“You ready, Penny?” Haley high-steps into the surf, knowing full well there’s no way on the planet that my dog is going to go into the water willingly. Seaweed? Hell yeah. Mud, deer scat, anything that smells like shit? Yes, please. But water? Nope.
But then she runs straight into the waves.
Haley skids to a stop. “Penny?”
Penny’s only in up to her shoulders, but that old saying that all dogs know how to instinctively swim? Not true. So not true.
I reach Penny at the same time that Haley does. Does the damn dog think she’s got her life vest on? My heart rises up my throat as her head sinks below the water like she’s trying to walk to the mainland. Haley has Penny’s head, and I have her haunches as we pull her out of the waves. Penny gives a good sneeze all over Haley’s chest.
Haley ignores it. “Are you okay?” Haley pulls Penny into a hug as the dog shakes herself over both of us.
“Penny,” I say. “What were you thinking, girl?”
The other guys have caught up to us.
“She was thinking that she’d follow Little Bird anywhere. Just like the rest of us.”
“Don’t be a lemming. That’s not smart!” Haley holds Penny’s head up and stares into her eyes. “You’re a smart girl. Use that brain of yours.” She kisses Penny on the nose and hugs her again. Then Penny gets up and trots away, racing after a dead palm frond blowing down the beach, likeI don’t know what your problem is.
“Are you okay?” Haley holds on to my biceps.
“I’m fine. I’m not the one who almost drowned. Thank you for getting to her.”
“You were there too,” Haley says.
“I know, but you didn’t hesitate to chase after her. She’s not a small dog.”
“She’s family. I’ll do anything for my family.”
“Anything, Sassy?” Dante wiggles his eyebrows.
“I’ve already proven that, haven’t I?” She laughs and slips away from me, heading straight into the surf. “But first, a Christmas Day swim.” When she gets in up to her waist, she dives under a shallow wave and swims out beyond the breakers.
I’m not the only one frozen by her beauty. Watching.
Easton breaks first, taking off. And we all follow. There are no games today. Just floating. Haley moves around the five of us. Light touches. A kiss here and there.
I don’t remember the last time we all swam together, staying out so long. But it’s another layer of the perfect day. Another tick of time building the life that I didn’t know I wanted. A life of less, not more. Of slower. Of people, not things. Of providing for my body, not indulgence.
Haley floats next to me. Her skin has turned pink enough in the sun that we need to get her into the jungle shade. “Today is perfect,” she says.
“Yes, yes, it is, Sugar. Merry Christmas.”
Chapter 34
New Contract
Calvin
As a kid, I lived for this week. The week between Christmas and New Year is like days that don’t matter. They don’t exist. They’re not even ticks on the calendar.
Don’t get me wrong, Dad still ran the farm, so it wasn’t like we didn’t have things to do. There’s always something to do. I’ve never once told my parents I was bored. And no fucking way would I have ever said that to my grandfather—he would have come up with a chore so heinous that I’d still be able to smell it now.
But this month, I’ve made mounds of gifts, and they’re all adamant that the chairs are good. They need to sit in them longer and give me feedback before I go and make any more. The WaveRunner is tuned up, and the motor on the tender is purring better than the day it came off the factory line.
I could run over to the other side of the island and dig another hole. That’s the only thing that needs doing on this side of the island.
I push that thought away. Everyone else seems to be in full holiday mode. Even Sam has stopped going up to the lookout as much as he normally does. It’s true there’s no real reason to keep going up there. No reason at all. If we haven’t seen a non-pirate ship in seven months, we’re not going to see one now.
