A moment

Laura can’t contain her laughter as she watches everyone, staying clear in the shallower end of the pool. “Oh, Nate, you’re going to drown them!” she yells.

Kyle spits and sputters as he’s dragged under with Katie several times, unable to get away. “Not fair!”

Suddenly there’s movement under Katie’s feet and two hands at her sides to tickler her, forcing her to let go of Kyle.

Kyle is quick to slip away, turning to see what had happened. A figure comes up from the deep and emerges, proving to be Scott. A silly smile on his face, he squirts water through his teeth to spray the top of Katie’s head. “It’s not nice to hold people captive,” he chides.


“I, no, Jason! Cut it….Out! Oh!” Camryn disappears underwater, seemingly all on her own until she comes back up with Jason at her side. She splashes at him. “You big bully!”

“You’re the one who wanted me in here.”

“Well yes, but not to attack me!”

“Awww.” Jason gives her a pouting look. “Is Camryn feeling sorry for herself?”

Camryn smirks at him. “You dweeb.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, Jase!”

He turns around and squints. “Huh?”

It’s Bret hollering at him. “Con says he can hold his breath longer than anybody else here.”

“Oh, is that so?” Jason swims to the deeper end, throwing Con a challenging look. “Didn’t we do this once before?”

“Yeah, but you cheated.”

“I did not.”

“Well let’s find out now,” Bret interrupts. “I’ll be the ref.”

Con and Jason get ready to sink on Bret’s command. As the seconds are counted down, both go under, sinking to the bottom of the pool.

That end of the water goes quiet, all eyes on the two dark figures at the bottom. Bret looks at his watch, glancing at them every so many seconds. A few bubbles come to the surface, but no movement is made.

Camryn dares to come a little closer, more intrigued than worried, but not knowing how long either men could stay underwater.

As Bret reaches two minutes, several more bubbles surface and one of the figures floats slowly to the top, finally breaking into the air. Jason gasps for breath and grimaces, knowing that Con had beat him.

Seeing Jason surface, Con grins and stays for several more seconds just for effect, but finally comes shooting up with a splash.

“You ARE a whale,” Kyle exclaims.

Con laughs, trying to catch his breath. “What does that make you?”

“A shrimp,” Phil quips.

“Hey!” Kyle goes to dunk him, but misses, ending up with his own mouthful of water.

Jen laughs from a short distance away where she’s in a swimsuit on a little inflatable raft. “Kyle, you’re not doing very well today, are you?”

Kyle smirks at his sister and throws a splash in her direction, but it doesn’t go quite far enough to hit her. Rolling his eyes, he heads to the edge of the pool to get out, heading for the diving board.


Carson sits on the sidelines, having taken his sneakers off, but even so was staying back from the water, just watching everyone else. The sun was setting and there was a nice breeze starting to blow. He keeps an eye on Misty, watching the others too, but ever watchful of her to make sure she was doing alright, whether she actually needed him to or not.


“Cannonball!” Kyle hurls himself off the side of the pool, curling up for the biggest effect and succeeding at making a nice tidal wave. Not realizing that Jen had floated closer though, it’s a big enough wave to make her raft bounce and for her to lose her balance.

With a little cry she slips into the water. Though able to tread with just her arms, she goes under for just a moment, coming up choking on a bit of water, but more startled than anything.

Before she can even call for help, Mike has already swum up next to her and put an arm around her. “Hey, you alright?”

Jen nods, catching her breath. “Yeah…I think so…” She puts an arm around his neck to hang on as he takes her toward her raft that was floating away.

Kyle sees what’s going on and immediately feels bad. “Sorry, Jen! You okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she calls back. She hated it when her brother felt bad. She’d just as soon no one notice what had happened and just go back to what they were doing. Her face reddens just a little. She could stay afloat on her own, but otherwise she was pretty helpless.

As Mike brings her to the air-filled raft, he pauses a moment, both with their heads just above water. Jen is resting in his arms and he looks at her for several seconds. Both were hidden from view by the raft, the others in the pool unable to see them.

Jen’s eyes lower, her voice growing quiet. “Are you…going to put me back on my raft?”

