Page 40 of His Hungry Wolf

“Oh no!” Claude said suddenly rocking the boat violently.

“Don’t you…”

“Oh no!” Claude repeated before grabbing both sides of the canoe and flipping us over.

The cold, snake-infested water soaked through my clothes, scalding my skin. I could feel the length of an imaginary anaconda wrap around me, trying to swallow me whole.

“Ahhh!” I screamed, forgetting how to swim.

When something touched the bottom of my foot, my head nearly exploded. It turned out to be the ground. The river wasn’t that deep. But it didn’t matter.

Swimming like my life depended on it, I shot to the edge of the river. Dragging myself ashore, I rolled until there was a distance between me and the site of my doom.

“Not funny!” I yelled at Claude.

He couldn’t hear me over his laughter.

“That’s it, you fuckin’ owe me. We’re doin’ a workout. You’re gonna be at today’s football field at 9 AM tomorrow morning, and you are gonna run until you can’t walk. I mean it.”

“Okay, okay. Whatever. I’ll be there,” he said, composing himself.

“Oh, you said that like you still had a choice,” I said, legitimately annoyed.

“Did I tell you how often snakes sleep in the dirt next to the shore?”

“Ahhh!” I screamed, racing to my feet, brushing off whatever was on me.

Claude, again, rolled in laughter.

“Not… funny!”

Once Claude regained his composure, he was eventually able to get me back in the boat. I couldn’t stay mad at him. After all, seeing him laugh so completely had warmed my heart.

It had been a long time since I had seen him laugh like that. It had to have been before I snapped and things went south. Remembering that, I decided that I would pretend our kiss didn’t happen.

As far as I knew, Claude was, and had always been, straight. He’d never expressed an interest in me or any guy. I’m sure because I’ve watched him. His eyes didn’t light up when he saw me, like I knew mine did when I saw him. No one ignited his fire.

Knowing that, to go down that path with him would be dangerous. I had lost my mind the last time I had allowed myself to feel something for him. So whatever experimentation he was looking to do with me was not welcome. I wanted a professional and personal relationship with him. That’s all. Nothing intimate.

Ending the tour and carrying the canoe back, I pointed out how we had only seen one waterfall.

“I’m just saying that it wasn’t what was promised on the website. ‘The most waterfalls in the country.’ That’s what it said.”

“You want the full tour? Buy a ticket,” Claude insisted.

“You just better hope I don’t leave a review. And if you’re expecting a tip, good luck with that,” I said, teasing him.

On the drive to my bed and breakfast, for the first time in years, I felt like I had my best friend back. We talked. At first, it was about my last year at university. Later, the conversation turned to how it was working as Papa’s assistant.

“Have you two been getting along?” he asked, referring to the stories I had told him back at school.

“Sure. He’s been pretty good about things since I came out. It was like he finally let go of who he wanted me to be and accepted me for who I am.”

“Is that good?”

“It’s better than the alternative, which is me feeling his disappointment every time I entered a room.”

“I don’t know what he could ever feel disappointed about.”

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