At his insistence, they'd bypassed the dunking booth that was run by the sheriff's office and the fire department, saying they'd come back to it later. Shortly before two, he left her standing under a tree, promising to be back in a few minutes.
When he returned, he wore shorts with his t-shirt.
She gave him a wide-eyed look. Was the heat finally getting to him?
"I have to take a turn in the dunking booth." He tilted his head toward the tub of water.
"Is that so?" A grin split her face. "Do I get to dunk you?"
"Depends, can you throw?"
"I guess we'll see, won't we?"
Eden stood to the side and watched another young deputy climb from the dunking booth before Rudy took his spot.
He immediately began to call out the throwers’ names and egg them on. At one point, when there was no one else in line and Eden debated about stepping in, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to someone halfway across the park.
"Travis Butler!"
Half the park went quiet, searching for Travis, then somewhere in the middle, a group of teenagers—mostly girls—split and a lanky teenage boy stepped out.
"I bet you can't dunk me, Travis!" Rudy followed the jeer with a loud clucking sound.
Grinning, the lanky teen approached the booth and pulled money from his pocket. Several young men lined up behind him, and Eden grinned.
Rudy took his job of raising money for the sheriff's office and fire department seriously. Either that, or he loved the youth.
Probably both.
Rudy seemed to get along with everybody.
Travis's first throw went wide.
"Come on, Trav, you call yourself a quaterba—" And down Rudy went with Travis's next throw.
He surfaced with a grin and hopped back onto the seat. "Cheap shot! Let's see you do it again."
Each time Rudy went down, he came up with a grin and a smart comment that made the thrower eager to spend more money to dunk him again.
As the line continued to grow, Eden decided if she wanted a chance to dunk Rudy, she'd better claim a spot. When Chase rolled himself to the end of the line, she joined him. She was almost embarrassed to throw after these teenage athletes, but she couldn't pass up this chance to dunk Rudy.
Chase gave her a grin over his shoulder. "Is there a way to shut this guy up?"
Eden laughed. "Today? I don't think so."
She grew more and more nervous as she approached the front of the line, especially since a large crowd had grown around them. She leaned forward to whisper to Chase. "I don't actually know how to throw. I'll make a fool of myself if I can't dunk him."
"Just focus on the center of the bullseye. You can do it."
"Oh, ho ho, if it isn't Wonder Boy Williams." Rudy grinned when Chase pulled out his money. "You still got it, man?"
"You mean can I shut you up?" Chase tossed his first ball in the air then caught it. "No problem."
He let the first ball fly, but it glanced off the edge of the target.
Rudy made a clicking sound with his tongue. "I think you've gone soft." He barely got the words out before Chase threw again and dropped Rudy into the water.
As usual, he came up spouting a jab. "Lucky shot." He hadn't quite settled himself onto the seat before it dropped, and he fell again.
