by L. J. Voss
My breathing is heavy and I have to compose myself at the sink before I move. I think I hear her go back into her room but I can’t risk her seeing me like this. After I’ve gotten myself in control I head to my room hoping to run into her. But she’s back in her room with the door shut. Passing the bathroom I can feel the warmth and steam from her shower on my skin. It only serves to increase my desire for her.
Memories of the day invade my mind as I try to fall asleep. Seeing her in my grandpa’s hat was the tipping point. Something changed in me and I’m not sure what. All I know is I felt it then and now just reliving the memory. The huge smile on her face when she caught her first fish. Sunlight playing with the freckles on her cheeks as she tells me about growing up with June. Even that damn pig makes it into my mental replay. My last thought before sleep finally takes me is that keeping my distance from Imogen is going to be a lot easier said than done.
CHAPTER EIGHT
- Imogen -
The next morning I purposefully stay in my room until after Calder has left. He stopped by my door and told me if I was awake that I might want to stay inside since it looked like it was going to storm at some point today. I didn’t say anything. It actually really irritated me if I’m honest. Who does he think he is to tell me what to do? I can go outside if I want to go outside. In fact, I love the rain.
My irritation gets the better of me and helps push me into deciding to try fishing on my own. There won’t be a more opportune time to perfect my fishing skills than while he’s gone. I’ll be able to practice all day without having to worry about him judging me or offering to help me by wrapping me in his arms and pressing his body against mine. My mind will be focused. I’ll be a well oiled fishing machine by the time he gets back.
After I make some breakfast, I grab a snack and head out to the shed for a fishing pole and the tackle box. Since I’m a novice I’m not sure what all I need to bring but I figure I’m probably covered if I bring a pole and the tackle box he had yesterday. Mr. Darcy and I make our way back to the same spot we were yesterday. Today there isn’t any sunlight dancing through the leaves and everything seems quiet. The birds aren’t as loud as they were yesterday and even the river seems hunkered down, ready for the storm. I get a little uneasy at the thought of getting stuck out here in the middle of a storm but I came all the way here I’m going to fish for at least an hour or two. Besides I have to stay and prove Calder wrong.
Time goes by slowly, especially since I don’t get any bites. My casting is getting better so I guess the time wasn’t a complete waste. Packing up and getting ready to head back, I notice Mr. Darcy sniffing in a bush a little too close to the water for comfort. Rushing to the worst case scenario that there’s probably an alligator in the bush ready to eat my baby, I run over and whip him away from it. When nothing jumps out at me I use my foot to move the bush to try and see what was holding his attention. That’s when I see the cutest, fluffiest, and tiniest little duckling. Since I’m no longer afraid an alligator is going to eat Mr. Darcy, I set him down and move closer to the duckling.
At first I assume its mother is just around the corner and is probably holding back since I’m here. But then I realize it’s odd that there would only be one duckling and not more if the mother was really just hiding out of sight. Well, that and mother ducks aren’t known for hiding from people when they think their ducklings are in danger. In fact, they are usually pretty aggressive and she would probably be here quacking at me to leave her baby alone. Bending down, I grab the duckling before it can scuttle away from me. I’m not an expert on ducklings but I’m assuming this one is probably only a week old. I can’t leave this tiny little duckling out here all on its own. There might not have been a threat yet but I know there are alligators out here and even just this storm could be dangerous for a duckling this tiny.
I grab Mr. Darcy in one arm so he doesn’t slow me down and I hold the fishing pole under the other. The duckling is cradled in my hand as I turn towards the cabin.
I hurry back as fast as I can to beat the storm but carrying a pig, duckling, fishing pole, and tackle box is awkward. I should have just left the fishing stuff there and then gone back and gotten it. But I didn’t want Calder to be mad since this stuff has sentimental value to him. Not taking the time to put everything away where I grabbed it, I just set it inside the shed and shut the door.
