Whitewater Rendezvous

Yancey and Justine, watching from their kayaks a short distance away, broke out laughing.

Chaz tried a little better to hide her amusement. “Told you it wouldn’t be much fun. Nicely done, though.” She made Elise do it twice more before she let her go inside to dry off and get warm. Then she turned in Megan’s direction. “Ready for your turn?”

“I guess,” she answered, with no conviction in her voice.

Megan would never admit it aloud, but the whole kayaking element of this trip scared the hell out of her. She hadn’t really faced up to that fact until this moment. You don’t know anything at all about boats andcurrents. And the water is frickin’ cold as hell, and the only swimmingyou do is in the heated pool at the gym.

Chaz waded in and towed Megan’s boat out into the creek as she had Elise’s, until the water was deep enough to do the maneuver safely.

“There’s a sandy bottom here,” she said as they got into position. She looked directly into Megan’s eyes then. “No reason to be nervous. Just relax, and you’ll be back up before you know it.”

“I’m not nervous,” Megan lied. Don’t think about it, just do it. But she hesitated, staring at the icy water. She started to hyperventilate. Her mind was screaming instructions, but her body wasn’t listening.

Chaz’s patient expression held no challenge, only encouragement.

“You can do it, Megan,” she said in a soft voice.

Damn right I can, Megan thought, her eyes glued on Chaz until the very last second. She closed them as she leaned left and sucked in a deep breath right before she went under. She popped the skirt and before she knew it, she was out of the boat and back on the surface, Chaz’s fi rm grip on her arm orienting her upright. She touched bottom and Chaz released her.

“See? Cold, but not so bad, eh?” Chaz was only a foot away, smiling that damn charm-your-socks-off smile again.

Much as she wanted to resist it, Megan was fi nding it harder by the moment. “Not so bad,” she agreed.

O

After lunch, it was time to learn to Eskimo roll—combining leverage from your paddle with a strong hip snap to right yourself after capsizing. Chaz went through the steps on land; then she got into one

• 57 •

KIM BALDWIN

of the kayaks and demonstrated the maneuver. Megan found the display something akin to a nautical ballet.

On the water, Chaz was all fl uid muscle, the kayak a part of her, every movement graceful and effi cient. The blades of her paddle sliced cleanly into the water with no splash and no sound. Once she got in position, she went over with a wink and a smile, like this was one of her secret pleasures. And when she came up again, easily, gracefully, shaking water from her dark hair, her face pink from the cold, Megan thought she looked beautifully at one with her surroundings. Wild.

Primitive. Larger than life.

After a couple more rolls to break down the process into steps that they could visualize, Chaz paddled in, and they all took to their kayaks for their individual lessons.

Megan was up last, but she stayed close by so she could watch the others. She paddled around in the shallow water, getting used to the boat and practicing the strokes that Chaz had taught them that morning.

For the fi rst several minutes, she felt awkward and uncoordinated, but she gained confi dence quickly and began to get the hang of it.

From a distance, learning to roll didn’t seem that intimidating. Not at fi rst. Chaz had made it look easy, and Yancey got it right away, rolling her kayak back upright on the fi rst try with little apparent effort, a big smile on her face. But Justine struggled for a half hour to get it right, cursing loudly every time she couldn’t manage to turn her kayak back over and had to rely on Chaz to do it for her. Freezing and exhausted by the time she was fi nally able to master the maneuver, she limped back up toward the lodge shaking her head.

Elise fared no better. Megan actually counted this time, recording each unsuccessful effort. She wanted to learn the technique faster than Elise, though she didn’t bother to imagine why. It took Elise eleven tries to do it right. Surely I can do it faster than that. I’m an athlete. Iplay tennis. Golf. Racquetball. Those all take good coordination.

When Chaz hailed her over for her turn, Megan felt both fear and determination in equal measure.

Chaz was beginning to feel the cold despite her wet suit. Please dowell, she thought to herself as the bright yellow boat came nearer. She wanted Megan to catch on quickly to rolling, and not just because that meant they would both be able to get out of the water and get warm.

She knew, somehow, that Megan was afraid of all this—of tipping over,

• 58 •

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