Forever & A Day

by Donalyn Maurer

  “I didn’t mean to—” my dad begins.

  “You didn’t,” Max cuts him off. “This is a McGinty family tradition.” He unclasps the hooks of the vest and pulls it off.

  I lean over and kiss him sweetly, then ask my dad, “Ready?”

  “Yup. Let’s do this.”

  “Hurry up, sissy,” Abigail calls over, then she jumps in the lake.

  Nash pulls on a vest, then quickly jumps off the back of the boat and starts swimming her way. Nick is about to jump in when he sees this, but backs down. He realizes it’s a McGinty thing, too.

  I turn back towards my dad, and he’s jumping off the back of our boat. Max walks over to the side, holding my skis. He waits for my dad to turn around, then he drops my skis into the water one at a time, pushing them in his direction. Dad grabs on to both, then back pedals out a bit. I glance over and see Jake dropping in a pair of skis to Nash, and see the excitement on Abigail’s face as I prepare to jump in the water. She’s fearless and will probably get up on the first try.

  I start to turn around, having second thoughts, and not wanting to hold up their fun, when suddenly I’m in the lake, and sputtering water from my mouth. I whip around in the water and look back at the boat in surprise. Jesse is standing there grinning at me, while I push the hair from my face.

  “That was not cool!” I call out, but I can’t keep the laughter from my voice. These are the kind of things we use to do when my grandpa was out here with us. I hear laughter from both boats while I swim over to where my dad is, and of course he’s laughing too.

  “You going to let him get away with that, Dad.” I half tease.

  “You’ll have the next couple of days to get him back,” he says through his chuckles.

  “And, I will,” I declare.

  “I have no doubt.” He grins. “Let’s get these on.”

  I lean back as far as I can in the water, with the ski vest resisting my efforts, as my dad slips one of the ski boots on my foot. Immediately my leg turns, along with my body, and I begin to drift away from my dad.

  “Umm, Dad,” I mumble as I twist in the water and begin to float off. Suddenly I’m tugged back by my vest, and my dad is literally cracking up.

  “Going to have to help me out here, sweetheart.” His body, shaking with laughter, is causing ripples in the water around him.

  “Sorry.” I giggle and move my arms around in the water, trying to stay stationary as he slips the second ski on.

  He maneuvers me so I’m facing the boat and leaning back against him. He has the ski rope in one of his hands, and he lifts up the other and gives the signal–a twirl of his finger–to my Uncle Duke, who starts the boat and begins going forward, bringing the rope handle to us. I hear the boat’s engine go back to idling, but we’re still being pulled forward. The force jerks me a bit and I let out a little gasp, as fear and doubt kicks back in.

  “Dad.” I whisper.

  So many times, I tried. So many times, I failed. I’m terrified of disappointing them all. I’m scared of not living up to their expectations. I glance nervously at everyone in the boats, but they’re excited for me. Not concerned, or sad, or angry. Just excited. It’s then I realize it’s not their expectations I’m worried about not living up to, it my own. I’m not worried about disappointing them, I worried about disappointing myself. Knowing this is not good, I attempt to get my head back into the game.

  “The trick is to lean back. When you’re pulled forward, resist. Make it work to pull you out,” he instructs, positioning the handle in my grip.

  “Okay.” I take a deep breath and lean back.

  When music sounds across the water from Jake’s boat, I groan then laugh. It’s a joke on Abigail and me as, Let the Bodies Hit the Floor, plays loud. My dad is still behind me, still laughing. Dad holds me steady for a few seconds, so I take this moment to glimpse over at Abigail. Nash has her the same way Dad has me and, like us, they’re laughing too.

  “Ready?” Nash calls and Dad calls back, “Ready.”

  I feel my dad pulling me back and holding me steady. “Ready?” he whispers in my ear. I give a nod and then my dad yells out the command, “GO!” It’s loud enough for both Jake and Uncle Duke to hear it, and before I realize what’s happening, I’m jerked forward and the handle flies from my grip. I lean back and groan in frustration, but my dad is there.

  “Sorry, Dad.”

