Chapter 56

May 24 - June 14, 2001

Team Three's Summer - 1

The Dodge had been moved slightly from three weeks ago, so apparently Crystal must have used it when she was on break. Scooter got in and headed over to the house, which was going to seem awful damn empty without either Crystal or Jim there.

The lights were on and the house was stuffy. When Karin had been living there she'd been home every night, at least as far as she and Crystal could tell. But they'd agreed to dial the air conditioner way back since someone would be home so rarely over the summer. She ran it up considerably, then decided the first thing to do was head for the shower and run the water heater cold, then while it was warming she could sit around and figure out what to do next. There really wasn't a hell of a lot to do, other than the usual shopping and laundry, until Jim got in tomorrow night. She headed for the bedroom, peeling off clothes as she went. She was down to the bikini bottom that she used for panties on the river this time of year when she noticed a note sitting on her bed. Curious, she stopped, picked it up and began to read it.

The rumor is that you and Jim had a hot weekend last break. Best of luck. I thought about taking a run at him once but never got around to it. Now I'm glad, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be pretty cool for you. I know we're both going to have lots to talk about when we see each other again. Only about three months to go, now. Hang in there!

See you on the river,

Crystal

She sat down on her bed and read the note over again. That was going to change the plans for the winter all right, but then if the thing with Jim worked out, that was going to change them, too. She really hadn't let herself think that far ahead, hope that far ahead, about him. Despite the good time they'd had three weeks before, despite the signs that it showed of moving past that, a lot could still happen between now and fall. Other than the last of the three weekends they'd be off at the same time, three weeks away, now, they'd only be seeing each other when they passed on the river, like they had the other day.

On the other hand, she'd known right from the beginning that all she could do was to get interest under way, actually getting somewhere might have to wait for fall, even winter. If it went that far, and he went back to Cooper Hill, maybe she could go there with him or something. And, now it seemed a little more imperative. Crystal sounded pretty positive in her letter, and there was no telling how fast things might move. If it went in the direction it looked like she was hoping it would go, it wouldn't be surprising to have Crystal and Preach moving in together in the next six months or year. That would leave her alone, unless Nanci, of all people, decided to stay with her. Or Barbie, or somebody. As she thought about it, she realized that she really didn't want to have to live alone again. Even the last two and a half weeks had been hard, being a trip leader with no close friend like Crystal around. Christ, if she didn't get something going with Jim, or whatever, was she going to be back to living in a rented travel trailer?

The next night she was sitting in the Dodge on the edge of the parking lot at Jim's shop when the two big semis rolled in, loaded with S-rig center sections stacked with rolled up side tubes and gear. The outfit didn't use a crew bus; the crews rode in the semis, either in the right front or in seats in the sleeper cab in the back. It was a lot longer run back from Pearce Ferry than it was from Diamond Creek, and Jim had told her that there was usually a lot of sleeping going on, too.

He seemed in pretty good shape when he got down from the cab; apparently he'd been doing some of that sleeping. "Welcome back, babe," she smiled as he came over to her.

"Good to see you again," he smiled. "We're still on, I take it?"

"Of course, we're still on," she grinned. "There's news, but nothing that needs to affect us this weekend."

"What kind of news? The word was that Crystal had found some guy, a Baptist preacher the rumors said, but no one could believe it."

"She did; I know the guy; he's a hell of a nice guy, but I can hardly believe it, either," she sighed. "You still have to unload, right?"

"Just rocket boxes, food boxes and like that," he told her. "We stay a little more set up than you do. I can get out of here in an hour or so."

"I can stick around and watch, or help out, or I can head back to the house and wait," she told him. "You don't have to share the shower tonight."

"What if I want to?" he grinned. "Tell you what, stick around, we'll head over to the Burro and have a couple, then go get in the shower so you can wash my back."

"I'll bet you'd rather have your front washed."

"That too, but there's probably not enough hot water to do the job I want."

It was close to three hours before they got to bed, but none of it was wasted. They didn't waste much time after that, either. It was not until late that they settled down to just cuddling and talking. There were several pieces of Canyon Tours gossip to pass along, mostly involving Crystal, since Jim didn't know Preach or Nanci or some of the others.

"Jim, I don't know how to say this," she said, "But whatever happens this fall or this winter, the odds are going to be that what we had planned is changed somehow, maybe lots. I can tell you this much: if the thing between Crystal and Preach is still going on when the season is over with, I'm probably going to have to get out of their way. Don't get me wrong, I've known Preach for years and like him, but if it works, the balance between Crystal and him isn't going to be anything like the balance between Crystal and me."

"And you'll be the odd girl out," he said understandingly. "What do you have in mind?"

"It's probably premature as hell for me to say this," she sighed. "But if it comes down to it, maybe we could plan on doing something together by ourselves this winter."

"You're saying live together, maybe?"

"Maybe," she sighed. "I don't know. There's so damn much that was pretty well in place that isn't any more that I just can't say. Were you planning on going up to Cooper Hill again this winter? The last time I talked to you it didn't seem like you were."

"Don't know," he said. "It depends on whether I can work as a boatman this fall. Otherwise, I'll have to do something just for money to live on. Cooper Hill is OK, but I could stand warm, too. Got any ideas?"

"I don't know," she told him. "We've got that sailing trip booked again, but we can get our money back up to September, and that could be screwed. Or maybe not, or whatever, I don't know. Frankly, I pissed away a good chunk of change on it last winter, it was fun but I could do without if I needed the money, too."

"Just throwing an idea out, there's that place down in Mexico that Dave and Mary go; they talked about it some last fall. It sounded cool, maybe we could think about that."

"It's possible," she replied. "That one hadn't crossed my mind. I really haven't thought about it that much; up until last night I thought things were pretty much going to be the same as the last two years, unless you and I were getting something going. I mean, hell, I've been thinking the last three weeks that you and me doing something together this winter would be more fun than Crystal and me, whether we went beyond that or not."

"Scooter," he smiled. "You just don't know. I've been thinking the last three weeks that something like us spending the winter together would be fun, but I figured Crystal would be involved, at least till I started picking up boatman gossip on my last break. How about if we leave it that it sounds like a good idea, but maybe we'd better wait until things settle out a little before we start making reservations or canceling them. I'm not opposed to the idea of our spending the winter together, but right now we can't tell if or doing what. I think we could come up with something cool to do, even if we don't have a lot of bucks. Does that tell you what you wanted to know?"