by Lisa Daniels
“You could, but it’s best that you don’t try. Your hair is naturally a beautiful color, so don’t ruin it the way I’ve ruined mine.”
“I don’t think it looks ruined.”
Silas pulled one of her hands out of Cora’s grasp. He pulled on Serenity a little so that Cora let go of her other hand. Then instead of dropping her hand, he held on to it as he led her to the trail. Serenity let him pull her along for a little ways because since she had let Cora do it first, it seemed fair.
Once they reached the first fork a few feet in, she pulled her hand away and looked at him. “I really appreciate you coming along on such short notice. Ryland was quite insistent that I not go alone.”
“Oh,” Silas frowned and looked at Cora. He was obviously disappointed that she hadn’t invited him for another reason.
Cora nudged him, “You weren’t getting a date out of it with me here anyway. Just be glad that he recommended you.”
Silas seemed to concede the point without saying anything.
“Silas was the only person he recommended, even when I suggested point-blank asking Alaric.”
The pair exchanged a look. Silas raised an eyebrow, “You are calling him that, too?”
“Yeah, he’s enlisted me for a project.” She smiled at them.
Silas was not smiling when he responded, “Be careful there.”
“What is wrong with helping the professor? Ryland said the same thing.”
Cora laughed, “If you are doing it to get close to him, then you need to be warned.”
Silas looked concerned. “Yeah, he’s not going to reciprocate because his mind is pretty much entirely focused on work. He doesn’t do anything apart from working.”
Serenity almost said something, then she noticed that the warning these two were giving her was completely different than what Ryland had said. They were warning her against romance. He had been warning her about something else entirely. She smiled at them, “No. I am not interested in Alaric in that way. Most of my friends would say the same thing about me that you guys just said about him. Romance is something that, as a general rule, I actively avoid.”
Silas gave her a look, then a stunning smile bloomed over his young-looking face. “Well, that is a challenge that is intriguing. Bet I can change your mind.”
“Stop it, Silas. If she’s serious about work, it would never work with you.”
“It would be easy. She can be the breadwinner, and I will take care of everything else.” His smile was contagious as he looked at Serenity. “I could pamper you when you got home and you would never have to worry about the little things. Ever.”
Serenity laughed, “I think you will find you would grow bored with my single-mindedness. I spend more time working than anything else, and there will be whole days where I will not be home. And I hate dealing with jealousy or being tracked.”
“I think I could handle it.” Despite his words, the look on Silas’s face suggested he wasn’t sure that he would be alright with it.
“Tell you what, there is plenty of time for you to get to know me. If you don’t find someone else and you are still interested, we can talk.”
Silas beamed, “Alright, you’re on.”
Cora let out a sound of disgust. “Let’s talk about something else.” The three of them walked along the trail talking about the kinds of things the group did, the kinds of things they would like to do in the future, and then the conversation turned to specific individuals.
Serenity looked between the two of them. “You guys seem really close.”
Cora looked up at Silas, then punched him in the arm. “We grew up together.”
“Neighbors. I’ve been taking care of her since she was six. You have no idea how difficult it was because she is constantly getting into difficult situations.”
“Like you are any better.”
He smiled at her.
Serenity couldn’t help but ask, “Did you two ever date?”
“What?” Silas looked completely shocked at the question while Cora stopped walking and laughed.
Serenity felt her cheeks flush a little. “That would be an emphatic no, then.”
“Absolutely not. Except for the two months out of the year where he goes to spend time with his family, we have spent nearly every day together.”
“It would be like dating my sister.” Silas looked somewhat horrified at the idea.
“Agreed. Dating you would be like dating a sister.”
Silas simply rolled his eyes, “Whatever.”
“It’s nice that you guys are so close, though. Did you not spend as much time with Ryland and Alaric?”
“No, they were way too old to hang out with us much. Well, with me anyway.” Cora was kicking something on the ground.
“I spend enough time with them since we are related.” Silas looked a bit uncomfortable as he tried to smile at Serenity. “Ryland is five years older than me and Alaric is seven years my senior.”
“I’m a year older than Silas, but it was still enough of an age difference that they didn’t want to hang out with me before they moved away. I still only see Ryland for these trips. Alaric spends all of his time working.”
“I’m sure they aren’t avoiding you on purpose,” Serenity tried to comfort Cora because she looked a little unhappy about not seeing the two men. If Serenity had to guess, the young woman still felt something for Alaric, and probably harbored some feelings toward Ryland. Serenity knew she would have to be careful talking about both men in front of her.
Silas nodded. “She knows it’s not personal. Both of them spend all of their time working. You may not know this, but Alaric used to be–”
Serenity laughed, “He founded Atlas & Sisyphus Inc.”
Her hiking companions shared a look, then stared at her. Silas asked, “How did you know?”
At the same time, Cora asked, “Is that what A&S means?”
Silently cursing herself, Serenity said, “He is a legend in our field. When he emailed me out of the blue a while back, I was both flattered and intrigued by the proposition of getting my Master’s here.”
