The boat's engine comes to life with a light hum and I scoot closer to Hardin.
                          
"I love you," I respond, looking back out onto the water.
                          
"If we get out far enough we may see a few dolphins or if we're lucky, a whale!" Ken says loudly.
                          
"A whale would surely knock this boat over in a moments time," Hardin remarks and I gulp at the thought.
                          
"Shit, sorry." He apologizes.
                          
The further and further we get from the shore, the more calm I become. It's odd, I thought it would be the opposite but there's a certain serenity that comes with being so disconnected from the land.
                          
"Do you see dolphins a lot out here?" I ask Karen as she sips on her drink.
                          
"No, only once but we still try," she smiles.
                          
"I can't believe the weather today, it feels like June," Landon remarks, pulling his t-shirt over his head.
                          
"Are you working on your tan?" I ask him, taking in his pale torso.
                          
"Yep, even though I won't need a tan in the city,"
                          
"If the water wasn't ice cold, we could all go for a swim closer to shore," Karen says.
                          
"Maybe in the summer," I remind her and she nods happily.
                          
"At least we still have the Jacuzzi back at the cabin," Ken says.
                          
"I thought it was broken?" Landon asks his mother.
                          
"No, it's fixed now. It's on the deck in Hardin and Tessa's room," she says.
                          
Hardin stays quiet, staring off in the distance.
                          
"Look! There!" Ken points behind us.
                          
Hardin and I both turn quickly and it takes me a moment to see what he's pointing to.  A pod of dolphins are skidding across the water. They aren't close to the boat but they are close enough to see the way they move in sync through the waves.
                          
"It's our lucky day!" Karen laughs.
                          
The wind blows my hair across my face blocking my view for a moment and Hardin's hand reaches up to tuck it back behind my ear. It's always the simple things he does, the small ways he finds to touch me without thought, that make my stomach flutter.
                          
"That was so neat," I say to him.
                          
"Yeah, it was actually," he sounds surprised.
                          
After two hours of conversation on boating, the beautiful summers here, sports, and an awkward mention of Seattle that Hardin halted almost as soon as it began, Ken heads back to the shore.
                          
"It wasn't so bad was it?" Hardin and both ask one another at the same time.
                          
"Guess not," he laughs, helping me down the ladder to the dock.
                          
The sun has marked his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, his hair is unruly and blown out from the wind. He's so lovely, it hurts.
                          
"I'll make us all lunch, I'm sure everyone is hungry," Karen announces when we enter the cabin.
                          
"What else is there to do here?" Hardin asks his father.
                          
"Well there is a nice restaurant further in town, we were planning for all of us to have dinner there tomorrow, there's an old-fashioned movie theatre, a library.."
                          
"So a bunch of lame shit then?" Hardin says, his words harsh but his tone playful.
                          
"It's a nice place, you should give it a chance." Ken says. He doesn't seem offended by his son's words.