"I was fifteen," Fallon repeated, like that explained everything. “I was an idiot, but they weren’t bad to look at.”
“Yeah, no comment.” Trent grinned. "So she cruises up to me and Cullen and asks me if I could help her to practice her cast, work on her technique. Very innocent. Very wholesome."
"You're laying this on awfully thick," Fallon said.
"I'm setting the scene. It's called storytelling." Trent winked, enjoying the way his pulse spiked. How his chest rumbled, and how he could picture the day as if it were yesterday. His mom would want him to keep having moments like this. To share his world with his friends. To laugh. To live. To love.
Cullen snorted. “Come on, Fallon, he’s not exaggerating.”
“Whatever.” Fallon lifted her drink and sipped.
“Anyway, I’m helping her, and I’m thinking to myself, she’s got this. She doesn’t need me to help her get those morons to notice her,” Trent continued, “and I tell her that and?—"
"Your first mistake," Dove said.
Trent chuckled. “One of many. But now those Hamlin boys are on the move. As a matter of fact, they drove right on past us. I asked her if she needed to go and she glances at her watch and nods.” Trent paused for effect. “She stands, and the boat rocks, a little too much, and now I have to stand because it looks like she’s about to fall, and I grab her by the hips, and help her back into her boat.”
“Fallon, you did not.” Buddy jerked his head back and stared at her. “He was how old back then?”
“Twenty-one,” Fallon said. “But he didn’t know what I was doing.”
“Not a clue.” Trent smacked his palm to his forehead. “She was just a kid at the time. A family friend.”
"What happened next?” Dove asked.
“I thought she was simply trying to impress those twins because she yanked the cord on the two-stroke to restart it, but she pulled too hard, lost her balance, and went ass-over-teakettle right off the side of the boat." Trent mimed the motion with his hand. "Splash. Gone."
Buddy tossed his head back and laughed. “I would’ve killed to see that. Please tell me there's more."
"Oh, there's more." Cullen grinned. "Fallon hadn’t noticed—because she was too busy making eyes at Trent?—"
“Hey, Trent didn’t notice either.” Fallon waved her hand.
“I didn't notice a lot of things that day,” Trent said. “You see, we'd drifted right next to Old Moses's favorite sunning spot."
Dove's eyes went wide. “I know you, Mallor, and something tells me that’s a name for a gator.”
“A thirteen-foot one. Meaner than a stepped-on snake. He'd been living in that stretch of water for as long as I could remember, and he did not appreciate being disturbed by a teenage girl cannonballing into his afternoon nap."
"Oh no," Harley said, though she was laughing.
"Oh yes." Trent shook his head. "Fallon comes up sputtering, water in her eyes, still trying to look cool—and Old Moses is about ten feet away, giving her the kind of look that says, 'dinner just arrived.'"
"I didn't see him, at first," Fallon said. "I was disoriented and honestly mortified that my future boyfriend had just seen me make a fool of myself.”
“For the record, that boyfriend thing didn’t happen for another five years.” Trent lifted his beer. “But I distinctly remember her coming up for air and doing her best to smooth down her hair. Like all she cared about was what she looked like, and that was so unlike Fallon.”
The table erupted in laughter. Even Fallon was smiling now, the embarrassment giving way to the comfortable nostalgia of a story told too many times to hurt anymore.
"So what happened?" Dove asked.
"I dove in after her." Trent shrugged like it was nothing. "Grabbed her by the back of her shirt and hauled her toward the boat while Moses decided whether we were worth the effort. Lucky for us, he'd already eaten that day. We got back in the boat, and Fallon spent the next few days avoiding me.”
“And you couldn’t figure out why,” Cullen said, barely containing his laughter. He leaned forward, his eyes bright with mischief. "But here's the thing, it took a bit for Trent to understand.” He pointed his beer bottle at Fallon. "It wasn't the Hamlin boys she was trying to impress."
Trent rolled his eyes. “I still think she liked one of them.”
"Come on, man." Cullen laughed. "She didn't give a damn about those boys. She was trying to get your attention."
