The Reservoir by Rosemarie Naramore Read Free Book Online Page A

me.”
    “I lost my phone when you made that quick stop on the lake.”
    He winced.  “Really?  It went into the water?”
    She nodded.  “Second phone lost in two months.  I’m a goner.”
    “Please refrain from usage of such words in the immediate future…”
    “What?” Holly said confusedly. 
    “Goner…  Daniel and I almost were… goners, that is.”
    “Oh, right.  So…  What happened on the reservoir?”  Holly searched her memory banks for any logical explanation for what had occurred.  “Zack, what if…?”
    “What?”
    “Okay, so there is a veritable forest of trees beneath all that water.  What if Daniel somehow managed to become tangled in the branches of one of them, you know, a super tall tree—tall enough to nearly breach the surface?  Remember, I pointed one out to you earlier.”
    “Wouldn’t all the branches be dead?”
    Holly shrugged.  “I don’t know.  There’s all sorts of debris floating around.  Maybe some of the trees retain their branches.”
    Zack pondered the possibility.  “I mean, I guess it could have happened.  Once when I was little, and was fishing with my dad, I slipped into the water.  Thankfully, it was shallow, but I got tangled up in a soggy plant of some kind.  Every time I pulled away, it pulled back.”
    “That could be it, Zack!”
    Suddenly, he frowned.  “Okay, maybe.  But…”
    “What?”
    “That doesn’t explain the whatever that took a hold of the oar and pulled it out of my hands.  I’m not kidding, Holly.  If I hadn’t let go, I would have been pulled to the bottom of that reservoir.”  He grinned woefully.  “Maybe I could have found that cell phone of yours.”  His eyes pierced hers with their intensity when he added, “And then there’s the matter of something snagging my wrist.”
    Holly shuddered at the possibility of Zack being pulled into the depths of that reservoir.  “I can handle a lost phone.  I can’t handle a lost…”
    “Me,” he supplied, and then grinned and reached for her hand.  She felt his warmth travel up her arm.  It felt good to feel warm, since a coldness had gripped her earlier.  She studied their clasped hands, and felt a curious flutter in the pit of her stomach.  She glanced up to see Zack watching her, and when he leaned close to her and claimed her lips with his own, she surrendered to his warmth.
    When he pulled back, she felt her heart hammering crazily.  Wow.  She’d been kissed before, but nothing had elicited a response like this.  Perhaps the evening’s events had been the impetus for the enhanced feelings.  She was certainly hyper-sensitive at the moment.  But when she lifted her eyes and stared into Zack’s handsome face, she knew better.  She liked him.  And had, for a long time.
    What was it her mother always told her?  Friendship was often the basis of a lasting romantic relationship?
    Apparently, Zack’s thoughts were in sync with her own, since he said, “I like you, Holly.”
    “I … like you, too.”
    “No, I don’t mean the like you, like you—as in the junior high definition.  I mean, I really like you as a person.  We’ve been friends for a long time, but my feelings for you are deeper than friendship.”  He flashed a grin.  “Deeper than that reservoir.”  He laughed outright and realized it felt good to laugh.  “I know I’m being cheesy, but you know what?  I don’t care.  I … like you.  There.  I’ve finally said it.  It took a near-death experience to give me the guts, but, I said it.”
    Holly returned his smile and whispered, “Zack, I like you too, and not in the junior high way either.  But…”
    “What?” he asked worriedly, as if she was about to shoot him down.
    “We have a mystery to solve.”
    “Oh, whew, I thought you were going to tell me to pack sand.”
    “I wouldn’t do that.”
    “You’d do it in a nice way,” he said.  “You’re a good person.”
    “I’m not going to tell you to pack