Once inside, I set Mr. Darcy down and try to think what I’m going to do with the duckling. I don’t even know what to feed it. I do know that you aren’t supposed to give ducklings bread. Trying to think of anything I could use to feed it, I remember seeing some rescue show where they said in an emergency you could give baby ducks a mixture of oats and cornmeal made into a little crumble. It’s better than nothing I guess. When Calder gets back I can have him look online for what ducklings eat. If he hadn’t confiscated my phone then I would be able to look myself. I’d forgotten he had taken my phone. Funny how something that seemed like such a necessity was easily forgotten once I was having fun with him.
I notice the duckling has pooped on my hand. Not wanting to set it on the ground in case it does it again I take it into the bathroom with me to wash my hands. Inspiration strikes when I see the bathtub. Filling the bathtub up with a little bit of lukewarm water I put the duckling in there and it immediately starts to swim around.
“All right, little duck, we’ve got to give you a name.” Looking at the duckling swimming around, I try to decide if it’s a girl or a boy; this young they all look the same. I decide she’s a she. “You look like a Cleo. So Cleo it is.”
Cleo is darker than most ducklings I’ve seen. She has a black beak and is mostly a dark brownish black color. Her face fades to a lighter brownish yellow color around her eyes and her belly is whiter with a few white spots along her wings. I leave her to swim while I go and get her some food and water and try to find a box or something she can sleep in.
After looking as much as I dare I don’t find anything that will work. I’ll have to use a towel until Calder gets back and can look in the basement and the shed. I realize after getting some oats that we don’t have cornmeal but that since you mix the cornmeal with the oats that just oats probably won’t kill it. After mixing it with a little bit of water to make it sort of crumbly I put it on a small plate and put some water in another one. Grabbing Cleo out of the bathtub and wrapping her up in the towel I sit on the floor and set her down in front of the food and water. Mr. Darcy comes to see what we’re doing. Once he realizes he isn’t getting any of Cleo’s food he leaves.
Cleo eats a little bit of the food and then waddles back to the towel. I wrap her up and head into the living room. Dropping down on the couch Mr. Darcy hops up and cuddles Cleo and me.
Startling awake I realize I fell asleep. Cleo is still sleeping in the towel and Mr. Darcy is still curled up in my lap. Thinking if I was Cleo I might need to relieve myself again and not knowing a better place for her to go I decide to put her back in the bathtub. I lie back down on the couch and doze off again.
- Calder -
Today was exhausting. I’m just looking forward to getting back to Imogen and relaxing. My resolve to keep my distance is fading fast. I pull into the driveway and park. She’s asleep on the couch and I don’t want to wake her. I’ve got to piss so I head to the bathroom in the hall. I’m zipping up my pants when I hear something coming from the bathtub. It sounds a little like water splashing which doesn’t make any sense since the only other person here is asleep on the couch. Training kicks in and I whip my gun out and fling the curtain open. Never in a million years would I expect to see what I saw in the bathtub. When I replay what happened next I can think of a thousand ways I could have handled it better.
I blame my reaction on my adrenaline. After my heart returns to a semi normal rhythm I start to get pissed. “IMOGEN!” I leave the duck swimming in the bathtub and stomp out to the living room. “IMOGEN!”
&nb
sp; She’s scrambling off of the couch as I get to the living room. There must be enough anger showing on my face because I can visibly see her gulp. I take a breath before I carefully say every word, “Care to tell me why there is a duck swimming in my bathtub?”
“Um, well, I uh, I was hoping to do this in a better way but I guess that chance is out the window,” she’s wringing her hands together in front of her stomach. “So I was bored and decided to go and try fishing. I figured I could practice casting since you were gone and there wasn’t much of anything else to do. I didn’t catch anything if you were wondering. But my casting did get a lot better. Anyway I was just getting ready to head back so I wouldn’t get caught in the storm. Is it storming yet? Never mind, let me finish. So I was getting ready to head back and Mr. Darcy was snorting and sniffing a bush. At first I was scared it was an alligator so I hurried and grabbed him but when nothing came out to eat us I decided to look in the bush. That’s when I saw Cleo. I looked to see if I could see any more ducklings or her mom or anything but she was all by herself and I couldn’t leave her out there for an alligator to eat or to die in the storm so I brought her back here.”
