They spent the next hour or so hanging out in the water playing volleyball, which was all kinds of fun, especially for Katrina to watch.
Grant was so great with the kids. And he was ruthless with Leo, picking him up and throwing him around whenever he missed a shot since it was women versus men.
Leo loved it. Why wouldn’t he, since he had no father or uncles to roughhouse with him. He was in heaven. She’d never seen her brother so unguarded, laughing out loud and giving as good as he got. There was just no way Grant was going to allow her brother to be sullen and introverted.
She liked that part a lot.
Finally, Grant pulled himself out of the water. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hungry. I stopped on the way home and bought some stuff to put out on the grill.”
Katrina got out of the water as well, and with one look at Anya and Leo, they were out of the pool, too. “We’ll dry off and help.”
“You don’t have to,” Grant said, grabbing one of the towels nearby. “I can handle this.”
“What kind of guests would we be if we allowed you to do all the work?” Katrina finished drying off, then put on her cover-up. “Besides, the kids and I love to prep food and cook.”
“Just try to keep me and Katrina out of that awesome kitchen,” Anya said.
Grant nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s get started.”
They did the prep work for the chicken kabobs in the kitchen. Grant rinsed and sliced the chicken and carved the pineapple, then Leo sliced the pineapple into chunks while Katrina and Anya took care of the other vegetables.
“I have an amazing teriyaki sauce recipe for this,” Anya said.
Grant looked at Katrina, who nodded at him. “Go for it,” he said to Anya. “My kitchen is yours.”
She hunted down the ingredients she needed, then mixed the sauce and set the kabobs into the marinade. “Twenty minutes should do it.”
Katrina had dug out the rice maker, so she started the rice cooking. By then it was time to take the kabobs outside and put them on the grill. Grant was already out there with Leo.
While he cooked, Katrina looked around.
“You know, you have enough room in this patio area for a complete outdoor kitchen.”
Anya squinted, then nodded. “That’s a great idea. Built-in oven here, outside the overhang so you can cook here. Maybe separated by a stone wall to keep the heat away from guests. Plenty of room for ceiling fans, too, to cool the area down and keep the flies away. Prep area over there. Big eating and entertainment area here.”
“Yes. With a huge multiple burner grill for cooking, with storage space underneath. And in the yard area to the west between those two giant trees, a hammock,” Katrina added, then turned to face Grant. “You could do some serious entertaining back here. God knows you have the space.”
Grant closed the grill and watched Katrina and Anya talk, verbally renovating his patio. Obviously they were having a great time, and their ideas weren’t bad, either.
“Oh, you know what?” Anya said. “I have a template for room renovations on my tablet. Let me go grab it real quick. Then we can move stuff around, really visualize.”
Now it was getting serious.
Leo shrugged. “They do this a lot. You get used to it.”
“Obviously they enjoy it.”
“They do. But they’re right, you know. You could do so much more with your space back here.”
He tried not to smile. “So you have some ideas of your own?”
“Maybe.”
“Hit me.”
Leo pointed. “A zip line from the far tree over there in the woodland section to the one over there.”
Grant arched a brow. “Huh. That’s an interesting idea.”
“Are you insane, Leo? A zip line?” Katrina cast a horrified look in their direction.
“What’s wrong with a zip line?” Grant asked.
“Think of the liability issues. My God, the amount of insurance you’d have to carry—and what if someone fell? Someone could get hurt. You could get sued.”
They all stared at her.
“You are seriously no fun, Kat,” Anya said, coming back with her tablet.
“What Anya said,” Leo added.
“I didn’t say I was going to hook up a bungee cord today, Katrina, so don’t worry. I just said it was an intriguing idea.”
“Well, un-intrigue yourself. It’s a terrible idea.”
Leo leaned into him. “A zip line from the woods directly to the house would be even better. People could drop into the pool along the way.”
“I heard that, Leo,” Katrina said.
Leo threw a smirk Grant’s way.
The kid’s sense of humor mirrored his. He liked this kid. He enjoyed them both.
He liked their sister an awful lot, too.
They ate dinner inside because it was brutally hot outside. After they cleaned up, everyone dashed upstairs to change out of their swimsuits. When they reunited downstairs, he had a surprise for the kids. He led them to the basement, waiting for their reaction when they saw what he had down there.
“Holy crap,” Leo said, marveling at the media room with its wide screen and comfortable, leather theater seats. “And there’s gaming stuff here, too.”
Anya turned to him. “See? This is why you need to expand your outdoor entertainment area. That plus this? Your guests would never want to leave.”
Grant looked over at Katrina. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”