Round two didn't happen for the two of them until after the shower since the shower consisted of nothing but trying to get the syrup out of Val's hair. No matter how hard she tried to get it out, her hair still felt somewhat sticky. Then to make matters worse, she and Luke had made their way to the bedroom for round two with her hair still wet. Now her hair was all kinds of crazy and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Luke told her to get ready while he cleaned up the dining room since it technically was him that made the mess, though he tried to make the argument that she started the whole ordeal by wearing his shirt. In her defense, his shirt was really, really comfortable and really, really big. Perfect for the person who really, really didn't feel like putting pants on. How was she supposed to know that wearing one of Luke's shirts would turn him on? Well, she had her suspicions, but she was looking forward to not wearing pants.

After putting enough product in her hair to possibly be blamed for ninety percent of the world's pollution, she decided to dress comfortable. She threw on a pair of capri pants and a simple purple cami. She figured wearing flip flops would be the best route, but then again, they were also going across the lake to meet Brenda. She would probably need sensible shoes just in case she would have to run away. She decided against it. If Luke was so worried about her, then why would he be willingly going over to see her? Plus, she stocked the house and Val figured she cleaned up a little for his arrival. She couldn't really be that bad.

Right?

Finally deciding that she was ready for her first encounter with the infamous Brenda, she stepped out of the bathroom and walked into the living room to find Luke sitting on the couch watching some sports talk show. There were four panels of four different men all talking at once. Each one tried to over talk the others and it was all just a chaotic mess. Luke glanced back at her as she walked around the couch. He gave her a quick once over and looked a little disappointed at her outfit. He turned the television off and stood as Val put her hands on her hips. She glared at him as he carelessly tossed the remote on the couch. He looked to her then frowned.

"What?" he asked truly confused. She clicked her tongue at him.

"What was that look you gave me when I came in? Do you not approve of my clothes?" Luke grinned and shook his head. He stepped up to her and wrapped a big arm around her waist. He pulled her against him. She made no move to return the gesture in any kind of way, but she didn't push him away either.

"Not really." Val narrowed her eyes at him. "I was kind of hoping for one of my shirts again." Val couldn't hide her grin. She shook her head stepping away from him.

"You're terrible." Luke chuckled and led her out the back door and down the steps to his boat. She didn't really know much about boats, but she recognized the vessel to be a pontoon boat. It was about twenty-five feet long and had bench seats that lined the entire thing except for the captain's seat and two fishing seats up front along with the three gates that sat on either side and between the two fishing seats.

Luke checked the fuel before starting it up. It seemed to cough a few times before it finally started. He stood up and walked around the boat to make sure everything was stowed away. Val took her place on one of the bench seats up front and spread her legs out in front of her. Luke stepped off the boat to untie it then pushed it out away from the docks. He sat down on the captain's seat and put it in gear.

Val wasn't paying any attention to where they were going because she was too busy soaking up the sun's rays. There wasn't a cloud in sight and she was pretty sure that she had never seen the sky so blue before in her life. The sun beat down on her, but it wasn't as harsh as it could have been because the air was cooling her off.

She felt Luke slow the boat down and she finally opened her eyes to take a look around. They were entering what looked like a dock to where people paid to leave their boats on the water year round. There were three large docks in the cove that spread out across it. There were boats in almost all of the little nooks they built into the docks. On the shore was a quaint little shop with one gas pump sitting at the edge of the docks.

There was a man that stepped out onto the docks as Luke pulled up and helped tie the boat off. He had a fantastic head of hair even though it was a peppery gray of an old man. His skin however looked like it was going to be donated to a leather factory after his death so it could be sewed into furniture. He wore no shirt, a pair of flip flops, and a pair of cut off blue jean shorts that looked like they belonged to Daisy Duke. An eye patch covered his left eye.

Luke stepped off the boat and shook the man's hand.

"It's good to see you, Luke. What brings you up to these parts?"

"Vacationing for a couple weeks. Willy, I want to introduce you to someone." He turned to Val who had just stepped off the boat watching the two men interact. Willy gave her a kind smile. "This is my girlfriend, Val. Val, this is Willy." Willy stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Val. Val, taken aback by his sudden action, hugged him back lightly giving Luke a look that said, "Save me!" Luke just grinned. He felt oily under her touch, but she figured that was because he was covered in tanning oil. She could smell it on him.

"I have to say, Val, you are absolutely beautiful. How did he ever score a woman like you," he said stepping back, but his hands stayed on her waist. It made her a little uncomfortable to have him touching her like that, but since Luke made no move to correct the action, she figured that it was harmless.

"He got lucky, I guess," Val replied playfully. She glanced back at Luke who was grinning in amusement at the two.

