Anything for Her(48)

“To?”

“Lakes. The ocean. You know.” She shrugged. “I did take lessons for a week or two when we were at this resort on a lake. So that’s why I can at least keep myself from drowning.”

“Well, good.” His irony was almost adult.

They sat in silence for a long time. The boat roared by and set off on another circuit of the lake. Nolan waved, laughing as he passed.

“School okay?” Allie asked politely.

“I guess.” Sean lay back on the boards of the dock, which rose and fell slightly beneath them, and stared up at the sky. “Did you graduate from high school in West Fork?”

Allie shook her head, then wasn’t sure he’d seen her. “Lynnwood. You know, that high school by the Alderwood Mall?”

“Yeah, that’s weird. You can go to Macy’s on your lunch break.”

The sun threw dazzling shards off the surface of the lake. Even with dark glasses, she kept having to blink to protect her eyes. “Nolan didn’t say. Did you go to a different district last year?”

“I did second semester at the middle school here. It was, um... I didn’t really make friends. It was kind of too late in the year. You know?”

“My mom and I moved two months into my senior year of high school,” Allie said softly. She was watching the boat and Nolan on the far side of the lake, not much more than specks. “That was hard.”

Sean sat up and shoved lank blond hair away from his face. “Wow. Your senior year?”

She nodded, feeling pleasantly sleepy from the sun on her face.

“Where’d you come from? Around here?”

“Oklahoma.” The minute she said it, she wanted to grab her answer back. It was horrifyingly like dropping something precious and watching it bounce toward the edge of the dock and the depths of the lake beyond. If only she could lunge for it and save it.

“I’ve never met anyone who lived in Oklahoma,” he said after a minute. “Is it dry and boring?”

She tried to make her laugh natural. “No, there are cities like anywhere else. I don’t think it’s much like the musical anymore. If it ever was.”

She got a blank stare. “The musical?”

Allie laughed again, more genuinely. “Oklahoma? Haven’t you heard of it?”

He shook his head. “Oh, God. They’re coming back. You should go next. Like, ladies first. That’s what Grandma always said.”

This time Allie giggled. “Coward.”

The boat swung in a semicircle, slowing to a stop. It had delivered Nolan, on the end of the towline, almost directly in front of the dock, where he sank gently into the water. He swam to the ladder, pulling the ski and line with him.

His hair was dark and slick like a seal’s as he climbed onto the dock, and water streamed from sleek skin and plastered the board shorts to his body. Big bulge, Allie thought involuntarily, remembering the dancers in leotards. His grin was exultant.

“Who goes next?”

“I think Allie should,” Sean declared hastily.

She stuck out her tongue at him but rose to her feet. “Fine. I’ll make a fool of myself first.”

As she settled herself at the edge of the dock, Nolan crouched beside her, helping her put her much smaller feet in the bindings. She gripped the handle of the towline so tightly her knuckles showed white.

“Don’t look so terrified.” His voice was a gentle rumble in her ear.

“You’re sure the vest will keep me afloat?” she begged.

“Positive.”

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want, Allie.” Astonishingly, it was Sean who spoke. He’d risen to his feet and hovered over them. He sounded almost aggressive. “You shouldn’t have to do it if you’re scared.”

She gave him a grateful look. “Thank you. But I think I want to try. As long as the vest won’t fall off even if I crash really hard.”

Nolan rechecked the buckles. “Sean’s right.” His eyes, kind as always, surveyed her face. “If you’d enjoy yourself more just watching, that’s okay.”

“No. I’m ready. Lean back,” she told herself.

Nolan stood and lifted a hand to Chuck, behind the wheel of the cruiser. “Go for it, honey.”

Allie swallowed and waited for the yank on the line.

* * *

NOLAN STOOD BESIDE his foster son, watching apprehensively as Allie took off on her first attempt at waterskiing. He had a sinking feeling that she might be an even poorer swimmer than she’d admitted to. Most people were afraid of getting yanked off their feet; all that seemed to scare her was the possibility of being stranded midlake—which happened—without the life vest.