The Truth About Ever After (7 page)

“Okay,”
the guide called out. “You can all head out and start swimming. Feel free to
touch the rays as they pass, but make sure you don’t step on any of them or try
to lift them out of the water. That’s the only way you’ll get hurt.”

“Yeah,
I have a feeling I’m not touching
anything
,”
Nate muttered. “This is sounding like a pretty stupid move on our parts, guys.”

“Don’t
be such a
wuss
,” Annie said, popping her mask over
her eyes. “I’m going to find some rays.”

She
dove gracefully into the water, using her flippers to propel herself smoothly
along. I could see her snorkel jutting out above the water. Nate hesitated for
a minute before following her.

“You
ready for this?” Eric asked, looking down at me. He looked excited, happy. I
loved to see him so relaxed and carefree.

“Yup,”
I said, popping my own mask on. Once I had the snorkel in my mouth I couldn’t
speak, so I gave him
a thumbs
up before diving into
the water.

Amazing,
I thought to myself. I’d been snorkeling several times in my life, but I never
got over how different everything looked under water. Sea grass spread out
before me along the sand, with little, brightly colored fish flitting in and
out of the blades. The water was amazingly clear. I would probably have been
able to see the bottom even without putting my head underwater.

I
set out swimming, not really knowing where I was heading. Soon the grass gave
way to a stretch of sand and suddenly I was face-to-face with a large, dark
circle. Oh my. A stingray. It was swimming along the bottom, its graceful body
flapping like wings in the water. Tentatively I reached out my hand. As the ray
swam past, my fingers brushed over its skin and I gasped into my snorkel. It
was amazing to touch, slightly leathery and not at all slimy. I grinned to
myself and set off in search of more rays.

I
lost track of all time underwater. I had no idea if Eric was anywhere near me.
I was only aware of the water around me, the
fish
and
rays below. Every once in a while I would see a pair of flippers, but for the
most part I felt completely alone in a foreign world below the waves.

A
loud whistle broke me from my reverie, and I surfaced. I pulled the mask up
onto my forehead and squinted around. I had come quite a distance, nearly
reaching the outer fence. I thought I could make out Eric across the paddock,
and Ginny nearby. The guide was up near the shore, waving everyone over.

“This
is awesome,” Ginny said, coming up next to me as we paddled toward the guide.
“Thank you for organizing it, Kiki. It’s been so cool!”

“And
there’s so much more to come,” I told her, feeling giddy.

Everyone
gathered in a loose semicircle around the guide. The water here came up to my
neck, but I was amongst the shortest in our group.

“We
will now feed the rays,” the guide was saying. “Once the fish are in the water
the rays will all
approach.
It is very important that
you do not crowd them or pull on them in any way.”

He
demonstrated the correct way to feed the rays, holding the dead fish in his
open palm as close to the sea floor as he could. Sure enough, a dark shape
appeared under the water, flitting over his hand. It must have pulled the fish
up from his hand because I could no longer see it after the ray had swam along.

“Who
would like a turn?” he called.

“Me,”
I squealed, raising my hand and jumping up and down a little. Eric laughed next
to me, and looked at me with a fond smile. Well, could you blame me? How many
times in my life was I going to get a chance to feed a stingray?

The
guide handed me a small, dead fish. It was pretty
nasty-looking
,
and really slimy, so I tried not to think about it. I held the fish in my hand
underwater, just as he had instructed. Suddenly a huge ray was approaching me,
swimming directly over my hand. I felt a small suctioning feeling over my palm,
almost like a vacuum hose had been applied to my skin.

“He
sucked it up!” I cried, amazed. The guide grinned at me, his white teeth
flashing.

“It’s
what they do,” he said.

“You
guys have to try that,” I told my friends.

We
were able to swim with the rays for another half hour or so. After everyone had
the chance to feed them, the guides showed us how you could hold the rays by
laying your arms out flat in the water. They would put the ray right up against
our chests, saying they were hugging us. The flesh of their underside was
smoother than the top. As one fluttered its wings around my arm, “hugging” me,
I couldn’t help but laugh and squeal.

“You
were right,” Nate said as we finally pulled ourselves from the water. “That was
really, really cool.”

“I’m
so glad we came,” I said.

“And
now we get to chill on this gorgeous beach,” Annie said, looking around in
approval.

We
found a row of loungers in the sun and settled in. Before long
we were visited by a roving waiter
. Even with a frozen
daiquiri in my hand and the sun beating down on me, I found it hard to relax. I
was still feeling so buzzy from the thrill of the boat ride and the amazing
experience of swimming with stingrays.

“You
look happy,” Eric said quietly.

I
looked at him and couldn’t keep the grin off my face. “It’s been a good day.”

Suddenly
he leaned over and kissed me, surprising me. “What was that for?”

“Because
I love you,” he whispered in my ear. “I love your excitement and your
enthusiasm for everything you do. You amaze me, Kiki Barker.”

I
got that lovely tummy swooping feeling Eric so often gave me as I leaned in for
another kiss. “That’s Barker-Thompson, buddy.”

Chapter Six

It
was hard to believe, now that we were so happy, but there was a time when it
didn’t look like Eric and I had much of a future together at all.

I’d
been excited for Matt Thompson to visit me at school for weeks. I hadn’t seen
him much in the last year or so, not since he had gotten engaged. Matt was
several years older than me and had been away at school for the past three
years, on a hockey scholarship at the University of Michigan. My parents had
insisted I go to Michigan State, as they had both graduated from there and had
been giving quite a bit of money to the school over the years. There was a
lecture hall named after my dad, for God’s sake.

