Page 54 of Until Forever

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KEITH

When it came to our plans for the afternoon, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with Lana. But of course, I kept it a secret. It didn’t stay that way for too long, though. She figured out exactly where we were going before I even pulled into the parking lot.

“The marina?” she laughed. “You brought me to work?”

“I brought you to the marina,” I nodded. “But not to work. Unless you consider sampling our fine services work. In that case, it’s business and pleasure all tied into one.”

“Business and pleasure?” her face lit up with a grin. “My favorite.”

I could tell she meant it sincerely, which made me chuckle. There wasn’t an ounce of sarcasm in her tone.

We took one of the best boats out onto the lake. I drove it out to the perfect spot shaded with willow trees. Yellow bits of pollen floated through the air, catching the sunlight, and there were even more dragonflies than usual whizzing around today, skipping across the mossy rocks and tree roots.

We sat back and took it all in for a moment, each letting out our own contented sighs. After a few minutes of peace, Lana looked at the cooler by my feet.

“I knew you wouldn’t bring us out here without beer to drink,” she quipped.

“Actually…” I leaned down and opened it up, pulling out a bottle of white wine. “I went for something a little classier today.”

“So I see,” she smiled. “But what exactly are we doing to drink that out of? And how are you going to open the bottle?”

“You think I’m an amateur,” I clicked my tongue, shaking my head. She laughed when I pulled a bottle opener and two wrapped wine glasses from my bag. “I brought snacks, too, if you can believe it.”

“More pancakes, I hope?”

“No, but there are more strawberries. Plus cheese and crackers. But if you want more pancakes, Lana Miller, you just say the word, and I’ll swim back to get some.”

“You’re too much, Keith. And very fancy today.”

“Nothing but the best for you,” I winked.

I knew I was laying it on thick. Maybe even too thick. But I had tried everything else and ended up nowhere with her. Pulling out all the big stops seemed to gain me some traction, so I was going to keep rolling with it for as long as she’d let me.

We drifted along the water for hours, just talking and laughing as we drank the whole bottle of wine and ate all the snacks. When we had run out of things to say, we found other ways to use our mouths. We made out like teenagers, getting so hot and bothered, taking things as far as we could go without going all the way. The lake could get busy and crowded in the summer, and we never knew when someone might pass by. I was all about throwing caution to the wind, but public sex was not something either of us wanted to have to answer to the local sheriff for.

When the sun was high in the sky and the hottest part of the day had arrived, we reluctantly took the boat back to land. The moment our feet were back on the ground, I pulled her in for one last kiss.

“Why don’t you go inside and grab us some ice-cold water from the fridge?” I suggested. “I’ll pack everything up here.”

She smiled and started walking towards the door, leaving me to tie up the boat.

“Shit!” she exclaimed.

I looked up to see her staring down at her phone with her face all twisted up with worry.

“What’s wrong?”

“Shit, shit, shit!” she shrieked. “I must not have had any signal out on the lake! I have a million missed calls from Claire and Chris. And some unknown number, too.”

She barely finished explaining before putting the phone up to her ear. She paced back and forth as it rang.

“Claire’s not answering,” she fretted, immediately dialing another number. I gathered she didn’t have any luck by the increasing panic on her face. “Neither is Chris. I’m going to check my voicemails.”

I set myself to tie the boat up as quickly as I could incase we had to leave in a hurry. Seconds later, Lana’s expression went from confused and concerned to completely horrified.

“We have to go,” she said, her voice cracking. “It’s Claire. She’s at the hospital, but I don’t know why.”

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