Dragonfly by Leigh Talbert Moore

my hands.
    “So not encouraging!” I laughed. “But I don’t have anywhere to put my cover-up. And this…” I held out my phone.
    “I think I can hold them up while I swim. Come on,” he said, taking my stuff.
    I followed him cautiously toward the water. “Is it true I should just punch the shark in the nose, and he’ll leave me alone?” I tried to joke.
    Jack shook his head. “Just swim to the boat. You’ll be fine.”
    In a few strokes he was helping me up the short ladder onto the deck. I was soaked, and my straight hairstyle was ruined. But the boat was amazing. Even more amazing was watching Jack with his shirt off loosening the anchor and tightening the sails. His tanned muscles flexed, and I completely forgot about the beauty of our surroundings.
    “You do this all the time?” I asked, pulling my wet swimsuit away from my stomach and wishing for my cover-up. Even though I’d spent the summer in a bikini, I wore a one-piece today. I wasn’t quite ready to bare that much skin with him in broad daylight. He didn’t seem to mind.
    “As much as I can,” he smiled, sitting beside me. “I really missed it when we were in Sedona last year.”
    “What’s in Sedona?”
    “My mom’s mom, Gigi. Lucy and I were out there last spring all the way up until school started back.”
    “Why?” I was wondering if Rachel’s story had been true.
    “Oh, family stuff. I don’t think it’s anything you’d find interesting.” I wanted to tell him everything about him was very interesting to me, but I didn’t. Because just then my phone buzzed.
    “It’s probably my mom.”
    I smiled as Jack handed it back to me, but he saw the face when I took it. “Julian,” he said.
    My eyes went wide. “What?” I said with a nervous little laugh. I could tell Jack didn’t believe my shocked expression. “He never calls me.”
    “It’s okay.” He stood and went over to readjust the line. I let Julian’s call go to voicemail. Oh my god!
    “You guys are pretty close,” he said.
    “Just since last year. I mean, I tutored him in math.”
    “I saw you dancing. You looked— ”
    “Julian flirts with everybody,” I cut him off. “Seriously. We’re just friends.”
    He shrugged. “Okay.”
    Frantically I searched for anything else in the world to talk about. “My grandmother’s dying to meet the boy with the boat.”
    “Would she like to come sailing with us?” His smile returned.
    “I’m sure she’d love it. Mom, too.”
    “Then let’s get them.”
    We tied up the boat in the marina and walked down the shore toward Nana’s condo. “I’m glad you wanted to come over today.” I said, hoping to remove any lingering doubt caused by Julian’s call.
    Jack smiled. “I like being with you, and Saturdays can be long at our house.”
    Hearing those words made me smile. He liked being with me. Then I remembered that first night and how he changed when his dad appeared.
    Hesitantly, I asked, “You don’t get along with your dad?”
    He exhaled, “It’s not that. He’s never really around. I just get tired of the same people and doing the same things all the time. My friends don’t have a lot of imagination.”
    “What would you do on a typical, unimaginative Saturday?”
    “Sleep ’til noon…”
    “Spoiled!” I pretended to be shocked.
    He grinned. “Most likely I was out late the night before. But then I’d either go for a run or take the boat out.”
    “No girls? I don’t believe it.”
    “I’ve taken a few girls out, but they get tired of sailing and want to go shopping or hit the spa or something like that. It’s pretty boring after a while, I guess.”
    “I think it sounds great. I’d love to try getting bored with sailing.”
    “I can help you with that.”
    He seemed to mean it, and I was glad to spend the rest of the day taking Mom and Nana out with us. They were easy to spend time with, and they both seemed to like Jack very much by the end of the afternoon.
    The sun was setting