“Your Master’s?” Silas looked surprised. “Are you old enough to have a degree already?”
Cora elbowed him. “You shouldn’t talk to a woman about her age. Come on, man. Think.”
“Yes, I’m actually 22, so I got my degree a few months ago.”
Cora asked the one question Serenity did not want to answer. “Where did you go before here?”
“Uh, well, um…”
Silas was watching her. “You seem like an incredibly intelligent young woman. Maybe it was something like Harvard or Yale.”
“Oh no, no, no, no. I did not have the– I wanted to go to a tech school, not an Ivy League one.”
“So something more like MIT?” he asked with a lopsided grin.
“Yes, something more like that.”
Cora got excited. “So I might have heard of it?”
Silas shook his head, “You aren’t into tech, so why would you have heard of the school?”
“I don’t know. It’s not like I’m completely ignorant. I mean, even I’ve heard of MIT. So if it was something like that, it would be so cool. Then I could brag that I have a friend who graduated from there.”
“Why would someone leave MIT for a little place in Deep River? That wouldn't make any sense.” Silas tried to wave away the idea.
Hoping to steer the conversation away from her background, Serenity cut in, “So where do you guys go to school?”
“The University,” they said in unison.
“What are your degrees?”
“Undecided,” they both said again.
Serenity laughed, “You guys have obviously grown up together. What about Ryland?”
“What about him?” Silas pulled a face.
“Seriously?” Cora looked surprised. “Doesn’t everyone know about him?”
Serenity looked between them, “I’m not from here, so I don’t know.”
Silas’s skepticism soon turned to one of understanding. “Did you live in Cambridge before here?”
“Of course, where– oh, shit.” Serenity looked away, knowing that Silas had figured out what she was trying to hide.
Cora looked at Serenity, then Silas. “What is it?”
“She didn’t go to somewhere like MIT. Serenity may look like a model, but her knowing who Alaric is and not Ryland tells you everything you need to know about her.”
The two women looked at him. Then Cora turned to Serenity. “You went to MIT?”
Feeling uncomfortable, she shifted her bag. “Yeah. Alaric convinced me to come here. Not that it took much persuading on his part. Not with his reputation.”
“Oh my God!” Cora’s eyes widened. “You’re a major nerd, aren’t you? Ha ha! Oh, that must have been a major blow to Ryland’s ego. I wish I could have been there when he realized you have no idea who he is.”
Silas looked troubled. “It unfortunately explains a lot about his behavior.”
Cora nodded, “That’s true. Ha ha! Oh ye gods, I love this. I am so glad that Alaric got you to join our group. It’s so perfect – and Silas, I don’t think you have a chance with her.”
“Hey!” He looked very offended.
“I don’t think she was kidding. You should move on because you are as likely to get her as any woman is to get Alaric.”
Silas deflated a little. “Yeah, I know. Well, we can still be friends.”
Serenity wanted to say something to make him feel better, but she didn’t want to get his hopes up either. “I just moved here less than two months ago, and you guys are the first friends I’ve made. I feel very honored to have you guys around.”
Silas gave a smile of understanding as Cora bounced around, “Me too! I’m so glad Alaric lured you out here. It is going to be so much fun!”
The rest of the hike was Cora gushing about how much fun they would have, what Serenity wanted to do, and how unexpected life could be.
It was only after they reached the end of the trail and Silas and Cora began to head toward the diner when Serenity realized that they had never answered about Ryland.
She turned around. “Wait, what does Ryland do?”
Silas shook his head and kept walking. Cora turned to look at her. “Oh no. We aren’t going to ruin this for him.” With that she waved and ran to catch up with Silas who was rapidly getting further away from them.
Chapter 8
Not for Novices
Serenity found herself wrapped up in classes, working on her assignments, developing the app for Eva, and trying to research the work she was doing for her project with Alaric. It kept her from having time to think about other things, especially Ryland – although she did find herself thinking about him when she went out walking. Keeping to their agreement, she did not go on the trail by herself. There were plenty of nice parks for her to explore that were close to her place.
Before she knew it, it was Saturday morning. Packing up everything she had been told she would need, Serenity took off to meet the group. A couple of them had volunteered to drive, and she was more than happy to take them up on the offer, especially since the drive would take nearly two hours. She noticed that Ryland was not among the group, but she didn’t want to ask about him because she didn’t want people picking on her. It was also hard acknowledging that she had been wanting to see him, something she continually denied to herself.
Despite it being early in the morning, everyone seemed very energetic and ready to go. They grabbed a quick breakfast and hit the road. Serenity sat between Silas and Cora and enjoyed the conversation as the five people in the car made their way to the starting point. There were times when it was a bit challenging because the pair were incredibly lively and boisterous, but she was still glad to see it. Silas appeared to have gotten over the fact that she was not likely to take an interest in him and was acting goofy and entertaining. Now that he wasn’t hitting on her, she was able to see who he really was when a relationship was no longer a consideration. Serenity had to agree with his assessment, too. He was a lot of fun to have around, knew how to make people laugh, and was caring in a very unobtrusive way. When she was quiet, he would ask her how she was doing and would talk to her while the others were busy chatting about things that she couldn’t follow. He provided something like a narrative and background story to the discussion so that she could better rejoin the conversation, making her feel more like a part of the group than she would have otherwise. Someone is going to be very lucky to get him someday. Hopefully, he doesn’t find out the hard way like I did. He was so sweet that she wanted to help protect him from some of the more harmful experiences.
