If I wasn’t shivering in big, violent jerks, I wouldn’t have let his cheekiness go unchecked, but I could literarily only concentrate on one thing: “This water is freezing!”
“Yeah,” said Cole as he floated on his back, his hands sculling back and forth to stay afloat, as if he were in the Caribbean. “But it’s great during the summer when it’s piping hot.”
“Really?” I said, not believing him. “I feel like I’m going to get hypothermia.”
“Stop being a baby,” Cole said before diving under the water like a penguin. The Walters must have polar bear DNA, I thought as I took a few strokes toward land. I was positive that I was turning blue.
A hand wrapped around my ankle, and I was yanked under the water. I let myself sink for a second before returning to the surface, choking up more water.
“You okay, New York?” Cole asked, laughing. “Or are you going to need some mouth-to-mouth?”
“That was not funny, Colorado.”
Cole raised an eyebrow. “Wow, where did that sass come from?” he asked.
“Maybe from the fact that you tried to drown me,” I said.
“I did not!” he defended himself.
Instead of responding, I sent a wave of freezing water in his direction.
Cole stared at me in shock as droplets trickled down his face. When he recovered, he wiped them from his face. “Oh, this means war!” he said, splashing me back.
We played in the water, splashing each other and laughing, for a long time.
“So besides the fact that my cousin is a total asswipe,” Cole finally asked when we stopped to catch our breath, “what do you think of Colorado?”
We were floating on our backs, looking up at the sky, and by now my body was numb to the cold.
A long sigh escape my lips. “It’s fine,” I said.
“But?” Cole asked.
“But what?” I said back.
“Normally when people sigh like that, there’s a ‘but,’” he said.
“I guess…” I trailed off. I didn’t know exactly how to phrase what I was thinking. Cole remained silent, giving me a moment to think. Finally I looked over at him and said, “Everything’s so different, you know?”
“I’ve never been to New York, but I can imagine.”
“Yeah, I miss it a lot.”
Cole didn’t say anything to that, choosing instead to gaze at me. The water was still for a moment, and I felt like everything around us was holding its breath, but then Cole let himself slip under the surface, his head disappearing with a splash.
“We should probably head out,” he said when he came back up for air. “My mom is going to be pissed that we skipped dinner, and besides, I don’t want you to miss the sunset.”
“Sunset?” I asked, but started swimming toward the beach.
“Yeah,” Cole said, shaking his hair out. “It’s one of my favorite things about living here. After a long day of work, watching the sun set over the meadows is just about the most peaceful thing I have ever seen.”
The walk back to the fields where we had left Athena was even colder than the water, but by the time we were back, I had started to dry.
“Remind me to bring towels next time,” Cole said, helping me up into the saddle again.
“Next time?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Yeah, loser,” he said, swinging up next to me. “This is the spot. Everyone comes here to hang in the summer.”
“Oh, right,” I said quietly. Some small part of me couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I’d thought he meant just the two of us. Then it suddenly registered in my brain what I was thinking, and the warm feeling of shame rushed into my cheeks. A shiver passed up my spine, and I was suddenly aware of how close Cole was behind me. His hard chest was pressed against my back as his arms caged me in. I sat up straighter, trying to put some space between us.
“Come on, Athena!” Cole said excitedly, digging his heels into her sides. He didn’t seem to notice my sudden change in attitude. “Let’s show this city girl why Colorado is amazing.”
The horse jumped into action, and we rode back toward the house through the grassy meadows. The setting sun cast a warm glow around us. When the house came into sight, Cole stopped and turned back toward the sun. Together we watched the orange ball sink below the horizon, pulling with it a rainbow of colors.
Chapter 7
“I have never been so jealous of someone,” Heather announced. It was Saturday night and we were all lying in my bed, our elbows pressed up against one another. It was cramped on the single mattress—Heather had brought Kim along without warning me—and squishing four bodies onto the limited space was difficult.