I lift my head a little. “What if I have to use the bathroom?”
Tobias shakes his head slowly, his expression grave. “You should have thought of that before all of this started.”
I lie back down and resign myself to being completely buried. Tobias shovels more on me as Skyler encourages him and laughs when I make small protests. When I’m completely covered except for my head I blow out a breath. “Now what?”
“Now we make peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwiches!”
“No, not that!” I shake my head, careful not to shake the powdery sand off myself.
“Yes!” Skyler laughs as she tugs on Tobias’s hand. “Let’s go make them, Daddy.”
“We probably shouldn’t leave poor Miss Kiki trapped here,” he says as he scratches his head. “She might get too hot in thesun. Maybe we should dig her out and then together we can make the sandwiches for lunch.”
“Okay.” Skyler takes her little shovel and starts to dig the sand off me.
As she works Tobias comes closer to me. “I wanted to let you know I called the hospital. They confirmed that Violet had a stroke. They’re still testing to see how severe it was, but it was good that you found her as quickly as you did.”
Relief fills my chest. “I’m glad.”
“Me, too.”
Skyler digs my arm out, and I bend my knees to get the sand off them, too. Tobias extends his hand. “Here.”
I grab his hand and he pulls me to my feet. He doesn’t let go of my hand right away, and I wonder if he feels the same electric current that’s running through me from his touch. I take a step back, and he lets his hand drop. “You’ve got a little something,” he says, trying not to laugh, pointing to the entirety of my body.
He’s right. I’m covered in sand. I brush it off as best as I can, but I’m pretty much a mess. I laugh. “Yeah, thanks for that.”
“Come on,” he says, heading toward the house. “I’ll hose you off.”
I shake my head. “No way.” I brush more at my clothes. “I’m fine.”
His eyes widen. I have no idea why that makes him look even more handsome, but somehow it does. “You’ll get it all over my house.”
Yes, he does look like someone who cares about sand in his house. I shrug. “Should have thought of that before burying me, huh?”
He takes off toward the house, and before I know it, he’s got the hose sprayer pointed at me. He twists the knob, turning on the water, but he hasn’t squeezed the sprayer yet, so nothing shoots out. “Come here.” He motions to me.
Skyler squeals. “Spray her, Daddy!”
“Traitor,” I say to Skyler as I back away from him.
Skyler thinks this is immensely funny. “Get her!”
“It’s getting warm out,” he calls. “I bet it will feel good.”
I hedge, calculating my chances of getting past him without getting wet. They’re not good. “Don’t you dare.”
“Do it!” Skyler runs in front of me, and Tobias obeys, letting a spray of water out on us both. Skyler screams and zig zags in front of the water. He’s far enough away that I don’t get very wet, but still, I remember my tattoo covered in foundation, and I move my arm behind my back.
Tobias gives me a look, like he noticed my arm and is silently asking me about it. I run out of his line of fire while Skyler continues to run through the water, squealing and giggling.
As Tobias focuses on Skyler, I walk to his side, fairly sure he won’t spray me up close. I fold my arms. “You have more of a sense of humor than I originally thought.”
He raises his eyebrows at me. “You thought I didn’t have one?”
“It’s not that.” I shouldn’t have said anything. Now I have to get out of telling him I thought he was too stuffy. Luckily, Skyler screams and distracts him.
He shuts off the stream of water, but then Skyler waves her hands and yells, “Spray me more!”
