Page 66 of Hold You Close
London giggles. “She’s poking all kinds of holes in your game, Ian. Pretty soon you’ll have none left.”
“Oh, I will always have game,” I say confidently, sticking out my chest a little as we cross the street. It feels good to hear her laugh. It feels good to be getting along with her. It feels good to walk like this, Ruby between us, Morgan and Chris just ahead, almost like we’re a family.
Somewhere, Sabrina is smiling. I know it.
True to her word, London is in and out of her house in two minutes, wearing a black cover-up, flip flops, a big straw hat, and carrying a beach bag.
She’s a little breathless when she gets back in the car. “Whew. How’d I do?”
“Perfect.”
She buckles her seatbelt and pulls a pair of sunglasses out of her bag. Slipping them on, she looks into the back of the minivan as I pull out of her driveway. “I brought a bunch of sunscreen, you guys. We need to make sure we get some on you if we’re going to be outside.”
“We already put it on, and we packed some,” Morgan announces.
I can’t help feeling triumphant when London looks at me, her mouth falling open.
“Who are you?” she asks. “And what have you done with the real Ian Chase?”
“Babe, I’m just getting started.” Grinning, I glance at the dash and turn up the volume on the car stereo, which is already connected to my phone and playing one of her favorites, “Once in a Lifetime.”
She gasps and stares at the radio like it’s performing magic. Then she squeals like a teenager. “I love this song!”
“I know.”
She starts singing along, fake mic and all, and I have to laugh because she has a horrible singing voice, but she does not care at all. Even the kids are groaning in the back, but London is in the zone.
“You’re the only girl I see. I want to wake up next to you. Will you be my once in a lifetime?” she croons dramatically.
I wonder if my windshield will crack.
“Uncle Ian, is she going to do this all the way to Lake Mead?” Christopher asks.
London stops singing and straightens up in the seat. “Lake Mead?”
“We rented a boat!” cries Ruby.
“You guys, you weren’t supposed to give it away,” Morgan scolds.
“That’s okay,” I say quickly, catching Ruby’s eye in the rearview mirror and giving her a wink. Her expression goes from worried back to joyful in a heartbeat. “It’s not that long of a ride, so she’d probably guess it pretty soon.”
London claps her hands. “I love Lake Mead! And I haven’t been on a boat in forever. When I lived in Chicago, my roommate’s family had a boat on Lake Michigan they kept at Belmont Harbor—well, it was fifty-five feet long, so it was more like a yacht—and I loved when they’d invite me out on it.”
“Well, princess, I’m sorry to say, our boat today is only a twenty-two footer”—she reaches over and slaps my arm—“but it’s perfect for waterskiing and tubing and knee boarding.”
She bounces around in her seat. “Really? Oh my God, I haven’t done any of that stuff in years! I’m not even sure I remember how.”
“I’ll teach you again.” I glance at her, wondering if she remembers.
A smile curves her lips. “That’s right. You taught Brina and me to water ski that summer your family got the place in Lake Tahoe. God, that was fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” For a moment, both of us get a little lost in the memory of that summer on the lake, when my sister was alive and life was uncomplicated, and our biggest problem was whether to kayak or windsurf each morning. “What was that, like twenty years ago?”
“Nineteen, I think. I remember I’d turned sixteen just before we went.”
Morgan pipes up from the backseat. “Aunt London, what were you like when you were sixteen?”
“She was an annoying little pipsqueak just like your mother,” I say with a grin. “Those two used to drive me crazy.” Imitating their high
