KEVIN gently laid the marinated tenderloin on the grill and took a minute to appreciate the sizzle before he turned to watch Hugo walk toward the beach and greet Brooke, Finn, and Summer. Hugo picked up a badminton racket with his long, slender fingers, and they quickly started a game, Hugo’s laugh soaring over the beach and back toward the house.
Hugo was different than he’d been in high school. He was so much more relaxed and seemed to be really comfortable in his own skin. All the tension and those overpracticed, stiff movements he’d perfected as a teen were gone, and he moved in a much more fluid way, hips easily shifting and arms gesturing in ways which could almost be considered delicate by some. But he was very masculine too.
Stripping off his shirt and shucking his jeans before he headed into the surf, Hugo encouraged the kids to hit the birdie into the water. It was a good thing Kevin had brought out the floating birdies he’d recently found in town.
Hugo was pale all over, but beautifully so. Kevin had always liked men and women with pale skin, being immediately attracted to Erin because of her nearly luminescent complexion. It was so much different from Kevin’s own skin, which seemed to tan to a golden color within an hour of being exposed to sun. Erin had never tanned, only burned, and he suspected the same thing about Hugo’s beautiful skin.
His arms were long and lean, but when Hugo bent at the elbow, the full curve of a bicep formed. There was something amazing about his neck and shoulders too, a strength that played as he moved and flexed to hit the birdie. His chest wasn’t largely built up with thick muscle, but it had certainly developed from the flat chest of a teen to one where his dark nipples made Kevin want to look at all the shadowing the muscles underneath created. His silver necklace, which hit mid-chest, didn’t break Kevin’s perusal either. Nor his stomach, lean and tight.
Hugo wore a navy-blue swimsuit much shorter than something Kevin would wear, stopping higher than mid-thigh, but it wasn’t so short as to be called anything other than swim trunks. Kevin always wore board shorts that came down to his knees at the lake. Though, at that point, he was still wearing his chinos. He thought about changing. At the fly of Hugo’s suit were white laces like on football pants. The laces kept drawing Kevin’s attention, and he had to force himself to keep his mind from going to the night they’d spent together.
Finn charged into the water to turn the game into a boys-against-girls challenge, but Finn kept getting frustrated when he couldn’t keep up with the drag of water on his thin legs. Hugo easily lifted him over his head and put Finn on his shoulders so they looked like a tall, four-armed, racket-wielding totem pole.
As Kevin continued to man the grill, he listened to the fun everyone was having behind him. Despite Hugo’s reservations about how he would be with the kids, he was helping Finn with his racket technique and encouraging Brooke with gentle words and loud cheers.
Kevin stepped inside to open another bottle of wine, and when he started filling the wine glasses set around the teak table, he looked up to see Hugo bent over, asking the kids for a breather.
“You guys have a lot of energy.” Hugo’s voice carried back toward the house, even though it wasn’t loud. It was one of the features of the property both Kevin and Erin had always appreciated. Because of the way sound drifted, they were always able to find the kids if they’d snuck down to the beach. “Can we do something that requires a bit of sitting? Your dad said something about beach glass and BFF necklaces, Brooke. Would you show me what you found in the sand and tell me what sort of necklaces you’d like to make?”
Kevin watched as Brooke lit up and sat beside Hugo on the dock, rifling through the pieces of glass and talking a mile a minute.
“Do you want the pendants to be the same color glass or are you looking for something that’s close to the same size and shape?” he asked.
“What’s a pendant?” Brooke asked, and Hugo went into a description which had Brooke mesmerized with his knowledge of jewelry. After his explanation, he rolled his eyes and shook his head as if he were exasperated with himself. When he palmed the pendant he wore around his neck and lifted it for Brooke’s perusal, his reason for self-frustration became apparent. Examples were always easier to use with kids.
Kevin returned to the grill, turning the meat another time and pressing against it with his tongs to check if it was done.
