Nick could feel the cool, October breeze work its way through his hair as he stood before the small, wooden hut and sighed. Time had taken its toll on the hut, erasing what looked to have been a layer of bright red paint that was now sparsely peppered over the structure's surface. Behind the counter sat a disinterested college kid clad in a green fleece and matching green cap, perched up a sturdy wooden stool, tapping away at his phone.
"Fifteen bucks an hour, eh?" Nick asked.
"Fifteen an hour, or you can go all in and get four hours for fifty," the kid answered without looking up.
Nick shoved his hands in his pockets as he turned, mulling it over. His eyes moved past countless cottonwood trees, all wearing their seasonal reds and yellows, and glanced back at the parking lot behind him. The dark blue rental car was where he'd parked it minutes before, and he spotted Jess sitting in the passenger seat, still chatting away on the phone. She didn't notice him looking at her, and he was fine with that. He watched as Jess lifted her thumb to her mouth, and smiled at whatever her mother was saying on the other end. Nick found himself smiling at her smile before he returned his attention to the kid behind the counter, eyes still glued to his phone. On any other day, the boy's inattentiveness would've irked Nick to no end. But the kid's serendipitous choice of words moments before had stuck with Nick. After all, the last time he'd vowed to go 'all in' on something, it had turned out to be the best decision of his life.
"Four hours it is, my man," Nick said, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans. He slapped his recently acquired debit card down on the counter hard enough to finally drag the boy's eyes from his phone.
"Just gimme a second and I'll get everything together for you, sir," he said, collecting the card and stepping toward the back of the hut.
Nick bristled at the term 'sir', frowning at the kid's back as he walked away from him. He turned to the car again, and saw that Jess had finished her phone call and was now standing just outside the passenger door, stretching her legs. She ran the sleeve of her light blue sweater over her face and yawned. She then looked over at Nick and gave her head a questioning shake, her pony tail doing minor acrobatics behind her as she did so. Nick held up his index finger as the boy returned from the back of the hut. His debit card, pen, receipt, and a small set of keys were pushed across the counter toward Nick. He signed the receipt and gave the boy a nod. He turned to Jess and made his way back to the car, finding it hard not to savor the impossibly fresh are as he did so. Jess smiled as he approached.
"Oregonian air seems to agree with you," she said.
"I'm as surprised as you, Jess. Normally I like to see the air I breathe. Know what I'm putting in my body."
"So, what do you think?" Jess asked, opening her arms wide as if to present Nick with the nature surrounding them. "I haven't been to this park in ages, but things don't seem to change too much around these parts."
"Well if this is what it's always been like, why change it?" Nick said, again, breathing in deeply.
"Relax there, Sport. Leave some for the rest of us," Jess said, wagging her finger in mock discipline.
"Always a teacher," Nick cracked as he reached past Jess into the car to grab his jacket from the backseat. He pushed his arms through the grey, hooded jacket and scrunched his face at Jess. "Sport?"
"Just trying it out. What do you think?"
"I think you can stop trying," Nick said, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"Find the little boy's room okay," Jess said, rolling her eyes at Nick's joke.
"Yep, no issues there. What did your mom say?"
"Oh, she said her last client is at 6, and she should be home shortly after that. So…"
"So, what you're saying is we have a little bit of time to kill?"
Jess laughed and stepped to Nick, hooking her arms through his and joining her hands together. She looked up at the trees that joined together to from something of a canopy over the small parking lot. She rested her forehead on Nick's shoulder for just a moment, and then pulled back to look him in the eye.
"Hey, let's get out from under these trees. Let's go find the sun. Help us warm up a bit, huh? Or maybe we can go grab a bite to eat. I think there's a small restaurant slash grocery store just up the way. We can hang out there, kill some time."
"Actually, Jess, I had another idea," Nick said, removing his hand from his pocket and holding it out, palm up, to show her the set of keys. "I say we grab the food to go. Maybe go have ourselves a little picnic?"
"Ooh," Jess said, eyes brightening. "Since when is Nick Miller so good at surprises?"
"Just a little something I've been working on," Nick said. He pulled away from Jess for a moment to close the car door. He then put his arm around Jess's shoulders, giving her a light squeeze before they started off towards the restaurant together.
Ninety minutes later they found themselves reclining in a bright yellow paddle boat, surrounded by calm, sapphire waters, and very little else. The lake was about 300 yards wide, encircled not only by the multi colored cottonwoods that had covered the parking lot, but also the occasional evergreen peaking it's top out above them. They had swung through the restaurant quickly, and made their way the quarter mile or so to the lake. They had little trouble locating their vessel for the day, their boat simply being labeled with a large, black "#1". It was the first of a dozen they came upon docked in succession at the point of the lake nearest the restaurant. The key Nick was given served both to unchain the boat from the dock, and to unlock the storage compartment in the boat where Nick found the orange lifejacket several signs around the lake insisted he wear.
Nick loosened the straps to the jacket and looked at Jess to his left. Not surprisingly, she was a much stronger swimmer than Nick. Also not surprisingly, she had chosen to forgo the orange lifejacket in preference to a pair of pink children's water wings, which she wore with zero embarrassment. She looked out onto the lake, and let go what Nick interpreted to be a deeply satisfied sigh. She looked back at him and smiled.
"Come here," she said, reaching over and grabbing him by the inside of his vest. He offered no resistance as she slowly pulled him towards her, leaving a soft kiss on his lips. She leaned her forehead to his for a moment before kissing him once more. She released him and settled back into her seat.
Nick gathered the white paper boxes their impromptu picnic came packaged in and placed them in a plastic bag behind his seat. He had ordered a turkey club, and Jess had opted for a simple Caesar salad. It was a small meal, and well-earned after the modest calisthenics required of them to move their small craft to the middle of the lake. He glanced around and noticed with some surprise they were the only ones out on the water.