  “No big deal. Same thing happened to Abigail.” Jake and Uncle Duke take off and circle us, bringing the ski ropes back around. “Don’t get discouraged. It’s going to take a few tries. It’s been a couple of years since you even tried. No one expects you to get it right off,” he rallies me on.

  “Okay. I won’t.”

  When the rope reaches us, Dad guides it through his hand until he has the handle, then hands it to me. The boat is pulling me forward again, and I lean back and resist while trying to keep my skis straight. Dad doesn’t give me much time to think about it this time. When he has me ready and feels the resistance, he yells out, “GO!” again.

  I barely catch on that Jake’s boat is gunning it too. I’m being forced forward, but I push my skis to stay upfront, and lean back so that I’m almost lying back in the water. My elbows are bent, holding the handle close to my vest and my skis are swaying side to side, as I struggle to keep them straight. Then I feel it. My skis stop wobbling and they straighten. Next thing I know, the cool air is covering my body instead of the water. It’s then that I realize I’m up. I glance over and see Abigail is up, too. I want to scream out in joy, but I don’t dare break my stance.

  Just a few seconds in, my excitement turns to panic. We’re heading towards the beach, so I know Uncle Duke is going to have to turn. Turning means me gliding over the water and the boat’s wake. “Oh, dang. This isn’t going to be good,” I mutter to the summer air as panic sets in. I keep my stance, but hold my breath when I begin heading towards the boat’s wake. Then, like he’s right there with me, I hear him, “bend and relax your knees,” my grandpa’s voice instructs.

  My eyes widen in shock before I do what he says. I let my knees bend as I bounce over the wake. When I make it clear and I’m still standing, everyone in Uncle Duke’s boat cheers. I take a chance and glance over at Abigail. She’s done the same, and their boat is cheering too. I smile wide when Uncle Duke whips off his hat and waves it in the air in celebration, and lets out a whoop. When he straightens the boat back out, I prepare to go back over the wakes. I see they’re bigger than last time and let out of a string of cuss words.

  “Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Ooooooh shit.” I cringe when I feel my body jerking over the waves, and then I’m back behind the boat.

  Now the music has changed. Celebration, is blaring and I can see Kore and Bradley dancing in their seats in Jake’s boat. Allie is with my Aunt Savannah, and they’re holding up their phones taking picture or videos, not sure which. But when my eyes find my Max, he’s not cheering, he’s leaning against the back of the boat, eyes on me with the biggest, proudest smile. Too scared to do anything dumb like release one of my hands to give a thumbs up, I blow him a kiss. His grin widens, and he blows me a kiss back.

  Abigail and I do well for the next little bit, but then Abigail wipes out and I witness the entire thing. The wipe out is hilarious and I start cracking up. I laugh so hard I lose control and wipe out as well. When I come back to my senses, I see Uncle Duke whipping the boat around, but it’s then I notice that both my skis are gone. I look around for them and find one is drifting off to my right, and the other is way behind me on my left, and I can’t help but break into a fit of laughter.

  Once I get control of my hysteria, I swim over and grab one of the skis. About the time I start for the other one, I hear a splash and look over at the boat. Jesse has jumped in and headed for my other ski. Once he grabs it, he swims over to me and I can see he’s grinning.

  “You did awesome, brat,” he praises when he stops a few feet from me.

  “Thank you.”

>   “Want to go again?” he asks.

  I know that as happy as he is for me, he wants his turn. “No. I’m tired. You go. Show your woman all your mad skills,” I tell him.

  “You sure?” he searches my eyes.

  “Positive.” I stare at him with a huge smile and he nods and smiles back.

  “Okay. Let’s go pick up Nash and Dad.”

  “Oh noooo,” I gasp and look around for both of them.

  “They’re fine. We kept it in a tight circle. They never left our sight.”

  “So they saw?” I ask, then start back for the boat with him next to me.

  “Everything,” he says as we swim.

  When we get closer to the boat, Uncle Duke cuts the engine. Jesse hands my skis up to Max, and he lets the water drain off of them before he sets them aside. I’m halfway up the boat's ladder, when Max is there reaching out for my hand. I take it and he helps me the rest of the way in. Next, I’m given a big kiss of congratulations.