“Finn,” Kevin called. “Why don’t you take Summer in the house and show her where the bathroom is? I forgot to show her, and she might like to know. Show her the outdoor shower too so she knows where to rinse her feet. And while you’re in the house, would you please wash your hands?” Finn nodded, grabbing Summer’s fingers and dragging her toward the house as he told her about the cool foamy soap Kevin had bought that you don’t even hardly have to use any water to make a billion bubbles. “Thanks, buddy. Brooke, supper is about ready. Get cleaned up so we can eat.”
“Okay, Dad.” She scampered into the house after a quick rinse of her feet.
Kevin could hear Hugo walking up behind him on the deck as he started cutting the meat into serviceable slices.
“Need any help?” Hugo asked in a quiet voice.
“No. I think I’ve got it managed.”
“So, where did Brooke get the dark hair?” Hugo wondered.
“From Erin’s side. Nearly everyone is a redhead in her family, but when Brooke was young there was talk about there being some dark-haired relatives in the past. Black Irish, they said. I don’t know if there’s been a brunette on my side ever. You wouldn’t believe how often we’ve been asked that.”
“Sorry. That was rude of me.”
“She probably looks like she could be yours more than mine.”
“I don’t think so. She’s got your gray eyes, ringed in blue. And your mouth.”
“True. And Finn looks more like his mom except he has my nose. It’s odd how you see little pieces of yourself in your kids.”
Hugo was quiet for a few minutes as Kevin started setting the food on the table. Kevin wondered if he was talking about Erin too much, but it was hard to talk about his kids without Erin coming up at some point. He wasn’t in love with her, but he would always be connected to her because of their kids. Kevin hoped Hugo understood that.
“You don’t happen to have a rotary tool around the house? A craft drill with a ton of different drill bits and grinding wheels?” Hugo asked.
Kevin worried his bottom lip between his teeth as he tried to visualize what Hugo meant. “Maybe. Let me check in the garage quick.”
“I don’t want to forget, and since it’s on my mind… for the necklaces Brooke wants to make,” Hugo explained, and then Kevin walked into the house to make his way to the garage. After several minutes of rooting around in a work cabinet, Kevin found a gray case and took it to Hugo for him to examine. Hugo’s eyes lit up.
“Perfect! This is exactly what I need. Mind if I use it?”
“Not at all. But we’d better eat first.”
THE kids decided to try making a sandcastle after they had their fill, leaving the adults on the deck to talk and eat much more than they should have. They carried the dishes back into the house but left the dirty ones on the counter and only took the time to put away the food.
It was still quite hot out, so eventually Hugo, Summer, and Kevin joined the kids in the water and floated on brightly colored inner tubes, enjoying the combination of cool water and the warm air. They dove for rings, and Hugo showed the kids how he could walk on his hands underwater, which prompted Brooke and Summer to try it as well. Finn was too hesitant to attempt it.
“Any interest in going on a boat ride?” Kevin offered when Summer rose from the water after her perfect handstand.
“Yeah!” Brooke and Finn screamed, running to the dock to grab their towels to dry off and gather their hoodies with Finn chanting, “Boat ride, boat ride….”
“You don’t happen to water ski, do you?” Summer asked, hopeful.
“I most certainly do,” Kevin answered. “Do you?”
“I basically lived on this lake as a kid. My dad taught me how when I was little. Do your kids know yet?”
“Oh no.” Kevin knew he sounded paranoid. “Erin was against it, at least until they could both swim better. That’s why Finn’s been in swimming lessons since January. They both want to learn this summer, but I haven’t had time. I even bought kids’ skis.”
Summer raised an elegant brow and smirked. “Any interest in trying tonight?”
“We can see if they feel ready.”
Kevin asked Hugo to follow him, heading toward the garage where they found life jackets for everyone, the towrope, and skis for both the kids and adults.
“Do you think you’d like to ski?” Kevin asked Hugo.
“Hell no.”
Kevin couldn’t help but laugh. “Not really your thing?”
