Feels Like Summertime

  He walks forward slowly and carefully. “Jake,” he says.

  “Fred,” I reply.

  But then his daughter starts to jump in his arms and she throws her pudgy little body toward her mother. Laura catches her as the little girl falls toward her. I can’t help but smile.

  “What did you name her?” I ask.

  “Patricia, after my grandmother,” Laura says.

  I clap my hands in front of her, and she leans toward me. “Can I hold her?” I ask as I slide my hands under her armpits.

  “You’re not going to throw her in the lake or anything, are you?” Laura asks.

  “Not unless she’s wearing a life preserver,” I say. I take her weight and set her on my hip. “She’s a lump.” She’s a lot bigger than Hank. I look at Fred. “She looks like you.”

  “Some girls have all the luck.” He pretends to polish his knuckles on his shirt.

  “She’s really beautiful,” I tell him. “Congratulations.” I hitch Patricia onto my other hip and extend my hand. He takes it warily.

  “Thanks,” he says. “Jake—” Then he stops and shakes his head. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, buddy,” I tell him. “It all worked out.”

  He nods. “Okay.”

  “I’m not sorry I beat you up.”

  “I deserved it.”

  “You did.”

  Fred looks off toward the distance. He sees a girl walking toward us. “God, that girl looks just like Katie,” he whispers almost to himself. He shakes his head.

  “I know, right?” I reply.

  Fred points. “Is that…?” He looks at me.

  Katie stands at the end of the dock with Gabby. “The younger one is Katie’s daughter. She looks just like her. Katie has three more kids, too. She’s been here all summer.” My face suddenly gets hot and I hate it.

  Fred arches a brow at me. “All summer?” He grins.

  “Yeah.” I kick a shell off the edge of the dock. It plunks into the water.

  “And?” Fred prompts.

  “And I think I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

  Laura sucks in a breath.

  “I didn’t say that to hurt you,” I rush to explain.

  Her eyes fill up with tears and she lays a hand on my arm. “It’s okay, Jake. I want you to be happy.”

  Fred runs toward Katie, swooping her up as she throws her arms around his neck. He spins her around.

  “That one’s mine!” I yell at them. Katie scowls at me over Fred’s shoulder until he sets her on her feet.

  Fred flips me the bird.

  Laura takes the baby from me and laughs uncomfortably. Another dead fish on the dock.

  I look at Laura and her daughter. “And you two, you’re his.” I lean over and kiss Laura on the forehead. “We’re going to be okay,” I tell her.

  Laura nods and wipes a tear from her cheek. “Yeah. I know.”

  40

  Katie

  I stood on the path leading down to the water and watched as Jake talked with his wife. I watched him as he pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and I watched as he shook hands with Freddy. I could almost feel his pain from here. But even more than that, I could feel his relief.

  “You should go down there,” Dad says to me.

  I shake my head. “Probably not.” But I really, really want to.

  “So, you’re mad at him because he was married to someone else?”

  “Technically, he’s still married to someone else.” And she’s right there, in the flesh. Flesh that he’s been inside. Flesh that he loved at one point.

  Dad nods toward the water. “Looks like he just finished tying that loose string up.”

  I gnaw on my lower lip. “You think I should walk down there?”

  “I think you’d be stupid not to. And I didn’t raise any stupid daughters.”

  “Okay.” Hank is with Adam, so I call to Gabby. “Gabs, come and meet an old friend of mine!”

  She walks down to the water with me and I’m kind of glad she’s there. She eases some of the tension.

  Freddy sees me coming, points, says something to Jake, and then he runs to me. He scoops me up and spins me around. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he says.

  “Yeah, me neither,” I reply. “You look good.” I chuck his shoulder.

  “That one’s mine!” Jake yells from where he’s standing on the end of the dock.

  Freddy flips Jake off, and that makes me happy. Maybe they can get back to normal some day and be friends again. They’ll never be as close as they were before, but maybe they can find a new normal.

