Page 34 of High Side
Brittany finally gave her a searching glance, then stood, grabbing more food wrappers. “Okay, guys, I think Kylie could use some rest. She had a pain pill, and her ankle is really messed up. I saw at the urgent care.”
“Sure, sure.” Joe stood too, coming to kiss her cheek. “You holler if you need us, huh?”
“I will.” She patted his arm. “You guys are the best. Really.”
“We are.” Jilly giggled, but she got moving too. It was kind of stunning, really, because the Js could hang out for hours and watch movies when they weren’t invited.
“Thanks, guys. Thanks.” She waved from the couch, and they were out the door only minutes later, both taking some leftovers with them. “That was amazing,” she told Brit.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, I’ve been there, you know? Do you want me to head out too? You got all quiet, so I figure you must be hurting.”
“I—” She bit her lip, not wanting to sound needy. “Can you hang out with me for a bit? Maybe sit with me?”
“With you, like cuddle?” Brittany’s tone sounded teasing, but her expression wasn’t.
“Yeah.”
“Shit, yeah. I can do that.” Brittany cleared away all the rest of the food, then came to grab the afghan off the back of the couch to pull over them as she sat close and let Kylie lean on her. “Is this okay?”
“This is better than that. It’s great.”
“Cool.” Brittany put an arm around her, holding her close.
Kylie leaned on her, letting herself sink into Brittany and pretend they were more than they were. It was too soon to be thinking like she was, and she chalked it up to pain medicine hysteria.
Now she just had to convince herself she meant that.
Ten
Brittany tucked in with the right oar, leaning hard on it. She had a raft full of exhausted older folks on a full-day trip, so this was their third go at this stretch of rapids. She wanted to feed these guys and drop them off at M&M and go have a damn beer.
“Right side full, guys! We’re sideways too much!” They were going into a spin, and she needed more weight on the oars. “Dig! Left side stop! Stop!”
She watched about half the people do what she asked, which was really not too bad, considering it was a nine-man raft. They stopped spinning, shooting through the gap between two pretty big stones, then bouncing across a little class two action, the clients all shouting.
They would have their photo op soon, but since it was the third one of the day, she would bet those oars barely got lifted into the air.
“All right, folks, here we go! Smile for the camera.” She grinned when they all kind of gave a weak “Woo,” and raised their oars. They had one more little stretch of class two, and then they could float the rest of the way and look for bighorn sheep.
“That was awesome.” The fifty-something blonde with the little stocky wife was grinning, stroking along with her oar every few beats like she’d learned during the day.
“I’m glad you guys had fun. You did, right?”
There was a chorus of approval, and then they were pulling out into the little eddy that would spin them right into the bank.
“Way to go, folks! We didn’t go over once, and we never lost anyone. That’s a heck of a record for a triple.”
They all started high-fiving and giving her compliments, and she got them into the little concrete landing with no mishaps.All right. Haul the raft to the trailer. Feed the tourists. Collect tips. This part had a rhythm to it and was generally pretty much the same with all the trips. It was that river side of things that kept them interesting.
“Snack time!” she announced, and the clients all filed over to where Lena had set up the snack station. Lots of juice, soda, and a mix of protein and carb to get them back to the outfitters, where they could go back to their hotel or RV park and go get supper at a local restaurant. The full-day trips did drive people to businesses in the Springs.
And that was part of her job. Word of mouth for Cherry’s Pies or the Club Diner or Nonna’s. Okay, maybe she was hungry.
“You did good today,” Joe told her as she tied her raft on top of the ones already loaded on the trailer. “I see lots of smiles and fist bumping.”
“Thanks. That one couple was a little disappointed that they didn’t get Kylie.”
“Yeah. They come back every year. But I bet they come back next year and remember you.”
