“It’s a unicorn.”
“Unicorns don’t have wings,” he says, eyeing me with a lazy smile.
“Pegasuses don’t have horns.”
He tilts his head in agreement, and then waves up at the deck. “Good afternoon, Nan.”
“Nice to see you again, Charlie.” She might as well be licking her chops.
He points to the binoculars.
“Spying on me?”
“I was bird-watching.”
Charlie smirks. “See any noteworthy species?”
The unicorn or Pegasus or whatever it is squeaks as I try to prop myself up. I can only lean awkwardly on the thing’s mane.
“Just a giant peacock.”
“Text me next time you’re nature-spotting. I’ll be sure to put on a better show.”
“I changed my mind—you’re more like an oversized pest than a peacock.”
He snorts, then holds out a spare life jacket. “Get on. Unless you’d rather keep riding that…thing.”
“Thisunicornis very comfortable.”
He begins undoing his life jacket. “Is it?”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m joining you. Looks like there’s room for two.”
“There absolutely isn’t.”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
Charlie drops an anchor, and before I can compute the plethora of ridges on his chest and stomach, he dives into the water. I have no idea where he is until he surfaces right next to the unicorn. He grins up at me, and my stomach dips.
“Move over, Alice.”
“Don’t you dare.”
Charlie sets a large hand on a wing and another beside my thigh.
“You’re going to tip it over,” I say, trying to scoot away from the edge.
“Maybe that’s the point.” He wraps his hand around my calf.
“You wouldn’t,” I say, eyes wide. “You’re a grown—”
The wordmanis lost to my yelp as he pulls me into the lake. I get my head above water as fast as I can so I can splash him in the face.
“Oh, you don’t want to start that,” he says with a Peter Pan smile. We’re treading water. Charlie moves in a circle around me, and I follow his orbit.
“You started it.”
