they managed to synchronize their schedules, and then it was just a question of whose boat to sleep on, his or hers. After three years together, they drove up to Vegas one night and got married, and within a year Colin was born, taking Mac off the river for a couple of seasons, which she never really forgave him for. JT, that is, not Colin; Colin she doted on, but she and JT never managed to figure out the parenting thing, not as two river guides anyway, and Mac resented JT every time he left on a trip, and JT reminded her it was her choice not to go off for two weeks and leave the baby, he’d be glad to take Colin so she could do a couple of trips each season. But it didn’t work. The resentment spilled from her eyes every time he came back from a trip, and they finally decided it was more important for Colin to have two relatively happy parents than one unhappy parental unit, and that was how JT found himself a divorced father with a son to raise, a son he had every intention of infusing with the river spirit but who now worked for a law firm in Phoenix and criticized his father for not having a real job with a retirement plan.
There were no love notes today, just a pink-petaled bathing cap that another guide had left for Abo. “Thinking you might need this,” the scrap of paper read. It was clearly a woman’s handwriting; JT wondered how long it had been there and where the woman was now. Sometimes he had the feeling that the guides’ love-ghosts haunted the canyon, showing up here and there in the form of heart-shaped rocks, or shooting stars—or campy pink bathing caps.
Back at the river, Dixie and Abo were shepherding everyone toward the boats—a giddy bunch, all of them, waddling with their life jackets drooping below their hips. It was while they were unfastening and refastening them into correct position that JT noticed one of Matthews buckles hanging by a thread.
“What happened to your life jacket, Matthew?”
Matthew looked down.
“How long’s it been like that?” said JT.
“I don’t know,” said Matthew.
The black nylon strap was ragged and stringy; judging from a few other spots that looked suspiciously like tooth marks, JT guessed who was responsible.
“Do you have a needle and thread?” Jill asked.
“Yes, I’ve got a needle and thread.” He didn’t mean to sound curt, but he could tell from the look on Jill’s face that he did. He got out his sewing kit and mended the strap, and when he was done, he warned everyone to keep a close eye on their gear.
“That dog chews something of mine and he’s history,” said Dixie.
“When’d you get so evil?” Abo said.
“You’re not evil,” Peter told Dixie.
“Oh yes I am,” said Dixie.
“Load up,” said JT. “We got miles to go, people.”
“‘Miles to go before I sleep,’” quipped Evelyn.
“Who wrote that?” asked Lena.
“Walt Whitman,” said Mitchell.
Amy caught Peter’s eye, and they both stifled their smiles.
Jill and Mark remained on the beach while the others got in the boats. Jill was repacking her day bag.
“What is it with these boys,” Mark said, shaking his head. It was a statement, not a question, and Jill sensed that he expected she would know exactly what he was talking about and fondly commiserate.
Instead she said, “What do you mean?”
“Every time we turn around, they’re getting into trouble. They have the worst luck! Sam with the red ant the first day, now Matthew with this. Sheesh,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s like they’re cursed.”
Jill didn’t think an insect bite and a chewed strap indicated a curse.
“It’s not the end of the world,” she said.
“Oh, I’m not saying it is! Not at all!” And here Mark laughed, in such a way that was designed to curry her favor, when in fact he really felt he had a legitimate point to drive home. “All I’m saying is, if there’s trouble, our guys will find it.”
“Ruth got tripped by the dog. Are you saying she was looking for trouble? Or cursed?”
“Don’t get snippy,” said Mark. “I’m just saying we should look out for the boys a little more, maybe. Nip things in the bud before they happen. I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”
Jill straightened up. “What’s wrong with it is that you’re kind of ruining things for me, Mark.” She didn’t know exactly what she was going to say next and hoped