Page 123 of We Redeemed the Rain

“Okay.” I whimpered.

His hands slipped around the back of my knees and pulled, conveniently situating me into a piggyback position. This I could live with. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and put my head against his, relishing in his wet curls against my cheek.

“Cooper and I scooped mud from the bottom of this pond one year and tried to paint the dock with it.”

“Ew.”

“Pretty fun. Alright get off and teach me the color game.”

“You sound five.”

“Pretend I’m five.”

I laughed. “Heck no, we’re playing the advanced version.”

He chuckled and tossed me off his back into the water. Sputtering, I came up and wiped the water out of my face. Dipping one toe into the sediment, I gagged again but found balance half jumping, half treading water. “Okay, to play the color game, you have to hold the other person and pick a color in your head. The other person has toguess it. If they guess wrong, you dunk them into the water. If they guess right, you turn them backwards in a flip.”

His brows furrowed as he tried to picture it.

“Here, I’ll be it first.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him to me. “I have to cradle you.”

“Like a baby?”

“Yes. Get your feet up here.”

He sidled close to me, throwing his arm around my neck and lifting his feet to my arms. “You sure you can hold me?”

“The water makes it easy.” I succumbed to the squishing between my toes in order to keep him steady. I spoke through a grimace. “Okay, I have a color in my head.”

“And I have to guess?”

I nodded. The water darkened his hair and beads stood on his face. The position brought the rest of his body close to the surface of the water. If I looked, he’d see me looking, so I gazed at his eyes, enjoying his relaxed and playful expression.

“Your favorite. Pink.”

“Nope.” Struggling and wheezing for dramatic effect, I tipped him backward until the murky water rushed over his face.

When I pulled him up, he choked a laugh and brushed the water out of his eyes. “I get how this works now.”

“Keep going. You got a lot of colors to guess.”

“Is it just basic colors?”

“This round is.”

“Alright. Green.”

I dunked Tag five times. But when he saidwhiteI threw his legs over his head, turning him backward out of my arms. That was my intent anyway. Really it ended up being more a sideways lob.

Then it was my turn. His arms tucking me close felt like home.

A long while later, our laughter had turned downright hysterical. Our rounds of the color game had reached ludicrous levels, with 90s Crayola colors likeperiwinkleandtickle-me-pinkgetting the flip. We’d moved to challenges like who could hold their breath the longest then did jumps off the dock. Finally, I glanced upward. The circle of skyabove us was lopsided, the light melting into the west. “How long have we been out here?”

Tag tipped his wrist. “An hour.”

“We gotta get back.”

He shrugged.

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