  “Did you see?” I ask.

  “Every second,” he promises with a smile.

  I pull off my vest, and half dry off with one of the towels in the boat before I make my way to Uncle Duke, and wrap him up in a tight hug. Before I let him go, I look up and see he’s smiling wide and proud. His eyes, my grandpa’s eyes, are blue and shining.

  “Thank you,” I say, but it’s doesn’t seem like it’s enough. What he did for me, I can never put into words.

  “Oh darlin’, it was my pleasure,” he says softly.

  I step back and smile at him, then turn and head back to Max. I stop in my tracks and my eyes turn glassy when I hear him again. “That’s my girl. A McGinty you are. I told you it was in your blood,” I hear clear as day. My grandpa’s voice praises me as well.

  “Thank you, Grandpa,” I regard the sky and whisper. I’m broken from my thoughts when I hear sweet Allie’s voice.

  “Jaycee, wow, that was awesome. I was about to accuse you of fibbing, but in the end, you did not disappoint,” she teases, and both of us to laugh.

  Jesse stays in the lake holding onto the ski rope, as Uncle Duke makes his way over to Jake’s boat. Jake’s picked up both, Nash and Dad, and now Jake is putting on a vest as Dad takes the wheel.

  “Dad!” I call out across the water. “Did you see?”

  “Hell yeah, I did. You did great!” he calls back, wearing a huge grin.

  For the next couple of hours everyone takes turns skiing. Like we’ve never missed a summer, Jake and Jesse blow us away. Jake’s sprays are epic, as Jesse does flips and turns across the water. Nash gets in on the action with Jesse, and at one point we all freak out when Nash bends down and Jesse does a flip over him. Connor and Bradley go next, then it’s a free for all.

  In between everyone trading out for a turn on the water, we jump in and swim. Jake’s boat pulls three skiers at a time, and Uncle Duke’s is doing the same, only with Max and Nick getting in on their turn. It’s no surprise they both already know how to ski, as this is how most Texans spend their summers. Even Uncle Duke and Dad have a turn skiing before we head in.

  When we dock back at the pier everyone is still pumped about our day. When I see Grandma lounging in a chair, I hurry from the boat in my swimsuit, not even bothering to grab my things. I rush barefoot along the blazing hot dock, immediately regretting not having slipped on my flip flops.

  “Crap. Damn. Ohmigawd, that’s hot.” I finally let out a sigh when I reach the cool concrete under the cover of the dock. “Grandma, I did it!” I exclaim, and see she’s laughing at me.

  “Me too!” Abigail calls out as she rushes over to us, letting out a string of curses from the hot dock, having had made the same mistake I did. Everyone cheers and congratulates us, between laughing at our antics.

  “Well girls, you’re going to have to do it again tomorrow, so I can see,” she informs us with a proud smile.

  Nick and Max walk up holding our things we left in the boat, and drop our flips flops down on the dock next to our feet while cracking up, but I ignore them. I’m still high from showing off my new skiing skills. Yes, I have skiing skills. Not great ones, but at least I have them now.

  “That we can do, Grandma,” I promise.

  28

  As usual, time flies while we’re at the lake. We’re all sitting around visiting, relaxed, because other than us, it’s really quiet. I ask why the place is so deserted, and Uncle Brock tells me once Horseshoe Bay opened across the water the tourists migrated over there. I find that I prefer it like this–just us. Chase and Callie tell us it was a bust, and all hopes for a catfish dinner are gone, as they caught nothing. Victoria still hasn’t arrived, and Chase told us that there was emergency at the hospital, and she had to stay for an undetermined amount of time. Hopefully she’ll be arriving tomorrow.

  We all pack up, while Jake and Uncle Duke take the boats around and park them in the rented slips for safe keeping overnight. Then we’re piling into the cars and heading to the resort to shower and change, before meeting at the Bluebonnet Cafe for dinner.

  We all split up and head to our rooms, which have us split between three floors. The “old folks” are actually taking up the entire sixth floor, which is also the top floor. Some of the other parents coming in like, Ana and Acer, Tara and Jack, Case and Skye, Lina and Red, and China and Ronan, will be arriving soon and head up there. The rest of us are taking up the fourth and fifth floors, and from what I’ve been told, our wedding guests have secured many of the rooms on the floors beneath us.