“I tried in college and felt like my arms were going to be pulled out of their sockets. Not to mention, I think I swallowed most of Lake Minnetonka. God. I had such an awful stomachache after that.”
“Well, you might change your mind. Catch!” Kevin said as he threw the boat key attached to a bright-yellow foam keychain toward Hugo, who easily caught it.
After a very thorough on-land lesson from Summer that Kevin couldn’t help but notice even Hugo was paying great attention to, the kids were ready to try it. Summer walked into the water, zipping up and adjusting her life jacket as she said to the kids, “I’m going to go first. What I want you to do is watch me.”
Kevin lowered the boat hoist with the large aluminum wheel as soon as everyone got inside the boat. Brooke and Finn fought over who got to be in the favorite seat, as usual, and Kevin had to settle it. “Finn, you had it last time. Let your sister sit there. Everybody get your life vests on.” Kevin attached the towrope and started the outboard motor so he could slowly back into the lake, making sure to watch for other watercraft.
“If I give you a thumbs-up, I want to go faster, okay?” Summer shouted.
Kevin nodded and looked back over his shoulder, giving Summer the OK sign. She reached for the handle of the towrope as it floated past and adjusted it in her fingers, finally nodding her head vigorously, signaling she was ready.
Kevin shifted forward and accelerated slow and steady but fast enough for Summer to get up. She popped up on her first try, and Kevin watched her for several moments to see how stable she was. Summer asked for more speed, so Kevin gave it to her, heading out into open water but still following the shoreline.
“Is it like driving a car?” Hugo asked over the noise of the wind and outboard motor.
“You’ve never driven a boat?”
Hugo shook his head. “I can row, but I fly-fish and ice fish. No need for a boat with either of those.”
“It’s a little like driving, but not really. There’s not a brake and no lanes. Here. Why don’t you steer?” Kevin suggested.
Hugo’s eyes grew wide with apprehension, but he stood, taking the wheel, then Kevin’s seat. Kevin sat on top of the back of the cushioned driver’s seat behind Hugo just in case he needed to take over quickly and positioned his feet on either side of Hugo’s hips. He felt Hugo lean back, giving a quick nuzzle to Kevin’s inner thigh.
“She wants a bit faster,” Kevin relayed at Summer’s signal. He reached down and placed his hand over Hugo’s and showed him how to make the boat accelerate.
“We should probably head back,” Kevin suggested after they passed an inlet. He didn’t want Summer to get overtired, so he threw his arm around in a circle above his head to indicate to her that they were going to turn. Hugo handled the turn perfectly.
Kevin took over when his house was in sight again, slowing the boat and bringing Summer in fairly close to the dock so he could drop her off. He rounded the boat so the next person could go.
It took several tries, but Summer stayed in the water next to Brooke and talked her though her first several wipeouts until Brooke finally leaned forward enough and started gliding on the water.
Brooke’s straight, dark hair flew behind her, and her face was lit up like a thousand-watt bulb. She was concentrating hard but having a great time. Kevin didn’t take her nearly as far as he’d taken Summer, and on the trip back, Hugo drove, following Kevin’s directions on how to do a decent drop off to a T.
“That was awesome, Brooke,” Kevin said. “What did you think?’
“It was super fun! It was hard right away, but even when I didn’t get up, I figured out something new. Do you want to try, Finn? It’s easy once you get up. The hardest part is starting.”
“Well. I don’t know. What if I don’t get up and fall and I drown?”
Hugo answered as if he were ready for the question. “Your life jacket will help you float, but maybe you’d feel better if someone was a little further into the lake just in case. How about that? I’ll swim out and be there ready to help you if anything happens to you.”
Finn looked at Kevin, his face serious and thoughtful. He scanned the water, looking at Summer and Hugo, his sister, and finally back at Kevin. He gave a somber nod.
“Atta boy. Now jump in, and Summer will get you all set up. Listen to her tips. She’s a really good ski teacher.” Kevin made sure Finn looked at him and then gave him a reassuring smile.
