My Blue River (9 page)

“You’ve made my day you know, maybe even my entire summer. This is great, really, it is, and not even in some backwoodsy Montana kind of way.” I offered my most sincere compliment. He understood, but still pulled a face.

I surveyed the area. It was beautiful. A variety of trees lined the river’s edge—Pine Trees, Aspen, Cotton Trees, Ash, and Maple. Just up the embankment was a vast amount of land covered with hay that Jack and his father farmed. He told me there was hay in the field that they would soon be baling.

“I know you guys farm and everything, but I can totally picture a huge, beautiful house up there,” I said, pointing to the hayfield.

“Yeah, that’ll be the day. My dad doesn’t know anything other than farming and he won’t let go of one piece of this land.”

I got the impression this was a closed subject when he quickly moved onto a new topic, actually, it was more of a suggestion.

“Ready? Let’s dive in!” Jack exclaimed, as he began taking off his t-shirt and kicking off his flip-flops.

My brows knitted in confusion. “Dive in where?” I asked as I looked around our surroundings.

“The river, woman! Where else?”

“That’s a river…Addy doesn’t swim in rivers,” I declared.

“Oh, Addy does swim in rivers and that starts today. In fact that starts right now.” In one fell swoop he had me off my feet and in his arms. We were entering the water when a splash of water hit my back.

I arched my back and exclaimed. “That’s freakin’ cold! Put me down!”

“You’ll get used to it.” A smile played at the corners of his eyes.

“No, I won’t! Take me back to the beach!” I demanded.

The deeper Jack walked into the water, the more I fought hard against him and the river. It wasn’t a raging river and I didn’t fear it, but I still didn’t find it inviting. It didn’t seem to make sense to swim a river because the water was so much colder—colder than my ocean.

“I’m serious. Don’t you dare toss me in this river!” I yelled at him and had actually become quite angry that he wasn’t obeying me.

Plop! Splash!

He dumped me in the river. I shot back up like a torpedo and ran for the beach. He grabbed me as I passed and tossed me in again. Now I was full blown pissed.

When I resurfaced I yelled, “What the hell, Jack?” I was wrapping my arms around my body in an effort to get warm.

“Oh, come on. It’s fun.”

“It doesn’t feel fun.”

“Seriously, get back in the water and you’ll find that it feels much warmer. Start swimming. You’ll warm up, I promise.”

“You know, I think I’ll make a run for it instead.” I stomped off toward the beach.

“You have no idea where you are, Addy. I blindfolded you remember?” He waited for my response. I stopped walking, but said nothing. I didn’t even turn around. I heard Jack sigh, “Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll get you a towel. Besides, you’re shivering like a little wimp.”

Jack walked back to the Jeep for towels and a blanket. It crossed my mind that he could have simply wrapped his arms around me to warm me up. I may have been angry but I wasn’t numb and just the thought made me feel warm.

“What’s that?” asked Jack.

“What’s what?” I asked.

“The smile on your face. I guess you’re not mad at me anymore?” His face looked hopeful.

“Oh, I was just thinking of something…never mind…I’m sorry, Jack. I didn’t mean to get so mad, you just really surprised me. I think I may have overreacted but that water is ice cold!”

“Well, true. Even at this time of the year, there’s still snow melting in higher elevations and meeting up with the river. I’m sorry. I should have known you wouldn’t like river water.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Everything about Montana was throwing me into a tailspin.
Snow in the mountains? Swimming in a river? Gardening? Liking a boy who farms?

“Please. Just try. You’ll get used to the water, I promise,” he insisted.

I let out a sigh of resignation. “You sure are persistent, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. I don’t easily give up on
anything
.”

“Fine,” I relented. “I’ll try but I can’t promise you I’ll stay in, okay?”

“Okay. Come on. I’ll go in with you,” he offered his hand but I resisted. It was so tempting to walk hand-in-hand into the river with him, but I needed to stay strong.
Just friends, Addy. Remember?

“Oh, I’m fine. I promise. I’ll go in, just give me a minute.” I replied, trying to muster the courage to willingly enter ice cold water.

He seemed disappointed I didn’t take his hand but smiled as he watched me walk ever so slowly back into the river. I hated that he was right. The more we swam and splashed water at each other, the better it was. The more we took brief opportunities to playfully brush up against each other, the warmer we were. Just when I was used to swimming in the river, Jack offered an alternative activity.

“Okay, now for The Cliffs,” he announced. His eyes sparkled as he was about to introduce something new to me. I tried hard not to let his excitement be infectious.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what “the cliffs” are, Jack,” I stated.

He chuckled at my words and turned away to enter a small trail. I followed him somewhat wishing he had extended his hand to me as before. This time I would have feigned fear of hiking and taken hold of him.

We followed the narrow trail along the river’s edge, through several trees, crunching our feet every so often on pine cones and the multitude of pine needles that had fallen. I was glad I had put my flip-flops back on. When I took a moment to look around, I had to admit this was a beautiful place. I knew Aspen changed into an amazing bouquet of yellow and orange in the fall and seeing them right now, in green, made me actually look forward to what a Montana fall would look like.