  Max drops our bags on our bed, and I go through them, unpacking my makeup bag, shampoo, conditioner and soap, and take them into the bathroom. I place my bag on the vanity, then set the rest on the side of the tub. I walk back into the room and began shuffling through the packed clothes for something to wear, when Max snakes his arm around my waist and turns me around to face him.

  “Jayc, you out there, in that bikini, owning the water and your fucking smile? Best smile I’ve ever seen,” he growls then kisses me.

  I wrap my arms around him and hold tight, as he walks us into the bathroom, never breaking our kiss. His hands untie the strings of my bikini, then pull it from between us and tossing it aside. I slide my hands up under his shirt, pulling it up as I go. He breaks the kiss and leans down, so I can pull it from him. I drop it the ground, then slide my hands back up his smooth hard chest. He wraps an arm around my waist and holds me steady, as he reaches in and turns on the shower, then his lips are back on mine. Shortly after, both our bottoms are gone and forgotten.

  When I bought this bikini, I had Max in mind. Of course, knowing I was going to be wearing it around my family, I kept it modest, but it’s still sexy. It’s a soft pink and sits low, but snug, on my hips. The top ties around my back and neck, and the cups sit a little wide, showing a hint of the swell of my breasts. Max’s board shorts are black with a blue stripe, and rest just right on his hips, and he looks hot. He pulls me in the shower, kisses me, and turns me around so I’m facing the wall.

  “You know what to do,” he moans from behind me. And boy do I. Showering together every morning, we’ve done everything possible and then some. Max’s favorite, as well as mine, is me bent forward, hands on the shower wall, on my tips toes. He trails his fingers down my back, then around my waist and up to my breast, while the warm water coats both of us. When he teases my nipples, pinching them, I whimper. One hand separates, then goes down and circles me.

  “Max, now, please,” I beg.

  He slides his warm lips and tongue along my shoulder and neck, before releasing my breast and cupping my chin. He turns my face up to his and savagely kisses me. I return everything he’s giving while the shower sprays on us, making it even more erotic. When we break, he places his big palm on my back and pushes me forward. I lean low, palms flat on the tile while I gaze back at him. He strokes himself, while caressing me at the same time, torturing me with his movements.

  “Please,” I whimper.

  He gives me a hungry once
over, then comes forward and guides himself inside me. I moan my pleasure when I feel him bottom out. He grabs my hips, holding me steady, then begins to slam into me and I’m already on edge. My head falls forward and my body tenses, as he takes us there fast and hard. Max leans down, sliding his hand around my waist and down, then begins circling causing me to cry out his name. He increases his pressure as he moves harder and faster, and then I’m there, falling over the edge with him right behind me. He groans out my name, holding me tight as we both catch our breath. Finally, he slides from me, then turns me around and kisses me long and sweet, before pulling me under the shower’s spray.

  We make quick work of showering, but even in our limited time now, we go through our ritual of taking care of each other like we do each morning. Max washing my hair and back and, me washing his chest and arms; my most favorite thing about him next to his beautiful smile.

  Next, we dress. I put on a tan crocheted halter top, that rests just above my belly button, and white lacy shorts. When I walk out of the bathroom, after doing my makeup and pulling my hair into a loose bun on the top of my head, Max groans.

  “I’ll never get over how beautiful you are.” His eyes travel up and down my body. My eyes are taking him in as well. Max is so tanned and beautiful. He’s wearing dark gray shorts and a white button down short sleeve shirt, that fits tight against his muscled arms and chest. “We need to get out of here,” he growls.

  “Yes. Good idea,” I agree, then grab my purse while he grabs the resort keycard and his wallet. He pulls me out the door and down the hall, where we wait for the elevator to take us down to lobby to wait for the others.

  29

  It doesn’t take long for everyone to meet, because being out on the lake all day has left us starving. I’m thankful the cafe is only a ten minute drive from the resort. When we get inside a hostess nods and smiles.

  “The McGinty party?” she asks with a southern drawl.