“I know you mentioned pirates and I know how much the kids like sharks, so I called a friend who manages properties in Wellfleet.”
“Where exactly is Wellfleet?” Jude asked.
“It’s on the forearm of the Cape,” Jace said, “just below the fist, which is Provincetown.”
“I never realized Cape Cod looked like an arm,” Jude said, sounding puzzled. “Did you find a house to rent?”
“As a matter of fact, I did!” Jace grinned triumphantly. “There’s a renovated sea captain’s house, complete with a widow’s walk, and a path down to the ocean. Three of the six bedrooms face the water, and the rest of the house has stunning views of the dunes.”
“How did we get that lucky?” Ten asked.
“Welllll,” Jace began, “there’s the rub. In order to get the house, I had to promise my friend that he could have our Boston penthouse for the entire month of August at no cost. I hate that place anyway. It was more my father’s home than mine. I told him he was welcome to it.”
“What are the dates we can have it?” Ronan asked, looking excited.
“July 5ththrough the 19th. Summer in Provincetown should be a blast.” Jace waggled his eyes at Fitz. “We’ll take the kids to a drag show, do drag brunch, spend time on the beach. Visit the pirate museum and take the kids on a shark watch.”
“What the hell is a shark watch?” Ten asked, having a very bad feeling about Jace’s answer.
“It’s like a whale watch, only for sharks. Great whites love to spend the summer on the Cape too.”
“Hold on a second,” Ten said, sounding alarmed. “We’re going on abeachvacation where sharks swim in the water?”
Ronan snorted. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but there are sharks in the water everywhere we swim. It’s their home, you know.”
“I know that, Ronan, but great whites? They eat people.” Ten shivered.
“Not on purpose, Ten,” Jude said.
“I’ll remember that when Jaws is snacking on me. I say, good sir, would you mind noshing upon those tasty looking seals, over yonder?” Ten felt a dash of panic rise up his spine.
“It will be fine, Ten. The kids don’t actually swim in the ocean, they just dip their feet. There are life guards on Marconi Beach, as well as shark spotters. If there are sharks in the area, they close the beaches.” Jace’s tone was reassuring, but Ten was still worried.
“We’re going on a shark tour?” Everly asked, walking into the kitchen with empty plates. Aurora and Wolf were behind her.
Fitz nodded. “Does the idea scare you?”
“Sea puppies!” Everly and Aurora said together.
“What the hell is a sea puppy?” Jude asked.
“Sharks, Uncle Jude,” Everly said, sounding as if Jude should have already known that. “Sharks are sweet and adorable with all those teeth. It wasn’t Jaws’ fault he ate all those people. He was hungry. I’d do the same if I was a shark.”
“Uh,Jaws?” Ten asked, feeling a headache coming on. “Ronan, please tell me you didn’t show our precious eight-year-old daughter a movie about a shark that eats innocent vacationers.”
“Not it!” Ronan exclaimed, sounding triumphant. “For once your little smear campaign is in vain.”
Ten turned to Jude. Before he could open his mouth, Jude beat him to the punch.
“Double not it!” Jude set his hand on his heart. “That movie scares me, there’s no way I’d show it to the kids.”
Ten frowned. “Well, if it wasn’t Ronan or Jude, who showed you the movie?”
Grimacing, Everly pointed to Fitzgibbon, who looked ready to run for his life.
“It wasn’t my fault. We were gonna watchFrozenfor the dozenth time and I was making snacks.Jawscame on whatever channel the television was on and we were twenty minutes into it when the little boy was eaten and all hell broke loose.”
“And Pipit, Daddy! Don’t forget Pipit!” Aurora added. “I didn’t mind that the boy was Jaws’ lunch, but eating the dog went too far!”