Hugo dove beautifully into the lake and disappeared under the water before breaking through the surface and treading water about fifty feet from where Summer and Finn stood talking. Kevin readied the boat and asked Brooke to sit in the attached seat behind him so she could more easily tell him how Finn was doing and interpret his hand signals, which Summer seemed to have drilled into the kids.
Finn was up on his second try and whooped and hollered, even daring to hold onto the towrope with only one hand for a few seconds as he fist-pumped the air. When Kevin dropped Finn off near the dock, watching him as he let go of the rope and slowly sank into the water, he chose to put the boat away for the night. That had been fun, but the sun was going to be setting soon, and the kids needed to get settled.
“If you guys get rinsed off in the shower, get your teeth brushed, and your pajamas on,” Kevin started only to get groans of dissatisfaction. “Did I say a thing about going to bed in that statement?” He didn’t bother waiting for an answer to his question. “No. I didn’t. If you get that stuff done quickly, you can stay up a little later than normal and sit with us outside. Okay?”
Brooke and Finn readily agreed and ran toward the house, only to disappear behind the wall of the outdoor shower.
“And don’t forget to dry your feet before you go back in the house,” he yelled after them. “And hang up your suits and towels to dry.” Kevin shook his head and looked down at Hugo, who was looking up at him from the lake with large eyes. “Sorry. When they’re excited they forget to follow through on a few things.”
“No. I wasn’t looking at you like that because I thought anything was wrong or you were too harsh or anything. I was just surprised, I guess. It’s weird to see you as a dad. Like, that was parent stuff you just did there.” Hugo sounded shocked, and it set Kevin to laughing.
“Are you kidding me? That was me just reminding them. Wait until you see me have to be an actual disciplinarian.”
“Ooo. Are you scary?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“So you don’t lose your patience and spank your kids or threaten them with awful things you know you’ll never follow through on?”
“Hell no! Okay, maybe I occasionally threaten things I’ll never do, but I try to say what I mean and mean what I say.” Kevin shrugged. “But I’m human, and I make mistakes. I took parenting classes with them when they were little. I learned something about how to be a decent parent, even if I wasn’t around a lot to practice. There’s plenty of time to practice now. Mostly, I took the classes so I didn’t end up like my dad, who only knew how to manipulate and control. How well did that work out for him? All it did was teach me how to lie.”
Summer stepped closer, and they all walked toward shore together, Kevin on the dock and the other two still in the water. “Where did you take your classes?”
“At the family center back home. I’m sure you know the classes since you teach kindergarten. Early Childhood Family Education. I think they offer the classes nearly everywhere in the state.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s a great program,” Summer said with a smile. “I’m impressed you went to classes. I work with a lot of dads who refuse to take any sort of parenting classes, even a one-night thing, because they think if they go to them, they’re admitting to needing help. Like refusing to pull over to ask directions when you’re lost or something.”
Kevin chuckled. “I did need help. Those rug rats didn’t come with an instruction manual when they were born, and they most certainly didn’t have a roadmap attached.”
Summer just smiled and reached for her towel to dry off.
“I’m going to head in for a minute to check on them,” Kevin shared aloud. “Make sure I don’t have to replace hardwood or carpet because of wet swimsuits. Would you like more wine?”
“I’m good.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“’Kay. I’ll be right back.”
Kevin found Brooke and Finn at various stages of getting ready for bed, but both close to being done. Their towels and swimsuits were hung up as requested. “Thanks for following my directions so well with the wet stuff. Why don’t you bring a blanket downstairs, just in case you get chilly? The sun will be down soon.”
“Will you read a story?” Finn asked.
“Sure. You can each bring a book down. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
As Kevin walked down the stairs, he heard running water and the low tenor of conversation. Hugo and Summer were washing and drying dishes.
“You didn’t have to do that. I have a dishwasher.”
“It’s no problem,” Hugo said with a bright smile on his still-youthful face. “We’re both used to doing dishes by hand, and no one wants to face this right before bed or, even worse, in the morning.”
