Quarterback Draw

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.”

She laughed.

The kids amused themselves that evening playing video games for a while. Even Grant got in on the action, and before long, they’d convinced Katrina to join them. She had to admit, it was fun, though she obviously wasn’t as well versed in whatever universe they were playing in, and got her butt kicked frequently. But she enjoyed a nice relaxing evening with her siblings, laughing as they hunted her down and killed her more than once.

“You guys are ruthless,” she said.

“Hey, don’t blame us if Grant doesn’t have your back on the battlefield,” Leo said.

“Not my fault,” Grant said, keeping his eyes on the screen. “She keeps going in the wrong direction. I can’t protect her if she’s heading the opposite way.”

“There’s too many buttons on this controller. I can’t figure out what to do with them all.”

“That’s because you don’t play enough,” Leo said.

She decided to take a break from the carnage, letting her soldier—or character, or whatever—die, much to Grant’s dismay. She went upstairs to refresh her drink. When she came back down, she didn’t reenter the game, just watched for a while, and surveyed the rest of Grant’s unfinished basement. It was cool down here, even in the hot summer. Which gave her even more ideas. Taking some time to amuse herself while the rest of them finished out their battle, she grabbed Anya’s tablet and used her sister’s home decorating app to flesh out some thoughts that had popped into her head.

She curled up on one of the side sofas and lost herself in her ideas.

“What are you working on over here?”

Grant’s warm breath tickled her neck. “You’ll laugh.”

“I doubt it. Looks like you’re renovating the basement now.” He came around and sat next to her. “Show me what you’ve got.”

“Well, you’ve done this amazing media room, but people have to go upstairs for drinks. It’s nice and cool down here, and you have plenty of space for a wine cellar, plus a wet bar over here.”

He studied the plans she’d created, then looked over the space in the basement.

“Definitely doable. I’ve been wondering what to do with the unfinished part of the basement.”

She fiddled with the design. “Then you could soundproof this room, close it off from the dressing room and laundry area, but both areas would still have doors leading to the stairwell so people could get upstairs.”

He glanced over at her. “I really do like this idea, Katrina. Plus the outdoor barbecue. You and Anya are good at this.”

She shrugged. “Just playing, really.”

He laid his hand over hers. “No, I’m serious. Can you e-mail this to me? I want to talk it over with my contractor. I think this is something he could get started on right away. We could do the outside entertainment area before the cold weather sets in, and they could work indoors this winter.”