Their whole shift crew was growing and the women that had become a part of their lives were fun and covered the whole gambit in jobs and temperaments. There would likely be at least one or two who Seaton could become friends with.
"Caddo?"
He thought he heard someone talking to him.
"Hey, Caddo?"
He felt a hand on his arm and turned to look at the person standing there. He was surprised to see Aylin Blaise standing next to him. "Hey, Aylin."
She leaned her head on his arm and then nudged him in his side with her elbow. "You look like you were lost in thought."
Sam smiled at her. "I was." He continued on talking before she could ask him what he meant. "I love being out on the water so this sounds like a lot of fun."
Aylin nodded, excited. "I'm happy to do some camping, but I think it might be a little too cold to break out the bikinis."
Sam turned to look at Stillman and saw his obvious disappointment.
"Maybe around noon if we find a place where they have direct sun on the campsite."
Aylin nodded thoughtfully. "And you?"
Sam leaned back a little and shook his head. "I'm not wearing a bikini no matter what time of day it is or how much sun that's out."
The group laughed as a whole. Some more than others.
Aylin blushed to the tips of her ears, but she lifted her chin and leveled a look at him. "Maybe one of those John Mayer banana hammock suits?"
Lincoln covered his eyes with his hand. "Please, no."
Fish chuckled and stroked his beard. "I dunno. I think he could rock one of those."
"Maybe," Lincoln leaned in and gave him a look from head to toe, "I guess it would be question of tan lines."
Stillman Rook jumped in with both feet. "I'm betting that Caddo doesn't have any tan lines."
Sam lifted an eyebrow at that. "So you think I sunbathe in the nude?"
"Oh, dear..."
Everyone froze at the moment and Sam knew who had spoken before he looked over.
They all knew the voice of Viviana Blaise.
She stopped just shy of their loose circle and ran her gaze over the whole group of people.
"Can someone tell me what I just walked into?"
Sam lifted a hand and rubbed at the back of his head, turning his gaze back to Aylin, wrapping an arm around the shoulders of the young woman they all considered their little sister.
Well all of them except for Rook.
He got a pass when the guys started to talk about the romance or lack thereof in their lives.
He had gone through fire to get the approval of Aylin's father, Chief Blaise.
Literally.
"We were talking about doing a camping trip with the folks on shift and ours families," he explained. "Aylin here," he gave the younger woman a squeeze around her shoulders, "had some interesting ideas on what some of us could wear at the lake."