“Cleo? You gave it a name? I’m not sure what I’m angriest about. The fact that you went out on your own where you could get lost or anyone could find you. Or who knows what. Or that there is currently a duck swimming in my bathtub. Get your shoes on we’re going to go put it back. You’re not keeping it.”
She hurries and gets shoes on and then grabs a towel and grabs the duck. Great now I’ll have to throw that towel away. It probably has duck shit on it.
“I’ll go and look and see if we can see her mom but, Calder, I promise I looked around and waited for a while and never saw any other ducks.”
“Well, we’ll put it back and it’ll find its way home.”
She straightens her back and her face narrows as she responds, “You are out of your mind if you think I’m leaving a helpless duckling out by a river full of alligators. I’ll humor you and go and see if we can find her mom. But if we don’t find her - and we won’t because I’m not an idiot; I wouldn’t steal a duckling from the wild if it wasn’t going to die without me - then Cleo is coming back with us or I’m not going anywhere.”
I growl and I stomp out the door. “Fine! Hurry, we might be able to make it there and back before the storm hits. Knowing your penchant for finding trouble we’ll probably be struck by lightning.” She follows behind me. I’m not sure if it’s the fresh air or the walk back to the river but I’ve calmed down by the time we get there. I start to regret what I said and how I acted. But I’ve got to stick to my guns. I’ve already got a pig staying in my cabin. There isn’t any room for a duck. A duck, only Imogen would find an orphaned duck in the few hours she’s by herself.
“Where did you find it?” I start to feel sprinkles of rain as soon as we get to the river.
“Her. I found her over here in this bush,” she gestures to a bush near the river. We start looking around for any signs of any other ducks. The rain just keeps coming harder and harder. We’ve been looking for only about fifteen minutes when it really picks up. I look at the duck nestled in the towel in her arms. As much as I protested I’m not some heartless monster. I knew we wouldn’t be leaving the duck here any more than we would have left the pig.
“We’ve got to get back. You can keep the duck. If I see poop in the cabin even once, it’s gone.”
“Thank you! I promise she won’t poop on the floor and I’ll clean up after her.”
We both start jogging back to the cabin. By the time we get back we are soaking wet and cold. I grab a couple of clean dry towels and hand one to her. We try in vain to dry ourselves and get warm but it’s the type of storm that soaks you to the bone. “I’m going to hop in the shower to warm up. You should probably do the same.”
“Oh yes, that sounds amazing.”
We both head to take warm showers. Not wanting to steal her warm water I wait until after I hear her water stop to take mine. I haven’t been in there for more than five minutes when the power goes out. As soon as it blinks off fear grips me. What if I was followed back here? For the second time today, training takes over. Leaping out of the shower, I grab my gun and run into the hall.
I’ve barely made it a few steps before I smack into and fall on top of someone. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly. Lifting myself up on my forearms, I try to lift my weight off of her. As my eyes adjust, I see her staring into my eyes. Her eyes dart down to my lips and then back up to my eyes.
“I, I think I blew a fuse,” she says barely above a whisper. My brain realizes that there isn’t a threat at the same time my body realizes she is in no more than a tank top and shorts and I’m completely naked. And I’m on top of her. Our bodies are pressed together and I can feel every inch by smooth warm inch of her.
I remember she said something. “I was afraid I was followed and someone had cut the power.” Our breaths are both coming fast and hard. It’s no longer adrenaline causing our heavy breathing but combined desire and attraction. Searching her face and not finding any protest I can’t fight it anymore. Locking my eyes with hers, I lower my mouth to capture hers. My tongue dives into her mouth. As soon as I taste her I completely lose control.
