Page 2 of The Summer We Mended
The scent of grilled peaches and marinated chicken filled the air as David manned the grill, his Red Sox apron smudged with charcoal and pride.Lily moved through the yard with a tray of lemonade, smiling as Anna passed her a bowl of fresh-picked strawberries.The twins squealed near the garden hose, already soaked to the bone, and Luke and Cody sat on the steps, showing them how to make water balloons pop louder.
The side gate creaked open and Henry strolled in, his arm slung casually around Claudia.“Hope there’s still food left,” he called out with a grin.
“Barely,” David shot back with mock sternness, waving the spatula.“I told Lily we should start hiding plates once you two are on the guest list.”
Henry chuckled and walked straight over, clapping his brother on the back with a strength that only decades of camaraderie could build.“You still burn it the same, David?”
“Tradition’s tradition.”David smirked.“You want perfection, you grill.”
“No thanks.I came for your over-charred sausages and your bad jokes.”
They laughed, the kind of easy laughter that only came from years of watching kids grow up side by side, of shared tears, shared wins, and too many weekends like this to count.Claudia leaned into Lily with a smile.“Look at them.Haven’t changed a bit.”
“They really haven’t,” Lily said softly, her eyes lingering on David.“Thank God for that.”
Henry poured himself a glass of lemonade, raised it toward David with a nod, and said, “To annoying brothers, old friends, stubborn grills, and never running out of beer.”
David raised his own glass.“Amen to that.”
“You got any water guns?”Henry asked David after everyone had eaten.
“Yeah, there’s an entire basket inside the garage filled with them.Why?”
“I’m thinking that together, you and I can sneak attack the kids.”
“That sounds like the best idea you’ve ever had,” David replied, rubbing his hands together excitedly.
Lily laughed to herself.She looked over at her sister-in-law, Claudia, and shook her head.“These two are something else.”
“Two peas in a pod,” she giggled.
David and Henry disappeared into the garage.The kids didn’t notice because they were too busy playing a game of soccer with Luke and Cody.
Twenty minutes later, it was like something out of a movie the way the two older men came running out of the garage with two large Super Soakers in each of their hands.They were yelling as they started shooting the kids with streams of water.
It was mass chaos, and it didn’t take long before Cody and Luke were sprinting for the extra water guns.Anna had overheard her father and uncle’s plan and had already filled up guns for the kids.
David ducked behind the garden shed, eyes narrowed like a soldier scanning for enemy movement.“I think they’ve regrouped behind the picnic table,” he said in a mock whisper, nodding toward where the twins were crouched and giggling.
Henry, drenched from head to toe and breathing heavily from the last sprint across the lawn, wiped water from his face with the back of his hand.“We’ll flank them.You take left, I’ll distract from the right.”
David flashed a grin.“Just like the old days.”
“You mean when we were twelve and still thought we were invincible?”Henry deadpanned, but the mischief in his eyes gave him away.
The two of them broke into a charge, half stealth, half chaos.David let out a playful war cry as he slid across the damp grass, firing off streams of water from his oversized Super Soaker.Henry, not to be outdone, sprinted straight toward Luke and Cody, who were defending their position with overturned lawn chairs as shields.
“Retreat!”Luke yelled, grabbing Blaze and hauling him away as if they were escaping a battlefield.
“I’ve been hit!”Cody called out dramatically, collapsing in slow motion onto the lawn as Nora pounced on him, giggling.
“You traitor!”Luke shouted at his daughter as she joined David’s side with a smug little smirk, now armed with her own squirt gun.
David scooped her up with one arm, twirling her in a circle until they were both dizzy.“That’s my girl!”he said as she squealed with laughter.
From the porch, Anna doubled over with laughter, nearly losing her balance as she leaned on the railing.“What is even happening right now?”
Lily, holding a glass of lemonade, wiped at her eyes.“They’ve lost their minds.”
