Page 11 of Two Hearts' Accidental Heroes

Usually, they invited friends to go along when they decided to spend the afternoon on the lake, but it was only the three of them that went skiing that afternoon. Rick and Eric both decided that it was going to be hard enough keeping secrets. If they had any other friends around, either Eric or Rick would more than likely reveal something that they shouldn’t.

Dad had started reorganizing the house, packing certain items up in the boxes that he’d picked up earlier that day from the grocery store.

Hopefully, they really wouldn’t have to sell their home. Rick hadn’t spoken to Dad yet about the missing money angle to see if it actually applied to their situation or not. Their family had been happy here, at their house on the lake. Dad and Mom had bought the house long before they’d started a family and had made several improvements along with building an addition onto the former cottage before Brian had been born.

Hopefully, his parents would be able to return home and live here again one day.

Rick could tell by the look in Anya’s eyes that she must have suspected that something was wrong. She kept biting down on her lip every time she gave Eric a side glance where they were seated up front in the cruiser, with Eric behind the wheel.

Although he was certified to drive a speedboat, Rick wasn’t sure about how he would go about getting his driver’s license now. He’d probably have to become familiar with whatever community they ended up living, and he would have to be tested there behind the wheel.

When Rick and Eric had walked inside the house earlier and seen how far Dad had gotten with packing, Eric, especially, had looked crestfallen. He’d still been hoping that whatever trouble they were facing meant that they really didn’t have to move.

Rick had been able to read Eric’s expression immediately, because he’d been hoping for the same thing too.

Dad had been happy to see the three of them take off for some time on the lake—something that they would normally do on a typical summer day. He still seemed to be getting a lot of calls, and since he was organizing some of Mom’s clothes into boxes, Rick tried to steer Eric away so he wouldn’t notice. Someone was probably going to pick up more of her personal items so Mom could lay low and not have to go out and buy anything new.

“Rick?” Eric was looking at him quizzically, having shifted the speedboat’s gear into idle. He’d driven to a more isolated location on Crystal Rock Lake where they wouldn’t have to worry about crossing paths with other skiers. It was a calm clear day, and there were a lot of people spending time on the lake today.

He raised a brow. “Yeah?”

Eric’s grin was wry. “You looked like you were pretty far away. Want to ski first? Anya and I aren’t in any hurry.”

“Sure.” Rolling his eyes, he slipped into his life jacket before jumping into the water.

Anya stood, making her way to the back seat to pull out the tow rope. She lightly tossed the coil into the water, leaving the handle floating near Rick.

“I’m assuming it’s slalom you want, as usual?” she asked, sliding one ski over the edge of the boat into the water, so that it was easily accessible.

“Thanks, Anya. Why don’t we each take one long ride?” Rick shouted out.

“Sounds good,” Anya replied loudly. “Just give us a thumbs down when you’re ready to quit.”

“Alright.”

Another twenty minutes later, Rick had taken a last long look at the familiar properties located along the shoreline, skiing slow and steady with an occasional run across the wake. It was like he was soaking in every memory he could into his consciousness. If their entire family left town, who knows if any of them would ever get back here again.

Anya skied next and then Eric took his turn before they headed toward one of the landings nearby to dock the boat and eat at a picnic bench in the park.

“Why don’t we take one final cruise around the chain of lakes?” Eric asked.

Anya looked at Eric strangely.

That’s when Rick noticed the resemblance between Anya and Shanna. Despite the fact that Shanna was much thinner and had white-blond hair, they were nearly identical. Strange how he hadn’t noticed that sooner.

“That’s fine with me,” Rick answered, sighing. “Then we’d probably better head back home.”

“Okay,” Eric replied as they gathered their sandwich wrappers and threw everything into a trash can. Eric had bought everyone lunch from the Crystal Rock Tap when he’d gone into town earlier to pick up Anya.

Remaining silent, Anya sure looked worried, Rick couldn’t help but notice.

They stayed out on the lake for another ninety minutes. After hoisting the cruiser onto the ramp beside the pier, Rick headed up the staircase ahead of Eric and Anya to the landing, strolling around the house to the back porch.

Brian must have been home, because the truck was parked in the driveway. As he headed inside, Rick could hear Dad discussing the situation with Brian, so he took a quick look inside the kitchen, where they were talking.

“Dad? There’s something I need to do,” Brian said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Dad had started disassembling his office and looked up from the kitchen table where he’d relocated his computer. “That’s fine. Maybe tomorrow we can sit down and discuss how we can go about getting you enlisted. There’s no real hurry, but I expect it would be better to have your situation settled before we’re on our way to Chicago. I’d let you stay and live here on your own at the house, if Jake hadn’t disagreed. It would be better if we left before the details of the situation between your mother and Aaron Mitchum started getting around town.”

---