“You’d probably be the only one with a natural tan and not the result of a tanning bed. I like yours much better,” she said, surprising herself by the comment. At Laura’s raised eyebrows, she said, “Real. Not fake. Much better than the perfection you get from a bed.” Then she smiled. “Of course, swimming without clothes would get you that same perfection.”

“Maybe I’ll work on that during the week when you’re not here,” Laura said with an exaggerated wink, then dove into the water.

Cassidy was still smiling as she tossed in two floats, then pulled her T-shirt over her head. She, too, was wearing a one-piece—black. As was her custom, she walked around to the diving board. She glanced over at Laura, who had already scrambled onto one of the floats.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Laura called. “Where’s that beer you promised?”

“Under that towel.” She pointed. “There’s a bucket, with ice.”

She waited while Laura paddled over and lifted up the towel, revealing the small bucket, big enough to hold four beers with heaps of ice. Laura pulled two from it and shoved the bottles into the koozies Cassidy had placed beside it. With a quick nod, she went to the edge of the board and jumped, diving into the cool water with barely a splash.

“You have great form. You took lessons as a kid, right?”

Cassidy shook her head. “Believe it or not, I hated the water when I was young. I was forced to take swimming lessons, but I hated it. It wasn’t until college that I really got into swimming.”

“Let me guess…girls in bikinis.”

Cassidy laughed. “Guilty.” She got on her float first, then took the beer from Laura. “I liked to fish, though. My dad has a boat. Fishing is his passion.”

“Do you go with him?”

“Not much anymore. He’s kinda semi-retired from the business so he does most of his fishing during the week.”

“Semi-retired? Meaning retired, just not officially?”

“Exactly. The last couple of years, he’s let me totally run the show.”

“So really, you’re responsible for those ads?”

“I am. And they’re not that obnoxious. We change them up every year.”

Laura splashed water at her. “I especially loved the one with the cranky wife complaining to the husband about the AC not working. I mean, she went after him until he snapped!”

“And we were there at his door in a flash,” she said with a laugh. “Record time.”

“Saved a marriage, I’m sure.” Laura spun her float around to face her. “Why Cassidy?”

“Huh?”

“Your name.”

“Oh. My mother had a huge crush on David Cassidy. Huge.” She grinned. “Guess what my brother’s name is?”

“Oh, no…she didn’t.”

“She did. Although everyone calls him Dave, except her. He’s three years old than I am,” she offered.