I’d gone quiet and Tom looked at me pensively. “Is it weird? Being here without him?”
I chuckled, knowing he’d assumed my silence was brooding when it was the exact opposite. “Not as weird as I thought it would be.”
He followed my gaze, still settled on Brit. “You’re sprung, man.”
“That’s one way to put it.” I sipped my bottle of beer and rested my elbows on my knees, lowering my voice. “I bought a ring.”
Tom nearly choked, spraying beer onto his swim trunks. “Who are you right now?”
I laughed, grinning. Lately, I was no one I recognized, which was why I was happier than I’d ever been.
Tom shook his head, but he was smiling. “She says yes, prepare yourself for the kind of bachelor party Alex would have thrown. I consider it my duty.”
That comment should have stung me in the little patches of my heart that were still raw, but today it felt hopeful. That was how I knew I could offer her what she deserved.
Brit must have felt my eyes on her. She stood and made her way carefully toward me and Tom, while the boat rocked and jumped. She tumbled into her spot on my lap, wrapping her sun-warmed arms around my neck. I didn’t care that Tom was still staring at me. I pressed my mouth to hers, thinking, not for the first time, that shewasthe sun.
“This is a lot more fun than my dad’s boat,” she said when I let go of her lip.
By that, she meant his stuffy yacht where we’d had to spend the Fourth of July docked in a marina. Let’s just say there were no Rummy Bears. Her dad was coming around to me, but we were all very aware that I was never going to be Sean in his eyes.
My parents, on the other hand, had pretty much adopted Brit on first sight. My mother had just finished an eight-week out-patient program when I brought Brit over for dinner for the first time. My dad and I grilled some chicken, and Mom made potato salad and iced tea. We ate at the table in their backyard, and Brit seemed almost giddy to be a part of it.
By the end of the night, I saw the same awe in my mother’s eyes that I knew shone in mine when I looked at Brit. Sometimes when we spent too much time with either one of our families, I thought of those bumper stickers people get when they rescue a dog from the shelter. The ones that sayWho saved who?
“Where are we going?” she asked for the millionth time.
“You’ll see when we get there. Just enjoy the ride.”
She sighed dramatically. “This coming from the world’s grumpiest road-trip partner.”
The rope swing—Alex’s rope swing—was exactly where it had been for the last twenty years. Drew docked the boat, and we climbed the small embankment on the east side of the lake. We’d replaced the rope twice since we were kids, when the frayed knots became lesspart of the adventureand moresomeone could get seriously hurt. I wouldn’t have even shown it to Brit if I didn’t know it was sturdy. Even so, I tested it a couple more times before helping her onto it.
“You know when to let go?”
Brit gave me her mock salute. “Yes, sir, Nicky, sir.”
“At the top of the arc. Don’t wait until you’re on the backswing.”
“Got it.”
I held the swing with one hand and wrapped an arm around Brit’s waist, lifting her enough for her to get her foot in the loop. “Hold on tight.”
“Okay.”
I plucked her sunglasses off of the top of her head and set them on her bag. I checked the tie on her swimsuit, bent over to make sure her foot wasn’t going to slip off of the loop, then tugged the rope again a few more times.
“Let her try it, Nick!” Hannah groaned.
I waved her off. “You ready?”
Brit nodded, eyes wide with excitement and nerves. “Ready.”
I pulled her back as far as I could, ready to launch her out over the water, but at the last minute I couldn’t do it. Just before we lost the ground, I grabbed the knot above her head and hopped on.
In the three seconds it took to get out over the water she squealed and told me I was ridiculous and that she loved me. I told her when to let go, and we splashed into the lake like that, wrapped around each other. When we surfaced, Brit ran a hand over her hair and gave me The Look. She was treading water so she couldn’t give me the hands-on-her-hips posture to go with it.
“I would have been fine, you stubborn mule.”
“I know.” I started to swim to shore and she wrapped her arms around my neck and climbed onto my back. “But it was way more fun together.”
