Kate: Sharon's sister

Maggie: Sharon's niece

Emmett: Emily's husband

Carter: Sharon's nephew's son (~20 months old)

Claire: Sharon's niece's daughter (~4)

Lauren: Sharon's niece

Emmett—Emily's husband

I didn't plan to add another chapter to this story, but I decided at the last minute that I wanted to do a little 4th of July one-shot, so I just added it to this one. Better late than never :) This was a little rushed, sorry about that.

July 4, 2019

Sharon felt a tiny hand tugging at the hem of her t-shirt. She knew without looking down that it was Marie. "Hold on, baby girl, let Gammy finish this pasta salad." Sharon added Italian dressing and parmesan cheese to the large bowl of angel hair pasta, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and green peppers in front of her and tossed it until the ingredients were well-mixed. After doing the same to the smaller bowl beside it, minus the onions and peppers for Rusty, Ricky, and a couple of her nieces, she put both bowls in the refrigerator and picked Marie up. The ten-month-old was adorable in her red, white, and blue striped swimsuit, and the scent of sunscreen was evident from her soft skin.

Emily held her arms out for the baby. "I'll take her, Mom. Go get dressed."

Sharon handed the baby over and went to her and Andy's room to put on her own swimsuit. Andy was already dressed and was rubbing sunscreen into his face. He handed her the tube of sunscreen when he saw her coming in. "Mind getting my back?"

"Sure." Sharon squeezed some of the lotion into her palm and softly ran her hands over his back. She changed into her swimsuit as Andy put a t-shirt on and added a couple of clean beach towels to their bag. Once she'd applied as much sunscreen as she could by herself, Andy took the tube from her to put it on her back. He moved her hair to one side and rubbed the lotion into her skin between her neck and the top of her swimsuit. With that taken care of, she pulled her cover-up over her head and slipped into a pair of sandals. "It would've been fine for you to go play golf with the others, you know."

Andy shrugged. "I heard some damsels in distress needed a captain."

Sharon gave him a disbelieving look as she tied her hair up. "Yeah. I'll remember that when we come back, and I have to dock the boat for you."

"I can do it...You just, uh, do it faster," Andy mumbled.

Sharon snorted. "Uh-huh. There's some chipped paint on the side of the boat that suggests otherwise."

A little while later, they were cruising down the lake. It wasn't even eighty degrees yet, and the warm sunshine felt wonderful. The pleasant warmth and low hum of the boat was about to put Sharon to sleep, and she looked down at Marie in her lap and saw that it had already done the same to her.

"Here, Mom, I'll go sit in the back with her in the shade," Emily said.

Andy held his arms out for her. "You can give her to me."

Sharon gently transferred Marie to Andy's arms and moved back toward the front of the boat.

By lunchtime, Claire and Carter were getting restless, and Marie had just woken up and wasn't too happy, either, so they went back to the house. As they neared the dock, Andy got up so Sharon could sit down. "This is so embarrassing," Andy muttered.

"Hey. You have good aim where it counts," Sharon whispered into his ear before she sat down. She didn't have to look over at him to know he had a shit-eating grin on his face.

After a quick lunch, they went back down to the dock and got on floats in the lake. Sharon wondered what Marie would think of the cold water, but she splashed around in her little float and didn't start getting fussy until it was time for a nap. Emily lazily reached over to the dock to tap her phone and see what time it was. "I'm going to take her up to the house and put her down—"

"Wait, I'll take her," Sharon and Andy volunteered at the same time. Sharon had been about to doze off on her float, herself, but she scrambled up the ladder on the side of the dock before Andy could react.

Emily gave Marie a look. "Sounds like Gammy and Papa are looking for excuses to take a nap." She got Marie out of her float and lifted her up to Sharon. "Either way, Mommy's not complaining...Hey, Mom, will you hand me a beer?"

"Make that two, please," Maggie added from her float.

"Ugh, I hate you guys," Lauren moaned, as she was five months pregnant.

Sharon tossed each of them a bottle and wrapped a towel around Marie. Andy got out of the water and placed Sharon's cover-up in her bag. "I'll bring your things."

Sharon shook her head. "I'm coming right back when Marie wakes up, I'll just leave them here."

"Oh, well, I'll just, uh, come help you with her," Andy sputtered, fooling no one.

"Awww, night-night, Andy," Maggie called from the water.

"Sweet dreams," Emily added.

When they got up to the house, Sharon gave Marie to Andy. "Mind running her a bath while I shower off and change? Just put some soap in with the running water and rinse the lake water off of her."

"Sure." Barely a few seconds had passed before Andy felt sudden warmth against him in contrast to the cold water from the baby's swimsuit. "Ewww, I think she just peed on me! How is that possible?"

Sharon giggled. "It's those swim diapers, they don't really hold pee."

Andy looked down at Marie. "You couldn't have done that just a few seconds ago when Gammy had you? I think you planned that."

Sharon shrugged. "I've taught her well."

Several minutes later, Sharon was showered off and had changed into pajama pants and a t-shirt. Andy came in with Marie, wearing just a diaper and rubbing her eyes. Sharon held her hands out to her. "Come here, sweet girl." She took her from Andy, switched on the fan beside their bed, and climbed under the covers, tired herself from the sun and being in the lake. Not to mention from her brother finding it necessary to run the vacuum at 6:00 that morning. She tucked the baby in beside her and patted her back until she started to drift off.

