Page 21 of Patio Lanterns (The Blue Canoe Cottage #1)

He smiled at her as he fought to catch his breath. “I’m so glad I didn’t bring my bike today.”

The moment they walked into the Blue Canoe, Mutt greeted them with elated barks, plenty of waggles, and wet kisses, then Rick and Robin immediately went their separate ways to avoid raising suspicion. She crept upstairs. He strode into the kitchen, whistling happily.

“Hey Dad,” Aidan greeted, tucking a work pencil behind his ear. Lark and Nova were standing next to him, looking like they were headed for the beach.

“Well, good afternoon, all,” he said, giving them a little wave.

Nova giggled and held up her hand to him. He met her high five, and she slapped his palm right on cue. “Oof! You walloped me good again!” He winced in mock pain, staggering backwards as he held his arm. She squealed with laughter.

“Oh, she likes you,” Lark said. “Even if you are kind of a weakling to let a two-year-old take you down so easily.”

Rick laughed. “That girl is stronger than you think.”

“Well,” Lark said, “we’ll leave you to get your work done. We just wanted some juice before going for a little splash time.”

“Sounds good, see you later,” Aidan said, as they walked past. He then clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “All right, you ready to get to work?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Rick said. He picked the measuring tape out of the open toolbox on the counter. “Let’s do this.”

Aidan shook his head. “C’mon, Dad, don’t be so old school. Use the digital measure. The laser level is far more accurate.”

“For measuring cabinet doors?” Rick asked before stopping himself. Cool it. Aidan is the foreman on this project, he should be the one to make the calls. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s probably much more precise.”

They each focused on one side of the cupboards, taking measurements of the cabinet openings, then adding in the required amount of overlay for the doors being installed. Ideally, their separate calculations should match.

“So, have you thought any more about my proposal?” Aidan asked.

Rick had been expecting the blitz and had readied his block. “I have,” he said. “And I’d still like to review your partnership contract and know more about the scope of this project before committing that kind of capital.”

“But I’ve already told you everything you need to know.”

“I would’ve never, ever advised a client to blindly make an investment before thoroughly researching the risk and reviewing the prospectus. So, I’m sorry, Aidan, but I can’t give you the money until I know more about it.”

Aidan relented. “You’re being careful, and I respect that,” he said. “But don’t just think of it as investing in a real estate development project, think of it as making an investment in my future success.”

Rick resented having the squeeze put on him. He bit his tongue before he said anything he’d regret. When he didn’t respond, Aidan looked over.

“Hey, no worries,” he said. “I’ll back off and give you a bit more time.”

“That’d be great,” Rick told him.

He heard footsteps and a set of paws trodding down the stairs.

“Oh, hey guys, I didn’t know you were both here.”

Rick turned toward Robin’s voice, nearly losing his balance when he caught sight of her in an eye-popping blue bikini top and cutoff shorts.

The scanty bits of cloth barely covered her breasts, making what little she wore even more titillating than if she’d come down the stairs completely nude. And now, he was visualizing that too.

She wiggled her fingers at him and he caught the naughty glint in her eye. This wicked woman loved to test his resolve, but this level of teasing was downright diabolical.

Aidan turned and let out a wolf whistle. “Jesus, Robbie. You look fire.”

She dropped the sack of mail from the store onto the dining room table. “Where is everyone?” she asked sweetly.

“Lark and Nova went down to the water. Dove is… well, I’m not sure,” Aidan said, “I haven’t seen her since I got here.”

“Well, I think me and Mutt will go sit on the deck and read some smut,” she said, waving a book in her hand. “Ha ha, isn’t that funny? Reading smut with Mutt.”

She opened the fridge door, staring inside for a moment before moving to the counter. Standing behind Rick, she reached around to swipe a pear from the fruit bowl directly in front of him, pressing her tits into his back. If she was trying to make him lose his cool, it was working.

She giggled. “Oop, pardon my reach.”

The moment the screen door slammed behind her, Aidan and Rick exchanged a quizzical look. Aidan let out a low whistle. “Wow, some girl, hmm?”

Rick took a second to respond, wrestling between acting as if he’d hardly noticed Robin in the room and acknowledging her presence with a little friendly guy talk.

While reluctant to discuss the finer points of Robin’s body with anyone, let alone his own son, Rick also realized it was his chance to show Aidan he could be one of the boys. “Quite the eyeful.”

Aidan laughed. “And boy, does she know it too.”

