We had just returned from returning the snowshoes to the little rental hut and parked the truck next to the cabin.
"Did you want to head down to the lake?" Austin questioned, coming around from the driver’s side and walking beside me.
I looked out at the lake. There were families out there building snowmen and snow forts. "Sure, that sounds great." I smiled.
We headed off in the direction of the lake and soon were out on the familiar dock that still housed the colorful Adirondack chairs for people to sit on.
"I'm surprised the lake hasn't frozen over yet," I said, brushing the snow off one of the chairs and sitting down.
"Even though it's colder than normal this year, it hasn't been cold enough to freeze the water just yet," Austin said, picking up a rock and skipping it across the water.
I sat there and watched in amazement as the rock went flying across the water’s surface. "I still have no idea how you do that."
"What? Skip rocks? It's easy."
"Sure it is. You are telling that to someone who can't do it."
"It is easy! First, the stone should be mostly flat and about the size of the palm of your hand. If you can, try and find a triangular stone as those ones skip the best, but stay away from circular stones," Austin said, bending over and picking up another stone. He looked over at me and cocked his head. "Come over here."
"Why?"
"Just come over here. I'm gonna teach you how to do this."
I knew there was no fighting him. He would just walk over and force me out of this chair. Instead, I got up and walked over to him. He held the stone out for me to see. I peeked into his hand, but instead of showing me, he grabbed my hand and dropped the stone into mine. I examined it then held it out for him to take.
"No, no, no, you are going to do it," he said, refusing to take the stone back.
I looked at him like he was crazy. "Austin, you know I can't do this. It's only going to sink on me."
He chuckled. "How about you trust me. Now you said you wanted to learn, so let’s learn."
"No, what I said was that I have no idea how you do that. I never said I wanted to learn," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
He chucked again and then came around behind me and positioned the stone in my hand the correct way.
"So you're going to hold it with your thumb and middle finger." He positioned my fingers the way they needed to be. "Then you’re going to firmly hook your index finger along the edge of the stone, your thumb on top of the stone, not around the edge."
"All right, so now what?"
He stepped up behind me and placed his hand on my lower abdomen, pulling me back against him. The second my body hit his it was like I could barely breathe. I was glad he was behind me supporting me because my knees felt a little weak.
"Okay, so now you are going to stand up straight," his deep, sexy voice echoed in my ear. With his chest pressing against my back, he turned me until I was at a slight angle to the water. "Now you're going to stay in this position during the windup and release. The lower your hand is at the release, the better. You’re going to throw out and down at the same time. It needs plenty of downward force, faster not harder, and you're going to spin it hard with a quick snap of your wrist."
I was afraid to move. Every nerve in my body was going off at the fact his body was pressed against mine. I felt hot and shaky and a lot anxious, but I did the only thing I knew to do, and that was let him have full control over my movements. Next thing I knew, I was watching the stone skip across the water.
Austin stood there, his arms still wrapped around me, taking in my expression. We locked eyes and stood there in silence staring at one another. His hand went to my cheeks, his eyes moving from my eyes to my lips. I was sure he was going to kiss me, but voices in the distance caused us both to part.
"See, it's not that hard," Austin said, stepping away from me and sitting down on one of the other chairs. "Try it again. I know you can do it."
I searched through the rocks, finally finding one that was similarly shaped, repeating everything that Austin had shown me, round up and let the rock go, only to have it drop right into the water and sink. Austin let out a laugh behind me, and I turned, pouting at him. "I told you that was what would happen."
"Come on, just give it another shot. Rome wasn't built in a day. You’ll get it."
"I will never learn to do that," I said, sitting down in the chair beside him and looking out over the lake. "Do you remember how your parents used to sit here and watch us while we all swam out to the platform in the middle of lake?" I asked.
"Yep, they sat here sipping on mimosas and wine while we all went crazy cannonballing into the water."
"You were the only one who cannonballed. Addie and I just wanted to sun out on the platform. Instead, all you did was splash us."
"Yep, and I swear I only did the cannonballs to make you girls angry." Austin laughed. "It was so fun to get the two of you going."
"Do you remember that summer that Addie had a crush on that guy that was here, and he had swum out to the platform and was making small talk with her?"
"Yep."
"You remember climbing out of the water, seeing it, and running towards her, grabbing her, and jumping into the water? She was so angry with you."
"Yeah, it was hilarious. The guy was a dog though. I'd caught him down at the beach earlier that morning before you girls were up. He had walked up behind this woman who was setting out her blanket and he pulled the tie on the back of her bikini. I'll admit, she had nice ones, but it was a shitty thing to do. I didn't want my sister hanging around with that ass, so as mad as she got, it was worth it. I probably saved her from a relationship of regret."
"I had no idea Addie was so angry at you. She went on about that for weeks you know. If I probably brought it up today, she would still go on about it."
"Yeah, I know. I got it from Dad later that night." Austin chuckled at the memory.
"By this time then, your parents would have been well into the booze. It's clearly not too early to start is it?"
"Nope. I'll be right back." Austin stood, picking up another rock and making it look completely effortless as he sent it skipping across the lake again.
"You suck!" I giggled. Austin turned and smiled at me and started walking up towards the cabin. "Where are you going?"
"You'll see."
I wrapped my coat around me a little tighter as a cold breeze came off the lake. I relaxed back against the chair and watched the birds float through the trees and listened to the sounds of nature. All the memories from when we were kids ran through my mind so vividly. It was almost as if I were sitting here watching them all play out in front of me. I was so deeply focused on my thoughts that I hadn't heard Austin return. Instead, I opened my eyes and saw a champagne glass floating in front of me. I looked up and saw Austin smiling down at me. "Mimosa?"
"Thank you," I said, grabbing the glass from him. "Where did you get this from?"
"Cheers." He held up his glass, clinking it together with mine and we both took a sip. "I picked up a bottle of cheap champagne and some orange juice when I ran into that little store before coming back from getting groceries. Figured that you might like one for breakfast, but hell, now works." He grinned, drinking some more.