  “You have a beautiful family, Freddy,” I say to him. “You might have gone about it the wrong way, but still.”

  He leans close and puts his arm around me. “You always did shoot straight, Katie,” he says. He squeezes me tight. “How’s Jake?”

  I smile. “Jake’s going to be all right.”

  “You make sure of it, okay?”

  I nod. “I will.”

  “Jake says you have a houseful of kids, now. Four of them?”

  I introduce Gabby. “This is my oldest. And I have a nine-year-old, Alex, and a seven-year-old, Trixie, and a new baby, Hank. My husband died. Military.” I don’t say more. I don’t think I need to.

  “I’m so sorry,” Freddy says.

  I shrug. “Life goes on.”

  “So, you and Jake, huh?” He leans in and bumps my shoulder.

  “Maybe.” I can’t give him more than that.

  “She signed the papers,” Fred says. “That’s why she came, to give them to him and bring his car. And she needed to talk to him.”

  “I think he needed to talk to her too.” I look up at him. “Can I meet your daughter?”

  “Oh, yeah, of course.” We walk down the dock to where Jake and Laura are still standing. I introduce myself to Laura and she’s very gracious and polite, and her daughter is gorgeous.

  Jake gets a gleam in his eye. “Hey, Fred,” Jake says, as he hitches his shorts higher.

  “Hey, Jake,” Fred says.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” I say. I point my finger at both of them and shake it. I’ve seen them do this before. More than once.

  “What?” Laura looks from one to the other. She has no idea what’s coming.

  I take the baby from Laura and pass her to Gabby, who doesn’t even think twice about it. Gabby steps back from all of us. “You’ll thank me later,” I tell Laura. “Now run!”

  I turn and try to run past Jake, but he snakes an arm around my waist and picks me up. “You want time to hold your nose?” he asks.

  “Jake, if you throw me in the lake, I’m going to—” I sputter because I can’t think of anything bad enough to threaten him with.

  “You’re going to what?” Jake taunts as he dangles me over the lake. He kicks his shoes off one by one and leaves them on the dock. His phone lands in the pile.

  “I’m going to tell your father on you!” I shout. And then Jake jumps into the lake with me in his arms. Two seconds later, there’s another splash as Fred and Laura hit the water too.

  We burst into the water in a tangle of limbs and Jake pulls me back to the surface with him. “You still mad at me?”

  I shake my head. “I think I’m done with that,” I whisper to Jake as I tread water beside him. “But I reserve the right to find a different reason to be mad at you tomorrow.”

  He points over at Freddy and Laura, who are treading water and laughing with one another. “They look content, don’t they?” he whispers to me.

  “Very,” I say. “Hold that thought,” I add. Then I hoist myself up on his shoulders and push him under the water.

  “That was a really dirty trick,” he says, blowing water from his lips as he surfaces.

  “I have all kinds of dirty tricks. I can’t wait to show all of them to you.”

  “I’ll see when I can put you on my calendar.”

  I hear Mr. Jacobson grumbling on the dock above us as he talks to G
abby. Mr. Jacobson looks over the edge of the dock and scowls at all of us. “When you’re all done fucking around in the lake, get cleaned up. It’s burger night.”

  “Burger night?” Freddy says, treading water. “I love burger night!”

  “Good. Get yourself settled and come help me cook.” Mr. Jacobson walks toward the golf cart, hops on it, and leaves us.

  Jake pinches my side. “Did he really just ask them to hang out?”

  “Apparently so.” I retrieve my flip flops, which are floating right next to Jake’s head.

  “You guys don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Jake says to Freddy.

  Laura shrugs. “We’d like to stay, if you don’t mind.”

  “Okay, sure,” Jake says with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

  I splash water in Jake’s face, and swim away. He grabs my foot, but I kick him off. Then I make him chase me back to the shore.

  41

  Jake

  Dinner with my ex-wife, the man she threw me over for, and the woman I’m falling in love with… Could this day get any better?

