Page 29 of Big Booze Boss

Then he pulls himself out of the water and reaches down for me. He lifts me like I weigh nothing and pulls me into his arms. "Breezy, the words you don't want me to say until after the wedding are choking me."

I laugh, teasing him. "You don't look like you're choking to me."

He grins and assures me, "I am!"

I giggle and confess, "I am too."

He pulls me down with him onto the flat rock and sprawls out, spread eagle. I do the same, staring up at the blue sky through the canopy of tall trees. We lay there and relax, holding hands.

"Blaze," I say, but he shushes me.

"Be in this moment, Breezy."

"Hmm," I hum, a content sound I haven't heard myself ever express before.

The next thing I know, Blaze is inches from my face, whispering. "Breezy, baby. Open your eyes slowly, and don't move."

My eyelids flutter, and stare into his. The gold specks against the light brown visible in the reflection of the sun off the water.

He whispers, "There is a red fox family at the other end of the pool."

I cut my eyes in the direction he is looking, but I can't see them.

"Move very, very slow." He whispers. "One body part at a time. We don't want to spook them."

I rotate my head, taking care to do as instructed. I can see the Mama fox sitting on the rock, watching her pups play in the shallows.

"She's beautiful!" I whisper softly back.

"There are six pups in the litter." He tells me.

Blaze's body blocks most of mine from her field of view, so I roll over onto my stomach nice and slow so I can see them too.

She drops down into the water with them, and another adult fox takes her place.

"Papa," Blaze whispers.

The Mama drinks, then she jumps out, and the pups follow her. She leads them out of sight, and right before 'Papa' brings up the rear, he looks right at us.

Then they are gone.

"WOW! That was AWESOME!" I tell Blaze as his eyes twinkle into mine. "I have never seen anything like that before!"

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yes, it was amazing!"

He chuckles as he pushes up, then stands and offers his hand to pull me up too. I slip mine in his and marvel at how time doesn't seem to have passed at all from when we were teenagers till now.

We slip our shoes on and work our way back down the rocks to the Jeep and Mookie Duke. He's laying quietly curled up against the base of a big tree. His dark coat blends in, camouflaging him. As soon as he spots us, he stands.

Blaze tousles my half-dried hair. "Do you ever wear it curly?"

"Rarely. It's just too bushy and wild. It feels like chaos."

He chuckles. "Well, it does kind of look like chaos too."

I swat at him. "If you would have told me about the pool, I would have put it up in a ponytail."

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