Page 85 of Skylar

“Yeah. He seemed rather…” Skylar looked at Aiden. “Enamored with her?”

“Intrigued for sure,” Aiden said. “She joined us for ice cream following the basketball games yesterday.”

“Is she nice?”

This time, Aiden looked at Skylar. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want to be the one giving an evaluation of the woman.

“She seemed nice,” Skylar said. “A little on the quiet side, but that could just have been because she was hanging out with a bunch of people she didn’t know.”

“Is he going to ask her to join us?”

“Probably, but I don’t think she’ll accept.”

Kayleigh turned to look at Skylar. “Why not?”

“I got the feeling she wasn’t sure what to make of Cole. Or the rest of us, for that matter.”

Aiden watched as Cole strode toward a vehicle that had just pulled to a stop, Amelia at his side. He approached the driver’s door, then lowered himself to a knee. Meanwhile, the lanky boy from the day before got out of the passenger side and greeted Amelia with a smile and a wave.

“It looks like perhaps he’s going to try to charm her into joining us,” Kayleigh remarked.

“Well, if there’s one thing that Cole has aside from the skill to sink a basket from half-court, it’s the ability to charm people,” Aiden remarked.

“We’ll see,” Skylar said. “She didn’t seem to fall under his charm much yesterday.”

Soon, Cole straightened, resting his hand on the roof of the car. He bent and said something more, then stepped back. He stood with his hands on his hips, watching as the car drove off.

“Guess you’re right, Sky,” Aiden said.

Layla’s friend had arrived as well, so the four teens made their way to the dock leading to where the pontoon boat was still tied up. Cole trailed behind them, looking at something on his phone.

“Are we all here?” Skylar asked as Cole stepped onto the pontoon.

He glanced around at the people on the boat, then nodded. “Yep. We can head out.”

“Did Anie not want to join us?”

He shrugged. “She said she had something else to do.”

“My sister doesn’t really like to be around people she doesn’t know well. She mainly stays home.”

“And that’s perfectly fine,” Skylar assured Benjamin with a smile. “There are times I prefer to stay home and away from people, too.”

The teen gave Skylar a small smile. “She’s really great, though.”

Aiden could see the boy was trying to defend his sister, but he didn’t have to do that. Not with this family.

“She seemed very nice when we had ice cream yesterday,” Skylar said. “Maybe someday we’ll get to know her a little better. Especially if you’re hanging around Amelia.”

“She usually just needs to know ahead of time if she’s going to be going out with people,” Benjamin said, then looked at Cole. “If you give her advance notice next time, she might say yes.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Cole said.

With that settled, Aiden helped Cole prepare the boat to leave the marina, and soon they were headed away from the dock.

There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and the sun sparkled off the bright blue water. Though the day was hot, there was a slight breeze which kept it from being oppressively so.

Skylar sat on one of the benches with her legs crossed. Kayleigh and Lexi sat beside her while their husbands stood with Aiden near the pilot’s seat where Cole sat, guiding the boat out into the expanse of the lake.

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