"Wonder why it's so quiet out here today?" he said.
"I don't know," Jess answered, looking around. "Maybe people didn't know it was going to be so nice? It can get pretty overcast in the fall. And the summer. Pretty much whenever. I sure wasn't expecting to need my sunglasses today."
"What? And cover up those beauties?" Nick said, pointing at Jess' eyes. "Not if I have my say."
"You nerd," Jess muttered, masking a chuckle. She grabbed his left hand with both of hers and pulled it to her lap as she stretched her legs. "Gotta say, never would've pegged you as a Pedal Boat kind of guy."
"I like to keep you on your toes, Jessica. And I'm pretty sure they're called Paddle Boats, not Pedal Boats."
"Nick, they're definitely Pedal Boats."
"I'm not so…"
"You pedal it. Like it's a bike. Look, your foot is on a pedal right now."
"Yeah, but what are we pedaling? We're pedaling a paddle that paddles the water."
"Yeah, but..." Jess trailed off. She pressed her lips together hard and furrowed her brow. "Hmm. You know, you might be right."
"Usually am."
"I wouldn't go that far."
"Right on. I'll quit while I'm ahead," Nick said with a nod. "Besides, they both make sense. Could be we're both right."
"There you go," Jess said with a grin. She pulled Nick's hand to her chest and settled further into her seat.
They sat silently for some time, both enjoying a rare level of contentedness. After a while, Nick felt Jess' heart rate slow as she gently fumbled with the fingers of his hand. He watched as her eyelids grew heavy, her dark lashes closing further and further over her eyes until shutting completely. As she started so doze off, she stopped playing with his fingers and was still but for her deep, steady breathing that threatened to persuade Nick to sleep as well. He looked at her and noted the sunlight catching hold of the tiny, normally invisible hairs that lined her cheek. The breeze picked up slightly and blew her bangs out of her face a bit, exposing a forehead that he, to this day, still saw precious little of. He pried his eyes off Jess to once again take in the autumn scene around him. He had always enjoyed the fall in Chicago, though his neighborhood offered no foliage like that which was before him at that moment. He didn't consider his future very often, but as Jess slept beside him, he allowed his mind to wander.
He thought about how Jess might like Chicago. He thought of the trendy restaurants and bars of Wicker Park, and smiled at the thought of all the different varieties of mittens and scarves Jess could invest in to shield herself from the aggressive winds that howled off the lake in the winter. He didn't think she'd make much use of the Magnificent Mile. No, Jess would pass on the couture and high prices of Michigan Avenue for something found at the thrift stores of Bucktown. Something probably old, probably used, and probably with a story to tell. He thought of summer afternoons they could spend sipping Old Styles in the bleachers of Wrigley, watching a team that was bound to lose 100 games, but not caring because that wasn't really the point. He thought of the rotating exhibits at the Navy Pier. The last time he had visited, there had been an exhibit featuring a history of stained glass windows. Nick had grown tired of it rather quickly, but had Jess been there to infect him with her excitement over such a thing, he surely would have enjoyed it much more.
Then he thought of dinner at his mother's house the occasional Sunday, and he thought of how he would likely catch his mother stealing approving glances at Jess when she thought Nick wasn't looking. Because his mother would approve greatly of Jess, no doubt in Nick's mind.
Jess stirred beside him and hugged his hand tighter to her chest, not waking. As Nick looked past her towards the shore, he noticed the near perfect mirroring of the tree line reflected in the clear waters of the lake. He'd never really thought about coming to Portland. Jess had never mentioned it, after all. But this in particular was something he could get used to. And he could see them starting out in a modest apartment somewhere in the city, perhaps above a vegan restaurant or one of the several thousand coffee shops he imagined made up much of the city's store fronts. Jess certainly wouldn't object to being closer to her mother and sister, and it sure wouldn't hurt to have family nearby if he and Jess ever decided to start one of their own. Nick looked at Jess and smiled. He'd never thought about a family before. Not with Caroline, not with anyone. And he honestly didn't allow himself to dwell on the thought at that moment, either.
He needed to make some changes, he realized. What kind, he wasn't sure. He liked being a bartender, but that wasn't going to be good enough forever. Not for him, and certainly not for Jess. He knew he'd been waiting for a reason to grow up. To stop overcompensating for responsibilities unfairly forced up on him at a young age. As he stared at Jess' sleeping face, he knew he'd finally found that reason. And, indeed, the changes were going to come. Chicago, Portland, Los Angeles, it didn't matter. Nick was going to do what he had to do to give this woman everything she could ever want. He knew it wouldn't be easy, and he knew it wouldn't happen overnight. But that was okay. Because it was going to happen eventually. Of this he was certain.
His mind quickly turned to something he found himself thinking of with greater and greater frequency: his grandmother's ring. The one his mother kept in her jewelry box back in Chicago. It was old, small, and missing a few stones, but the design was elegant and simple, something he just knew Jess would love. He took another look around the lake as the wind picked up and rippled through the trees, sending several leaves fluttering to the surface of the lake where they settled before slowly floating on. He would eventually clean the ring up, replace the stones, and bring it back to this very place, he thought, hopefully on a day just like this.
He leaned back in his seat, crossed his ankles, and moved his thumb in a small circular motion over Jess' hand. He found himself at absolute peace, a peace he was, until recently, completely unfamiliar with. As his own eyelids started to become too heavy to fight, he considered setting the alarm on his phone, but decided against it. They had plenty of time, he remembered. He had again gone 'all in', after all. And as he fell asleep beside Jess, he knew it was a decision he would never live to regret.