Page 160 of Duke
“Piña coladas!” Robbie shouts as he helps Maggie press her goggles to her face. “Please, can we have one? Please, Dad?”
Maggie throws up her arms. “With extra cherries?”
Laughing, Duke nods. “Sure. Two virgin piña coladas with extra cherries, and two regular piña coladas with extra rum.” He looks at me and shrugs. “It’s five o’clock back home.”
I give him a playful shrug. “It’s actually ten a.m. in Texas.”
“Exactly.” He grabs my wrist and pulls me in for a peck on the lips. “In ranch time, that’s basically five o’clock.”
“If you say so.”
We head into the pool with the kids. Thankfully, it’s heated—we’ve learned the hard way to always make sure the hotel we’re staying at heats their pool. At first, I was a little annoyed that our kids were such water bugs, because it meant I always had to get into the pool too.
Now, I don’t mind it one bit. Somewhere along the way—probably in high school—I stopped going in the water, whether it was the ocean, a lake, or a pool. I was just too lazy, or maybe too self-conscious, to jump in, so I’d just sit beside said body of water and scroll on my phone. But having kids forced me to get back in the water, literally and figuratively, and it made me remember just howfunit is.
Setting our piña coladas on the lip of the pool, Duke, Robbie, Maggie, and I start with a game of Marco Polo. The kids howl with laughter when Duke runs into the steps with his eyes closed, pretending to stub his toe.
“Can we do a cannonball competition?” Maggie asks.
I smile. “Only if I win.”
“Bet you I’ll win,” she replies, then takes off toward the ladder.
Maggie does her cannonball first, followed by Robbie and Duke. When it’s my turn, I take a running leap into the pool—much to the chagrin of the lifeguard—laughter bubbling up my sides as I pull my knees into my chest and land in the water with a satisfying splash.
“Mommy!” Robbie screams when I come up for air. “You win! That splash wasepic.”
I laugh harder. “Since when do you know whatepicmeans?”
“Since he realized how epically hot his mom is.” Duke loops an arm around my waist.
I lean in to give his neck a quick bite. “That’s not weird at all.”
“It’s just facts, Blue.”
My heart flutters. The nickname still hasn’t gotten old after all these years.
“You’re pretty hot too.” This time, I’m the one kissing him.
“Ew, can you guys stop kissing so we can go to the beach now?” Maggie asks.
Robbie has a disgusted look on his sweet little face. “You guys kiss alot.”
Duke slips his tongue inside my mouth. “Yup. And that ain’t changing, so you’d best get used to it.”
We grab some towels and head out to the wide, flat beach, careful to avoid a volleyball game in progress on one of the courts in the sand. I gather seashells with Robbie. Duke and Maggie race to the water. Watching them laugh together has me feeling short of breath.
Could this day be any more perfect?
Could this life be any more perfect for us?
We dip our toes in the ocean—“too cold!” according to Robbie—then take a walk to look for dolphins and/or sharks. We work up an appetite playing volleyball when we’re invited onto a court, and then we demolish lunch by the pool.
I don’t know if it’s because of the sun, the time change, or all the activity happening, but the kids end up conking out in the room later that afternoon. While they nap, Duke and I run through a checklist for an upcoming trunk show, and then we shower—together, because why the hell not?—before waking up the kids and heading into town.
They’re eager little explorers, ducking into shops and nibbling on appetizers we order as we progress from one cute restaurant to the next. They get into a spat over a stuffed whale at a store, and we have to separate them, but the whale is quickly forgotten when we encounter a frozen custard shop.
Scooping my peanut-butter-and-chocolate custard into my mouth, I nudge Duke with my shoulder. “Did you ever think you’d be having a blast doing such wholesome things?”
