Free Flower Girl Bride by Dana Corbit Page B

probably think I was a wallflower, but I couldn’t help it. It wouldn’t be wise for me to be frolicking in the water with that handsome father and his sweet little boy. It might make me wish for a life I could never have.
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    I brushed my fingers through my still-damp hair and shivered. Though the last golden shards of another sunset still lit the sky, it was already cold again. The air smelled clean instead of like other people’s cooking, the way it always did in my third-floor apartment.
    Because my teeth were chattering, I zipped my cover-up over my swimsuit. So much for my best-laid plans. I hadn’t planned on going into the water, but then I couldn’t have ordered a better day than the one I’d spent with Luke and Sam. My book and the umbrella had spent a lonely afternoon while I swam, chased, threw a football and, yes, even frolicked with the Sheridan guys.
    Slipping my flip-flops on, I climbed the steps to the deck. I couldn’t help smiling at the memory of Luke, who had looked all buff and tan from his outdoor work as he stood in the waist-high chilly water. Suddenly, Sam had leaped on his back causing Luke’s knees to buckle, and they’d both disappeared into the water. I’d had a good laugh when they’d come up sputtering until Luke had grabbed Sam and had swum my way, giving me my own close-up view of the lake bottom.
    â€œIs he up there?” Luke called now from beneath the deck.
    â€œI’m checking inside.”
    Sam had gone up to the bathroom fifteen minutes before and hadn’t returned, so I’d decided to investigate whether he was a victim of a Princess mauling.
    â€œSam, are you in here?” I called out as I entered the back door.
    Silence. Now that was something I wasn’t used to hearing when Sam was around. Anxiety balling in my stomach, I started hunting around for places a four-year-old boy might get into trouble. I didn’t have to look long. On one of my aunt and uncle’s cozy couches Sam was sacked out, a brightly colored beach towel still draped over his shoulders.
    I headed back toward the deck just as Luke came through the door. He’d slipped on a sweatshirt and loose-fitting cotton pants over his swim trunks, and he carried a smaller set for his son.
    â€œHe’s over there.” I pointed to the couch.
    Luke stared down at Sam, who had his face buried in the sofa cushion. “He does that sometimes. He justwears out and drops anywhere that looks comfortable. I should get him home.”
    â€œNo, don’t—” I wasn’t sure what I’d been about to say, but I had a sinking suspicion it was something close to begging him to stay. What happened to my looking forward to time alone at my aunt’s house?
    Glancing back at the sleeping boy, I shrugged. “It’s just…he looks so comfortable there. Maybe we should let him let him sleep for a while.”
    For several seconds, Luke studied his son as if considering, but finally he nodded. “I guess we could.” He pointed outside. “I was just starting the fire.”
    â€œI’ll go change.”
    He offered to feed Princess and give her a drink while he was waiting, and I gratefully took him up on the offer. I hurried up the stairs, nervous for the first time in hours. All day it had been just the three of us clowning and laughing together. Now it would be only two.
    I slipped on a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers and headed back outside. Cold as it was, my hands were sweating, so I wiped them on my pants.
    Luke crouched next to the permanent fire pit that was encircled by a line of grapefruit-sized stones. He poked a stick into the flames, adjusting the logs that he’d stacked into a cone shape. He smiled at me, and I relaxed.
    Settling back into one of the two camp chairs he’d arranged by the fire, he motioned for me to take the other. I lowered myself into it, letting the flames that licked over