Take Only Pictures (16 page)

“Why didn’t you tell Dozer the truth today?” Gloria asked gently.

“What was I going to say? I got scared and ran. I quit the wreck. I bailed and lost control.” She swallowed hard.

Gloria hated the resignation she heard in Kristine’s voice. “He attacked you and if it weren’t for the cook calling him, he would have raped you. That’s assault,” she insisted.

Tears began to stream down Kristine’s face. Gloria grabbed a box of tissues and scooted around so she was sitting next to Kristine. “None of this is your fault.” She put an arm around Kristine and held her while she cried, wishing that words could fix the hurt she was feeling. She stroked Kristine’s hair and touched her lips to her forehead, using her chin to pull Kristine closer. “You are the victor here. You came back. That earns you my respect.”

Kristine nodded against her chest. “Can I stay here?” She whispered so softly Gloria almost missed it.

“Absolutely,” Gloria answered, honored that Kristine would trust her to ask. She wanted Kristine to know that she understood why Kristine had stepped away from her that afternoon and that she wasn’t expecting anything more now. “Whatever you need. This folds into a bed if that’s what you’d like.”

“No…if it’s okay, I’d like…to be next to you.”

“Of course.”

She gave Kristine a spare toothbrush, boxers and an old tee, changed into similar sleep attire and crawled into bed. Kristine’s confession explained so much, the tension between Kristine and her colleagues and her reluctance to get involved. She sensed Kristine’s need to not let anything distract her.

Kristine returned from the bathroom and locked the door. “Lights out?”

“I’m good,” Gloria replied.

Kristine crossed the short space between them and crawled under the covers. Gloria wasn’t sure what to do with her body. She wanted to hold Kristine, but she didn’t want her to think that she was pushing for something sexual. She didn’t want any of her actions to come across wrongly, so they simply lay next to each other. Gloria wondered what Kristine was thinking about, and then she felt her move, shift just enough so that her hip and thigh touched Gloria’s.

“Do you want to turn?” Gloria asked. “I could hold you if you’d like.”

Instead of turning away from Gloria, Kristine rolled to her side to face Gloria. It was too dark to see her, so Gloria had no insight to what she wanted. She was about to scoot to her hip when she felt Kristine’s hand slip into hers. Silently, she lifted Gloria’s arm and nestled her head on Gloria’s chest. “Is this okay?”

“Yes,” Gloria answered, happy to open her arms and let Kristine in. It still amazed her to see such a vulnerable side to someone who typically exuded such strength and confidence. “Thank you, Kristine. Thank you for trusting me.”

Kristine nodded but said nothing, and Gloria guessed she must have been emotionally beat because her body soon relaxed into sleep.

Good thing she’s snuggled on my right side, Gloria thought, certain that the pounding of her heart would have kept Kristine awake had she been on the left. She willed her breathing to slow, her heart to calm. When had she ever held anyone like this? Post-sex, she’d tangled limbs with women but quickly drifted to sleep. Holding Kristine, she felt far from sleep with the range of emotions she felt, still angry at Nard and all of the cowboys for what happened, sad for how wounded Kristine was, and surprisingly protective of the woman she had known for such a short time. Strangely, she realized that though she’d had sex with plenty of partners, she’d never experienced intimacy that could compete.

Chapter Seventeen

Eyes closed, legs and arms outstretched to gather as much sun as possible, Kristine sat in a skimpy tank top and shorts trying to absorb the morning sun that shone brightly in the outpost yard. Since the scheduled all-day ride was a no-show, she’d decided to get a little sun. Typically, she spent the whole day with only her lower arms exposed which had already given her a pronounced farmer tan.

In the quiet, she felt utterly content. Even Gabe’s comments about her not coming home had not soured her mood. She’d left Gloria’s at first light to ready her stock for the day and worked beside him in the yard all morning without a word about the previous night. She couldn’t believe she’d told Gloria. Telling her felt as good as throwing the rock into Rosalie. Now she could be less guarded and know that Gloria would understand.

The mountain air was crisp enough that the moment a shadow fell across her body, her skin erupted in gooseflesh. She opened her eyes to find Gloria blocking her sun, startled to be caught staring. “I’m working on my tan,” she said in response to Gloria’s befuddled expression.