We were ascending nature’s staircase of river rocks, straight to the top of what I had to assume was The Cliffs because it seemed extremely high. When we reached the top, I sucked in a breath.

“Wow, Jack! Great view!” I was genuinely impressed with this place. We were able to see for miles in each direction of the river and it was beautiful. Breathtaking, really.

“Now, we jump!” Jack exclaimed.

“I know you think I’m really depressed and everything, but you don’t need to plan my suicide.”

“This isn’t suicide! It’s fun! Seriously, my family has been jumping from these cliffs for generations.”

“Jack, I’m not jumping. You convinced me to swim in the river, but you will not convince me to jump. I mean, seriously, how far down is that? One hundred feet?”

“You’re not very good with distances are you? It’s only fifteen, maybe twenty feet and the river is really, really deep. Come on. It’s fun!”

“Not happening.” My jaw was set.

“Your loss!” After his declaration, he turned and jumped off the side of the cliff.

He plunged through the dark water, going deep enough it felt like he may be in danger. It took forever for him to resurface. I found myself feeling panicked, wondering if his jump hadn’t gone well. A moment later, his head popped up, breaking through the water.

“Crap! You scared me, Jack!” I called down to him.

“Scared? Be careful, Addy, you wouldn’t want anyone to know you cared about a Montanan.” He was mocking me. Only Jack would have the ability to get me on an outing, manage to piss me off, insult me, make me freeze in the river, and make me still want to be around him every single day.

“I didn’t say I cared, I just didn’t want to have to try and drag your sorry ass back to shore or worse, perform CPR on you!”
Although really, the idea of his lips on mine is a very exciting thought.

Jack was treading water effortlessly. “Addy, jump! Seriously—it’s a rush like none other!”

Even from where I stood, many feet above him, I could tell his eyes were dancing with excitement. My stomach equally danced but with anxious fear. I wasn’t sure if it was the idea of the jump, or from looking at Jack. I started to take a step, but quickly pulled my foot back and I shook my head in resistance.
There is no way I can do this.

“Jack, you’re exhausting me.”

“Addy!” Jack yelled up to me. “Addy! Look at me.” I did. “Trust me,” he pleaded. “I wouldn’t ask you to jump if I thought you’d get hurt.”
Trust me
, the way his voice carried those words to me told me he was completely sincere—insane—but sincere. Something in my head, and heart, said
“trust him.”

In one quick leap, I was off the edge and plunging into the icy Blue River and he was right, it was a rush like none other.

As I surfaced, I could hear Jack’s laughter echo through the valley.

“You should’ve seen your face! You looked completely freaked out!” He continued to laugh.

“Stop laughing! It couldn’t have been that funny!”

“Actually, it really was that funny.”

I didn’t care if I looked foolish as I exclaimed, “That WAS a rush!”

“Again?” he almost pleaded, hopeful that there was no way I would disappoint him.

“Sure!”

We followed the trail which was a short hike back to The Cliffs. I had ridden every ride at Magic Mountain, but jumping off these cliffs was a different kind of thrill. It took more effort than standing in the long lines at an amusement park, but it was worth it.

We spent the remainder of the day jumping and swimming with a brief break to eat the picnic Jack had packed. Our menu consisted of sodas, chips, turkey sandwiches, and fresh strawberries.

I was so hungry from all the activity that everything tasted absolutely amazing…four-star restaurant amazing. I was sure that tomorrow I would reflect on this meal and realize they had just been a basic sandwich, but I was so hungry it didn’t matter or maybe it was the company I was keeping that made everything amazing.

I folded my arms over my stomach, now self-conscious of my full belly. “Should we call it a day?” I asked.

“Do you
want
to call it a day?”

I had to think a minute. When I really thought about it, I didn’t want to leave. Despite our rough start, this was the first time I had really enjoyed myself since arriving in Blue River.

“Actually, no, not really, but I do want to rest. I way over-ate. Maybe I will just sunbathe a while,” I offered.

“Well, how about you take a rest. I want to go take a look at the hay anyway. Sound good?” asked Jack.

“Sounds good,” I agreed. I laughed when he left because the idea that anyone needed to go look at hay in a field was really quite funny to me.

I didn’t know how much time had passed when I heard a splash, letting me know Jack had returned and gone back into the river. I was basking in the sun, pretending the ripples of water I heard were actually ocean waves. I pictured myself body boarding on the waves and tried to remember the taste and smell of salt water. Ocean water was a lot different than the river water. I reflected on the dream I had before we moved here, the one that told me to prepare for this move. I now knew the actual scent of river water. I was deep into my daydream when I heard, “You look hot.”

“Excuse me?” I asked. I lifted my head and found Jack standing over me, dripping wet with tousled hair. I tried to shield my eyes from the glaring sun. At the same time I tried to discreetly examine his tan body.
I could look at this boy all day
. I was now very happy I had taken pictures of him to take back to California with me.