Chapter 8 Bruce
brUCE
“Where’s Brody?” Bobby asks as he swims a circle around me but scans the pasture beyond the pond.
“You don’t want to know. Trust that they’ll be along shortly.”
The full moon shines down on us, giving off enough light that I can see the confusion marring his face. I could say more, but I shake my head instead. He truly doesn’t want to know.
While Allyson was chasing me all over the place and I was trying to loop back to take her by surprise, I’d run across my brother and Rix, who were going at it in the bed of his pickup truck. Let’s just say that doggie style is not how I want to picture his ‘full moon’.
Thankfully, Bobby doesn’t get the chance to ask further questions because Shayanne comes over the hill, riding a shirtless Luke’s back piggyback-style. An arm in the air swinging an invisible lasso, she calls out, “Yeehaw, mother truckers!”
In minutes, they’ve stripped down to their underclothes and made their way into the sun-warmed water.
“Been a while since we’ve gone skinny dipping,” Shayanne informs us. As if I want that image in my head either.
But she’s right. It’s been a while for me too.
Actually, I can’t remember the last time I did.
Glancing over at Allyson, I think we should do this more often.
She looks beautiful by moonlight, all goddess and glow with the water lapping at her shoulders.
And I know that beneath the surface, her lacy bra is sticking to her skin and probably sheer enough to let me see her nipples.
Everyone hums some sort of agreement, muttering about skinny dipping when we were younger, but good-naturedly whining about not having the opportunity to do it these days with kids at every turn. We fall silent, the night feeling like a pressure release we all needed.
“Flying cock-n-balls!” James yells out of nowhere and then he cannonballs into the water, splashing half the pond over us. Coming up from beneath the surface, he shakes his hair like a dog, sending even more water flying. “That’s what you call an entrance,” he declares.
“Dumbass,” I mutter, wiping water from my eyes.
“My dumbass.” Sophie has waded in to settle next to her husband and presses a soft kiss to his cheek.
“Are you knees okay?” Shayanne asks her.
Laughing, Sophie says, “Yes, they’re fine.”
I close my eyes, sighing, but ask anyway. “Do I want to know?”
“Oh, I saw James’ balls.” Shayanne says it like she’s saying she saw a goat, just a normal everyday occurrence, but it’s most definitely not.
“Do you shave ‘em? Luke should shave. Then the hairs wouldn’t get stuck in my teeth.” She picks at her teeth, completely unaware or uncaring that that rest of us are staring at her in horror and Luke in disgust.
“You gotta manscape, man,” James says.
Still no answer on why or how Shayanne saw him, or his balls, but I’m pretty sure we all know anyway.
Eventually, Brody and Rix show up. As do Mark and Katelyn. And finally, the gang is all here. All the Tannens and all the Bennetts, swimming in the moonlight.
“Ladies, I’m calling it. We won, fair and square,” Shayanne declares.
I glance at Allyson, feeling like I’m the winner here. This life I get to live is the one I always wanted. It might’ve taken a wrong turn along the way, but we course corrected and ended up where we were supposed to be.
I’m pretty sure the other guys feel the same way – like they won the lottery with their wives too.
“Do you need a reminder of who got who first?” Luke muses.
“You shut your mouth, cowboy!” Shay balks as she pushes his head under water. But instead of him coming up sputtering, she disappears with a yelp as Luke pulls her under.
Good for him. Shayanne needs a little straightening out on occasion, and if he wants to be the one to tackle that, I say she’s his problem. A long way from where we started when we wanted to kill him, I think with a smirk.
“What’s on your mind?” Allyson says, sidling up to my side.
Wrapping my arm around her, I pull her even closer. “You.”
When we start to prune, we make our way to the pond’s shore.
Gesturing to the stacks of towels and piles of blankets, Katelyn explains, “I had Cooper help before signing off for the night.”
“Are we camping out?” Bobby asks.
“I’m not,” I say instantly. I have every intention of taking Allyson home and finishing what we started earlier.
“This old man is sleeping on a Tempur-pedic mattress with a neck pillow,” Mark agrees.
Katelyn reassures us. “I just thought it’d be nice to sit out here and star gaze a bit while we dry off.
Then we can all go home to our comfy beds.
” She says that part directly to Mark. Back to the rest of us, she adds, “Mama Louise has all the kids tonight. Said to come over for breakfast in the morning to get them and don’t fuss at her if they’re hopped up on sugar. ”
“She could feel them all the candy in the world if it meant I’d get a solid eight hours of sleep,” Willow jokes.
We’re all aware that Juniper has barely tasted any sweets at her tender age.
I’m not sure Willow will even give the girl a proper cake for her birthday.
She’ll probably give her some sort of molasses-sweetened cake-like thing instead.
But whatever momma wants, that’s what’ll happen. Bobby wouldn’t have it any other way.
Laughing, we wrap up in towels and spread blankets out, each couple making a space for themselves.
“One more thing,” Katelyn says, popping open a cooler.
I cannot handle another of Mama Louise’s sweet teas. That woman has the constitution of a drunkard, though I rarely see her take more than a sip. Thankfully, a silver bullet comes flying through the air and I catch it readily.
Coors Light? That I can handle. It’s basically water anyway.
As we crack our cans open, I hold mine high. “To a rough life made easy by the love of good woman.”
“Hear, hear,” Brody echoes. “And rough edges to give them something to sand down.”
“And rough love because none of us are built for sweet,” Bobby adds. A second later, he snaps his fingers. “Wait! Let me write that down.”
It’ll probably be his next hit song, a best seller that goes platinum or some shit. I’m proud of him for chasing that dream, especially since it’s let us all live ours.
We should sit and sip our beers, slow down and chit chat a bit, but the day’s been long and I’ve spent enough time with these dipshits today. Especially since the night will be too damn short.
So I chug mine in three gulps, then crush the can. Standing, I pull Allyson to her feet with me. “Well, it’s been fun, but we’ll see y’all in the morning at Mama Louise’s. There’s an empty house calling our name.”
Laughter rings out, but the consensus is that I’m right, and before long, we’re all hustling for our trucks, hurrying to get home to make use of the rare night alone.