The View From Here by Cindy Myers

Author:Cindy Myers
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2012-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Maggie froze, one hand clutching the front of the towel she’d wrapped around herself, the other clenched at her side. This was the story of her life—head full of ideas that sounded wild and daring, fear holding her back from carrying out any of them. When her friends in high school had skipped school to go to the beach, she’d stayed in class and suffered through Mrs. Prebble’s feminine hygiene lesson. She’d bought a sensible sedan instead of the sports car she’d craved because her mother had told her sports cars were dangerous. When the urge to cut her hair in a stylish, slightly punk cut had hit, she’d let Carter convince her she wouldn’t look like herself, though she could see now that had been the whole point. She was tired of being herself—dull, sensible, and safe.

“Come on in. The water feels wonderful,” Barb called, smiling up at her like some middle-aged water nymph.

Heart pounding, Maggie let go of the towel and hurried into the water, submerging up to her neck in its warm embrace.

“Your face is all red,” Barb said.

“It’s the heat.” Maggie put one hand to her burning cheek and fought the urge to wrap both arms across her torso, as if that would somehow preserve her tattered modesty.

“This makes me feel like a teenager,” Barb stretched her arms over her head and looked up at the sky. “Do you remember skinny-dipping out at the reservoir?”

“I never went skinny-dipping at the reservoir.” Something else she’d been too chicken to try.

“You didn’t?” Barb laughed. “Well, you can make up for it now. You can come here all the time.”

“I’m only here now because of you.”

“Come on now. Don’t you think it feels great?”

The water flowed around her like warm silk. She could say the same thing about a hot bath, but the sensation of standing here in broad daylight, with the sun overhead and other people around, was oddly . . . invigorating. “It feels good,” she admitted. “Just sort of . . . exposed.”

Barb laughed. “You are too much, darling.”

“I see you ladies are enjoying yourselves.”

Maggie’s head snapped around at the sound of the familiar voice. Bob was wading toward them through the water, his naked chest sprinkled with white hair like frost on a weathered log. She jerked her gaze away, determined not to look down. Even the thought of shriveled old man bits was enough to traumatize her.

“This place is divine,” Barb cooed. “It must be the best-kept secret in Colorado.”

“Oh, we’ve got plenty of secrets hereabouts.” Bob turned to Maggie. “You take a look in the French Mistress yet?”

“We explored the mine this morning,” Barb said before Maggie had a chance to open her mouth. “I was sadly disappointed. There was nothing there but a bunch of rock.”

“Some of that rock can be worth a lot of money,” Bob said. “If it’s the right kind.”

“I don’t think there’s anything valuable in that mine,” Maggie said. “I think the only reason my dad bought it was because it was remote and nobody would bother him up there.

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