Jack (The Family Simon 2)

“And Brett. Have you known him for a long time? I don’t recall meeting him when we were…well, before.”

He nodded again.

“Is that a yes or a no?” she asked, but the softness had fled her voice.

He glanced up at her, voice gruff. “I’ve known Brett ever since I’ve been coming up here.”

She was picking at her eggs, moving the green peppers around. “But you didn’t know he was sick.”

That anger that had been curling in his gut for days exploded and he shoved his plate away. “No, Donnie. I had no idea the guy was as sick as he is. Can we talk about something else?”

Mouth pursed, she ate a bit of her omelet and was quiet for a few moments. But this was Donovan and the woman found it hard to stay quiet for longer than two minutes, something he’d conveniently forgot, it seemed. “So are we heading out in the boat?”

Eyes narrowed, he looked at her sharply. She was kidding right? “I’m taking the kids out on the tube.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“No,” he said abruptly, anger barely in check. He got to his feet. “You can come along for a boat ride, but you’re not gonna bump along the water riding an inner tube as if it was a goddamn horse. No way.”

Donovan got to her feet and pushed her near empty plate his way. “If I want to go tubing, I’ll darn well go tubing.”

“Not on my watch.” Was she crazy? The woman could be pregnant and she wanted to go tubing? Wasn’t that against some kind of pregnant woman rule?

Her eyes flashed and damn but that pain in his head wasn’t going away anytime soon.

“Did you not listen to anything I said last night?” she snapped.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He grabbed their plates and dumped them into the sink.

“What am I talking about?” Her voice rose as did the color in her cheeks. Breathing hard, she glared at him. “Can you please put a shirt on? You don’t need to walk around half naked all the time.” She tossed his T-shirt at him and he barely had time to catch it.

He was gonna blow. He could feel it coming. With his T-shirt in hand, he watched her, more angry than he could remember feeling in a long time. And that was saying something, considering the last few days hadn’t been exactly peaceful.

“You’re not tubing,” he said through clenched teeth.

“I am, Mr. Simon, and you better pay attention to my rules or I’m outta here. I wasn’t joking. In particular, rule number one.”

Okay. Jack had to take a moment because if he didn’t he was about to go ape shit. He felt like crap. He’d barely slept. And now Donovan wanted to argue with him about a tubing behind the boat?

He nailed her with a look that would make most men cringe. Except she didn’t cringe. In fact, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes shiny and she looked like she was damn well enjoying herself.

“Fuck your rules,” he said, voice loud and angry. “If you think I’m going to let you bump around on a tube behind a boat you’re crazy.”

“Uncle Jack that’s a really bad word!”

They both turned to see Harry, Morgan, and Sabrina watching them from just inside the back door. Harry was grinning as if he’d just witnessed something incredibly entertaining. Morgan wasn’t exactly sure if she should giggle or be serious and Sabrina…well, Sabrina was looking at the two of them with new eyes.

“That’s a whole lot more than a

fiver,” Harry continued, eyes full of glee as he poked his sister and whispered loud enough for the adults to hear. “Like two fivers at least.”

Jack’s temper was barely under control. “Sorry guys,” he managed to say, slipping his T-shirt over his head.

The kids were already in their swimsuits with their lifejackets in place. The smell of coconut filled his nostrils, and he noted that their skin was slick with sunscreen.

“We should have knocked,” Sabrina said, eyes curious as they moved to Donovan and then back to him. “I tried to keep them away, but they’ve been full of beans since they woke up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jack said, forcing a smile he didn’t feel. “Who wants to head out on the boat?”