The canoes were all packed up.

There were four women, dressed in light summer clothes, on the dock. A man stood on the shore, hands in his jeans pockets.

"Guess this is actually it, huh," Nat said. "Feels kinda... odd, being dressed."

Kaz laughed loudly. "Yeah, I know. You spend four days naked, putting on panties feels strange."

Red stood from her final check of her canoe. "You guys bothered with underwear?"

"You and Nat might be able to go without a bra, but I can't."

"Hey!" Nat complained, shoving the grinning linebacker, who didn't move an inch.

Mac took a step towards the shore, hesitantly. Jon watched. Mac took another. She could feel everyone's eyes on her. She felt herself getting warm.

"I want to stay," she said, softly, more to herself than anyone else.

Jon nodded. "I know. And you can't."

"I know."

"But you can come back." Nat said, appearing at her side. "We all can."

Mac raised her eyebrows. She knew that that would be more of a challenge than Nat laid out, and for more than one reason.

"You all can," Jon said, and it didn't sound like a lie.

Mac took a breath. "Alright, ladies," she said, turning her back. "Let's go home."

Without another word, canoes were untied and boarded. They paddled a few strokes away. Mac, in front of the canoe, turned and waved goodbye.

"Who are you waving to?" Red asked.

Mac blinked. "Hm? Oh, just waving goodbye to the camp."

"You know we all love you, Mac," Red said, "but sometimes you can be really weird."

Mac laughed and dipped her paddle with renewed energy.

Their last night of camping was just a little ways downriver from the parking lot. Instead of just relying on the single-burner stove, they had a proper campfire for the first time on the trip. And with a campfire, they simply had to have hot dogs and marshmallows.

"I honestly didn't expect," Kaz said, "that my going skinny dipping would turn our trip into a four day nudist camp."

Nat grinned. "It was really nice. I've never had an even tan before!"

"Super comfortable with just the three of you around. I don't get that in the locker room, everyone's just sort of ... ignoring each other awkwardly."

"We're too close to other camps, or I'd strip off right now," Red said with a smirk.

"Yep." Nat nodded. "It's a bit different when we're out in the middle of nowhere, but I don't really wanna show off the lack-of-girls around here. Even in the dark."

Mac smiled at her friends. "Pardon me a bit." She stood up and walked towards the water, looking out to the horizon. She really didn't want to go home. She loved being out in the wilderness. The clean air, the water... There was all that, of course, but there was the also the companionship, and if she couldn't be out here with her friends, she would rather be at home with them.

She slapped at a mosquito that was biting her arm. There was also that. The bugs weren't nearly as bad near the campfire. Or in the city, for that matter. She headed back to roast marshmallows and spend her last night in a tent. She was looking forward to a comfortable bed; of all the things she would miss about the vacation, bug bites and sleeping on the ground were not two of them.

"What do you think?" Red asked the other two as Mac returned.

"I'm all for it," Nat said. "If I can get a little extra time off, let's do it."

"If Mac's in, I'm in," Kaz replied.

"In for what?" Mac asked.

Red stood up. "We were thinking that we could come back out here, next month. We all have the long weekend free, if we could get a couple days on either side, make a week of it..."

"You all really loved being out here that much, you want to come back?"

"You telling us you don't?" Kaz sounded incredulous.

Mac scratched a bit at the back of her head. "If I can swing it, I'd love to."

"Great. Let's do it," Red said. "Now. Marshmallows."

"Marshmallows!" Nat shouted, hopping up and running to their food box.

Mac sat down by the fire. Marshmallows sounded like the perfect end to a perfect trip. She closed her eyes. She could feel Red sitting back down in her spot, could feel the fire burning, more than just its heat. She felt the roots of the rock, deep under the lake. Coming back to that place, that lake, that particular island... it was right.

She would be back. They would all be back. It felt like the universe would make it happen.