Page 59 of Famous for a Living

My toes . . . Where are my toes?

I can’t feel anything, now that I think of it, from the hips down.

“Now,” Zaiah says, “for the fun part.”

Chapter 9

The Boys

“I go for a week hearing about this polar bear plunge and nobody mentions this. Someone should have led with this. You know what, guys? You really are the worst at marketing.”

“I told you about it.” Mina’s braids bob in the hot, clear water like two water snakes skimming the surface. “That morning I found you muttering to yourself about ‘these crazy Montana people’ in the bathroom, I told you about the hot springs. You just weren’t listening.”

I frown. “That was before coffee. You know I don’t register anything before coffee.”

Mina is a bit like that one neighbor I inevitably found myself in the elevator with. Like Mrs. Carry and the staggering amount of information I learned about everything from her grandniece’s sixth birthday party to the effectiveness of her latest foot cream before the doors swung open. Mina essentially popped her eyes open with mouth chattering in the morning and didn’t stop talking until ten seconds before she was asleep.

“Incoming!” Jax cries just before jumping cannonball style in the water.

Hot water shoots on Mina, Kevin, and me. Swiftly, I raise my phone high over my head. “Hey! I’ve got a phone here.”

“Record this.” Jax pulls himself back up the boulder and jumps back in.

“The internet doesn’t care about your abs, Jax,” Kevin says as Jax emerges.

“Well . . .” I say in a teeter-totter tone, but so quietly I won’t get an earful from Kevin about the internet’s standards or, worse, Jax mistaking my observation for interest.

“They care about the habitat. In fact,” Kevin continues, “I’m not sure it’s healthy for so many people to be in this at all. With the oils and soaps people use these days, all without any thought to what they could do to the environment—”

“Is that lady putting on sunscreen?” Jax says, staring off in the distance.

Kevin’s head whips around. “Where?”

“Oh no, never mind. Just makeup.”

“What?!” He bolts, wading through both current and crowd. “What kind? Makeup?!”

Jax grins as we watch Kevin move off, slipping this way and that as he goes. He turns to us. “You’re welcome.”

I lift my phone and pan around on video. It’s surreal. I didn’t even know places like this existed.

Surrounding us on all sides are mountains. The sky is the same color as the mountaintops, snowy white and clouded as far as the eye can see. Sparse trees dot the area here and there. But the truly magical part, the part that makes me never want to leave, is the hidden oasis between the mountains. Where we stand now. The springs.

Aquamarine water as stunning as in the Bahamas flows down the winding river, interrupted by large boulders. Steam rises from the hot water, misting the faces of people settled chest-deep in the river as far as the eye can see. The water is hot, as hot as any hot tub I’ve ever been in.

I’ve never enjoyed being in water so much.

I switch over to picture taking and snap a few shots of Mina’s Cozy Cup I grabbed from the truck before the short hike down. My nails are starting to chip, and I angle them away as best I can while shooting the cup in my hand in the mist. I go back and review a few of the shots.

Oh, these are great.

This place is a brand-shot jackpot. It makes me want to stack on a dozen Neiman Marcus bracelets, splash on some Londontown pink polish, fill a Yeti with Yirgacheffe coffee, and throw a Kiel James Patrick rope tote spilling over with Costa sunglasses, Tavola sandals, and a variety of Reese’s Book Club picks on a rock and go to town.

And that’s just for pictures with my hand.

Imagine the bathing suit brands, towel companies, clothing lines, hair products, chairs, picnic packages, and, shoot, even board games when I included my whole person.

This is the postmodern version of finding a gold mine.