Chapter Twenty-Seven

Laura

Everyone was quiet for the ride back home from Water World. Laura and Ethan relaxed in the third-row seats, while Dallas and Ivy slept soundly in the middle row. Laura hadn't seen the kids this tired in years. A day of fun in the sun, going on rides and building sandcastles had taken it out of them. They weren't the only ones who were feeling it, though.

Laura was beat. She could feel a sunburn on her nose and couldn't seem to stop yawning. She was just glad it wasn't her that was driving because she wasn't sure she was going to make it home awake. It was the good kind of tired, though. The kind of tired that meant you'd spent the day the right way and squeezed every drop of life out of it that you possibly could.

“Pass the bucket...” Dallas mumbled in his sleep. “I need to make the castle bigger.”

Ethan nudged Laura and pointed toward Dallas. They both listened in, watching as he stirred.

“It's my turn to go on the water slide,” he whispered, then smiled right before falling ba