“I hope you won’t make it necessary for me to call the authorities,” Aaron told the jerk somewhat wearily. “It would be best if you go inside and sleep it off tonight so you can enjoy the rest of your stay with us.”
Neal surged forward, his already-ruddy face going even darker in the dim security lighting. “You know what I think would be best? I think it would be best if you just shut your trap.”
Andrew moved forward to stand beside his brother, who shot him a warning look. Aaron was reminding him silently which one of them was the resort representative, and that he could handle this. Andrew merely shrugged, making it just as clear that he always had his brother’s back.
Seeing a second man, Neal hesitated, frowning as he looked from Aaron to Andrew and back again. He blinked a few times, maybe wondering if the booze was affecting his vision, then snarled. “Seriously? They sent the Jonas brothers to give me orders?”
“Sir—” Aaron began, but didn’t get a chance to finish the warning. The intoxicated Neal drew back a meaty fist and swung it toward Aaron’s jaw. He never connected. Proving he still remembered the self-defense training he’d taken since he was a kid, Aaron blocked the wild punch, caught the man’s arm, spun him around and had his face pressed against the side of the camper before the guy even knew what was happening.
There was no need for Andrew to help, but he shifted his weight meaningfully, prepared to do so if necessary. “Want me to call the cops?” he asked his brother, reaching for his phone.
Staring at Andrew with the eye not smashed against his camper, Neal sagged in surrender. “All right, let me go. No need to call the cops. There won’t be any more trouble tonight.”
“He’s just tired,” the chubby bleached blonde in the camper doorway said anxiously. “We got into an argument and it got out of hand. We’ll be quieter now. Please don’t call the police.”
Aaron looked at Andrew as if to seek his opinion. Andrew paused a moment for effect, then nodded gravely. “I think you should give them another chance, Aaron. I doubt they’ll disturb the other campers again tonight.”
“We won’t,” the blonde promised breathlessly. “Will we, Neal?”
Straightening slowly when Aaron released him, Neal shook his head, looking resentful but cowed.
Bidding them both good-night, Aaron moved toward the golf cart, nodding toward the remaining onlookers, who returned to their own sites now that the confrontation had ended so anticlimactically. Andrew hopped into the passenger seat of the cart just as Aaron pushed the pedal to put it into motion.
“Might as well take a lap around the resort while we’re out, just to make sure everything else is as it should be,” Aaron commented.
Andrew nodded. “Sure. Why not?”
Aaron drove away from the camper in the opposite direction from the family compound. The campgrounds had fallen quiet now; 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. served as the official “quiet time” in the resort. As he had before, Andrew thought about how much he enjoyed the resort after dark. Strings of multicolored plastic lanterns in whimsical shapes decorated many of the campsites. Families and friends gathered around campfires, convers
ing in carefully modulated volume, only the occasional bark of laughter straying into noisier territory. Moonlight glittered on the inky lake waters spotted between the campers and trees. Overhead, stars were scattered across the cloudless sky. A battered old pickup truck with a rough-running motor passed them, then turned into the tent-camping zone, leaving a trail of smoky exhaust behind it.
He glanced at his brother, who was scanning the grounds as he drove. “Glad to see you remembered some of your training. Nice moves back there.”
Aaron shrugged. “He was big, but more fat than muscle. And the booze didn’t exactly enhance his speed or balance.”
“Not to mention his judgment.”
“That, too. I’m just glad he gave up as easily as he did. I’d have hated to get into a full-out brawl my first week on the job.”
“You handled it well.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“No second thoughts about working here?”
“None. How could I get bored when there’s something different to deal with every day?”
“You’re basing your future career on your relationship with Shelby in some ways,” Andrew felt obliged to point out. “It would be difficult for you to continue working here if you and Shelby split up.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Andrew twisted in his seat, genuinely curious. “How can you possibly predict that after only a couple of weeks with her? How do you know?”
Aaron’s laugh was a bit sheepish but no less confident. “I just know. I’ve known almost from the minute I met her. It was like a bell went off in my head, you know? Like I heard this voice saying, ‘Here she is, man. The one you’ve been looking for.’”
Gazing out the windshield of the cart, Andrew thought of the other times he’d heard similar sentiments from members of his family, with their history of short courtships and long marriages. He’d always wondered if he would ever have that experience.
He remembered the first time he’d seen Hannah, the powerful impression she had made on him even then. He remembered the first time he’d kissed her, how every cell in his body had vibrated in reaction. He thought of the way she had stayed in his head since he’d met her, how her image had popped into his head at random and inconvenient times. He recalled every minute of the one night they had spent together, every touch, every sensation. Just as he remembered how hurt he’d been when she’d sent him away afterward, making it very clear that she saw that night as a one-time fling and that there was no need for him to contact her in the future. Neither of them had known, of course, that there would be a very compelling need for them to stay in touch for the foreseeable future as a result of that night.