"Clearly." He turned to Luke. "You planning on doing any fishing while you're here?" Luke crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, I came to my cabin that sits on a lake to stare at it." Willy laughed and slapped Luke on the shoulder.

"I'll go pull some of the new stuff for you and turn on the pump." He walked back to the little shop and disappeared inside. Luke readied the pump to refuel. Val was too busy trying to fight back laughter. Luke gave her an odd look.

"What's so funny?" Val tried to tell him, but her laughter wouldn't let her get it out. Luke chuckled feeling her laughter taking over him. He leaned against the gas pump and waited for her to collect herself. He wasn't too sure what was so funny, but just hearing her laugh about it was enough to make it funny. She finally collected herself enough to where she could talk.

"His name is One-Eyed Willy," she said then started laughing again. Luke let out a laugh. Yes, he had realized that his name was Willy and only had one eye and had put two and two together, but seeing Val's reaction had revived the joke. The pump clicked off allowing Luke to know that the tank was full. He wrapped his arm around Val's shoulder and led her into the small building.

There was just two aisles in the building that were covered in nothing but junk foods. Val wasn't sure what the smell of the place was, but she was sure it had something to do with the corner that had a wood sign above it that said "LIVE BAIT" in big green letters. One side of the building was nothing but a large counter that served as the check-out. There were maps, handbooks, trail guides, fishing guides, pretty much anything and everything one would possibly need when facing the big outdoors in the area covering the countertop. Behind the counter, the wall was covered in different dry lures for fishing and different types of fishing line.

There was an ice cream freezer sitting in front of it. There was a line of coolers along another wall filled with all kinds of drinks from beer to sports drinks. Val went straight for the ice cream and peered inside. She saw a Drumstick and immediately reached in and grabbed it. She munched on it slowly as Luke and Willy discussed different types of lures. It was all Greek to her so she just made her way around the small shop to explore.

She made her way back to the Live Bait corner curious as to what it was since the smell seemed to get stronger and stronger as she made her way closer to it. There were two large tubs with some kind of filtration system running through it. She peered inside to see small fish swimming around. In one tank was filled with fish about two inches long while in the other the fish were about four to five inches long. There seemed to be hundreds in each tank.

Val watched them as they all swam around aimlessly. They were so mesmerizing. She picked off one of the walnuts that was on her cone and threw it into one of the tanks. The fish swarmed it and soon the piece of nut was gone. She picked off another piece of nut and threw it in the other fish tank so the other fish could have some food too. They treated it the same way. She grinned to herself and walked away from the tanks. She looked up to the front of the store to see Luke leaned over the counter fiddling with a lure in his hands as Willy talked away about it.

Val walked down the aisle of junk food finishing up her ice cream and pulled a bag of Cheetos off the rack. She walked back to the live bait as she opened the bag. She grabbed a couple out of the bag and started munching on them as she watched the fish. She tossed one of them in the tank and watched as the little fish swarmed the Cheeto like piranha. She watched as the morsel quickly disappeared. She tossed a couple more in and watched as they disappeared. She munched on one of the Cheetos when she felt a hand in the small of her back. She glanced up at Luke who was staring into the tanks curiously.

"What are you doing?" he asked looking at her. Val shrugged.

"This was more entertaining than you and Willy talking about fishing gear." Luke grinned.

"Fair enough. But we're going to be late if we don't leave soon." Val nodded then threw a couple more Cheetos in the tanks before walking up to the front of the store where Willy was bagging up an assortment of different lures. There were two cases of beer sitting on the counter as well. Val grabbed the bag while Luke grabbed the beer and they walked out to the boat and stepped on. Willy followed them out and waited for them to stow everything away before stepping to Val and giving her a hug one more time.

"It was good to meet you, Val."

"You too." Luke shook his hand as they said their goodbyes and he started the boat. Willy pushed the boat away from the docks and Luke and Val were on their way once more.

Val decided that it may have been a good idea to remember where they were heading so she could start getting a feel for the area, but the sun felt so good on her skin that it lured her into a state of total relaxation so she lost track. She hoped that Luke was going to go fishing some time during the day because there was a sun bed on the back of the pontoon that was calling her name. She had heard him make a comment that he was going to go fishing at some point.

She had went fishing a few times with Brian and he had taught her a couple things, but she was no good at it. She had never caught a fish. Sometimes her hook would come off because she didn't tie it the proper way. And if they were fishing off a bank, Val was more interested in tossing her line in the trees than in the water. Mia was a fishing queen and Brian would even get mad at how many she could catch. At least she could lay in the sun while Luke fished.

Luke began to slow the boat as he approached what Val was assuming Brenda's house. Val could only see patches of the home since there were a bunch of trees blocking her view. She could see the docks though. There was a really nice bass boat tied off to the wooden dock.

