She pushed the oars through the water, trying to ignore the throbbing in her arms. “Are you having fun?” She raised her voice to be heard over his music.
He looked up, but she couldn’t read anything behind his dark glasses. He tugged at the orange vest again. “A real blast.”
She faked a smile. “Good. I knew you’d like it.”
He went back to ignoring her.
She looked around. Off to her left, there was a small inlet that her grandfather had always sworn was the best fishing hole in the whole lake. Jenny eyed the distance. It was at least twice as far as they’d already come. No freakin’ way. She pulled the oars in and grabbed one of the fishing poles.
From beneath his bill, Cody looked up.
Jenny opened the ancient green tackle box and grabbed a pink bottle of bait. “Have you ever baited a hook?”
Trying to act cool and uninterested, he pulled out one of his earphones, and she repeated the question. “Remember? I’ve never fished.”
“It’s really easy.” The jar was rusty, and it took her several tries until if finally twisted free. She found the end of the line, thankful a hook was still attached (a little rusty, but usable) and began to thread little pink eggs on.
“You mean we aren’t gonna use worms?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because . . .” Because the thought of stringing those poor, live, squirming, slimy things onto a hook made her stomach crawl. “Because I’ve read that this bait is more effective.”
Even through his sunglasses, she could see he wasn’t buying it. They got their hooks baited, and Jenny tried to show Cody how to cast, though it had been so long since she’d gone fishing, she was as rusty as the bait bottle. Still, they managed to get the lines in the water with a satisfying kerplunk.
“Now what?” Cody asked.
“We wait.”
“For how long?”
“For however long it takes the fish to bite.”
If possible, his chin jutted even farther into the air. “Like that’s gonna happen. A fish eatin’ something that’s pink.”
“I would.”
“Yeah, like what?”
Jenny thought for a moment. “Cotton candy.”
Cody stuck his earphone back in. “Well, you’re not a fish. They like worms.”
Jenny tipped her face up toward the sun and kept an eye on their lines, watching for any telltale movement. As the minutes ticked by, she couldn’t help but compare how what she was doing now was exactly the same thing she was doing with Jared: keeping one eye on him at all times. The Jet Ski zoomed by and rocked the boat. Her stomach plunged and lurched just like it had last night when he’d had her pinned up against the railing.
I’m not your sweetheart.
You sure ’bout that?
Yes, she was sure, but she couldn’t help wonder what it would be like to be his just for one night. One night where she’d feel his arms around her, his mouth on her, his weight between her thighs. Guilt collided with desire and twisted her stomach into a knot. She didn’t want to remember what it felt like to lie naked next to a man, to feel the hard length of him pressed against her. Especially not a man like Jared. A flyboy who had no roots, only wings.
“Aunt Jenny, I’m hungry.”
Heat crept up her neck and over her cheeks. She knew she was beet red and could only hope Cody blamed her inflamed skin on the sun and not on her licentious thoughts. She was hungry, too, but not in the same way. “I . . . um . . . I didn’t pack anything to eat.”
“Anything to drink?”
“No,” she said, knowing she was the world’s worst aunt. She’d forgotten sunscreen, food, and drinks, and she’d been having illicit thoughts about Jared while her nephew sat less than two feet away. “Do you want to head back in? It doesn’t look like the fish are biting.” Not that she’d know. She’d stopped looking at the poles around the time she’d started thinking about Jared on top of her, inside of her. “We can always come back out next weekend and try again.”
“Whatever.”
She took that to mean yes. She reached for her fishing pole, and then everything happened at once. Cody stood up and grabbed for his pole at the same time that the Jet Ski roared past again. This time it was so close, the little boat nearly tipped over from the wake. Without thinking, Jenny jumped up and grabbed a handful of vest and held on to