sand. Her white capris weren’t white any longer, and sweat had matted her hair to her scalp. Really a great look. Thank God no one besides Cody was around to see.
Using her forearm, she brushed a hunk of damp hair off her damp forehead and shot her nephew a look so full of reproach she was sure he’d finally get the hint and jump in to help.
Fat chance.
“How about a little help here?”
Halfheartedly he gave the small boat a shove with his foot.
Caught off guard by his effort to finally lend a hand (well, a foot, really), she wasn’t prepared. The front of the boat lurched forward, banged into her legs, and sent her flying. She landed butt down in the cold, shallow water. “Ayyyy,” she yelped and jumped up. Only her flip-flops were no match for the rocky bottom, and down she went again.
“Au-aunt Jen-Jenny.” Cody started to laugh. “Th-that w-was s-s-so f-f-f-funny.”
“Yeah, real funny.” She flung wet sand and small pebbles off her hands before firmly planting her feet and grabbing hold of the boat to pull herself up. She couldn’t help but think that twice now, she’d fallen flat on her ass when her nephew was near. She tried to brush the dirt from her pants but gave up. What was the point? She was wet, covered in lake goo, and a real comedian if Cody’s laughter was any indication.
She glared at him. He didn’t notice. He was too busy holding his sides and laughing. She slapped an orange life jacket around his neck.
That got his attention and finally shut him up.
“Aw, come on, Aunt Jenny.” He looked at the big fat orange U as if it was a pink boa. “What if one of my friends sees me?”
“They’ll thank me for keeping you safe.”
“This is so retarded.” Cody tugged at the neckline. His little chin jutted up, stuck there by the big fat orange vest.
“Better safe than sorry.” She winced. Great, now she was starting to channel her mother.
Ignoring his continual complaints, she told him to hop in the boat. Once he was settled, she gave the rowboat one last shove and then did her best to jump in. Her “jump” turned out to be more of a scramble, grab, pull, pray, move. By the time she ended up in the boat, her stomach hurt from hurling herself over the hard aluminum side. Somehow she didn’t remember fishing being this difficult when her grandfather had taken her out. “You want to help me row?”
Cody pulled out his iPod and plopped the two tiny speakers into his ears. “Yeah. Right.”
She clenched her lips and kept her mouth shut. They were going to have fun, damn it, lousy start notwithstanding.
She grabbed the oars, centered herself on the middle bench, and forced herself to concentrate on all that was good. Sunlight glistened off the pristine blue water, a trio of ducks quacked and bobbed near the shoreline, one of them butt up. Off in the distance a Jet Ski zipped around the lake, shooting up a steady arc of water. And on the seat below her, her nephew sat listening to his music and doing his utmost to ignore her. Even through his earphones she could hear the music’s steady hard rock beats. She drew in a breath, reminded herself that they were going to have fun, and then reached back in her memory for everything her grandfather had taught her about rowing.
Firm grip on the handles.
Nice smooth strokes.
Don’t dig too deep.
Just like riding a bike. But a hundred feet out, she wasn’t smiling any longer. Sun beat down on the top of her head, and her eyes ached from squinting. Her throat was parched, and her arms burned. Her back began to prickle, and she knew a sunburn was in the works. All in all, it was shaping up to be a winner of a day.
She looked at her nephew and realized she hadn’t made him put on sunscreen. Crap. If he went home with his skin even the slightest flush of pink, Jenny was going to catch hell from her sister. But at least he was better prepared for their outing than she. He wore a baseball cap, the bill pulled as low as possible on his forehead she was certain so he wouldn’t have to look at her. Sunglasses covered his eyes, and unlike her capris, his khaki shorts were dry as a pin. He wore a black T-shirt under the orange life jacket and the