Page 31 of Honeymoon for Seven

Nick glanced in her direction. “Blowing up our own floats isn’t enough?”

“We’re a little short on blue floats so parents, you’ll have to share.”

“Share?” several voices spoke up.

“That’s right. Just like your kids, you’ll lay on your stomach. This is all about showing your kids teamwork. Each spouse will have one arm around the other so you’ll only have one arm to paddle with.”

Agreeing to do this may not have been Ginnie’s smartest move. A handful of parents pointed out they didn’t have partners present and the crew gave them permission to pick another friend or family member as long as it wouldn’t lead to divorce. Somehow, most folks observing found that more humorous than Ginnie had.

“On your mark, get set, go.”

At the word go, all the kids jumped into the pool with their floats and proceeded to climb on, some at the first try, others took a little longer. The first batch of kids were halfway across when their parents joined them. Something told Ginnie this wasn’t the family’s first effort because the husband and wife seemed to know exactly what they were doing with only a couple of bouts of spinning in the wrong direction before arriving across the pool a few strokes behind their kids.

They were up next. Ginnie turned to Nick. “Anything I can do to help?”

“I wish.”

The man did hisready, set, go, and all of Nick’s family jumped into the pool. The girls were able to mount their floats sooner than the boys, but the boys weren’t far behind. On deck, Nick looked like a puffer fish, blowing into the float with everything he had. With four kids in the pool, bumping into each other happened more than with just two, but they were halfway across when Nick plugged the float. “This is good enough. Ready?”

Somehow, she doubted she’d ever be ready to be up close and personal with Nick Maroney.

Part of Nick wished that Ginnie would chicken out. The idea of being plastered next to her in a silly race was not the reason he’d want to have his arms around her for the very first time.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Ginnie’s smile struck him as being awfully shaky, but when her shoulders straightened and she reached for the float, he knew she was in competition mode. Hanging onto the float with one hand, she hopped into the pool and held the float steady. “You first.”

Why not? Grabbing onto the corner, he studied this for a second and decided climbing on and then rolling over made the most sense. One leg over the top, he sat first, then laid out. Not bad. Except he was in the middle of the float. “Let me shift left, then you climb on.”

Ginnie nodded.

Holding on to the top corners, he shifted his hips and the whole float flipped over, dumping him into the water. Popping up from underwater, he wiped his face and spotted Ginnie spitting laughter at him.

“Maybe I should get on first.”

“Sure.” Obviously, he’d botched it.

With the grace he’d expect of her, she slipped on and straddled the float. “Climb on first, then we’ll lie down.”

“Here goes nothing.” Swinging his leg over, he climbed on behind her. So far, so good.

Up ahead, he could see the kids making progress. Jake had slid off and had to climb back on. Jeff had accidentally spun around and bumped into Monica, knocking both of them off their floats, and like a good big sister, Rachel had turned around to help her sister climb back on in the slightly deeper waters.

“All right.” Ginnie raised her hand for a high-five slap and almost fell backward.

Quickly, Nick grabbed her arms, holding them steady until the water stopped sloshing underneath them.

Ginnie’s gaze momentarily locked with his, and he swore he saw the same longing that had been building inside him. On a sigh, she tore her gaze away. “I think you should lie down first, but this time, lean forward not back.”

“Can’t we just paddle sitting up?” He knew better but had to suggest it.

Shaking her head, her mouth twisting to one side, Ginnie’s entire face crinkled in thought. “Maybe we should both raise a leg at the same time?”

“What?” How the heck were they supposed to do that without knocking each other off the float?

“Got a better idea?”

All he could do was sigh and shake his head. “How about I lean forward and you lean back and we see what happens?”

Slowly as her head nodded, her one leg came up. They looked like a modern sculpture of chaos in motion. As her leg lifted, she leaned right.

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