“True. Well, thanks. I appreciate the help. Just so you know, the little ones might be bringing a book or two downstairs for me to read.”
“Can I read to them?” Summer asked with enthusiasm.
Hugo hip-checked her and said, “Take all the fun, why don’t ya?”
“They’ll probably bring down more than one book, so I don’t think you two need to fight over it.”
Kevin liked how Hugo and Summer seemed so playful around each other. It was refreshing, but it made him a little sad too. Kevin didn’t have many friends he could relax around, let alone be so playful with. He had no one he could be so carefree around; most of his friends were more serious.
He sat there watching them and thinking about his last thought. Out of nowhere, the penny dropped. Although the last year after his dad’s death had been eye-opening time and time again, it surprised him, in yet another way, how like his father he was. Few friends. Most of Kevin’s social contacts were through work or the country club, like his father’s had been, but Kevin didn’t have siblings to rely on as his dad had. There were no calls to brothers or sisters when he needed an ear. He kept in contact with a few of the men he’d met in his parenting classes, like Mike, but he hadn’t seen most of them since classes ended. Facebook was it.
Kevin knew he’d need to fix this and somehow try to reconnect with some more friends. His entire social life while he was with Erin had been a couples social life, only doing things with other married people and eventually only married people who had kids close in age to his own. It was all so homogenous, much like the social network his dad had arranged for him as a kid before he moved to Austin and met Hugo. But having similar friends happened more out of necessity now; it was hard to spontaneously go out when you had little kids at home. That’s why Kevin had been so supportive of Erin getting out of the house in the last years. He knew she rarely had adult time that wasn’t child-focused. She’d finally found a group of friends who helped her see that her own identity aside from being a mom was important to nurture too. It was time Kevin did the same, branching out beyond his identity as a dad, a husband, and an employee.
“You okay?” Hugo asked.
Kevin looked up from the floor he’d, apparently, been staring at. “Yeah. I’m good.”
The kids trampled down the stairs like a herd of wild elephants. How two skinny kids could make that much noise always surprised Kevin.
“Go get settled on the love seats, and we’ll be out in a minute or two,” Kevin said as he started putting away the dishes Summer had dried.
On the deck, Kevin sat beside Finn, Brooke insisted Hugo sit beside her, and Summer seemed to feel right at home in a chair facing both love seats.
“You’ve got a little classroom set up right here at the lake,” Hugo teased. “You just can’t let the teacher persona go, can you? Pathetic.”
Summer mimed throwing a book at him but then sweetly smiled, showing the front of the book to the rest of them.
“The Baffled Squirrel by Patty Wentworth. Illustrated by Jameson Piedmont.”
Hugo and Finn started laughing, but it didn’t put Summer off. She simply looked at them and raised one brow in challenge, but that just made them laugh even harder. Ignoring them entirely, she began to read.
“There was nothing in the world that frightened Benedict. He was even known as Brave Benedict around his neighborhood and was often called upon to help his fellow squirrels solve very difficult problems. Problems like how to get to the tasty seeds inside Ms. Violet’s new bird feeder. No one knew if Ms. Violet was really her name, but the lady with the tricky bird feeder filled with the most delicious seeds in the neighborhood always grew violets near the squirrel’s favorite jumping tree, so that’s what they called her.”
Kevin watched his children’s faces as Summer continued to read the story about the ingenious squirrel who ran across tiny branches and leaped across impossibly large gaps to help his neighbors get to the tastiest seeds around. They were mesmerized because of the beautiful drawings in the book but also because of how Summer read it. She was engaging and brought the characters in the library book to life in a way Kevin had never learned to do.
“But even Brave Benedict couldn’t figure out how to get past Ms. Violet’s bird feeder baffle, and it started to really bother him. He had trouble sleeping, and food no longer sounded appetizing to him, not even the tasty, black seeds he knew Ms. Violet plucked from the center of the gigantic yellow flowers she grew. One day he nearly fell from a sturdy branch because he was thinking so hard about another way to solve the baffling problem rather than watching his step.”
