Julia turned, surprised to see Sally and Harry waving from the bottom of the trail. She waved back, saying to Luke under her breath, “I wasn’t expecting to see those two for a while.”

“Me neither,” Luke murmured. “Do you think they did it somewhere along the way?”

“If so, bravo to them.” Julia suppressed another grin as they joined the couple on the beach.

“We were worried you’d gotten lost,” Harry said.

“Sorry. I’m moving a bit slower,” Luke admitted, wincing as he smacked his palms against his thighs.

“I didn’t hurt you when I knocked you down, did I?” Harry wondered, worry creasing his brow.

“Not even my pride,” Luke assured him. “Thanks for saving my tail.” He turned to Sally. “And thank you, too. That was some great shooting out there.”

“It was pretty great, wasn’t it?” Sally beamed. “Not as good as you, though,” she said to Julia. “My goodness, you were a regular Annie Oakley.”

“It was damn impressive,” Luke agreed.

Julia’s skin flushed at his praise, heat blooming in her chest and rising up her neck and face.

“Where’d you learn to shoot like that?” Harry wondered.

“I had an excellent teacher,” Julia explained. “My father.”

“Sharpshooter, eh?”

“How did you know?” Julia wondered.

“Educated guess.” Harry chuckled. “Army?”

“Marine Corps.” She paused a moment before adding, “Expert.”

The older man whistled in admiration.

She smiled, though some of the happy glow from earlier dimmed with thoughts of her dad. She loved him, but he didn’t exactly inspire the warm-and-fuzzies. A breeze gusted in off the lake, carrying snatches of laughter and conversation. “We should probably go meet up with the others,” she suggested.

“You two go on ahead,” Sally encouraged, waving a hand toward the crowd gathered farther down the beach.

“Oh? You won’t be joining us?” Julia asked, studiously avoiding Luke’s eyes.

“We, er, need to head back to the hotel.” Harry wrapped an arm around his wife and fumbled for an excuse. “To finish up … something.”

“We just wanted to make sure you two were okay,” Sally explained, blinking rapidly—and not, Julia decided, from the sun and wind.

“Very considerate of you.” Luke thanked them, suppressed humor vibrating in his voice as he said, “Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”

“We will!” Sally assured him.

As the couple headed up the trail to the resort, Julia added quietly, “I bet they will.”

Luke snorted. “Come on. I’ll race you to the beach.”

“Really?” Julia glanced up at him, sure the doubt in her tone was stamped all over her face.

“No,” he admitted, “but I will walk backward very fast.”