Her hand slides up my arm and grips my shoulder. The bite of her nails into my skin only helps to loosen my control. I roll my weight to my one arm and with my free hand reach up and hold her head to mine. She arches up and into my body. Just when I start to slide my hand down her neck we both feel and hear the snorting from Mr. Darcy. His snorts and cold nose pressed against our arms jolt us back to reality. Looking into my eyes, she starts to giggle. Then her giggle turns into a laugh that has her tilting her head back and just like that I start laughing. Soon we are both laughing. I rest my forehead against her forehead.
I go to stand up and remember I am completely naked, “I don’t have any clothes on.” She smirks as she raises her hand to cover her eyes. Relishing the feel of her body beneath mine for a few more seconds, I finally lift myself off of her and head back into my room to get some clothes on.
After I am dressed I grab a flashlight from the nightstand next to my bed and head back out to the hall. I don’t see her in the hall so I yell out, “The breaker box is down in the basement. I’ll be right back.”
I go down and see the blown fuse. Flipping the switch solves the problem and I see light pouring through the door and down the stairs. She’s sitting on the couch when I get into the living room. She stands as she sees me and her cheeks flush. We both start to talk at the same time and then we both let out a breath. I pause, waiting for her to start.
“I’m sorry about the fuse. I guess I had too many things plugged in.”
“It’s fine. Really. The wiring is old and it happens a lot.” Things are a little awkward. We stand there looking at each other.
“Since we’re keeping Cleo, we need to figure out what ducklings eat. I couldn’t Google it since you took my phone, but I figured you could look it up.”
“There are a few pet stores in town. I’m sure they’ll have something or will at least know where we should look. We can head in tomorrow and then stop at the grocery store to stock back up.”
“Oh that would be perfect! There are a few things I was needing and it would be nice to be able to pick them up,” she trails off. She looks to be steeling herself before she continues, “About what happened.”
I come around the couch to her. “Imogen, I’m not sure what this is between us. I’m not even sure how or if it will work. I do know that I’ve really enjoyed the last few days. And I really enjoyed what just happened. I don’t want this to be awkward or try to define this. Especially since I don’t think either of us really know what’s going on here. What I really want is to continue to get to know you and keep having fun. Whatever happens at the end of this, we can figure it all out.”
She shyly walks over to me, “I agree. We should take advantage of the time we have together.” She rises up on her toes to press a kiss on my lips. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into me. I deepen the kiss until I feel a gentle push on my chest. Not wanting to pull away but also not wanting to push her too far too fast I pull back and rest my forehead against her head. We both exhale and smile at each other.
“We haven’t eaten dinner. I was thinking about making a sandwich. Do you want one?”
A sandwich isn’t what I’m craving right now. “Sure. That sounds great.” She heads into the kitchen and I follow her to help. Her lips turn up into a smile when she notices me following her. We turn out to be an awesome sandwich making team. If sandwich making was an Olympic event we would take the gold. Before we eat she goes and checks on the duck. She gets it and Mr. Darcy settled and then she sits across from me at the table.
She asks how things went with her dad today. I tell her as much as I can. We were able to get his video testimony. It’ll be used in the case against Manuel Rodriguez. The judge will be getting it and watching it tomorrow. She seems to want to ask more questions but settles for starting to eat her sandwich. In between bites of sandwich we get to know each other even more. We start with the basics like favorite color and favorite food. Then we move onto the important stuff like favorite sports team. After we finish our sandwiches we keep talking. I’ve never gotten to know someone like this. Michelle was my one and only serious relationship and that ended two years ago. I’ve never been big into commitment. My job is my priority. It’s always been about getting to D.C. and out in the field. Things have always been easy. I knew where my life was going and what my next step was. For the first time in my life, I’m starting to second guess that. I’m excited at the prospect of the unknown.