  We gave Fred and Laura the keys to one of the empty cabins, some extra clothes, and they’re going to stay over and leave in the morning. They’re currently letting the baby take a quick nap before we all have to help Pop make burgers for the campers.

  “Is this going to be really strange for you?” Katie asks as we go inside the house. She’s still dripping from her dip in the lake, but she’s smiling.

  “You could just shoot me and put me out of my misery. I’ll give you the gun.”

  I close the door behind me and look around. The house is completely empty. The kids are with Dan and Adam, and I have no idea where Pop is.

  “Shh,” I say, waving my hand in the air to shush her.

  She freezes. “What?”

  “Do you hear that?” I whisper.

  “No,” she whispers back. “I don’t hear anything.”

  “Exactly!” I yell loudly. She flinches and then she starts to laugh. It’s one of the great big belly laughs that I love so much. I’ve never heard anyone laugh like Katie. “We are alone!”

  I grab her by the belt loop and pull her back against me, her back to my front, and I nuzzle her neck. She tips her head to the side to give me more room, and she sucks in a breath. “We’re alone?” she asks quietly, her voice suddenly husky. The sound of it shoots straight to my dick.

  “Yes.” I spin her around in my arms and tip her face up so she looks into my eyes. “What do you think we should do with the time?”

  “I can think of a few things.” She takes my hand and pulls me toward her bedroom.

  “Katie,” I halfheartedly protest as she pulls me into the room.

  “What?” she says as she closes the door behind us. “You should take a shower. You smell like Lake Fisher.”

  She starts to unbutton the shirt she’s wearing. Her fingers work slowly and methodically until her shirt falls open.

  I reach behind me and lock her door.

  “I smell like Lake Fisher too,” she says, staring into my eyes as she shrugs off her wet shirt. She turns to walk into the bathroom, wearing nothing but a serviceable white nursing bra and damp jean shorts. She leaves the door open as she turns the shower on. I can see her reach behind her and unhook the bra, and then she shrugs it off. Her eyes catch mine as she stares at me over her shoulder. She’s slender, but soft and curvy.

  “Jake,” she says. She unbuttons her jean shorts and shoves them down her legs along with her panties. “The least you could do is come help me clean up, since you were the one who threw me into the lake.” Her bottom is nice and round, and her hips… God.

  I swipe a hand down my face and blow out a breath as Katie smiles at me and disappears behind the shower curtain. I drop onto the edge of her bed. Is this happening? Really?

  Two minutes later, the water cuts off. Oh, shit. I deliberated too long. Katie storms out of the bathroom. She has a towel wrapped like a turban around her head, and a second one is wrapped around her body, tucked between her breasts.

  “Get out of my room, Jake,” she says. Her tone is clipped and I know I just messed up.

  “I was thinking—”

  “Well, go think in your own room,” she snaps. She sits down on the edge of the bed and steps into a dry pair of panties. She shimmies them up her hips without dropping the towel.

  “I don’t want to go think in my room.” I swipe my hand down my face again. “I want to think right here.”

  “You’re getting my bed all wet,” she complains.

  “Sorry,” I murmur. She’s getting dressed and I let the opportunity slip me by. “I don’t want to rush things,” I say.

  “Jake, I get it. You don’t have to explain.”

  “You get what?”

  “Don’t make this any harder, okay?” She blows out a breath. “Just go.” I get up and she spins around to face me. “You could have just told me.”

  “Told you what?”

  “That you…don’t want me…that way.” She sniffles.

  Huh? “You think I don’t want you?” I take her hand and put it on the damp crotch of my shorts. “Does that feel like I don’t want you?” Her hand explores the evidence of my arousal in my shorts.

  “Oh,” she says. Her cheeks turn pink. Her voice gets soft. “Why didn’t you come and join me?”

  “I wasn’t prepared.”

  “Oh! You mean you have to take something?” She suddenly looks worried.

  “Oh, God, no! I don’t have to take anything!” This is going from bad to worse. “My junk works just fine.” I heave out a sigh. “I don’t have any condoms.”

