Lakehouse Love

4th July Festival

"We okay?" Lenny asks his daughter sitting down on the couch beside her.

"We're fine, dad." Jay answers looking up from buckling Umbra's paracord collar

"Why didn't you ever tell me or you mum how you felt?"

"You both were always so busy, it was just easier to accept things for what they were and move on."

"I promise you, Kid. For the rest of this trip, no interrupts or topics on your mother's or my job. And I will try and spend as much time with you as I can until I loose you to Miami."

"I'll be coming back for the holidays, dad."

"I know. It's just... my first little girl is all grown up."

"WAGONS HERE." Lamonsoff cheers looking outside the kitchen window.

"Come on, old man. We got a vacation to enjoy." Jay states standing up and grabbing Umbra's leash with one hand, while holding out the other to Lenny.

Taking her hand with a matching smile, Lenny stands up before letting Jay slowly slip away from him and she joins Nate being the first out the lake house with Umbra trotting beside her.

"Our little girl's really grown up." Roxanne admires staring at Jay as she walks out onto the porch.

"Yeah, she has." Lenny replies throwing an arm around his wife's shoulders and kissing her head.

<♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤>

Sat on the floor beside Rob and the picnic table claimed by their group, Jay and Nate relax on a plaid blanket with Umbra between them close to the basketball court when Bailey and his band of goons walk over.

"You really wanna do this, Bailey?" Lenny asks his middle school 'nemesis.'

"My five against your five." Bailey boasts.

"I see the boys stayed in shape." Lenny jokes earning a chuckle from the men and women of the group. "Robideaux, good to see you."

"Lenny."

"Look, we just wanna eat watermelon and relax, if you're all right with that."

"Oh, no, It's not alright. You're not gonna weasel out of this one, Feder." Bailey snaps taking a threatening step towards Lenny.

The losing team of 1978 stumble back when Umbra lunges from his spot between his human and Nate. His upper lip pulled back to bare his bone white teeth, the skin and muscle of his muzzle pulled into taut wrinkles as drool dips from his lower jaw and a spine chilling growl resonates from his chest.

"Facile, pueri [Easy, boy]." Jay says holding Umbra's leash tightly in her hand as she raises to her knees and slowly grasps his collar. "Nulla comminatio. Just some guys talking smack. {No threat]"

Umbra visibly relaxes at Jay's words followed by him shaking off his stress, and then stepping back into his human's torso to nuzzle her and scan her of any injuries.

"Seriously, Dickie. let us just hang out with our families. I've never seen my daughter's dog act like that towards anyone, so you being over here isn't a good idea. We just wanna relax." Lenny tells the man in front of him.

"Yeah. They're afraid of us. That's what it is." Nate's old high school teacher comments while stuffing his face with a chilli dog.

"We're afraid you might eat the ball before we even start the game." Marcus comments making laughter raise from the people surrounding him.

"Same old Higgins. He can talk the talk but he can't..."

"Walk the walk, dude." Jay finishes the phrase when it's clear the tall guy as forgotten about it.

"Thanks, dog whisper." Robideaux thanks sending her a genuine smile, earring a nod in response.

"We got Rob here with a bad foot. You can't do it, right, buddy?" Lenny asks the injured friend of their group.

"I think if the Buzzer was here, he'd want me to try." Rob states standing and walking over to the middle school basketball team captain. "I think he'd want us all to try."

"Was that William Shatner?" Lenny jokes earning another round of laughter from his friends. "All right, let's do this, then"

<♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤>

After a dramatic entrance from Lenny and the guys dress in orange 'Water Wizz' t-shirts with numbers spray painted to the back, and their other halves emerge from behind the fire truck dressed in their homemade cheerleading costume, the game finally begins. Everything seems fine and the guys plan a really good match until the final quarter when all of the guys, apart from Lenny and Dickie, slowly drift from the court to the sidelines.

"This is ridiculous." Marcus comments. "Somebody's gonna have a heart attack.

"What are you doing?" Lenny asks his team as he dribbles the ball. "That's it?"

"Death Vader, let's go, sit down." Marcus tells Robideaux, who is stood on the court breathing that a wheezing dog.

"What do you say we bring my son and your son into this?" Lenny proposes standing face to face with Dickie.

"Done." Dickie agrees without a second of hesitation.

"Greggie."

"Hey Bailey." Dickie shouts out to his kid sat on the other end of the court. "Somebody fill up that jug with some boss water for the Hollywood kid."

"It's Voss, with a V." Greg responds in a matter of fact tone.

"All right, take it out. Come on." Dickie orders making both thirteen year olds back up.

"Sixteen to sixteen." Lenny explains passing the ball to Dickie and backing up as well.

Lenny makes the first basket after Greg shoots him the ball, only for Dickie to make the next basket with his foot on the line. Dismissing the obvious call out from his friends, Lenny announces that the next basket wins before the game resumes. After passing it back and forth Lenny gets the ball and lines up for a bank shot before looking at Dickie and seeing how much this win would mean to him and his wife.

"He's gonna throw the game." Jay whispers causing Nate to send her a confused glance.

Lenny leaps up and throws the ball, only to hit the back board too early and have the ball hit the rim of the basket; ultimately missing the winning shot. With the ball still live, Bailey takes possession and quickly passes it to his dad, who then bounces the ball off the back board and into the basket.

"Why?" Nate asks not understanding why Lenny would do what he did.

"Dickie needed the win more than my dad did." Jay explains before the duo gets up and joins their families.

<♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤> <♤•♤•♤>

Chairs and blankets fill the grass located between the break of the tree line as every attendee at the festival watches the colourful fireworks light up the night sky. Leaning back on her hands as Umbra lies on his side between her legs, Jay looks over to Nate when he shuffles closer before looking back up at the bursting lights above her as he loosely wraps his arm around her shoulder.

"You really are in this for the long game." Jay says breaking the silence between the pair.

"And I'll wait for as long as it takes." Nate admits with a proud smile.

Screams suddenly fill the area following Marcus drunkenly shooting an arrow into the sky, in attempts of cheering Lenny up with one of their childhood games of arrow roulette; which injured Rob earlier that weekend. Leaping from the floor, Nate grabs Umbra's leash and Jay's hand before leading them both as far away from the area as possible.