Ready or Not (Ready #4)(45)

I chuckled. “Okay, okay! All you had to do was ask!”

Although brief, that bear hug was the closest thing to a hug I’d had in weeks. When his arms left me, I nearly groaned out from the loss.

When Noah was born, everyone had warned me how quickly he would grow.

Enjoy each and every moment, people would say.

But no one had ever told me how much it would hurt, how much my chest would ache when he took his first step or finally wiggled his first tooth loose. Watching him grow up was a balancing act. I would feel immense joy, seeing someone I’d created and raised transforming into a young man. Yet, at the same time, I would mourn the child who was leaving me behind—the little boy who had jumped into bed with me when a thunderstorm rolled through, or the infant who only had eyes for his daddy because I was his entire world.

Right now, I was mourning hugs—good-night hugs, the hugs that came from nowhere, the just-because hugs, and those hugs that he sometimes seemed to need to settle in at night.

I really missed hugs.

“Come on, Dad, help me set it up,” he insisted, bringing me back to the present.

“Absolutely!” I answered, remembering that even though I’d mostly lost hugs, I still had Noah.

I’d blown up the inner tube before we left, and Noah and I carried it up from below the deck.

“You are seriously going to put me on that thing in the middle of the lake and drag me behind the boat?” Liv asked, looking at the tube as we dropped it into the water.

“Yep.”

“That’s insane.”

“No, it’s fun,” I corrected.

“You’ll be gentle?” She stood to glance over the edge of the boat.

“Of course,” I lied.

“Okay.”

Noah crawled over the side and made his way on top of the tube, moving around to situate himself. I knelt down, pretending to help him as I whispered in his ear. He looked up at me, nodding quickly, and added a grin.

“Oh. Well, that doesn’t look too bad. He didn’t even get wet,” Liv said.

She watched me as I stood, none the wiser to my little chat with Noah.

“Nope. See? Totally easy. You ready, buddy?”

“Yes!” Noah answered, giving two thumbs-up. Lying belly down across the tube with his feet hanging off the edge, he wrapped his fingers around the handles. He looked like he was prepared for anything.

“Give me a thumbs-up if you want to go faster and thumbs-down to slow down. Got it?”

“Got it!” he replied excitedly.

I pushed us forward, slowly at first, and I steered straight, making sure to keep Noah and the inner tube aligned with the boat. This would most likely keep him from tipping over. I turned around to check on him, and he gave the signal to speed up. I accelerated, the engine roaring to life, and I heard Liv’s laughter.

“That actually looks fun!”

Oh, just wait, neighbor.

~Liv~

“Okay, Liv, you’re up,” Jackson said.

Noah climbed back in the boat, almost as dry as the moment he’d climbed onto the inner tube ten minutes earlier. His hair was blown back and wet from the spray of the tube hitting the water, but he hadn’t fallen into the water. He’d stayed on that little raft-looking thing the entire time, which was what I intended to do as well. That water looked cold, and I was way too warm to plunge headfirst into frigid water.

“Tell me what to do.” I nervously walked toward the edge of the boat as Jackson handed me a life jacket.

My family had never been much into boating. I remembered a few elegant parties held on yachts, but that had been the extent of my boating experience until this morning. I much preferred lying out and being gently rocked back and forth by the waves than attending a stuffy party on a yacht circling the city.

However, the decision to be tugged behind a boat in an inflatable tube was still up in the air. Looping my arms into the vest and securing it into place, I was as ready as I’d ever be.

“One foot at a time,” he instructed, taking my hand and helping me over the side of the boat where there was a large ledge. I could see the propeller below, currently stationary and quiet.

“Good. Now, the other foot. Okay. Carefully climb onto the raft like Noah did and grab the handles. Same directions—thumbs-up for more speed, thumbs-down for less. Oh, and do this if you want to stop.” He made the universal cut signal, slicing his hand quickly across his throat. “Got it?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Okay!” He slapped my ass, pushed the tube away from the propeller, and jumped back into the boat.

It was just me for a moment, floating across the serene water. It was peaceful—until the motor kicked on, and I started to fly.

“Holy shit!” I screamed, gripping my fingers tightly around the handles.

I couldn’t hear them, but even from this distance, I could see Jackson and Noah laughing, loving the sounds of my shrill screams. I forgot everything Jackson had just told me—the thumbs, the signal to stop. I just screamed and laughed. It was thrilling, and I allowed myself to get completely lost in the moment.

The straight path suddenly curved, and my breath hitched as the tube grew closer to the white wake caused by the boat. I was jostled and bumped as my poor inner tube tried to stay steady until it finally gave up and flipped.

“Oh crap!” I managed to say right before everything turned upside down.