“Look at you.” I grin at it, snatch up my pack, and take a seat on the bench inside, looking out at the water. Let the introspection begin. “Really, why canoe on the water when you can have the same experience from the safety of land?”

“Excuse me?”

“Gah!” I whip around.

An early-twenties, tall, brown-skinned dude with dark hair wearing a green REDISCOVER YOURSELF RETREAT T-shirt is standing behind my boat, holding a giant stack of lime green papers under his arm.

The guy’s hot. Killer jawline. Big brown eyes. Great hair.

I turn back toward the water. “You’re not excused. How dare you sneak up on a lady. I’m canoeing over here.”

A moment passes before he adds, “You’re not supposed to touch the canoes.”

“I’ll return it.”

He ventures closer till he’s standing slightly in front of me, beside the boat with his stack of papers.

I squint up at him. “What are you, the canoe police?”

“I teach the fishing class.” I drop my gaze as he lifts a foot to step into the boat.

Instead of landing in the canoe, his sole gets caught on the rim. The guy fumbles and his whole collection of papers goes flying. They flutter around me and the surrounding area like oversized lime-green confetti as he drops horizontally across the boat. He catches himself in a push-up position, his muscly arms bracing against the dirt outside the opposite rim of the canoe.

After a moment, I slow clap from my front row seat. “Wow. You okay?”

“Crap.” He rights himself and skitters around picking up the papers. “Crap, crap, crap.”

I lean down and pick one up myself. A Guide to Canoe Safety.

1) Always wear a lifejacket

2) Never stand in a canoe away from shore

3) Carry a canoe whistle

4) Bring a rope to pull a swimmer to safety

I stop reading as the dude settles onto the boat bench across from me, re-sorting the pamphlets into a neat pile.

I raise a brow. “Is that how all the pros mount a canoe?”

He stares at me for a second. “Well, these aren’t actually classic canoes. They’re a weird canoe–row boat hybrid … technically. But they do the job. We call them canoes because they all say canoe along the side.” He points to my left.

I nod. “Okay, I see. So what you’re saying is you’re used to the classic canoe mount technique and these slightly different canoe-boat hybrids are throwing you off your usual step-into-a-canoe flow. And thus, that fall was completely warranted.”

The guy stares for another moment before bobbing his head in agreement.

I bend over the left edge of the boat. A snort blows out of me as I spot the word CANOE printed in large, faded, old-fashioned yellow bubble letters. I swing back upright, cackling at the joke potential.