Chapter Thirteen

Kira

“Are we really doing this?” I ask, watching the gigantic pumpkins, some elaborately decorated and painted, as people roll them into the water. This has to be the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

Nate hands me a paddle. “Only if you want to.”

I shake my head. “A regatta like this would never fly out west.”

“But would it float?”

“Ha. Ha.” Leaning on the paddle, I take in the hundreds of spectators and the news crew interviewing people. Hot dogs and hamburgers sizzle on the barbecue, compliments of the local grocery store sponsoring the event.

“I don’t really like being on the water, much less in an unstable pumpkin.”

Nate turns to me, his eyes serious as his hands go to my shoulders. “If you’re afraid, you don’t have to. But just know pumpkins float, and I won’t let anything happen to you. I’m pretty good in a boat, and I think you’d have a lot of fun if you gave it a try. But no pressure.”

My heart misses a beat at his understanding. I scan the calm water, find the firefighter in boats—real ones—ready to jump in and help if anyone is about to drown. My fears are irrational, it’s not like I’m in the open sea during a storm, and maybe Nate is right. Maybe I would have fun. I guess I’ve been doing lots of things outside my comfort zone. What’s one more thing, and hey, how many people get to say they raced in a giant pumpkin, right?

“Okay,” I say. “I want to beat Sam.”

Nate laughs. “Why?”

“I’m competitive.”

“Same,” Nate says, but I sensed that about him long ago.

“And it’s time we took such an ungracious winner down, don’t you think?” I say. His reaction when he won the card game was wildly funny, but a whole lot of cocky.

“Hey Sam,” I call out, and he turns my way. I poke my thumb into my chest. “I’m about to show you that I have no equal. You’re going down,” I say and expect him to salute me with his middle finger. Instead he runs my way, tugs my hat off, and scrapes his knuckles over my hair.

“You’re the one going down, little girl,” he says, and I’m laughing hard when I pinch his side to get him to stop.

“Are you two kids done?” Izzy asks as she comes up to us.

Sam lets me go and puts my hat back on my head. “S’up, Izzy?” he says to her, and I look out over the crowd to see Cody talking to some pretty brunette beneath a tree.

I glance back at Izzy in time to see her roll her eyes at me. “I hope you do beat him. I’m pretty sure he cheats when we play cards.”

“Do not. I’m just awesome, and you, little Izzy, are jealous.”

“Kira, this is Heather. Heather, Kira.”

“Nice to meet you, Heather,” I say to the gorgeous woman and shake her hand. Heather is close to my height, around the same age, and has the prettiest dyed silver hair that brings out the blue in her eyes.

“Same. I love your hat,” she says. “And I don’t care who wins today, as long as it’s not this asshole.” She jerks her thumb toward Sam.

“Heather, come on, you know you love me,” Sam says, and she shakes her head. He tries to hug her, and she pushes him away.

“He’s the most annoying man in the world.”

Just then, a whistle blows. “Try not to get caught in my wake,” Sam says, and when Izzy makes a move to clock him, he bolts.

I take in his long legs as he runs. “He’s kind of crazy, but I can see why Gram liked him so much.” I glance at Nate, and his eyes are narrowed, his lips slightly downturned. “What?” I ask.

“You like him, huh?” He looks past me, and before I can answer, he says, “We better get going.”

I have no idea what was going through his head, but I follow him to our pumpkin. I wave to Faith and Albert, who are a few pumpkins down, and on the other side of us, Sam and Jason are goading each other. I grin. I love that Gram’s “family” are all here. I’m sure she’s cheering us all on from heaven.

“I’ll hold it while you slide in,” Nate says, as he balances the big gourd.

“That’s what she said,” Sam yells out, and he and Jason laugh hysterically. Nate might be shaking his head, but his lips are quirking.

“Ready?” he asks me.

Here goes nothing.

He holds the massive pumpkin, and I balance myself by gripping his shoulders. Once inside the huge gourd, I settle my rear on the bottom.

“Good?” he asks.

“As good as I can be for a girl about to ride a pumpkin across the lake.”

His playful grin is back when he says, “This is going to be fun.”

The pumpkin wobbles as he climbs in, and two guys give us a push to set us into motion. We all enter the water, and cheers erupt behind us. Nate slides his paddle into the water and gets us going. I follow suit, but all I manage to do is spin us in a circle.

“Help,” I yell to Nate.

He uses his paddle to stop the spinning. “On the count of three, we do it together.” He counts down, and on three, I paddle, but he’s so much bigger and stronger, we end up going in a circle again.

“Oh my God, we are so bad at this.” I start laughing. Nate laughs with me, and Sam goes by us and splashes me with water.

