Page 26 of Cole

“I’m not really one for swimming in the lake,” Annie told him.

“That’s fine. Last time, my one sister never got in the water either. It’s still nice to hang out on the lake.”

Annie glanced back at Dawn, who was following them into the foyer. “Can I let you know?”

“Sure thing,” Cole said with a nod. “You’ve got my number.”

“What time do you plan to leave the marina?”

“Probably in about an hour.” He glanced at his watch. “How about one-thirty?”

“Sounds good,” she said.

“And don’t worry about food. We’ll have plenty.”

“Okay.” She turned to look for Benji and found him standing with a small group of young people that included Amelia and Layla. “I just need to pry Benji away from his friends for a conversation.”

Benji didn’t put up too much of a fight, but Annie knew he’d beg to go with Cole and the others once it was just the two of them.

“We can go, right?” Benji said as Annie drove them out of the parking lot. “You let me go last time, and we don’t have any other plans for this afternoon.”

“But what if I wanted to play board games with you?”

Benji gave a huff of laughter. “We can do that tonight.”

“Okay. You can go.”

“You don’t want to go?” he asked, a frown on his face. “I thought you’d like to hang out with Cole.”

“It’s not that,” she said. “I’m just not sure it’s super smart for me to hang out with him like that.”

Benji didn’t respond right away. “But you hardly ever go out. And you could use some friends. You’re always on your own except for me and Dawn.”

Annie hoped he didn’t see her wince. There was a downside to him getting older and more mature. He could now dissect her and her life, which he was doing with increasing frequency.

“I’m fine,” she assured him.

“I know,” Benji replied. “But there’s no reason you can’t come out on the pontoon with us. I went last time and nothing happened.”

If only it were just security reasons holding her back. “I know.”

“Then you need to come with us. You’ve been talking to Cole online, so there’s no reason why you can’t spend time with him on a boat. So, are you going to come?”

“I suppose I will.”

“Yay! That’s great. We had a lot of fun last time.”

“I’m not getting into the water. Not a chance.” She knew that Benji frowned, even without her looking at him. “I’m not a fan of swimming in anything but a pool. There arefishin that lake.”

That made Benji laugh. “Yep. But they’re probably more scared of you than you are of them.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m not getting into the water, so you better not pester me about it.”

“Okay. I won’t.”

When they got back to the property, Annie pulled her car into a spot in the small parking lot next to the security building. Benji jogged the short distance to the main house, while Annie waited for Dawn to pull in next to her.

“So, are we going out on the water?” Dawn asked.

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