Page 45 of Up In Flames
He never confirmed last night if he agreed with his friends and me on giving this a real shot, and I only have three days left to find out.
Much to my dismay, Knox is totally professional all morning. Thinking I’ll get my chance to talk to him when Phil and Javi go to lunch, I’m disappointed—but also happy that he’s allowing himself to be included—when Knox follows them around the front of the house and they all climb in his truck. I have to leave soon to meet my sister at the marina and will probably be gone when he gets back.
I pull my phone out to fire a text, only to see that Knox has already sent one.
Knox
We’re going to grab tacos. Be right back.
You want anything?
Taylor
I’m leaving to meet my sister in a few minutes, but thank you for the offer.
Knox
Wish I’d known. It was a busy morning, but we should probably talk.
I briefly thinkabout offering dinner. What better or more mature way to talk than over a meal, face-to-face, like adults? But then I think about the fact that he might want to talk about how this isn’t/can’t/won’t/shouldn’t happen, and I’ll end up crying in my Bolognese.
Taylor
I’ll be unavailable most of the day, but I can call you when I get back?
He sends a thumbs-up emoji,leaving me more confused than ever.
Chapter 17
Knox
Imade it until two o’clock and then was so jittery and unfocused that I texted the guys to see if we could meet at the marina at two-thirty instead of four. I could use the smell of diesel and the feel of gliding through the water as a distraction from my already distracted mind. Captaining the boat takes all of my focus, and I look forward to having silence in my head for a while.
Until some asshole tries to ruin it for me.
“Aw, shit. Jake, where’d they go?” I turn to look over my right shoulder, but I come up empty. I love this boat, but the damn thing’s got a blind spot a mile wide at five o’clock and seven o’clock thanks to the rope tower and upgraded speakers.
“They’re coming up on your port side faster than those shitty things have any right to go,” Jake replies.
What Idon’tlove is how fucking crowded this lake gets on the weekends. And what I love less than that is how the marina rents power boats and jet skis to anyone with a fucking driver’s license and no safety education whatsoever.
I let up on the throttle, but I have to start into the turn. The lake ends in a rocky cliff face straight ahead, so it’s now or never. I turn the wheel and feel the powerful boat slice through thewater, cutting an angle that drops my port side toward the dark lake, creating a larger wave behind me on that side.
“Uhh, Knox?” Jake says with a large amount ofwhat the fuckin his voice.
“Gotta turn, Jakey, or you and I are going to meet our Maker.”
“Shit.”He scrubs a hand down his face, reading the situation as quickly as I do.
Jet skiers like to trail boats like mine because we create waves for them to play in. It’s only safe when there isn’t a boarder behind me, and since Phoenix came in fifteen minutes ago, we’ve picked up two jet-ski tag-alongs.
Based on how fast they’re going, the fact that their fucking life jackets are unclipped, and one of them is holding a GoPro stick while driving recklessly one-handed, I’m going to say they’re out-of-towners trying to catch some footage for their social media accounts while simultaneously working on their tans.
Except the one in the back is about to get thrown off his jet ski because instead of following me into this turn, he’s riding my flank, and that wave is going to send him flying, no matter how slow I’m going now.
The girl in the front zooms by.
“Jake! Grab the wheel!” I yell.