As Luke maneuvered the boat to the dock, there was a man that stepped down onto the dock from hidden stairs a fat chocolate lab waddling near him. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He was barefooted. He had neatly trimmed white hair. He tied the boat off as Luke picked up the cases of beer that he had bought at the store. He handed one off to the old man and stepped off the boat. They shook hands then Luke introduced Val to him. His name was Carl and he was Brenda's husband. Her worries of Brenda eased back even more up in meeting him. She couldn't be that crazy if she had such a clean cut husband.

Carl led them up to the his cabin. The only word that Val could possibly think of to describe the cabin was quaint. It wasn't as big as Luke's cabin and looked like it could have been put into a fairytale story where the main character happens across the cabin in the middle of the woods. Val swallowed at the fact that there was mostly bad guys inside those types of cabins.

"Brenda, Luke and his girlfriend is here!" Carl yelled as they approached the cabin. Luke grinned wrapping an arm around Val's shoulders as Brenda came into view. She wore earth toned clothes that flowed around her like a weeping willow. She had hair down to her waist that was back in a tight braid. She had a thin waist, but it was clear that she had bared a child or two. She wore hemp jewelry donned with an assortment of stones, beads, and seashells. She had a smile that melted one's heart and the kindest eyes Val had ever seen.

Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she hurried to Luke with her arms outstretched. Luke sat his case of beer on the grass. She barely came up to Val's shoulder so Luke practically had to get on his knees to hug her. She kissed his cheek long and hard making a loud "mwah" sound before stepping away. She placed her wrinkled hands on his cheeks gently smiling at the hulking man in front of her.

"Oh, I am so glad that you're here, Luke," she said dreamily. "Maybe you could talk some sense into my ass hole husband!" she snapped turning towards her husband. Carl crossed his arms glaring at his wife.

"Dammit woman! I told you that I didn't need any help!" he snapped back. The dog yawned by his side before waddling off to find shade under one of the many trees on the property. Luke frowned standing up straight giving Carl a look of disappointment.

"I thought we agreed that you wait until I get here so I could help you." Carl huffed walking away from them. Luke rolled his eyes then turned his attention back to Brenda.

"Brenda, meet Val." Brenda's eyes fell on Val who was staring at the people before her in bewilderment. No wonder Luke had said that she needed to possibly worry about Brenda. The woman was fearless even in her old age. Her eyes lit up as she stepped forward and wrapped Val up in a hug so tight she could barely breathe. Brenda all but squealed as Val gasped for air. She was strong for such a little old lady. She smelled like she had bathed in marijuana.

"It is so good to finally meet you, Val! We've heard so much about you!" Val glanced at Luke with a grin imagining Luke talking about her like some high school crush, but she was met with a look of confusion.

"From who?" he asked causing Val to frown. He hadn't been talking about her? She knew he wasn't really the type to gossip or anything, but he couldn't have been talking about her in any way? Whether it be how he cared about her or how he liked "that one thing" that she did. Something. And yet, she got nothing. Brenda sighed with a shake of her head. She turned to Luke.

"You were supposed to play along, dumbass!" she hissed to him. Val grinned. Brenda had lied to make him seem like he was head over heels for Val to make Val feel special. And Luke blew it. Luke sighed rubbing his temple.

"Yeah, it would have been a lot better if you just went along with it." Luke grinned shaking his head.

"I'm going to go find Carl," Luke said throwing his thumb over his shoulder. He turned on his heel looking like he really wanted to get away from the two heated females. He stopped long enough to point to the case of beer still sitting in the grass.

"That's yours," Luke stated then began to walk away once more. Val placed her hands on her hips sending a light glare to his back.

"It's barely noon," she said. Sure she already had an ice cream cone and a bag of Cheetos, but that was besides the point. Luke threw his arms up in the air.

"We're on vacation," he yelled over his shoulder. Val shrugged her shoulders then looked to Brenda.

"Want a beer?" Brenda put her hand on her shoulder and Val picked up the case of beer.

"I thought you'd never ask. Come on, let's go get these in a cooler. I want you to try my brownies before we start drinking. It's a new recipe I've been working on and Carl is getting sick of being my taste tester." Val grinned as she followed the old woman into the cabin.

Author's Note: Okay so, usually I don't apologize for not having a chapter up sooner, but this time I am going to say that I'm sorry for the delay, but this chapter just wouldn't stop writing itself! It ended up being so long that I decided to break it up into different chapters just so you guys weren't completely overwhelmed. So, I'll wait a week before posting the next chapter so that way all of you guys will have a chance to read it without getting confused about which chapter you left off on.

Drop a review and let me know what you think!

Aven