“I've got to make this call,” he said. “I need to coordinate some things for tomorrow's plans. Go ahead and start getting ready for the movie. I'll be right back.”
He left Laura and kids sitting there on the floor, all three of them with a confused expression on their faces.
“Laura, what's he talking about?” Ivy asked. “I thought nobody was going on the trip. You said we didn't have to fly on a plane.”
“We don't, honey,” Laura said. “Ethan has another surprise for us and apparently, this one doesn't involve any planes at all. It sounds to me like it's going to be a lot of fun. What do you guys think?”
Dallas wore a thoughtful expression, but at least the tears were gone. Ivy wiped at her face, but her eyes were already drying.
“I guess it could be fun,” Ivy said. She smiled. “As long as there are no planes, I'm good.”
Dallas nodded in agreement. Despite her brave words earlier, Laura couldn't agree more.
Chapter 25
Laura
The next morning, Laura and the kids were all gathered in the kitchen. They'd already eaten their breakfast and were dressed in their swimsuits. Laura had on her favorite two-piece suit, which she'd only ever worn one other time. It was white, with giant black strips going across it. The bottom part was like a little skirt, which fell just below her butt. Over that, she had on sweatpants, because it happened to be the middle of May and still pretty cold outside in the mornings. Colorado winters never ended when they were supposed to and this year was no exception. One day it was warm and sunny, then the next day there would be a blizzard.
“Laura, is it going to be nice today?” Ivy asked. “It looks cold outside.”
“Yeah, it will warm up soon,” she replied. “The sun will show up here any minute. At least that's what the weather says.”
Sitting on the kitchen table nearby was Laura's giant gym bag that she'd had since high school. It was stuffed with everything she could think of that was swimming related. Since Dallas still wasn't a confident swimmer, she'd brought his inflatable arm floaties and a small paddle board.
In addition to that, she'd packed goggles for the kids, three beach towels, every bottle of soda she had in the fridge and of course, some water toys. There was a Frisbee, a football and a giant blow up beach ball.
I hope this is everything we'll need, she thought. Since I don't really know exactly where we're headed, I'm not sure what else to bring.
Despite having pressed Ethan the night before for some clues as to where he was taking them, he'd kept his lips sealed. He said it was a surprise and that she was going to have to wait. She'd racked her brain, trying to figure out where they could go that involved a real beach but didn't include a plane. They lived in the middle of Colorado, after all. So a beach without a plane wasn't exactly a possibility unless he was about to take them on a thousand mile road trip to California.
She heard a car pull up in the driveway and she glanced out of the kitchen window to see a big, black SUV with tinted windows and shiny chrome wheels.
“Hey, guys, are you ready?” Laura asked. “Looks like Ethan is here.”
She gathered up a few last minute things, including her purse and cell phone. The kids stood by her side, at least until the doorbell rang. Then all hell broke loose.
“I'll get it!” Dallas shouted, then sprinted toward the door.
“No, let me!” Ivy replied, following him as though they were fighting over a million dollars.
Laura chuckled to herself and heaved the gym bag over her shoulder, then made her way toward the front. The kids pulled open the door, to reveal Ethan standing in the doorway.
She usually saw Ethan in a three thousand dollar suit, or at least an expensive pair of jeans. When she saw him standing in her doorway wearing bright red swim trunks with Hawaiian flowers on them and a white t-shirt, she nearly fell over from shock.
“Hey, hey!” Ethan said, holding out his arms as he knelt down to receive hugs from Dallas and Ivy. “You guys ready to hit the beach? Do some swimming?”
“Yeah!” They both cried out in unison.
In addition to his outrageous swim trunks, Ethan also had a giant silly beach hat on. It was made of straw and was so big that the sides flopped down a bit. To top it all off, there was an obvious smear of white sunscreen plastered over his nose.
Laura couldn't stop laughing as she walked to the front door.
“The kids say that they're ready, Laura,” he said, with a broad smile. “Now the question is, are you ready?”
She nodded, but couldn't seem to stop chuckling. “I don't know if I'm as ready as you are. You look very prepared for this adventure.”
“To be fair, I had to stop at the store and buy this outfit,” he said. “I asked for something that would make me look cool at the beach, and the girl there recommended all of this.”