Snapshot (13 page)

She grabbed the edge of the canoe and pulled her feet out of the gunk, swishing them clean with all her might.

Adam floated next to the boat, out of breath. He rolled over in the water. Algae and who-knew-what-else covered his hair, one side of his face and his life jacket.

“You look disgusting,” Marti said.

“You look like one of those creatures from the deep.” His grin revealed white teeth behind his slimy face.

Marti reached up and discovered her hair was coated. She tried to wipe the slime off, but it clung to her tangled hair.

“Give it up. Nothing less than a car wash is gonna get that out.”
 

“How do we get in?” She switched her focus to the boat floating high on the surface.

“I can hold it steady on one side and you can pull yourself in from the other.”

“Okay.” Marti swam to the other side.
 

“I’ve got it. Anytime you’re ready.”
 

Adam sounded so damn calm. Marti gripped the lip on the side of the canoe. This was going to be a lot harder than she thought. She kicked with her feet and pulled with her arms. The boat rocked, despite Adam anchoring the other side. She rose out of the water, but not enough to even get an arm over the side. She let go and slid back into the water.

“Let me try that again,” she said.

“Okay. You can do this,” he encouraged.

This time she pulled with all her might but made even less progress. She flopped back into the water on her back. Her arms exhausted. “What if you helped boost me in?”

Adam hesitated for a minute. “It’s worth a try. I’ll be right over.”

With Adam behind her, she again reached for the lip of the canoe. He put his hands on her waist. Despite the craziness of the situation, the gentle touch of his hands brought her comfort.

“Okay, now!” she said and pulled with her arms and kicked with her legs. As Adam lifted her from the waist, she threw an arm over the edge of the canoe. She felt Adam’s hands on her butt trying to push her into the boat. Giddy at the intimate way he groped her, Marti didn’t know if she should slap him or encourage him.

She pulled with her arms, desperate to get in the boat. She was close but couldn’t pull herself in. The boat tipped so far it started taking on water.

“Let go!” Adam called, releasing her. She did and fell back into the water. The canoe bounced upright.

They floated next to each other, both out of breath and exhausted.

“How about you hold the boat, and I’ll try to pull myself in,” he suggested.

Marti nodded and reached for the edge of the canoe. Adam swam to the opposite side.

“Okay, hold tight,” he said.
 

She gripped firmly. Suddenly, the canoe jerked up out of the water, pulling Marti with it, but she held tight as her face rubbed against the gritty aluminum side. As fast as her side of the canoe came out of the water it splashed back down. He made it.
 

Thank god
.
 

But now she was alone in the water and didn’t like it one bit. Adam’s handsome face popped over the side and she couldn’t decide if she wanted to whoop for joy or scream at him to get her out of the disgusting lake.

He held out his hand.
 

She gripped it like a lifeline.
 

“Ready?” He locked eyes with her.
 

She nodded.

He squared his jaw and tensed as he lifted her with one hand. He braced himself with the other and leaned back in the boat so gravity would work to their advantage. Exhausted, Marti knew she was dead weight.
 

As she rose from the water, the boat rocked and threatened to dump her back in the drink, but Adam threw his weight backward and fell into his side of the boat, practically dragging her with him. She landed with her face on his chest, their life preservers a bulky cushion. Her legs hung over the side of the boat.

“I gotcha.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her forward, his knees on each side of her body. Marti scrambled in with her legs knocking the side until she fell on top of him, a wet, soppy mess. They slid sideways and lay in an algae-covered heap.

Marti didn’t have the energy to get up off the canoe’s filthy bottom. Plus, Adam still had his arms locked around her, which she kind of enjoyed, not that she’d ever admit it.
 

“Gee, that was easy,” he said, his mouth near her ear.

She laughed. “I can’t believe we actually did it. I thought we’d be trudging through sludge to get out of here.”

“Nah, I’d never let that happen to you. I’ve got your back.”

What a sweet thing to say. Not that it changed anything. A rocker was a rocker. “I guess we better get back. Do you think the cameras are okay?”

“I hope so. The bag looks like it’s still sealed tight. I guess we won’t know until we open it. I’d rather not do it here. Just in case.”

“There will be no more flipped canoes!”
 

“No argument from me. I’ll be glad to leave this spot behind.” Adam scooched toward the back of the boat, then climbed over the bar and inched his way to his seat.
 

Marti followed his lead and crawled her way to the front. Thankfully, her paddle had been wedged under the bars and survived the flips. With her energy depleted, she couldn’t have been more grateful.

“Now to find the other paddle.” They looked in the water near the boat. It couldn’t have floated far. The wind picked up, causing the boat to drift. Her fingers felt frozen.

“There it is.” Marti pointed to the paddle floating in the lily pads a few feet away. She steered the boat close enough that Adam was able to reach over and grab it.

“Hey, look what I found!” Adam reached down and pulled up his sandal.

“Unbelievable.” Marti shook her head, reminded of the stupidity that started this fiasco.

“And there’s the other one!” He pointed to a spot not far from the front of the boat.

“That is so not fair,” Marti said.
 

“Why not?”

“Because I lost both of mine when you flipped the boat!” Her voice rang out an octave higher than normal.
 

“I flipped the boat? You’re the one who threw my sandal overboard. I’d say it’s your fault you lost your sandals. Bad karma, baby!”
 

“Oh, shut up! Let’s get out of here before you make some other lame ass move.” Marti shivered in her wet clothes. She didn’t mean to be a bitch, but Adam was so damn happy, and she was cold and tired.

