Page 90 of You Met Me There

“You gotta take care of your man, Nat,” Jules says, her lips twisting into a smile. “You should know by now that they don’t think about things like sunscreen.”

Nat splashes Jules right back, and soon Tyler is in on the sibling water fight. I sit back and let them have their fun as we drift along the river. Sandra screams with joy, kicking her feet wildly to out-splash the rest of them, and when I open my eyes against the onslaught of splashes, I meet Cam’s eyes. He’s smiling, rolling his eyes and smoothing back his wet hair before placing his hat back on top. At least he had the bright idea of wearing something to shade his eyes.

Then Cam frowns. He points at Nat. “Hey, uh … your tube is deflating.” He says it so calmly that it takes a moment for the statement to register.

Natalie stops kicking the water. She looks down at her tube, her head whipping back and forth as if she can find the hole in the yellow rubber.

“What do I do?” she says, her voice an octave too high. “What do I do? We might not be close yet! How did this even happen?”

I pull her tube closer to mine. “You must have gotten the tube with the leak.”

“But they patched it!”

“It must not have held,” I say. “Don’t thrash around anymore. Maybe the tube has enough air to make it to the end.”

Natalie remains statue-still, but after several minutes her body is half sunk in the river. The tube droops around her, and more of her body sinks into the river with every passing minute.

“This isn’t staying up,” she cries, her expression one of alarm. “I’ll be swimming soon. This tube isn’t going to last much longer.”

“She’s right,” says Tyler, scanning the water around her. “Can you climb onto Luke’s tube?” he suggests.

“Great idea.” I pat my lap. “Hop on up here, baby.”

She stares at me.

“What?” I chuckle. “You’re my wife. Get over here.” I pat my leg again.

She glances at her sister, who shrugs and looks away with a smile.

Nat huffs. “Fine.”

Her orange swimsuit bottoms slide up over the side of the sad tube, and before she dips into the river, she throws herself awkwardly over my lap. But instead of sitting on me like a lady, she flops across my lap on her belly.

“Oh, this is perfect,” I say, resting my hands on the back of her thighs, laughing through my words. “Great view.”

“Luke!” She squirms. “Help me turn around.”

The girls snicker at the display, and the boys laugh.

“Dude, that’s my sister,” Tyler announces sternly through his laughter. “I don’t want to see that. Get a room.” He shades his eyes with a hand. “I think there’s something in this water that makes everyone horny,” he mumbles.

“Oh yeah, that kayaking trip?” Cam points to Tyler, who rolls his eyes about a story I mustn’t have heard yet.

I stare at them, hoping they elaborate.

Nat taps my arm frantically. “I’m waiting.”

“Oh, right.” I put my hands around her waist, guiding her as she flips around. The tube rocks as she squirms to roll over. I help her until she’s sitting on top of me, both of us dipping deeper into the center of the tube. But it isn’t half as bad as her leaky tube, which I hold onto so it doesn’t get taken by the current.

“Thank you,” she huffs, finally seated across my lap.

I wrap my arms around her middle. The scent of her coconut sunscreen mixes with the warm familiar smell of her, filling my nose. Resting my chin on her tan shoulder, I breathe her in shamelessly. She notices, looking back at me, and leans against my chest. We sit this way for a while, and I close my eyes against the sun.

“There it is!” Sandra shouts, smiling and pointing toward the bridge.

A few minutes later, we drift silently under a large stone structure; the sounds of cars rushing over us echo across the water. When we emerge on the other side, there’s a sixteen-passenger van waiting for us near the shore. A small rocky landing that can only slightly pass as a beach stretches into the water.

Still connected by draped arms and legs, we paddle our cluster of tubes toward the riverbank.