I walked down the hall towards my dad's office but he wasn't in there. I heard the lawn mower outside and leaned out the kitchen window. Sure enough he was mowing the lawn. I hated the noise of those things but I loved the scent of fresh grass. I watched him push the mower around, his muscles taut against his white polo shirt. Sweat was beginning to collect on the material and I leaned away from the window. I decided to get him something to drink and dug around the fridge for the pitcher of lemonade I knew was at the back. I poured him a large glass and walked outside holding it out to him. I waved at him as he turned the mower off. He walked up to me and took the glass, gulping it down.
"Thanks Ker. It's so freaking hot out here. I swear, if I'd known the summer would be this bad, I'd have flown up to our cabin."
"Yeah I know. I really miss the cabin. Why haven't we gone up there?"
"Your mom can't get any time off. Your brother is always involved in some sports camp or skateboarding tournament or something and your sister never wants to go. I think we're the only nature lovers around these parts."
It felt so good to be talking to him again, seeing him smiling down at me. It was like nothing had ever happened between us.
"Anyway, I need to finish mowing the lawn and then I have to pull the weeds out of the flower bed. Aren't you going to Bart's today?"
"No, Emma doesn't feel like going and I don't really want to go alone."
"Tell you what. You help me pull the weeds and I'll go with you. I could really use a swim. Deal?" He held out his hand. It was his way of offering a peace treaty. I shook his hand and began walking towards the flower bed.
"Sweetie you'll need to put on some gloves. Let's go in the garage and I'll find you a pair."
I followed my dad up to the garage and stepped out of the bright sunshine. He rummaged through the tool chest, at last producing a pair of very sorry looking gloves. He reached out for my hand and I let him push the glove on. He took my other hand and struggled to get the glove to fit.
"Damn thing." He muttered and yanked my arm forward. I slammed against him and for a moment we both just stopped. My chest was against his belly and I could feel electricity wrapping around us. His heart was beating fast, or maybe that was mine, I couldn't really tell. I looked up at him and he looked down at me, a hint of desire swimming in his eyes. He pulled away suddenly and walked back outside. I stayed in the garage a minute and pulled the glove on. I walked out to the flower bed and began pulling weeds. He started up the lawn mower and finished the job a lot sooner than I'd finished pulling those little buggers out of the sun baked soil.
Suddenly he was next to me, helping me yank out the last of them. When we'd both finished it was noon. The sun bore down on us relentlessly. We both stood up and went inside. He went to change into his suit and me into mine. I reaffixed the tight swimsuit I'd had on earlier and rushed out just as I heard him honking the horn. I climbed into the pickup and put on my seat belt, rolling down the window at the same time. I reached out and turned on the radio as he backed out of the driveway.
It was a thirty minute drive to Bart's and it was really hot. My dad's truck didn't have air conditioning and we just suffered through it.
"I need to get some gas so I'm going to pull over, you want a drink from inside?"
I nodded and he turned the wheel in towards the Shell station. He began pumping the gas and then left it going as he went inside. He came out a few minutes later and tossed me a bottle of water. I unscrewed the cap and drank a little, and because my skin was sticking to the leather seat of the car I splashed a little water on myself to cool off. He finished pumping gas and slid into the truck, pulling on his seatbelt. He looked over at me and his eyes lingered on my damp skin. I just sat there, pretending not to notice his inspection. He turned the keys then and I felt a little disappointed. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he drove and more than once caught him looking back at me.
I breathed a sigh of relief as we drove up to Bart's driveway. It was so hot and I was looking forward to going swimming. We went around to the back of the house and just walked in. We came over all the time and he was rarely home. To our surprise, Bart was in the pool, swimming laps, totally naked. I laughed aloud and so did my dad. Bart looked up surprised. He swam over to his trunks, sitting next to the diving board. He pulled them on and then got out of the pool, greeting us with wet hugs.
"Thought you guys decided not to come over."
"We changed our minds." My dad replied.
"Great, the more the merrier."
I decided I'd waited long enough. The water was crystal clear and calling my name. I chucked my sandals, pulled the rubber band from my hair and dove in. The icy sting of the water took my breath away. I pushed up to the surface and what was a hot wind the moment before was now cool and refreshing. Uncle Bart dove in after me and succeeded in splashing me with his haphazard dive.
"You jerk!" I called out laughing as I splashed him when he resurfaced.
"Yeah, you think you're so tough, watch this!" and with those words of warning a tidal wave of water rolled over my head. We shot back at one another for five minutes and when I looked up I didn't see my dad.
"Where'd he go?" I asked Bart.
