Page 61 of The Trouble with Wanting

Both girls scream, as if they weren’t already soaking wet to begin with. My dad and Bishop laugh. Busy paddles over quickly and shoves another wave at her sisters.

Within a few seconds, it’s a full-on water fight.

“Sometimes, I wish I had grown up with siblings,” comes from my right, and I turn to find Ruby has slowly rowed herself over to where I float next to the wooden dock. “And other times, I’m glad I never had to fight over stupid shit.”

I snort, understanding the sentiment. I’d never trade my siblings for anything, obviously, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t wished more than a handful of times that I didn’t have to deal with all their squabbling.

“Thank you so much, Ruby,” my mother says as she walks down the dock, already wrapped in a towel. Clearly, she had the foresight to get out of the water quickly and not deal with the impending complications of a bunch of waterlogged Mitchells.

She reaches over to where Ruby’s boat is floating next to the dock and takes her hand, helping her step up onto the wooden platform. I float at their feet, watching as my mom and Ruby look through the images on the camera together.

“Obviously they’re really small right now, but it looks like these are going to be perfect,” my mom says, squeezing Ruby on the arm. “Thank you so much for your help.”

“It was fun. Thanks for asking.” Then Ruby’s eyes drop to mine. “You gonna float around for a while or are you going to get out of the water?”

“I’m gonna get out,” I say, hoisting myself up onto the dock, my still-fully-clothed body dripping with water as I come to stand next to her. “Can I borrow your phone really quick?”

Ruby pats her pockets. “Oh, I left it inside.”

“Perfect.”

Her brow furrows for a split second before her eyes widen, understanding hitting her like lightning as I grab her and pull her back into the water with me. I only hear a little bit of a squeal before we’re both submerged.

When we come soaring out from beneath the surface, Ruby is spluttering and coughing and wiping water from her face. Maybe I should have given her a little more warning so she didn’t inhale as much lake water, but then she’d have had more time to get away, and where’s the fun in that?

“I can’t believe you,” she shouts at me, breaking into a fit of joyful laughter and shoving a small wave of water in my direction.

“You just told me earlier today you’d been here two days and hadn’t gotten into the lake yet. I was simply granting your wish.”

Ruby rolls her eyes but fights back a smirk, though her attention drifts over to where my sister Briar is storming out of the water at the shore. My dad, Busy, and Bishop are in a little circle looking at Bellamy with narrowed eyes.

“Uh, oh,” I say, realizing something more serious went down and wondering what exactly it was.

Normally, our family has little tiffs then jokes around until everyone lets things go. Clearly that is not what happened this time around with Bellamy and Briar.

“Go inside and fix it.”

That was from my dad, his voice firm as he points in the direction Briar just went.

Whatever happened, when my dad gets involved with a tone like that, none of us back down, even though all of us opted out of obeying our parents’ every request long ago.

“Let’s all go in, and I can make us some dinner?” my mom says, ever the host and always the mother.

Ruby starts to float forward as my dad, brother, and sisters begin heading for the shore.

“We’re gonna pass,” I call after my mom.

If we go inside, it’ll be nonstop with all of my siblings for hours. I want alone time with Ruby today, so I’m going to have to yank her away to keep her all to myself.

“We are?” Ruby whispers, her eyes glancing between me and where my mom is giving us a little wave before heading up the dock back to the house.

I nod, taking her hand in mind and pulling her with me farther out into the water. “Let’s float over to your house,” I say, “and we can just enjoy the outdoors for a little bit.”

Ruby’s face lights up, and I know I’ve said the right thing. She flips onto her back, keeping her body buoyant so she floats along the surface. Her hand never lets go of mine, our fingers twisting together as we float away from the dock and out toward the middle of the cove.

“Did you enjoy yourself today?”

It takes a few seconds for Ruby to respond, but when she does, she’s a lot more honest than I would have expected.

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