We stopped and ate our lunch. After we finished, Luke took my hand and we walked up the bank of Lindsey Creek to where a waterfall spilled into a pool wide and deep as a hay wagon. Luke reached into a gap behind the waterfall and lifted out a battered tin dipper. He filled it with water and drank.

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll get sick?” I asked.

“No. This water’s from three springs, and every one of them is on forest land. It’s the purest water in the state.” Luke filled the dipper again and held it out to out me. “As the poet said, ‘Drink and be whole again beyond confusion.’ ”

I drank water so cold my teeth ached, and then we sat on the bank’s plush, cool moss.

“This is my favorite place in the whole watershed,” Luke said. “Sometimes I’ll spend most of an afternoon here.”

“Are you usually alone?” I asked.

“Usually,” Luke replied.

He had let go of my hand when we sat down and hadn’t reached for it again. He sat with his legs tucked to his chest. I leaned back on my elbows, my left hand palm up and close to his hip. Luke pointed to a shiny-green plant on the other side of the pool.

“You know that one?”

Mountain laurel surrounded the plant, and I thought it might be a sprout. But I didn’t want to venture a guess and sound stupid if I were wrong.

“No,” I said.

“Oconee Bell,” Luke said, taking my hand. “When they built Jocassee Reservoir they destroyed two-thirds of the Oconee Bells in the world. Think about that. In the world.”

I moved closer to him. “The ones here should be safe at least,” I said, because in mid-August the Tamassee’s Wild and Scenic status had been approved by the House. We were careful not to be overconfident so we kept forwarding the petitions and letters, but it looked more and more certain the Senate would vote our way.

My left hand lifted Luke’s right. I raised his hand to my mouth and kissed it.

“So are you on the pill?” he asked.

“No,” I said, trying not to sound stunned by the question.

“I’ve got a rubber in my dry pack.”

“I don’t think,” I said, and stopped there. I tried again. “I can’t, I haven’t.”

Luke laughed.

“You surprise me, Maggie Glenn. I figured one of those college boys at Clemson would have talked you into his dorm-room bed by now. One probably has, but you’re one of those ‘technical virgins,’ right?”