Andy stepped out of his swimsuit and draped it over the rack in their bathroom. "I'm going to take a quick shower, and I'm right behind you."

In the five minutes it took for Andy to take a shower and put on a clean pair of boxers, Sharon and Marie were both passed out. Sharon usually at least stirred a little bit if she hadn't been sleeping long when the mattress dipped from Andy getting in bed, but she didn't move. The whirring of the fan and the baby curled into her side had put her in a coma, and he wasn't far from it, either.

Sharon woke up when Marie started cooing and moving around beside her. She looked at the clock on her nightstand and saw that they'd been sleeping for almost two hours. "Well, hey, precious. Somebody took a long nap!" Marie grinned and pointed at Andy. He was snoring, and his mouth was hanging open. "We'll let Papa sleep for a few more minutes. You know he has to have his beauty rest, and I know Mimi has plenty of popsicles in the freezer."

Andy had started to come to when Sharon and Marie were waking up, and by the time they were out of bed, he was completely awake. He put on a dry swimsuit and t-shirt and found them in the kitchen.

With Andy watching the baby, Sharon changed into another swimsuit and got a swim diaper and dry swimsuit for Marie. She hated having to reapply sunscreen, but she hated the thought of being sunburned or having lake water and sunscreen in her bed even more. Once they were ready again, Sharon and Andy took Marie back down to the dock. Marie bounced against Andy's hip and pointed at the water, wanting to get back in, so Andy put her back in her float and lowered her into the water as Emily maneuvered her float closer to the dock to get her. Rusty was approaching the dock on the jet ski, and the first thing Sharon noticed was that he was missing a necessary object over his t-shirt. "Russell Thomas Beck, where is your life vest?" She demanded.

"Relax, Mom, I didn't even get out of the cove without it. My t-shirt made me forget about it, but I realized I wasn't wearing one and came back."

Sharon gave him a disapproving look as she tossed him a life vest from a chest on the dock. "Do not let it happen again, young man." Once he'd driven off, she poked through the cooler for one of the peach-flavored beers Emmett had introduced her to. Most flavored beers were too sweet, but this kind was perfect for her taste.

Sharon left her opened beer on the dock long enough to dive into the lake and get situated on a float. Andy played music from Sharon's phone before jumping in, himself. He wasn't a huge fan of the cold water, but it was too clear and beautiful to resist on a sunny day. He couldn't sit still for very long, either. He swam around for a few minutes before holding on to the back of Sharon's float as they drifted around the water. Sharon sipped her beer, enjoying the warm sunshine and singing along to the music.

"You're sweet as a honeybee,

But like a honeybee stings,

You've gone and left my heart in pain

All you left is our favorite song,

The one we danced to all night long

It used to bring sweet memories

Of a tender love that used to be

Now it's the same old song,

But with a different meaning

Since you've been gone..."

A couple of hours later, it was almost dinnertime, so Sharon and Andy pulled themselves out of the water to go back to the house for showers and to help get dinner ready. In the true fashion of twenty/thirty-something year old children, the others were staying in the water until "the grown-ups" had dinner ready.

Once everyone had eaten and the kitchen was clean, the entire group went down to the dock and climbed the stairs to the upper deck. The fireworks still wouldn't start for another hour, but the weather was too pleasant not to sit outside as the sun started its descent behind the mountains and enjoy the twilight. The fireworks would take place not far from the dock, and boats of people who had to venture from their houses to see them were already starting to come out. Sharon and Andy hadn't been lying in the hammock for two seconds before a song playing from the speaker had Andy standing up and pulling her out of the hammock to dance.

When you snap your finger, or wink your eye,

I come runnin' to you

I'm tied to your apron strings

And there's nothin' that I can do

Sugar pie honey bunch

I'm weaker than a man should be

I can't help myself

I'm a fool in love, you see

Kate wrinkled her nose. "Are they always that nauseating?"

Rusty rolled his eyes. "Try living with them. They'll test your gag reflex on a daily basis...Mine still works, in case anyone's keeping track."

The fireworks started a little while later, and Sharon nestled into Andy's shoulder in the hammock as the colorful lights illuminated the sky. Carter was screaming, and it was the first year that Claire wasn't screaming. Marie didn't know what to think, alternating from clapping and laughing to crying to just looking bewildered. Fireworks were loud enough, but the mountains made them echo even more loudly, and trying to put the kids to bed would've been pointless.

"Andy, stop," Sharon hissed when he started kissing her. "My dad is right there!"

"Sharon, please. You have two kids, and you're over sixty. I think he's accepted the fact that you kiss your husband. No one's even paying attention to us."

"I'd still rather not do it right in front of him—hmmm." Andy had found the sensitive spot on her neck that never failed to shut her right up before moving back to her lips. This went on intermittently until the fireworks were over, and neither noticed that the noise and lights had stopped until someone, Ricky or Rusty, if they had to guess, heaved a disgusted sigh and dropped a blanket on top of them, enclosing them in darkness. The distraction of the fireworks and the darkness of nightfall had provided a sense of false security. Sharon felt a brief pang of...guilt, or something, hell, she didn't know. But she also knew they'd get the hell over it. Who could blame her for not being able to keep her hands off of Andy, anyway?

I know some of you don't like the idea of Sharon spending time with her family for some reason—you don't have to tell me over and over again, I heard you (saw?) the first hundred times :)

Hope y'all liked it, thanks for reading!