“Having trouble?”
Twisting at the waist with a start, Grace dropped one end of her oar into the water. When she saw Frank in a kayak behind her, she squeaked and tried to recover, which only pulled her back alongside the rocking waves.
And then she overcompensated and somehow spilled over the other side of her kayak into the cool, wet darkness of the lake.
With a frustrated kick, she burst back through the surface of the water, sputtering. Right in front of her floated her oar. Beyond that, her kayak sailed majestically upside down.
Heart pounding, she glanced around.
Frank was on the other side of her kayak. She had a minute to compose herself. Thank goodness for her life jacket. She could just hang there in the water and pretend that whole embarrassing flip hadn’t just happened.
“Grace?” He slid into view, his kayak cutting through the water faster than she could catch her breath.
“I’m fine.”
“Take a minute to sort yourself out. Everything floats, you’re in no rush.”
“No rush for what?”
“Getting back in your kayak.”
She laughed weakly. “Sure. Okay. I just learned how to use one of these ten minutes ago.”
“I know, I was watching you. You did great.”
“Until I capsized.”
“That was on me. I startled you.”
“Yeah, you did.” She splashed water in his direction.
He grinned.
“Are you going to help me?”
“Nope. You’re going to help yourself.”
Now was not the time for pep talks. “Frank—”
“You’ll pull me in after you. Better for me to talk you through getting back into your kayak on your own.”
She flailed around, looking for one of the hot, young lifeguards who wouldn’t give her nearly as much grief, but she and Frank were too far from shore. Besides, they’d take one look at Frank and understand he had the situation in hand. “New plan. I’m going to swim back to shore, you push my kayak back for me, okay?”
He laughed.
On the one hand, she liked to see him grinning and laughing. On the other, she’d prefer if they weren’t at her expense. “Is this funny?”
“You’re funny. This is just normal training for me.”
“Spend a lot of time in kayaks, do you?”
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “How much do you know about your future son-in-law’s job?”
“Let me guess. More swift boat, less kayak, but it’s all the same.”
“See? You’re funny.” He glanced around, then muttered something under his breath.
“Pardon?”
