Page 54 of Nothing But It All
I’ve been making it impossible for Jack to do many of the things I’m asking him to do.
That’s been eating at me all day.
The peace is broken by the other boat’s engine coming to life. I sit up to make sure the kids are seated. Jack is bent over our boat’s engine, fiddling with it.
“What’s wrong, Dad?” Michael asks as Maddie unties our boat from theirs.
“I don’t know. I think we’re out of fuel,” Jack says.
You’ve got to be kidding me.“What do you mean ‘we’re out of fuel’?”
Jack turns around, wiping his brow. “I mean, I don’t think there’s fuel to start the engine.”
“Whose job was it to check that?” I ask, ignoring the sweat droplets trickling down his chiseled abdomen.
Slowly, Jack turns his attention to the other boat. So I do too.
Michael grins sheepishly as they drift farther away. “Um, I might’ve forgotten to do that.”
“Michael,”I say, watching Maddie use Snaps’s paw to wave goodbye. “Come back here so we can get on your boat.”
“And then what, sugarplum?” Pops asks. “We sink and none of us get back?”
“You won’t sink with us on there, Dad,” Jack says.
Pops shrugs. “I don’t make the rules. There’s a sticker on this thing somewhere that gives a weight limit, and we’ll exceed that if you two get on here.”
I get to my feet. “This is not funny.”
“We’ll bring you a gas can,” Michael says. “It won’t take that long.”
“We’re at the farthest inlet from the boathouse,” Jack says, a hand on his hip. It draws attention to the muscle that runs along his side. “It’ll take you at least an hour to get there, find gas, and then get back out here.”
Pops snickers. “An hour at least. Hell, it might be three if that little blonde is done with her piano lessons and is sitting on the beach, waiting for Michael.”
“You’ll be fine,” Maddie says. “And if we get sidetracked coming back, you could always just sleep on the boat.”
“Or hike back. The cabin ain’t but a couple of miles up that trail over there.” Pops points at the dirt lane barely noticeable through the pine trees.
“If you don’t come back with a gas can, you’re both grounded,” I say.
My words get lost in the roar of their engine as they speed away, laughing.
I plop down on the bench and sigh.Now what?
“Your kids are starting to get on my nerves,” I say.
Jack laughs. “My kids, huh? This is definitelyyour kidsshit.”
My gaze follows him as he moves effortlessly across the boat. He sits across from me, his cologne amplified by the heat. His arms stretch along the edge of the boat, and he smiles.
“You’re not worried that we’re stranded here?” I ask.
“Not really.”
“You don’t really think they’d let us sit out here all night, do you?”
He smirks. “Lo, I’m not really sure about anything when it comes to those two working in conjunction with my father.”
