Honestly, they were getting nowhere and Ruby could see tension visibly building in Regina's shoulder blades as she tried to explain why Ruby needed to switch sides after each stroke instead of repeatedly pulling the paddle through the water on the righthand side and steering them off course. Ruby of course knew and understood all of this, but kept getting distracted when the wind blew through Regina's hair and brought the sweet smell of her apple shampoo back to Ruby's extremely sensitive nose. At least they'd rented a fairly sturdy canoe, so when Ruby jumped at loud noises that echoed off the hills enclosing the valley surrounding them they didn't topple over. Regina sighed and turned to look back at the younger woman, trying to keep a handle on her rather famous temper while at the same time wishing Ruby would focus. They weren't that far from the little alcove Regina had planned to stop for their picnic and she knew if they could just get there any frustration would be soon forgotten. In all honesty Regina knew she could forgive Ruby of almost anything, Ruby could bring a whole new meaning to the phrase 'puppy-dog eyes'.
They'd both stopped paddling and were slowly drifting to a stop so Regina smiled and said, "Okay, let's give this one more shot," before turning her back again.
Determined to stay focused this time, Ruby took a deep breath and held it in as they started, reasoning that if she just got into the rhythm of things being distracted wouldn't be as harmful. Regina was pleased as they doubled their speed and soon turned to find themselves with a great view of the bay. Ruby let the air out of her lungs with a rush as they coasted towards the shore. Two more strokes and Ruby splashed into the knee deep water to pull the canoe the rest of the way up to the shore. Regina grabbed their little basket and climbed out onto the beach, smiling as Ruby tied off the canoe before bouncing back over to her.
"How deep is this lagoon?" Ruby asked peering up at the cliffs, where she knew people jumped from fairly often.
It was a little high for the former queen's tastes but clearly not for the adventuresome waitress. "I've seen people jump from there and be just fine," Regina pointed. "You just have to make sure you jump far enough out."
A giant smile flashed across Ruby's face, amazing Regina with how the already glowing Ruby could look even better when happy.
"Help me lay out all this stuff before you go swimming," Regina said, holding up the basket.
The pulled out the blanket for Regina to sit so she was facing the small cliff and would be able to watch Ruby jump and Ruby stripped off her shirt, bending down to leave the shirt next to Regina before stealing a kiss and jogging away, headed up to the jump off point in a red bikini top a few shades darker than the streaks in her hair.
Regina stretched out further under the warm sun closing her eyes to soak it in, knowing it would take even the agile Ruby a few minutes to climb up to the jumping off point. She found herself humming one of the songs Ruby liked to listen to while cleaning their kitchen and smiled, opening her eyes just in time to see her appear at the edge of the cliff.
Ruby looked down at the water then glanced over to Regina who'd just tilted her head back and shaded her eyes to look up at her smiling. Ruby smiled back then backed up to make her jump. Her stomach flew up into her mouth as she fell and she let out a little yelp just before she hit the water and plunged down into the cool darkness. She sank until she reached the bottom and then pushed off to burst up and fill her lungs with air once more. Regina clapped from the shore and Ruby scooped up some water in her mouth to squirt it out at her before shaking her head and swimming back to the picnic they'd laid out with something other than food on her mind.