Risky (Adventures in Love 2)

“No, I think I’ll pass.” I laugh, covering my face.

“Figures,” he says with a chuckle, and I snort, which makes him laugh harder. “Mom’s going to be disappointed.”

“She will be,” I agree, because one thing I’ve learned quickly is that Janet loves feeding people, especially the people she cares about.

“You’re shivering. Let’s get you back to the house and warmed up.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” I agree. “Just so you know, I think this is going to be my last canoe trip.”

“Come on, it’s been fun,” he says as he starts to row us back toward the dock, and I study his smile and the lightness in his expression. It might not have been fun ending up in the water, but seeing him relaxed once more has made it worth it. “Dad’s at the dock.”

I look over my shoulder and see that Dave is in fact standing at the end of the dock, with Margret, Janet, and the kids all on the grass just onshore. “They probably saw us go in the water.”

“If you two wanted to go swimming, you should have just jumped off the dock!” Dave shouts with a wide smile on his face.

“Your son was trying to use me as bait to get the Flathead Monster to show itself!” I yell back, and he laughs loud while I hear Margret and Janet both do the same.

“He’s still after that speedboat, I see,” he says, and Blake chuckles while I grin. When we reach the dock a minute later, Dave reaches down to help me out of the canoe, but I notice his hands are shaking, so I avoid his hand and use the edge of the dock to pull myself up, then kind of roll out onto the wooden planks.

“I’m never leaving dry land again,” I pant, looking up at Dave, and he smiles before turning to offer Blake help getting out. Like me, Blake doesn’t take Dave’s hand, probably worried the two of them might end up in the water. And unlike me, he gets out of the boat with ease. As he ties it up to the dock, I get up and take off my life vest, then hear Janet gasp.

“You’re bleeding.”

“I’m okay, just a scratch,” I assure her, then look at Sam when he calls for me. “Mommy went for a swim.”

“Wim,” he gurgles while he kicks his legs and claps. “Da, da, wim.”

“Yeah, buddy, we both went for a swim,” Blake tells him, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Now, we need to shower.”

“How did you two end up in the water anyway?” Margret asks as we head up the stairs that lead to the house from the edge of the water.

“Blake was telling me about the monster in the lake; then something jumped out of the water, and I panicked, trying to get away before it carried me overboard.”

“Oh Lord.” She giggles. “Did you really think it was the monster?”

“I didn’t know what it was.” I laugh. “All I knew is it wasn’t going to take me.”

“It was probably just a fish,” Janet chimes in. “And if it was the monster, all your screaming surely scared it off.”

“Probably,” I agree.

“I heard you yelling from all the way in the house.” Dave chuckles. “I thought for sure that someone was being attacked.”

“I was being attacked, or at least that’s what I’m going to tell anyone who asks.”

“You might want to fill me in on this story we’re telling people. That way our accounts will match,” Blake says, and I tip my head back to look up at him.

“We’ll keep it simple.” I shrug. “We were out canoeing when the Flathead Lake Monster toppled our boat. Thankfully, I thought quickly and got us both out of the water before it could drag us to its secret cave and feed us to its babies.”

“That’s your ‘simple’ story?” he asks, making air quotes while his lips tip up.

“That’s the story I’m going with,” I tell him as I enter the house behind Dave; then I turn to Janet, who still has ahold of Sam. “Do you mind watching him for a few minutes more while I shower?”

“Of course not. Go ahead. We’ll be here when you get back.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek before making my way past the kitchen and down the hall to my bedroom, with Blake on my heels. “Do you want to go first?” I ask him before I head into my room to grab something dry to put on.

“You can go first.”

“Thanks.” I give him a smile, then quickly grab some clothes from my room and head across the hall, but when I start to shut the door to the bathroom, Blake stops me.

“Maybe we should try to conserve the hot water in case anyone else needs to shower.”