“It needs a lot of work,” Gloria laughed, pulling another lawn chair out of the shed and joining Kristine on the pack dock.

Kristine smiled at the woman next to her. Gloria leaned back and closed her eyes, immediately falling into a comfortable silence. Something about her manner inspired a confidence that Kristine had never felt before.

“Do you have to stick around here today?” Gloria asked, finally breaking the silence.

“No. I guess not. Why?” Kristine tilted her head to the side.

“You really need a beach for proper sunbathing. I say we head out to Mono. Mitchell said it’s not to be missed, and it shouldn’t take much more than an hour to get there.”

A broad smile spread across Kristine’s face. “You don’t have work to do?”

“I have reports to pick up from the office in Mammoth.”

“In other words, you want to borrow my truck.”

Gloria elbowed her playfully. “No. I want to borrow you.”

Kristine pursed her lips. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“If I did, would you say yes?”

Kristine thought about her promise to herself. And she thought about how much she enjoyed Gloria’s company and how very long it had been since she’d been on a date. She didn’t date at home. Once in a while, she thought about checking out a gay club in Reno, but for the most part, her life consisted of turning down invitations from eligible cowboys in Quincy. She could go on a date with Gloria. In trying to avoid falling into the empty and distracting flings as she had in the past, she had unknowingly allowed herself space to move into something more serious. Quite unexpectedly, with Gloria by her side, she felt supported. “Yes,” she finally said.

“Whew. I’m glad I won that internal battle,” Gloria laughed. “Come on a date with me.”

“Do I need a swimsuit for this date?”

“Absolutely.”

“Give me a few minutes. I’ll pack us a lunch and grab a change of clothes.”

“Perfect. I’ll need to swing by my place for my suit, too.”

“And something nice, right? If this is a real date, I figure you’re taking me to a nice supper in town.”

Gloria’s lovely laughter filled the yard.

“What?” Kristine asked, perplexed. She liked that she had that effect on Gloria but would like to know for future reference what delighted her so.

“‘Supper in town.’ I feel like I just asked Laura Ingalls out.”

“Small-town girl to the core,” Kristine agreed. “Go get your stuff. I’ll pick you up in fifteen.”

They chatted easily during the drive, comparing taste in music and other topics that kept the conversation light. They stopped briefly at the visitor’s center and learned about the tufa that emerged from the lake when water levels dropped because of water diversions to Los Angeles in the early 1980s. Driving to the South Tufa Grove where most of the strange porous rocks were clustered, the barren, treeless landscape around the vast and shallow lake felt foreign after spending so much time under the forest canopy. They found a small beach to soak in the rays and tried out the water, sharing the odd sensation of floating in the salty body of water. Kristine quickly abandoned the cool water, less icy than the mountain streams, but still not warm enough to feel comfortable in on the breezy day. She picked up her camera and took some shots of Gloria’s head and toes poking out of the brine. She looked as if she were sitting in a recliner, buoyed by the high saline content. She, too, quickly abandoned the strange tickly water for sunbathing.

Before joining her, Kristine stayed at the water’s edge shooting frames of the strange foam at her feet and the tufa that rose up to ten feet out of the lake. Once Gloria lost herself in her work, Kristine focused her frame on Gloria’s fierce look of concentration on her new reports. When Gloria felt Kristine looking at her and raised her head, Kristine snapped a few more photos of her in repose, her expression clear and open for an instant before she became self-conscious.

She joined Gloria on the beach towels and sat back to admire Gloria’s toned body. The blue bikini top and board shorts made Kristine smile. The bathing suit reflected exactly who Gloria was, feminine and sporty. She’d pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail that showed off her long neck. Gloria continued reading, making notes as she went. Kristine pretended to take a snooze but kept peeking over at Gloria, thinking about how appealing each curve of her body was. Gloria’s long fingers caught Kristine’s eye. The way she perched her index finger poised to turn the top of the page made her body tighten in response.

“Stop,” Gloria said, catching her staring again.

“What?”

“Staring at me like I’m an ice cream cone.”

Kristine quirked her eyebrow. “What’s wrong with that? You getting a little drippy over there?” She traced her finger down Gloria’s stomach, stopping at her trunks.

