Page 48 of Riverside Reverie

“That sounds fun,” Lux nodded.

“There’s some egg hash if you guys are hungry, it’s a little cold but it still tastes good,” Rhiannon commented, gesturing to the cast iron pan with breakfast in it.

“Thanks,” Lux smiled at her, but before she could stand up and fix a plate, I was already grabbing two plates.

“I’ve got it,” I told her, our eyes connecting across the fire. She smiled, her cheeks heating beneath my gaze.

I could tell Rhiannon and Zoey were struggling not to make a big deal of it, and Talia was acting fully absorbed in her playlist. I had to give her credit, the only tell she had was her twitching lips. I knew the second we were alone, she’d razz the hell out of me about it.

I didn’t care, though. Lux was worth every moment of razzing from my friends, I didn’t want them to make her feel uncomfortable about what had transpired between us, or what would continue to transpire between us on the rest of the trip if I had my way.

After grabbing us something to eat, I moved to sit in Jasmine’s empty chair beside Lux, handing her the plate I’d fixed for her. She smiled her thanks, her gaze timid as she accepted the plate from my outstretched hand.

“Gonna be a beaut of a day!” Baz remarked, glancing up at the clear sky with approval.

“Might suck packing up and leaving tomorrow, though,” Talia snorted, holding her phone up to show her weather app. “A massive thunderstorm is moving in tonight.”

A flash of alarm filtered across Lux’s stunning face, her fork freezing halfway to her mouth with a scoop of egg hash on it. “Thunderstorm? Aren’t we supposed to not be on the water for that? Or in a tent with metal poles?” she asked, her voice full of concern. She set the fork down without taking a bite.

“How much rain, Tal?” I asked, leaning forward.

“8 millimetres per hour from midnight, and steadily coming down until dusk with scattered thunder and lightning throughout the day.”

“That sounds like a lot of rain, and thunder,” Lux worried her bottom lip.

“Hmm,” Rhiannon said thoughtfully. “Maybe we’ll pack it up and head home later this afternoon.”

At that moment, Jasmine and Desmond rounded the corner in the canoe, paddling up to the beach.

Jasmine jumped out of the canoe carrying a bag of ice. “Morning, friends! Glad to see you’re all awake and functioning,” she said, her attention going to Lux and me with a knowing look.

“Yeah, yeah, we slept in. So sue us,” I shook my head, watching as Desmond pulled the canoe onto the beach.

“We were debating on whether we should pack up and head home later this afternoon, actually. It’s a beautiful day today, but tomorrow’s supposed to be a nightmare.”

“Yeah, Des and I were talking about that too. I wouldn’t mind packing up and canoeing in the rain, but I’m worried about the thunderstorms. That’s gonna make getting back to the marina a little sketchy. I guess we could always miss check-out and get charged another night.”

“I work Wednesday, so that won’t do,” Zoey frowned with a sigh.

“Well, we could pack up camp, then go do some cliff jumping, then come back to get our supplies before we head to the marina?” Rhiannon suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Jasmine shrugged, opening the main cooler we were using for food now and dumping the ice in. “What do you think, Lux?”

“Well, I definitely don’t want to get caught in a thunderstorm, so I’m down for that.” Lux replied. With the issues resolved, she resumed eating the rest of her breakfast.

Desmond and Jasmine grabbed something to eat, and once we’d cleaned up from breakfast, we started packing up camp. Everyone went off to start taking down their tents.

Once all the tents were put away and all our gear piled nicely beneath the shade of the trees, we packed a small cooler of food and drinks and headed to the cliffs.

Lux

Jasmine and I lagged behind the others, following at a distance enough away that we could talk quietly.

“So, you didn’t come back to the tent last night,” she said.

I glanced over my shoulder, and she wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“You’re right, I didn’t…I uh, crashed with Theo,” I replied, turning my head to face forward again. My gaze went forward to where Theo and Desmond were cutting through the water ahead of us.

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