The waiter is mortified. The entire restaurant stares, some people laughing, some clapping. A bunch of the staff rush over with towels. The manager follows quickly, offering not only his deepest apologies, but a free meal.
I just laugh. Kyle laughs with me.
“Its fine,” I offer the poor, distraught waiter who doused me in Alfredo sauce. “Really, I’ll live.”
Kyle seems fine, relieved that I’m not angry or causing any more of a scene. He calmly accepts the meal vouchers and we hurry to his truck, still picking pieces of food out of our hair and belly laughing. He opens my door, pulling a long noodle off the back of my sweater.
“I’m so sorry,” he offers with a wide smile.
I shrug. “No big deal. You aren’t the one who dumped a tray of food on me. And besides,” I pick a chunk of salmon off the top of his head, “you got it just as bad as I did.”
“So, does this mean the date’s over?”
I bite my bottom lip, an idea hitting me out of nowhere. “It doesn’t have to be.”
“Zoe,” Logan warns, his voice stern.
“I have an idea. It’s a little stupid, very risky, and mildly illegal. What do you think?” I ask, my hands resting on his chest.
“I think I’m in.”
I climb in the truck, whispering to Logan as Kyle rounds the cab to the other side.
“Logan, go back to my house. Keep an eye on my mom.”
“What are you going to do?” he demands, but Kyle is already in the truck. With a huff Logan vanishes, leaving me alone in the dark truck with my poor, fish covered boyfriend. He puts the key in and revs the engine.
“Where to?”
“You know how to get to the caverns?”
He nods and we speed off. The caverns are a pretty popular tourist spot on the outskirts of town. And they are full of the one thing my hooded friend can’t handle. Iron.
Twenty
The parking lot is locked, no surprise there. The caverns are closed in early September for the year, mostly because they are so far underground that the temperatures barely get above freezing in the heat of summer. Once the weather cools, the caves become a frozen tomb for anyone stupid enough to venture in. Kyle follows me as we hike around back, picking up a barely noticeable trail from the rear of the main building. The Parks Department built a shop and tour headquarters right over the entrance to the caverns, making it impossible to get in when the building itself is closed.
Unless you know the back entrance.
Its pitch black and only the light from my phone illuminates the path. Still, Kyle follows me without question or hesitation. At one point, I look up, trying to get my bearings. Then I see it. A small hill juts out into the middle of a clearing. It looks like it’s a giant rock in the hillside, but I know better. As Kyle follows me I turn, pointing to the south face and the tight crack splitting the rock in two.
“There. That’s the way in.”
Squeezing through the crack I find myself in a hollow stone chamber. The walls are damp inside, and the sound of trickling water is far off, but echoes around us. Once Kyle is inside I grab the old lantern I’d left there after my last visit, still right where I’d tucked it away, and I bring it to beautiful light.
“Whoa,” he says, looking at the walls around us.
“Most of the caves in this area are limestone, but you see the red streaks down the walls? That’s iron.”
“It looks like paintings in the stone.”
The patterns are amazing, but that’s not the only reason I brought him here. The air in the cavern is cold, easily ten degrees colder than outside. I jerk my head for him to follow me down the narrow tunnel and around the corner. When we spill out into the next chamber, it’s raining inside. Well, not raining exactly.
“See that?” I point to a pool of water only a few feet in front of us.
“It’s a natural spring. A hot spring actually.”
“What’s that smell?”
“Sulfur. From the water. But it’s not bad.”
Reaching down I stick my hand in the water. It’s not hot, but compared to the cold air, it feels like bath tub temperature.
“The moisture in the air is from this.”
Kneeling beside me Kyle sticks his hand in. He looks over at me, grinning.
“So, you wanna go for a soak?” I ask boldly.
“Hell yeah.”
“Cool, you turn around while I get in.”
He grins, puts his hand over his eyes and turns his back to me. I slip down to my bra and panties and slide into the warm water.
“Okay, your turn.”
He turns back to me, wide grin still firmly in place. He strips down to his boxers and climbs in beside me.
“This is amazing Zoe.”
“I know, right?”
I keep waiting for the fact that I’m half naked in a pool with a guy I hardly know to register as a huge mistake in my brain, but it doesn’t happen. We just laugh and talk and everything feels so…relaxed. It’s almost a shame when he finally sighs.
“As fun as this is, I think we should be getting home. It’s after midnight.”
He’s right. But I have a trunk load of problems waiting for me at home, and I’d give just about anything to not have to deal with them for just a few more hours.
I slip back into the water so only my face is above the surface and stare at the stone above me. How has my life gotten so complicated? What did I do to deserve this particular bag of insanity?
I don’t hear Kyle make his way through the water to me, I just feel his arms wrap around me and the next thing I know, I’m pressed tightly against him as he lifts me out of the pool, kissing me as we move. When my feet hit stone, I’m still tangled in his arms, my hands running along the lines of his body of their own accord. He strokes my hair, my back. Slowly, like an ember being brought to flame, I feel the heat rise inside me. Even the tiny, wet scraps of clothes between us seem like too much. I feel him stiffen, pulling away just a little. Some deep, primal part of my brain wants to end the painful separation. But then there’s a soft voice in the back of my head. The voice of reason.
And it sounds a lot like Logan.
I force myself to step back, not really releasing him, but getting a hint of breathing room between us. I lock on to Kyle’s eyes. His expression is wild, flushed. He’s panting almost as hard as I am.
“Best. First. Date. Ever,” He says, kissing me quickly one more time before releasing me and scooping up his clothes, and turning away.
“I’m going to go get dressed. Over here,” he says breathlessly, not turning back to look at me.
The drive home is quiet. Not in an awkward way, but in a blissful, calm way. Maybe I’m just tired, but I scoot to the middle seat of the truck, leaning against him as he drives. He slips an arm around me and I close my eyes, just for a minute.
Or at least if feels like it’s only a minute. The next time I open them we are pulling into my driveway. My hair is still damp and there’s a wet spot on Kyle’s shirt where I’d been resting. I let him walk me to my door, kissing him goodnight on my porch step. He drives off and I step inside, faced immediately with a sour faced Logan.
“What?” I whisper, knowing mom is probably fast asleep in her room.
“I was worried sick. Do you know what time it is?”
I burst out with a laugh and walk to my room. “I didn’t realize you were the curfew police.”
“I tried to find you, Zoe. I closed my eyes like I always do, thought of you, and there was nothing. It was like you’d just vanished off the face of the earth or…”
I stop mid step, looking back over my shoulder at him. I jerk my head, motioning for him to come into my room then shut the door.