Mermaids of Owasco by Liz Harman

Author:Liz Harman [Harman, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Jessie awoke still feeling amazing. She almost didn’t want to get out of bed. Last night had been just magical. She checked her phone and felt a little thrill when she saw she had a text from Kirk. He had sent her a firefly emoji. She considered, and then sent him back a kiss. Then she made herself get up and go to work.

She spent next few days going about her life. Eric was still keeping his distance, which was nice, but surprising. But maybe he was taking her seriously. Kirk texted her a cute picture every morning, and sometimes they texted back and forth during the day, although he was often driving or in places with poor reception, and she was often in the lab wearing gloves.

Sunday morning, she beat her hair into submission and dressed for hiking. Kirk was a few minutes early, but she had already gone outside to wait for him, so she was there when he pulled his station wagon up next to her car. He got out and she hugged him. “Hi!”

“Hey, pretty lady,” he said, and kissed her. “Your car, or mine?”

“Oh, I should drive. I know where we’re going. Do you like waterfalls?”

“Love them,” he said. As if she even had to ask.

She took him to Taughannock Falls State Park. It had nice hiking trails and nice scenery. She found that she wanted to put the area’s best foot forward. He said he liked Ithaca, but she wanted to make him love it.

And he did seem to. He admired the slice of Cayuga Lake visible from where they parked. “This area just has so much great water!”

She smiled in return. “I know. Come on. Let’s see how congested the trails are.” She took his hand and they started walking. There weren’t too many people. It was also another beautiful day. They took turns pointing out interesting plants and birds to each other.

“So what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not at work?” Kirk asked her.

She thought about that. She liked to do a lot of things. And then she remembered the firefly-lit evening they had shared, and blushed. That wasn’t what he meant. She cleared her throat. “I think it’s a tossup between kayaking and hiking. What about you?”

“I think it’s the same for me. Or it was until a few days ago,” Kirk said, edging a bit closer.

She smiled over at him. “And now?”

“And now it’s whatever I can do with you,” he said, and kissed her. They kissed for a while, and she ended up with a fistful of his shirt.

“Ok, me too,” she said breathlessly.

He grinned. “Oh? Good.” He put his arm over her shoulders. Their hike became more of a stroll, but she didn’t mind. This worked just as well.

They finally got to the bottom of the falls. Kirk stared up at it in awe. “This is the tallest single-drop waterfall east of the Rockies,” Jessie told him proudly, as if she had something to do with that.

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