  Recognition finally dawns on her face. “Oh. I didn’t even think about that.”

  “I did.” I step toward her and bracket her face with my hands. “I want to be inside you more than I want anything. But I also want to be responsible. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you.”

  She shakes her head. “I was stupid.”

  I kiss her, because she’s there and her lips are waiting. She kisses me back, stepping up onto her tiptoes so she can kiss me harder. Her tongue meets mine, and I’m afraid I might come in my shorts. “I want to see you,” I say, as I hook my finger in the towel that’s wrapped around her body. She shakes her head free of the one wrapped around her hair. Both the towels fall to the floor.

  “Wow,” I say. Her chest flushes pink.

  “My body’s not quite what it used to be,” she says. She looks everywhere but at me while I stare at nothing but her. I want to take in every part of her, from the curve of her shoulder to the space between her toes. I want to find out if the spot on the back of her knee is tender or ticklish. I want to lick across that mole beneath her left breast. I want to find out if her nipples taste like dark cherries, or if that’s just her embarrassment and the heat from the shower tinting her skin.

  “Your body is beautiful,” I say.

  She scoffs. “You don’t have to flatter me. I’ve had four kids.” She holds up four fingers. I grab her wrist and kiss each finger. Then I kiss my way down her wrist and up her inner arm, stopping every now and again to nibble, until her arm is outstretched and her breast lifts ever so slightly. I cup her breast in my hand. “The last time I touched you like this, you didn’t have enough boob to fill my hand. Now… God!” I kiss the underside of her breast. “Can I kiss you here?” I ask, as I swipe my thumb across her nipple.

  She nods and lets out a little noise. I take her nipple into my mouth, being careful not to suck, but I do lick and taste and tease her until she’s hard in my mouth, and she clutches onto my hair with her fists. “Jake,” she says, and she pulls my face back up to hers.

  I run my hands down her sides to her bottom, grabbing two handfuls and squeezing as I lift her against me. “I want to make you feel good,” I say.

  “Jake,” she says again.

  I fall onto the bed with her beneath me, careful to catch my weight with my arms, and I lie on top of her.
She spreads her legs to cradle me, and I hitch myself against her center.

  “Please,” she says. She reaches for the button of my shorts, but I grab her hands and tangle my fingers with hers, and press our hands against the mattress. Then I kiss my way down her stomach, tasting the sweet trail that leads down between her panties. I untangle our hands and peel her panties off her.

  Katie doesn’t shave. I have to admit that I like that. A shaved pussy makes me think of prepubescent girls, and that’s the last thing I want to think about during sex. I linger over her damp heat, rubbing my nose against the fine, straight hairs. Then she arches her hips and pushes my head down. “Please,” she says again.

  A knock sounds on the door. I freeze, and so does Katie.

  “Yes?” Her voice squeaks and I have to hold back a laugh.

  “Mom?” Alex yells.

  “What?”

  “Have you seen my football?”

  “Check in the kitchen by the table!” she yells back.

  “Hey Mom!” Alex yells again. He tests the doorknob. Thank God I locked the door.

  “What, Alex?” She huffs out a breath.

  I lay my cheek against her belly and laugh against her skin.

  “Have you seen Jake?” Alex asks.

  She looks down at me and shakes her head. “He was on the dock the last time I saw him!” She shrugs at me with a look of apology.

  “Okay!” Alex calls back.

  His footsteps retreat down the hallway.

  Katie’s legs are spread open wide, and I’m lying between them with my face in her snatch, while she talks to her kids. This is all kinds of wrong, but it’s all sorts of right too.

  Katie sits up on her elbows. “You want to come up from down there?”

  “I like where I’m at just fine.” I spread her lower lips with my thumbs and inhale the scent of soap and Katie and sex. There is no sweeter smell than that of a needy woman. I lick up her slit, and another knock sounds on the door.

  Katie growls and says, “What do you want now, Alex?” Her fingers tangle in my hair and pull tight to make me be still.

  “It’s me, Mom!”

  “What do you need, Gabby?”