Chapter Thirty-Two
THE SOUND OF happy voices made Lauren look up from the plate of apple nachos she was making, and she smiled at the boys as they skipped merrily into the salon. “Hey, guys. How was the beach?”
Reid’s eyes grew wide when he spotted the snack Lauren was making, and he grinned as he scampered for the middle barstool. “Apple nachos!” Apple nachos—apple slices drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce and topped with chocolate chips—were his favorite snack that Lauren made for them.
“We found the treasure!” Peyton and Max added as they climbed up into the chairs on either side of their little brother, greedily grabbing at the apple slices and trying to hoard the ones with the most chocolate chips.
“Dad has it,” Reid shared.
“Well done, you guys.” Lauren leaned forward to give each of the boys a high five.
“You’ll have to show me later.” Movement in her periphery caught her attention, and she looked up to see Grey walking into the salon with Kim and Will.
She blushed at the knowing smirk Kim shot her, and turned to wet some paper towels for the boys to use as napkins.
“Lauren made nachos!” Reid announced to his parents.
“I see that,” Kim said. Reid’s face was already smeared with caramel and chocolate, and the twins looked like chipmunks with their cheeks stuffed to bursting. She chuckled under her breath as she shook her head and ruffled the boys’ hair. “So, good afternoon?” she asked Lauren with a sly grin.
Lauren’s blush deepened, and she nodded. “Very good,” she conceded with a smile. Though, to be fair, even calling the afternoon ‘very good’ was an understatement. She was honestly impressed that she was able to walk.
“What’d you do?” Reid asked. “Did you swim at the beach too? I saw a shark!”
“It wasn’t a shark, Reid.” Peyton rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead dramatically. “It was just a fish.”
“It was a shark!”
“Was not!” Max argued.
“Quiet game on three!” Kim yelled. “One…two…three!”
All three boys shut up and glared at each other.
“God, I love that game,” Kim muttered as she reached past the boys to snag a piece of apple.
Lauren laughed. “My parents used to do that one to us, too. And then it changed into the 'who can hold their breath the longest' game.”
“I’m gonna remember that one,” Kim said, nodding as she looked at her sons. “Of course, with these three, they’ll probably hold their breath so long that they pass out.”
“But, they won’t be fighting.” Will grinned and flashed Lauren a thumbs up. “Thanks for the idea.”
“My pleasure.” Lauren looked past the Muellers to Grey, who was running a hand through her hair as she looked at one of the screens at the navigation center. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Grey nodded as she turned to face the group. “Was just checking some things to make sure that we’ll be okay to jump over to Road Town before it gets dark.”
“We get to go more sailing?” Reid asked.
Peyton and Max grinned victoriously as they slapped the table and pointed at him, clearly celebrating the fact that he was out of the game because he talked.
“We do,” Grey told him. She turned her attention to Will and Kim and smiled.
“If you guys want, Lauren and I can watch the boys tonight and you two can go have a night out on your own. It will be our last night in a port with any kind of nightlife, and we—” she waved a hand between herself and Lauren, “—thought that you guys might like a little grown-up time.”
“That would be great, thank you,” Kim said, smiling at Grey and Lauren before looking at her husband. “Whattaya say?”
“I never turn down offers for free babysitting,” Will answered with a grin.
It was hardly free babysitting, considering how much they had paid to charter the yacht for the week, but Grey just smiled and nodded. “We kinda figured we owed you one.”
“So do we clear out of British customs tonight?” Will asked.
Grey shook her head. “First thing tomorrow morning. I want to get there right when the office opens. Then we gotta head over to Cruz Bay on Saint John to clear-in with U.S. customs. We can do lunch aboard the boat, or else you guys can grab something in town—there are quite a few family-friendly restaurants that are pretty good right by the customs office—and then we’ll skip over to Christmas Cove. ”
“Are there reindeer there?” Peyton asked excitedly.
Max threw his hands up in the air and did a little victory dance in his seat. “I win!”
“Well, the silence was nice while it lasted,” Kim sighed.
“No reindeer, sorry buddy,” Grey told him with a regretful smile. “But, there are some really cool fish, and if we’re lucky there might be a few sea turtles.”
“Turtles are cool,” Max said, grinning at his brothers, who nodded their agreement.
Grey smiled. “Good. So—” she clapped her hands and looked pointedly at Lauren, “—I’m gonna throw the lines and get us moving. We have a spot reserved in the harbor, but I want to try and get there before it gets too packed to maneuver.”
“I can throw the lines for you, if you want,” Will offered.
“That would be great,” Grey said. “Thanks.”
“Us too!” The boys yelled as they hurried to shove what was left of the apple slices into their mouths.
“Finish chewing before you get out of those chairs,” Kim warned. She shook her head at the way her sons groaned and began chewing with a vengeance to try and finish first. “It is not a race.”
“Yeah right,” Will chuckled. “Have you met our kids?”
Kim just rolled her eyes. Everything with the boys was a race. Whether it was seeing who could get dressed the fastest, or who got to the bathroom first to brush their teeth, nothing was done without it being some kind of competition. “Yeah.”
“Here, guys,” Lauren told the boys as she set open bottles of water in front of them. She smiled at the mumbled “fanks” she got from the trio, whose mouths were still full despite their best efforts. “How many apples did you fit in there?”
“You don’t want to know,” Kim answered drolly. “They watched the Nathan’s Hot Dog contest on the fourth with their cousins, and it’s been all downhill from there.”
“Better than when they watched Ninja Warrior with your brother,” Will pointed out. “At least we haven’t taken any trips to the ER for this one…”
“Yet,” Kim added with a resigned shake of her head. She looked at Lauren and explained, “The boys thought it would be fun to climb their doorframes like the ‘ninjas on TV’—” she framed the words with her fingers, “—and Max fell and broke his wrist.”
“Ouch,” Lauren muttered. “Me and my brother used to do that, though. Would drive my mom nuts.”
“Done!” Peyton announced. He looked at his brothers, who were still chewing like maniacs, and grinned. “I win.”
“Not a race, Pey,” Will droned.
Peyton just grinned. “Hey, Dad. Can I have the treasure chest?” He held his hands out as his dad pulled the box out of their beach bag. “Grey, come look!”
Because the salon-side of the counter was crowded with the Muellers, Grey walked around the peninsula to stand by Lauren in the galley so they could be appropriately wowed by the boys’ find.
She smiled at the way Lauren leaned into her when she put a hand on the small of her back, and leaned forward interestedly. “Whatcha got?”
Reid finished chewing in a hurry so he could answer Grey’s question. “Dubballoons.”
“Duh-bloons,” Peyton corrected.
“That’s what I said!” Reid argued.
“No it’s not,” Max said.
“No backing out of that babysitting offer,” Kim told Lauren and Grey.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Grey assured her. “Like I said, we owe you some alone-time.” She smiled at the boys and added, “So, who’s gonna help me get this boat moving?”
“Me!” the boys all shouted as they leapt from their chairs and took off running out the door.
Grey chuckled and gave Lauren’s side a quick squeeze before she started after them. “I’m gonna keep them so busy this afternoon that they’ll pass out as soon as they’ve finished dinner,” she told Kim.
Kim just laughed. “Good luck with that,” she told Grey as the brunette disappeared onto the back deck.