“I was working for you for free,” Nick corrected in a threatening tone.
She burst out laughing. “See? You guys have a great sense of humor.”
“Why can’t I find any women like that?” Nick asked his brother.
“You’re looking in the wrong place maybe?” he suggested.
“Maybe they’re not looking for you,” Doreen suggested.
“It’s not really as if I’m looking either. It’s just, you know, it’s people that I kind of cross.”
Mack tsked-tsked and called out, “Children, children, play nice.”
The two of them settled down until they got to the beach. She stared out at the open water. “See? It looks beautiful.” She pointed to other paddleboarders. “And they look incredibly graceful, like they’re one with the water. It’s just such an awesome thing to see, but, when I’m out there, that’s a different story.”
Nick frowned at her. “Do you really think your paddleboarding is that bad?”
“I can’t hold my balance,” she explained. “It just reminds me of all the things that I can’t do, and this became yet another told you so.”
“It’s not that you can’t do it,” Mack corrected. “You just need to practice.”
“Easy for you to say.” She glared at him. “That’s because you do it effortlessly. Now the trick will be whether your brother can do it quite the same.”
Nick shrugged. “I used to paddleboard all the time,” he noted apologetically. “So I’m really not expecting it to be hard.”
Immediately her shoulders slumped. “Darn. … I was hoping you’d be as bad as I am.”
He grinned at her. “Come on. Buck up,” Nick replied. “Just think. It can’t be as bad this time.”
“Yeah? You know what? I’ve heard that a time or two,” she noted in dark tones. “I think people lie.”
But gamely she grabbed her board, and, with the animals in tow, she walked down to the water’s edge. As soon as Goliath realized where they were going, he immediately turned on her and walked back up to the grass. “Even Goliath has deserted me,” she announced.
Mack laughed. “What about the other two?”
“Well, they don’t want to swim with me,” she noted, “so they’ll have to go with you.’
He called Mugs over. Mugs immediately hopped onto the board, walked to the far end, and lay down. He was no lightweight, so the board tipped ever-so-slightly.
At that, Nick looked at her and asked, “The animals go out on the boards?”
“They do with Mack because they trust that they won’t end up in the water.”
Nick burst out laughing again, and the grin stayed on his face, as he hopped onto his board, and, from a standing position, pushed himself off the shore.
She stared at him. “You can do that?”
He looked at her. “Do what?”
“Start from here on the beach instead of starting out there from the water.”
“Well, it can be hard to get on out there.” Nick turned toward his brother. “Didn’t you think so, Mack?”
“Maybe.” Mack faced Doreen, who looked out at the water. “Why don’t you try it?”
“Is there a reason why you didn’t give me that suggestion earlier?”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, there is.”
“And what’s that?”
He explained, “Because, when you fall closer to the shore, your chances of feeling the fall are much greater than if you fall while you’re farther out where the water can cushion you. If you land here, you’ll hit this rocky shoreline.”
She frowned, stared at the rocks, and then replied, “Good enough.” And, with that, she knelt on the board and proceeded to paddle her way out into the water.
When Thaddeus—sitting on her shoulder—realized she was now on the water, he squawked, “Help! Help! Help!”
She straightened up, still kneeling, and looked at him. “Really? Really?” she cried out. “That’s not fair.”
She heard the two brothers laughing, and very quickly Mack came up beside her and held out an arm.
Thaddeus, looking as if jumping on a life raft, hopped onto Mack’s arm and then walked up to his shoulder. As he landed there, he spread his wings, fluffed them, and announced, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.” As if he were some reigning champion.
She glared at him. “Loser.”
Immediately Thaddeus cocked his head, looked at her, and repeated, “Loser. Loser. Loser.” And the men burst out laughing.
Glaring at the bird, Doreen slowly managed to stand on her board, using her arms to help balance her. And, this time, Nick stayed close by and gave her some tips. She looked over at him and asked, “Has Mack done very much of this?”
Nick shrugged. “Not as much as I have. My friends were all into this when I was growing up.”
She nodded. “And is this like the bicycle thing? Once you learn how to do it, you will always remember?”
“I think after a few times, yes,” Nick confirmed. “Something about the whole balancing act makes it the hardest. Once you get a handle of how to stand and how to hold yourself,” he explained, “I think you’ll find it much easier.”
“Maybe,” she muttered.
As they moved on ever-so-slowly, she did find it a lot easier.
About thirty minutes later, when she was still standing and hadn’t wiped out, she turned to Mack and said, “It’s much better today.”
He nodded. “But watch out for that wave coming up.”
As she turned back to look, she lost her balance, and down she went. As soon as she broke the surface, she glared at him. “You know that I’d have been fine, if you hadn’t said that.”
He just smiled at her, but Thaddeus was laughing at her in his big raucous cackle.
“You better stop that,” she warned the bird. “Otherwise no treats for you.”
And surely it was coincidence, but he immediately shut up and looked at her, with a side glance. She sighed.
“That bird understands words way too much,” Mack noted.
“He really does, doesn’t he?” Nick asked in astonishment. “It’s freakishly amazing.”
“I think he does,” she agreed. “Just not enough to always be nice about it.”
Mack chuckled. “And I shouldn’t laugh at you. You’ve been doing fantastic.”
She snorted. “Sure, as long as you didn’t want to get anywhere today.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Mack noted. “I’m just out here, spending time with my brother.”
“And me,” she added immediately.
He smiled at her gently. “That goes without saying.”
She rolled her eyes at that. “How’s your mom doing?” she asked Nick. “I’m sure she’s delighted to have you home.”
He nodded. “She really is. It’s another reason I’m considering a move back here again.”
“She can’t last forever,” Doreen reminded him. “And I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I still have Nan right now, so that we can work on having that relationship I never really got to have before.” She shook her head. “Too often we dismiss older people as having nothing to offer, but, wow, she puts a smile on my face all the time.”