowly licked a circle around Lily’s cone.
Lily found her breath coming faster. “Well?”
Chase straightened. Her gaze never left Lily’s. “Delicious. I can’t wait for another taste.”
Lily laughed. “Chase, you’re shameless and obvious.”
“Guilty and guilty as charged. But”—she slid her arm around Lily’s waist as they began walking again—“is it working?”
Lily could never remember a moment like that in her life. She’d been on dates, she’d held hands with a woman or two in public, but she’d never felt so physically connected to another person, so comfortable, and so aroused. The evening somehow seemed fresher, brighter, and her blood pulsed to a beat that echoed deep inside her. “You know it is.”
“Just hoping so,” Chase murmured.
Lily glanced up at her. “We should go shopping for boots.”
“I’d almost forgotten about them.”
Lily finished her cone and, using one thumb, wiped a smudge of chocolate off the corner of Chase’s mouth.
“Chocolate,” she said.
“Lily,” Chase said, her gaze liquid heat.
Lily quickly shook her head. “No. Boots.”
“They’ll be there tomorrow.”
“And I’ll be back in camp tomorrow doing my job.” She summoned all her willpower. Resisting Chase when the pull to say yes to what Chase suggested, to what she wanted, was nearly overpowering. “Boots.”
Chase sighed and took her hand. “This way.”
Half an hour later, Lily tucked the package under her arm. They dropped the boots off at the Jeep and walked the opposite direction away from the crowds and the traffic to a small, unassuming restaurant that sat on the water. Its outdoor patio extended to the shoreline, and the view of the lake was uninterrupted for miles. Still so early in the season, they were able to get a table without any trouble, and they sat beneath an umbrella at one corner of the deck as the sun set over the chain of islands that ran north in the middle of the lake.
“Does anyone own those islands?” Lily asked.
“A few of them,” Chase said. “Others are actually part of the parkland, and we patrol them by water.”
“Do you spend any time on the water?” Lily asked.
Chase shook her head. “Not unless there’s a rescue. Too far for me to come down, and I’m not a boater. I don’t mind it, but…”
“The mountains are your thing,” Lily finished for her.
Chase nodded solemnly. “You got it. How about you, Lily,” Chase asked as they drank the sweet Thai coffee. “You said you sailed. What else? What calls to you?”
Lily blinked. And blanked. She was silent, searching for an answer. “You know, I don’t really know anymore.”
Chase reached for Lily’s hand. Her thumb caressed the top of Lily’s knuckles. “Maybe you’ll rediscover it. What that is.”
“Maybe I’ll find it for the first time,” Lily said musingly.
“So,” Chase said after a quiet moment, “sibs?”
“No,” Lily said. “Only child.”
She told Chase the story of how her parents had met, both having spent all their lives training and then traveling around the world with Doctors Without Borders.
“Sarah was kind of a sister for me,” Lily said, thinking back. “I never really had anyone near my age to share things with. Those three years in college were just about the happiest of my life.”
Chase looked out over the water. “Sarah gave that up to come back home and take care of me. She had to finish up her degree going part-time and commuting.”
“I don’t think, for one single second, she regrets doing that,” Lily said. “I’ve known her half my life, and one thing I know for certain. She adores you.”
“And I’ve been nothing but a huge headache,” Chase said, only half laughing.
“Well, she’s never said that,” Lily said and laughed lightly, happy to see Chase smile back.
“She giving you a hard time about me?” Chase asked.
“No, not at all.” The last thing Lily would ever do was come between the two of them.
“That is a very diplomatic answer.”
“If you’re worried about how Sarah feels,” Lily said carefully, “we don’t have to—”
“Whoa,” Chase said instantly. “I love my sister. And I’d never intentionally do anything to hurt her. But that does not extend to my personal life. Especially not where you’re concerned.”
“Well, I might be getting ahead of things, but—”
“Lily, you know you’re not. You want to tell me you haven’t thought about that kiss? A single time?”
Lily laughed, astounded that her voice was shaking. “You know damn well I can’t do that.”
“Neither can I. And there’s nothing I can do to stop thinking about you, either. To stop wanting another kiss, and more.”
“And do you think that will take care of it? Another kiss, and more?”
“I doubt it,” Chase said. “But we’ll never know until we try. There’s a very nice private little motel about five miles up the road. I thought we might go there after dinner.”