“Hey,” I yell at him, momentarily forgetting all about the dangers of the water.

“We’ll get this.” He nudges me with his elbow and gives a wink. “We’re good at syncing our movements,” Nate says, and heat crawls into my cheeks. He chuckles at that. “On the count of three,” he says again, and I put more force into my stroke.

“We’re doing it,” I say, the pumpkin rocking as we power forward.

“Coming Sam,” I yell. Up ahead Faith and Albert are killing it, close to halfway across the lake, but Sam is closing in on them. “Let’s get him,” I say to Nate.

Working as a team, we both row, and someone bangs us from behind.”

“Sorry.”

I glance over my shoulder and see Doug, the man who’s horse nearly killed me, working hard to get by us. He hits our pumpkin again and knocks us out of control. We start spinning, and by the time it stops, I’m dizzy and laughing so hard my stomach hurts.

Nate’s roar of laughter goes through me, and when he rights us again, I steal a glance at him. Attractive. Funny. Rock solid. I can’t deny that I really like being with him, in the bedroom and out.

Don’t fall for him, Kira.

“Ready,” he asks, and I quickly pull myself together, fearing I’m already in deeper than I ever meant to be. We’re different people from different worlds who are just enjoying each other. Neither of us wants a relationship, he made that clear, and this hookup comes with an expiration date. After that quick lecture, I nod, and we start paddling. Ice-cold water splashes up, and I yelp as it chills my body.

“That is freezing,” I cry.

“I’ll warm you later,” Nate says with a grin. “Right now, we need to get Sam.”

We get moving again, and all around us, people are laughing and having fun, and I’m glad I pushed through my fears. Nate was right. I’m having a blast.

We paddle harder and faster, our movements now in sync, and we’re making headway across the lake. There are numerous pumpkins in front of us, but we’re gunning for Sam. Sam glances over his shoulder, and when he sees us closing the gap, he flicks more water at me.

“Cheater,” I say and flick water at him. “Let’s bump him,” I say.

“You are competitive,” Nate says. “And for a tiny thing, you’re pretty feisty, too.”

I laugh at that, and catch up to Sam. We bang him with our pumpkin, and we both go into a spin. Nate gets us right again, and Sam is hollering.

“We have cheaters,” he yells out, but no one pays him any attention. From Sam’s other side, Jason hits him, and Sam’s pumpkin nearly flips.

“Motherfucker,” he yells, and we’re all in hysterics when he sets his paddle on his lap, grips the sides of the pumpkin, and tries not to capsize.

“Now I feel bad,” I say to Nate. “Let’s help him.”

“Yeah, help me,” Sam says, pouting at us.

I look at Nate. “Bring us close again.”

We get close, and maneuver around him, once we’re in front, I give his pumpkin a push and send him in the opposite direction. Jason comes over and gives me a high five.

“Well done, sister!”

“You are dead to me,” Sam says, but he’s laughing and having a good time, and that’s the whole point of this, right?

“You’ve got a mean streak in you. I’ll have to remember that,” Nate says, making a face that feigns fear.

“Don’t get on my bad side,” I warn. The truth is, I don’t really have a mean streak, and I’ve been on the wrong end of bullying and would never purposely hurt someone. Up ahead, Albert and Faith reach the finish line, followed by a few more people.

When we finally arrive, Sam is closing in tight behind us, followed by Jason, but we weren’t even in the top ten, which is fine by me. I just sailed a pumpkin across the lake and survived. That’s all the bragging rights I need. When I get back to Victoria, I’ll be able to brag to…no one. That thought hits like a punch. But I push it to the back of my brain when my crazy “brother” Sam jumps from his pumpkin and comes running up to me. I shriek when he scoops me up and swings me like he’s going to toss me into the frigid water.

“Sam,” I scream. “Put me down.”

“Not until you tell everyone you cheated, and I have no match.”

“Never,” I say.

“Okay then,” he says and starts to swing me again. The only problem is the ground is wet, and his legs go out from underneath him. He hits the hard embankment, flat out on his back. But my landing, on top of him, is much softer.

“Damn, you okay?” he asks and searches my face.

“Yeah, you?”

Strong arms wrap around my waist and lift me clear off Sam. “You okay?” Nate asks. I nod and he holds a hand out for Sam to pull him up. “You hurt, buddy?”

“Two things hurt. My ass and my dignity.”

“That’s what you get,” Cody says, coming up behind him, the woman he’d been talking to earlier nowhere to be seen. He puts his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Let’s hit the beer tent. A few drinks will help restore your bruised ego.”

