The water was a deeper green here. On whatever the right side of a kayak was called, the river cut around the base of jagged cliffs. To the left, lush forest blocked out any hint of civilization.

It was just her and the river. And that deer drinking from the shore, she noted. She held her breath as the current carried her past the doe. Its tail flickered white, and it watched her, waiting to see if Maggie revealed herself as a threat.

“I’m nice. I promise,” she whispered.

The deer seemed to believe her and went back to drinking.

“Oh my God. Is that a fucking bald eagle?” She watched the bird swoop low, talons dipping into the river less than fifty yards in front of her. When it rose again, there was a shimmering fish in its grasp.

“Okay. I get it, Nature. You’re awesome,” she said dryly. “That doesn’t mean that I have to drop everything to come out here and appreciate you.”

Her stomach growled. She’d probably burned through a lot of extra calories holding her rage inside, Maggie guessed. She remembered the cooler and hauled it out of the footwell.

There was a bottle of sunscreen in it, and grumbling about not knowing how long she was going to be in the sun, she slathered a layer on before poking through the rest of the contents in the cooler.

The man had packed her a sandwich, two bottles of water, a Pepsi, and a piece of cake left over from Dayana’s small but festive birthday celebration earlier that week. The napkin had a handwritten note on it.

Float. Think. Be. And if you still feel like hitting me with the paddle when you get to Jeb’s Pull Out (you can’t miss it), I’ll hold still while you swing.

Even when he wasn’t with her, the man was still trying to tell her what to do. She was going to have to fix that. It had been too easy to let him maneuver her into this accidental relationship. He’d distracted her with orgasms and hiking and his loud family. Then managed to weasel his way into her life.

Hell, they had conversations about things like what to make for dinner and choosing between college or a gap year for Cody. They took turns doing the laundry and swinging into town to run errands.

The man had tricked her into a full-blown relationship.

She reached for the sandwich but then reconsidered. Revelations like that made it an eat-the-cake-first kind of day.

Maggie ate her way downstream. She had to give him credit. Silas knew just how she liked her fluffernutter sandwiches. Cracking open the soda, she carefully propped her feet on top of the kayak’s body and leaned back.