Lily swallowed and shook her head. “I didn’t bring a toothbrush.”
Chase nodded. “Let’s enjoy dinner, then.”
Dinner came and went, and Lily enjoyed it as much as she could while struggling not to second-guess herself. Not to let her rational, reasonable self be overshadowed by the instincts clamoring for her to just let go.
When they’d finished their meal and walked back to the Jeep, Chase took her hand again. “It doesn’t have to be complicated, Lily.”
“I never was the most spontaneous person in the world,” Lily said slowly. “Maybe I never had a chance to be, but I pretty much always knew my direction and didn’t give a lot of thought to anything else.”
Chase held the door of the Jeep open for her and regarded her steadily. “A no will do it, Lily. You don’t owe me an explanation.”
Lily braced an arm on the door. “Oh, but I do. I know what’s been going back and forth between us, unsaid, since the first time I saw you climb out of that Jeep, all tall and lean, and dark and mysterious with the sun behind you. I couldn’t see your face clearly and I didn’t know a single thing about you, but I was intrigued even then.”
“This might be the nicest no I’ve ever heard,” Chase said, softly running the backs of her fingers along the edge of Lily’s jaw. Before Lily could lean into the caress the way she wanted to, Chase drew her hand away and slid it into her pocket. “And you make it really hard for me not to push a little bit.”
“I know, and that’s on me, and I apologize.”
Chase laughed. “Really, you’ve got no game, Lily.”
Lily took a breath and drew herself up straight. “I beg your pardon?” Chase grinned, that devilish grin that Lily was coming to adore, not only because it made Chase even more handsome, but because it stirred that excitement in her middle that was so pleasant. Maybe that’s what she didn’t want to lose. “That is not the way to win my heart.”
“Then don’t apologize for making someone, who you know wants you, crazy. If that’s what you were intending.”
“Not in so many words,” Lily said softly. “I’m not a tease.”
“No, you’re not, or you wouldn’t be talking about it. And I don’t for a second think you’re playing with me—at least not in any way I don’t enjoy.”
“This is not helping,” Lily said.
“I never said I was gonna help.”
“I feel like…” Lily huffed. “It’s a step toward something I can’t see or understand very well, and I don’t want to misstep.”
“I understand,” Chase said, more seriously than Lily had heard her before. “But what I said earlier still goes. It doesn’t have to be complicated. And one night will not obligate you to anything else.”
Lily knew Chase meant it, and that fueled her reluctance. What she wasn’t going to tell Chase was that she wasn’t certain that one night would be enough for her. And that was somewhere she didn’t want to go. She’d already had more emotional hits than she could take, and she wasn’t about to let herself in for another one.
“I’ve never actually had a one-night…thing.”
“I’m not surprised. But the thing is, Lily,” Chase said, running her index finger down the top of Lily’s bare arm and leaving goose bumps behind when the warmth of that small, solitary touch drifted away, “it’s not a one-night stand, not between you and me. Because I won’t disappear in the morning, and neither will you. And it won’t be just sex.”
Lily’s chest tightened again. No, it wouldn’t be just sex, and she only wished she knew what it would be.
“I’m sorry I’m probably overthinking this,” Lily said, “and that’s totally the antithesis of sexy.”
Chase threw back her head and laughed. Her laughter always drove away Lily’s uncertainty and strengthened her resolve to say what she felt, even when she couldn’t completely define it. Chase’s acceptance set her free.
“Lily, baby,” Chase said with that rumble in her voice again that spoke to the part of Lily that had nothing to do with reason or sensibility, “everything about you is sexy. And if we’re going back to camp, we should go, because I can’t promise not to keep trying.”
Wordlessly, Lily slid into the Jeep before she could change her mind. Again.
The ride back from town was quiet and oddly restful. They talked sometimes, were quiet others, and when they stood in the moonlight in front of the lodge, Lily pressed her hand to Chase’s chest and kissed her gently. “Thank you for a wonderful night.”
Chase’s heart thundered beneath Lily’s palm, and her breath was warm against Lily’s mouth.
“You’re welcome, Lily. Pleasant dreams.”
Lily smiled to herself as she climbed the stairs to her room. She didn’t need pleasant dreams when the evening had already been one.