Chapter 44

The transition from car to houseboat went smoothly. Darius, Ken and I packed the three coolers in, while the ladies grabbed as much of everything else as possible. One more trip for skis and the only thing left was to get the sherbet out of the freezer. I turned the freezer off at the same time, unplugging it from the Jeep's 12 volt circuit.

I got my dessert safely settled in the houseboat's freezer and then I dropped the houseboat's lines while Gloria helped Ken untie the ski boat from the dock and move it over to a tow line attached to the back of the houseboat. The houseboat was a low speed operation, but the boat had a waterproof cover that would stay on while under tow. We did unsnap it long enough to fire up the engine briefly, just to make sure there were no surprises later. It fired up easily and ran smoothly for a minute before we shut it down again.

The marina was at the end of a long narrow arm of the lake and far too busy and constricted for good water skiing. Running through them in the jet skis would probably be fun, but as we slowly powered out way out to the main body of the lake the discussion was held about when to do what and it was the consensus of all involved that the jet skis would be best saved for the afternoon when we all welcome the chance to sit down while we played.

With that conversation out of the way it then became a procession in and out of the bathroom as we took turns getting changed into our water clothes. Tina went first and then Gloria, and I had to admire both women in their chosen swimwear. The contrast between Tina's tall, mahogany-skinned frame in a dazzling pure white one piece swim suit and Gloria's tiny, blonde haired, barely tanned skin in an emerald green halter topped swimsuit was incredible. I went next, but didn't put my wet suit pieces on, instead going for the board shorts and one of my PT shirts – a gold one with the round eagle, globe and anchor of the Marine Corp seal on the left breast.

When Kelli came out in her swim wear, I was really glad I was wearing my board shorts. My wetsuit trunks were very form fitting and my reaction to seeing Kelli's dusky golden skin in the red, not-too-skimpy but oh so glorious bikini would have been either very embarrassing or very painful.

"Wow!" I said as she walked over to where I was filling glasses with ice and iced tea. "Nice suit!"

"I'm glad you like it," she took the glass I held out. "I bought this just for you. Its a bit more revealing than my usual suit."

"Did you bring your old suit?" I asked.

"Yes," she giggled. "Why?"

"Because if I start acting too goofy around you, you might have to change back," I grinned.

We both grinned at each other for a while without saying anything until Tina called Kelli over to check on something in the galley. I decided to go see how Darius was doing and take him a glass of iced tea.

There were two helms aboard the boat, one forward in the main cabin, whose windows were hidden behind some decorative curtains at the moment, and one atop the 'flying bridge', which was a bit misleading. The roof of the houseboat was flat and the back half was a sun deck with lounge chairs and a hot tub. The forward half had a windowless sunroof and the main ships wheel, captain's chair, engine controls, marine VHF radio and even, to my amazement, radar.

"We won't be using that!" Darius joked when he saw me eyeballing it.

"I sure hope not," I agreed, handing him the ice tea I'd brought him. "Something would have to go pretty seriously wrong for us to wind up needing that."

"That's for sure. So how are the ladies doing down there?"

"I think they're getting the galley organized," I said.

"I think on a houseboat you can actually call it a kitchen," Ken said as he came up the stairs to join us. "They're eyeballing the space and trying to decide on how they'll cook the burgers. There will be slicing and dicing later."

That's when I finally realized that Ken Reynolds had a dry, deadpan sense of humor that I liked. He favored the slightly weird non sequitur over an actual joke, and as I learned over time, his sense of timing was uncanny.

With things squared away in the kitchen, the women came up onto the sun deck. Darius pointed Ken and I to a locker and we quickly pulled out enough deck chairs for everyone. It was still a little early for sunbathing, but sitting out in the fresh morning air with the breeze from the boat's gentle passage sounded attractive to me too.

"Hey honey," Tina hollered over her shoulder at Darius. "We need some music!"

"Will do, sweet stuff," he replied. "Cooper, you want to take the wheel for me?"