Once they arrived, the crew piled out of the car. Serenity climbed out last and was immediately aware of how much colder it was in the mountains. It came as a shock. They had gone quite a ways up the mountain pass, which was part of what made it a trip for more experienced rafters. Pulling her jacket around her, Serenity wondered if she should have brought something a little thicker for the trip. They had told her not to because they were bound to get wet, and a heavy coat would have made her colder. Instead she was wearing a slicker that had proved to be very useful in the constant drizzle of the last week. Even now, the air had a bit of mist in it as the clouds completely covered the sun.
It was only after they were out of the car that she realized a vehicle was already waiting for them up at the parking area. Leaning against it was Ryland. “There you guys are.” As soon as Serenity noticed him, her heart fluttered. The last time she had seen him was when she had given him a kiss and fled to keep from going any further.
Cora beamed and ran up to him, stopping just a few feet from him and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “You made it! We had figured you were still stuck at work.”
“No way. They have broken the contract, so I told them they would– Oh, hi, Serenity. Silas.” His attention immediately turned to Serenity and Silas as they approached. From the way he had cut off the discussion, she had a feeling he was avoiding talking about work. Whether it was because he didn’t want to talk about it in front of her or because he really didn’t want to talk about it at all, she couldn’t say.
Now that everyone was together, they began to prepare the raft and oars. Ryland stayed close to her, saying very little while everyone else busied themselves with the preparation. Serenity briefly pondered asking him about work, but felt it was a subject that would likely make him snarky instead of conversational. There wasn’t much else to talk about, so she just watched and tried to learn about whitewater rafting from the hustle and bustle around the raft.
A low voice beside her cut into her observations, “You’ll need to be careful. I know you are tough, but this really is not something that a beginner should be doing.”
Serenity looked over at Ryland. “I know how to swim, so everything should be alright. Right?”
He gave her a look of pity. “When you are in the rapids, being able to swim really isn’t relevant. It’s nearly impossible for most people to force their face up to the surface during the worst of the rapids. And that’s assuming you don’t get knocked unconscious.”
“All of you guys seem to be fine, so how bad can it be?”
“We grew up doing this, and none of us started on anything like this.”
“If you really thought I shouldn’t be here, you could have asked me to stay behind. Like you asked me to avoid going on the trail by myself.”
Ryland grinned, “You are right. I probably should have. Then again, I wasn’t sure when I would get to see you again if I told you to stay behind.”
Serenity looked away for a moment and watched the progress of the people preparing the raft, trying to hide the slight blush at the words he had and hadn’t said. Mostly the group were arguing over little things and poking fun at each other. She turned back to Ryland. “So would you be here if I wasn’t?”
“Probably, yes. I said I would be here, and I hate when wo
rk forces me to break engagements. And since it already made me break one engagement with you…” His expression was unreadable as he looked at her. “There is only so far I am willing to let them infringe on my personal life.”
“You were supposed to tell me what you do when we went walking. Since I held up my end of the bargain, I expect you to hold up yours.”
“What if I tell you over dinner tonight?”
Serenity took a deep breath, the suggestion taking her completely by surprise. “I thought the group was going out to dinner.”
“I never said I would be part of the dinner plans. They will probably go somewhere like the diner, and that kind of food really does not agree with me.”
“Oh, well, um. Sure. If you promise to talk about yourself because you already know far more about me than I know about you.”
Ryland gave her a look that she couldn’t understand. “I put in about the same amount of effort as you to learn. It would actually have been easier for you–”
“Hey, you two!” Cora called up to them. “We’re ready!” She was seated toward the front of the raft and others were beginning to climb in.
Ryland smiled at Serenity, whatever he had been saying completely disregarded. “Come on.” He took her hand and helped her down the slope and into the raft. He carefully climbed in after her and pushed away from the bank.
“All aboard!” Cora said, her voice echoing in the woods. A cheer went up, and the crew chattered as they began their trip.
Once they got a little ways away from the bank, the raft picked up its pace, moving and shifting in a way that was far more noticeable than a ship at sea. Serenity was surprised as the raft jerked forward as soon as it hit the current. The group let up a whoop and their delight at the action was almost palpable. It felt like no time had passed before they were approaching the first rapid, and Serenity could feel her heart speeding up at the thought of how much worse that would be than the current flow of the river. Ryland may have had a point. This is not at all what I had expected.
People began shifting their positions as they reached the rapids. Serenity managed to force a smile as the raft shuttered and shifted wildly. Then the water struck her and she let out a loud gasp. It was freezing.