They each went back to concentrating on the work at hand until Aidan went and brought Robin up again. “She used to have a thing for me, you know,” he said. “Poor kid had it pretty bad too. One time, she wrote me this love letter…”

“Love letter?” Rick questioned.

“Yeah, she wrote all this spicy stuff, so it was pretty infamous when it blew up. It might’ve actually been pretty hot if it hadn’t come from Lark’s kid sister.”

“What do you mean it blew up?”

“I guess I’d accidentally left it lying around, and someone found and read it. Probably Mom. Anyway, it got back to Robbie’s parents, and she got grounded big time. It was a total embarrassment.”

Rick could only guess how devastating it must’ve been for Robin. One doesn’t just brush off a personal violation of privacy like that. He then wondered if her crush on Aidan had merely been a fleeting infatuation or if it ran deeper than either of them was letting on.

“You know, I think I might ask her out,” Aidan said out of the blue.

Rick’s head jerked. “What?”

“You said yourself we’d make a cute couple,” he said. “She’s still a hoot to be around, and let’s face it, you’d have to be blind not to see she’s all woman now.”

Rick grumbled silently, trying to keep his shit together without looking like he had to. “On second thought, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. I mean, you wouldn’t want to jeopardize your friendship with Lark by dating her sister.”

“Nah, Lark is cool. She’s been talking Robbie up to me for weeks, and you saw yourself last night how she was trying to get us together. Trust me, she wouldn’t be mad about it.”

Rick did not like where this was headed, and making it worse, that he’d been complicit in planting the idea in Aidan’s head. “Well, I suppose you could always ask and see what she says.”

“See what who says about what?” Lark asked from behind them. She swayed from side to side, rocking a sleeping Nova on her shoulder. Rick figured splash time was a bust.

At that moment, Robin bounced back inside the cottage with Mutt who went straight for his water dish. “Hoo, it’s warm out there. Forgot the sunscreen,” she tittered, as all eyes fell on her. “What’s going on? What are we talking about?”

“Nothing important,” Rick assured her.

“Actually,” Aidan said, “I was just saying that you and me ought to grab a beer tonight.”

“Tonight?” Robin caught Rick’s eye, then quickly looked away. “Oh, you know, I’d really love to, but I already have plans.”

Rick smiled to himself. Yeah, she does.

“You do?” Lark asked Robin. “Doing what? With whom?”

“Things to do, people to see. I’m very busy planning mom’s celebration of life, you know.”

“Well, whatever it is, surely you can change your plans to go out with Aidan tonight. Don’t be rude.”

“Hey,” Aidan interrupted. “Honestly, it’s no big deal Robbie, we’ll do it some other time.”

Robin nodded. “Raincheck for sure.”

The screen door opened and closed, then Dove entered the chat. Judging by her athletic wear and the beads of sweat on her rosy face and neck, she’d been out for a run.

“You’ll never believe what I just heard,” she said, digging out her earbuds. “You remember the Koskies a couple of streets over?”

“Scene of some epic parties back in the day,” Aidan said with a grin.

“I bumped into Debbie Koskie. She told me her folks are thinking of selling their place.”

“Wow, really?” Lark said. “They’ve been coming to Lake Whippoorwill as long as we have. Their cottage is probably close to the same age as ours too.”

“Yeah, I know,” Dove said. “Debbie seemed kind of in shock about the whole thing. It came up really suddenly.”

“Maybe it’s an unexpected health matter, like Mom?” Robin asked.

Dove shook her head. “She told me her parents weren’t even entertaining the idea of selling until some buyer offered them eighteen and a half percent over current market value,” she said. “Given the economy, that offer is just too tempting to turn down.”

Aidan whistled. “Shit, eighteen and a half percent over market value? For that, I’d sell my place and give away the naming rights of my firstborn.”

Lark agreed. “I don’t blame them. You’ve got to take what you can these days. The market hasn’t rebounded, and people aren’t getting as much as they used to.” She said. “The Koskies are right. Even if they weren’t looking to sell, that amount is too good to pass up.”

“Too good?” Robin tilted her head. “I thought you were on Team ‘I Won’t Sell Because I Have to Pass This Cottage on to My Grandkids.’”

“Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t examine every option available,” Lark told her. “Trust me, if we got an offer like that, we might be having an entirely different discussion.”

“Hearing about the Koskies kind of makes you think,” Dove said sadly. “If people keep leaving, what’s going to become of Lake Whippoorwill? It’s going to be the end of an era. All those years of memories will be wiped out.”

“Some things you can’t ever put a price tag on,” Rick assured them. “Just like there are things that cannot be bought, no matter the price someone’s willing to pay.”