Flirting with Fire: A Summer Camp Swingers novel

I watched them go and couldn’t help but chuckle. Poor Spike had learned his lesson the hard way. Molly had only bitten him once, years ago, but he’d needed stitches and had had to wear one of those plastic cones for a week. These days, he gave her a wide berth when she was guarding her human.

The human in question wrapped her towel around her small body and sank to her knees to give Molly a hug. Then she stood and walked behind the rocks that formed the waterfall. She was short enough that they hid her entirely, although she appeared a moment later with the cream-colored dog at her side.

I watched them both and felt a pang of love. Emily already had Christy’s natural grace, plus her hair, complexion, and supercharged metabolism. Christy’s parents and brothers all swore that Emily was a little Birdy, and I couldn’t really argue.

“Five two?” Allie wondered.

“What? Oh. Emily wants to be a pilot. In the Navy. She needs to be at least 5’2”.”

“Ah.”

“Do you need anything?” Emily asked as she approached us. “Something to drink?”

I glanced at Allie. “Snapple?”

“Sure.”

“Two Snapples,” Emily said. “Coming right up.”

“Thanks, sweetie.”

She and Molly returned with a couple of bottles and a can of Boost.

I nodded at the protein shake. “Much better.”

“I know. Thanks for reminding me.”

She set our drinks on the table and shook the can as she walked around the pool. Susie and the other girls had finally decided they’d had enough swimming for one day, so they’d pulled several lounge chairs together and were enjoying the late afternoon sun. Emily sat demurely on the end of the chair where Madison half-reclined in a gangly sprawl of arms and legs.

“She’s so mature,” Allie said about Emily. “I keep hoping she’ll rub off on Maddy, but…”

“Kids mature at different times,” I said. “Besides, Em’s mature for a different reason, a not-so-good one.”

“Ah, right,” Allie agreed. Then she turned thoughtful. “Did it really affect her that much? I mean, she was… what… eight or nine when Christy went to treatment?”

“Nine,” I confirmed. “But it was bad for a couple of years before that. It affected all of us, just in different ways.”

“I know, but— Sorry,” she said abruptly. “We can talk about something else.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Allie sat back and shook her head in mild disbelief. “I still can’t understand how she hid it all those years. I mean, I saw her almost every day, and I never realized…”

“She hid it from me too. That’s what alcoholics do.”

“I guess you’re right. I’m glad she’s better now, though.”

“Me too.”

“Sorry,” Allie repeated after a moment. “I didn’t mean to get so serious. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Sure. Anything in particular?”

“Yes, actually. How much would it cost to design a place like this? Just the house,” she added quickly. “I don’t think I can afford the rest.”

“Well,” I said slowly, “the design would be free. The rest depends on what you want. Why do you ask?”

“Long story. The short version is that I’m ready for something new.”

“Ah. Okay,” I said diplomatically. “Well, in that case…”

* * *

Mark called before the pizzas arrived. His clients had agreed to the lease and taken him for drinks.

“Now they’ve invited me to dinner,” he explained. “It’ll probably be late when we finish. Would you mind if McKenna spends the night?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll pick her up tomorrow. Is ten o’clock too late?”

“That’s fine.”

“Leah wanted to talk to her tonight.”

“Have her call my cell,” I volunteered.

“Awesome. Thanks again, man. I owe you, big time.”

I heard a car door in the driveway at the same time as someone said something to Mark in the background.

“Hey, I’d better let you go,” he said. “Tell Mac I love her. And her mom’ll call before bed.”

“Will do.”

We said goodbye and hung up.

“Be right back,” I said to Allie. Then I called across the pool, “Girls! Pizza’s here!”

I went inside to grab my wallet and then headed out to the driveway through the door by the garage. The pizza delivery guy must have been new, because he was nowhere in sight. I skirted the landscaping and walked around the front of the house.

The main entry was the one thing I regretted about the design. It was literally my dream house, a Craftsman ultimate bungalow that looked amazing from the driveway and even better in the pages of Architectural Digest. The front door, however, was not my proudest achievement. In fact, it was a pain in the ass most of the time.

Like most people, we lived our lives around the kitchen, breakfast area, and living room, along with the patio and pool. They were technically the back of the house, but I thought of them as the front. The actual front of the house was a seldom-used guest bedroom, a sitting room, and the formal dining room. We only used it for holiday sit-down meals and the occasional birthday party. It was a project room the rest of the time, and I thought of it and the others as “the back” of the house.

Sure enough, the pizza guy was waiting at the front door. He looked annoyed and rang the doorbell again.