* * *
“Is he back yet, Kenzie?”
“No.”
“…How about now?”
“Brian, if you ask me about Declan one more time, I’m taking that book you’ve had your nose stuck in for the last couple of days and I’m torching it.”
Stricken by the prospect, Brian covertly slid the large tome in front of him off of the table and into a backpack on the floor. Using his foot, he nudged the pack further from him, until it was well out of the older girl’s reach.
Kenzie had a laptop opened in front of her and was typing furiously on the keyboard. Brian’s gaze traveled between the girl and the bag.
They sat in silence for another moment.
“Are you sure he’s—”
“Brian.” She glanced up from her work.
“Sorry! It’s just that he should have been back to check in hours ago.”
Her expression lost some of its severity when she registered the concern in the eyes of the bespectacled ten-year-old sitting across from her. She turned her attention back to her computer.
“It’s Declan, Brain,” she said, intentionally using his nickname and softening her tone. “He can take care of himself. You worry too much.”
That didn’t exactly make him feel better, but he stayed quiet all the same.
A moment later and the silence was broken once again, this time by Brian’s father, a tall, well-dressed man who had materialized through a door that led to one of the adjoining rooms. He cleared his throat and Kenzie glanced up from her computer.
“Any news?” he asked.
Kenzie had a faraway look in her eyes as she raised one eyebrow. A smirk played at the corners of her mouth. “Perfect timing as always, boss. He’s back. And it looks like he brought someone with him.”
Brain’s father looked around the room as though he half-expected them to be hiding behind the sofa. “Well? Where are they?”
Kenzie appeared to be fighting back laughter as she hiked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the bay windows.
He walked to the casement.
From where Brian sat at the table, he could make out two sets of ripples spreading across the still waters of the lake.
His father let out a sigh, grabbed a coat from the coat stand and headed out the front door, making for the winding path that led down to the water.
“C’mon, kid.” The girl climbed to her feet and snagged him gently by the arm before he could bolt out the door. “Let’s go get some towels. They’re gonna need them.”
Wanting to go with his father, but realizing it would probably be a bad idea, he settled for following Kenzie obediently through the living area and up the stairs.
They were definitely going to need those towels.