kids, and now she had three children that she brought to the resort. Shannon was the oldest and had attached herself to Lukas, for some reason.
He was already in love with her.
But they were playing at the lake, and somehow John had gotten roped into their game and was playing the lake monster, who was currently chasing Shannon. Lukas didn’t know when he’d shown up, just that he’d turned around at one point and saw him kneeling in the sand in his swim trunks, listening to Shannon very carefully as she explained that John had to be the monster because he was so big.
A few other kids had been playing with them but had slowly trailed off as lunch had gotten closer. Shannon loved the water and would have to be dragged away soon so they could all take a break. He leaned down to catch her and then turned and ran into the water with her laughing loudly in his ear.
When he heard John fake growl behind him, he nearly lost his footing and drowned them both.
Once the water was too deep to stand on the bottom, he began to tread water and turned back toward the shore, only to see that John had followed them in and was gaining on them.
“Quick, Shannon, swim back to shore and save yourself!” He released his hold, and she began to doggy-paddle a wide loop around John, giving a shriek when he playfully swiped in her direction.
Lukas smiled and watched to make sure she made it back to the beach, where she seemed to forget about him when her mom appeared with a hotdog. Carol waved at him as she led Shannon away, and he smiled in return. He turned to John but couldn’t wipe the grin from his face.
“I think we’ve been replaced by lunch.”
“Oh, thank god, I’m starving. I was thinking I might have to actually eat her if we played much longer.”
Lukas laughed. “Dork.”
John’s only response was to hum as he moved just a little closer, and Lukas could feel the current from his kicking feet against his own legs. “You’re good with her.”
Biting his lip, he looked away but didn’t listen to the voice in his head telling him to just swim to shore. “She’s easy to please and cute enough to convince me to do anything she wants. I never stood a chance.”
John laughed, his brown eyes locked on Lukas’s face. “Do you… Could we maybe talk after lunch? I want to explain what happened at your parents’ house.”
And just like that, the moment was over. A heavy stone filled Lukas’s gut as he grimaced and started kicking his legs harder to move away. “There’s nothing to talk about. I get it. You don’t have to worry about my hurt feelings or whatever. We’re good.”
He turned and began to actually swim away, ignoring John calling after him. Listening to John awkwardly tell him how they could never happen? Yeah, pass. He’d received the memo; he didn’t need to sit through the whole meeting.
Once he got to the beach, he grabbed his towel and quickly dried off as well as he could, then snagged his flip-flops and booked it toward the stairs that were built into the small hill that separated the lake from the rest of the resort. When he reached the top, he turned back and saw John standing in the sand, towel around his wide shoulders, staring at Lukas with a frown on his face.
Giving a little wave to show he really wasn’t upset, Lukas hurried away and found his mom just going through the line for lunch. He wiped his feet off in the grass by the pavilion as best he could and slipped on his sandals.
“Hey,” he said as he got in line next to her and grabbed a plate.
“Hi, sweetie. Have fun swimming?” She carefully spooned a tiny portion of potato salad onto her plate, throwing him a smile.
“Yeah, though I could use a nap. I haven’t been sleeping for shit with Greg’s snoring.”
His mom reached over and brushed some sand off his face—how did sand end up in the weirdest places?—and gave him an understanding smile. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Why don’t you go lay down after you eat?”
He was about to say he could push through when a yawn interrupted him. It was so big his jaw cracked. “Ow. Okay, yeah, that might be a good idea.”
Chuckling, she went back to putting her plate together. “Of course it is. I only