One More Chance by Cheryl Phipps

Author:Cheryl Phipps [Phipps, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cheryl Phipps

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The races began. Involving pushing and jostling, plus a small amount of cheating, the participants wound up exhausted and covered in sand. Liam was a natural at ducking and diving and was extremely fast.

“I declare that the overall winner is Liam. Besides crossing the line before the rest of you cheaters, he wasn’t as rough.” Jeanne stated in a mock judge-like voice.

There were several protests, but the judge would not enter into discussions. “Off you go for a swim before it gets too cold,” Jeanne waved them away.

Outer garments were thrown to the sand. The children ran into the water with Megan, Max, and Allan. Except for Liam. He sat at the water’s edge with a small shovel. The tide had come in and was about to wash away their sand building efforts.

“Don’t you want to swim?”

“No, thank you, Abby. I like playing in the sand.”

She would have let him be except he kept looking wistfully towards the others as he played. “Can you swim, Liam?”

“No,” he said sadly. “My mom said she would teach me. One day.”

“Do you want to learn? Max and I could teach you.”

“What’s this?” Max stood over them, dripping water as he retrieved his cap from the sand.

“Liam doesn’t know how to swim, and I said we’d teach him if he wants to learn.”

Max shook himself like a dog, spraying them drops. “If you’re going to live here for a while, you need to learn to swim. Then we’ll know that you’re safe near the water.”

Liam lifted his face, and his lip quivered. “But I’m scared.”

“No need to be scared, son. Everyone should be very careful around water and only swim when there are people with you. Abby took a while to get the hang of it, but now she swims like a fish, don’t you?”

Max kicked some water at her, and she squealed and stood up. “Stop that!”

“Or what?” His eyes challenged her.

Abby pulled his cap over his eyes and raced to the other side of the moat. Max merely jumped over. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her high in the air, then dumped her in the shallows. Gasping at the coolness of the water, she shrieked. She turned to find Liam a couple of feet into the shallows, looking afraid. He’d probably never seen two adults playing like this. She scooped up some water and threw it up in the air.

“Come on in, Liam, the water’s beautiful.”

Wide-eyed Liam watched her throw some water at Max, who laughed and scooped some over her, then turn and do the same to the boy. For a moment, he was stunned. Then his eyes lit up, and he threw handfuls of water at both of them. Soon the three of them were shrieking and laughing.

“Wait, you two should at least take your tops and shorts off,” Max suggested. His bronzed body glistened in the early afternoon sunshine.

Liam needed no further encouragement. Stripping down to his swim shorts, he threw his clothes onto the sand next to the other’s discarded jumble.

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