“Sounds good,” he says, tosses his arm around me, and leads me to the tent. I glance at Nate behind me, and he’s scrubbing his chin as his phone rings in his pocket.

“Coming,” I say.

“Yeah, I just need to get this.”

I head into the tent with the guys, and Izzy and Heather call us over. I catch Faith’s eyes, and with a wave, ask her to join us at the long wooden table. Sam and Jason disappear and come back with beer and a tray of hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone. My stomach takes that moment to grumble. Nate and I had been up late building up an appetite, and I worked off the small bowl of cereal with all my paddling exertion.

Nate saunters in but stops to talk to some guy before he meets us at the table. I know him well enough now to see that he’s upset about something but trying to put on a happy face.

“Everything okay?” I ask quietly as he slides onto the bench next to me. Our outer thighs touch, and it’s like he’s seeking my comfort. I shift a little closer to him, needing his contact in much the same way he seems to need mine.

“Work stuff,” he says and takes a drink from his glass. “Thanks for the beer, Sam.”

“Okay,” I say and let it go. I take a drink of my own beer and find it bitter. I’m more of a wine girl, but I like sitting around the table with all these people. We’re all so different, our backgrounds, our appearances, our work, yet we all just really…fit. I’ve never really fit anywhere outside academia. For the first time in my life, I understand what it’s like to be a part of a community. Gram would have loved this right now.

Sam nudges me from my right. “Gram wouldn’t be happy to know you tried to knock her favorite grandson out of the race,” he says like he could read my thoughts.

“I thought Jason was her favorite.”

“Lies,” Sam says.

“So,” Jason begins, the seriousness in his voice gaining all our attention. “We’ve been working on something,” he says, and Nate stiffens beside me.

“I was waiting for this,” Nate whispers in my ear.

“We all put our heads together and decided we’d have an auction at the Anchor. Heather is on board.” Heather nods when I glance at her.

“What kind of auction?” Nate asks before I can.

“One to help raise a down payment for Gram’s house.” Jason pauses, and his gaze falls on me. “That way, it gets to stay in the family.”

“Guys…” I say and stop. What they’re doing is so damn sweet and touching—and I don’t want to appear unappreciative—but I don’t want them to go through the trouble for nothing. I can’t afford the mortgage even if they covered the down payment.

“What are the details,” Nate asks, jumping in to help when I sag helplessly against him. “What are you auctioning off?”

Sam grins. “Well now, that’s the fun part.”

“Fun part?” Nate asks.

“We’re auctioning off a date with a fisherman,” Jason says.

“No way,” I say as my attention flies to Nate.

“We’ve rounded up a bunch of guys who are willing, and Cody is making fliers to distribute. There are a lot of single ladies in this town with money to spend,” Jason says. “They all might be eighty, but hey, they’ll love a night out, and I can charm an eighty-year-old for an evening.”

Sam snorts. “Yeah, right, you can’t even charm a lobster if you dress up as the world’s sexiest herring.” We all laugh, and Jason gives Sam the finger.

“Or a clam whore,” Cody says, and I laugh harder. I guess everyone must have seen the sign outside the Old Fish Factory. The kids around here do get into a lot of mischief.

“Nate, however, probably lured that mouse from Kira’s room when he dressed up in the cheese wedge,” Sam says.

“That’s why we need him up there,” Izzy says. “Any man who can charm a blind cow…”

“No way,” Nate says.

“Guys, we can’t do this. It’s…sexist, isn’t it?” I ask.

“They do fireman calendars, don’t they? What’s the difference? You win a date for a good cause. I talked to Spence at the Grand Banker, and he’s going to close the restaurant for the night for a private dinner for us. The whole town wants in on it. Some are even talking about a sunset cruise.”

“It will be one hell of a night,” Sam says.

I glance at Nate and shake my head, incredulous. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“You don’t have a say, Kira. They’re hell-bent on doing this.”

“You have a say,” I tell him. “You don’t have to participate.”

“I don’t have a choice, either,” he says.

I turn back to the crew. “Guys, this is too much, and I’m leaving here next month. My life is out west.” Although, truly, what I have out west is work, and I can do my research anywhere. Heck, I could do it from the partnering university in Halifax. Mom and Dad likely wouldn’t even know I’ve gone.

Wait, what am I saying? No way am I considering this, right?

“Will you at least think about it?” Sam asks, his big eyes so serious, so sad, my throat tightens.

I open my mouth, desperate to put a stop to this and say no, but find myself saying, “Okay.”

God, how could I say no when the class clown looks like he’s ready to sob. I mean, these guys loved Gram as much as me, and unlike me, they were here for her in her time of need.