Waterfalls (5 page)

“Are you planning to take pictures?” she asked as their shoes smashed down the damp carpet of the forest floor. She guessed he was carrying a camera bag.

“Yes,” he said. He stopped at the fork in the trail and pulled a light sensor from his bag of tricks.

“The waterfall is to the right,” Meredith said.

Jay looked up through the tall trees and seemed to be listening to the distant rumbling of the falls. He looked pleased, as if he were shopping for something special and had found it.

Meredith listened. A chorus of birds trilled their morning glories in the treetops. A chattering creature who was too fast for Meredith to track, darted through the foliage.

“It’s pretty here,” Meredith said.

“It’s perfect,” he murmured, still lost in his apparent lighting calculations. “How much does it rain in June?”

“In June? I don’t know.” Meredith laughed. Her sweet, cheery laughter floated easily through the forest air.

Jay turned to look at her. He smiled.

He likes my laugh. This is a good sign
.

“You don’t live here, do you?” he asked.

“No.”

It was her turn to withhold information. If he wanted to know where she lived, he could ask. But he didn’t.

“You say the waterfall is to the right?”

“Yes,” Meri said. She noticed that the sun was shining through the branches and reflecting on his hair. He had gorgeous thick hair, a perfect warm shade of sunny golden blond. Maybe she would highlight her hair that way. Of course, she would have to break down and pay someone at a salon to do it if she wanted it to come out right.

Could I be serious about a man who goes to a salon to have his hair colored?
Meredith shrugged as they headed down the trail.
I don’t see why not. We could make appointments at the same time and go out to lunch afterward. I wonder if he goes to a tanning salon, too.… And what about the gym? He must work out. Look at those shoulders
.

They stopped again, and Jay pulled out his photographer’s light sensor.

Man, between the gym, the hair salon, and the tanning booth, when would a guy like this have time to go out with anyone? I wonder if he is dating someone now
.

“Is it much farther?” he asked.

“Not much.”

They came to the end of the trail, and he stopped abruptly. Meredith had to admit it was a breathtaking scene. The waterfall
was not much more than ten feet high, but it spilled into an idyllic small lake that was surrounded by huge ferns and dark rocks. The lake looked different than it had when Meri first saw it. Jonathan had engineered a major improvement by moving all the boulders out of the lake and expanding the sides so it was almost twice the size it had been originally. An old rowboat, tied to a stake near their feet, bobbed and swayed calmly in the sweet morning sun.

“Perfect,” Jay muttered. He scrambled to pull his camera from the bag. Standing back, he took a long shot, then zoomed the lens in for a close-up of the waterfall.

Lost in his project, Jay began to walk around the lake as if Meri weren’t even there.

She looked for a place to set down the wicker basket, and then, because the boat was so close, she decided to sit in it instead of on the muddy ground. With basket in tow, she stepped carefully into the boat and sat on the backseat.

An edge of the cloth was hanging from the basket. When Meredith peeked inside, she found it was a woven tablecloth. Jessica had packed grapes, strawberries, tangerines, and lemon poppy-seed muffins. Meredith pulled out the cloth, the plates, fruit, and two small bottles of cranberry juice. It was almost as if Jessica had packed this picnic with Meredith and Jay in mind. It made Meredith wonder.

She busily set up the breakfast feast inside the boat. With careful glances every so often, Meredith traced Jay’s path around the lake. He seemed to be looking for a way to get behind the waterfall. Meredith knew it wasn’t possible without getting soaked. Too many large rocks rested in the side of the lake’s bank directly behind the waterfall. Jay seemed to figure this out without drenching himself.

I wonder what the fascination is with this waterfall. He doesn’t
look as much like a movie star as I first thought. The actor from
Falcon Pointe
was taller
.

Then, as if he had taken his final measurement, Jay turned his attention to Meredith. From across the lake, he directed his camera toward her and held it still for a moment. She didn’t know if he took her picture or not. The waterfall was too noisy to hear the sound of a shutter click. Nevertheless, she didn’t move when he focused on her. She was a natural in front of the camera and felt at ease stretched out in the sun at the back of the boat.

Go ahead. Take a picture. It has to be better than the one you saw of me at Shelly’s old apartment. What does this mean, Camera Man? Are you intrigued by me? You know I’m intrigued by you, don’t you?

Jay hiked back to where she lounged in the docked boat. Tucking his camera into the bag, he made one last light check and then put away his gear. He swung the bag into the boat and followed in a lanky lurch.

“Whoa!” Meredith said, reaching for the precarious feast as it swayed. “Don’t rock the boat, baby.”

“What’s for breakfast?” Jay asked, casually making himself comfortable across from Meredith in the swaying craft.

“Good stuff,” she said, letting go of the plates she had been protecting.

Jay picked up a cluster of grapes and began to pop them into his mouth. “Alissa was right,” he said. “This place is perfect.”

“Perfect as in perfect for a morning picnic?” Meri ventured. “Or perfect as in the perfect location for the next meeting of the Photo Buffs of America Club?”

He smiled. Avoiding her question, Jay held a grape between his thumb and forefinger as if aiming for her mouth. “Can you catch?” he challenged.

Meredith laughed. He laughed. She opened her mouth and tilted her head back. The first grape hit her forehead.

“Can you throw?” she challenged right back.

“Best two out of three,” he said.

With careful aim he shot, and the second one hit the side of her cheek.

“Work with me here,” he said.

Meredith laughed. “If you would throw straight, we wouldn’t be having a problem.”

“Oh, is that what you think? Open up.”

Meredith kept her head down and her lips firmly closed in an act of defiance. “Why should I?” she said through tight lips.

