Grayson and Kendra climbed the steps to the top, then slid down together, hand in hand. Once they made a big splash in the water, they swam over to the ladder and climbed it again. Only this time, they jumped off the top of the wide bounce slide into the water with an even bigger double splash, like they’d seen several people do.
Mostly, kids had been on the slide, but a few parents had gone down with their younger kids.
“I’m glad we don’t need to have kids to be kids,” Kendra said, coming up for air.
He laughed and took her in his arms. “No, we’re perfect for each other. I can’t imagine doing anything more fun than this, except for the ropes course and paddling.”
“And making love.”
“That goes without saying.”
“Do you want to go into the bounce house while the kids are eating?” Kendra asked.
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
They both looked over at the colorful bounce house, the slide’s rainbow stripes brilliant in the sun and inviting. It seemed as thrilling as she’d hoped.
They went inside and started to bounce up and down, losing their balance, falling to their knees, laughing out loud. He helped her up, and they bounced all over the bounce house. They were having a blast. Then they saw the kids begin to return, and they jumped into the water, but she was so glad that they were able to play in the bounce house for a little bit.
After playing in the water for another half hour, while the kids were playing in the bounce house and on the bounce slide, Grayson and Kendra got out. She was ready to get warmed up.
“Let’s dress and get some lunch and then take a hike,” Grayson said.
“Yeah, we can sure do that,” Kendra said.
They headed up to the table where they’d left their towels and bags, dried off, got water out of their bags, drank some, then grabbed everything, and ascended the stairs to their lodging.
Once inside, they dressed in cargo pants, T-shirts, and hiking boots and headed back downstairs to the grill and coffee shop.
They found an empty table covered by a rainbow-striped umbrella and checked out the menu. “A grilled ham and cheese sandwich for me,” Kendra said, licking her lips.
He smiled. “A juicy cheeseburger for me. How about some Buffalo-style hot wings?”
“Yes. And seasoned curly fries. Caramel coffee for me. We can have the ice cream after our hike.”
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll have the coconut coffee.”
“That sounds good too.”
Then they ordered their lunch and watched as the kids played in the water and on the slide. It looked like they could do that all day long.
“When you were a kid, I bet you were like that,” Kendra said.
“Oh, yeah. Except we didn’t have a bounce slide or bounce house.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Once they had their meals, they chowed down on them, and she realized they hadn’t had any calls from Rowland. “I guess Rowland has no news.”
“He said he wouldn’t call us and disturb us.” Grayson ate one of the wings.
She twisted a curly fry between her fingers.
“However, if he had any important news, he would let us know.” Grayson checked his phone anyway.
She did the same with hers. Then she noticed most of the people eating at the tables were looking at their phones. She set hers down on the table. “You’re right. So nothing has happened that he needs to inform us about.”
Grayson pocketed his phone. “Yeah. I agree.” He took a bite of his cheeseburger.