Mike cocks his head. “Maybe I like you here.”

Jen can feel her face growing redder, her heart starting to race. She was around Mike all the time, but lately it seemed her mind had wandered to him more frequently, and seeing him had held new meaning for her than it used to.

Feeling a finger under her chin, she finally looks up, the water dripping down her face. She trembles a little, unsure about any of this, yet she would trust Mike with her life.

“Quit shaking,” he whispers.

In a single moment, everything seems to stop, and Jen’s focus on anything around her seems to stop. All she sees is Mike’s eyes…those eyes that lured her into their comfort and depth. Swallowing hard, she brings a timid hand to his face.

He brings her face closer to his until their foreheads are touching, his breath on her skin. His voice is soft and quiet. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to hold you in my arms? Or how many times I’ve chickened out of giving you that kiss I’ve wanted to?”

Jen looks down again, her lower lip starting to quiver. She was in no shape to have a relationship. Anyone who got her got a full-time job of taking care of her. “Don’t…please…”

“Why?”

“I could never…I mean…it’s…” Jen felt so good resting against Mike, feeling his warmth. Her pulse raced, her heart screamed at her for the love she so desperately had wanted. “I hold people back…I’m a burden to…”

“Hey.” Mike interrupts, his voice still quiet but stern. “Don’t you ever say that again. It’s never a burden when love is involved.”

Jen looks up again quickly, her eyes scared to meet his. Question flickers in her stare. Had she really heard that?

Mike can read her look and gives her a small smile. “Yeah…I guess it’s true. I’m in love with you, Jen…I can’t help it.”

Tears fill Jen’s eyes as his words hit her harder than she would have thought they would. Mike wasn’t playing around. They’d spent so much time together…she’d always been close to him just because of unique relationship they’d shared the last few years. Maybe she’d realized it was developing into more…but it still seemed a surprise.

Mike searches her face. Not allowing another chance to slip by, he moves in closer, his lips pressing against hers in a tender kiss.


No one would ever want to make fun…no one would ever tease. But the pool had become quiet as the raft had drifted far enough to reveal the intimate moment between the two, neither realizing they now had an audience.

Kyle is the first to catch sight of them, and waves some of the others quiet, drawing attention to his sister and Mike. He grins, but not because he found it funny – rather because he found it enjoyable to see his best friend and sister sharing something as special as this.


A tingle runs through Jen as she feels Mike’s kiss and for a moment, her eyes close as she melts in his arms. When he draws away, she opens her eyes again, unable to help the smile that slowly forms on her face. She liked it…she liked this sensation, and…she had feelings for him too. She couldn’t deny it…the feeling was there and her heart had never been more open to anyone else.

Seeing her smile of acceptance, Mike’s own smile spreads. “Can I finally call you my girlfriend?”

Jen puts her other arm around his neck to hug him, burying her face against his shoulder. “Yes…I’d like that.”


Kyle can’t keep himself quiet any longer. “Wooo!”

Mike and Jen look up quickly, both royally embarrassed to realize that their cover had floated away. But after a moment, neither can help but grin as several other people whoop and clap.

“You two…” Phil chuckles. “And how long as this been going on?”

Mike looks to Jen for a moment, then back to her brother. “The only time worth counting is the future, don’t you think?”


Jason floats near the other end of the pool, just watching the scene for several minutes. He glances around and finds Katie’s eyes, throwing her a wink. He knew she’d probably suspected that growing relationship as he had. It was good to see Mike and Jen happy…both had gone through some rough times. They deserved this.


“Kyle!”

Kyle turns around to see Tommy outside the pool looking through the chain link fence. “Yo, Tommy. Whassup?”

“Ice cream!” Tommmy holds up a melting ice cream cone. “Mom said to tell you to tell everyone else that there’s ice cream. And Dad said he was going to put off some fireworks.”

“Ice cream? Fireworks?” Kyle throws up his hands with a splash. “That is awesome!”

Tommy giggles at his older cousin. “Are you coming?”

“You bet!” Kyle swims to the edge of the pool. “Anyone wants ice cream,” he yells, “better hightail it before it melts!”