Though
he was coming to visit his brother, Matt promised we would get to hang out,
too. I already had a list of about six different parties we could try to hit.

“Kiki!”
Matt said happily as I threw open my dorm room door to reveal him standing in
the hallway.

I
squealed, making
Matty
wince, but I just couldn’t
help myself. He’d been such a good friend to me in high school, and it was so
nice to see him now. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

“It’s
good to see you,” he said, smiling down at me when I had finally released him.

“You
too,
Matty
,” I told him, grinning. The truth was
,
I’d had a bit of a crush on Matt when I first met him. He
was always so handsome, even as a teenager. Plus he had that whole loner,
sensitive-guy thing going for him. When he had first started at Country Day,
the exclusive private school I attended, he didn’t have a friend to his name.
He had transferred when he got a hockey scholarship, and I think he always felt
somewhat out of place amongst our student body. He walked the halls alone,
exuding an air of not caring about anyone else or what they thought. It was
kind of hot.

I
think I felt a little bit sorry for him, to be honest. So I didn’t wait too
long before I invited him to come and sit with my group of friends at lunch.
Though he was older than me, I tended to run with a pretty mixed crowd and I
was determined he would fit in. I don’t know that he made many life-long
friends the year he was at Country Day, but he and I hit it off from the start
and always remained close.

“I
can’t believe you’re here!” I told him, grabbing his hand to pull him into my
dorm room. “It’s been ages!”

“Wow,
Kiks
,” he said, looking into the room. “You’re really
slumming it, huh? This place is about the size of your closet at home.”

I
stuck my tongue out at him, but it was good-natured. There were very few people
in the world
who
seemed comfortable enough with me to
tease me about my parents’ money. I actually kind of appreciated it. “Get in
here, Thompson.”

“Hang
on,” he said, turning away from the door to peer down the hall. “Eric was
gonna
follow me up; I want to make sure he sees me.”

“I
get to meet your brother?”
I asked, feeling excited.

“Yeah,”
Matt said, straining his neck. “He was just
gonna
stop off to say hi to someone and then—ah, here he is.”

You
know how they talk about love at first sight? That arrow shot through the heart
to tell you that this is the one for you, the man you’re supposed to be with?

I
totally got that with Eric.

“Hi,”
I breathed, staring in awe at the man in front of me. He was tall and broad,
like Matt, but the comparison ended there. Where Matt was dark and serious-looking,
Eric was fair and blond, his face open and pleasant.

“What’s
up?”
Eric said, sounding kind of distracted.
He glanced
around my room but didn’t really make eye contact with me. Hmm, maybe the bolt
of lightning had been one-sided. The massive swelling I felt in the heart
region seemed to deflate a little bit.

“Eric,
this is my friend Kiki. Kiki, my brother Eric.”

Eric
looked at me then, his mouth turning up a little. “Is that your real name?” he
asked, sounding amused. “Matt swore it was, but he’s got to be joking, right?”

“It’s
a nickname,” I said, feeling a little stung. Was my dream man making fun of me?
This wasn’t going well so far. “My real name is Kimberly.”

“But
Kiki suits her better,” Matt said, grinning. “So, what do you have planned for
us tonight?”

“Planned?”
I asked, trying to sound innocent. I was finding it a little bit hard to
concentrate with Eric standing right there. He was so gorgeous! I wished he
would look at me for more than five seconds.

Matt
snorted. “Yeah, right,
Kiks
. I know you have the
whole night arranged already. No use pretending.”

I
made a face at him. “I have some ideas,” I said with dignity. “But I was going
to ask what you wanted to do first.”

Matt
held up his hands. “You’re the expert. I’m in your hands.”

“Are
you going to be joining us, Eric?” I asked, turning to him with my brightest
smile.

“Sure,”
he said, shrugging slightly.

“I
was thinking we could head over to Grand River, maybe meet some friends of mine
for food? Then there’s a bunch of house parties within walking distance.”

“Wait,
wait, wait,” Matt said. “When you say house parties, do you mean sorority
houses?”

“Oh,
God,” Eric muttered. I glared at him. Maybe I had misread the signs. Surely
this was not the way true love began. It was one thing for
Matty
to give me a hard time, but who did this guy think he was, judging me? He
didn’t even know me.

“No,
actually,” I said, my voice growing colder. “I know how you feel about
sororities, Matt. I wouldn’t take you there.”

“Good,”
he said. He slung an arm around my shoulder. “This sounds fun,
Kiks
. Thanks.” I got the feeling that he could tell I was
irritated and was trying to make me feel better.

“Let
me just grab my purse and lock up,” I said, slipping out from under his arm. I
grabbed my things and gestured the boys out in front of me. Once we were in the
hallway and on our way, Matt fell into step beside me, Eric lagging a few paces
behind. God, even the way he walked was rude. What was with this guy?

We
passed several friends as we walked through the dorms and I stopped to chat
with a few, doing my best to let go of my irritation. By the time we reached
the front door, Matt was chuckling slightly.

“What?”
I asked, looking up at him. He grinned down at me.

“You’re
just the same,” he said.

“Is
that a bad thing?”

“Of
course not,
Kiks
,” he said, once again putting his
arm loosely over my shoulders. “In fact, I was just thinking that I missed
you.”

It
was a warm night for October. As we headed across campus toward the main street
in town, I kept up a steady chatter with Matt. I was curious how he was getting
on now that the hockey season was over. Matt was a phenomenal player; an NHL
team had even drafted him. The last I heard, they had wanted him to start
playing in the minor leagues, but he’d promised his parents he’d stay and
finish his degree first. So hockey was on hold for now, and I imagined being
stuck at school and not playing was really hard for him