“So much for playing nice.” Adam stuck his paddle in the water and pulled ahead with the force of bulldozer. The boat lurched forward.

Marti paddled on the other side, and it didn’t take long for them to reach the narrow straight leading them out of the murky water and back to the main lake. The sky clouded over and the wind picked up even more. Marti shivered and each drip from her paddle was Chinese water torture on her goosebump-covered-skin. Her stomach grumbled; it must be close to lunchtime.

She concentrated on paddling, silently blaming Adam for their crummy situation. Just because he got them back in the boat didn’t wash away his careless actions that caused this whole mess. The more she thought about it, the more steamed she became. It was easier to be mad at him and feel sorry for her cold, wet, miserable self than to remember how much she liked being wrapped in his arms.

After exiting the bog, they paddled past the point and spotted the distant beach. The strong wind made their task even harder. She put her head down and dragged the paddle through the water over and over again until her arms ached.

Adam tried to talk a couple of times, but she shut him down. As they approached the dock, a bunch of kids came out to greet them. They wore dry sweatshirts instead of life jackets. Marti reached up and felt the clumps of algae drying in her hair.

Haley and Brooke waved. Marti brooded.
 

“What happened? Where were you?” Kayla called.

“Adam flipped the boat,” she yelled back.

“What?” They couldn’t hear her through the wind.

“Oh, now that’s real nice. Blame it all on me,” Adam muttered.

A few more pulls and they were within shouting distance. Marti stood up and yelled louder. “This idiot, Adam, flipped the boat!”

Suddenly, the boat rocked violently from side to side. Marti screamed, and fell over the side, taking in a mouthful of water. She popped up with hair in her face. She flipped the soppy mess out of her eyes and turned on Adam. He sat in the back of the boat laughing and holding his gut. Her friends on the pier covered their mouths in shock and amusement. The guys cheered.

“You are the biggest jerk I’ve ever met. Oh. My. God. You are a dead man!” She fumed as she swam to the beach.

“Bring it on, baby! Bring it on!” he hollered after her.

She reached the shallow water of the swimming area and dragged her shivering, waterlogged body out of lake. She looked up and Kyle snapped her picture. She glared. Another asshole guy at camp.

“Kyle! Put the camera down before I break your arm,” Kayla snapped at him. He lowered the camera.

At least her girlfriends would stick up for her.

“You called him Adam!” Haley said, all excited. “I was right, wasn’t I? He’s Adam Jamieson!”

“What?” Kayla flipped around to see Adam land the canoe on the beach. “You think AJ is Adam Jamieson? As in the guitarist from Jamieson?” She looked from Haley to Marti to Adam and back. “Marti, is he really Adam Jamieson?”

“Yup,” she snapped. Her numb fingers unhooked the life jacket, and she shrugged it off.

“Oh my god! When did you figure it out?” The others gathered around when they heard of Adam’s superstar identity. “Did he tell you himself? Did you know all along?”

“Listen. I’m wet, and I’m cold, and I’m pissed off. You want answers? Go ask him.” She flung the life jacket toward the boat shed. “I’m going to take a shower. I’ll see you at lunch.”
 

Marti trudged barefoot past the group and down the long path to her cabin, stubbing her toe again along the way.

*
 
*
 
*

Adam climbed out of the canoe and slid the paddles neatly inside. He chuckled as he picked up his coveted sandals. He unhooked the dry bag. Marti stormed off so fast she forgot her camera. He’d hang on to it for a while, just to make her have to ask for it back.
 

Marti was pissed again, but he didn’t mind. Before, she hated him for no good reason. This time it was on his terms. He couldn’t resist dumping her and her high-and-mighty attitude from the boat. All in all, it had been a great day. The loons were spectacular, and the whole fiasco with his sandals and flipping the boat were the most fun he’d had in a long time, well, at least since skinny dipping last night. He couldn’t shake the two images of Marti. The one of her naked in the moonlight, the other with lake scum coating her hair; both were equally entertaining.

He pulled the canoe further up the beach. A bunch of the kids talked in a huddle nearby.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” he asked.

“Nice job dumping Marti! Priceless, man!” Ryan said.

“Boy is she pissed,” Kyle said.

“What can I say? I have a gift,” Adam boasted.

The girls stared, but didn’t say a word.

“What?” Adam asked. He had ticked off one girl, and now the whole gang turned on him. He never had this problem at concerts.

Brooke spoke first. “Are you really Adam Jamieson?”

Shit
. He looked skyward. She told them. Marti needed a way to strike back, and this was it.
 

“She couldn’t keep it to herself,” he said.

“Oh my god,” Kayla said, “I never would have guessed it. You look so different with short hair.”

Kyle snapped his picture.

“I don’t think she meant to say it. She was so mad she just blurted out your name without realizing,” Haley said. “But for the record, I thought you were Adam Jamieson a couple days ago.”

Adam grimaced. Great. His days of being a regular guy at camp were now over. He’d miss it. Being an equal with the others had been so nice. He knew from experience that they would treat him differently now. Even if they weren’t fans.

“I’ve got to put this away.” He trudged to the boat shed and hung up his life jacket. The kids followed. Kyle took another picture.

Adam glared at him. “Seriously?”

Kyle lowered the camera. “Sorry, dude.”

And then the questions started.

“Why are you here?”

“Why’d you cut your hair? Was it so we wouldn’t know who you were?

“Are your brothers, Peter and Garrett, here too? But we haven’t recognized them?”

“Will you play for us?”

“Are you going to be in the talent show? ‘Cause man, you totally rock.”