“There’s an undercurrent in the water,” Corbin explained. “Where you fall in isn’t always where you stay. If you’d gotten knocked out...” He briefly closed his eyes in another bid for calm. “If I hadn’t found you right away, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Cuz you were scared, huh?”
Little by little, Justin seemed less worried and more fascinated. Ivey wondered at that reaction. Had no one ever shown him so much concern?
“I was terrified.” Corbin dropped back to sit on his butt. Muscled arms draped over his knees, he regarded Justin. “I need your word of honor that you won’t go near the lake alone. Not for any reason.”
Quickly nodding, Justin said, “Not even if Frankenstein is swimming.”
Corbin’s mouth quirked, then he pulled Justin in for another hug.
“Ah, hell.” Lang lifted his nose into the air. “My ribs!” He took off running for the deck stairs.
Wearing a grim expression, Justin watched him go. “Did I ruin dinner?”
“No. It’ll be fine.” Corbin stood. “Let me see your elbow.”
“It’s okay.”
Corbin lifted his arm anyway, then whistled. “I bet that stings.”
Ivey peeked to see, then winced in sympathy. Justin had scraped off the skin and it was already bruising. “You can bend it okay?”
“Yeah.” He flexed his arm to prove it.
“Let’s you and I go get some dry clothes.” Corbin glanced at Ivey. “You’ll bring in the animals?”
“Of course.” She was so proud of how Corbin had handled things, she felt a little weepy. She could use a minute or two to recoup. “Go on. We’ll see you on the deck.”
“Thanks.” One hand to the back of Justin’s neck, Corbin walked off with his son.
Ivey dropped down to sit with Hope on the grass. “That was intense.”
Hope continued to corral the puppies as they kept trying to scatter. “Ivey, did your parents ever smack you?”
She put Daisy between them, then gathered a puppy into her lap so Hope would have less to contend with. “Once, when I was young, maybe half Justin’s age, I remember wandering off at a campsite. Like Justin chasing the ducks, I went after a butterfly. By the time it flew away for good, I realized I was lost in the woods. Nothing looked familiar.”
Hope half turned toward her. “What happened?”
“I sat down and cried. Finally Dad heard me, and a few minutes later he came crashing through the woods like a grizzly bear.” Ivey hadn’t thought about that long-ago day in forever. “He was shaking, his eyes a little wild.” She smiled, remembering how relieved she was to see him. “He shook me, gave me a smack on the butt, then he squeezed me tight for the longest time.”
“Somewhat like how Corbin reacted.”
“Minus the butt smack.” She glanced back at the house and saw Lang industriously transferring ribs to a platter. “Later Dad told me that I’d scared a decade off his life. He lectured me for three days on things that could have happened, and how devastated he and my mom would have been without me.”
“Come and get it,” Lang called out.
“Your dad’s reaction actually sounds kind of nice.” Standing, Hope brushed off the grass and then lifted two of the puppies into her arms. “I can’t remember my parents ever being that angry with me, not even when they knew I’d done something against the rules.”
“Like what?” Ivey gathered up Daisy and the other pup. She really needed to figure out homes for them. Eventually. But...not yet.
“I don’t know. Like...sneaking out at night with my sister. There was a party at a neighbor’s house, and my father had said she couldn’t go. I woke when she was climbing out the window, so I went with her.”
As they walked up the incline, Ivey grinned. “Somehow I can’t imagine you sneaking away for a party.”
“I didn’t care about that. Not really. But I worried for Charity.”
“Charity is your sister?” Surprised, Ivey said, “You realize you’ve never shared her name before.”
Coming to a dead stop, Hope stared at her. “I haven’t?”
“No. You’ve only ever referred to her as your sister.”
Bemused, Hope shook her head. “I guess to me, that was the most important part. She was my sister and she’d...stopped loving me.” Her eyes widened as she looked at Ivey again. “Over something that wasn’t my fault.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Ivey wondered if seeing the way Corbin had handled the situation with Justin had brought up memories for Hope. It must mean something that she’d talk about it now.
“You know—” Hope gave a tremulous smile “—I think I forgive her.”
Ivey got them walking again but at a very slow pace. “Why now?”
“Because I’m so happy, I guess.” Hope looked up at the deck where Lang carried food to the table. “He hasn’t made any promises, and I haven’t asked for any. I don’t know if this will last another week or...forever. But regardless of what happens between us, I know I’m better now. I know that tomorrow, I can face the day with less anxiety. The past seems less relevant now, so Charity’s part in it is less, too.” Shaking her head, she gave a crooked smile. “Does that make sense?”
“It makes perfect sense, and I’m so glad.” New perspectives, that’s what Hope had. Ivey knew her friend would prefer that her romance with Lang continued, but now she knew she could have romance, and that was the most important part. “The brothers have certainly taken Sunset by storm.”
With a conspiratorial smile, Hope said, “At least for us.” They were almost to the deck stairs when she paused. “You’re totally, madly in love with Corbin, aren’t you?”
Ivey didn’t hesitate, but she did lower her a voice to a barely there whisper. It wouldn’t do for Corbin to find out before she was ready to tell him. “Am I that transparent?”
“To me, yes.” Since they each had their arms full, Hope merely leaned into her, shoulder to shoulder, friend to friend.
Sister to sister.
“You never looked like this with Geoff.” Hope glanced around, then down at the dogs. “Here, with Corbin, in this setting and with his son, you’re in your element, Ivey. It’s as if you were put in the place you were always meant to be.”
Oh, be still my heart. “That’s such a beautiful way to put it, and pretty darned accurate. Everything about this feels so right. So much so, it’s almost scary.”