Gloria’s quick intake of breath tempted Kristine to go further. “You’re very distracting, you know that.”

“Good. It’s mutual.” She shoved off her chair, pulling on a tee and shorts over her black one-piece suit.

Gloria shaded her eyes, frowning. “You’re leaving?”

“I’ll quit distracting you. I’m going to explore the tufa a little more before you take me on my fancy date.”

Kristine pulled out her camera and marveled at the tufa on the shore. Alkali flies buzzed around her, and she heard a Mountain Chickadee’s distinctive call. They had read all about how the limestone spires form when calcium rich spring water mixes with the carbonates in the alkaline lake creating the bizarre dribble-castle-like landscape around them. She crouched down, accentuating their height, some towering thirty feet. She changed lenses to explore the coarse and knobbly forms up close. She added a polarizing filter, amazed at the contrast of the white pillars reflected in the dramatically blue lake. She easily lost track of the time climbing about taking shot after shot.

Once in a while, she glanced over to the beach to see Gloria still hard at work. Kristine admired Gloria’s concentration. She’d always been drawn to women with determination and drive, and Gloria certainly had both, keeping herself on track with her grant project. Kristine wondered what her next career goal was, if she planned on staying at the Fish and Wildlife office in southern California, or if she was investigating new opportunities.

When she saw Gloria start to pack up her things, she headed back, hundreds of images later. They headed to the Mono Lake campground showers together, Kristine feeling nervous about the dinner part of their date. She had only packed for the backcountry, so a newer pair of blue jeans and a tight black tank were the best she could do for dinner in Mammoth. She was finished before Gloria and waited anxiously by her truck. When Gloria emerged, she sighed in relief to see that her idea of dressing up included jeans too. She wore a form-fitting white camisole with a silky blue overshirt, unbuttoned to just below her breasts.

“That shirt makes your eyes look amazing,” Kristine said.

Gloria blinked in Kristine’s direction. “Without a hat and plaid shirt, I hardly recognized you!” she laughed.

“I’ve got a hat if you like that better,” Kristine said, a little embarrassed, tousling her hair nervously.

“Are you kidding?” Gloria ran her own fingers through Kristine’s short waves, tucking a strand behind her ear. “I love being able to see your whole face. You’ve got nowhere to hide from me.” She ran a hand down Kristine’s arm. Kristine reacted with a shiver. “You clean up nice. Up ’til today, I couldn’t picture you away from the horses and the trail.”

Kristine drove them back to Mammoth Lakes thinking about Gloria’s words. Though she doubted it was intentional, Gloria’s comment about seeing only the cowgirl version of her renewed the hesitation Kristine felt about getting involved with someone who was okay with a summer fling. When the summer came to a close, would she desire something more with Kristine?

They found a small steakhouse and were tickled to be seated right in front of the stone fireplace. They took the waiter’s suggestion and had the buffalo burger and Mediterranean shrimp and talked about the aspects of Mammoth they’d miss when the summer was over, both agreeing that it was sometimes nice to be the tourist, unrecognized by everyone in town. While they waited for their food, Kristine scrolled through some of the photos she’d taken to distract herself from the question of what would happen when the season closed in just a few weeks.

“I like the close-ups the best,” Gloria said. “The texture is really something, isn’t it?”

“That, in contrast to the still, clearness of the water is really fun to play with. I can’t believe I’ve driven by the lake so many times without stopping to shoot anything.”

“I’m really impressed,” Gloria said. “I was with you all day, but I don’t feel like I saw half of this. You have a way of finding the coolest angles. I’d love to see how you would capture the places I love. What you’d do with the fog in the redwoods or when it settles in on the coast like a blanket. There are all these great gnarled trees that hang onto the rocky cliffs.”

“I saw a collection of prints from a place called Fern Canyon. That area is definitely on my list of places to visit.”

“Well consider yourself invited. I’ll be your tour guide.”

The day had made her feel close to Gloria, closer than she’d been to anyone in a long time, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were spending time together out of the convenience of being in the same place. Kristine, herself, was a tour guide to hundreds of people in the backcountry during the summer. There was no intimacy there, just a professional courtesy. She wanted to ask if that was all Gloria would be, but instead she said, “It sounds like you miss home.”