A summer to remember

When Bobbie realizes her older brother's best friend, Chance, is joining her family for a day of fun in the sun, she never expects to stumble on the possibility of new love

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Bobbie finally felt the muscles in her back relax under the hot sun. She was lying on her stomach with a blue beach towel pro- tecting her from the scorching sand. She hadn't felt this good in—she couldn’t remember how long.

Suddenly, a beach ball smacked her just below the shoulder blades. Her just- relaxed muscles jumped and tensed. “Get up and play with us, sis,” said her irritating older brother, Tony.

“No thanks! I just want to lounge today,” she told him.

He snorted. “Come on! You never miss out on our annual volleyball game.”

“I am this year,” Bobbie insisted. Their whole family still took a vacation together every summer. It was always the high point of Bobbie’s year. Pitch a tent in the usual campground, play beach vol- leyball, swim in the lake, grill everything...what could be better? They were actually at a local lake just a few miles from home, but it felt like another world entirely.

“Fine—have it your way,” he said and turned to walk away. “I’ll just tell Chance you don’t want to play.”

Bobbie's head popped up. “Why is Chance here?”

Her brother sim- ply shrugged. “I called him. Thought he’d enjoy hang- ing out with us for a while.”

Chance lived even closer to the lake than Bobbie did. He’d been friends with Tony since they were teenagers, but Bobbie didn’t get to see him often. Though she'd like to see him much more.