He held her glare with his own. “I know that I’d never let anything happen to my nephews.”
Except he wanted to take her son up in the sky. A sky with gravity. Gravity that would pull him back to earth—fast. “And I know I’d never let you have the chance to hurt them.”
The harsh tone of her words seemed to leave a bruise, given his pained expression.
“You think I’d hurt them?” he asked.
“I think you’re too invested innothingnot to.” Rachel stared at her image reflecting back on the water’s surface.
God, she missed the water. Missed who she’d been in the water.
Free.
She’d been free.
Travis started back toward the beach, clearly expecting her to follow.
She didn’t follow. Just stared at the ripples of the water, counting them.
One, Gavin’s not here.
Two, Brady wants to fly.
Three, Travis can’t take him.
Four, there is nowhere to cry.
She heaved a breath and turned, ready to step off the dock to the beach. The mountain beaches weren’t the ocean kind with small,pebbled sand that stuck to your skin. These were muddy beaches with rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.
Rocks and the pull of the water.
She looked back at the lake.
Screw it.
She pulled her top over her head, revealing a black tank top underneath.
“What exactly are you doing?” Travis asked. “My mother could come around that corner at any second.”
Instinct seemed to kick in and he did a scan of the beach and trail, apparently to be sure his mother wasn’t going to pop out from behind a juniper tree. He could chill. She wouldn’t take offallher clothes.
“I’m going swimming.” Rachel pulled off her shoes, setting them beside her shirt. “I’m having fun. Because, apparently, I take shit too seriously.”
And the water screamed for her to let it soothe the ache of motherhood that rooted so deep she thought it would pull her under.
…
Travis
Fucking hell, was this the moment they were going to deal withthat?
“You can’t skinny-dip in the middle of the day.” Travis did a wide wave with his arm. “There are boats out here.”
Also, his mother’s fake cat would have a whole basket full of kittens. Hell, if he had a fake cat,she would probably have kittens, too.
Rachel gave a sound that sounded like pshaw. “Oh, does me having fun bother you? Make you uncomfortable?”
She frowned and lines around her eyes, that he’d never noticed before, deepened. When’d she get those? And why did she have frowny lines instead of laugh lines? He blamed Gavin.
