The Reservoir by Rosemarie Naramore Read Free Book Online

immediately shook his head and answered his own question.  “No, we can’t.  Besides—” he gave a rueful, half-hearted grin.  “I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for what happened out on the lake.”
    “Reservoir,” Holly said glumly.
    “Right.  Reservoir.  Big, deep, inky black reservoir.”
    “It’s green during the daylight.”
    “Well, it’s inky now.”
    Holly managed a tight, nervous chuckle and accepted the vests Zack was passing her way.  Back on the dock, he took three from her and they walked together back to the cabin.  Holly directed him to the hooks where David hung the vests after a day of boating or swimming.
    “Oh, yeah, they’re real secure here,” Zack said sarcastically, noting the holes in the screen.  Regardless of the condition of the dilapidated screens, he obligingly hung the vests.  “What now?”
    “We really should button up the cover on the front of the boat, but…”  She glanced off toward the reservoir.  “I don’t want to.  Let’s just hope nobody comes along and takes anything.”
    “We’ve already lost an oar,” Zack said, staring into Holly’s face.  She wasn’t certain what he hoped to communicate to her, but when he took her arm and pulled her away from the cabin and to his truck, she knew he wanted to talk privately.
    They climbed into the cab.  Zack didn’t utter a word of protest when Holly locked the doors.  They sat in silence for several moments, each lost to their respective thoughts. 
    Holly broke the silence.  “I’m going to have nightmares tonight.”
    “You and me both,” Zack said, and then glanced toward the cabin.  “Do you think Daniel’s all right?  Do you think what just happened out there might cause him to have some kind of psychotic break?  God help him, Holly, he’s terrified about going crazy.  Always has been.  Laughing, joking, cutting up—it’s his way of staving off the panic.  He tells me all the time, he’s probably the only guy on Planet Earth who wants to get old.  Thirty to him is like nirvana.  If he reaches thirty, he says he’ll be in the clear.”
    “Poor Daniel,” Holly murmured.  “We’ll do our best to reassure him.  Zack, exactly what did happen out there?  We couldn’t see clearly from the boat, since the tube effectively blocked our view.”
    He raked a hand through his close cropped, sandy blond hair and then emitted a haggard breath.  “I swam to Daniel.  He told me ‘she’ had a hold of his leg.  Of course, I didn’t believe him on that count, but…”  His earnest eyes met hers.  “But, something had a hold of him, Holly.  I could … not … pull him up for the life of me, and I’m not…”
    “Weak,” Holly supplied.
    Zack had biceps like tree trunks and in the past, at risk of sounding superficial, Holly had admitted to her friends that those arms made her swoon.  What also made her swoon was the fact that he seemed unaware that his physical attributes, let alone his other wonderful qualities, made anyone swoon.  He was, all in all, a great guy.  Humble, trustworthy, an all around good guy. 
    Holly hadn’t realized she was staring at Zack’s arms until he cleared his throat.  She glanced up to find him grinning.  As embarrassed as she was, it was good to see a genuine smile on his face. 
    “Sorry,” she murmured contritely.
    “Not a problem,” he said, chuckling, but sobered quickly.  “It feels funny laughing … flirting when…”
    Holly glanced at him with alarm.  Had they been?  Flirting?  “Shifting gears now…,” Holly murmured in embarrassment.
    “Speaking of that, I admire a girl who knows her way around a boat,” he quipped.
    “Okay, stop,” she insisted.  “We have to figure this out.  We can flirt later.”
    Once again, they sat quietly.  Out of habit, Holly reached for her cell phone to check her messages, but remembered, no phone!
    Zack noticed the frown on her face.  “What’s up?  Talk to