Page 43 of Luke

"I can't say yet."

"Sounds mysterious."

"More like I just don't plan that far ahead," he said dryly.

"True. I forgot."

"But I have gotten better," he said, seeing the gleam in her eyes. "I've had to. I have several corporate sponsorships and contracts to fulfill, which means I need to know where I'm going, what I'm going to be wearing, and who I'm going to be shooting, so there's definitely more advance prep than when I first started out."

"I didn't realize you have sponsors," she said. "I thought only athletes and celebrities have those."

"Apparently, some companies think I qualify."

"He more than qualifies," Brad put in. "Luke is a super athlete, Liz. He does things most people wouldn't dream of doing. Didn't you see the commercial World Sports did with him bungee jumping off the Widow Maker Bridge in New Zealand?"

"No, I didn't see that. And I don’t think jumping off a bridge called the Widow Maker sounds like a good idea."

"I survived. Not that I would have made anyone a widow."

"Was it easier to risk your life knowing there wasn't a woman waiting for you to come home?" she asked, her tone more serious than it had been before.

"I think it was," he said slowly. "Although, there were a few women along the way who asked me to live so I could take them to dinner."

"More than a few, I bet. You probably have groupies in addition to sponsors."

He shrugged, happy when the Harrison family joined the group. He didn't really want to talk about other women with Lizzie.

The Harrison family included dad Roger, mom Joanne, daughter Julie, and sons Rex and Will. The boys avoided making eye contact with Luke, which he found amusing. He liked that they were worried about him. Hopefully, that would keep them in line for the rest of their vacation at the resort.

Also joining the group hike was a young newlywed couple, Palmer and Janet, who couldn't seem to stop touching each other, and an older, long-married couple Richard and Madeline, who were visiting Yosemite from the UK, and told the group they were avid hikers. They also appeared to be avid conversationalists, keeping up a steady stream of comments and questions as Brad gave them some initial instructions and then they all made their way to the trail.

He brought up the rear with Lizzie, who'd changed from tennis shoes into hiking boots that looked new enough to still have the price tag on them.

"I can't believe you've been here for six months and haven't broken those in," he told her.

"I've been busy, and hiking isn't at the top of my list."

"What is Kaitlyn doing?"

"Hanging at the pool. I'm actually happy we have the Harrison boys with us."

He smiled. "You talk about those kids the way people used to talk about me and my siblings. We were known in the neighborhood as the Brannigan boys or the Brannigan brothers, sometimes with the word wild added in front of the tag."

"You were wild, and those boys are, too."

"Or they're just being boys."

"I wonder if I should tell their parents about the drinking."

"You could, but I'm sure the boys will deny it, and you don't have any proof."

"I guess I'll play it by ear. I wish there was a parenting handbook, somewhere I could go to look up the answers to the millions of questions that I have."

"That would make it too easy."

"Nothing easy about it." She paused. "When we were together, I did envy you your big family. You always had brothers texting you or dropping in for a weekend. It seemed fun. I just had Kelly, who was great, but she was six years older and definitely played the serious big sister card more than a few times."

"James used to do that to me."

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