Beach Rental(52)

But, no, he wasn’t upstairs. Juli saw him through the glass insert in the front door. He was on the porch.

He was leaning against the porch rail, but looking to the east as if in conversation with someone on the other side of the porch privacy divider.

She opened the door. Ben gave her a sideways look. The corner of his mouth was quirked up and he was saying, “Is that so?”

Juli moved to stand beside him, leaning against him to look around the end of the divider. Charlie’s grubby hand was pointing down the crossover and his intent was as unmistakable as his words were unintelligible. It sounded like, “Yo yo ganesh, huh.”

“Hi, Charlie,” she said. “Do you need a translator, Ben?”

“No. I think the universal translation is ‘I want to go down to the water.”

Charlie bumped his bare chest against the wooden gate. The gate bounced. The latch held, but the wood was weathered and rough.

“Careful, big guy. You might pick up some splinters,” Ben said.

“Hua.”

“Right.”

Charlie vanished from view for a second. He was quickly back. With one upraised arm, he flung a green plastic shovel over the gate. It skidded a few feet down the crossover and was closely followed by a red bucket. Then Charlie was back again, hands on the gate, shaking it so forcefully the hardware rattled.

Juli reached around the end of the partition and touched Charlie’s arm. She was planning to call out to get his mom’s attention, but Violet was there, sitting in the back corner of the porch. She wore earphones and was texting, her lips moving ever so slightly as she typed.

Juli called out, “Violet!”

She looked up, mouth gaping.

Charlie had stuck one finger in the corner of his mouth and started bouncing up and down, saying, “Um um um…” It was plain to see, in his chubby-cheeked anticipation, he was sure his big sister was being instructed to get up and convey him to his heart’s desire.

“What?” Violet asked.

“Your brother is going to get splinters.”

“Oh.”

Victoria stuck her head out of the door. “Violet, I’m gonna take that thing away from you. Put it away now. Bring your brother in and get him washed up. It’s naptime.” She waved at Juli and Ben, then went back inside.

Violet grabbed Charlie around the waist with one arm and swung him up onto her skinny hip. Her precious cell phone was held carefully in her other hand as she carried him toward the house. Her outraged brother howled.

Ben stepped onto the crossover to retrieve Charlie’s hopeful bucket and shovel. He dropped them back over the small gate onto the porch floor.

“Cute kid,” he said.

“Grubby. A slightly runny nose, but a man with a mission. What’s not to love?”

“Someday… Do you think that one day you’d like to have children?”

She looked Ben squarely in the eyes. “I’m enjoying today. Today is all I need.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What?”

He grasped her arms gently and looked down. “I think you also need shoes. And where did the dress come from? I’m pretty sure you weren’t wearing that when you left. What happened to your hair?”

Juli touched her hair. It was still damp and felt clammy. “I went swimming in Bogue Sound.”

“Swimming? In the sound?”

“Impromptu.”

“You got pushed, didn’t you?” Ben grinned. “I hope you weren’t too angry. We used to do that all the time. Although, we didn’t usually involve unwilling females.”

“We? You and Luke?”

“Among others. We were young, then.”

She pushed his arm playfully. “You actually look a little misty over the memory. Too bad you weren’t there. I’m glad to see you looking better.”

“How’d it happen?”

For some reason, Juli felt like she had to say it right and keep it airy. It was airy, wasn’t it? Not a big deal. “It was unintentional. Luke asked how you were and tripped. We both went sailing…well, not really sailing because we definitely didn’t float.” She watched Ben covertly, from the corner of her eye, and saw nothing concerning. “So then, someone helped me out, but then Jake—do you know Jake? Jake went to help Luke out and got pulled in. After that, I heard other splashes, but I don’t know what happened because I left. Anna loaned me this dress.” She held out her cell phone. “This is a casualty.”

He took the phone. “There are more of these, but only one of you.” He hugged her. “I’m glad you only got wet and not hurt.”

Later, when she was sure most of the guests would be gone, Juli drove back over to Anna’s to retrieve her sneakers.