The librarian had recommended the book to Kevin. He knew his children had trouble asking him for assistance at times, and he was looking for something to begin a conversation with them. Erin had been the parent they’d gone to when they needed help because she was ever-present, but after the separation, Kevin would find out about problems his children had encountered while at his house, but only after the fact. Rather than coming to him, they tried solving their own problems and would grow frustrated, but quietly so. When they were finally back with Erin, they would pour their hearts out to her. Thankfully, Erin talked to Kevin about the concerns without blaming him, and he’d been able to sit down with Brooke and Finn to talk about how he was there for them and would help in any way he could when Mom wasn’t around and even if she was. All they had to do was ask. The book was just another way to reinforce the message.
Going from having a dad who was barely around at all to completely relying on him for large chunks of time, minus the presence of their mom, was a huge transition for the kids. It hadn’t been easy for anyone, but it was getting better.
“The end,” Summer finished with a smile. Kevin realized he missed most of the story. “That was a really good book,” she said, looking at Kevin with approval.
“I can’t take credit for choosing it. Librarian.”
“They know their stuff. I think I’m going to buy this for the beginning of this next school year. So many of my students are afraid of asking for help in the first weeks. I think this might help them get over that hump quicker.”
Brooke yawned and scooted closer to Hugo, rubbing her head in his armpit like she always did to Kevin when getting comfortable. Hugo looked down and easily read what was happening, lifting his arm to allow her to slide closer.
Then it was Hugo’s turn to read. He opened the book Brooke had begun reading the night before and started a new chapter.
Finn laid his head in Kevin’s lap and pulled at his blanket, not quite able to get it as high as he’d like, so Kevin helped. He rested his hand on Finn’s lower back and started rubbing and patting in the soothing rhythm that always set him off to sleep.
Kevin found he was relaxing more by the second, in large part because of Hugo’s voice. He could see how Hugo made money narrating. His voice was smooth and rich, and he easily changed his intonation for each character, somehow cataloging the variations in his head so when he had to pull out that character’s voice again, it was done without a moment’s hesitation.
Finn’s muscles twitched, and Kevin looked down. Sure enough, he was out. Brooke wasn’t far from sleeping either. When Kevin looked at Summer, she was staring at Hugo with a dreamy smile on her pretty face. She caught Kevin’s eye and gave him the same smile before sighing contentedly.
Hugo finished the chapter and replaced the bookmark, looking down at Brooke. She looked up at him with sleepy eyes and thanked both Hugo and Summer for reading.
“Looks like the Pickle is down for the count. I’ll be right back,” Kevin whispered as he carefully extricated himself from Finn. “Let’s go, Olive,” Kevin said as he lifted the dead-to-the-world boy and carried him into the house, making sure Brooke followed. At the back door he stopped and waited for her as she gave Hugo and Summer each a hug, which was out of the ordinary. She was usually more reticent with physical affection. Kevin climbed the stairs and gently laid Finn in his bed where he watched his son contentedly snuggle into his pillow.
In Brooke’s room, he sat on the edge of her bed and pulled the covers up.
“Night, Olive.” He leaned in and gave her a kiss before moving away.
“Dad. Wait.”
“Yes?”
Brooke looked thoughtful, so Kevin went back and sat down on the edge of her bed, stroking her damp hair away from her face.
“I like Hugo and Summer. Do they have any kids?”
“No. No, honey.”
“Because they aren’t married? Are they going to get married?”
“They’re just best friends. And Hugo used to be my best friend when I was a teenager.”
“Good.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean good that they aren’t getting married.” Her cheeks flushed crimson beneath her pale skin, and Kevin looked at her askance. “Well, maybe I can marry him someday.” Brooke buried her face in her pillow which muffled, “He smells really good.”
Kevin had to agree, but he didn’t say so out loud.
“Well, whoever you marry, I hope he smells as good as Hugo. Now get some sleep. I love you.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
“Night.”