Page 11 of Not Just Gal Pals

My lower body slowly adjusted to the frigid water. I was just thinking that this would be an amazing aquarobics class—my thighs were getting a real workout—when my foot caught on a lily stem, and I fell face-first into the water.

In that moment, I fully understood the panic Walter was experiencing. The slimy lily roots felt like tentacles of some murderous octopus, pulling me down into the depths of the murky pond. The icy water sent shockwaves through the upper, unacclimatized, portion of my body. My dress was suddenly as heavy as lead. I flailed about, struggling to lift my head above the water.

I could have sworn the lily roots were curling around my legs. Fear flooded through me. What if...they weren’t roots? What if they were eels or...even worse, water snakes?

My flailing increased in intensity, my heart thumping in my chest. I did not want to meet my watery grave at Old Cedar Tea Parlor’s pond.

And then a hand grabbed my waist, and another grabbed my right arm, and someone hauled me up. I sputtered out pond water and managed to shriek, “Snakes! Snakes on my legs!” as I caught my breath.

“They’re just water lilies, not snakes,” I heard someone say sternly, holding me with firm hands.

Fumbling, I brushed my hair out of my face so I could check if Walter was okay and see who my savior was. Walter was still paddling desperately amongst the lily pads, and my savior...

My savior was Blake.

Blake. Beautiful Blake, standing next to me, touching me, and looking at me with a furrowed brow. A shiver bolted down my back, and it wasn’t from the freezing-cold water. Blake withdrew her hands from my body and took a step backward.

Sensibly, Blake had taken her waistcoat and tailcoat off before she’d jumped in, leaving her in a white shirt. Surrounded by green lily pads, up to her waist in water, her dark eyes intense, her short brown hair falling slightly over her forehead, she looked stunning. My heart, which had already been racing due to my near-death-by-water-lily experience, beat even faster. My eyes, which had been roving over Blake, locked with hers, sending my stomach twisting. The air crackled between us.

“Thank... Thank you,” I managed before remembering why I was in the pond to begin with and darting my eyes over to Walter, who was still doggy paddling like a little champ.

“You get back on dry land. I’ll get Walter,” she directed. Stunned, I obeyed and carefully waded back through the forest of lily pads to the edge of the pond, where Maya and Amanda helped me out, the rest of the party crowding around to check I was okay. I’d never look at another Monet painting in the same light again.

I turned to see how Blake and Walter were faring. Walter, his eyes still wide with panic, clawed at Blake, who clasped him to her chest as she made her way out of the pond. Walter looked about half his normal size with his brown, wet fur plastered to his little body.

A foot from the edge of the pond, Walter leaped out of Blake’s arms and onto the grass, where he rolled and shook furiously, spraying the entire bachelorette party with pond water.

I looked back at the pond, and there was Blake, drenched, her white shirt clinging to her.

Oh boy.

It looked like she was reenacting the Mr. Darcy pond scene from the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice. And while the original scene had never affected me in the same way it affected Amanda (who would swoon each time we watched it, declaring her love of Colin Firth), this scene most definitely did.

Blake was breathtaking. I could make out the lines of a white sports bra underneath her shirt—not that I was staring at her chest or anything. My eyes darted away, noticing some dark lines on her biceps also visible through the wet material. Was that...a tattoo? I blinked.

I forgot everything for a moment and just stared at her. I wanted her arm around my waist again. I wanted to take off her soaking shirt and trace my finger over that mysterious tattoo. I wanted to—

“You guys must be freezing. You should get changed before you get pneumonia.” Maya broke my trance. I was suddenly acutely aware that while Blake looked like she’d just stepped out of a queer remake of Pride and Prejudice, Walter, rolling around in a pile of fall leaves, looked like a dirty drowned rat, and I’m sure I hadn’t fared much better. Heat rushed up my face as I remembered I’d also been shrieking about snakes when Blake had saved me. She must think I’m a complete idiot.

“I’m so sorry about the clothes, Maya. I’ll get them all dry-cleaned.” I looked down at my sodden dress, the bottom quarter covered in mud.

“That’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Let’s just get you all inside to warm up.”

I shivered. “Come on, buddy. Let’s find something to dry you off with,” I said to Walter, turning my back on the pond and Blake and trying to erase the image of her wading out of the water from my mind.

CHAPTER SIX

JENNY

“Sorry I’m late,” Amanda said, looking decidedly worse for wear as she stumbled onto the chair opposite me, still wearing her sunglasses. Her hair was tied into a messy bun on her head. “I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to have brunch with you today.”

I put on my best mock-insulted face, my lips twitching. “Geez, thanks. Maybe because I’m your best friend who you haven’t seen in months, and who you want to spend some quality, one-on-one time with?”

“You know what I mean. You and Blake did such a great job planning it that I may have had too good a time…” Amanda grimaced. “But seriously, it was great. Thanks again for all your work.” Amanda didn’t sound quite like her usual self, but I attributed it to a mild hangover.

“That’s fine. And I suspected you’d be a bit worse for wear, so I already ordered you a coffee.”

I handed Amanda the menu and started packing my laptop away. Not feeling too bad this morning despite the late night, I’d arrived early with my laptop so I could answer a few emails and brainstorm new content ideas. Novel Gossip was the sort of cafe where you didn’t feel guilty about staying around for hours, as long as you ordered a coffee every so often. It was warm, inviting, and spacious. As an added bonus, it was also a bookshop, so if you got bored, you could pick a new book from the overstuffed wooden shelves at the back of the shop to read with your coffee.