Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“Hey!” a man with a giant belly and big gray beard calls out. “Y’all can camp here. We don’t bite.”
A woman with an equally big pot belly laughs. “Speak for yourself, Danny.”
Rylie laughs at them and it makes the decision for me. We’ll camp with these old people. I hop out and Danny waddles into the water to help me. Together, we pull the raft on the banks.
“I’m Danny Franklin and this is my wife, Joya.”
“You kids got here just in time. Supper is on the fire,” she says, smiling. She’s missing her front tooth, but she has kind eyes.
“Something hot sure beats the cold sandwiches in our ice chest,” I say with a grin. “I’m Hudson and this is my—”
“Your girlfriend is shy,” Danny interrupts, a wide grin on his face. “I’m like Santa, baby girl. Once you get to know me, you want to sit on my lap.”
Neither Ry nor I correct him.
Joya snorts and slaps his arm. “You’ll scare these kids away. Hudson, ignore him. Sweetheart?”
“Rylie,” she answers. “Thank you for inviting us.”
Rylie comes to stand by my side. She’s nervous. I wrap an arm around her and pull her to me.
“Why don’t you go help Joya and I’ll work on getting our camp set up?”
She nods and follows after Joya over to the fire. Danny winks at me.
“Joya was sixteen when we met. I put three babies in her before she turned twenty-one,” he boasts. “Your girl is young, eh?”
“She’ll be eighteen in April.”
He nods. “I’m not the law. Your secret is safe with me.”
I should tell him she’s my sister, but there’s something forbidden and alluring to pretending she’s not. “Thanks.”
He whistles and chatters as we erect my small tent. It’s meant for one, but Rylie’s small and likes to cuddle anyway.
“I snore,” he warns. “So don’t worry about making noise.” He waggles his brows.
Laughing, I clasp my hand over his shoulder. “We’ll be quiet.”
As the sun disappears completely, the temperature drops. Rylie stands by the fire, shivering as she eats a hot dog. I down mine quickly and locate the blanket from our tent. When I come back, I sit in the sand and motion for Rylie to sit with me. She scurries over to me and sits between my spread legs. I wrap the blanket around us and warm her up.
She turns her head and whispers, “They think we’re boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Nuzzling my nose against her hair that smells like sunshine, river water, and sunscreen, I inhale her. “They do.”
“You didn’t correct them.”
“Neither did you.”
My palm slides down her arm and I link my fingers with hers. “It’s none of their business either way.”
“Look at them whispering,” Joya says and slaps Danny’s arm. “Remember when we were young and adorable like that?”
“Now we’re old and adorable,” Danny explains with a chuckle.
I’m content to hold Rylie. I love the way her body shakes when she giggles at their banter. The lines are definitely blurred because for a moment, I delude myself into thinking we’re actually a couple. Right here on the sandy banks of the river, we’re not brother and sister. I’m not in a committed relationship with Amy Kent. We’re just two people. Two people who like to touch.
Danny and Joya jabber on until I find my head nodding. Rylie has fallen asleep. I thank them for the food and then wake her. The air is nippy, so we hurry to our tent. It’s a tight squeeze, but we eventually zip ourselves in and cuddle under the blanket. We’re both sticky and smelly, but it doesn’t stop us from clinging to the other.
“Hudson?”
“Yeah, Ry?”
“Today was fun.” Her palm splays out over my bare chest. “I can’t remember the last time I had fun.”
“Hmm,” I say, smiling. “Your birthday?”
She snorts. “It rained on the barbeque. That was not fun.”
“But the mud fight Dad started was,” I argue.
Her body tenses and I hold her tighter. “It was fun, Ry.”
“It was.” She sniffles. “Christmas was not fun.”
My stomach feels hollow at her words. Christmas was not fun. I was an asshole to her. Mom was fussing over her and I got pissed. There I was, barely back from being away at school, and Rylie was once again making things difficult.
But looking back, I saw the unmasked pain in her eyes. I was too selfish to want to help like Mom and Dad did. All I cared about was myself. And getting between Amy’s legs.
“Why were you so upset that night?” I ask, my voice gruff. She knows which night. The night I ended up yelling at my mom to stop enabling her and stormed off. I spent the night with Amy and didn’t come home until dinner the next day.
She stiffens and lets out a sad sigh. “Because I missed you. When you’re not home, it’s lonely. It’s like you fill the space with life. You were home and then you were making plans to go see Amy. I don’t know how to explain it. I was just upset.”