Lakeside Love

All Together, Now

I placed the diaper bag over my shoulders, slipped on my sunglasses, and grabbed my two girls, putting one on each of my hips.

"I'm heading out, Dad!" I said.

"Okay! Have fun!" he shouted from his bedroom.

I opened the front door with my elbow, then placed each of the girls in the wagon. I fastened the seatbelts of the wagon, then put on each of their sunhats.

"Look at my beach babies! You two are just too cute!" I said, taking a quick picture of them.

I immediately uploaded it to all my socials with the caption "on our way to our first summer beach trip!" After that, we were off. I went around the corner, slowly down the hill, and across Main Street to the beach, which was pretty crowded for a Monday. We were getting into the height of the season though.

I listened to the girls as they babbled to each other. They really did have their own twin language, I swear.

"Goodness, how cute! Are they twins?" asked an old lady sitting on a beach blanket.

"They are!" I said, a proud smile on my face.

"That's wonderful. They're absolutely precious! How old?"

"They're almost eight months old," I said.

"Aww, such little sweeties!" she said.

"Thank you so much," I said, pulling their wagon across the sand.

I made my way to an area set up with an umbrella, a cooler, and several blankets. Brayden immediately got up to help me push the wagon closer. This thing was great for pulling the girls around the street, but was definitely not meant to go offroad.

"Dude, you cut your hair?" I asked, my eyes popping out of my head when I saw DJ.

"Hell yeah! My parents wanted me to look super professional for graduation," he said. "But now that they've got the photos they want, I'll start growing it back out again."

I took Brielle out of the wagon while Brayden grabbed Roselle. We each put them in one of their special seats in a shady spot under the umbrella. They both were kicking their feet and taking in the sights and sounds of the busy beach.

"I feel really bad that I had to miss it. I know it was important," I said to the guys.

"They both had fevers. What were you supposed to do?" Brayden asked.

"I know, but I still feel bad," I said. "I'm just so glad they're better now. That was awful."

"Me too," Brayden said.

"Yo, check it out!" DJ said.

I looked and saw Opal making her way down the beach. I ran full speed, practically screaming, and tackled her so hard she fell into the sand. Now that she was here, our whole group was finally all together again.

I felt so much peace in that moment as Brayden put his arm around me and I looked at the faces of my friends. It had taken so long for this moment to get here. I'd wanted to be back here in Allistar Lake since the second I left last year.

"So I do want to propose a small toast to Kimi," Opal said, raising her can of soda in the air. "Congrats on the trial last month!"

"Yes girl! Glad that son of a bitch got ten years," DJ said.

"Here, here! To Kimi!" Brayden said.

"Thanks guys," I said, clinking my can of soda with all of theirs. "So, what do you guys want to do this summer?"

"Now that we added a new entrance to the basement, my parents said I'm allowed to show you guys the board shop!" DJ said.

"We can really go to your house for once?" I asked.

"I'd normally give you some kind of snide remark, but I'm legit happy that you're following your passion and have uber rich parents that can invest in your skateboard business," Opal said.

"Aww, thanks supergirl," he said, tipping his baseball cap. It had the logo for Mothership Boards Inc. on it.

DJ and his aliens. He somehow found a way to put his obsession with them and skateboards together, and he turned it into a business. He designed custom boards in his parents' basement and sold them online.

"I'll be back and forth at the pub taking on more hours. College is too expensive. Gotta save up so I'm not drowning in student loans," Brayden said.

"I'm so thankful you're only going to a college that's a half hour away," I said.

"Well, I am in a long term relationship," he said, giving me a kiss on the lips.

"Damn, that's right. You guys are almost at a year now! Are you gonna do anything special?" Opal asked.

"Six weeks until then. And I'm not sure," I said.

"I may or may not have something planned," Brayden said.

"Oh really?" Opal said, holding out her hand and pointing to her ring finger.

"Girl, no. We're seventeen and eighteen. Absolutely not. Maybe someday, but no," I said.

"Oh calm down. I'm just teasing you!" she said. "So you finished all your finals for online school?"

"I have one more tomorrow, which is chemistry, so I'm not worried about it. But I'm gonna take summer classes to see if I can get ahead and finish in December instead of May. Then after that I'll worry about finding a job."

"What do you think you'll go to school for?" DJ asked.

"I dunno. I literally have no clue what I want to do with my life. I just want to keep spending time with my girls. I love kids, so maybe I'll go into teaching? I'm not sure," I said.

"Well you have time to figure it out," Brayden said.

"But if DJ is busy with his skateboard and Brayden is busy at the pub, I'll still be around to hang with you," Opal said, nudging me. "I want to spend some time with my surrogate nieces!"

"Oh please, the way we are, I know we'll find time to hang out," Brayden said.

"So, who wants to go test out the water?" I asked.

"It's probably too cold," DJ said.

"When you live this far north, warm water is pretty much nonexistent," Brayden said, taking off his shirt to reveal his abs. He'd really been working out lately.

I took off my sundress and grabbed Roselle. Brayden picked up Brielle. We all walked down to the water and I put my toes in. Yikes. It was definitely cold.

"Look Rosie! Do you want to go in the water?" I asked. "Here we go!"

I lowered her down to put her feet in, and she put her legs out to the side. She wasn't having it. Brielle though, she was smiling and having a blast as Brayden held her by the arms. She was splashing her little feet everywhere.

"DJ! I hate you so much right now! Get back here!" Opal said.

I looked over and saw that she was soaked from head to toe. DJ had swiped one of the sand castle buckets I brought for the girls and was using it to hurl water at poor Opal.

Brayden and I were laughing up a storm as the sun shined down on us, sending sparkles over the waves of Allistar Lake. It was a beautiful day, and I had a beautiful life. I didn't know what the future held for all of us, but I couldn't wait to find out.

***

The End!

Thank you all so much for reading. I hope you loved reading this story as much as I loved writing it. As always, I'll see you over at the next book!