I stood on the path leading down to the water and watched as Jake talked with his wife. I watched him as he pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and I watched as he shook hands with Freddy. I could almost feel his pain from here. But even more than that, I could feel his relief.

“You should go down there,” Dad says to me.

I shake my head. “Probably not.” But I really, really want to.

“So, you’re mad at him because he was married to someone else?”

“Technically, he’s still married to someone else.” And she’s right there, in the flesh. Flesh that he’s been inside. Flesh that he loved at one point.

Dad nods toward the water. “Looks like he just finished tying that loose string up.”

I gnaw on my lower lip. “You think I should walk down there?”

“I think you’d be stupid not to. And I didn’t raise any stupid daughters.”

“Okay.” Hank is with Adam, so I call to Gabby. “Gabs, come and meet an old friend of mine!”

She walks down to the water with me and I’m kind of glad she’s there. She eases some of the tension.

Freddy sees me coming, points, says something to Jake, and then he runs to me. He scoops me up and spins me around. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he says.

“Yeah, me neither,” I reply. “You look good.” I chuck his shoulder.

“That one’s mine!” Jake yells from where he’s standing on the end of the dock.

Freddy flips Jake off, and that makes me happy. Maybe they can get back to normal some day and be friends again. They’ll never be as close as they were before, but maybe they can find a new normal.

“You have a beautiful family, Freddy,” I say to him. “You might have gone about it the wrong way, but still.”

He leans close and puts his arm around me. “You always did shoot straight, Katie,” he says. He squeezes me tight. “How’s Jake?”

I smile. “Jake’s going to be all right.”

“You make sure of it, okay?”

I nod. “I will.”

“Jake says you have a houseful of kids, now. Four of them?”

I introduce Gabby. “This is my oldest. And I have a nine-year-old, Alex, and a seven-year-old, Trixie, and a new baby, Hank. My husband died. Military.” I don’t say more. I don’t think I need to.

“I’m so sorry,” Freddy says.

I shrug. “Life goes on.”

“So, you and Jake, huh?” He leans in and bumps my shoulder.

“Maybe.” I can’t give him more than that.

“She signed the papers,” Fred says. “That’s why she came, to give them to him and bring his car. And she needed to talk to him.”

“I think he needed to talk to her too.” I look up at him. “Can I meet your daughter?”

“Oh, yeah, of course.” We walk down the dock to where Jake and Laura are still standing. I introduce myself to Laura and she’s very gracious and polite, and her daughter is gorgeous.

Jake gets a gleam in his eye. “Hey, Fred,” Jake says, as he hitches his shorts higher.

“Hey, Jake,” Fred says.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” I say. I point my finger at both of them and shake it. I’ve seen them do this before. More than once.

“What?” Laura looks from one to the other. She has no idea what’s coming.

I take the baby from Laura and pass her to Gabby, who doesn’t even think twice about it. Gabby steps back from all of us. “You’ll thank me later,” I tell Laura. “Now run!”

I turn and try to run past Jake, but he snakes an arm around my waist and picks me up. “You want time to hold your nose?” he asks.

“Jake, if you throw me in the lake, I’m going to—” I sputter because I can’t think of anything bad enough to threaten him with.

“You’re going to what?” Jake taunts as he dangles me over the lake. He kicks his shoes off one by one and leaves them on the dock. His phone lands in the pile.

“I’m going to tell your father on you!” I shout. And then Jake jumps into the lake with me in his arms. Two seconds later, there’s another splash as Fred and Laura hit the water too.

We burst into the water in a tangle of limbs and Jake pulls me back to the surface with him. “You still mad at me?”

I shake my head. “I think I’m done with that,” I whisper to Jake as I tread water beside him. “But I reserve the right to find a different reason to be mad at you tomorrow.”

He points over at Freddy and Laura, who are treading water and laughing with one another. “They look content, don’t they?” he whispers to me.

“Very,” I say. “Hold that thought,” I add. Then I hoist myself up on his shoulders and push him under the water.

“That was a really dirty trick,” he says, blowing water from his lips as he surfaces.

“I have all kinds of dirty tricks. I can’t wait to show all of them to you.”

“I’ll see when I can put you on my calendar.”

I hear Mr. Jacobson grumbling on the dock above us as he talks to Gabby. Mr. Jacobson looks over the edge of the dock and scowls at all of us. “When you’re all done fucking around in the lake, get cleaned up. It’s burger night.”

“Burger night?” Freddy says, treading water. “I love burger night!”

“Good. Get yourself settled and come help me cook.” Mr. Jacobson walks toward the golf cart, hops on it, and leaves us.

Jake pinches my side. “Did he really just ask them to hang out?”

“Apparently so.” I retrieve my flip flops, which are floating right next to Jake’s head.

“You guys don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Jake says to Freddy.

Laura shrugs. “We’d like to stay, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay, sure,” Jake says with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

I splash water in Jake’s face, and swim away. He grabs my foot, but I kick him off. Then I make him chase me back to the shore.