Jay popped the grape in his own mouth and seemed to be thinking. A smile spread up his tanned jawline. “Because if you don’t open up, I’ll tell all your friends what you look like first thing in the morning.”

The vision of her green face and plastic-covered head came instantly to mind. Meredith opened her mouth without a word.

Taking careful aim, Jay launched the grape into the air. With a solid plop, it hit its intended target.

“Yes, score one for the Jakester,” Jay said with a muscle-flexing raised fist.

“The Jakester, huh?” Meredith repeated.

Jay looked surprised.

“Are you sure that shouldn’t be the jokester?”

A settling smile returned to Jay’s face. “I suppose you want a chance to retaliate.”

“No,” Meredith said calmly, picking up a strawberry and eating it in two dainty bites. “I’m not much for throwing food.”

With the challenge dissolved, Jay reached for a muffin and pulled back the paper liner.

“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you,” Meredith said.

“Why?”

“Did you smell it? They don’t seem right.”

Jay lifted the muffin to his nose and took a sniff.

Meredith seized the opportunity. In one smooth motion she leaned over and pushed his hand forward so that he smashed the muffin into his face.

Speechless, Jay searched her face for an explanation.

“I don’t throw food because I’m much better at mashing it.” Her contagious, shimmering laughter filled the air, competing with the rush of the waterfall.

Jay cracked up. There was no other way to explain it. He started to laugh so hard he couldn’t even brush all the cakey muffin from his face and shirt.

“You have a little more on that cheek,” Meredith said, motioning to the spot on her own right cheek. “And some of those tiny black seeds are still there on your chin. No, on the other side. There. You got it all.” They lingered, contentedly chuckling in the afterglow of a prank well executed.

“Where do you live?” he suddenly asked.

Oh, so now he asks
.

“Whidbey Island.”

“Where’s that?”

“Outside Seattle.”

“Oh.”

Meredith waited a breath and a half before asking, “Do you still live in Pasadena?”

“Yes. Same duplex for the past four years.”

“What do you do?”

He took off his sunglasses and placed them on his leg. With his warm brown eyes he seemed to study her again. “Well, I used to be a waiter,” he said without moving. “At a little place in Santa Monica called Chez Monique’s.”

“I’ve heard of it,” Meredith said. She didn’t want to mention that she knew of the restaurant because it was often listed
in her favorite Hollywood gossip magazines as the hot spot for actors who wanted to be seen around town. “You used to be a waiter,” Meredith repeated his words. “What do you do now?”

“A little bit of everything,” he said vaguely. “I’ve had a lot of changes in my life the last six or seven months. I’m sort of between jobs right now.”

Meredith nodded her false understanding. How can anyone his age be so nonchalant about his career? Why was it that all the good-looking ones were flakes?

She took her strong work ethic seriously. From the moment she discovered as a junior in high school that she had scored high in the field of publishing on a career test, Meredith had pursued that goal above all else. She went to summer school in college and sought out the most desirable positions in publishing. By the time she was twenty-three, she had landed her current position as an acquisitions editor. People patted her on the head and told her she was lucky. She knew she had earned every bit of that luck.

“I’m an acquisitions editor,” Meredith volunteered. “For G. H. Terrison Publishing. I acquire children’s products.”

He seemed appropriately impressed, which was rewarding for her.

“I’ve been with them about a year and a half,” she continued. “The best part is that I get to work at home and only go back to Chicago about six times a year.”

Jay tilted his head. “May I make a comment here?”

“A comment?”

“Yeah, an observation.”

“What?”

“You just said, ‘I am an acquisitions editor.’ ”

Meredith nodded. “I am.”

Jay shook his head. “An acquisitions editor is what you do. It’s not who you are.”

“Right,” Meredith said quickly. “I know that.”

Jay slipped his sunglasses back on. “Then you are a wiser person than I.”

J
ay remained an enigma as their breakfast picnic continued. They talked about Shelly and the conference center. They chatted about the bugs that swarmed around their food. They even talked about the weather. But little personal information about either of them was exchanged.

Jay seemed relaxed, though. He gave every indication that he was charmed by Meredith and even offered her his hand as she stepped out of the boat when they left. He let go as soon as she was out, which she expected. This man she had just met had no reason to hold her hand as they walked back through the forest together. But Meredith was dying to know if he wanted to hold her hand.

What must he think of me? First the shrieking fit in the bedroom, then the puppet show in the pickup, and then a smashed muffin in his face. Does all this amuse him? delight him? disgust him? And why should it matter to me what he thinks?

Because, you doof
, her alter ego chimed in,
you’re amused,
delighted, and intrigued by him. When was the last time that happened? You want to see this guy again, and you can’t remember when you felt this way after a first date, can you?

No, I can’t
, she answered herself silently.

“Are you going back to L.A. today?” Meri asked as they hiked together through the woods.

“Yes,” he said. “Do you ever come to L.A.?”

She was surprised by the way her heart did a little hopscotch around his words.
So he is interested. A little
.

“As a matter of fact, I have a trip to L.A. next month for a writers conference. It’s in Anaheim, I think.”

“Is it the Stories and More Conference?” he asked, looking a little surprised.

“Yes, I think that’s the name of it.”

“What a coincidence. I’ll be at that conference, too.”

“Really?”
Don’t get too jazzed and scare him off, Meri!
“How about that?” she said calmly. “Nice coincidence. We’ll have to get together then. I’ll buy you a muffin.”

“A muffin?”

“To make up for the one you didn’t get this morning.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll let you buy me a muffin.”

It appeared to Meredith that he wanted to say something else. He looked worried. Maybe not worried but hesitant.