“Nope. We’re going on the boat. Sunscreen me up and let’s go. I don’t want to spend the next four months hearing every Sunday how we hid Kate away from the family and didn’t participate,” I say, knowing my family way too damn well.
Skipping out on a family activity is a sure fire way to have my mom up my ass, and she’s already going to be with her interest in Kate.
“I hate to admit it, but he’s right,” Ben grumbles as we switch places and she lathers me up. I won’t admit it, but it does feel kind of nice.
“Alright, now where do we need to go to catch this boat?” Kate questions as we climb down the deck and I point out to the ocean, where a catamaran is anchored in the distance.
“Uh?”
Ben laughs, grabbing her hand. “There’s a tender to take us there,” he says, as we walk in the previously made footprints in the sand and climb into the dingy.
Kate holds on to her sun hat as the small boat whips across the water to the back of the catamaran.
I get out first, helping Kate up the ladder, and my brother follows suit.
The second we’re on deck, my mother is ushering us over to the table and plying us with fruit enhanced water and nearly forcing us to eat a solid breakfast.
“I don’t need anyone passing out on the boat. Don’t think I didn’t hear you and your brothers stumbling into the house well past midnight,” she scolds with no heat.
There’s a lot I could say for my family, that they’re loud and invasive as fuck. But truthfully, I couldn’t be anymore grateful for the parents and siblings I have. I love them and I love Kate. Part of me can’t believe I still said it to her, that I said it to anyone.
There must be a stupid, not usually present smile on my face, because my mother stares at me, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses, but I can feel her happiness radiating through her.
She’s happy because she can feel my joy and that joy is in the form of the woman who’s covered every inch of her skin away from the sun, and my twin brother who helped me build the life I have today.
Maybe it’s a vacation bubble, or possibly I’m still living off the high of finally saying those three words, but the smile stays on my face for the rest of the evening as I spend the day with the people who mean the most to me in the entire world.
36
BLISS & BLACKMAIL
Gavin and Ben’s dad,in fact, brought a spearfishing kit.
The guys are all in the water playing with their very dangerous toy. Maggie is yelling over the edge to make sure no one dies, along with her sister Holly. Penny and Jessa are getting the kids situated in life jackets as our captain sets up this insane inflatable dock that has a net for the kids to swim in.
I take a moment of reprieve, grabbing a pillow, my book, and towel, and go to the front of the catamaran, lying down on the net. The Caribbean breeze hits from the bottom, as I just take a few moments away from the madness.
The Carlson family is filled with life and excitement, but it’s been forever since I’ve been around a big family like this, plus, I may be slightly hungover from the night before.
I have a thin beach towel over my face, lying on my back, considering taking a nap or reading my book, as a throat clears and the net jiggles with someone’s weight.
“Any room under the towel for me?” Ben says.
His body is glistening with salt water, and it drips in rivulets down his chest and abdomen.
“There’s always room for you, Ben,” I say.
He grins, lying his wet body next to mine, placing his wet hair on my chest, making me laugh.
“No casualties with the spearfishing?”
“Just everyone’s ego, because we can’t catch shit,” he says, adjusting his body so that his head is next to mine.
The towel makes us feel like we’re in our own little world as he looks at me. I cup his face, rubbing my thumb against the warmth of his sun-kissed skin.
“I love you, Ben,” I tell him plainly, knowing he needs me to say it.
Him and Gavin are different and have such different needs, while also giving so much that I need in return.
