Page 61 of Like You Want It

“Absolutely!” Then she looks to me. “I’m making her a cranberry lime slushy. It’s always been my girl’s favorite. Susie started calling them Care-Berries when we took a trip to Havasu when the kids were little and Iinventeda drink for them since they were too young for alcohol.”

“They’re amazing!” Susie shouts across the room.

Carol laughs, then looks back to me. “Would you like one?”

“It sounds like the most amazing drink that’s ever existed. I willabsolutelytake some,” I reply, and Carol heads off to snoop through the kitchen with a smile.

“So what’s the plan today?” Peter asks, taking a seat on the couch and crossing one leg over the other.

“I was thinking it would be a really fun day if we could all hang out by the pool,” Susie says, bouncing Nell in her lap.

“There’s a pool?” I should be a little embarrassed by how guttural my joy is. But I’m not even ashamed when I step over to the sliding door and pull back the beautiful, sheer curtains to get a peek.

My eyes widen at the massive, designer pool that dominates the backyard. I swear this thing looks like it belongs in one of those pool shows on HGTV. It’s free form shaped with a swim up bar, a sunken food prep area with a massive grill, a large slide and a waterfall. The teenager inside of me is about to rocket into space with excitement.

“I love that idea,” Carol says as she dumps her Care-Berry ingredients into the blender and starts the machine.

As the blender whirs, I allow my eyes to remain on the backyard of my dreams, imagining what it would have been like to grow up with a pool like this. I’d always fantasized about having a pool, a place to hang out with my friends, maybe sneak a few drinkies after dad went to bed.

I wince slightly, remembering the time mom brought up the idea of getting a pool to my dad. I’d been in elementary school at the time, so it was somewhere near the time she passed away.

“We don’t have the money for stuff like that,” he’d said.

“We absolutely do,” she’d chirped back, her hands on her hips.

It was a constant battle between them that I’d recognized even as a child. My mom, the free-spirited hippie with bright eyes and a positive attitude – clearly the parent I take after – always wanting something my dad said we couldn’t have.

“He drives me insane,” she said to me once after he told her she couldn’t take me out of school to go to the movies on the dayMean Girlswas released. As the only child still at home, since Caleb had just left for college, she found safety in talking to me, telling me her secrets. “Let’s just do it anyway.”

I remember smiling as we took off in the car, just the two of us, on an adventure behind my dad’s back.

I love those memories with her.

“Hanging out in the pool sounds amazing,” I say, “but I didn’t bring a bathing suit. I’m so sorry.”

“Nonsense!” Carol declares, waving away my concern with a flick of her dainty wrist. “You can borrow one of mine, or I bet I still have some of Susie’s clothes in her room upstairs. Those are probably more your style and fit anyways.”

“I’ll start there,” I reply, with a smile.

“Take a drink first,” she says, pouring what looks like an absolutely delicious summer drink into two margarita glasses. “Care-Berries!” she enthuses, handing one over and then walking to Susie with the other. Then she leans towards us both and whispers, “but these ones have vodka.”

I giggle.

As Susie takes the drink, Carol picks up Nell and plops the tiny girl on her right hip. “Let’s go get you ready for the pool, missy.” And then she wanders off, presumably to grab a bathing suit for Nell.

“I’m gonna go make sure the pool’s all clean and ready,” Peter adds, getting up from the couch. “You kids come out whenever you wanna jump in.” And then he’s opening the sliding door and heading out.

“Your parents are great,” I say to Susie, taking a sip of my drink. I let my pleasure show on my face and point at the drink. “And so is this! This is flipping amazing.”

“I know right?” Susie says, taking a sip of her own. “I used to beg my mom to make these drinks for me when I was in high school because it always made me feel like I was sipping real margaritas by the pool.”

“Yeah,” Fin interjects, reminding me of his looming presence in the corner. “The only thing that got in the way of you and yourfakedrinks was the fact you used to dump inrealvodka.”

Susie giggles and takes another long drink, eyeing him over the rim.

“Don’t pretend like I’m the only one who got up to some mischief in the pool, mister. If I remember correctly, there was one particular night when you came over to visit and I found a bikini floating in the water, and you and Ashley hiding in the grotto.”

She looks at me. “After Fin got out of the Academy, he started…”