Mitzi pulled her hair up into dog ears right above her own ears, put on a pair of denim shorts and a nice loose-fitting cotton shirt. She’d thought about stopping at the Galleria on the way home from Dallas, but she was too tired to even look at bathing suits, much less try them on. Besides, she wasn’t ready for Graham to see that much of her skin.

She tossed her phone and wallet into a tote bag along with a rolled-up towel and more sunblock, even though her grandmother said she had brought plenty. It might be enough if she’d been a small woman, but Mitzi had a lot of lily-white skin to cover. Sun had never been her friend, not with the traditional pale skin that went with red hair. She stared at her reflection in the floor-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door. She was certainly not a petite little thing like Rita, so what did Graham see in her anyway?

“Have I got a bunch of sailors in this house ready to go to the lake for the afternoon?” Alice yelled as she entered her brother’s house by the kitchen door.

“Not sailors,” Tabby said. “We’re pontooners. We got our bags packed with sunscreen and books. Daddy said we had to leave our phones at home.”

“Smart man,” Alice said. “Got your bathing suits on under those oversized shirts?”

Dixie pulled up her shirt to show off a bright-red suit. “How do you like it?”

“Looks fabulous. I’m wearing the same color under this caftan. We still on for a swimming race?” Alice asked.

“You bet we are,” Tabby answered. “But we’ve got to give Daddy and Mitzi some privacy so he can ask her out on a real date.”

“Hey now, I said I’d ask her. I didn’t say when,” Graham argued. Sometimes he had to set his heels or the girls would overrun him completely. He’d enjoyed the time and the kisses he’d shared with Mitzi, but something kept whispering to him that he should take it slow and not go too fast with her.

“It’ll be your own fault if you let her get away from you. There’s probably a dozen men just waiting in line at her back door to ask her out,” Dixie declared with a toss of her hair. “Now let’s get this show on the road. It wouldn’t be good if our guests like had to wait on us to get there, would it?”

“‘Guests,’ nothing,” Tabby argued. “Those people are family, not guests.”

“Well, pardon me.” Dixie did a head bobble that rivaled those crazy bigheaded dolls.

“You got everything you need, brother?” Alice asked.

“Yep, I do.” He picked up a tackle box.

“Going to fish?” She held the door for him.